August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

French Sprinter Bouttemont To Stand At Rathbarry Stud

French-trained sprinter Bouttemont (Ire), acquired by a syndicate headed by Kevin Blake and Jack Cantillon, will retire to Rathbarry Stud at the end of the season. A fee will be announced later.

Bouttemont will stand alongside his sire Acclamation (GB) at Rathbarry and will bid to enhance his stallion credentials in the Flying Five and Prix de l'Abbaye for trainer Yann Barberot and his new connections.

Paul Cashman of Rathbarry Stud commented, “We have followed Bouttemont's career with great interest with him being a son of Acclamation. He showed just how good he is in the Prix Hampton at Chantilly in June and we'll all be hoping he can repeat that level of form in the G1 Flying Five S. and the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye before he joins us.”

“He is a particularly good-looking horse that is strikingly similar to Acclamation and has the same wonderful temperament as him, so the case for him is a compelling one. We are delighted to partner with Jack and Kevin who are sure to bring a lot of energy and innovative thinking to the project. Acclamation has been an incredible sire for Rathbarry and our clients over the years, so we are sure that his son Bouttemont will be very warmly received here next year.”

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RACE In Disarray After 21 Job Losses And Jockeys’ Course Scrapped

The Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE), which has produced luminaries of the saddle like Johnny Murtagh, Seamie Heffernan, Chris Hayes and Shane Foley, has been forced to cull two thirds of its workforce in order to save the institution's future.

A massive 21 of the 31 staff have been told they are no longer needed at RACE and the decision is understood to have come as a major shock to the workforce.

The 10-month residential trainee jockey course, which has also been completed by top-notch jump jockeys such as Brian Hughes and Daryl Jacob, has been discontinued and replaced by three courses over shorter periods. In the case of all three new courses, the students will no longer live on the campus and the courses will no longer have an academic element.

The restructuring of the facility has been overseen by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and comes after accommodation blocks at RACE were closed last month due to safety concerns.

HRI appointed an interim CEO at RACE when such issues arose and, following a strict overhaul, just 10 staff will remain.

RACE is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but the future of the esteemed programme will look very different given students will no longer be based on site and the traditional jockeys' course has now been scrapped.

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Kiku Brings A$1.46 Million At Magic Millions From Katsumi Yoshida

Group 2 winner Kiku (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}) brought A$1.46 million from Katsumi Yoshida in a special standalone auction hosted by Magic Millions on Thursday. Consigned by Brett Howard's Glenesk Thoroughbreds as agent for Star Thoroughbreds, the 6-year-old was offered unreserved as a broodmare prospect.

“Magic Millions handled an unusually difficult situation very professionally and it worked out extremely well,” Star Thoroughbreds' Denise Martin told The Thoroughbred Report of the technical difficulties that cropped up in the last few minutes of the proceedings.

“We're elated the mare has been bought by Mr. Yoshida and I'm sure she will be very well mated here in Australia initially. I thank those involved from Jon Freyer to Mr. Yoshida, the price was wonderful.”

Bred by Frank Meduri, Kiku is a full-sister to G1 Newmarket H. hero Zoutori (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}), and was an A$300,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling when picked up by Star Thoroughbreds from the consignment of Amarina Farm. She raced for an ownership group that included Nick Vass Bloodstock and Bangaloe Stud.

“I always said to Denise that she should be making north of $1 million, but where she settled after that, I wasn't sure, it was always going to be for the market to determine,” Howard told The Thoroughbred Report.

“Mr. Yoshida has bought himself a beautiful mare. She's by one of the best stallions, has an outstanding pedigree and was a seriously good race mare. She's a good 16.2hh–she stands over ground and has a really lovely temperament. She's got that international pedigree and that may have made great appeal. Obviously, she's a sister to a Newmarket H. winner, but her grandam is by Sadler's Wells and she's a three-quarter sister in blood to New Approach (Ire) who was an outstanding racehorse and now sire.”

Magic Millions Managing Director Barry Bowditch thanked the connections of Kiku for the opportunity to offer her.

“Denise is such a wonderful friend of Magic Millions and we thank her and her syndicate of owners,” he said. “Obviously, we were disappointed that the system failed during the final minutes of the online auction and we must thank all the affected parties for their understanding.”

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`The World Awaits.’ Letter to the Editor from Grant Pritchard-Gordon

Raceday fatalities create powerful news stories anywhere. Social Media has ensured that our world of racing is now a global community, with news and videos dispatched within minutes to knowledgeable audiences in countries far beyond the American shores. However, shock will have reverberated throughout horse communities of many nations at the recent tragedies that have occurred on the racetracks at Saratoga and Churchill Downs. We all wait with bated breath to hear the steps that the major U.S. racecourses will take to remedy a very challenging moment for our sport, industries and livelihoods. It is essential that the boards of the racecourse groups make both speedy and correct decisions, for their actions will impinge on the lives of all horsemen and women far beyond the US of A.

In the past year, nearly every major racing nation has suffered the unwanted attention of idealistic and disruptive 'animal rights' activists. If not actually detailed in agenda meetings, the subject of Welfare has been the elephant in the room for practically every board of directors/trustees of racing and breeding activities around the world. If American racetracks make the wrong decision, then these elephants will grow into dinosaurs for everyone. Maintaining the status quo and traditions of US Racing is unlikely to be an option, for these diligent activists feast on statistics to bend an interpretation to their own agenda. However, there is strong statistical evidence out there to suggest that there is a more acceptable solution, as highlighted recently by Mark Casse and Graham Motion.

There is little doubt that the 'animal rights' activists in Europe or Australia mimic and use similarly informed campaigns to like-minded individuals in America. Their disruptive ambitions will have been reinforced by the horrific experiences viewed by huge numbers of racegoers at Saratoga and Churchill Downs. When the time suits them best, provocative agendas will inevitably be pumped into the world of social media by re-fueled keyboard warriors. A resulting tsunami of unwanted activity will surely ensue at our major racing festivals. US Racecourse boards and executives have the tools in their hands to change the narrative. The world awaits.

Now is the time for the owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, stable staff and associated bloodstock trades of America to make their voices heard loud and clear by racecourses. They have the support from thousands of like-minded and employed people from around the world. The wrong decision from racecourses could create an existential threat to a wonderful global industry and community.

Grant Pritchard-Gordon is a U.K.-based bloodstock agent, and the principal in Badgers Bloodstock Consultants. He is the former longtime racing manager for Juddmonte Farms.

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