Appleby on Godolphin: ‘It’s like a football team here, all the players play their part’

NEWMARKET, UK–Dawn hasn't even broken on Thursday morning at Godolphin's Moulton Paddocks and trainer Charlie Appleby is discussing with his lieutenants Marie Murphy and Chris Connett which rugs to pack for his team of seven horses travelling to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. 

“That's 14 crates we're up to now,” he says, rolling his eyes and smiling. “Wasn't like that back in the day.”

Appleby is a lifer when it comes to racing, from his days as a youngster working for Jackie Retter and Susan Piggott, to his role as Godolphin's trainer at Moulton Paddocks. To say that the private Newmarket estate on which his horses stretch their legs each morning is state of the art doesn't even begin to do justice to the eye-popping facilities available, from figure-of-eight covered rides, to spas, and a selection of gallops on turf, irrigated woodchip, and Polytrack.

By far the most endearing trait of Appleby–a widely-liked member of both the Newmarket and wider racing community–is the lightness with which he wears his success. In fact, he barely acknowledges it for himself, referring regularly to what “we've achieved”. Not the royal we, it's the team of which he is nominally the captain and very much a part.

As he stands alongside the canters that spread across the side of a gentle hill awaiting his first lot of 60 horses, Appleby chats about which surface he prefers (turf or woodchip over Polytrack) and says wryly, “I dread having a bad spell because when you look at all this, it's not like we could be let down by the facilities.”

Fortunately, he hasn't had to worry about too many bad spells, and certainly not in the last few years. As his ten-year anniversary at the helm approaches, he can boast of a record that most of his colleagues in the training ranks could only dream about. Not that he does. 

Since taking up the reins at Moulton Paddocks in July 2013, following a turbulent spell in the operation's history culminating in an eight-year ban for his former boss Mahmood Al Zarooni, Appleby, with his collaborative approach, has deftly steered Godolphin back into the big time of top-class winners the world over. In that relatively short time he has trained two Derby winners, an Irish Derby winner, six Breeders' Cup winners, Horse of the Year Ghaiyyath (Ire), champion two-year-old Native Trail (GB), Melbourne Cup hero Cross Counter (Ire), and a dual Royal Ascot Group 1 winner in one week in Blue Point (Ire). Following last year's sensational hat-trick at the Breeders' Cup, a season in which he became champion trainer for the first time, Appleby followed up this spring by becoming the first trainer to win 2,000 Guineas equivalents in three countries with three different horses.

“It's amazing how, when you come to the end of the season now, it just seems so far away what was achieved in the spring,” he says as he casts his mind back to Coroebus (Ire) beating Native Trail in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, before the latter took the Irish 2,000 Guineas and Modern Games (Ire) won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains.

“I have to remind myself of that, and also remind the team. It's like a football team here, all the players play their part and so you want to keep morale up during times where sometimes it might be a bit quiet. But it is also to just remind them of what they've achieved. Three Guineas winners in three different countries–that hadn't been done before. I take great pride in what the whole team has achieved.”

A key factor in the success of that team is in its longevity. Appleby himself, now 47, has been with Godolphin for almost quarter of a century, and he is surrounded by many longstanding colleagues, as well as an abundance of highly regarded former jockeys, both still in the saddle and on the ground.

As we head out to meet first lot, led by Modern Games, appearing from the trees after their warm-up, a figure emerges from the darkness and Appleby says, “Here's Benny The Dip's rider.” Step forward Derby-winning jockey Willie Ryan, the trainer's eyes and ears as the horses approach the canter. Among those still riding, spotted as daybreak eases the viewing, are former champions Kieren Fallon and Seb Sanders, one rather more stylish than the other.

Three equine-related subjects occupy Appleby's mind this morning. Uppermost is his septet about to depart for the Breeders' Cup, all of whom came through a final strong workout on Wednesday with no issues, and who will board the flight to America on Saturday. Next comes the matter of the trainers' championship, in which he has been duelling with fellow Newmarket trainer William Haggas for much of the season but now has the upper hand. Of no less importance on the personal front is how his twin daughters, the eldest two of four children he has with his wife Aisling, are faring in a half-term show jumping championship in Cheshire. Very well, it appears, and it will be no surprise to see the name Appleby become a dominant force in the pony racing ranks in the not-too-distant future.

