Richard Fahey: ‘You have to think of horses like humans; what’s good for their minds’

It never bodes well when a trainer starts an interview with the words, “I don't really like doing interviews.”

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.

 

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Amo Racing Lose Norfolk Appeal

Amo Racing's appeal against the victory of The Ridler (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot has been dismissed, despite the fact that Paul Hanagan's ride aboard the winner was described by the disciplinary panel as being “poor, reprehensible and self-evidently culpable”.

The Ridler, trained by Richard Fahey, caused interference to Crispy Cat (GB) (Ardad {Ire}) and Brave Nation (Ire) (Sioux Nation), who finished third and fourth in that order for owners Amo Racing and Brian Goodyear, respectively. Amo Racing's Walbank (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) ran second and was unimpeded by the winner's erratic passage.

The stewards on the day suspended Hanagan for 10 days for careless riding in the Norfolk, however, the appeals panel rejected the case presented to them by Amo's Kia Joorabchian.

Amo argued that The Ridler should be disqualified or demoted for causing interference to the placed horses.

The written reasons that accompanied the decision said, “Mr. Hanagan's riding performance in the race was poor, reprehensible and self-evidently culpable.

“His inattention and misjudgement were not defensible. He is a jockey of huge experience [with approaching 17,000 rides and 2,200 winners behind him] and should have done much better.

“It was a bad, high-level instance of careless riding and he entirely deserved a suspension of real substance.

“An essential point to emphasise, however, is that at the end of the day we do conclude that what happened did properly fall into the category of careless riding; and not just simply because, under the regulations in this country, it is probable that no other categorisation is in fact possible.

“In the panel's view the prospect of Crispy Cat having won, absent the interference, was slim in all the circumstances to which we have referred.

“That said, we have in any event in the course of explaining our rationale expressed our view as to the ease with which The Ridler won the race.”

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Data, Data, Data: The “New Frontier” for Horse Racing

Last week at Royal Ascot, The Ridler (Brazen Beau) sprang a surprise in the G2 Norfolk S. when out-performing his odds of 50-1. That wasn't the only odd spell The Ridler cast during the race.

Into the final furlong, The Ridler drifted markedly left across the field, hampering the chances of several other runners. Controversially for some, The Ridler kept the race after a steward's inquiry.

During a presentation at Wednesday's Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, Will Duff Gordon, CEO of Total Performance Data, which provides in-running horseracing data, provided another intriguing way to examine the race.

Duff Gordon presented a chart showing the acceleration and speed of a horse during the race, and how it was impeded by the winner.

“You can see how that horse in blue, how much its velocity was cut off,” said Duff Gordon, pointing to the marked deceleration of a beaten runner at the time of The Ridler's antics.

“That's a much better way of telling the story rather than running the replay 700 times, which is what the TV companies have done to date,” said Duff Gordon. “The stewards can't yet use that information,” he added, “but hopefully they will soon.”

TPD's chart shows the deceleration of the impeded horses in the Norfolk

Duff Gordon was part of a panel looking at some of the data collection technologies forging a new path in equine welfare and performance during racing and training, and racecourse customer experience.

“This is a new frontier,” said Scott Palmer, equine medical director for the New York Gaming Commission, about the StrideSAFE sensor, which TDN has written about here.

Nevertheless, the panelists emphasized how, in many regards, the stamp from data collection on the racing world is still very much a fresh one.

Greater accuracy comes from sheer depth in numbers, and pick-up of these technologies among industry stakeholders at large has been finicky at best.

Correct interpretation of the data is also key. Racing is hardly awash with number crunchers, data analysts and epidemiologists. That's why, said Palmer, “this is baby steps right now.”

Duff Gordon agreed.

“We create in-running odds. That's making 10,000 calculations per-horse, per-second to predict who's going to win the race. We can refine that all the time,” he said.

“The last few years has been about acquiring the data, getting onto as many racecourses as possible. The present and the future's all about producing front ends and mining that data, so we're hiring huge numbers of data scientists,” Duff Gordon added. “Any budding data scientists, please do get in touch with me. We can never get enough of them.”

Presided over by New York Thoroughbred Horseman's Association president, Joe Appelbaum, the panel also included Valentin Rapin, managing director and co-founder of Arioneo, a horse performance company.

The technologies that Arioneo produces are geared around morning training, including heart-rate monitoring, locomotion and stride data, and GPS tracking of speed, distance and acceleration.

Broadly speaking, these discreet, easy-to-use technologies can be utilized to gauge things like the overall fitness level of the horse, it's optimum speed, suitable distances and ground preferences.

There's a welfare element, too, explained Rapin, as the heart-rate monitor gives trainers the ability to check for cardiac abnormalities.

“Let's say the horse is about 125 beats a minute every day. If one day you see the heart rate go up to 140, 150, it will probably mean there is something wrong,” said Rapin.

“You can contact your vet directly or your vet can also have access to the data via distance to monitor this for you,” Rapin added.

