Bloom’s Premier Thinking Could Put Racing in a Different League 

The cleverest Premier League football club tycoon is also a devoted racehorse owner committed to “expanding” his racing empire. QED: put Tony Bloom in charge of UK racing and tell him to replicate the miraculous transformation of his Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

One day last week Bloom addressed the Gimcrack dinner as an owner of Lake Forest, the Gimcrack Stakes winner. A couple of nights later, Brighton finished top of their Europa League group to cruise through to the last 16 in their first ever European campaign.

To Bloom, owning and breeding horses is no mere hobby. At York he signalled his intent to play for big stakes on the Flat (over jumps he owns the two-time 2m champion chaser Energumene). This may turn out to be just another mathematical challenge for Bloom's restless mind. If he can beat the plutocrats of English football, why not try the same formula against Coolmore and Godolphin? You can bet your stud farm those giants will be watching him.

But how might the sport itself benefit from a large injection of street smarts? Racing folk tend to disdain external Messiahs. Bloom though isn't an outsider. He has strong form in racing and especially betting, where he made his fortune. It's tempting to wonder how a football club owner who has outflanked nation states, oligarchs and private equity hotshots would fare in a poker game with racing's warring stakeholders.

The crucial point about him is that he took Brighton from the verge of extinction 26 years ago to the top six in the Premier League by drawing on his world-class poker decision-making skills – and the best data processing model in British football. Bloom buys low and sells high, always replenishing the squad with young talent picked out around the world by algorithms built by Starlizard, an analytics firm whose work wipes the floor with the research carried out by other clubs.

Bloom loves racing almost as much as he loves the Seagulls, as Brighton are known. His Gimcrack speech will have excited breeders and trainers. Bloom owns Lake Forest with Starlizard's head of football, Ian McAleavy. Radars buzzed at Tattersalls a fortnight ago when Get Ahead, a half-sister to the 2,000 Guineas winner Chaldean, was sold to First Bloodstock for 2,500,000 gns. First Bloodstock is registered in Brighton in McAleavy's name.

The questions multiply. What if Bloom and McAleavy develop a data model for racing as good as their football prototype? Are there gaps in the knowledge of trainers and breeders begging to be filled by revolutionary algorithms? I can hear breeders crying out indignantly. Do these football folk think there is a clue unreached by centuries of evidence sifting and trial and error?

Fair question. But then it's also worth reminding sceptics that Bloom is so far ahead of the game in football that he sold one player (Moises Caicedo) to Chelsea for more than the original cost of Brighton's handsome 30,000-seat Amex Stadium. Caicedo cost £4.5m and went two and half years later for £115m.

[Bloom's] opinion carries the weight of one whose
work in football is envied across the world

To Bloom business is never just a game. He told his audience in York that he and McAleavy were determined to pursue “more successes on the flat in the near future. That will mean investing in more horses, expanding our stable and, through that, in our own way, making a bigger contribution to UK racing.”

Lots of clever people have theories about how racing can attract new disciples. At York, Bloom backed Premiersation, under which, he argued, “a shorter, more impactful fixture list, will be much easier for new, lesser-committed racing followers to keep pace with.”

His call for a two-week closed season in a 12-month cycle of relentless betting shop fodder with the aim of “focusing attention and building anticipation” for a new campaign will struggle to get past bookmakers and the collectors of racing's meagre levy. But his opinion carries the weight of one whose work in football is envied across the world. “As the saying goes, sometimes less is more,” he said. “And I believe that a few tweaks to schedules here and there, and a small reduction in the sheer volume of racing, will bring more and greater benefits to the sport as a whole in the UK.”

So: less racing, more emphasis on the big events, a break between seasons and good relations with the bookmaking industry. These were the tips from a racehorse owner whose club was playing in the lower leagues at a converted municipal running track when he took over. 

If racing isn't in the market for creative thinking from 'outside' the sport then it really ought to be. Bloom has made himself pivotal to the growth of the English Premier League as the world's favourite football division while rewriting the rules about how players are scouted, bought and sold. We wait to see whether he can repeat that trick with bloodstock (he has made a decent start).

Mick Channon spoke recently about how many rich owners enter racing expecting success on the scale they achieved in business, only to leave with reduced wealth and a thousand-yard stare. A talent for one trade isn't necessarily transferable to every other. Bloom won't be making many mistakes. At a recent club function, I practically begged him to buy Brighton racecourse to save it from stagnation. He didn't sound keen. 