The vagaries of the British Flat racing season mean that both the owners' and the jockeys' championships have already been decided, with Godolphin and William Buick lending a true blue hue to Champions Day when collecting their trophies at Ascot. The trainer has to wait until the end of the year to see if he will retain his title, but it is hard to imagine now that he won't. Furthermore, the stallion to whom Appleby owes a significant debt of gratitude, the 20-year-old Darley stalwart Dubawi, looks set to earn his first champion sire title in Britain and Ireland this year. It is nothing short of a bluewash.

“I know people will say, 'Well, it's done', but the championship runs until the end of the year and I think there are still some little chances for both myself and William to try and gain a bit more,” says Appleby, clearly not resting on his laurels.

“We've had those three Guineas horses, but we haven't had that standout horse that's gone through the season, and I take my hat off to William and Baaeed for keeping that consistency throughout the season at that top level. We've not had that horse.”

At the beginning of the year, it could well have been hoped that the standout horse would be Derby winner Adayar (Ire), but niggling problems meant that his return was delayed until September, when we saw him easily win a conditions race before chasing home Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) for second in the G1 Champion S. Happily, the imposing son of Frankel will remain in training at five, while his fellow Classic winners Native Trail and Modern Games look set to return at four.

This will no doubt be music to the ears of those who remember the elite Godolphin team of yesteryear, which was famed for its globetrotting older horses such as Fantastic Light, Kayf Tara (GB), and Daylami (Ire). Appleby, who certainly doesn't want for firepower when it comes to the bluebloods in his stable, has added another dimension of dominance at home and abroad.

“Most importantly, it was a brief from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed right at the start of all of this, very kind words, which were, 'I've got the confidence in you to do what you need to do, and the horses will repay you'. And, frankly, that's what they've done,” says Appleby.

“Last year, winning the championship was fantastic, but some people forget what we've achieved internationally. We're going to the Breeders' Cup hopefully with seven runners, and legitimate runners as well. And we've got a horse that campaigned in Germany all summer, and horses have been to France, and obviously we had our small team in America that did well. And that draws away from your home team. We are going out to try and win a championship, but we're also going out to try and win as many Grade 1 races as possible, because at the end of the day, we're an operation that is trying to produce stallions and trying to improve the broodmare band, so that's foremost in our programme.”

The cyclical nature of such a business means that next season the trainer will be overseeing the careers of some of the first-crop runners of his first Derby winner Masar (Ire), as well as top sprinter Blue Point. 

“That's exciting,” he says, “Especially with Blue Point being so close to everybody's heart. The only thing is that it reminds you you're getting a bit older.”

Season's end can also bring with it pause for reflection but, despite some rip-roaring years, Appleby appears intent on looking forward rather than revelling in past glories. 

He adds, “Every year since we've started training, myself and the management, we've got together at the end of the year and pointed out our highs and our lows. We look at what we can try to do to make things better. 

“We're approaching that time now, and one thing I want to applaud them all for is the consistency. We haven't dropped below a 30% strike-rate, thankfully, throughout the season. I don't purposely go out there to try and achieve good stats, but it's something that I will monitor throughout the season to see how we are doing, because at the end of the day, they don't lie.”

An international racing programme, peppered with regular trips to Dubai's Marmoon Stable for the trainer, means that consistency in the personnel at home, too, is paramount.

“Alex Merriam and Marie Murphy will represent us at a lot at race meetings internationally,” says Appleby. “They've got a great support team behind them as well, in the head lads that are involved here. We've all worked together for years and I very rarely have to give an instruction now, everything just happens.

“When I'm away and I phone the guys, we're all speaking the same language and we all look at the horse in the same manner. When I go round into those stables and I look at the horses, and I might say a certain horse looks light perhaps, Marie will already be on it because they're seeing it the same way as I'm seeing it.”

