International Crew Adds Colour To Royal Ascot

[Wandering Eyes]

NEWMARKET, UK—In a week in which astronomical prize-money has been a topic of debate in international racing, the record £7.3 million on offer at Royal Ascot may not stand up against some newer carnivals but the five days of first-class racing at the Queen’s home course remains the meeting with the greatest prestige, never mind its 251-year history.

Horses representing nine different nations will line up at Ascot next week, with the home guard being challenged by a regular strong team from Ireland, as well as France, the Czech Republic, America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore.

International raiders arrived in Britain as early as March, led by the Australian mare Houtzen (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}), who, along with Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) from Japan, New Zealand sprinter Enzo’s Lad (Aus) Testa Rossa {Aus}), and the Singapore-based Lim’s Cruiser (Aus) (Casino Prince {Aus}), is currently resident at Abington Place in Newmarket, which has been a temporary home over the years to Royal Ascot winners such as Black Caviar (Aus), Takeover Target (Aus) and Scenic Blast (Aus).

With Wesley Ward’s team of eight being stabled at Manton in Wiltshire along with Breeze Easy LLC’s Imprimis (Broken Vow), it was left to the Abington Place quartet to parade before the media during Ascot’s official press event on Thursday morning. After an extremely dry spring, the heavens have opened over the last few days in the south of England. The visitors have had to cope with unusually cold and wet weather in the week building up to the Royal meeting, while two race meetings in the country were abandoned through waterlogging on Thursday.

However, the conditions have been welcomed by Ascot’s Clerk of the Course Chris Stickells, whose team has been spared the extra task of watering the course. He said, “Clearly it’s not going to be lightning fast ground. We’ve had 80mm so far this week but the rain band is disappearing, and after Saturday we’re unlikely to see much rain, so it’s highly likely that we will have good ground for the meeting.”

It is also not of concern for Joe Orseno, trainer of the multiple-winning turf sprinter Imprimis, for whom this is a first runner in Britain. His 5-year-old gelding, who arrived in Britain on June 2, holds entries for both the G1 King’s Stand S. on Tuesday and Saturday’s G1 Diamond Jubilee S.

“He’s run over a hard surface and he’s taken it well, and last year at Pimlico he handled a really wet surface well,” said Orseno, who travelled to Newmarket to join the press conference. “He doesn’t have to take his track with him. I’d rather run over a good track but if it rains we’ll still be there.”

He added, “I had him training in Florida and it’s a little warm there so when he got here he welcomed the chillier weather. It’s really quiet at Manton. He’s blossomed since he got here and his coat is dappled, so I’m really happy.”

Toby Edmonds trains the sole Australian runner this year, the G3 PJ Bell S. winner Houtzen, whose extended stay in Newmarket has been overseen by his son Trent. The mare’s most recent run came on Jan. 12, but her trainer is not overly concerned by her absence from the track and she will be ridden by fellow Australian Kerrin McEvoy, who has also been called up for a number of Godolphin rides in the absence of the recuperating William Buick.

Edmonds said, “Our filly is very, very sharp. She hasn’t had a barrier trial, which we would have done in Australia, but she’s very good fresh. One of the reasons we came here so early was for her to get seasoned enough with the testing tracks here, which we just don’t have at home. I think The Everest, with its big prize pool, has taken away some of the [other Australian] challengers for Ascot but we thought we’d come here and take our chance.”

Edmonds, who revealed that his stable star was supposed to have been named after glamour model Doutzen Kroes, added, “We name our horses pretty late and I asked my son for a suggestion. He sent me a text with the name and it was auto-corrected to Houtzen. They are both gorgeous anyway.”

Houtzen may have travelled farther but the Ascot challenger with the most airmiles surely has to be Japan’s G1 Shuka Sho winner Deirdre, whose three appearances this year have come in her home country, followed by Dubai and Hong Kong after she finished a fast-closing second when splitting the brothers Glorious Forever (GB) (Archipenko) and Time Warp in the G1 Hong Kong Cup in December.