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The Real Thing

CHELTENHAM, UK–On Wednesday morning, the front page of Jour de Galop referred to how Constitution Hill (GB) and Honeysuckle (GB) had restored the smiles of English National Hunt breeders, but the French breeders were smiling again by the end of the day, especially thanks to Energumene (Fr) (Denham Red {FR}), winner of the G1 Queen Mother Champion Chase for the second year running. 

The 9-year-old, one of four winners so far for Willie Mullins at the Cheltenham Festival, was joined by fellow French-breds Impaire Et Passe (Fr) (Diamond Boy {Fr}), Delta Work (Fr) (Network {Ger}), and Maskada (Fr) (Masked Marvel {GB}) on the roll of honour for the day, with Delta Work not only notching back-to-back wins in the Glenfarclas Cross-Country Chase but also following the example set by his younger half-brother Jazzy Matty (Fr) (Doctor Dino {Fr}), who won the G3 Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on Tuesday. 

It's remarkable for one broodmare even to be represented by two Cheltenham Festival winners in different years, but two at the same meeting is quite something, and puts the 18-year-old Robbe (Fr) (Video Rock {Fr}) in rarefied territory. Owned and bred by the Magnien family, who are based at Saint-Gratien-Savigny, not far from Haras de Cercy where Delta Work's sire stood, Robbe was winless in her three hurdle starts but she has more than made up for that in her second career. Delta Work, who is also a five-time Grade 1 winner in Ireland, and Jazzy Matty are just two of the mare's five black-type performers, which include the latter's full-brother Inneston (Fr), runner-up in Saturday's G3 EBF National Hunt Novices' Hurdle Final at Sandown.

Similar plaudits should be handed to the Gleeson family's homebred Galileo (Ire) mare Hikari (Ire). Her offspring now include last summer's G3 Irish St Leger Trial winner Raise You (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and, in the gloaming of Wednesday evening, her 5-year-old A Dream To Share (Ire), by the former top sprinter Muhaarar (GB), added more National Hunt black type to the page when landing the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper for 85-year-old trainer John Kiely.

Following the gelding's victory at the Dublin Racing Festival, JP McManus swooped to add him to his Cheltenham squad. A Dream To Share, who is unbeaten in four bumpers, was thus running for the first time in the famous green-and-gold hoops instead of in the colours of Claire Gleeson, who bred him with her husband Brian under their Brucetown Farms banner. The deal was struck, and the Gleesons' son John kept the ride, with the 18-year-old schoolboy remaining cool under pressure as more experienced jockeys were scrimmaging for the line, and managing to sneak up the rail for a close call of a first Festival victory on his first ride at Cheltenham.

“The horse was named by my wife Claire,” said Brian Gleeson. “Everything good in life is worth sharing and we always thought that this horse was good, so on Christmas Day Claire said she would call this horse A Dream To Share, trained by John Kiely. And the dream was to win at the Cheltenham Festival.”

He added, “Everyone loves John Kiely. This man is 86 in May and he's had second- and third-place finishes at Cheltenham and now he's had a winner with JP McManus. It's JP's 70th Festival winner and John Gleeson's first. It's fairytale stuff.”

One can only guess at the figures involved in the private transaction that secured A Dream To Share but it is now commonplace for top National Hunt horses to change hands for Book 1 prices. So when you see a big, glorious gelding who was bought by his trainer as a store for €21,000 storming up the hill for home, the heart warms a little. 

So it was in the case of The Real Whacker (Ire) (Mahler {Ire}), who held on by just a short-head to win the G1 Brown Advisory Novices' Chase, having made all of the running under Sam Twiston-Davies. His bold bid brought about the most uproarious reception on a day which would always have been hard pressed to match Tuesday's magical atmosphere. The Real Whacker's victory was a welcome Festival first for trainer Paddy Neville, who bought him as an untested 3-year-old at Goffs and moved him across the Irish Sea with him to restart his training career in Yorkshire in 2021. Neville's move to Ann Duffield's stable has been a fruitful one, with the likeable giant that is The Real Whacker now the star of a small team that has yielded eight wins from 40 outings this season.

“I made the move [to England] because I couldn't get any owners in Ireland, just couldn't get them. Hopefully it will work away here,” said Neville, whose 7-year-old held off the well-backed favourite Gerri Colombe (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}), a representative of Gordon Elliott's stable, which is certainly not short of owners.

