Cheltenham Festival | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Sweet Roar Of Success For Cheltenham’s Golden Girls

CHELTENHAM, UK–There are horses, and then there's Honeysuckle (GB). Thought it may seem like sacrilege to compare the superstar hurdler to the greatest racehorse of the modern era, there has been no better winning sequence on the turf since Frankel (GB) stepped off it to the breeding shed a decade ago, and Honeysuckle isn't stopping yet.

The daughter of Sulamani (Ire) is now a dual Champion Hurdle winner, a treble Irish Champion Hurdle winner, unbeaten in 15 starts under rules, plus her debut triumph in a point-to-point at Dromahane at the age of four. It was that romp of a maiden win when still a raw frame of a filly that pricked up the ears of Peter Molony, who manages the racing and breeding interests of Honeysuckle's owner Kenny Alexander and bought the mare at the Goffs Punchestown HIT Sale on his behalf for €110,000.

Visibly emotional as Honeysuckle was led in from her third consecutive victory at the Cheltenham Festival, Molony admitted, “I looked at her pedigree and I wasn't interested. But I was working for Goffs and I thought I had better go and have a look at her. And to do what she did in her point-to-point when she was just such a big frame of a horse was quite something. Then I just had to persuade Kenny.”

It is an understatement to say that Alexander will be glad that he did. For there is currently no bigger star in National Hunt racing than Honeysuckle. The mare's lustre is enhanced immeasurably for her unbreakable partnership with Rachael Blackmore, who owned Cheltenham last year with her six Festival wins. All that was missing then was the famous roar, but boy did she and Honeysuckle receive one this time around.

With the crowds returned to Prestbury Park two years on from the world coming almost to a standstill as the pandemic took its grip, those who packed the tiers that make up the heady amphitheatre surrounding Cheltenham's winner's enclosure gave it their lusty best as the golden girls returned triumphant again.

“It was incredible, walking back down there,” said Blackmore. “I've never felt an atmosphere like that. There wasn't a moment's silence. People here, it's just an amazing crowd, an amazing atmosphere. It's easy to say that when you're winning, but it's a very special place and to hear those cheers this year was very special.”

She continued, “Part of me was thinking that I should have been more nervous before the race, but I actually do have a lot of confidence in her. It would be weird if I didn't, because she's never let me down. She's incredible. Henry [de Bromhead] gets her to the races every day in the form he does, and that's an extremely tough feat, to train a horse to win all those races in succession.”

While Blackmore was happy to put her faith in her faultless mount, Molony confessed that the nerves had been getting to him.

“To be honest, the weeks leading up to her races, it's torture,” he said. “But it's first-world torture, and we'll enjoy it now looking back.”

He added, “She's eight now and we're probably looking at next year being her last season.”

Whenever Honeysuckle does eventually retire she will become an important foundation mare at Alexander's New Hall Stud in his native Scotland, a farm made famous by the Thom family, breeders of Group 1 winner Donna Blini (GB), who went on to greater fame as the dam of Japanese superstar Gentildonna (Jpn).

Alexander, who predominantly races mares with a view to establishing a formidable National Hunt broodmare band, has the majority of his horses in training in Ireland, and the British-bred Honeysuckle, a graduate of Dorset-based The Glanvilles Stud, has been a huge credit to her trainer Henry de Bromhead, whose annus mirabilis in 2021 included landing Cheltenham's holy trinity of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup, and then adding his first Grand National success to the mix.

Four of the last seven runnings of the Champion Hurdles have been won by mares, the last two by Honeysuckle, who on Tuesday was chased home by Epatante (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}), the 2020 winner. The latter's trainer Nicky Henderson has had plenty of success in that race over the years, with his eight wins stretching back to 1985, and though he had to settle for second in the day's feature race, he will have returned to Lambourn a happy man on Tuesday evening.

Henderson drew first blood at Prestbury Park during the afternoon, sending out Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}) and Jonbon (Fr) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) to finish first and second in a fiercely competitive running of the G1 Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle. He then struck again in the G1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle with Marie's Rock (Ire) (Milan {Ire}) for the Middleham Park Racing team.

