‘We’re Not All Things To All Men’ – Syndicate With A Difference Counting Down To Tamfana Swansong

[Wandering Eyes]

Patience is an essential quality in any individual wishing to be a part of Quantum Leap Racing, but even the most ardent supporter of the successful syndicate will have been pushed to their limit by events of the past few months.

It's one thing having to wait for your unraced juvenile to make his or her debut, but it's quite another having to wait for a filly like Tamfana to make her return to the Group 1 stage. It's the glorious uncertainty of what the future might bring versus the painful realisation that the present is passing you by with your stable star stood in her box.

Thankfully, that is soon about to change. Tamfana, last seen finishing down the field in May's Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, is being primed for a racecourse return on the first weekend in October, with the Prix de l'Opera currently preferred to a defence of the Sun Chariot Stakes crown she won so impressively last year.

“The Prix de l'Opera has been the plan all summer,” begins Eamonn O'Connor, the syndicate's founder and chairman. “I would say that is the favourite at this stage, but we've kept our options open.

“David [Menuisier, trainer] is very happy with her. We gave her the summer off and she looks a picture. It's been a bit frustrating, but our syndicate members are very patient. They're taught to be patient because of the type of horse that we buy. We're not buying flashy two-year-olds, we're buying horses that will be there for the long term.

“We looked at a couple of those Group 1 races for fillies and thought, 'Oh dear, if only we were there.' They looked winnable and there's no doubt she would have been more than competitive in some of those. It's a shame but, if she performs well in the Prix de l'Opera, then it will all be forgotten.”

In the Prix de l'Opera, Tamfana will return to ParisLongchamp for the first time since she finished fourth, beaten less than three lengths, in last year's Grand Prix de Paris. The daughter of Soldier Hollow is yet to win beyond a mile, but O'Connor cites that performance, against strong stayers such as Sosie (Sea The Stars) and Illinois (Galileo), as proof of her stamina for when she steps back up to a mile and a quarter on Arc day.

“In the Grand Prix de Paris [over a mile and a half], she was still in contention with a furlong to run,” O'Connor remembers. “That was an excellent race, in hindsight. The form is tremendous when you look at the competition and what they did subsequently.

“I don't think she'll have a problem over a mile and two [furlongs]. I'm pretty confident that she will stay and a lot of the jockey feedback we've had is that we might even see a better horse.

“Arguably, she was a little bit unlucky in the Prix de Diane [when finishing third last year]. She was forced into making her own running and just got collared by a couple on the line. I think she deserves another attempt at that distance to show that she does stay and just how good she is.”

Here's hoping that Tamfana has the opportunity to show the full extent of her talent at ParisLongchamp, since there's a very real possibility it will be her last dance on a racecourse, at least for her current connections. A €20,000 purchase at the BBAG Yearling Sale, she promises to sell for many multiples of that sum when she is offered at public auction later this year, although which of the major sales houses will be graced with her presence is yet to be decided.

“We haven't thought beyond the Prix de l'Opera,” O'Connor adds. “She'll be sold this year and we've got to be cognisant to some extent of her commercial value. She'll be sold almost certainly as a broodmare and a racing prospect. We'll just bear that in mind when plotting her campaign beyond the Prix de l'Opera – if there is a campaign beyond the Prix de l'Opera.”

Whatever the future holds for Tamfana, she's already given her syndicate of owners memories to last a lifetime, from her maiden win at Kempton, by no less than nine and a half lengths, to her first Group 1 victory in the Sun Chariot. Certainly, no horse deserved that Newmarket breakthrough more, following a series of agonising near-misses at the top-level, notably when meeting trouble on her way to a never-nearer fourth in the 1,000 Guineas.

“Probably the Kempton race,” O'Connor says of when it first dawned on him that they might have a special filly on their hands. “I remember her debut at Ffos Las. We were following another horse at Doncaster, but I think David knew she was a good filly before her debut, which she didn't win, funnily enough. I think he was quietly confident we had a good filly on our hands, but I don't think we were in a position to believe it until that Kempton performance.