“It's really in the strike-rate,” interjected Duff Gordon.

“The trainers who have that huge, extra level of insight, their horses are ready to rumble and you have trainers with less horses punching above their weight,” Duff Gordon said, pointing towards the likes of George Boughey, a young UK-based trainer with an English Classic win to his name into just his fourth year with a license.

“He's got less than 50 horses, and [has] no right to be winning [like he is],” said Duff Gordon, adding how the likes of Boughey have harnessed the use of performance monitoring technologies with shrewd purchases at the sales.

StrideSAFE is a technology that fits into a horse's saddle towel with the ability to detect at high speeds lameness invisible to the naked eye. Since last summer, it has been used on thousands of starters across Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct.

“What were able to do with this device is actually detect lameness in early stages to provide for timely intervention,” said Palmer.

“We can work with the trainer and say, 'Your horse is not lame today, but the warning signs are clear. You need to get this horse evaluated by a veterinarian. It needs a good diagnostic workout because something's going on here,'” Palmer added.

Hundreds of times a second, this wireless iPhone-shaped device takes an assortment of measurements to capture in minute detail the movement of the horse at high speed.

These measurements include the horse's acceleration and deceleration, the up and down concussive movement of the horse, and its medial-lateral motion–what is, in other words, the horse's movement from side to side.

It works like a traffic light signal, providing a green for all-clear, an amber for possible caution, and a red for possible danger. These ratings are calculated by how many standard deviations the horse is from the norm.

“If they exceed three standard deviations from the mean we have what we call red alert, and that means there's something happening in this race that needs to be investigated,” said Palmer. “There's a change here.”

Palmer told the story of early on into the trial of a horse that finished second in a maiden special weight at Saratoga.

Immediately after the race, the horse appeared healthy and sound. But when Palmer received the StrideSAFE read-out of the race the following day, it showed worrying abnormalities in the horse's balance.

“When I got this data, I didn't know exactly what it meant,” said Palmer, who said that he called the trainer, asked about the horse.

“The trainer said, 'Well, this horse finished the race great.' Jockey had hopped off. Trainer was there in the unsaddling area. Everybody was happy, finished second in a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds at Saratoga,” said Palmer.

By the time the horse had walked back to the test barn and began to cool-out, it became lame–so much so, the horse had to be shipped back to the barn. A subsequent radiograph showed the horse had suffered an acute fracture of the third carpal bone.

“It was a very dramatic example for me that we were measuring something important,” said Palmer.

While researchers are still analyzing the data from the longer study, Palmer shared some numbers showing attrition rates among a small cohort of horses studied at Saratoga: 15 that had received red alerts, 25 with a yellow alert, and 91 with green alerts.

Broadly speaking, the horses with a red alert generally did not make it back to race for a “significant amount of time” as compared to the yellow and green horses, said Palmer.

The red horses didn't compete in as many races as the yellow and green alerted horses during a four-month follow-up period, nor complete as many high-speed workouts, added Palmer.

“Interestingly, only 40% of the horses that had a red classification were able to race at all over the next four months after the analyzed race compared to almost 80% of the greens and the yellows,” said Palmer. “I thought that was powerfully significant.”

In his “zealot's pitch” at the end of the panel discussion, Appelbaum implored the industry to accelerate its adoption of these kinds of technologies.

“There's not a human football player or soccer player at the professional level that's not using a catapult vest. In F1, the drivers all use gloves that track their heart rate and perspiration. Weightlifters are all using push-bands to understand their load,” said Appelbaum.

“Humans sports are about 10 years ahead of us,” Appelbaum added. “But we can catch up and we should catch up. It's not just for the benefit of the betting public, but it's really for the benefit of the horses.”

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The Major Talking Points From Day Three at Royal Ascot

There has been no shortage of talking points at Royal Ascot this week but, perhaps the most controversial incident of them all came in the opening race on Thursday, when Paul Hanagan received a 10-day careless riding ban for veering halfway across the track en route to victory in the G2 Norfolk S. aboard The Ridler (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}).

From that controversy to another forgettable afternoon's work for Frankie Dettori, out of luck aboard Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Gold Cup and The Queen's 2-5 favourite Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G3 Hampton Court S., Brian Sheerin dissects the main talking points from Thursday's action.

 

Listen To Heffernan – Racing Needs To Wake Up

What needs to happen in Britain and Ireland for the stewards to start protecting riders? Let's not pretend that this is a problem confined to British racing because it is not.

Just last autumn, Shane Foley found himself on the receiving end of a five-day ban for careless riding when partnering No Speak Alexander (Ire) (Shalaa {Ire}) to victory in the G1 Matron S. at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend.

Race-favourite Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was one of the worst affected by Foley edging to his left aboard the winner and there was genuine dismay from the international audience looking in on our product that the result wasn't changed.

Lessons haven't been learned and there was an element of groundhog day at Ascot when Paul Hanagan veered halfway across the track aboard The Ridler, inconvenienced a number of big-race rivals, but was allowed to keep the G2 Norfolk S.

