Godolphin Flying Start Celebrates 20th Anniversary

The Godolphin Flying Start programme celebrated its 20th anniversary with an alumni award ceremony and conference at the Legacy Suite at the K Club on June 29.

The conference, “Impact and Influence”, attracted over 100 graduates from around the world. During the prelude, the focus was on His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin Charitable Initiatives led by Godolphin Flying Start Chair Joe Osborne. Diana Cooper, Godolphin's Strategic Adviser for Charities was also among the speakers, as was Lisa Jane Graffard (Class of 2005). Class of 2008 alum Gina Bryce hosted the conference.

Other speakers during the evening included GFS Executive Director Clodagh Kavanagh; CEO of CPL, Lorna Conn; entrepreneur Heinrich Anhold, founder of Stable Lab; Cathal Beale, CEO of the Irish National Stud (Class of 2010); Anna Jones, author of the book “Divide”; and Michael Hardy (2012).

The award winners of the night were:

  • Rising Star Leadership Award: Annise Montplaisir (2021), the Executive Director of Amplify Horseracing
  • Rising Star Business Award: Tim Donworth (2018), French trainer
  • Leadership Excellence Award: Craig Rounsefell (2007), CEO of Boomer Bloodstock and Chair of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia
  • Business Excellence Award: Gary King (2010), Senior Vice-President, Thoroughbred Daily News & President of TDN AusNZ.

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King Wins Business Excellence Award at GFS Summit

Gary King, the Senior Vice President at the Thoroughbred Daily News, was the winner of the Business Excellence Award at the Godolphin Flying Start Impact and Influence Conference alumni event Thursday night at the K Club in County Kildare, Ireland.

“The fact that I was voted on by fellow graduates means an awful lot,” said King in accepting the award, which is voted on by the approximately 250 graduates of the program. “A couple of the other award winners touched on it as well, that people recognized what you've done in the industry over the last 13 years. I graduated in 2010, and I've been with the TDN since then. I'm surrounded by such talented, hard-working people every day, and it's such an inspiration.”

The conference brought together 20 years of graduates from the program, an international management training program which spends two years teaching aspiring future industry leaders in various aspects of the field.

Other winners on the night were Annise Montplaisir, who won the Rising Leadership Award; Craig Rounsefell, who won the Leadership Excellence Award; and Tim Donworth, who won the Rising Star Business Award.

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Earning Their Stripes: Dan Blacker

Last year, we conducted a popular Q and A series called 'Smaller But Still Super,' where we featured veteran trainers who have built a competitive racing stable with relatively small numbers (click here to view the archive). This year, we will highlight trainers who have already cut their teeth as novice trainers, but now have a few years of experience under their belt and are looking to make a name for themselves as they grow their stable. We'll talk about the challenges that come with hanging out your single, advice for trainers setting out on their own, how the incoming class of young trainers differs from previous generations and more.

Dan Blacker said he always knew that he wanted to be a trainer. His first job was with British jump racing champion trainer Nicky Henderson and he spent school holidays riding out in his native England and in France. But it wasn't until a trip to the U. S. during the Godolphin Flying Start program that he fell in love with the racetrack way of life.

As part of the Flying Start program, the horseman spent time learning from Richard Mandella and he returned to work for the Hall of Fame trainer in 2007.

After working under Mandella for two years, Blacker spent two years with Tom Albertrani on the East Coast. In 2011, he jumped at the opportunity to launch his own stable.

Since then, Blacker has made a name for himself within the training ranks in California. Last year he not only reached 100 career wins, but he also celebrated his best season yet with 16 wins on the year and over $880,000 in earnings.

Blacker's name has long been associated with his leading earner Hit the Road (Medaglia d'Oro). After going through the ring unsold during Book 1 of the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, Hit the Road was picked out by Blacker and associate Craig (Boomer) Rounsefell for $160,000. Hit the Road took Blacker to his first Breeders' Cup at two and then gave his conditioner his first Grade I victory as a 3-year-old in the 2021 Frank E. Kilroe Mile S.

