“It's been fantastic. He's an improving horse. As a younger horse he had some issues but now he seems to be getting better every year,” Ferguson told TDN.  “In his races in Bahrain and Saudi there was no catching him. There's no end to him at the moment. The next question is can he go a mile and four furlongs? That would give us other options.”

Either side of Christmas the seven-year-old son of Frankel (GB) has given his owner-breeder an excuse for a trip to the sun while picking up around £1.5 million in prize-money, first in the G2 Bahrain International Trophy and then in last Saturday's G2 Howden Neom Turf Cup. These two races are relative blow-ins on the international circuit, and at the end of March Spirit Dancer will be aimed at his own version of a Middle East triple crown when lining up on Dubai World Cup night. 

The options currently being pondered by Ferguson and Spirit Dancer's trainer Richard Fahey are whether to attempt the G1 Dubai Turf over nine furlongs, a distance easily within his range, or to test the horse in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, which would be asking him to go a furlong and a half farther than he's been before.  

“I'm swaying towards the mile and a half,” Fahey admits. “But we're going to take our time to think about it. In the back of my mind I've been wanting to try him over a mile and a half for a while. I'm undecided but if I had to put a percentage on it, I'm leaning 80 per cent towards running in the Sheema Classic. I'm leaving it as long as I can. Both races look very strong, but you never know, one or two might drop out.”

The trainer adds of Spirit Dancer, “He arrived in Dubai two days after his win in Saudi and he's in great order.”

The latest bulletin will be music to the ears of Ferguson, who races Spirit Dancer in partnership with his friends Ged Mason and Peter Done. The three men are also partners in a number of smart jumpers, meaning that Ferguson's loyalties are for the time being a little torn. On Saturday, just ahead of Spirit Dancer's triumph, the exciting young prospect Kalif du Berlais (Fr) (Masked Marvel {GB}) maintained his unbeaten run in Britain with victory in the G2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle at Kempton Park. 

He says, “I was definitely looking forward to the National Hunt for a long time and then along comes Spirit Dancer and spoils it all. All of a sudden the excitement is just fantastic.

“We've got so many good National Hunt horses. Kalif du Berlais, who won on Saturday, and I think we're in quite a good position for Cheltenham.”

Through my life I have always tried to keep my feet on the ground but there are occasions when it takes you, like the reception we got in Bahrain 

The Cheltenham Festival will be on Ferguson's agenda before he returns to the Middle East, and he is hopeful that Hitman (Fr) (Falco) can improve on his third-place finish last year when he returns for another crack at the G1 Ryanair Chase. Like Kalif Du Berlais and former star chasers What A Friend (GB) and Clan des Obeaux (Fr), Hitman is trained by Paul Nicholls, who has also recently taken charge of Caldwell Potter (Fr) (Martaline {GB}), bought by Ferguson, Mason, Done and another regular partner, John Hales, for €740,000, a record sum for a National Hunt horse at public auction.

“I think Hitman will do well,” Ferguson says. “I just feel that he seems to die in the last couple of fences over three miles, but he's back running over two miles and four furlongs. He might just surprise people.”

Ferguson admits to having had “some great fun” with his National Hunt string, and there has been no disguising his sheer joy at the performances this winter of Spirit Dancer, who has taken full advantage of the rapidly expanding race programme in the Gulf.

“Bahrain in five years' time will be really big,” he says. “It's developing all the time. Of course Saudi is a wee bit ahead of it at the moment but in five years' time Dubai, Saudi and Bahrain will all be fantastic. The prize-money is unbelievable.”

He adds, “Richard has been very good at communicating his thoughts and ideas with me. When he won at York, he said he was going to send him to Bahrain. I had to ask, 'What's going on in Bahrain?' He said it was a two-million-dollar race and I thought, 'Oh, okay.' They looked after us so well.”

During his legendary career as manager of Manchester United, Ferguson was famed for nurturing young talent on the pitch. Now his eye can't help but assess the ability of the man who has ridden Spirit Dancer in his last 14 starts, 26-year-old Oisin Orr. 

“The jockey is very calm. He's a very composed lad. He doesn't panic,” says Ferguson. “I said to him in Bahrain – it was a big race for him and he is quiet and unassuming – and I said, 'One thing I am going to tell you is, see that Frankel, he will never let you down. He'll run up a mountain for you.'”

The image of Frankel winning the 2,000 Guineas remains at the forefront of Ferguson's mind as he reminisces about the great horse's dominance at Newmarket that day.

“I think in sport one superstar comes along every four or five years,” he says. “You get an exceptional horse – a Frankel, a Constitution Hill, or going way back, Arkle or Shergar. It's like that with players – like [Paul] Gascoigne, who was an unbelievable kid. He was one of the best English players, after Bobby Charlton, without question. You get exceptional players, like Ronaldo and Messi, and sport does that, you know.”

Spirit Dancer and Oisin Orr up after the Neom Turf Cup | Racingfotos

Ferguson is clearly still buoyed by the events of last weekend and he delights in recounting that Spirit Dancer's groom, Hayley Irvine, won the equivalent of £4,000 after being awarded World Pool's Moment of the Day. “And she gets married in two weeks' time,” he says.

He and his partners weren't the only ones to revel in Spirit Dancer's success, however. 

“It was amazing, the number of Manchester United fans in Bahrain and Saudi,” Ferguson says. “It was incredible. I came out of my bedroom early one morning in Bahrain and there were about 20 kids in the foyer waiting for me. They put two security guards outside my door. You always have to give autographs and photographs to kids, and they were there every morning, and when we won in Bahrain they were cheering like hell as if we'd scored a goal. It was really good, it was impressive, and it cheered me up.”

The last comment is all the more poignant for Spirit Dancer's Bahrain victory coming a little over a month after the death of his wife of 57 years, Lady Cathy Ferguson.

He continues, “Through my life I have always tried to keep my feet on the ground but there are occasions when it takes you, like the reception we got in Bahrain and the other day [in Riyadh].”

Breeders will tell you that winning a race is even sweeter with a homebred. Ferguson's own path into breeding racehorses has been guided by his bloodstock advisor Alan Perry and by Greg and Lottie Parsons, the owners of Upperwood Farm Stud near Hemel Hempstead, where Spirit Dancer's dam, Queen's Dream (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is a permanent boarder. 

Whenever I go racing it does a lot for me. I never expected that
the horse would be as good as this. And he's getting better

“We bought Queen's Dream from Andreas Wohler and Alan Perry recommended that we send her to Hemel Hempstead. Alan worked for Juddmonte for a few years and he talked them into taking the mare for Frankel. Alan has done a great job there, and so have Greg and Lottie Parsons. It's a lovely, quiet operation in the middle of nowhere almost, and they've been great. The mare has had six foals for me now,” he says. 

