Tag: Shared News Europe

‘There’s No Ceiling’ Eclipse Thoroughbred Team Has Big Hopes For Selenaia

It was hard not to love the performance Selenaia (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) posted in the GIII Honeymoon S. at Santa Anita last weekend. 

One man who loved it more than most was Derek Iceton of Tara Stud in County Meath. Iceton bought the dam [Dettoria (GB) (Declaration Of War)] of the Grade I-bound performer for just 12,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in 2018. 

Dettoria is still based at Tara Stud and has a Space Blues (Ire) colt at foot. She is happily reported to be back in foal to the young Darley stallion by Iceton, who describes America as being a lucky place for him. 

That is largely down to the fact that Tara Stud graduate River Boyne (Ire) recorded his best days on a racecourse in America, notably when landing a Grade I at Santa Anita before returning home to embark on his stallion career, where he currently stands at the Meath outfit for €5,000. 

Iceton is hoping that there will be more Grade I riches to be enjoyed with Selenaia and explained what led him to roll the dice on Dettoria for what looks a bargain price now. 

He said, “I love buying mares off top breeders. Last year for example, I bought a lovely mare off Lady Bamford. They're the type of people I try and buy mares from because I know there will be a few half-sisters floating around the system.”

“Dettoria has a colt foal by Space Blues and, the foal was so good, I took the mare back to him. She's back in foal with Space Blues. It's something I never normally do but, because the foal was so nice, I went back. 

“Redpender Stud has the Earthlight (Ire) yearling [bought for 78,000gns as a foal] and they are more than happy with him. He was a lovely foal now to be honest. I think he's going to Book 1. The Golden Horn (GB) [bought for €50,000 as a yearling by Gerry Hogan] two-year-old filly  is going to Henry de Bromhead.”

He added, “I've been very lucky with America and very fortunate with Red Baron's Farm as well. I hope they will come back and buy a River Boyne off me this year. Interestingly, in the race that Selenaia won last week, I also sold the third Paris Secret (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) at the Goffs Open Yearling Sale for €8,000. It's strange that two fillies who were in the same field at one stage in their lives went on to finish first and third at Santa Anita.”

Selenaia carried the increasingly-recognisable colours of the Eclipse Thoroughbreds to victory for trainer Jonathan Thomas. Although the ownership group tends to shop relatively infrequently at the major yearling sales in Britain and Ireland, its strike-rate is something to behold, with Selenaia a 85,000gns purchase from Baroda Stud at Tattersalls Book 2 in 2021. 

The black, light blue and white colours of Eclipse is perhaps best known in Europe for being carried by Gavin Cromwell's Queen Mary winner Quick Suzy (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}) in 2021 and, according to Aron Wellman, the man behind the ownership vehicle, there could be more to shout about at the royal meeting next week. 

Reflecting on Selenaia, he said, “We've dabbled in the yearling market in Europe and fortunately we're starting to hit our stride. We bought one yearling at Tattersalls a couple of years ago with the goal of bringing her to America and thankfully Selenaia delivered. She showed brilliance in her training and it translated to the racetrack which is a pleasure to see. 

 

“We're going to take a deep breath but, based on that performance and that she has now stretched out to nine furlongs, we'll take a look at some options at Saratoga with her and potentially look at going back to California to Del Mar. At this point, there's no ceiling to her and she's completely unexposed in this country.”

Wellman added, “We're really fortunate to be in the position we are in ahead of Royal Ascot. Last year, before we bought Selenaia, which was a one off, Amy Murphy in England did a really nice job with a filly called Manhattan Jungle (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}), who has since become a stakes winner and Group-placed in the States for us. She took us to Ascot last year.

“This time, we went back and bought three yearlings, and two of the three have run. One is called Passionately (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) [cost 55,000gns from Baroda Stud at Book 2], who won very well at Wetherby and goes to the Albany and the other filly, Geologist (GB) (Territories {Ire}) [cost 35,000gns from Galloway Stud at the Somerville Sale], was just beaten on debut at Redcar. We're going to take a swing at the Queen Mary with her. Two of the three yearlings we purchased are Royal Ascot candidates.”

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Wildcard My Lyka One Of Four Added To Arqana Summer Sale

Dual winner My Lyka (GB) (Intello {Ger}) is one of four wildcards added to the Arqana Summer Sale on July 4-6 in Deauville.

Consigned as lot 449, the 98-rated 4-year-old was most recently fourth in the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly. The other wildcards are lot 495, Full Of Shade (Fr) (No Risk At All {Fr}), who was second over hurdles in her second start; the placed hurdler Sun Joy (Fr) (Hunter's Light {Ire}) (lot 496); and Le Grande Yves (Fr) (Triple Threat {GB}) (lot 497), a two-length winner over hurdles at Vichy.