How did you ultimately take the plunge in going out on your own?

Jamie Lloyd, a bloodstock agent in England now, was training here in California and he was going back to England. He asked me if I wanted to start up, but I wasn't sure if I was ready financially. But Jamie got me a few owners and I started with three horses.

I had met Gary Stevens when I was working in France for Jonathan Pease. When I was starting out, Gary had just finished training. I asked if I could borrow some equipment. He told me to go to this container in Sierra Madra and take whatever I needed. I opened it up and grabbed two saddles, some webbings, all the stuff I needed, and took it back to Hollywood Park. I went and got my first three horses from Jamie and then found two grooms and asked if they wanted to work for me. I didn't have a whole lot of money, but thankfully I had some friends who helped me get going.

We've built it up from there and now 10 years later, we have 30 horses.

Blacker got to spend plenty of time with future supersire Into Mischief during his time with Richard Mandella | Horsephotos

What was the biggest challenge in those first few years as you were getting started?

The first major challenge is going from an assistant to a head trainer. As an assistant, you always have an idea of how you want to do things when you're the boss. You take a piece of the routine from everyone you work for and then formulate your own routine that's unique to you. So you have this idea in your head, but then when you do take the plunge, it's a massive difference when you don't have that person to ask what to do. You're the person that has to make the decisions for everything and ultimately if something doesn't work out, you're the one that has to answer to it with the owners. You never really deal with owners when you're an assistant, but when you go out on your own, all of a sudden you have all this responsibility. There are a lot of things you don't think about when you're an assistant that you now have to do on a day-to-day basis.

You have to learn to wear many hats. You have to be a good communicator, a good horseman and you have to be good with finances. I started my business having no real background in running a business and I had to learn as I went. I opened a QuickBooks program and started learning.

Is there anything the industry as a whole should do to make it easier for trainers starting out?

That's what is really unique about America. It's one of the best places for young trainers to start without a huge amount of financial backing. Back home in England, it's so hard to get going as a trainer. You need a lot of financial backing because you need your own private yard. Here you can have three horses and three stalls and away you go.

In general, I think young people in America are given opportunities much more readily, especially compared to where I'm from back home in England. I think Americans in general are much more open to giving young people a chance if you prove that you work hard and you're passionate about what you do. You don't need a well-known last name and it doesn't matter what you look like. If you have a bit of success, people will give you a chance.

I think the finances are the hardest point. Running a business in any industry takes a lot of planning. I was really winging it in the beginning and it would have been nice to have some sort of guidance in terms of setting up a viable business.

What do you think makes your stable or your training style unique?

We really focus on individual routines for each horse when it comes to training and feed.

We put a lot of emphasis on communication. We send out weekly updates. We film every workout and send workout reports. Most of my owners are not local, so it's great for them to be able to see the works. I think that's one of the most important things. It's why we're here. If I can get the owners more involved with the process of getting a horse ready for a race, I think I'm doing my job. The more you can get them involved, I think the more they enjoy it and the more likely they are to be longtime owners.

I like to think that in terms of training horses, I can train any type of horse. I know I have a British accent but ironically, my statistics are actually a little bit better on the dirt just because we've had a run of decent dirt horses lately. I worked for Richard Mandella and he has won Grade I races on every distance on every surface. I hope that one day I can get close to his kind of record.

 

Hit the Road gives Blacker his first Grade I victory in the 2021 Frank E. Kilroe Mile | Benoit

What was the main takeaway from your time working for Richard Mandella?

There are so many different things I learned from him that I still think about today. He's the best horseman I've ever been around.

The main thing would be attention to detail and really focusing on each horse. Training a horse is not just about what they're doing on the track. It's their whole life–how they behave in the barn, how they behave in the paddock, how they're eating. The whole package of a horse's life can impact the outcome of a race.

As assistants for Mandella, we spent our entire time in the barn watching how they were behaving. It was about all the little things that I don't think a lot of people think about. Winning and losing is a matter of inches sometimes, so for Mandella it was about trying to tweak these horses and their routines to gain every kind of advantage.