“We had four runners today and if you'd have told me this morning I'd have had all four finishing in the first two I'd have said it was going to be a good day,” said Henderson, the most successful British trainer of all time at the Festival with 72 wins. “In golf you're meant to play to your age, so when you're 66 you've got to go round in 66 and so on. I'm 71 so the first winner this week took me to that and we've put one in the bank for next year just in case I don't last.”

With 23 horses set to run at Cheltenham this week, Henderson is the best represented among the British trainers but his team pales into relative insignificance against the amassed troops from the Irish stables of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, who have 71 and 68 potential runners respectively.

Mullins had to wait until the last race of the day for his first win in the Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Challenge Cup with Stattler (Ire) (Stowaway {Ire}), ridden by his son Patrick. As an acknowledgement of the grave troubles beyond the bubble of the Cheltenham Festival, the six runners in the finale all carried saddle cloths in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, while the jockeys bore armbands in blue and yellow throughout the day.

Edwardstone A Homegrown Star

Prices for the top National Hunt horses may have skyrocketed past the reach of many owners but there is still the odd fairytale to be written, even at Cheltenham. And it will be hard to find a more heartwarming result all season than that of Edwardstone (GB) (Kayf Tara {GB}) in the G1 Sporting Life Arkle Trophy.

Bred by his owners Robert Abrey and Ian Thurtle, the 8-year-old has been the star turn this season for Alan King, who in the last 12 months has been represented by the dual Group 1-winning stayer Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) and Group 2-winning juvenile Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}). Such results are testament to his all-round skills as a horseman, but it is the jumps world with which King has been more readily associated over the years, and in Edwardstone he looks to have a prospect to rival former stable stars such as Voy Por Ustedes (Fr), My Way De Solzen (Fr) and Katchit (GB).

Abrey and Thurtle, two old friends based in Norfolk, currently have only Edwardstone's dam, the 17-year-old Nothingtoloose (Ire) (Luso {GB}), in their paddocks. She is soon to be joined by Midnightreferendum (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}), the Grade 2-placed four-time winner and daughter of their late broodmare Forget The Ref (Ire) (Dr Massini {Ire}). Both the latter and Nothingtoloose were campaigned in the point-to-point field by the pair before retiring to stud, and are now both black-type producers.

Edwardstone, already a treble winner over hurdles, has been one of the revelations of the season since going novice chasing and, after being brought down on his debut over fences in November, hasn't looked back, remaining unbeaten in his last five starts.

Hailing the result “a dream come true”, Robert Abrey said, “The adrenaline is running a bit at the moment. We were just trying to breed a nice horse and this fella turned up.”

He added, “We're just a couple of amateurs. We looked down the list even in our bumpers and thought 'what are we doing here?'. Alan got him going and the horse could be quite bullish as a youngster. It's really all credit to Alan and his team at Barbury Castle for all the work they have put into this horse over the last three or four years.”

With Nothingtoloose heading to Ireland to visit Walk In The Park (Ire) this season, the mare is set to be represented by another runner in the coming days as Edwardstone's full-sister Nothingtochance (GB) is entered to make her debut in the bumper at Southwell on Monday.

As James Thomas outlined in Tuesday's TDN, the numbers are stacked against British breeders in the National Hunt division but the opening day at Cheltenham was one to savour in that regard, with three Grade 1 winners carrying the GB suffix. And, as also referenced, top-class jumpers are often not that far removed from top-class horses on the Flat.

A reminder of that was delivered by Brazil (Ire), winner of the G3 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle to give trainer Padraig Roche his debut Festival victory with his first runner. This time last year, the 4-year-old son of Galileo (Ire) was still under the care of Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle, where his full-brother Capri (Ire) was also trained to win the St Leger for the Coolmore partners. Capri, bred, like Brazil, by Lynch Bages Ltd and Camas Park Stud, is now ensconced at Grange Stud and has been presented with a rather nice update by his brother as he embarks on his career as a National Hunt stallion.

The post The Sweet Roar Of Success For Cheltenham’s Golden Girls appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ireland Set Fair To Dominate Cheltenham Breeding Ranks

Whichever way you slice it, the green, white and orange of the Irish tricolour ran right through the middle of last year's Cheltenham Festival results. Some 28 races were run during the four biggest days in the jumps racing calendar, and the Irish raiding party won an unprecedented 23 of them.

