Heron S. Next For Inspiral

Cartier Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who will miss the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas on May 1, will instead make her next start in the Listed Coral Heron S. at Sandown Park on May 19. Four-for-four at two including a victory in the G1 bet365 Fillies' Mile at Newmarket in October, Inspiral missed several days of training in the lead up to the Guineas. Royal Ascot's G1 Coronation S. in June is the long-term target for the Cheveley Park homebred.

John Gosden, who trains the filly with his son Thady, said, “In the case of Inspiral, all being well, she will run in the Heron S. as a prep for the Coronation S. at Royal Ascot.

“She missed those critical eight to 10 days of training during trials week here and from that point of view I couldn't run her at 80% as that wouldn't be very clever.

“It was a straightforward decision in the end not to run in the Guineas when you miss that period of training. You have got to be at full match fitness for a Guineas.

“You can't miss two critical bits of work and think you are going to be there so to that extent it was not a difficult decision. You do the right thing by the filly and the right thing was not to run.

“I was just going through the book last night and there are no fillies' race for her in this country. She can't [go] for the Michael Seeley Memorial S. at York as she is not eligible and consequently the Heron comes at the right time.”

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Sacred Enters Winter Quarters

Connections of Sacred (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) have decided against a tilt at the Breeders' Cup for the 3-year-old filly, and she has headed into winter quarters at Cheveley Park Stud ahead of a planned 4-year-old campaign.

Sacred, second in a trio of key juvenile events in 2020 for trainer William Haggas in the G2 Queen Mary S., G2 Lowther S. and G2 Flying Childers S., won the G3 Nell Gwyn S. and the G2 Hungerford S. this season over seven furlongs. On her only other run, she was seventh in the G1 1000 Guineas.

Cheveley Park Stud Managing Director Chris Richardson said, “We've decided not to go. We would have got our ground, but she's a very special filly, and Mrs Thompson took the view she's staying in training next year, and we didn't want to travel her. If all is well, and she's still in competitive heart, we will consider it as a 4-year-old. She's back here [at Cheveley Park Stud] for her holidays. Let's hope she develops physically and we can stretch her to a mile, which would be good. We'll see how we get on. The programme is a little easier for those fillies.”

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Sacred Possible For Breeders’ Cup

Cheveley Park Stud homebred Sacred (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) is targeting the G1 Prix de la Foret after returning to form with a win in the Aug. 14 G2 Hungerford S., but trainer William Haggas has also nominated the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar as a possibility for the 3-year-old filly who wants firm ground.

“Before the Foret the only possible is the [G2] Park S. at Doncaster, but she has to have to fast ground,” said Haggas. “Unfortunately fast ground Arc weekends are few and far between these days. I don't know whether [Cheveley Park owner Patricia] Mrs Thompson would like to travel, but the Breeders' Cup is certainly something I would consider. If she was keen on the idea then we'd go. But if she isn't then we'll wait; I think there's a chance she stays in training next year.”

Sacred has won twice over seven furlongs this season-the G3 Nell Gwyn S. and the Hungerford-either side of finishing seventh in the G1 1000 Guineas.

“Seven furlongs is the worst trip to have a good horse at; it's a pain,” Haggas lamented. “There is one Group 1 and four Group 2s, three of which fall in the same month. So you can't do them all–well, Jim Bolger might.

“There's then the Park S., and that's it. So it is a bad distance to have a good horse at, but that's the way it is. I think we'll try her over a mile again at some stage.”

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Cheveley Park Stud’s David Thompson Dies at 84

David Thompson CBE, the owner with his wife Patricia of Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket, died on Dec. 29 from renal failure at the age of 84.

A proudly patriotic man whose numerous successful racehorses sported the stud’s red, white and blue colours, Thompson’s significant involvement in British racing and breeding began in 1975 with his purchase of Newmarket’s oldest stud farm, which was then in receivership. That same year Music Boy (GB), trained initially in Yorkshire by ‘Snowy’ Wainwright, became the Thompsons’ first Group winner, in partnership with Ken Mackey, in the Gimcrack S. Music Boy was later trained by Brian Lunness, who had been installed as the private trainer at Cheveley Park Stud, and he became the first stallion to stand for the Thompsons, becoming leading first-season sire in 1980.

From the original 270 acres of land purchased, the stud now extends to just less than 1,000 acres and incorporates the neighbouring Strawberry Hill, Sandwich, Ashley Heath and Warren Hill divisions, which house a sizeable broodmare band. Cheveley Park Stud itself is home to the six-strong stallion roster which is headed by Pivotal (GB), one of the most successful stallions of the modern era. 

Now 28, and still on active duty, Pivotal was the first foal for both his sire, the former Cheveley Park Stud resident Polar Falcon, and his dam Fearless Revival (Cozzene). More importantly, he was the first homebred Group 1 winner for the Thompsons and, from a relatively humble beginning at stud, starting off at a fee of £6,000 in 1997, he graduated to a high of £85,000 as his success grew. His 32 Group 1 winners around the world include the current French champion sire Siyouni (Fr), as well as Classic winners Sariska (GB), Saoire (GB) and Halfway To Heaven (Ire). Pivotal was also European champion broodmare sire in 2018 and 2019.