What is something that this incoming generation of trainers does better or different than previous generations?

The obvious one is communication. There is a lot more emphasis on communication these days.

In terms of training, I think training horses has evolved everywhere around the world. There is a lot of talk about how horses race less often than they used to. I think it's a combination of many different things at play. Maybe the breed has been bred over generations to run faster and possibly the breed might have become tougher to keep sound. But more likely, with statistics and numbers being analyzed more these days, trainers have been able to see that horses run better with more time between races. When you're spacing out races more, horses tend to run bigger and have better performances. If you're running against a trainer that spaces his races out, you're going to be at a disadvantage.

That's not always the case. You can get a horse that runs well every two weeks. But statistically on the whole, I think that trainers have learned over the years that horses run a much bigger race when the races are more spread out. It's difficult to compete with the guys that do that unless you're doing the same thing, so I think it's just the way that training styles have developed over the years.

Could you tell us a bit about the Keeneland Files you did with Boomer Bloodstock? Will we see those again this year?

I really owe all of that to Vicky Leonard and Boomer [Craig Rounsefell]. They came up with the idea and I was just along for the ride. I was a little skeptical at first as I'm not one to jump in front of the camera. But once we got going, I realized that what they were trying to achieve was great and it was crazy how much positive feedback we got from it. So many people were coming up and saying how much they loved the videos. If it can shed some light on the process that we go through with buying horses, then I think we're doing our job. Boomer really does his homework leading up to it and in the videos you can see how much work he puts in. I had some calls afterwards and people were interested in coming in, so I think we definitely got some new partners from it.

Who is your favorite horse that you've trained?

That's a pretty easy one–Hit the Road (More Than Ready).

He had some minor injuries after the Pegasus last year so we gave him some time off. He has come back and was a bit disappointing, but after his last race a splint bone became inflamed so we've been going easy with him recently. This will be his last year of training. Hopefully we will have him back to the races before Del Mar this summer.

I genuinely believe he deserves a shot as a stallion. He has a great pedigree, he was precocious and he has always had a great mind. As a trainer, those are the kind of horses I want to train. He had a spotty racing career, but that was mostly due to the pandemic. He really has everything that I would hope to have in a racehorse. He's so competitive and he's won a stakes race at two, three and four. I hope he gets a chance to be a stallion because has all the attributes you look for in a racehorse.

Is there an up-and-coming horse in your barn that we should know about?

A horse called Arrowthegreat (Arrogate). He ran second in a straight maiden last summer at Del Mar. After a little issue we ran him back and he was a bit disappointing here last month, but was really sick after the race. He's a really beautiful horse and I have high hopes for him for the second half of the year. He'll be getting back on the work tab next week.

We have some exciting 2-year-olds arriving soon, including one by Good Magic. We've heard good reports about him from Ocala.

If you aren't at the racetrack, what can you be found doing?

I have three daughters. I spend a lot of time with them. They're all active in softball and soccer.

What is your favorite restaurant to go to after celebrating a win?

My wife [TVG host Christina Blacker] and I like to go out and try new places. There's a good one in Pasadena, a new Italian place called Piccolo. But all you Breeders' Cup people, don't be taking up my reservations.

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Imports a Key Pillar of Phil D’Amato’s Winning Strategy

Plenty of imports into the clogged Southern California shipping terminals of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been left idle these past few months, collateral damage in a supply-side bottle-neck.

Imports into the Southern California stable of Phil D'Amato, on the other hand, have been far more effectively commandeered.

“It's a really good strategy for owners to help them make money and have fun in the process,” says D'Amato, caught mid-morning between scrutinizing his trainees jog a dusty Santa Anita horse-path under a blazing hot sun and a scouting trip to Del Mar in preparation for the annual coastal caravan south.

D'Amato's “strategy” is a reference to his equine pipeline from Europe which, unlike the Nord Stream twins out of Russia, doesn't appear at risk of any imminent shut-off–not if recent results are any guide.