This haul included the four championship prizes, as Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) won the Champion Hurdle, Put The Kettle On (Ire) (Stowaway {GB}) claimed the Champion Chase, Flooring Porter (Ire) (Yeats {Ire}) took the Stayers' Hurdle and Minella Indo (Ire) (Beat Hollow {GB}) was victorious in the Gold Cup.

There was more soul searching than celebrating among the British contingent, as the home team won just five races. Whether matters can be turned around this year remains to be seen, but given the Irish are responsible for 23 of 28 ante-post favourites, the early signs are ominous.

For those immersed in the world of National Hunt breeding, Irish dominance is not a new phenomenon. Results over the last ten years provide a clear illustration, as there have been 276 Cheltenham Festival races run since 2012, and 151 (55 per cent) have been won by a horse bearing the IRE suffix. That is just over four times more than Britain, which has been represented by 37 winners (13 per cent) in the same time frame.

While the action on course generally revolves around Britain versus Ireland, in the breeding stakes French-breds have been a formidable presence with 80 winners (29 per cent) since 2012. The remaining eight winners were supplied by Germany and the US, who delivered four apiece.

A significant factor in these results looking so lop-sided is the sheer weight of numbers, with Irish breeders producing far more jumps horses than their British counterparts.

Data published in the latest Weatherbys Fact Book shows that in 2021, Ireland was home to 4,599 National Hunt mares, which is 31.7 per cent of the country's combined broodmare band and 3.8 times more than Britain, which had just 1,213 dedicated jumps mares, 14.8 per cent of its total broodmare population. In turn, Ireland produced 2,722 jumps-bred foals in 2021, which is 3.9 times more than the 696 youngsters born in Britain who are destined to race over obstacles.

Moreover, not only do Irish breeders have a sizeable broodmare band to call upon, but the balance of National Hunt sire power has long since been based in Ireland.

It was a notable subplot to Frankel (GB) winning the 2021 Flat sires' championship that he was the first British-based title-holder since Mill Reef, who landed the spoils back in 1987.

But you have to go even further back to find the last time the champion National Hunt sire crown left Irish soil, with Spartan General (GB) registering a rare success for Britain during the 1978-79 season. It has been one-way traffic since then, with jumps racing titans like Deep Run (GB), who notched a remarkable 14 consecutive sires' championships, Strong Gale (Ire), Be My Native, Supreme Leader (GB) and Presenting (GB) all coming to the fore for Ireland.

Although Sadler's Wells never claimed a National Hunt sires' championship to go with his record-breaking 14 Flat equivalents, the breed-shaping son of Northern Dancer has exerted a similarly huge influence over the jumping scene. Nowhere has this been more apparent than at the Cheltenham Festival.

No fewer than 23 of Sadler's Wells' sire sons have been responsible for the winners of 84 Cheltenham Festival races in the last ten years, while another 22 winners have the former Coolmore flag-bearer further back in their paternal pedigree. This means that in the last decade alone, the Sadler's Wells line has been responsible for 106 Festival winners, a huge 38.4 per cent of the 276 races run.

No stallion has done more to extend Sadler's Wells' influence over the jumping sphere than King's Theatre (Ire), who claimed five sires' championships and also supplied 12 Festival winners in the last decade, a tally that makes him the most prolific Cheltenham sire of recent times. The late Ballylinch Stud resident's Festival roll of honour includes the likes of Brindisi Breeze (Ire), Champ (Ire), Cue Card (GB), Riverside Theatre (GB) and The New One (Ire).

Among the other successful sons of Sadler's Wells are names such as Milan (GB), source of seven Cheltenham winners since 2012 and the 2019-20 champion, Oscar (Ire), sire of ten Festival scorers, and Glenview Stud's Sholokhov (Ire), whose four successes at the meeting include recent Grade 1 winners Bob Olinger (Ire) and Shishkin (Ire).

Other noteworthy sire sons include High Chaparral (Ire) and Montjeu (Ire), who were responsible for four-time Festival scorer Altior (Ire) and dual Champion Hurdle hero Hurricane Fly (Ire) respectively, while Montjeu's son Authorized (Ire) gave us the mighty Tiger Roll (Ire).