He continues, “And again, with the travelling team, Chris Connett and Chris Durham, they do such fantastic jobs on these trips, looking after these horses and training them in the same way. We're in a very luxurious position in that I very rarely have to tell them what to do. There's a system in place. The same people jump the horses off at the bottom of the canter, and the same people meet them at the top. I don't have to see those parts of their training because they will report back to me and say, 'So and so is sweating, he doesn't normally sweat'. We'll get straight back and look at the horse ourselves, and if we feel there's something that needs to be investigated, then we'll ask the farriers and the vets to be involved as well. You're always trying to nip something in the bud early.”

It would appear that Sheikh Mohammed shares his trainer's desire to look to the future. As well as an abundance of homebreds to come into training next year, Appleby can presumably anticipate the arrival of a significant number of the 35 yearlings recently bought by his boss for the equivalent of £26.5 million at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“The enthusiasm from His Highness and the royal family is relentless, and it's fantastic for us, as well as for the sport and the industry,” says Appleby. “All we've spoken about lately is the yearlings. How are the yearlings getting on? That's the new generation, looking to the future, and that's why Dubai is what it is. There's always a vision there to keep driving on.”

The season may be coming to an end, but even in winter, there is little downtime for the modern-day Flat trainer. The yearlings are already being broken in by Tim Denniff and his team at a separate yard on the Moulton Paddocks estate, and of course the Dubai Carnival is another important focus for all employed at Godolphin. No wonder then that Appleby says in a brief reflection on the events of the last decade, “Where's the time gone?” 

He adds, “We all stood at the top of that hill back in 2013 talking about what we were going to try to achieve. There have been some bumps in the road, when the winners haven't flowed, or we haven't had those group winners that we'd like to have had. But I think generally, if I step back and look at our anniversary of 10 years, we could say we've not done too badly.”

Not too badly at all. 

The post Appleby on Godolphin: ‘It’s like a football team here, all the players play their part’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seven Days: Triumph and Despair

There is a charming tradition for the large crowd at Baden-Baden races to applaud the runners as the field passes the post for the first time, never mind in the closing stages. For Sunday's racegoers, many of whom arrived with well-behaved dogs and sometimes less well-behaved children, the excitement level reached near-fever pitch as Frankie Dettori urged home German racing's current hero, Torquator Tasso (Ger). At the post the pair went down by just a head to the winner Mendocino (Ger), another son of Adlerflug (Ger) ridden by the man who knows the Arc winner better than anyone else, his regular jockey Rene Piechulek. 

The latter will now presumably be obliged to retain his partnership with the Longchamp-bound Mendocino, and Torquator Tasso's trainer Marcel Weiss acted swiftly to book Dettori for the 5-year-old's defence of the Arc as soon as his debrief was concluded. 

It was a dramatic denouement to the 152nd running of the Grosser Preis von Baden in a year when the racecourse had been planning to celebrate the great race's 150th anniversary until the realisation dawned that a miscount some 25 years ago meant that we have jumped straight from the 149th edition last year without a proper fanfare. That won't bother Mendocino's trainer Sarah Steinberg, owner Stall Salzburg and breeder Gestut Brummerhof, who rightly enjoyed this major breakthrough success for the 4-year-old who had previously come closest to winning at group level when finishing second to Alpinista (GB) in last year's G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern. 

And this drama was nothing compared to the awful scene played out only ten minutes earlier in Paris as Coroebus (Ire) suffered a fatal injury when launching his challenge in the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. William Buick, the red-hot favourite to be Britain's champion jockey for this first time this year, stood himself down for the rest of the day but appears, thankfully, to have been relatively unscathed in the shocking fall for the 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace S. winner.

Dettori on the other hand received a 14-day ban for going one strike over the permitted whip-use limit on Torquator Tasso which, equally thankfully for him, ends just in time for the duo to renew their acquaintance in the Arc.

Hammer Time

One jockey who kept clear of drama and became well acquainted with the Baden-Baden winner's enclosure on Sunday was Thore Hammer-Hansen. Though currently British-based, Hammer-Hansen has in fact been well acquainted with the racecourse at Iffezheim for most of his life.