“The day of the Guineas we remember well because David told us we were going to win it. I'm sure she was 100/1 when he told me that, and I'm talking about the morning of the race, not months out. We were wavering about whether to go to France or not, but David was absolutely decisive and thought that we belonged at Newmarket. He wasn't wrong.”

He continues, “For some of the syndicate members, Tamfana was their first horse and she took them to Group 1 races. The Sun Chariot was a tremendous day. Colin Keane came over to ride her and we had 20-25 syndicate members on course. Everybody has got their own recollection of it. I was just happy for the filly, and for the trainer – David deserved it as well. He's done a tremendous job with her.”

It was back in 2021 that Menuisier saddled his first runner for the syndicate, namely the juvenile Ottilien (Holy Roman Emperor) who, in her three-year-old season, won a Listed race at Saint-Cloud and finished third in the Prix de Royallieu. At the end of that year she sold for €600,000 at Arqana, allowing the syndicate to go again at the sales with a replenished pot.

According to O'Connor, that renewal is fundamental to the strategy of Quantum Leap Racing, plus an appreciation of the staying horse which brings us back to that necessity for patience, both among the syndicate's members and its trainers.

“We don't rush him and he doesn't expect us to be in a hurry with our horses,” O'Connor says of Menuisier. “Our interests are aligned like that. I get the impression, just talking to trainers, generally, that sometimes they do come under pressure from owners, especially from syndicates, to get horses out and on the track to give the members some excitement and a bit of interest.

“We're not all things to all men. I tell anybody who phones and asks about getting involved in the syndicate to be aware in their first year that, if you buy a yearling with us in the autumn, you probably won't see it on the track until the following autumn.

“That's how we sell the syndicate. We sell it on patience and the fact that our members will be rewarded when the horse matures in its three-year-old season and is running in the sort of races that we enjoy – proper middle-distance races. Those are the races that we enjoy competing in and we buy horses accordingly.”

He continues, “We have produced a good horse every single year since I founded the syndicate. Our definition of a good horse is one who achieves a rating between 90 and 105. I mention those parameters because horses who fall within those parameters are generally going to be far more valuable commodities in other jurisdictions – Australia, Hong Kong and places like that.

“Our modus operandi is to race them for two years, sometimes beyond, and if they fall within those parameters, then we'll sell them to those jurisdictions where they'll be far more valuable, because they'll be racing for an awful lot more money than they would be over here. We replenish the pot and then we go again.

“But we're not on a permanent hamster wheel, doing the same thing year in, year out. The objective of replenishing the pot and going again is to get a Group-class horse in the Northern Hemisphere. That's our ultimate aim and in those cases we'd usually hold on to them, as we have Tamfana.”

Another filly who is unlikely to be going anywhere soon is the unbeaten two-year-old Inis Mor (Galiway), who looked destined for bigger and better things when defying a penalty to follow up her debut success on Newmarket's July Course last time. She is now being prepared to join stable-mate Tamfana in a twin assault on the riches of Arc weekend.

“We're very excited about her,” O'Connor says of the €72,000 purchase out of Arqana's October Yearling Sale. “She's surprised us a little bit. I didn't expect her to show quite the turn of foot that she did, both on her debut and the second time under a penalty. I had it in my mind that she'd be a proper stayer next year but, now that she's shown that speed, she might be more of a miler or a mile-and-two horse as well. We're finding fast horses despite ourselves, aren't we?

“Obviously, we had to think about whether we go for black-type with her, but we'll defer that. We're going for the sales races on the Saturday of Arc weekend and we'll try to win a pot of money. We'll take it from there and she'll have plenty of chances to show what level she's at after that race. She's a horse to look forward to for next year, that's for certain.”

He adds, “It's going to be quite the weekend with 20-25 people going over to Paris. We're a relatively small syndicate and we've got a horse running on the Saturday and almost certainly a horse running on the Sunday as well. That takes some doing, I think, so credit to the buyer, Jeremy Brummitt, credit to David and credit to the syndicate, I suppose, because we only buy five horses a year. I think we punch way, way above our weight.”

The post ‘We’re Not All Things To All Men’ – Syndicate With A Difference Counting Down To Tamfana Swansong appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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