Along with Pivotal, David and Patricia Thompson’s extensive list of group winners includes the Classic-winning fillies Russian Rhythm and Confidential Lady (GB), trained respectively by two of their longest-standing trainers, Sir Michael Stoute and Sir Mark Prescott. Russian Rhythm, bred in America by Brushwood Stable, was a rare yearling purchase but Cheveley Park Stud’s homebred roll of honour contains dual Group 1 winner and successful stallion Medicean (GB), and his fellow top-level winners Chorist (GB), Nannina (GB), Peeress (GB), Exclusive (GB), Virtual (GB) and Hooray (GB). The most recent Group 1 winner was the 2019 Falmouth S. victrix Veracious (GB), while Queen’s Trust (GB) provided the Thompsons with a memorable American triumph when beating Lady Eli in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf of 2016.

Paying tribute to the successful owner/breeder, Chris Richardson, Cheveley Park Stud’s managing director for more than three decades, said, “David Thompson was a very generous, meticulous, sometimes unpredictable man, who always had a certain charm. He inspired everyone with his insatiable enthusiasm for business which, thankfully, included a love of racing and breeding, alongside his wife, Patricia and their family. He had tremendous foresight and would often ask a question, knowing full well the answer. I always tried to be prepared, as one never knew when the thrill and challenge of another equine adventure would catch his imagination.”

One such adventure has been the Thompsons’ significant investment in a select string of National Hunt horses, trained in Ireland by Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead. Most notably, they race the unbeaten novice chaser Envoi Allen (Fr), a Grade 1 winner at each of the last two Cheltenham Festivals. The day before David Thompson died, another of the couple’s jumpers, A Plus Tard (Fr), put himself in the Cheltenham Gold Cup reckoning with victory in the G1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown. 

Though their involvement in jumping has grown significantly in the last few seasons, the interest in the National Hunt scene has been long held and Patricia Thompson previously owned the 1992 Grand National winner Party Politics (GB). 

David Thompson attended the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale on Dec. 10, which was relocated to Newmarket owing to Covid restrictions, and bought the top two lots, both 4-year-old geldings, for a total of 740,000gns.

Chris Richardson added, “His latest venture into National Hunt racing, proved a huge success and gave him so much pleasure. DBT’s recent visit to the Cheltenham Sale held in Newmarket, and to the stud, gave him and all here, so much joy. He certainly enriched the lives of all those he met and who knew him. He will be much missed.”

As well as having been one of the most successful owner/breeders of this or any other era, David Thompson will be remembered as one of the great entrepreneurs and philanthropists, though he always liked to keep a low profile.

After leaving school, he joined his two elder brothers in the family business B. Thompson Ltd, a meat wholesaling company which their father had developed from his agricultural roots in Suffolk. The trio expanded the company to the extent that it was floated on the stock exchange in 1966. It subsequently merged with J. B. Eastwood plc, but Thompson found the restrictions imposed by the corporate structure did not suit his entrepreneurial spirit so well, and he began to plough his own furrow with sensational results.

By this time, David and Patricia Thompson were living in Hillsdown Court in Totteridge in North London, and in 1975 he consolidated his interests in a new company which he named Hillsdown Holdings (a name which will resonate in plenty of racing ears as sponsor of Newmarket’s Cherry Hinton S. for several years).  

Specialising in taking over ailing businesses, often food-related, and revivifying them, within a decade Hillsdown Holdings became one of the largest privately-owned companies in Britain. In 1985 it was floated on the Stock Exchange and soon became a constituent part of the FTSE 100. By the end of the decade it had an annual turnover of almost £4 billion and over 40,000 employees.

Around this time, David Thompson stepped back from his managerial role in Hillsdown Holdings and sold his interest in the company, but his innate acumen would not allow him to rest. He continued to buy and sell businesses, including farms, and at various times he was the owner of Windsor Racecourse and Queen’s Park Rangers Football Club. He also took the opportunity to focus on charitable activity: he and Patricia formed the Thompson Family Charitable Trust, through which they have donated over £70 million to a wide variety of medical, educational, social, artistic and other charities, while maintaining an endowment for future donations of more than £100 million. It was for their philanthropy that both were recently awarded CBEs.

Sir Mark Prescott, who trained Pivotal as well as the Thompsons’ homebred Classic winner Confidential Lady and Group 1-winning juvenile Hooray (GB), said, “When they started, Mr Thompson was really more interested in the racing and Mrs Thompson was perhaps more interested in the stud but gradually the two interests melded together. He didn’t always like going racing, even when he was younger, but he loved racing. Mr Thompson was determined not to be a tax exile and was determined to pay British taxes. He waved the British flag with his red, white and blue colours. He was very proud to be a British breeder.”

David Thompson is survived by his wife Patricia, children Richard, Rosalind and Katie, and seven grandchildren.

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