“We'll mind him for next year and come back for the Gold Cup, hopefully. We were thinking about it this year, but we've probably made the right decision for the horse. He'd only run six times before today, so we've given him that bit of experience and we'll come back next year.”

It can still be done as it once was: selecting an unbroken horse and bringing him on through the ranks instead of swooping for the readymade article. And with his old friend Davey Dunn from his home town of Askeaton, Co Limerick, and co-owners Rebecca Dennis and Alan Duffus, Neville has now pulled off the biggest result of his career on the most important stage.

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A Champion Crowned As A Champion Bows Out

CHELTENHAM, UK–It is a rare moment when a beaten horse elicits a more rousing reception than a winner, but then Tiger Roll (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}) is the rarest of beasts. An enigma sometimes, but scintillating on his many days in the sun, he retires a proper champion of a horse after giving his all for one final run in relentless rain. 

Nobody could claim that the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is a championship race – in fact there are those who call for its exclusion from the Festival – but the quirky up-hill-down-dale marathon contest is one that has seen one of the most popular horses in training at his very best over the years. Tiger Roll has won the race three times since 2018, and going into this swansong year for one last hurrah it looked very much like the script had been read and understood. Indeed, it had been by Tiger Roll, who despite the sodden ground looked dead set on giving the Cheltenham faithful the result they longed to see. But his younger stable-mate Delta Work (Fr) (Network {Ger}), who was promoted to favourite as the rain continued to fall, decided to play the role of party-pooper. 

With Tiger Roll skipping round in his usual workmanlike manner in the hands of Davey Russell, the master of the National Hunt weighing-room, the duo led the field a merry dance through the final lap, but danger loomed as Delta Work and Jack Kennedy came to challenge over the final flight, setting up a battle royal up the stamina-sapping run-in. At the line, the 12-year-old Tiger Roll, a five-time winner at the Festival and a dual Grand National hero, was but a length down, giving Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud and Gordon Elliott a truly memorable quinella.

“Tiger is the horse of a lifetime and he's going to have a brilliant retirement back at Gigginstown,” said Elliott as both horses were welcomed back to the winner's enclosure in tandem.

“He's been with us for nine years now, we've always had faith in him and we've really enjoyed today. Tiger made it the race it was. In one way I'm delighted with the one-two, but if he'd won that would have been really special. But I'm delighted with him and he got the reaction he deserved.”

Eight years ago, on just the third start of his life, Tiger Roll landed his first win at Cheltenham in the G1 JCB Triumph Hurdle over two miles. Three years later he took the National Hunt Chase over double the distance under Elliott's assistant Lisa O'Neill before returning 12 months on to win his first Cross Country Chase followed by his first Grand National just a month after that. He bows out having won 13 of his 44 starts, but the stats don't really do the little horse justice. The son of a Derby winner, bred for the Flat and bought initially to race for Sheikh Mohammed, he was considered surplus to requirements at Godolphin and was sold unraced for just £10,000 to Nigel Hawke, who trained him to win on his debut before he changed stables again.

“He is a great horse and he has got a fitting send-off,” said Russell, who rode Tiger Roll to both his Grand National victories. “I always felt Jack breathing down my neck and I would say the rain and the ground just caught us out as Delta Work is very effective on that ground and I'd say Tiger is not as effective on it.

“He went down on his sword the way he deserved to go down. You can see the public are fantastic. It doesn't matter where they are from they are cheering both horses. It is such a marvellous sport we have and we are so lucky. He is just a marvellous horse.”

In eight appearances at the Cheltenham Festival, Tiger Roll has finished in the first two on seven occasions to force his way into the hearts of those who make the annual pilgrimage to the Cotswolds. It will be a while before we see his like again – or hear a winning favourite booed over the line.

Mullins Leads The Irish Charge

Willie Mullins, a man as urbane as he is successful, extended his comfortable lead at the head of the Cheltenham Festival trainers' roll of honour, with another three victories on Wednesday to add to his win in Tuesday's finale. For Mullins, winning races comes as naturally as breathing, but a glaring omission in his well-rounded curriculum vitae had been the G1 Queen Mother Champion Chase. Thanks to Energumene (Fr) (Denham Red {Fr}) that is no longer the case.