What you permit, you promote, and the rules, as they are interpreted, meant that The Ridler was never in any real danger of being chucked out.

Seamie Heffernan gave a candid interview to TDN Europe in the immediate aftermath of the farcical contest where he raised the point that riders should have to forfeit their winner's cheque if found guilty of dangerous or careless riding.

In Hanagan's case, he was handed a 10-day riding ban for careless riding, and one can only assume he took that punishment with a smile.

Put simply, there is no deterrent for riding dangerously and, as Heffernan described, a “win-at-all-cost mentality” has crept into racing in recent times.

It begs the question; what needs to happen for the interference rules to be brought into line to reflect what happens in America, Australia and France?

Kia Joorabchian, whose Amo Racing silks were carried by the second and the third–Walbank (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Crispy Cat (GB) (Ardad {Ire})–was rightly fuming after the race. So, too, was Crispy Cat's trainer Michael O'Callaghan, not to mention the international bettors who got involved on the World Pool.

The damage caused by these farcical decisions pose a serious risk to the sport and Thursday's race should be the wake up call racing needs.

The problem is, this is an alarm bell that has been ringing for a while.

 

Forgettable Day For Frankie

Yesterday we spoke of how Irad Ortiz's week went from bad to worse and, unfortunately for Frankie Dettori, one of the all-time greats of the weighing room, he had a similarly forgettable day at the office.

John Gosden is not a man who goes around ruffling feathers for no reason but he was clearly disappointed with the ride Dettori gave Stradivarius in the Gold Cup, feeling the legendary rider was too far out of his ground in a slowly-run contest.

“I was a bit surprised that being in the box seat we dropped back so far,” Gosden told ITV Racing. He added, “It would have been nice to be a touch handier, to say the least.”

Dettori was once again out of luck in the Britannia S. when, in another stride or two, he almost certainly would have clinched victory aboard The Queen's Saga (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

At least there was a 2-5 favourite to steer home, eh? Wrong. Reach For The Moon ensured this was a day that would be remembered for all the wrong reasons when, despite being sent off at prohibitively short odds, Gosden's charge fluffed his lines in the G3 Hampton Court S.

It should also be noted that Reach For The Moon represented the third odds-on favourite of the week at Royal Ascot after Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) got the meeting underway as a 1-6 jolly in the G1 Queen Anne S and Bay Bridge(GB) (New Bay {GB}) got turned over at odds of 10-11 in the Prince Of Wales's S. on Wednesday.

Alfred Munnings (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who runs in the L Chesham S., and short-priced G2 Hardwicke S. fancy Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), are set to start at odds-on for their respective races on Saturday.

That will bring the total number of odds-on shots at this year's Royal meeting to five. There was consternation over the fact that there were five odds-on shots at Cheltenham back in March. Where is the outcry this week?

 

Stradivarius Going Nowhere

There seems to be an unhealthy obsession, certainly in some quarters of the media, in feeling the need to bring up the prospects of retirement as soon as any top horse appears to be on the wane.

Stradivarius is clearly not the force of old, yet he ran a gallant race to finish third in the G1 Gold Cup behind Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and many felt he was unlucky not to have won.

The most pleasing aspect of the performance, however, was that the old boy seemed to retain all of his enthusiasm for the game, which was evidenced by the live pictures of him strutting out of the parade ring afterwards like the champion that he is.

So why this constant talk of retirement? Stradivarius is a racehorse and, to these eyes at least, he still loves to run.

Judging by his fine effort in defeat, he will go close to winning the G1 Goodwood Cup and there is also the option of travelling to Paris later in the season.

Stradivarius has been masterfully handled by John and Thady Gosden. They will know when the time is right to bring the curtain down on his career. Judging by Thursday's performance, that time doesn't appear to be any time soon.

 

Brilliant Boughey Continues To Build

It is hard to believe that George Boughey has only recently turned 30. Since sending out his first winner in 2019, Boughey has bagged a breakthrough Classic success this year and sugar-coated what has been a memorable season by adding a Royal Ascot victory to his CV when Inver Park (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) landed the Buckingham Palace S.

Boughey got his training career up and running, by and large, with early 2-year-olds, but the standard of his Newmarket operation has risen dramatically with each season, as we saw when Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) won the G1 1000 Guineas.

Things could get even better for Boughey on Friday when Cachet lines out in the G1 Coronation S., which is shaping up to be one of the races of the week. His stock is not just on the rise, it's sky-rocketing.

Also, it would be remiss not to mention the exploits of Jane Chapple-Hyam this week. Twice the trainer's unmissable white bridle has been carried to victory at the royal meeting, with Claymore (Fr) (New Bay {GB}) running out a gritty winner of the G3 Hampton Court S. just 24 hours after Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) bolted up in the G2 Duke Of Cambridge S.

Chapple-Hyam's only other runner this week, Intellogent (Ire) (Intello {Ger}), also ran a cracker to finish second in Wednesday's Royal Hunt Cup.

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