“Mum and Dad live at the six-furlong start and I used to go running round here all the time,” he explained after notching the first group win of his career in the G2 Oleander-Rennen for owner-breeder Karl-Dieter Ellebracke of Gestut Auenquelle aboard Dapango (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). The 22-year-old jockey was joined on the presentation rostrum by his proud father, Danish-born Lennart, formerly a hugely successful jockey in Germany with more than 1,000 wins to his name.

“The whole family is here,” continued Thore, who was previously apprenticed to Richard Hannon and rode out his claim almost a year ago. “I've always said that I'd love to come over for the big races and Gestut Auenquelle have been great supporters from the very beginning, and I am absolutely delighted that they have called me over again. I'd love to come over as much as possible as long as Sir Mark Prescott and the other people I ride for in England are happy about it.”

Hammer-Hansen junior followed up his big-race success immediately when winning the following race on New Moon (Cze) for Jan Korpas, and later made it a treble when winning the Stadt Baden-Baden Cup on Fellow (Ger) for Dr Andreas Bolte.

Vandeberg Enjoying The Moment

Among the crowd was Torquator Tasso's breeder Paul Vandeberg who had made the trip to Iffezheim with two friends and is still pinching himself following the  triumphant return of the Arc winner's younger half-brother Tünnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}) in the BBAG sales race at Baden-Baden on Wednesday. That victory for the 3-year-old came in his first run since he won the G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen last November.

“I still cannot believe it, that he would come back like that after 10 months off the track,” said Vandeberg, a breeder of some 50 years' standing, as he reflected on the fact that his sole broodmare Tijuana (Ger) (Toylsome {GB}) has hit the jackpot twice already with her second and fourth foals.

“Sometimes you just have the luck,” he added. “And Tijuana is the most wonderful mare. Eight times I have sent her to be covered on foal heat, and eight times she has got in foal straight away.”

Vandeberg was not disheartened by Torquator Tasso's narrow defeat in the Grosser Preis and is already looking forward to him returning to Paris, where he believes the chance of softer ground and the right-hand track will once again play to the horse's strengths. The breeder has plenty more to look forward to than just the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as he has a yearling and foal full-sibling to Torquator Tasso and Tunnes respectively at home.

HKJC Broadens German Link…

There will be hope among the German racing community that a number of its major races may soon feature in the World Pool series. After the Grosser Preis von Berlin being made available for those betting into the Hong Kong Jockey Club pools last month, a further three races from Baden-Baden on Sunday benefited from the same arrangement, including the day's feature, the Grosser Preis von Baden. This led to a busier race programme than usual for the finale at the Iffezheim track, with 12 races in total, starting from 11.15am. Not a day for the fainthearted.

…And American and German Links Deepen

Twenty-four hours after buying the top lot, a Kingman (GB) colt from Gestut Fahrhof, at BBAG's Yearling Sale on Friday, the Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods enjoyed Grade I glory at a different spa town, Saratoga, as the co-owner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Olympiad (Speightstown) with Cheyenne Stables.

There could be a strong contingent with a German background at this year's Breeders' Cup, following the 'win and you're in' success of Virginia Joy (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) in the GII Flower Bowl S. for Peter Brant and Chad Brown. The 5-year-old mare joined Brown's stable last spring having previously been trained in Germany by Torquator Tasso's trainer Marcel Weiss for her breeder Gestut Auenquelle, which is also home to her sire, and previously to the sires of two of her first three dams, Doyen (GB) and Big Shuffle.

With the Gestut Ammerland-bred GI Beverley D S. winner Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}) already being aimed towards the Breeders' Cup, and the possibility of Saturday's G2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis winner Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) sure to have a strong chance if she heads to the GI EP Taylor S. in October, it will not be a surprise to see more American visitors attending Germany's major yearling sale in the future. 

Minzaal Boosts Shadwell's Great Season

Of course, it hasn't all been happening in Germany this week. For Owen Burrows, the wheel of fortune has spun both ways this season, sometimes in a dizzying fashion, with Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) claiming the trainer's first Group 1 win in the Coronation Cup only to be ruled out of the rest of the season the next day, having picked up an injury in the race. 