While Sadler's Wells' influence has helped cement Ireland's position as the nucleus of National Hunt breeding, he is also responsible for a British heavyweight in Overbury Stud stalwart Kayf Tara (GB), who has sired seven Festival winners since 2012.

As if all that were not enough, Sadler's Wells' own record includes an important winner from the not too distant past, as Synchronised (Ire) claimed the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup for JP and Noreen McManus.

However, despite his ongoing influence, you need to look a little further back to find Sadler's Wells' defining achievement in National Hunt racing, as he is immortalised as the sire of Cheltenham Festival icon Istabraq (Ire), who won three consecutive Champion Hurdles from 1998 to 2000.

Galileo (Ire), heir of the Sadler's Wells empire on the Flat, also has a handful of Festival winners on his vast stud record, and is the grandsire of a further four, with sons Nathaniel (Ire), best known for supplying queen of the Turf Enable (GB), and Soldier Of Fortune (Ire) each responsible for a brace. With so many high-class sons of Galileo on jumps breeders' radars, including the likes of Coolmore's National Hunt recruits Capri (Ire), Kew Gardens (Ire), Mogul (GB) and Order Of St George (Ire), we can expect his name to appear in prominent jumps pedigrees with increasing regularity over the coming years.

There have been 232 individual winners who have struck at the last ten Festivals, and these have been supplied by 124 different stallions. The diversity among this number means that, while Sadler's Wells has been an almost ubiquitous force in recent Festival history, his line is not alone in having had a significant bearing on proceedings.

Another name more commonly associated with high-class Flat performers is Danehill, who has been represented by four successful sire sons with eight winners to their credit, namely Aussie Rules, Dansili (GB) and Duke Of Marmalade (Ire), who all have one winner apiece, as well as Castlehyde Stud's Westerner (GB), who has five.

Danehill's rags-to-riches son Danehill Dancer (Ire) also emerged as a force in the National Hunt world, primarily through the exploits of the much-missed Jeremy, whose five Festival winners include Supreme Novices' Hurdle hero Appreciate It (Ire) and Champion Bumper victor Sir Gerhard (Ire), who are back for more this year. These results have seen Danehill feature in the male line of 15 recent Festival winners.

The last decade has also seen significant success for descendants of other prominent National Hunt influences such as Alleged, Garde Royale (Ire) and Monsun (Ger). Alleged's name has appeared in the male line of 11 winners in the last ten years, with Shantou responsible for five of those and the mighty Flemensfirth having supplied another four, while Astarabad and Sir Harry Lewis also sired one winner apiece.

Garde Royale's success owes plenty to Robin Des Champs (Fr), whose ten Festival winners in the last decade include National Hunt celebrities Quevega (Fr) and Vautour (Fr). Garde Royale has also been represented by Kapgarde (Fr), sire of A Plus Tard (Fr), a past Festival winner and a strong contender for this year's Gold Cup.

As far as furthering their legacies, time may be running out for Alleged, whose breeding sons have either passed away or been retired from active duty, and Garde Royale, for whom Kapgarde is a sole representative between Britain, Ireland and France. Monsun, however, has already left his imprint on 12 Festival winners through six sire sons, and remains well represented among the European stallion ranks.

Other sire lines may have been a more plentiful source of Festival success, but Monsun can lay claim to the highest-rated Cheltenham winner in recent times thanks to Sprinter Sacre (Fr), the son of Network (Ger) who won an Arkle and two runnings of the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

The other sons of Monsun to supply a Festival winner are Arcadio (Ger), Gentlewave (Ire), Maxios (GB), Schiaparelli (Ger) and Shirocco (Ger). There were eight sons of Monsun standing across Britain and Ireland in 2021 – namely Axxos (Ger), Gentlewave, Getaway (Ger), Masterstroke, Maxios, Ocovango (GB), Schiaparelli and Vadamos (Fr) – and between them they covered 940 mares, which gives an indication of the sire line's ammunition for the years ahead.