The juvenile breezes will take place at Deauville at 1 p.m. on July 4, with both the 2-year-olds and stores set to go under the hammer beginning at 11 a.m. on July 5. There is also a breeding stock portion and horses-in-training session starting at 11 a.m. on July 6.

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BHA Will Not “Be Coerced Into Any Activity By Threats Of Protests” And Will Not Debate With Activist Group

Ahead of next week's Royal Ascot meeting, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) will not take part in a nationally televised debate with Animal Rising, the organisation announced on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, animal activist group Animal Rising reportedly stated at a Wednesday press conference they would “pause” their protest activity this summer if UK racing's leaders took part in such a debate.

BHA chief executive Julie Harrington said, “At a press conference today, Animal Rising said they will cease their protest activity this summer if British racing agrees to take part in a public debate about 'the morals of horseracing'. We will never allow British horseracing to be coerced into any activity by threats of protests.”

Protestors had previously disrupted the Grand National, and Scottish Grand National this spring. Prior to the G1 Betfred Derby, Animal Rising claimed they would not attempt to enter the racecourse once the Derby was under way, but one member did so and was arrested on the track.

She added, “Animal Rising have shown by their reckless actions at the Epsom Derby that their public promises cannot be trusted. They have demonstrated they are prepared to commit potentially unlawful acts and to directly threaten the safety of horses and people to generate publicity around their wider aims. These aims include the end of all use of animals by human beings.

“Spokespeople for the sport have already taken part in well over an hour of televised debate since April. Throughout those debates the message was clear–that British racing is a sport which is proud of its welfare record, which provides an unparalleled quality of life for the 20,000 horses that compete each year, and which constantly works to minimise the levels of avoidable risk.

“Once again I call on Animal Rising to end their reckless acts against a sport legally enjoyed by millions of people every year.”

At the end of May, Epsom was granted an injunction against protestors prior to the G1 Betfred Derby Festival, and officials at Ascot said they would not be seeking a similar injunction “at this time” last week.

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Watson: ‘Ascot’s Been Pretty Big in the Storyline of my Career’

Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) was the juvenile star of the opening day of Royal Ascot last year and the G2 Coventry S. winner has been supplemented to return next week in the G1 King's Stand S. for Archie Watson.

“I guess Ascot's been pretty big in the storyline of my career,” admits the Lambourn trainer, who also won't be short of two-year-old runners at the royal meeting in an attempt add to a record which includes the Windsor Castle S.

“Soldier's Call (GB) was obviously our first big winner. I know it was a Listed win, but it was a Royal Ascot winner. And the fact he then went on and won a Flying Childers and was very good in those Group 1 sprints, being only narrowly beaten in the Abbaye and then the following year he found Battaash (Ire) a few times, but he was a very good horse and he put us on the map for sure.

“Ascot has really been very important in the few years I've been training because we've had a Coventry winner, a British Champions Sprint winner and then obviously the whole Dragon Symbol debacle as well, winning a Commonwealth Cup and then not winning a Commonwealth Cup.”

Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) was the first Group 1 winner for Watson and for his stable jockey Hollie Doyle on Champions Day in 2020, two years after Soldier's Call had brought his trainer to wider prominence at Royal Ascot. Though Watson is still only in his seventh full season with a licence, the cyclical nature of the business means that his stable now contains a number of youngsters by the Ballyhane Stud stallion, who currently leads the European first-season sires' table with 12 winners.

“Soldier's was such a dude of a horse to train,” he recalls. “It was in my second season training that we got sent that first batch of Clipper Logistics horses, and Soldier's was one of them. That was massive for us. 

“He had such a lovely character and I'm just glad that he is really taking off as a stallion. We've got eight by him and we've won with three of the four that we've run. He's going great guns and it's really great to see, for Steve Parkin and Joe Foley and everybody involved in the horse.”

Watson has nine juvenile winners on the board already for the year, with a selection of those being primed for next week. These include Army Ethos (GB) (Shalaa {Ire}), who will aim to give the stable a second Coventry success in the same colours as Bradsell, for Victorious Racing and Fawzi Nass. 

“He's a very talented horse,” says Watson. “I do really think that he can be a proper stakes horse in six-furlong sprints this year. 

“We're going to run two in the Queen Mary, a Zoustar (Aus) filly called Out Of The Stars (GB) for Qatar Racing. She's out of a mare called Out Of The Flames (GB), who was third in the Queen Mary. She's a homebred. She won at Kempton and she's very talented. 