“We have [three-year-old] Road To Wembley – a really nice name – with Richard Hughes and then there's a really nice horse, Hampden Park – another nice name – with Andrew Balding. He got a knee knock and was sidelined for a couple of months but he's now back in training and I'm going down there soon to see him. Andrew is very excited about him and he won very nicely at Ascot.

“Her two-year-old by Masar is a bit weak at the moment so we'll give him a bit of time, and that's what Greg is really good at. He's so patient.”

Ferguson admits that at the age of 82 he is unlikely to expand his breeding interests, but there is still much to look forward to within Spirit Dancer's own family.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Greg Parsons with Spirit Dancer as a foal | Upperwood Farm Stud

“We had a foal last week by Stradivarius and it's great to have a filly. She's quite petite. I just have to make my mind up who the mare is going to this year,” he says. 

“To be honest I didn't know what I was getting into, but when I went to the stud and met them I was very impressed with the care that they take with their horses. It's worked very well.”

Ever questioning the psychological aspect of sport, Ferguson discussed last Saturday's race with his trainer on Sunday morning and asked Fahey if he thought that Spirit Dancer knew he had won. 

“He told me, 'Absolutely, they know they've beaten other horses.' I think they must know what they're doing, and Richard has a good point when he says that when Spirit Dancer wins it does something for him,” says Ferguson.

“It's the same for me. Whenever I go racing it does a lot for me. I never expected that the horse would be as good as this. And he's getting better. I don't know how far he's going to go. We're going to Dubai now and he must have a chance. He's not shown any weakness at all. He went by Luxembourg and the second horse [Killer Ability] and they were never going to catch him.”

It's addictive, winning, and it is something Ferguson became accustomed to during his 26 years with Manchester United. In Spirit Dancer, the horse he has been associated with since his birth, by one of the greatest equine winning machines of all time, he has found the perfect conduit for that addiction. 

The post From Football to Racing, Ferguson Retains the Winning Spirit appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

They say there are no second acts in the lives of the famous – but you would have disputed that after seeing the former Manchester United manager's Spirit Dancer (GB) win the Howden Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh on Saturday night.

Ferguson's greatest thrill as a manager was to spot and develop young talent. David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and the Neville brothers were products of Ferguson's urge to 'breed' his own stars. The comparison was impossible to resist after Spirit Dancer – bred by Ferguson himself, from Frankel and Queen's Dream – came with a pulsating run under Oisin Orr to earn a £945,000 prize for him, Ged Mason and Peter Done, joint-owners of a seven-year-old who has become a star in the Middle East.

Spirit Dancer had already won the Bahrain International Trophy in November and will now be trained by Richard Fahey for a race at the Dubai World Cup meeting. All this is a far cry from the earthy British and Irish National Hunt tracks where Ferguson has watched several high-class jumpers leap and slog in his colours.

There is another context to Spirit Dancer's victory. We count the victories and the defeats of the greatest names in sport but see less clearly the agonies behind the theatre curtain.

In October last year, Ferguson lost his wife, Lady Cathy, at the age of 84. The two met in 1964. They had three children and 12 grandchildren. Both remained loyal to their roots in Glasgow. Behind the scenes Cathy was a rock and a dispenser of wisdom, often pithily. She was unchanged by the fame heaped on her family.

When I co-wrote his autobiography with Ferguson in 2013, we talked endlessly about his love for racing. He recalled a time when the intensity of managing United was starting to burn. In the book he said: “I was at the stage where Cathy was saying, 'You're going to kill yourself.' At home after work, I would be on the phone until 9 o'clock at night thinking about football every minute.”

He bought his first horse in 1996, after a lunch with the late John Mulhern, the Irish trainer, a man not lacking powers of persuasion. “The problem with you is that you'll want to buy every bloody horse,” Cathy told her husband.

We count the victories and the defeats of the greatest names in sport but see less clearly the agonies behind the theatre curtain.

That first one was called Queensland Star (Ire), named after a vessel his shipbuilding father had worked on the docksides of Govan. Those early forays led Ferguson into a successful spell of ownership in National Hunt racing, via a fallout with Coolmore (they're now on good terms) over breeding rights to Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire). A winner of seven consecutive Group 1 races, Rock Of Gibraltar had raced in Ferguson's silks.

The Coolmore dispute didn't diminish Ferguson's belief that racing could be a successful hunting ground for him as well as a fresh outlet in life after football management.

But no amount of fame or success can protect the elderly from the ravages of bereavement. Ferguson was 81 when Cathy passed away and faced a colossal adjustment to daily life. A widower after nearly six decades, Ferguson then said goodbye to his greatest ally at United, Sir Bobby Charlton, two weeks after Cathy's death.

The Riyadh celebration was more restrained than in Bahrain, where Mason lifted Ferguson so forcibly that he damaged one of his ribs. But to see 'Fergie' rejoicing trackside in Riyadh was to be reminded that racing can become not just a hobby but a way of life. To breed a top-class horse (after negotiating-down the cost of a nomination to Frankel) is another level of gratification – and one entirely comparable to Ferguson's youth policy at United, which revived the earlier thinking of Matt Busby.

Later, to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City, Ferguson was thrust into the world of mega-transfers and global names. But his first love was developing his own players, just as he acquired Queen's Dream as a broodmare and brought Spirit Dancer into existence.

Nobody could have expected him to disappear after he retired as United manager in 2013. His restless energy and joie de vivre were bound to find fresh expression. Yet nor could it have been safely predicted that he would end up winning a million-pound race with a homebred son of Frankel (GB), three weeks after his promising novice chaser, Hermes Allen (Fr), was killed in a fall at Sandown.

When the Rock Of Gibraltar row blew up, somebody stood up at a Manchester United AGM and demanded Ferguson's resignation. Others accused him of becoming “distracted.” A decade later he left Old Trafford with 13 Premier League titles, two Champions League titles and five FA Cups.

Not everyone can compete at his level, but there are few better advertisements for what racing can bring to a person's life than Ferguson's triumphant second act in sport. As ever, Cathy was right about the voraciousness he would bring to his new hobby.

The post Spirit Lifts Ferguson’s Triumphant Second Act  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Such was the case for Greg and Lottie Parsons of Upperwood Farm Stud in Hertfordshire, who had a “36-hour day” on Saturday, having been up all night foaling.

“It started a couple of days ago and it's just been non-stop,” says Greg Parsons, who would have had more reason than most to want to tune in to the Saudi action as he was responsible for foaling the G2 Howden Neom Turf Cup winner Spirit Dancer (GB) seven years ago for his client Sir Alex Ferguson. 

“I had to grab half an hour of sleep so I haven't seen the race yet but someone just sent me a clip of the finish,” Parsons told TDN on Saturday evening. “It's just been the most wonderful story really.”