Given that National Hunt horses have longer career cycles than their Flat counterparts, by the time most jumps stallions reach the peak of their powers plenty have either been pensioned or passed away, as evidenced by Milan being the only serving champion jumps sire at present. With so many high achievers no longer in action, breeders will be looking to Cheltenham to reveal who is capable of filling the void. Once again the Irish ranks look to hold all the aces.

Among those with a strong hand are the likes of Sadler's Wells' son Yeats (Ire), who sired four winners last year and will be represented by leading fancies Conflated (Ire), Flooring Porter (Ire), Mount Ida (Ire) and Party Central (Ire) this time around. Another member of the Sadler's Wells line with a strong team is Grange Stud's Walk In The Park (Ire), sire of past Festival scorers Douvan (Fr) and Min (Fr).

The son of Montjeu could start the week with a bang when Jonbon (Fr), a brother to Douvan who fetched a record £570,000 at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale in November 2020, lines up in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle on Tuesday. Walk In The Park will also be represented by the progressive Ginto (Fr) and Champion Bumper favourite Facile Vega (Ire), who is out of six-time Festival heroine Quevega.

Glenview Stud's Blue Bresil (Fr) could also be set for a good week, with the son of Smadoun (Fr) set to field the likes of Blue Lord (Fr), Constitution Hill (GB), Redemption Day (GB) and Royale Pagaille (Fr).

The French ranks will be typically well represented, not least by the progeny of Doctor Dino (Fr), who stands at a record fee for a jumps sire at €18,000. The Haras du Mesnil resident looks set to supply well-fancied runners such as Dinoblue (Fr), Fil Dor (Fr) and State Man (Fr), while his compatriots No Risk At All (Fr), sire of Allaho (Fr) and Epatante (Fr), and Kapgarde, source of A Plus Tard and Prengarde (Fr), could also make an impact.

There are also a host of younger names for whom a first Festival winner would mark a major milestone in their upwardly mobile careers. These include Arctic Tack Stud's Jet Away (GB), source of Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle second favourite Brandy Love (Ire), Haras de la Tuilerie's Masked Marvel (GB), who is responsible for Champion Hurdle challenger Teahupoo (Fr), and Kilbarry Lodge Stud resident Diamond Boy, sire of Brown Advisory Novices' Chase fancy L'Homme Presse (Fr).

During a busy weekend of sport, Ireland were made to work hard for their 32-15 victory over England in Saturday's Six Nations contest at Twickenham, with the gloss added to the final score only inside the last six minutes. When the Cheltenham roar goes up and the countries renew their rivalry at the Festival this week, all known form suggests that matters will prove much more one-sided.

The post Ireland Set Fair To Dominate Cheltenham Breeding Ranks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Wadham Looking To Sky For Poignant First Festival Win

“You start to feel like you're waiting for Godot,” says Lucy Wadham, referring to the fictional character who never actually appears in Samuel Beckett's play of the same name.

It has been a long winter and the days can seem to pass agonisingly slowly when you have a horse aiming for a big-race target, but the sand in the Cheltenham Festival hourglass has now nearly all run through. Wadham has only to wait until Tuesday afternoon to unleash the bonny grey mare who has been at the forefront of the trainer's excellent season.

As we meet a week ahead of the start of the Cheltenham Festival, it is not just the thought of her forthcoming runners that are occupying Wadham's mind, however. Step into any trainer's yard at 6.30 in the morning and ordinarily they will be busying themselves with getting first lot out and about, but these are strange times and, as Wadham appears, conversation turns instantly to the appalling situation in Ukraine. She doubtless speaks for many when she says, “It's hard to think about anything else at the moment really.”

But in the bubble of British and Irish National Hunt racing, minds have been focused on Cheltenham for months. For many it is more exciting than Christmas and now here we are: jump racing's Christmas Eve. Early on Tuesday morning, Wadham will be on her way to the Cotswolds with Martello Sky (GB) (Martaline {GB}), who is set to line up for the G1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle.