“She goes to the Queen Mary along with the Mehmas (Ire) filly called Ba'Hoa (GB), who won at Newcastle for the Cool Silk Partnership.”

For the Windsor Castle, Watson will be saddling Action Point (Ire), who was the first winner for another freshman sire, Blue Point (Ire).

“He's a very nice horse,” says the trainer. “He won on debut and then was second in the Royal Ascot two-year-old trial. He's come on plenty since then, physically.

“We had a Soldier's Call winner called Reveiller (Ire) at Salisbury a couple of weekends go. He won impressively, he came from the breeze-ups, and he's going to go to the Norfolk, all being well.”

Watson also fields Lightning Leo (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in the Chesham S. for Lone Star Investments. “He won the first seven-furlong race of the year at Yarmouth, which was a very strong field,” he says.

“I'm not going in there with one like Bradsell who'd won his maiden by 10 lengths last year. But I think we're going with some nice horses. It does look on paper that a few of the races are very strong this year, but it probably does every year, doesn't it?”

He continues, “Bradsell is probably our main hope. I took him out of the Commonwealth. He's run two very solid races, third in both his runs this year, but he's really sharpened up and has looked like a five-furlong horse. It's very sporting of Sheikh Nasser to roll the dice and supplement him for the King's Stand, and then he will hopefully have a campaign over five furlongs for the rest of the season.”

 

While Watson has been successful with juveniles runners from the start, and in 2019 alone trained 76 two-year-old winners, he says that it is not something he specifically set out to do. 

“I don't like to be defined by it, and we've had plenty of jumps winners and good staying winners,” he says. “I wouldn't want to be emphasising that it's just speedy horses, but it's obviously something that we've done well with.

“This year we've had a good start with the two-year-olds because they're a quality group of horses, and I think that's the main thing. We had a quieter couple of years but we always manage to find a good one. Bradsell last year, and obviously Eddie's Boy (GB), and Nazanin (GB) won a Group 3 the one year, Mighty Gurkha won a Group 3 the year before that.”

Watson adds, “But I think this year the quality is definitely up. We've been very fortunate to have been sent a nice bunch of horses and Tom Biggs has done his job well buying a nice group of horses for me. He works very, very hard. Whilst I'm obviously there and making decisions with him, it does take 99% of the work out of my hands in terms of the sales.”

While he can lean on Biggs, of the Blandford Bloodstock team, Watson takes sole responsibility for the placing his horses. 

” I was assistant to William Haggas and he always did the placing and entering himself. And that's something that I've always been adamant that I should do, and I do enjoy it. But obviously when you've got large numbers of horses and large numbers of race meetings, it takes up a lot of time figuring out where to run them all.”

Archie Watson with his wife Brodie Hampson, Hollie Doyle and Glen Shiel

 

Watson takes pride in the upward trajectory of the career of Hollie Doyle, whom he says has been “massive for the yard”.

He continues, “She'd ridden out her claim and wasn't really getting the rides at Richard Hannon's because they've got nice apprentices coming through every year, so I said, 'Come and ride out for us.' 

“We just always got on very well, and when Eddie [Greatrex] got injured, Hollie took over, riding a lot more, and it's just gone from strength to strength. She's a great rider. She understands exactly how I like the horses ridden and I think the one thing about her is that she's very consistent and she very rarely makes mistakes. 

“For me, she's a top-five jockey and it's just a massive bonus for a yard like ours, that's only been training seven years, to have a top-tier jockey in the country riding for us day in, day out. We had our 200th winner together the other day.”

Doyle is not the only talented female jockey in the Watson yard. Straight after last year's Royal Ascot the trainer married amateur rider Brodie Hampson, who rides under both codes but has a particular affinity with National Hunt racing. 

“I've always had an interest in it but Brodie loves it,” says Watson, whose success over jumps includes the G2 Leamington Novices' Hurdle winner Stag Horn (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}). 

“Brodie trains the jumps portion of the string and she does a great job. It's something we enjoy and it's great. Originally it was just a few handicappers that Brodie rode herself, but then Simon Turner said, 'Let's buy a couple of point-to-pointers', and we've been very lucky so far. I think we'll have a team of eight or 10 jumpers next year.”

In the meantime, however, the tweeds have been cast aside for top hats and tails next week at Ascot.

“We've always been fortunate enough to have a good team to take,” Watson says. “I try not to send horses that are just there as social runners. I'd say we'll have 15 or so runners this year and I hope that they've all got a squeak in some way, for sure.”

 

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