A long week. Leaving aside the fact that Betfair is finally floating after a ten year slog I’ve had plenty of horse action going on.
On Monday Jane and I went to Normans Court stud where they were having a stallion parade. Winker was on show – it was nice to see him and I couldn’t believe how he had filled out since I was last there. Later I went to look at the mares and foal I had there. Teia Tephi, a half sister to Tariq, was in foal to Winker and looked amazing – far better than she had ever looked when I raced her. Lilac Moon, also in Foal to Winker was there and she looked a lot bigger than I had remembered. Park Acclaim, a half sister to Rainfall, had been in foal to Winker but was no longer. A shame but not the end of the world as it was a very late cover and I had been thinking of giving her a year off anyway. Her foal by Kyllachy was nice but on the small side and probably always will be.
This week is Tattersalls book 1, the biggest yearling sale of the year, and that kicked off on Tuesday. For me it means endless ploughing through pedigrees looking for clues whilst reporting to the guys at Newmarket.
I picked two beforehand that I liked – a Singspiel filly and a Sir Percy filly. Tom Goff looked at both of them three or four times – he couldn’t get happy with either so we didn’t bid on them. He sent me his shortlist and I worked through them. I settled on lot 369 – a Dubawi out of Latent Lover. I bid up to 110k Guineas but was outbid by Luca Cumani.
Back to the drawing board, and I settled on lot 552 – a Selkirk out of Rose of Petra. Rose of Petra was a decent performer from the family of Hellenic – a lesser light from a superb female line. She didn’t look much like a Selkirk – leggy and backward but with a nice walk. This was her first foal.
I asked Tom Dascombe to take a look – he wasn’t so keen, terming her ‘just a horse’. I called Tom Goff back to get another opinion – he said she was plain to look at in many ways but nice Selkirks often start out plain. I spent a while going back through the form of other family members looking for clues. I couldn’t find anything to put me off so I decided to bid. I got her for 50k Guineas.
In the evening I rushed down to Kempton Park and got there just in time to watch Cheddar George run in the 8:30. He was backed in to favourite – I had a reasonable bet but I didn’t go huge. Richard Hughes gave him a nice ride, dropping him right out the back before producing him late to come through and win in a photo. I collected the prize, which was a year’s supply of Irn Bru.
I think Cheddar can win again now – we always thought he was a decent horse but it has taken us time to get him kick started. He came round the wide outside and would have run a lot further than most in the race.
I had another winning bet yesterday on a horse called Azlaa, trained by Richard Hannon. I own the mare and she has given me two lovely foals – one will sell in book 2 on Monday (by Byron). She has had three foals that have run – two had won, one of which was The Cheka who was a class act. With Azlaa winning she now has three from three, which is a positive update for my yearling selling on Monday.
The yearling is a nice looker :
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She’s the nicest of my first crop of foals and has been so from the day she was born. A big part of me wants to keep her, but I want to sell a nice one to get my name on the board. My other two foals are not so good looking and I haven’t put them in the sale – one of them I will definitely put in to training and I will put the other one in if she improves – they are all fillies.
I’ve had a run through the card for tomorrow – I’ve got a bit of money in my account which is dangerous.
It hasn’t been a great year at Manor House, but a lot of the horses are running well now and we might be ripe for a winner or two. Tomorrow at York Nemo Spirit goes in the 2:45 and Ballista goes in the 3:20. Nemo will love the soft ground, he may like running with top weight and the distance might suit. Relentless plodder that he is, the long straight at York may be a positive as well. Ballista ran well last week and comes out quickly in a Listed race – the Rockingham, a race won by Max One Two Three a couple of years back. I expect him to run a good race and he could be a bit of value.
In the 3:55 at York I like Irish Heartbeat. I was going to buy this horse in the HIT last year but was put off by a negative vet’s report. It doesn’t look like he’s had many problems this year so I may have missed out. I thought he would make a good sprinter on soft ground – that is what he has today for the first time this season.
At Ascot in the Cornwallis I’ll go with the Hannon second string, Cape to Rio, hoping Richard Hughes has got it wrong. Cape to Rio ran a superb race first time up on soft ground over 5f, the conditions he has today, which may be optimal for him. I’ll take Prompter in the 3:40 – a nice horse shaded by Morana at Ascot at this meeting on similar ground last year. In the 4:15 I’ll side with Masked Marvel from John Gosden’s yard. This expensive Montjeu purchase has a big home reputation – he didn’t have to come out again this year so I’ll read the fact that he has as a positive for his maturity. Montjeu’s typically thrive with a bit of cut – the favourite has excellent form but is a tricky ride.