The previous weekend Parsons was busy foaling Spirit Dancer's dam Queen's Dream (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). She delivered a filly from the first crop of Stradivarius  (Ire) exactly a week before the youngster's illustrious elder brother claimed his third Group victory and his second in the Middle East after his G2 Bahrain International Trophy win last November. 

Spirit Dancer was one of two sons of Frankel (GB) to have notched a Group win on Saturday, with Military Order (Ire), the full-brother to Derby hero Adayar (Ire), having held off Lord North (Ire) in the G3 Winter Derby at Southwell. 

Spirit Dancer's mating was the first planned by Ferguson and his then-partner in the mare, Niall McLoughlin. They bought the Gestut Fahrhof-bred Queen's Dream in 2015 when she was carrying her second foal on the advice of pedigree expert Alan Perry, who continues to advise Ferguson on his matings along with Parsons.

“She had been covered by Maxios when he bought her and she came to us then and has been here ever since,” said Parsons. “We had one or two other mares for him initially. Sir Alex has been the most fabulous client and he won't deny his horses anything. He's a real animal lover.”

Queen's Dream's six subsequent foals have been bred solely by Ferguson, and they include the promising four-year-old  Hampden Park (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who won on his third start last season for Andrew Balding and was handed a rating of 90. The mare's current three-year-old, Road To Wembley (GB) (Postponed {Ire}), is trained by Richard Hughes and has made four starts to date.

“I know Andrew thinks a lot of him,” Parsons said of Hampden Park, who was patriotically named by Ferguson after Scotland's national football stadium.

There looks to be plenty more to come from the family, not least from Spirit Dancer himself, who is in the form of his life at the age of seven. He posted his first win at three and has won in every season since, with his first Pattern success coming in York's G3 Strensall S. last August.

Parsons added, “We used to call him Diego when he was here and when I took him up to Richard Fahey's he weighed 490kg as a yearling. He was a bull of a horse. Richard has done a splendid job with him.”

Queen's Dream didn't make it to the racecourse but she is entitled to have bred a good one. A daughter of the Listed winner Quetana (Ger) (Acetanenago {Ger}), her granddam is the G2 German 1,000 Guineas winner and G1 Preis der Diana runner-up Quebrada (Ire) (Devil's Bag) who was herself out of the GI Yellow Ribbon S. winner Queen To Conquer (King's Bishop). The 14-year-old Queen's Dream has a yearling colt by Masar (Ire) in the paddocks at Upperwood and she will be covered this year by Pinatubo (Ire) at Dalham Hall Stud.

“She's certainly an alpha mare in a group – she's the boss – but she loves her friends and we keep her to a routine,” said Parsons, who will hopefully be getting a bit more sleep in the weeks to come.

“We have 10 or 11 mares to foal this year,” he noted. “I like to try to keep the numbers sensible. I don't have anyone sitting up for me, I like to be hands-on.”

The post Foals First, Celebrations Later at Spirit Dancer’s Birthplace appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sir Alex Ferguson, best known for his Manchester United exploits in another sporting sphere, declared the victory of SPIRIT DANCER (GB) (g, 7, Frankel {GB}–Queen's Dream {Ger}, by Oasis Dream {GB}) in November's G2 Bahrain International Trophy “my best day in racing”, but already that triumph has some stiff competition. In Saturday's $2-million G2 Howden Neom Turf Cup, Ferguson, Ged Mason and Peter Done's determined gelding put his rivals to the sword with a dramatic kick to win by a length in the 2100-metre contest for trainer Richard Fahey.

Japan's Killer Ability (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was a half-length ahead of the rallying Calif (Ger) (Areion {Ger}) at the line, with Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who had stayed nearer the pace set by Jack Darcy (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) a neck back in fourth.

When the gates flew, Spirit Dancer was a touch keyed up, tossing his head and was forced to sit three off the fence in midfield as Jack Darcy cut out the running while feeling the heat from Luxembourg, who was ridden forward from the widest alley. Relaxing into a nice rhythm on the backstretch, Spirit Dancer was able to edge a bit closer to the inside, but still had at least six horses to pass on the far turn. Ryan Moore asked Luxembourg to tackle the leader 400 metres from the wire, while Spirit Dancer swung toward the centre of the lane for his bid. He soon gobbled up ground, blew past Luxembourg inside the final furlong and withstood the closing rushes of Killer Ability to his inside and Calif to claim his third group race in good style.

“It's fantastic, after Bahrain you come here and look at the field, the performance from Oisin [Orr] and the horse and Richard, it's unbelievable,” said Ferguson. “Richard made the point he hasn't had a lot of racing, and I think we see the evidence today. Oisin said this morning horse the is improving all the time. I took a gamble a few years ago with a stud in Hemel Hampstead and the results have been very good.

“That puts his win in Bahrain in perspective. Richard gave us confidence but it is one of these things, you are never too confident.”

Mason added, “It's like a dream, I have to pinch myself. For Richard to produce him and win as easy as he did, he was like a steam engine. Sir Alex had a dream this morning and dreamt he'd win.”

“It's absolutely amazing,” said Done. “Super, super trainer. All credit to him and Oisin with a terrific ride. We bought into him as a 2-year-old. If Sir Alex asks do you want a share, what do you say? We turned down a big offer after Bahrain and we all turned it down and what a great decision.”

A three-race winning streak last summer culminated in York's G3 Strensall S. in August for the Ferguson and Niall McLoughlin-bred gelding, and two starts later he won the G2 Bahrain International Trophy in November. Spirit Dancer was fourth in the G1 Jebel Hatta to Measured Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}) warming up for this on Jan. 26.

“We'll send him back to Dubai, said Fahey of future plans. “We'll see how he is in the morning but it's hard not to go back to Dubai. I'll be shocked if he doesn't line up in something on World Cup night.

“Always in my mind I wanted to stretch out to a mile and a half [2400m] but I don't want to make any decisions tonight. Any horse that goes on the international scene, becomes a people's horse, and he's got a huge fan base–the lad that has a share in him has something to do with that!

“As trainers we don't really understand what it means to people and to see the enjoyment gives me huge pride. He gets his head down and gallops to the line.”

Pedigree Notes

The unbeaten champion Frankel is already the recipient of two sire titles in the UK & Ireland, and the 16-year-old's progeny are never far from the limelight. Spirit Dancer is one of 136 stakes winners (93 group) on an international scale for the bay, and one of seven stakes winners out of Oasis Dream mares. The best of that septet is G1 Prix de la Foret heroine Kelina (Ire).