The exuberant 6-year-old has a lightness of action and could be mistaken for a Flat horse amid Wadham's predominantly jump-orientated string, but within her smaller frame is contained an enormous will to win. In just 12 starts since she first stepped onto a racecourse just over two years ago, Martello Sky has come home in front eight times. When she won on debut, her breeder Tim Wood, was there to see it. Tragically, Wood, who had been paralysed in a hunting fall six years earlier, died 18 months ago, leaving his brother Simon and sister Kate Dixon to continue racing his pride and joy with friends Toby Sexton and Mark and Dawn Dewson under the name of The Sky Partnership.

“Tim would have loved all this. Every time she wins, and she does that quite often, we all get rather tearful,” says Wadham, whose eye never leaves her horses as they stroll past en route to the gallops, the diminutive Martello Sky, ridden by Polly Gunn, tucked in behind the strapping seven-time winner Potters Legend (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}), now 12.

The stable has also been home to Martello Sky's half-sisters Mystic Sky (GB) (Midnight Legend {GB}) and Iconic Sky (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}), who won eight races between them, as well as their dam, the Cloudings (Ire) mare Kentucky Sky (GB). She was also a winner in Wood's black-and-white silks and finished runner-up in the Listed EBF Mares' Bumper at Sandown.

“We've trained all the girls in the family,” Wadham recalls. “And Martello Sky has just been very straightforward to train really. We always liked her at home and then first time out at Fakenham she looked like she was going to be nowhere, but then suddenly the penny dropped and she overtook the whole field and won going away by a few lengths. That was the beginning and she's now won eight. And she's a dual Cheltenham winner, which is always encouraging going into the Festival.”

She continues, “Her jumping has improved out of all recognition this year. We ran her in the mares' novices' hurdle at the Festival last year and she just wasn't experienced enough. She took a dive over the second and Bryony [Frost, jockey] had to give her a bit of time to recover. She finished very well–it wasn't actually a bad run given that she had nearly fallen at the second hurdle–but her jumping is a lot sharper now.”

Indeed, since that eighth-place finish at Prestbury Park last year, Martello Sky's progress has been eye-catching. She won the Listed hurdle on the all-mares card back at Cheltenham last April before a triumphant reappearance this season at Market Rasen. Her only defeat in that time has come when fourth behind Brewin'upastorm (Ire) at Aintree in November, and Martello Sky has since downed the colours of the equally tough mare Indefatigable (Ire) at Cheltenham and then landed her second Listed success at Sandown in January.

Wadham adds, “She's very athletic and light on her feet, and handles soft ground surprisingly well. She's versatile on ground, which is helpful. When they are small and light like that it really can help from a soundness angle.”

The trainer also credits Bryony Frost with having played an important role in the mare's development even though that for four of Martello Sky's last five starts she has had to be riding elsewhere to fulfil her commitments to her boss Paul Nicholls.

During that time, Frost has endured the contentious court case which saw her fellow jump jockey Robbie Dunne banned for 18 months for bullying and harassing Frost. That episode has not yet been concluded as Dunne has appealed against his ban and the appeal will be heard by the BHA on March 30.

Along with the champion trainer Paul Nicholls, Wadham is one of only a handful trainers regularly using the services of Frost, who in 2019 became the first female jockey to ride a Grade 1 winner at the Cheltenham Festival aboard Frodon (Fr). Frost returns with that old friend in the G3 Ultima Handicap Chase on the opening day of this year's Festival, with Martello Sky being her only other ride on Tuesday.

“Bryony has become a good friend and I think she is a wonderful jockey,” says Wadham, a staunch supporter of the woman who started race-riding in point-to-points, just as she did.

“She has an extraordinary way of improving horses. Last year some of our fillies, like Regarding Ruth, Sorbet, and Martello Sky, they all improved for having her riding them. And that's a real gift. Also the horse always comes first for her. She would never carry on on a horse that couldn't, and she comes to ride them all here and gets to know them. She's been a real asset to the yard.”

That yard, despite housing a much higher number of jumpers than Flat horses, is based firmly in the Flat racing heartland on the edge of Newmarket Heath at Moulton Paddocks. If that name sounds familiar it is because it is more commonly associated through the summer with Charlie Appleby's Godolphin stable, which is right next door. While her neighbours in blue greatly outweigh Wadham's relatively small string numerically, the trainer, always ably assisted by her husband Justin, has very much upheld the good run of that corner of Newmarket over the years.