D'Amato's record-setting 67 victories this past Winter-Spring meet at Santa Anita–57 of them on the turf and 16 of them in stakes–included the ex-Euro winners of the GII Royal Heroine S. in Going Global (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), the GIII Senorita S. in Island of Love (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), and GIII American S. in Hong Kong Harry (Ire) (Es Que Love {Ire}).

A glance through some of D'Amato's less starry winners these past six months illuminates another intriguing pattern–that a good number of those purloined from Ireland come with report cards largely empty, save the odd check mark or two at some of that country's more pastoral venues.

“It's trying to get those diamonds in the rough at the right time for the right price and Dundalk seems to be the right venue to do that,” says D'Amato.

Such rare mineral scavenging has unearthed the recent winners Rhea Moon (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Ma France (Ire) (Caravaggio), both placed at the East Irish track before their relocation Stateside, as well as Gold Phoenix (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) a winner at Dundalk last year before finishing runner-up in the GII Charles Whittingham S. in April.

Why the smaller Irish tracks? Thrift, for one.

“It's just an easier venue to buy out of,” explains D'Amato. “You can buy a horse on the upswing, one that's going the right way, versus if they've run at the Curragh or Newmarket or Ascot, what they're going to be asking for it.”

That, and with fewer tracks to review, “you have a better line on the form,” he added.

The way D'Amato describes it, he and his fellow Transatlantic bargain hunters–bloodstock agents Niall Dalton, Michael Donohoe and Craig Rounsefell–have honed their operation into something of a well-oiled machine.

Think the East India Tea Company, only with none of that, how shall we call it–colonial baggage.

“It's everyone kind of working together to keep the wheel moving–us buying them, then developing them and getting rewarded for that,” he says, without hesitating to spill the tea on any trade secrets. “It's all of us watching these races every day and trying to find the horses that we think have talent.

“Niall and Michael have great relationships over there with the trainers and know which horses they think would be appropriate to buy. The right kind of style to fit in California,” he adds.

And what style is that?

“Really, most of these Europeans are small, so, you've got to kind of put that in the back of your mind, that you're not going to find these imposing 16-hand tall horses. You're going to find these smaller athletes. But at the same time, usually, these lighter made horses, if they can take to the surface here, they're easier on themselves,” he says, adding, “I can't emphasize enough that I think the more time you give them to acclimate usually the better rewarded you are when you run them.”

Right now, says D'Amato, with prizemoney in Ireland and England especially in such palliative care, the overseas market is ripe for plunder, many smaller outfits, in particular, relying more and more on the selling of their young stock to keep the bloodhounds from snapping at their heels.

“For most of them, this is what they do for a living. Most of them are traders with the way the purse structure is there,” D'Amato says. “Those are the people that are in it really to buy yearlings at a cheaper price and develop them and potentially sell them for a nice profit at two and three.

“And yeah, we're definitely not looking to buy off the Aidan and Joseph O'Briens of the world there because number one, they're not sellers. And two, their stock is–they're just very well-bred expensive horses, so that just doesn't fit what we're looking for.”

Mention of the O'Briens gives rise to recent news of the prodigal son setting up a small satellite operation at Saratoga this summer.

What if the young O'Brien–or some comparable European stable–decided to set up a small hypothetical camp in Southern California, maybe even Santa Anita next winter? Would D'Amato welcome such a challenge on his home turf?

“Well, I mean, hey, so long as you can welcome the competition and it helps the races fill, I don't have a problem with it. I mean, the same goes if I were to ship horses to Saratoga or try to win a race elsewhere. We're all doing what we can do to try to win races.

“But yeah, Joseph O'Brien, I've definitely watched him from afar. And you can tell he's the kind of person that could definitely supersede what his father's done, just by how young he is and what he's accomplished already.”

The parallels between the scion of the O'Brien clan and D'Amato's emergence as a trainer in his own standing, fully out from under the shadow cast by his long-time mentor, Mike Mitchell, are too obvious to leave undrawn.

Indeed, in a little more than eight years, D'Amato has almost doubled the graded stakes haul of Mitchell's, thoroughly eclipsing his former boss' Grade I total already. And he's done it with minimal window-dressing.