The third foal and one of four winners for his unraced dam Queen's Dream, Spirit Dancer's latest half-sibling is a 2-year-old by Masar (Ire). Second dam Quetena (Ger) (Acatenango {Ger}) was a better producer than runner, as she placed in a listed race in Italy before foaling a quartet of stakes winners. Three of them were group class or better–Italian Group 1 winner and sire Querari (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), fellow sire and G3 Bavarian Classic victor Quasillo (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), and the stakes-producing Quidura (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) all won at least one race at the group or graded level. The last-named mare triumphed in the GII Ballston Spa S. and GII Canadian S., and GIII Valley View S. and was placed an additional three times at the highest table in the U.S.

Saturday, King Abdulaziz (Riyadh), Saudi Arabia
HOWDEN NEOM TURF CUP-G2, $2,000,000, King Abdulaziz, 2-24, NH4yo/up, SH3yo/up, 2100mT, 2:07.10, gd.
1–SPIRIT DANCER (GB), 125, g, 7, Frankel (GB)
                1st Dam: Queen's Dream (Ger), by Oasis Dream (GB)
                2nd Dam: Quetena (Ger), by Acatenango (Ger)
                3rd Dam: Quebrada (Ire), by Devil's Bag
O-Done/Ferguson/Mason; B-Sir Alex Ferguson & Niall
McLoughlin (GB); T-Richard Fahey; J-Oisin Orr; $1,200,000.
Lifetime Record: GSW-Eng & Bhr, 25-8-6-2, $2,131,263. Werk
   Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Killer Ability (Jpn), 125, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Killer Graces,
by Congaree. O-U Carrot Farm; B-Northern Racing (Jpn);
T-Takashi Saito; J-Cristian Demuro; $400,000.
3–Calif (Ger), 125, g, 5, Areion (Ger)–Cherry Danon (Ire), by
Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire). (€95,000 RNA Ylg '20 BBASEP;
€400,000 HRA '23 ARQSEP ). O-Victorious; B-Gestut
Brummerhof; T-Fawzi Nass; J-Adrie de Vries; $200,000.
Margins: 1, HF, NK.
Also Ran: Luxembourg (Ire), Jack Darcy (Ire), Grocer Jack (Ger), Alooqaal (Ire), Astro King (Ire), Studley (Jpn), Starcat (GB), Hearts Concerto (Jpn), Bolthole (Ire), The Foxes (Ire).
Click for the JCSA chart (R7) and video.

WOW!

It's another international success for Spirit Dancer who lands the Howden Neom Turf Cup for @RichardFahey, Oisin Orr and Sir Alex Ferguson at @thesaudicup meeting ! #TheSaudiCup pic.twitter.com/0Pn9xU3W4f

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) February 24, 2024

The post Frankel’s Spirit Dancer Pounces In Neom Turf Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

To have one of the most recognisable sporting figures in the world in attendance all week was something, but for Spirit Dancer to play with his rivals in a similar fashion to some of the best teams Ferguson assembled at the helm of Manchester United exceeded all expectations. 

You don't last 26 years at Manchester United, manage the careers of some of the biggest names in football–think Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo–and amass 38 trophies without being a tough task master. 

But Ferguson has been nothing but warm to anyone in Bahrain this week who has politely asked for a photograph or to simply reminisce about previous glories. The reaction the 81-year-old met Spirit Dancer taking care of a Group 1 field in all but name was one of genuine delight with the Scottsman labelling the victory as his greatest ever in racing. 

“That's the best ever in racing, without question,” Ferguson said moments after Spirit Dancer crossed the line over two lengths clear of the John and Thady Gosden-trained Israr (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) in second with Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) a close-up third.”

He continued, “When you looked at the field I was worried. I'm seeing Godolphin with five, [Aidan] O'Brien's got a runner, [Andre] Fabre's got a horse there. And we're just a wee stable from Yorkshire.

“He won well, too, very well. It was Ged [Mason] who jumped on me–100 yards away he looked as though he was going to win but I'm not counting my chickens at that point, I'm just praying. He carried me over the line with him.”

“I told @OrrOisin going out there to remember he's [Spirit Dancer] a Frankel.”

Sir Alex Ferguson describes winning the $1m Bahrain Trophy with the @RichardFahey-trained Spirit Dancer as “the best ever”. pic.twitter.com/ayHovfeR72

— Brian Sheerin (@BrianSheerin91) November 17, 2023

Ferguson has enjoyed his fair share of success in racing. Few will forget his association with Coolmore in the late nineties and early noughties, highlighted by Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire), but more recently he has been concentrating on the jumps and enjoyed a host of success with trainer Paul Nicholls and Dan Skelton, with Clan Des Obeaux (Fr), What A Friend (GB) and Protektorat (Fr), respectively. 

But Spirit Dancer represents the latest chapter in Ferguson's racing endeavors as the Richard Fahey-trained 6-year-old is one of the first horses to have graduated from the owner's stud farm in Hemel Hempstead.

Ferguson explained, “He was my first foal. It was a new adventure for me to get into breeding to be honest. I bought a mare from Germany. She's at Hemel Hempstead and is from a good family. 

“The first foal was a Frankel, and that's why we're down here today. We've had other horses that have done well but the Frankel has been fantastic. I told Oisin [Orr, jockey] going out there to remember he's [Spirit Dancer] a Frankel.”

He added, “And the hospitality has been amazing here. I know I was signing a lot of autographs and taking a lot of photos but it's only a photograph, it only takes a second and you shouldn't ignore people wanting your photo, especially kids. You have to have patience for that type of thing and I've always shown that anyway. It's fantastic, I can't believe it.”

It may have been lost in the occasion somewhat the brilliant job that Fahey has done with Spirit Dancer. He delivered the horse in peak condition for the day that mattered and took great satisfaction in the result, even if the trainer admitted to being slightly surprised at the ease in which it was achieved. 

Fahey said, “It was an easy race to watch because we always felt we were going to win. Once he hit the front he wouldn't be stopping and it would take a good one to beat us. The fancied ones were in front of us, we passed them and they don't often come back. I'm absolutely over the moon. It's a special moment for everyone. We did see the trophy the other night, it looked like the FA Cup, Sir Alex is used to picking up the FA Cup. It was a fantastic result.”

On future plans, he added of his G2 Neom Turf Cup qualifier, “We were mentioning going to Saudi in February, we'd see how he ran today. Have horse, will travel, so we'll see how he comes home. I genuinely thought it was a tough race and he needed to step up but it was a comfortable race to watch. It's a huge moment for me. We've had Royal Ascot winners and things like that but with Sir Alex there it's been a great week with the build up.  He put no pressure on me, the horse, or anybody. It was 'lets enjoy this'. He's an absolute gentleman. Some great stories and a great man.”

The win also represented a special success for jockey Oisin Orr. The Classic-winning pilot made the decision to join the Fahey stable earlier this year due to a shortage of rides in his native Ireland and the Donegal man has not looked back. 