The Dark Lord (Ire), trained for the Wadhams' great friends Anthony and Victoria Pakenham, became her first black-type winner in a Listed hurdle in 2004 carrying the colours worn by the Marcus Tregoning-trained Sir Percy (GB) to win the Derby two years later. The next major success for the stable came with another mare, United (Ger) (Desert King {Ire}), winner of the G1 Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. United also brought Wadham the closest she has come to winning at the Cheltenham Festival when she was second to the mighty Quevega (Fr) in the same race Martello Sky contests on Tuesday.

But the stable is far from one-dimensional. For the Pakenhams, Wadham has also trained the Flat stakes winners Cassique Lady (Ire), Crystal Gal (Ire) and Lady Tiana (GB), with the latter, winner of the G2 Lancashire Oaks, being extra special for her owner/breeders as she is a daughter of Sir Percy.

“I think jumping is really our main love,” says Wadham, whose daughter Mimi is one half of the increasingly prominent sales consignment company WH Bloodstock, with her friend and business partner Violet Hesketh. “We enjoy the Flat but jumping just seems a bit more noble somehow, I don't know why.”

She continues, “I love being here in Newmarket though. I think it keeps us under the radar which I quite like. But the lads all follow the jumping and when we're riding out they will call across and say 'how is she?' Everyone is really interested. Newmarket loves Cheltenham, and you don't feel like you're not part of the team here. There's a lot of banter on the Heath, which is fun.”

The last time Newmarket welcomed a Cheltenham Festival winner home was in 2006, when the James Fanshawe-trained Reveillez (GB) won the Jewson Novices' Chase for JP McManus. Prior to that, Fanshawe had been represented by two Champion Hurdle winners in Hors La Loi (Fr) and Royal Gait (GB), the latter for Sheikh Mohammed, who also owned the 1990 Champion Hurdle winner, Kribensis (GB), trained by Sir Michael Stoute. In the 1970s, Harry Thomson 'Tom' Jones trained the outstanding Tingle Creek from Newmarket, but brilliant though he was, the great two-mile steeplechaser never won at Cheltenham. Go back farther still to the 1930s and you'll find an even greater name from the National Hunt annals, Golden Miller (Ire), the winner of five Cheltenham Gold Cups and the Grand National, who was trained in Newmarket's neighbouring village of Exning by Basil Briscoe.

“Historically loads of good jumpers have been trained here,” Wadham says. “So there's no reason not to train jumpers in Newmarket. The facilities are fantastic for any type of horse. I think really if you can't train a horse in Newmarket you might as well give up.”

Wadham certainly has no reason to do that. With another mare, Miss Heritage (Ire) (Pour Moi {Ire}), having provided the stable with a Grade 2 victory in the Yorkshire Rose Mares' Hurdle at the end of January, she is on course to record her best season since first taking out her licence some 30 years ago, and on the back of her previous personal best in 2020/21. A Grade 1 win at the Festival would cap it all, even if the circumstances would once again have Martello Sky's owners and trainer in tears. The wait is almost over.

The post Wadham Looking To Sky For Poignant First Festival Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

COVID Concerns Prevent Keri Brion From Sending The Mean Queen Overseas For Cheltenham Festival

Expected to be named 2021 Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser, The Mean Queen was slated to head over to Ireland early in the New Year to prep for the prestigious Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, the National Steeplechase Association reported on Facebook. However, with Omicron cases on the rise, trainer Keri Brion has decided that the three-time Grade 1 winner will remain stateside.

Instead, The Mean Queen's next goal will come in spring: The G1 Iroquois at Nashville in May.

“The unknown of where Covid restrictions are heading over the next three months brought the Moorhead's (owners Rod and Alice) to the decision,” Brion explained. “It's important to them that they can enjoy the experience and with the way things are at the moment they wouldn't be able to. We had to make a decision now so that's the decision.”

If all goes well and the world returns to what at least passes for normal, Brion said The Mean Queen will again set her sights on Cheltenham in 2023.

The post COVID Concerns Prevent Keri Brion From Sending The Mean Queen Overseas For Cheltenham Festival appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post