Whereas many trainers proudly wear their grouchy irascibility like a colorful tunic at Mardi Gras, or court the press with quote-ready aphorisms designed for the next day's headlines, D'Amato's approach is a contradiction, no-nonsense and business-like, pleasant and personable.

Little old ladies looking for a helping hand across Santa Anita's Baldwin Avenue swoon when they see D'Amato approach.

Given what he's achieved already in the sorts of big races populated by names like Whittingham, McAnally, Frankel, Mandella and Drysdale, where does he see his burgeoning record when placed alongside those history makers?

“I guess in a sense, with the bar set where it is, we just want to continue to keep building on that and doing what we've done the previous meet. So, I definitely take it as a challenge. But those are the situations I thrive on. Yeah, I like the challenge of it.”

He adds, however, “When I start a meet, I never look at statistics and how I'm going to start the meeting and how many wins I expect. I always look at it from the perspective of putting the horses in the right spots and also giving them their best chances to develop.”

Such an approach helps to avoid being pigeon-holed as a trainer–the ultimate bete noir of the rookie looking to expand and grow a competitive barn.

For every young import in the D'Amato stable, green as the emerald grass they grew up on, there's an older American-bred as hard as a walnut husk with as many miles in their wheels as an old Ford Model T.

The Red Kings (English Channel) of the world, they love and they thrive on running,” D'Amato says of his Kentucky-bred 8-year-old, still competitive in graded stakes even with more than 40 runs under his belt.

“I've got great owners and an operation where we can take our time and run them when they're ready to run,” he adds, in explanation. “We don't have to force them to run in spots just because this spot or that spot comes up in three weeks.”

Notably, D'Amato has achieved his upward trajectory at a time when getting a horse to the races in California has rarely been harder, given the suite of welfare measures implemented in recent years–measures, it needs to be said, that have helped situate California at the head of the nation in equine safety.

“I mean, it's definitely been a learning experience for every trainer,” says D'Amato. “But I think it just makes us focus on giving these horses breaks when they need time off. All my owners are in favor of that and I think it just helps the horse's longevity at the end of the day.

“It's always been one of my things, to give horses two, three months off after they've had their run for the year,” he adds. “But I think it really, I wouldn't say forces, but makes all these trainers realize it's probably a better way of doing things in order to keep these horses around longer, happier and healthier.”

With Del Mar just around the corner, D'Amato shared running plans for some of his stable stars and emerging lights.

Count Again (Awesome Again): “We're freshening him up. He likes a lot of spacing in between his races and he's doing well. But we'll run him in the [Sept. 3] GII Del Mar Mile and then maybe just wait until the Breeders' Cup Mile.”

Desert Dawn (Cupid): “Desert Dawn is going to take on older horses in the [Aug. 6] GI Clement Hirsch S. on the dirt.”

Leggs Galore (Bayern): “She is going to run in the [July 29] Daisycutter H. sprint.”

Going Global (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}): “She will run in the [Aug. 13] Yellow Ribbon H.”

Going to Vegas (Goldencents): “Going to Vegas will probably wait to run in the [Sept. 10] GII John C. Mabee S. and then hopefully the GI Rodeo Drive S. at back at San Anita. That's our two-way plan.”

Bellabel (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}): “She's going to run opening weekend in the [July 23] GII San Clemente S. She's doing really well. She's this big, for a European, big gangly filly. [After her win in the Blue Norther S.] we put that race under her and just kind of gave her a little time, freshened her up. Now, hopefully, we can knock out some of these 3-year-old stakes, try to win the [Aug. 20] GI Del Mar Oaks with her down the road. That's kind of our master plan. But we've got to run in the San Clemente first.”

Cathkin Peak (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}): “He's doing very well. He's going to run in the [July 31] GII Eddie Read S.”

Says D'Amato of his Del Mar squad, “This year, knock on wood, I'm pretty deep in those [big] races. We've kind of freshened up, ready to go.”

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