As Britain's departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson likes to say, “Them's the breaks”. Burrows is an altogether much more honourable type of Englishman than Johnson, and it was therefore pleasing indeed to see him gain his second top-flight victory at the other end of the distance spectrum but for the same owner with Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) in the G1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Hukum's brother Baaeed (GB) has gained all the plaudits this season, but he is far from the only star in the Shadwell constellation. Hukum and Minzaal have contributed to a hugely successful season for Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, who also won the G3 September S. at Kempton on Saturday with the Gosden-trained homebred Mostahdaf (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and has another two exciting prospects in the Burrows stable in the Group 3-winning duo of Alflaila (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}).

The victory of Minzaal also provided a first Group 1 winner as breeder for Derek and Gay Veitch of Ringfort Stud, who have enjoyed some terrific seasons of late, including Minzaal's G2 Gimcrack S. win two years ago, which followed the success of Threat (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) in the same race a year earlier, while Group 2-winning fillies Indie Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) have also advertised the stud's credentials in recent years.

Ringfort Stud is selling two yearlings at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale on Tuesday, and interested parties will have to get in quick as the colts by first-season sires Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) and Inns Of Court (Ire) go through as lots 9 and 18 respectively. 

Vale, Jack de Bromhead

The racing and sales wheels keep turning in relentless fashion at this time of year but, absorbed as we all may be with this hectic scene, none of it really matters when set against the tragic accident at the Glenbeigh pony races on Saturday. That young Jack de Bromhead died doing what he loved will be of little comfort or consolation in these saddest of days to those who mourn his absence. To Jack's family and friends we offer our sincere condolences.

The post Seven Days: Triumph and Despair appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Classic Winner Coroebus To Miss Sussex Clash With Baaeed After Setback

Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will face a less daunting task in the Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood on Wednesday after G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St James's Palace S. winner Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was ruled out of the race on Monday after suffering a setback.

The pair looked set for a mouthwatering clash with the unbeaten Baaeed having to concede weight to the Classic-winning colt, however, Godolphin broke the news that Coroebus has been forced to sit out the much-anticipated clash due to a minor injury.

A post from the official Godolphin account on Twitter read, “Unfortunately Coroebus will not run in this week's Sussex Stakes @Goodwood_Races.

“He was lame in his box this morning and after examination, was found to have an abscess in his left hind pastern. This is being treated and he will now target the Prix Jacques le Marois.”

William Buick will instead ride the Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) after a final field of seven was confirmed for the race.

The post Classic Winner Coroebus To Miss Sussex Clash With Baaeed After Setback appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seven Days: Sharing The Joy

The first Classics of the year are in the book: four in total, in Britain and Italy. Charlie Appleby sends out major winners with such metronomic regularity that it is easy to forget that there was a time when the Godolphin blue silks were a scarcity in Classic fields. 

Having gone so close in last year's 2000 Guineas with Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was narrowly denied by the Jim Bolger-trained Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}), Appleby left nothing to chance this year when aiming both barrels at the Rowley Mile and firing in a one-two with Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). Though the second-favourite overturned the favourite, for the Godolphin team that was very much the right result, the winner being a homebred by the operation's beloved flag-bearer Dubawi and a member of a family which has brought repeated success for Sheikh Mohammed. That includes two Dubai World Cups courtesy of Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}), a half-brother to Coroebus's dam First Victory (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). The 2000 Guineas was just the first of an extraordinary run of success for Teofilo as a broodmare sire over the weekend. He popped up again as the damsire of 1000 Guineas winner Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}), just 40 minutes after he filled the same role in the breeding of Ed Walker's G2 Dahlia S. winner Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

Fifteen years ago, Teofilo's own Classic season spluttered to a halt without ever really getting started. Having finished the previous season as champion 2-year-old in Europe, a tendon problem ruled him out of the 2000 Guineas, and his trainer and breeder Jim Bolger eventually retired him in August with just his juvenile credentials to his name as he joined the Darley roster. But what credentials they were, representing a faultless progression through the summer of 2006, from maiden, to Listed and Group 2 success, followed by a brace of Group 1s, both at the expense of Coolmore's Holy Roman Emperor (Ire).

At stud, Teofilo has never quite had the flashy profile of some of his major rivals in the stallion list, which include of course his own over-achiever of a sire, Galileo (Ire). But as we have discussed in these pages before, Teofilo has steadily compiled an admirable record, with 22 Group 1 winners worldwide, and as every proper stallion should become as they age, he is now a force to be reckoned with as a broodmare sire. His three Classic winners in this sphere include the Bolger-bred Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}).

Though Teofilo is not represented by many sons at stud, it is worth nothing that the speedy Havana Gold (Ire) has already notched three stakes winners this season–among the British-based sires only Dubawi and Frankel (GB) have had more–and Havana Gold's son Havana Grey (GB) is currently the co-leader with Sioux Nation in the freshman sires' table with four winners apiece.

Riotous Response For Cachet 

The 1000 Guineas winner Cachet turns out to have been very well named. Her antics have not only brought her much respect and distinction, but also for her trainer George Boughey, for whom she was a first Classic winner in only his third full season with a licence. She is not the first to have demonstrated Boughey's prowess, of course. Mystery Angel (Ire) became the trainer's first black-type winner exactly a year earlier when landing the Listed Pretty Polly S. and, after being boldly supplemented for the Oaks, she ran a mighty race to be second to Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Cachet only had to leave her back gate at Saffron House Stables and stroll across Southfields to land the biggest victory of her career to date, but some longer-distance travel may soon be required again.

“She makes my job very easy,” Boughey told TDN on Monday. “She has always been sound, she eats up and trains. She's very hard to fault because she's so willing. I had a long chat to Jake Warren and Harry Herbert and it's almost not doing her justice to not consider another Guineas. 

“The French Guineas might just suit her a bit better than Ireland and she loves her racing. I've never thought I've over-raced her. I'm sure some people would say that they thought I have, but she loves it and I think we are going to consider the French Guineas before Royal Ascot.”

Six of Cachet's ten starts have come on her neighbouring racecourses in Newmarket, but she has already made overseas trips to Longchamp and to Del Mar, when she was fourth, beaten only a length, in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Boughey added, “It's a long year and I quite want to end up in the Breeders' Cup again. For me, having a Breeders' Cup winner is perhaps my biggest career goal. Of course everyone wants to win the Derby but travelling horses is something I really want to do, and we've done it with a degree of success already to France.”

He added of his home track, “The good thing about racing at Newmarket is that they're back in their box in an hour. She's had two runs [this season], and obviously [the 1000 Guineas] was a hard race, but the run before was like a racecourse gallop. She hardly did a stroke. It's a big advantage being here.”

The Newmarket faithful certainly gave Boughey and Cachet a rousing return to the winner's enclosure on Sunday. The Rowley Mile can sometimes lack atmosphere but that was not the case after the 1000 Guineas, when the sense of collective joy was infectious. 

“I've never known a reception like it,” said the trainer. “It was almost like Best Mate winning a third Gold Cup. My biggest task now is trying to get through my messages. I've got 400 to read still. All my family was there yesterday–aunts, uncles, brother, sisters, cousins, mum, dad, it was amazing. That was probably where quite a lot of the noise came from.”

A lot of the noise also came from the 20 members of the Highclere Racing Syndicate which owns Cachet. As one of the Coolmore contingent mentioned as he passed by the winner's enclosure, a major winner for a syndicate is a superb result for racing's broader appeal, as that joy was multiplied and shared by so many.

“That's the families of all those owners celebrating now, and it's great to see,” he said. 

With one riotously happy weekend stored in the memory banks to sustain them through the darker months of winters, the smiling riders of George Boughey's string pulled out on Monday morning as usual. It may have been a Bank Holiday in Britain but the work never stops in a racing stable, even if it started a little later than usual, with eyes a bit blearier following the previous night's celebrations. The trainer was back in his usual spot atop Warren Hill, keenly observing his string as they completed a steady canter. As he drove back down the Moulton Road, he received a cheery wave of congratulation from fellow trainer Chris Wall, cycling by.

Chatting to TDN a little later on, the equable Boughey confessed, “I never thought I'd have one like her in a lifetime. The first horse I bought, I made Sam Haggas buy me something to try to win a classified race, so it's come a long way for sure.”

That was only in 2019. Boughey has indeed come a long way. He'll go farther still, for sure.

Acclaim For Aclaim

There has been plenty of interest in the offspring of Time Test (GB) at recent sales but he has been firmly usurped by his National Stud mate Aclaim (Ire) in the second-crop sires' race. A Group 1-winning son of Acclamation (GB) from the family of Montjeu (Ire), Aclaim is the first of that intake to sire a Group 1 winner this year. Cachet remains his sole black-type winner, but his first crop also contains the Group 2-placed Jacinda (GB), and he has the clearly highly regarded Royal Aclaim (Ire) entered for both the G1 King's Stand S. and the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Trained by James Tate, Royal Aclaim is on the comeback trail since her sole run at Newcastle in May 2021, three weeks after graduating from the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up Sale with a price tag of 60,000gns, the same amount paid by Highclere for Cachet at the earlier Craven Sale. We may have seen nothing of Royal Aclaim since her maiden victory but she had some pretty smart horses behind her that day, notably the subsequent dual Group 1 winner Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) and the Listed winner and multiple Group-placed Fearby (Ire) (Havana Gold {Ire}).

Like Dark Angel (Ire) and Mehmas (Ire) before him, Aclaim could yet prove to be another influential member of the expanding line of one of Northern Dancer's less heralded sons, Try My Best, through grandson Royal Applause (GB). The latter remains in luxurious retirement at The Royal Studs in Sandringham at the age of 29.

On The Attack

In Rome on Sunday, the Endo Botti-trained Swipe Up (Ire) rather appropriately became the 50th group winner for Teofilo's old friend Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) when landing the G3 Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1000 Guineas). Bred by George Kent at Knockenduff Stud and sold for just £6,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, she was followed home, at a five-length distance, by another daughter of the same sire, Nonna Ercolina (Ire). Another Coolmore stallion Highland Reel (Ire) provided the third home, Atamisque (Ire), to bring up an Irish-bred trifecta. 

In the Italian 2000 Guineas, the G3 Premio Parioli, the winner See Hector (Ger) represented, like Cachet, another European second-season sire in Counterattack (Aus). The son of Redoute's Choice (Aus) may be less familiar to European breeders as he did all of his racing in Australia, where he won a Group 3 sprint and earned three Group 1 placings. Bred on the same Redoute's Choice-Snippets cross as Australian supersire Snitzel (Aus) and a half-brother to the Dane Shadow-sired Group 1 winners Red Tracer (Aus) and Shellscrape (Aus), Counterattack joined the Faust family's Gestut Karlshof in 2018. He was represented by his first stakes winner, Pirouz (Ger), in the Listed Premio Emanuele Filiberto, a trial for the Derby Italiano, in Milan on Saturday. This was swiftly followed by his first group success with See Hector, both winners having been bred by Gestut Karlshof. 

“It's extraordinary. We're very happy to see Counterattack have a Classic winner in his first crop, especially as he has only 20 to 25 horses in training,” said Holger Faust, the racing manager for See Hector's owner Cometica Ag and whose parents run Gestut Karlshof.

He added, “We were looking for a son of Redoute's Choice. Back in the days when Counterattack started at our place Redoute's Choice was the sire of 11 stallions who have produced a Group 1 winner, and now I think that number is 15. We are very keen to stand stallions by a good sire of sires. In our opinion that is very important.”

He added, “So Redoute's Choice was one factor, but the other was that Counterattack ran 27 times in three years, so he was tough. Also it was a question of quality, because the Australians maybe have the best sprinters in the world. Last but not least, on his dam side, he is a brother to two Group 1 winners. The fact also that he is out of a Snippets mare made it more and more exciting.”

Along with See Hector, potential forthcoming runners for Counterattack in Classics in Germany and Italy include Pirouz, Open Skies (Ger), and Zandjan (Ger), who broke his maiden in Munich on Saturday. 

The post Seven Days: Sharing The Joy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights