Haggas Has Royal Ascot Aim For The King And Queen’s Desert Hero

William Haggas is charting a path back towards Royal Ascot with Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and nominated the Hardwicke S. as the main objective for the King and Queen's colt before a possible tilt at races in Australia in the autumn. 

Winner of the King George V S. last term, Desert Hero went on to claim Group 3 honours in the Gordon S. at Goodwood before finishing third to Continuous (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {JPN}) in the St Leger. 

Haggas had suggested that an Australian campaign could be on the cards for Desert Crown after the St Leger, however, it would appear that those plans have been put on the back burner for the time being at least. 

Speaking to RadioTAB Australia, Haggas said, “We decided definitely that His Majesty's horse will not be coming to Sydney in the autumn. We may well come down at the backend of the year in your (Australian) spring, but I just felt he needed a bit more time and they (his owners) concurred.”

When asked if the Melbourne Cup would be a likely destination, Haggas replied, “Possibly or possibly something in Sydney, we'll see. We are going to concentrate on going to Royal Ascot for the Hardwicke Stakes, which will be his first major target.

“He's done very well this winter. He will benefit from all the time he can get. It's 'do we press the button now or wait a bit' and we plumped for the second option, we're going to wait a bit.

“He's pretty useful, he got better and better last year and we think he's done better again this winter, so I am very pleased with him.”

Haggas will be represented in the big Australian races once again by Dubai Honour (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}), who won both the Ranvet S. and the Queen Elizabeth S. last year before finishing a fine third to Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the QEII Cup in Hong Kong.

“He'll go into quarantine on February 15. We're looking at the same two races as last year,” he commented. “I probably shouldn't have run him in the Eclipse, as he'd been on the go for a while, but there were only four runners and I thought he ran well for a long way in the Champion Stakes.

“To be honest, his whole summer was based around getting him in top shape to come to you (Australia) in February/March. He will be the same horse he was, I hope.

“I'd like him to come back for two years. If all goes well this year and he runs competitively, then basically it will be all the same again.”

Two more could travel with Dubai Honour, as Post Impressionist (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), winner of the Old Borough Cup, and Mujtaba (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), last seen finishing second in the Huxley S. in May, are both pencilled in.

“Post Impressionist will run in the Sydney Cup, he's been bought by Lloyd Williams. He's in really good shape,” said Haggas.

“Mujtaba might well go. I'm really pleased with his condition. He'll either go Ranvet or Tancred and then hopefully Queen Elizabeth.

“He's never won a Stakes race, in his only start last year he was second in a Group Two and then got colic. He's a good age, he's six but has only run nine times in his life.”

The post Haggas Has Royal Ascot Aim For The King And Queen’s Desert Hero appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘We’ve Got A Queen Mary To Win’–US-Based Morley Hoping Bold Plan Pays Off

It was Mike Tyson who famously said, 'everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.' Racing is a sport where the metaphoric punches can be unrelenting. 

Therefore, when New York-based trainer Tom Morley dreamed up the idea of purchasing a filly with the idea of returning home to England to try and win the G2 Queen Mary S. at Royal Ascot, he knew the plan was a daring one. 

But credit to Cynane (Omaha Beach), bought for $250,000 through Oracle Bloodstock at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, she delivered a suckerpunch of her own when winning impressively on debut at Belmont Park last week. 

That performance put Cynane firmly in the Queen Mary picture, and Morley ever closer to a dream first winner back home in Britain at the royal meeting. 

“You don't often get emotional when you train horses that win maidens, but for the people involved in her ownership, it means an awful lot,” Morley told TDN Europe.

“I have trained for Gregg and Cathy Palesky [VinLaur Racing Stables LLC] for a long time and they haven't had a huge amount of luck. They did claim an Into Mischief filly called Xantique and she won a stakes race for them but they have had some bad horses in the meantime. It is huge for them. 

“West Paces have been wonderful supporters of our yard–are made up by a group of guys from Atlanta who I would describe as great mates–and they go to Royal Ascot every year. To be able to go with a runner is huge for them as well.”

He added, “Rainbow's End are also great supporters, and only have horses in training with me, so it's a really cool group of owners. 

“And then you realise what the horse herself has managed to do. She has put herself in the thick of things for the Queen Mary by being an impeccable student.”

That Belmont Park victory, where Cynane pulled clear of the short-priced Wesley Ward-trained favourite Sam's Treasure (Munnings), was the culmination of the excellent homework the filly had been showing ever since she was broken by Raul Reyes. 

Cynane was identified, like a lot of Morley's stock, by the Oracle Bloodstock team, who signed for the Hinkle Farms-bred and -drafted half-sister to classy middle-distance performer Cat's Claw (Dynaformer). 

Cynane | Chelsea Durand

Recalling what he liked most about Cynane as a yearling, Morley said, “The first time I saw her, I wrote, 'what a walk' and gave her two ticks. I went back through my Keeneland Sale catalogue and she was one of four fillies that I gave two ticks to. I absolutely adored her.

“Conor Foley, Jim Hatchett and Scotty Everett at Oracle Bloodstock do a lot of my short-listing at the yearling and 2-year-old sales. This filly was on their list. 

“Conor and I put her ownership group together and, I was so high on her, I probably would have gone strong on her if I had to. I'm delighted we didn't have to. She's obviously got a very strong female family and looks to have given herself a real shot at competing on a huge stage.”

Morley added, “She was the only one who we bought last year with Ascot in mind. We wanted to give her every opportunity to do this if she could. I said to Raul Reyes when she went down to Florida, train her like a very, very precocious two-year-old until she tells you that she can't do it, and then we'll just build her back to what we normally do. 

“On March 2, he rang me and said, 'Tommy, that filly is leaving tomorrow,' and I said, 'Raul, well done.' That's how it went.”

“She has never missed a day of training and eats like a pig, so it's all credit to her. You can't miss a day if you are going to do this. Then you have to be enough to deal with Wesley [Ward] on debut. It's then, and only then, when you can start to think about trips like this.”

The seeds of this Royal Ascot plan were not set back in September when Morley first set eyes on Cynane but much further back than that. The son of a successful breeder and owner, he is also the nephew of multiple Group 1-winning trainer David Morley, whose Royal Ascot victory in the Gold Cup with Celeric (GB) (Mtoto {GB}) sticks out in the memory for the young handler. 

A graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start programme, Morley could have set up training anywhere in the world, but on the advice of his former boss in Newmarket Jeremy Noseda, took out his licence in America. Fast-forward 13 years and he is still there, building his stable bigger and better, season after season. 

“I started off with Eddie Kenneally in Palm Meadows and Brendan Walsh was an assistant there at the time. We then went to Keeneland, followed by Churchill, and by the time I got to Saratoga, I thought 'this is a wonderful life'. 

“Then I began to think about what it would take to get started up in England compared to America. You don't need an enormous amount of capital over here. I literally started training with one horse, one bridle, one saddle, two water buckets and a feed tub. That's it. 

“I groomed the horse every morning and my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife [Maggie], rode him out and he won his second race for us. That was it, we were up and running at that point.”

He added, “I just felt that young people get afforded a little bit more of an opportunity out here. It's very hard to break into the upper echelons as a trainer anywhere in the world but we have been lucky this year in that I came back very strong about the bunch of yearlings we purchased and am very strong on our 2-year-olds for this year. You've got to feel good about the horses you are going to war with on a circuit like New York. For me, it's the toughest place in America to be competitive.”

Morley's confidence behind Cynane's ability to handle the demands of the royal meeting stems from his insight into the tried-and-trusted criteria that Noseda followed so successfully during a golden period in the early noughties. 

Tom and Maggie Morley | Walter Wlodarczyk

He explained, “Jeremy used to come to America to buy fillies just like Cynane and we would have runners and winners every year in the Queen Mary. This filly reminds me enormously, physically, of the fillies that Jeremy used to be so successful at buying in America and bringing back to Europe to have a crack at these races. 

“This is the model that Jeremy used to buy so I will have to credit my ex-boss for giving me the idea on what to look for physically on a Queen Mary type. I was very fortunate to be there for Laddies Poker Two (Ire) (Choisir {Aus}), Fleeting Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Sixties Icon (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Strike The Deal (Van Nistlerooy), Simply Perfect (GB) (Danehill), the list goes on and on. They were wonderful, wonderful years and Jeremy was an unbelievably talented trainer. He was the reason I came to America. He told me to go for a year or two to get some experience and I never came back.”

Of course, you can't mention Noseda without bringing up Laddies Poker Two in detail. Morley is all too aware that he bore witness to one of the greatest Royal Ascot training performances of the modern era. Oh, and he also pocketed himself a few quid in the process!

He recalled, “Laddies broke her pelvis and then she got a tendon. She would have won the Wokingham as a 4-year-old but got a tendon getting ready for that race off the back of fracturing her pelvis the previous year. It was an extraordinary training feat to win the Wokingham after 610 days off the track. And it was like dealing with a priceless vase because we knew how good she was but we needed to keep her in one piece. 

“She did one piece of work with Fleeting Spirit who had been the European champion sprinter the year before. They did a piece of work in the spring and they worked very nicely together so we knew that, if you were going into the Wokingham off 8st 3lbs and had been working with the European champion sprinter, you knew you were going to have a decent shot to say the least. She was incredibly talented and has obviously gone on to be a very good broodmare being the dam of Winter (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).”

And that famous gamble?

“I might have had a few quid on in the weeks leading up to the race,” comes the reply. “I certainly wasn't one of those people who got involved on the day–there was too much to do at that point. But it was rather remarkable watching a horse open up at 10-1 for the Wokingham, which is normally the starting price of the favourite in that race, and then get absolutely hammered in the betting before the race. It was great to be a part of that.”

As Morley acknowledges, rare is the day where a plan is executed to a nicety in this game. Rarer still when that plan just so happens to involve purchasing a yearling with the distinct aim of travelling halfway around the world to compete on one of the greatest stages on turf. 