He said, “The horse was a big price but I think he really needed his last run because Richard had given him a break after the horse had won three in a short space of time. So, he did need it at Newmarket and Richard had him spot on for today. 

“I thought I was actually getting there a bit soon. All he does is gallop-he's tough and he was very good there today. It's right up there with my best days in racing. You never complain when you come over here and win something big like that. It's good when it works out.”

He added, “It was great to get the opportunity to come over to England to ride for Richard Fahey this year and I haven't looked back since. Then to go and win a million-pound race, it's great.”

Just one thing Orr didn't tell Ferguson in the razzmatazz of it all. He's a Liverpool fan. But something says even that couldn't take the gloss of the whole occasion.

Pedigree Notes

The G3 Strensall S.-winning gelding who was fourth in the G3 Darley S. last month, counts as part of Frankel's 133-strong battalion of stakes winners and is one of 91 group/graded winners. He is bred on the same cross as G1 Prix de la Foret winner Kelina (Ire), G2 Prix de Sandringham winner Obligate (GB), and fellow group winners Eternal Pearl (GB) and Delaware (GB), who are all out of daughters of his Juddmonte studmate Oasis Dream (GB).

The third foal and one of five winners for his unraced dam Queen's Dream (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), Spirit Dancer is the best of the lot. His yearling half-brother is by Masar (Ire). Queen's Dream is a sister to a quartet of stakes winners led by her full-brother, Group 1 winner and sire Querari (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), and her half-sister, multiple group winner Quidura (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was thrice placed at the highest level in the U.S. Spirit Dancer's third dam is the G2 German 1000 Guineas heroine Quebrada (Ire) (Devil's Bag).

Friday, Sakhir, Bahrain
BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL TROPHY-G2, $1,000,000, Sakhir, 11-17, 3yo/up, 2000mT, 2:06.82, gd.
1–SPIRIT DANCER (GB), 128, g, 6, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Queen's Dream (Ger), by Oasis Dream (GB)
2nd Dam: Quetena (Ger), by Acatenango (Ger)
3rd Dam: Quebrada (Ire), by Devil's Bag
O-Done Ferguson Mason; B-Sir Alex Ferguson & Niall
McLoughlin; T-Richard Fahey; J-Oisin Orr; $600,000. Lifetime
Record: GSW-Eng, 23-7-6-2, $906,075. Werk Nick Rating:
   A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
   pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style
   pedigree.
2–Israr (GB), 128, c, 4, Muhaarar (GB)–Taghrooda (GB), by Sea
The Stars (Ire). O/B-Shadwell Estate Company Limited; T-John
& Thady Gosden; J-Jim Crowley; $200,000.
3–Point Lonsdale (Ire), 128, c, 4, Australia (GB)–Sweepstake
(Ire), by Acclamation (GB). (575,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT).
O-Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor &
Westerberg; B-Epona Bloodstock Ltd; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan
Moore; $100,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, SHD, NK.
Also Ran: Real World (Ire), Birr Castle (Fr), Astro King (Ire), Nations Pride (Ire), Above the Curve, Calif, Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire), Highland Avenue (Ire), . Qaader (Ire), Dubai Future (GB), Layfayette (Ire). Scratched: Goemon (GB), Tawaareq (Ire), Zagato (GB). Click for the Bahrain Turf Club chart.

VIDEO.

SPIRIT DANCER

The Sir Alex Ferguson-owned Spirit Dancer produces a withering run from off the pace to land the $1m Bahrain International Trophy in stunning fashion! @RichardFahey | @ged_mason | @BahrainTurfClub pic.twitter.com/dGcfgM2FF9

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 17, 2023

The post ‘My Best Day In Racing’ – Sir Alex Ferguson Nets $1m Bahrain Riches appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Hanagan was crowned champion apprentice in 2002 and eight years later gained the first of his two consecutive championships in the senior ranks, becoming the only jockey based in the north of England to have landed the title more than once. He notched his first Group 1 victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on the Fahey-trained Wootton Bassett (GB), who is now one of the most sought-after stallions in Europe.

In 2012, Hanagan was named as first jockey for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum on the retirement of Richard Hills and was retained to ride the Shadwell horses for five years. During that period he won his first British Classic on Taghrooda (GB) in the Oaks as well as a trio of Group 1 sprints on Muhaarar (GB). Simultaneously maintaining his association with Fahey's Musley Bank Stables, he also partnered Mayson (GB) in the July Cup to post a first Group 1 in Britain for both himself and the trainer, and later Sands Of Mali (Fr) in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint.

Speaking on Racing TV during the first day of York's Ebor meeting, Hanagan said, “As you can imagine it's quite emotional. It's difficult, I think any professional sportsperson will tell you, especially doing it as long as I've been doing it for.

“There are a few things involved in making my decision, I had a pretty bad fall about two years ago and I've never quite been the same after it, I fractured my back in three places. It's not so much painful riding, but it's getting to the level of fitness you need to be at to be a professional jockey and I don't think I was getting to that standard.”

He added, “Looking back, I was very proud of myself for getting where I have [after the fall]. I managed to ride a couple of Royal Ascot winners after coming back, but keeping the fitness right was causing me a bit of pain and retiring here at the Ebor meeting feels right.

“I was two-times champion jockey as a kid from Warrington without a lot of racing experience, so I keep telling kids it can be done.”

Reflecting on his career highlights, Hanagan continued, “I've been blessed to ride some beautiful horses for some wonderful people. To win a Classic on Taghrooda was special – I don't think I'll ever forget my family's faces that day.

“Muhaarar is probably one of the best sprinters I rode and I was honoured to have a five-year association with Sheikh Hamdan and I had an even longer career with Richard Fahey, who I owe a lot to.”

One of an elite band of jockeys to have ridden more than 2,000 winners, a landmark he reached in November 2020, he has had two winners in the last week, including on Macarone (GB) at Beverley for Rob Burrow, the rugby league star who is battling Motor Neurone Disease.

Hanagan will take up a new role with the Good Racing Company in the near future. 

He said, “I'm really looking forward to working with The Good Racing Company, a charity that raises funds for different charities, namely working with Rob Burrow, and I'm going to be guiding them on which horses to buy.

“I rode Rob Burrow's first winner at Beverley the other day and that was very special. I've been riding for 26 years and it would be criminal of me not to do something more in racing.”

The post Paul Hanagan to Retire on Friday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Racing faces different problems in different jurisdictions and, from an outsider's perspective, it is hard to get fully behind racing in America when a number of its major participants remain overly reliant on medication. But if you read Cynthia Holt's wonderful account of being at Belmont 50 years ago to bear witness to arguably the greatest-ever performance by a Thoroughbred as Secretariat went for the Triple Crown, it is impossible not to wish for that situation to improve and for racing to be able to hold its head high. The only way it can survive and thrive around the world is if everyone involved pledges to do the the very best for the horses who make it possible to work in such an engaging and vibrant sport.

That is why the result of the 155th Belmont S. was so uplifting. For a start, it heralded yet another important marker in the advancement of women within the sport, with Jena Antonucci becoming the first female trainer of the winner of an American Triple Crown race. But more importantly, Arcangelo's victory was a major triumph for a smaller trainer who is apparently prepared to prioritise the welfare of her horses above all else. Coming with a horse who cost his owner Jon Ebbert $35,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, it is also a result which sends a message to other small operators: it can be done.

It should not be underestimated how much stories of this ilk are needed, and how much rarer they are becoming. It is hard now to imagine a trainer like Joe Janiak, a former taxi driver, turning up at Royal Ascot with his cast-off sprinter Takeover Target (Aus) and waltzing off with one of the week's biggest prizes. In three years and six starts at the royal meeting, the gelding with chipped knees was never out of the first four in the major sprints. And yes, his success had no bearing on the betterment of the breed, but what a battler, what a story. 

Somehow, it is harder to get behind the horses owned by major investment syndicates, and that is not to denigrate the people funding those runners. Financial investment is vital for racing to continue, and for the breeders to be able to go on producing the goods, but emotional investment is just as important, and that is what you hear and feel when you read Jena Antonucci's story. The spotlight should always be on the horses, but racing is so much more compelling when you can root for their people, too.

I will confess that, until this past week, I knew barely anything about Antonucci. Some engaging interviews following her Belmont S. victory led me to her website and I was taken by one of the sub-headings on her homepage which stated 'Statistics aren't the only indicator of success'. It was an apposite line to read following the release of a video by a major syndicate trying to sell shares in a new recruit, in which the manager pours scorn on the record and percentages of the horse's former trainer. It was an act of quite staggering ignorance, bad manners and, ultimately, self-harm. 

The colt in question is New Energy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), who until last week was the top-rated horse in Sheila Lavery's stable. He is a horse who, since this time last year following his second-place finish in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, has been running with an official mark of 112 or 113. In other words, consistent and classy. Those two facts are surely the reason he was such a desirable purchase, and he was likely bought for many multiples of the £65,000 it took for his trainer and Ted Durcan to secure him at the breeze-up sales two years ago.

He's not a one-off for Lavery, either, for she regularly gets a good tune out of horses who could be overlooked in bigger yards. Four years ago, she trained the €15,000 weanling purchase Lady Kaya (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) to run second in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. I can still hear the devastation in her voice when she spoke of that filly's fatal injury on the gallops in the countdown to her next appearance at Royal Ascot. She will have been almost similarly upset to have lost New Energy to an Australian stable which has hundreds and hundreds of horses on its books. Lavery will have understood, though, that the horse had a greater chance of being a high earner in a jurisdiction endowed with plentiful prize-money, and in a sector where he may encounter weaker opposition than he has done in Europe. 

Lavery and Antonucci have had 59 and 52 starters this year respectively, and it is well within the bounds of possibility that we will see Lavery follow Antonucci in becoming a Group/Grade 1-winning trainer. That of course becomes harder to achieve for every smaller operation as the good horses get whisked away by those with large cheque books. But in the cases of both women, and many other trainers of a similar size, a strong argument can be made for them not to be overlooked in the stampede towards the superstables.

Al Asifah a Potential Star for Shadwell

There is no such thing as a quiet week in racing, but with Royal Ascot now only a week away, and Epsom a week behind us, the fare of the last seven days has been more muted. However, there have been plenty of impressive performances to note, and none perhaps more so than the win of Shadwell's Al Asifah (GB) in the Listed Weatherbys/British EBF Agnes Keyser Fillies' S. The daughter of Frankel (GB) and Aneen (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), herself a half-sister to Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), may have missed most of the Classics but it would be no surprise to see her engaged in Group 1 races before too long, despite her inexperience. 

Similarly, it was hard not to be impressed by the performance of Beautiful Diamond (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}) in her winning debut for Karl Burke and Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum at Nottingham. A pinhooking triumph for Tradewinds Stud, she went from being a 30,000gns yearling to a £360,000 breezer when becoming the most expensive filly sold at the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale in April. 

Richard Fahey spoke eloquently in these pages last week of his approach to two-year-olds, and he has plenty of his stable's youngsters firing ahead of an important week. That was particularly notable by his twin strike at Beverley on Saturday with Midnight Affair (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the Hilary Needler and Bombay Bazaar (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) in the Two-Year-Old Trophy.

From Rome to Hokkaido 

Three nations combined in the winner of the Tattersalls-sponsored G2 Oaks d'Italia. Trainer Stefano Botti won the race for the fifth time since 2012 with Shavasana (Ire), who is now unbeaten in five starts, including the G3 Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1,000 Guineas). This time, however, she was ridden by Britain's Hollie Doyle, whose first Classic success came aboard Nashwa (GB) in last year's Prix de Diane, and won in the colours of leading Japanese owner/breeder Katsumi Yoshida, who bought the filly after her first Classic win.

Remarkably, Botti's first three wins in the Italian Oaks came in consecutive years with the half-sisters Cherry Collect (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}), Charity Line (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}) and Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}). Another of their half-sisters, Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), later won the Irish Oaks, making their dam, Holy Moon (GB) (Hernando {Fr}), a most prized member of the broodmare band owned by the Botti family's Razza del Velino, who also bred Shavasana.

The Holy Moon family and the Oaks d'Italia are also clearly prized in Japan as all three of those aforementioned winning half-sisters are now in the ownership of either Katsumi or Teruya Yoshida. 

Straight Ahead to Hamburg

The G2 Union-Rennen at Cologne provided the latest shake-up to the market of the G1 Deutsches Derby on July 2, which is now headed by Straight (Ger) (Zarak {Fr}). The Gestut Karlshof homebred has every right to be considered a serious Classic prospect, not just on his win in the 188th Union-Rennen but also for the names found on his page. 

Straight's fourth dam Sacarina (GB) (Old Vic {GB}) has been a key player in the success of the Faust family's Karlshof operation. His third dam Sahel (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}) is a full-sister to the Deutsches Derby winners Samum (Ger) and Schiaparelli (Ger) as well as to the Preis der Diana winner Salve Regine (Ger). Another sister, Sanwa (Ger), is the dam of the 2014 Deutsches Derby winner Sea The Moon (Ger), who is in turn the sire of the another of the leading fancies for this year's race, Fantastic Moon (Ger), who was champion two-year-old last year in Germany. 

Another Zarak colt from the immediate family of Straight also features in the Derby betting: Sirjan (Ger), a Group 3 winner in Italy last year, was also bred at Karlshof and is a half-brother to Straight's dam Seductive (Ger) (Henrythenavigator).