For all her travels, Toji Morita’s 5-year-old mare appears to be coping well with yet another new country and she has been the model of calm professionalism in the mornings on Newmarket Heath since her arrival in Britain. She has been exercised on the same ground over which her sire Harbinger was trained in his three seasons with Sir Michael Stoute. In 2010, he won the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot in record time after his Royal Ascot victory in the Hardwicke S., and while his daughter Deirdre looks to have fierce competition in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S., she will have the benefit of the experience of her similarly well travelled compatriot, Yutaka Take.

Speaking through a translator, her trainer Mitsuru Hashida said, “Deirdre is a mixture of European and Japanese bloodlines. She comes from a great Japanese female line. We’d like to see her on a comfortable surface: not too heavy and not too hard. We are always fortunate to be supported by the huge passion of the Japanese fans. We had 110,000 people in attendance at the Japanese Derby last month. Deirdre has travelled not just around the world but around as Japan as well, so she is very popular. I hope her fans don’t drink too much sake before midnight for her race. We are looking forward to seeing how our horse can compete against such strong competition.”

Another to have experienced Hong Kong’s international meeting in December is Lim’s Cruiser, who started his racig career in Australia before being exported to Singapore in 2015. The 7-year-old, who will be ridden by Australian jockey Vlad Duric and is trained by ex-pat New Zealander Stephen Gray, is the most recent arrival in Newmarket having only left his home country on June 8.

“At home he is in a big barn and the horse is used to be in a confined space. He is enjoying the open space on the training grounds and looking out of his door,” said Gray after watching Lim’s Cruiser exercise with Duric on board.

“The trip over will have been like a race for him, and we have just got to keep him ticking over and keeping him healthy. He had a blood test last night, and it was good. I was happy out with him on the gallops this morning. There are another couple of races for him after this, probably the July Cup at Newmarket and then Goodwood.”

The star turn of the morning came not from any of the horses, all of whom undertook routine steady canters, but from Michael Pitman, the 64-year-old trainer of Enzo’s Lad, a back-to-back winner of the G1 JR & N Berkett Telegraph in New Zealand. Pitman has had his fair share of adversity to overcome. He was hit by a car in his first year with a training licence and spent 26 weeks in hospital while recovering from severe injuries, which included his left leg having to be amputated below the knee. Just less than six years ago, greater tragedy visited Pitman and his wife Diane when their 28-year-old son Jonny took his own life, while last May the trainer was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

“There’s a bloke down the end there that keeps telling me I should be dead, but I’m a survivor,” he said. “I had an operation on October 8 and they took 17 inches out of my bowel, but they obviously did a good job because I’ve just been given the all-clear.”

He added, “I have an artificial leg so I hate going through airports but I’ve had the best life of all. I’m lucky, I’ve trained a lot of winners and most of my owners have been with me from the word go. I’ve been on the best drug of all for years, and that’s winning races.”

Enzo’s Lad, who was bought for NZ$15,000 as a yearling—the equivalent of roughly £7,750/€8,700— is owned by the trainer in partnership with seven friends and the dual Group 1 winner carries a ‘J’ on his racing colours in memory of Jonny Pitman.

“He’s a real cool dude, he’s so laidback,” the trainer continued. “John Egan came in and galloped him for us and he worked on his own down the Al Bahathri. I’ve had so much help from everyone over here, especially Jane Chapple-Hyam, who has been fantastic.”

The ride next week—or possibly rides, as Enzo’s Lad is entered in the two big sprints and could contest both—will go to Egan’s son, 19-year-old David, who was runner-up in the 1000 Guineas with Qabala (Scat Daddy) on his first ride in a Classic in May.

“I’m going to give a young, local fella a go. I’m not against giving young people a chance—they’ve got to start somewhere and he’s a great young fella,” said the trainer.

“I’ve travelled horses to a lot of places and I’ve never had a reception like I’ve had here. Someone asked me if it was on the bucket list to be here for Royal Ascot and I said ‘yes, but also on the bucket list was to go to the moon and that’s totally unachievable.’ That’s how I felt about this too, it’s completely unbelievable to be here.”

 

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