From being branded a bit of a tearaway, Quinault (Ger) is now simply a runaway winner. In fact, he is the winningmost horse in Britain and Ireland this season, with seven victories from his 10 starts in 2023 for Newmarket trainer Stuart Williams.
The Oasis Dream (GB) three-year-old racked up an impressive string of six wins from April 27 to July 13 before finishing third in the Shergar Cup Sprint. Last weekend he returned to Ascot, and to the winner's enclosure, in the hands of Williams's apprentice Luke Catton, who has forged a successful partnership with his mount at home and on the racecourse. From his opening handicap mark of 59, Quinault is now rated 102.
His trainer has long proved himself adept at conditioning his horses to win with frequency, and a former stable stalwart, Sendintank (GB) (Halling), is a joint-record holder, having notched 10 handicap wins in one season back in 2004.
“Sendintank was a phenomenal horse but you can't do what he did now,” Williams says. “He won four races in a week twice in the same season, and he won two other handicaps on top of that.
“Obviously with Quinault, he's on seven now, and he's gone up to a mark of 102, so he's not going to get to that number in handicaps but I am hopeful that he will be able to make his mark in stakes company. I think his run style would suit. I don't think he has to be in a big-field handicap. I think the way he goes about winning his races would quite suit the smaller fields.”
Bred by Gestut Fahrhof, Quinault's dam Queimada (Ger) (Dansili {GB}) was unraced but there was plenty of cause for optimism when her first foal was presented at the BBAG September Yearling Sale of 2021 as the mare is a half-sister to the Group 1 winner Querari (Ger), who also happens to be by Oasis Dream. Furthermore, her young colt was a strong and good-looking individual.Â
The €58,000 yearling turned into a 310,000gns Craven breeze-up purchase by Godolphin in the year after another of their breeze-up buys by Oasis Dream, Native Trail (GB), had been crowned champion two-year-old. However, Quinault's one run in the royal blue, at Doncaster last June, saw him take a keen hold before fading to last of the seven runners. Tattersalls beckoned once more.
“He was difficult when we first got him going, just trying to run away,” says Williams, whose longstanding owner Tom Morley bought the gelding for 25,000gns at the Horses-in-Training Sale last autumn,Â
“Luke used to take him out on his own on the farm [canter], just trying to get him to drop his head and go steady and to teach him that that was the place where he could relax. He's a lovely quiet rider, Luke, and he just gelled with him straight away. He's the only one who's ridden him all the time he's been here.”
He continues, “After he ran at Ascot the last time he was at the stage where he needed a jab, as we have to give them flu jabs every six months now, so I said to Luke, 'He's going to have ten days off so you'd better have some holiday as well', so they both had time off together.”
Catton, a five-pound claimer, has been on board for four of Quinault's wins, including on Saturday when he made all to win by a neck down Ascot's straight seven furlongs. Williams admits that he has been surprised by how the horse has thrived this season.
“Definitely,” he says. “Tom doesn't usually buy this type of horse. Tom loves going through the numbers and the form, even pedigrees, but he doesn't really buy horses when he can't see the form. But we were struggling to buy the ones we wanted at last year's sale. So many of them are going abroad and the prices were so strong, and you can't really justify those prices to keep them here.”
He adds of the tall, strong bay, who appears unfazed by his latest effort on a very hot Saturday at Ascot, “He's been on the go for quite a while now. He actually ran quite well the first time we ran him. My idea was, to get the freshness out of him and to teach him to race properly, that we'd hold onto him over five furlongs and that they would go quick enough for him to settle. But it didn't really work. He was quite keen and he didn't really settle but he finished third. The he was drawn wide, and he was keen and awkward round the bend on his second start for us, but that was actually a race that threw up quite a few winners.”
From those first two starts for the Morley family back in February, Quinault then had another two months off.
The trainer continues, “We gave him a little bit of a break again. He still wasn't really fully settling so we decided that he was better settled in front instead of trying to fight him to stay in behind. On the gallops if you have one in front of him, no matter how fast it's going it's never fast enough for him to drop his head, but if he's in front he's more relaxed.”
Of Quinault's latest step up from six furlongs, he adds, “I was quite confident he'd get seven [furlongs]. We'd won over seven on a fast track at Brighton, but that was a lower grade. But Saturday was a good race against proven seven-furlong horses and he got the trip really well. I think at some stage we'll definitely go a mile with him, though whether he'd get any further than that I don't know. And I'd quite like to see him go round a bend with his running style. He's very quick out of the stalls, gets into his stride sharply and goes a nice pace. It's probably easier to do that rather than on the straight tracks as he's been doing.”
Future options for Quinault include a step into Pattern company and the G2 Challenge S. on Newmarket's Future Champions weekend or a return to Ascot, either for a valuable handicap on October 7, or for a bigger prize two weeks later, the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint.
Of the latter, Williams says, “I talked to Tom after he'd won the heritage handicap here [at Newmarket] and the entry was closing so we put him in [on Champions Day]. He's only 14/1 for the race but there's another discussion to be had before his next race as to which way we go. I'd be slightly surprised if he's a Group 1 horse over six furlongs. I think if he ends up being a Group 1 horse it will be over seven furlongs or a mile. But you never know, and Tom will have a big say in what we do. He takes a keen interest in all the race planning.”
He adds, “We have had a couple of big offers for him but Tom has got very excited by this horse. He has really rekindled his enthusiasm for racing. And it's great for us, as so often when those huge offers come in and you're a smaller stable you have to sell them.”
With earnings bordering on ÂŁ200,000, Quinault is more than earning his keep, as well as serving an important reminder of the skills of one of the shrewdest trainers in the business.Â
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