It is a family which has already tasted Classic success in Europe this season as yet another of Sacarina's daughters by Monsun, Sortita (Ger), features as the grand-dam of the G2 Derby Italiano winner Goldenas (Ire) (Golden Horn {GB}).

And Now For Something Completely Different

If you wander into the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, you might expect to find exhibitions pertaining to the horse in some form or other. 

This summer, however, the museum has spread its wings to become involved in a show named The Urban Frame: Mutiny In Colour, which opened last week and is being staged across three venues in Suffolk. The exhibition includes more than 50 works from some renowned contemporary artists, including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

The street artist and international man (or woman) of mystery, Banksy, is also represented at the National Horseracing Museum in The 7: Banksy Under Siege, which features replicas of life-size 'walls' created during the artist's visit to Ukraine last year. 

It is a world-first for this exhibition, which runs until October 1. Who says Newmarket is boring? 

The post Seven Days: Many Indicators of Success appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

This, from Richard Fahey, was far less intimidating, however, than when TDN went to interview David Elsworth some years ago to be greeted by him marching across the yard and stating, “I'm in a murderous mood.”

I Having mercifully escaped from Egerton House Stables unscathed to live to annoy many more trainers, our recent mission to Malton was a comparative cakewalk. 

For a start, it would be impossible for either interviewer or interviewee to be in a bad mood, murderous or otherwise, in the Yorkshire countryside on the most vibrant of late spring days. From the top of Fahey's idyllic fiefdom at Musley Bank, an eye can be cast over great swathes of North Yorkshire. Umpteen racecourses are within easy reach, as is the A1, but the outside world seems a far cry from these peaceful acres where his horses and their riders go about their business unfazed and unfussed.

On the day of the visit, the trainer warned that he was about to run a number of two-year-olds that were pleasing him and, indeed, last week he had three juveniles make a winning debut. They followed Golden Mind (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}), who won on his second start and is no doubt looked upon fondly at the yard as a half-brother to the recently retired stable star Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}). The latter became the first of Fahey's two consecutive G2 Norfolk S. winners in 2021, before going on to win the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. He returned to Royal Ascot last year to take the G1 Commonwealth Cup.

“From the middle of May to the end of June, you should start to know where you are and if we've got some stars coming through. Fingers crossed, we have five or six two-year-olds there that we're extremely excited about,” says Fahey. “Over the next three or four weeks we'll find out whether we're going to play with the big boys or not.”

The trainer admits to having adapted his approach in recent years when it comes to the youngsters in his care.

“I do train horses a lot different now. Two-year-olds especially,” Fahey says. “I'm not as tough on them as I used to be. I used to love to see them win first time out. Now I prefer if they get beat [on debut].

“It may sound like a crazy thing to say. If they win, fine, but I felt over the years that to get them to win, because I was so keen and I wanted winners, you have to be tough on them. And then of course if they win, the next race is going to be tough. And about six years ago I decided not to be so tough on them because at least if they run a decent race, they've got an easy race the next race. And I just felt maybe one or two of the better horses I left behind because I was over-keen myself.”

It is an admission that speaks well of a man who has had a tally of winners well into three figures for the past 15 years but is clearly prepared to learn as he goes along. Indeed, Perfect Power and his Norfolk Stakes successor The Ridler (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) were both beaten on debut, as was Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), who later struck in the G2 Mill Reef S. before winning three Group 1 races at three and four.

“Perfect Power is a perfect example,” Fahey says of the young Darley stallion. “He had a great mind and I didn't want to ruin it. And he kept it all his life. He got beat at Newcastle then he went to Hamilton and won. He arrived down to Ascot absolutely bouncing.”

He adds, “Hey look, it's each to their own, but if I've changed anything in my years of training, that's it. You have to think of horses like humans; what's good for their minds.”

Perfect Power is one of two former Fahey trainees to have joined the European stallion ranks this season, along with Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), winner of the G3 Jersey S. and G2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang S. before latterly spending some time with Brendan Walsh in America, where he was Grade I-placed. Earlier this year at Ballyhane Stud, where Space Traveller now stands, Joe Foley jokingly referred to a section of his stallion yard as the Richard Fahey Wing, as the Group 1-winning sprinter Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis) is another to have been trained at Musley Bank. But the former Fahey-trained stallions stand far and wide, and include Mayson (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) at Cheveley Park Stud, the aforementioned Ribchester at Haras du Logis and, perhaps most notably, another son of Iffraaj, Wootton Bassett (GB), at Coolmore. 

The G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Garswood (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) started his stallion career at Cheveley Park Stud and now stands in Saudi Arabia. He was one of a number of successful recruits to the Fahey stable from the breeze-up sales over the years.

“I think we've had four Group 1 horses out of the breeze-ups,” says Fahey, who works the sales hard alongside his son Peter and valued ally Robin O'Ryan.  

“I wouldn't regard myself as a big purchaser at the breeze-ups, but we've had more pattern winners and more winners than anybody. I only know that because they keep the stats! We've been extremely lucky at it, and the breeze-up sales are very professional now. They are getting loads of winners.”

Fahey finds the increasingly crowded sales calendar in general, however, a source of frustration. 

“There's too many sales at the moment,” he says. “It's every week. Last three weeks we've been at sales. I didn't get to Ireland [for Goresbridge] because I want to see my horses. We've been to France, we've been to Newmarket twice, and Doncaster, in the last month. It's only two, three days away, but the season's getting going now and I need to be here.”

He adds, “As a matter of fact, I think they should bring in a rule that a horse can only go to the sales twice before they run, because they can literally be there five times. They can be inside the mother, they can be at the foals, they can be in yearlings or the breeze-up twice.”

Now 57, Fahey left his native Ireland the day before his 18th birthday and competed both on the Flat and over jumps as a jockey, which included him being the joint-champion conditional at the conclusion of the 1998/99 National Hunt season. 

This summer sees him celebrate his 30th anniversary as a trainer, having started with one winner in 1993 from just nine runners. An operation that began in a modest fashion has grown into one which now regularly features on the list of leading stables in the country. Fahey first passed the 100-winner mark in 2008, and set a personal record in 2015 when he trained 235 winners and was runner-up in the championship to John Gosden.

“It's a strange thing but you never really appreciate it when you're doing it,” he says rather wistfully as he notes that he is currently training a smaller string than in those days. “Covid hit and we stopped racing, and at the time it was serious. The government terrified us all. And it was a time I reflected on things.

“We trained our 3,000th winner not long ago, and I think as you get older you do think about it. But 10 years ago I never thought about it. I just got on with it. I trained 42 winners one month, which was a phenomenal amount. But as I'm getting older, I'm probably enjoying it a lot more.”

Fahey admits that enjoyment was not always easy to find, despite a thriving stable with plenty of horses. But in a business which is now about so much more than just focusing on horses on a daily basis, increased numbers can also increase stress levels.

“I went through a spell there where I wasn't enjoying it as much. I felt I was putting myself under an awful lot of pressure but I was keeping it in. I would have hated anyone to think that I was under pressure. The last year and a half I've really started to enjoy it again,” he says.

“I didn't purposely reduce the number of horses. I stopped having shares in as many, which automatically reduced the numbers.”

The hundred-plus acres at Fahey's disposal means that his horses can benefit from turn out in the 42 pens up on the bank above their stables. The gallops are private and, as we jump in a vehicle to watch a few of the horses in action, the trainer says with a mischievous grin, “We'd better take the Audi because the turbo has gone on the Jeep so we'll never keep up with them.”

Back down in the yard, we take a tour of the indoor ride, which is large enough to start the two-year-olds cantering before they venture up onto the bank, or to give shelter to the string in particularly bad weather. Fahey is clearly proud, though not boastfully so, of what he has built here on land bought from fellow trainer Colin Tinkler, but he is unwilling to take sole credit.

“Every trainer says it, but I genuinely believe, without the staff, you are completely nothing,” he says. “You can't do it all yourself. You have to rely on third parties. And I've been very lucky that I've had some good third parties. Some of my head guys have been here 15, 16 years since they started in racing and haven't left me. We like to give everybody responsibilities. And I think if you treat people with respect, they'll work for you. And I've been very lucky over the years that we've had that. I just feel the yard runs itself. Everybody knows their job and I never have to worry that something's not going to get done. They know what's to be done.”

Foremost in the minds of the team at the moment will be putting the finishing touches on the raiding party heading south for Ascot in less than a fortnight's time.

Some juveniles worth watching before then appear on Saturday at Beverley, where Midnight Affair (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) will seek to go one better than her eye-catching runner-up finish at Newmarket when she runs in the Hilary Needler Trophy for Clipper Logistics. Hussain Alabbas Lootah's homebred Bombay Bazaar (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) also returns to the track where he ran out the easy winner on his second start on May 16.

The Ascot juvenile team could be joined by Roisin and Richard Henry's Ribblesdale entrant Midnight Mile (Ire) (No Nay Never), the winner last year of the G3 Oh So Sharp S. who went on to be fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. 

“I was a little disappointed at York,” says Fahey of Midnight Mile's fourth-place finish in the G3 Musidora S. when 4 1/2 lengths behind subsequent Oaks winner Soul Sister (GB) (Frankel {GB}). “I thought she was second best really and I'm not just a hundred per cent sure what her best trip might be. I'm thinking I might step her up again.”

Fahey notched his first winner at the royal meeting back in 2000 with Superior Premium (GB) (Forzando {GB}) in the G2 Cork And Orrery S., the race that has undergone four name changes and an upgrading since then and this year will be run as the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S. Another seven Royal Ascot winners have come his way since then and it would be no surprise to see a young star emerge this year to start to fill the gap left by Perfect Power and last year's G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), who was sold for 1.2 million gns in December to Katsumi Yoshida.

“We've been lucky over the years in that we've always seemed to find a good one,” he says. “In the past it was definitely easier to buy a more precocious sprinter type. And I suppose we didn't really have the clients that would wait two years. They wanted instant success and I was a young trainer that needed winners.”

Fahey adds, “As I've got older, I've mellowed. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be. My attitude now is that I can do my best and if it's not good enough, well I'm sorry but I know I'm doing my best. We're very lucky to have the facilities and the staff we have and if we don't get the results that we want, it's not for the want of not doing it right.”

He may not like interviews, but Fahey is refreshingly candid on a range of topics. He did his best, and only a short amount of time in his company is required to understand how he coaxes the best out of his horses and people.

The post Richard Fahey: ‘You have to think of horses like humans; what’s good for their minds’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Last seen in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland when she was fourth to Meditate (Ire) (No Nay Never), the bay filly was a debut winner at Doncaster in July and followed that with a victory in the G3 Oh So Sharp S. at Newmarket in October. Fahey will have her skip the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas in favour of middle distances this summer, as she looks bred to stay in excess of a mile.

“I'm very pleased with her at the moment, she's wintered very well and she's going nicely,” said Fahey. “I was a little bit frustrated at the Breeders' Cup that she didn't bounce and run and get the place we wanted her to be in, but that's racing. It was only the third run of her life and she's bred to be a better 3-year-old. I was pleased we learned a bit more about her. I'm going to skip the Guineas and all that. I'm going to step her up to a mile and a quarter and start her off in something like the Musidora. I think I'd take her straight there, I just haven't rushed her this year and let her mature, which she has done, and we'll have a second-half of the season campaign.”

Another 3-year-old filly in the yard who will head for a Guineas trial is Barefoot Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), winner of the G3 Firth of Clyde S. and who was fourth in Redcar's Two Year Old Trophy under a penalty.

“She was another who didn't bounce and race that day at Redcar, but we'll run her in a Guineas trial and see what happens,” said Fahey. “She's in both Guineas and we'll play it by ear after her trial to see what we want to do. It will be Newmarket or Newbury for a trial.”

Fahey hit the bullseye at Royal Ascot last season with The Ridler (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}), a 50-1 winner of the G2 Norfolk S., but the juvenile colt was last behind Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never) in the G1 Prix Morny S. at Deauville in late August.

“The Ridler is good and he'll start off in the [G3] Greenham [S.] and see where we go after that,” said Fahey. “He just didn't come back as I'd have liked after France, but he's done extremely well over the winter, so we're still undecided whether he's a sprinter or whether we can stretch him out.”

The post Musidora A Springboard For Midnight Mile Says Fahey appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Middleham Park Racing runner was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, who stands her sire, the G3 Trophy S. victor Cotai Glory. Offered by Tally-Ho at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale, Middleham Park purchased the February foal and sent her to trainer Richard Fahey, where she won on debut at Ripon. A winner at York and Goodwood in July, she ran second to Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in the G1 Nunthorpe S., and filled that position again in the G2 Flying Childers S. prior to her l'Abbaye victory. This is the extended family of group winner Tiger Royal (Ire) (Royal Academy).

Tom Palin of Middleham Park Racing said, “The Platinum Queen's breeze at the Rowley Mile back in April was unbelievably impressive and we were determined to buy her. She has been an absolute superstar for Middleham Park Racing ever since, taking us everywhere including Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor Meeting at York and ultimately to Group 1 glory in the Abbaye on Arc day at Longchamp where she achieved something which has not been done in more than 40 years. The Platinum Queen really is a special filly, a credit to Richard Fahey and the whole team at Musley Bank, and she has the physical scope to develop into an equally outstanding 3-year-old.”

The post Juvenile Group 1 Heroine The Platinum Queen Added To Tattersalls December appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post