The race had been billed as one of the clashes of the week but a variety of factors led to Wednesday's feature being as damp a squib as the racegoers dodging in and out of the rain that persisted throughout the afternoon. The ground, which was downgraded from good to soft, to soft, and then to heavy as the day wore on, was no hindrance to the winner, however, even though it apparently scuppered the chances of the only horse to have beaten him in more than two years, Shishkin (Ire) (Sholokhov {Ire}). From the off, Energumene's main rival was never travelling and his usually exuberant jumping folded in the heavy going. Sensibly, Shishkin, who has lit up the last two Festivals with his authoritative victories in the G1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle and G1 Arkle Trophy, was pulled up by Nico de Boinville soon after the eighth fence. Disappointing but no disaster.

With another of the leading lights, Chacun Pour Soi (Fr) (Policy Maker {Ire}), taking a tumble five fences from home to further weaken the field, Energumene crept into contention after being hunted round toward the rear under a canny energy-saving ride from Paul Townend. He challenged eventual runner-up Funambule Sivola (Fr) (Noroit {Ger}) for the lead three out and thereafter the race was at his mercy, with the 8-year-old striding clear from the penultimate fence to win convincingly.

“He jumped so well, he got me into the race and I was able to fill up everywhere,” said Townend after riding his second winner of the day for Mullins, who is now the most successful trainer of all time at the Festival with 82 winners to his name. 

“Riding a Champion Chase winner for Willie is great. Ruby [Walsh] didn't leave many behind him but we are glad to pick up what scraps he left. We were out of luck yesterday but in luck today, so that's all right and everyone's in one piece.”

Jumping may be the name of the game at Cheltenham but arguably the race in which Mullins has been feared the most over the years is the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper, which traditionally brings the curtain down on Wednesday. In fact, the trainer even rode his first winner of the Festival bumper, Wither Or Which (Ire), in 1996, and he has trained another 11 winners of the race since then. The most recent is doubtless one to savour as Facile Vega (Ire) (Walk In The Park {Ire}) is the son of a Festival darling in the six-time G1 Mares' Hurdle winner Quevega (Fr) (Robin Des Champs {Fr}). 

“To me, the fact we had the dam and she was so good, and that he has come through and he looks to be as good as her is fantastic,” Mullins said. 

“He is very easy to train and we just keep a lid on him all the time. The only pressure I had with him was the pressure I put on myself. That's what I just see at home every day. This horse just travels and now you're seeing what I see. He really impressed me in Leopardstown and just impressed me again today. He's a real sort.”

The 5-year-old Facile Vega is now unbeaten in his three starts and his owners in the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate will be hoping he can follow a similar trajectory to his stable-mate and last year's Champion Bumper winner Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy). The Cheveley Park Stud representative has been beaten only once in his life and ensured the day started well for the Mullins team when winning the G1 Ballymore Novices' Hurdle.

Man On A Mission

Rumours of the death of British National Hunt racing appear to have been greatly exaggerated, certainly in the novice chasing division. Victory for Alan King in Tuesday's Arkle with Edwardstone (GB) (Kayf Tara {GB}) was followed by another five-time winner this season, the exciting L'Homme Presse (Fr) (Diamond Boy {Fr}), who slogged through the mud under jockey Charlie Deutsch in the manner expected of a Venetia Williams trainee to claim the G1 Brown Advisory Novice Chase from the Lucinda Russell-trained Ahoy Senor (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}).

“He has been absolutely fantastic,” said Williams. “All credit to Andy [Edwards, owner], who picked him out and has seen him right the way through to here. I'm just thrilled and honoured to have been the custodian of him.”

She continued, “Andy was recommended him when he had had two runs in France and he had ended up with a tendon injury. He was damaged goods at that point but with most tendon injuries if you do the right thing and give them time you can get them back. He joined me just a year after that injury in the September and he didn't have his first run for us until Grand National day.

“It was a long played-out story but here we are. He is a big horse and always looked like he was going to be a chaser. What a fabulous ride Charlie gave him, he did everything right. We can dream about anything now.”

Both Williams and Russell hold the rare distinction of having trained a Grand National winner and the two trainers, one based almost in Wales and the other in Scotland, are clearly great friends.

Russell, who struck on the first day with Corach Rambler (Ire) (Jeremy) in the G3 Ultima Handicap Chase, said sportingly after finishing second, “I'm delighted for Venetia. If I'm going to get beaten by anybody I'm happy that it's Venetia.”

The two women join Nicky Henderson, his former assistant Ben Pauling, and Alan King on the winners' sheet for Britain but, as widely expected, the Irish team has surged ahead after two days with eight winners on the board to the home team's six. At half-time in Cheltenham after a brutally wet day, every victory over the final two days will be hard earned. 

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