Morley has avoided the many and obvious pitfalls that come with negotiating something so daring and, with the royal meeting inching ever closer, is starting to believe that this bold piece of planning could be about to come off. 

“We've got a Queen Mary to go and try to win,” he says. “It's very exciting and it will mean the world to me if we can do it. The day Celeric won the Gold Cup at Ascot sealed my faith in becoming a trainer. He was a horse who meant so much to me and my family. Ascot is a very special place.”

The post ‘We’ve Got A Queen Mary To Win’–US-Based Morley Hoping Bold Plan Pays Off appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Coolmore’s John Magnier The 2022 Recipient Of The Sir Peter O’Sullevan Award

Coolmore's John Magnier was the recipient of the 2022 Peter O'Sullevan Award and was celebrated at the 25th edition of the Peter O'Sullevan Annual Award Lunch in London on Thursday. The 74-year-old received his award from JP McManus at Coolmore, as he was not present at the lunch.

“I don't deserve it, but I'm happy to get it,” Magnier told ITV Racing anchor Ed Chamberlin in an interview, which was played during the ceremony. “I'm blown away by it, really.”

Magnier spoke in favour of racing's various factions coming together to work for the good of the whole sport.

“Our people running the sport really have to make some tough decisions–and when they make tough decisions, the rest of us are going to have to row in behind them. There are too many sectional interests pulling in different directions.”

Internationally renowned for his bloodstock acumen, the owner-breeder also reminisced about various bloodstock adventures, from Camelot (GB)'s Triple Crown bid with a near-miss in the G1 St Leger, to losing out to Juddmonte on the colt that would subsequently become the undefeated, wunderkind Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

“That was tough to take, all right,” said Magnier of the Doncaster reverse, adding of the Triple Crown, “It's something we would love to do one day. We won't give up.

Frankel was a foal share with Juddmonte. Every second year we got the first pick. That year Juddmonte had the first pick and they picked Frankel. That was another one that got away.”

Added Magnier, whose Vincent O'Brien-trained Robert Sangster-owned El Gran Senor lost the G1 Derby in 1984 to Secreto, who was trained by the latter's son David, “He [El Gran Senor] was sold for $80 million if he had won the Derby. That's racing. In actual fact, I had a bet on Secreto, and Ladbrokes shut my account after. Mike Dillon gave me the cheque and I still have it framed in my office. We were able to buy a drink that night, anyway.”

Besides affirming Coolmore's ambition to secure the Triple Crown, Magnier emphasised the organisation's continued commitment to the Blue Riband. Coolmore and its affiliates have won nine Derbys since 2001, eight under the watchful eye of Ballydoyle's resident trainer Aidan O'Brien.

“A horse has to have everything to win at Epsom,” he said. “He has to have speed. He has to have stamina. He has to have soundness. He has to have courage. He has to go through the razzamatazz of the day. It's the complete test of the horse.

“There's an interesting story [on hiring Aidan]. He came here to the office, and I was going to have a chat with him to see if we could work something out. He said to me he had been here before. I said to him, 'What were you doing here before?' He said he had tried to get a job here and had met Christy Grassick. I asked him what happened, and he said he hadn't given him the job. I said, 'Clever of him. Christy could have lost his job!'”

He added of Vincent O'Brien, who preceded O'Brien at Rosegreen, “He understood all aspects of the business. He understood the American bloodlines, he understood the finance and he understood if you didn't have the owner, you weren't going to get the horse. He was a man apart, really. You couldn't help but learn from him. He was a genius.

Magnier also paid tribute to his late mother, Evie StockwellThe Queen, as well as legendary jockey Lester Piggott, who all died this year.

“She loved the horses and spent two or three hours reading the Racing Post,” reflected Magnier on his mother, who enjoyed Breeders' Cup success as an owner-breeder with Hit It A Bomb (War Front). “It was a big part of her life.

“She [The Queen] was such a positive for racing. It will be very tough to manage without her.”

Of Piggott, Magnier said, “You could hear the crack of Lester's whip. He would probably get jailed today if he did that, but he was an artist at work. He had an aura about him. If he came into a room, you kind of knew he was there. He would come to Ballydoyle, especially in the spring, have a few glasses of champagne and smoke a cigar. He was very interesting.”

The post Coolmore’s John Magnier The 2022 Recipient Of The Sir Peter O’Sullevan Award appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Maquette of The Queen to be Auctioned at Tattersalls 

A special addition to the Tattersalls December Sale will come under the hammer on Monday when a maquette of Her Late Majesty the Queen is auctioned for charity prior to the first of the two Sceptre Sessions.

The maquette is a study for the life-size bronze close to the Rowley Mile Racecourse in Newmarket which depicts the Queen, who was the long-term patron of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association, with a mare and a foal. The bronze of the Queen is by Etienne Milner and the two horses by Charlie Langton.

All proceeds raised by the sale of the maquette will go to the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket. 

The post Maquette of The Queen to be Auctioned at Tattersalls  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights