Seven Days: The Remarkable Jarvis Training Dynasty 

As we stand braced for five consecutive weekends of Group 1 action in France and Britain, it is a sign of course that the Flat season of 2023 is drawing to a close, albeit with a bang rather than a whimper.

As announced in the Racing Post on Sunday, these final skirmishes on the turf will also bring with them the ending of the longest-running family training dynasty in Britain when William Jarvis saddles his final runner after 38 years with a licence. You could say he was born to it, following not just in his father's footsteps, but those of his grandfather and two generations before that, as well as various uncles and relatives, which include members of the notable Leader, Rickaby and Hall families. More than that though, Jarvis is simply a really good bloke who will be much missed among the Newmarket training ranks and beyond, especially in his role as a proactive and industrious president of the Newmarket Trainers' Federation. 

In a sense, the Group 1 winners Grand Lodge (Chief's Crown) and Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) served as book-ends for Jarvis's training career, which commenced in 1985 after he had worked in Australia as an assistant to George Hanlon and Tommy Smith, and back in Newmarket to Henry Cecil.

It was at the latter's Warren Place where Jarvis would have first encountered the stock of Lord Howard de Walden, in whose famous apricot silks ran such great names as the Cecil-trained Slip Anchor (GB), Kris (GB) and Diesis (GB).

The same owner-breeder's Weld (GB) became an important early group winner for Jarvis in the Doncaster Cup and Jockey Club Cup of 1989 and he was followed several years later by Grand Lodge. As the trainer's first Group 1 winner, he ensured that Phantom House Stables remained very much on the map with his victory in the Dewhurst S., followed the next year by an agonising short-head defeat by Mister Baileys (GB) in the 2,000 Guineas before he notched his second top-level success in the St James's Palace S. Jarvis also oversaw the careers of Grand Lodge's sister Papabile and half-sister La Persiana (GB) (Daylami {Ire}), both of whom were dual Listed winners. More recently, those colours were carried to success for Phantom House and Lady Howard de Walden by the G3 Lillie Langtry S. victrix Gravitation (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

“I was very lucky in the early days to have had the support of some English owner-breeders. It gave me a real headstart to have had Mr Jim Joel's colours and Lord Howard de Walden's colours hanging in the racing tack room. That was always very special,” Jarvis said, while acknowledging that the demise of the owner-breeder has been one of the major changes in the near-four decades that he has been training. 

“Mr Joel and Lord Howard de Walden never sold a yearling or a foal. Every single horse they bred was put into training,” he said. “Even now, if you look at Cheveley Park Stud and Mr Oppenheimer and the Lloyd-Webbers: I would classify them as commercial owner-breeders. They sell some of their colts and to an extent they have to balance the books.

“The game has changed completely, that's for sure, and whether it's changed for the better is for other people to comment on. To an extent, and it's not a chippy remark at all, but it is becoming a bit more polarised, and the big are getting bigger, and the middle tier and smaller tier of professionals are going to be up against it.”

Jarvis, who turns 63 next month, has three children who have steered different courses, but he admits that he only ever really had a desire to continue the Jarvis family tradition. His sister Jane George, who is married to Tattersalls' marketing director Jimmy George, is a director of the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau.

“It was important to me, and I felt very honoured to be part of it, because my father was a pretty good trainer and my grandfather trained for King George V and trained Classic winners for the royal family from Egerton. My uncles, Jack Jarvis and Basil Jarvis, trained [Derby winners] Blue Peter and Papyrus, and Jack was given a knighthood for services to racing. My great-grandfather was a trainer and so, I'm pretty sure, was my great-great-grandfather. From the 1880s there has been a Jarvis training in Newmarket.”

Sir Jack Jarvis, one of three sons of William Arthur Jarvis to train a British Classic winner, was indeed the first racehorse trainer to be knighted by the late Queen in 1967. A history of some of Newmarket's most famous training yards would doubtless unearth that a member of the Jarvis family had trained there at some stage, with Palace House, Park Lodge, Egerton House, Hackness Villa, Green Lodge and La Grange all included on that list, along with the now-defunct Waterwitch House and Warren House 

Jarvis added, “My father trained at Clarehaven for a while, after the war until 1952 when he bought Phantom House.”

While the conclusion of this season will bring about an end to his participation from Phantom House, he will remain in situ with plans to rent out the stables to Dylan Cunha, who already rents the bottom yard. 

“I have a young grandson now but it's not going to be pipe and slippers,” he said. “I need to find something to keep the adrenaline going. That's the thing about our industry, every day there's something to get the adrenaline going. It's not really a job, it's 24/7 and you have to overcome a lot of things as a racehorse trainer, but it's also a wonderful way of life and I've loved it.

“Newmarket is unique and long may it last. We've had a great time. I've had some wonderful staff over the years and I've trained for some wonderful people.

“It is sad, of course it is, but having said that I'm happy, I'm relieved, and I've had a wonderful career – well, I've enjoyed it, I don't know if other people have.”

Anyone who was present at Glorious Goodwood two years ago when Lady Bowthorpe won the Nassau S. for Emma Banks would have heard and seen how much “other people” truly enjoyed a Group 1 winner trained by the eminent and popular William Jarvis.

“That meant a lot,” he recalled. “It was very humbling.”

Niarchos Restructuring

The Niarchos family's racing manager Alan Cooper was keen to stress that the sale of a significant number of the operation's mares at Goffs in November represents a restructuring of the breeding empire rather than a dispersal, but it was nevertheless a startling press release to receive. 

From three different consignors – Baroda Stud, Kiltinan Castle Stud and Norelands – 44 mares will be offered for sale, including the four-time Group 1 winner and Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and her half-sister Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who emulated her sibling by winning the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot. The sisters are offered in foal to Sea The Stars (Ire) and Frankel (GB) respectively, and a full list of the mares being consigned, along with their covering sires, can be found here. 

“The family will have the opportunity to set reserves on the stock as they see fit,”  Cooper told TDN's Brian Sheerin. “The racing stables will continue to be supported by foals, yearlings, two-year-olds and older horses that are already in the system.”
Such a reassurance was music to the ears of anyone who has followed racing over a number of decades with a keen eye on the pedigrees of the top horses, for a Niarchos influence is never far from the winner's circle. The chance to buy into some of the family's best bloodstock presents an extremely rare opportunity that will draw breeders from across the globe to Goffs' Kildare Paddocks.

Sleepy in Name Only

Just in case you were in danger of thinking that Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was the star of the show at Hughie Morrison's stable, up jumped the redoubtable 11-year-old Not So Sleepy (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) to remind us all that there's plenty of life in the old boy yet. 

The two horses both race for their breeders Lord and Lady Blyth and, though unrelated, have a similar way of going: jump out smartly and try to make all. This was indeed the method of Not So Sleepy's latest win in the Dubai Duty Free Autumn Cup at Newbury on Saturday, which was his fifth on the Flat, his first having come on his debut nine years ago at Nottingham. Since those days, he has also won the Listed Dee S. and has been Group 3-placed but has enjoyed even greater success over hurdles. The peak of his five National Hunt wins came when he dead-heated with champion hurdler Epatante (Fr) in the G1 Fighting Fifth in 2021. 

Not So Sleepy had not raced since his fifth-place finish in the Champion Hurdle in March, and he may yet head to the Cesarewitch before returning to hurdles.

Ittlingen Strikes Again

For the second weekend running, the colours of breeder Gestut Ittlingen returned to the winner's enclosure after a group race, each time borne by the offspring of the late Adlerflug (Ger). The previous weekend had seen victory for Lordano (Ger) in the G3 Deutsches St Leger, which was followed seven days later for victory in the G1 Grosser Preis von Europa for the mare India (Ger), who is both pretty and pretty talented. 

The five-year-old, trained by Waldemar Hickst, became the eighth Group 1 winner for Adlerflug, and it is worth reflecting in this week that his success is not restricted to Germany, as his son Torquator Tasso (Ger) won the Arc two years ago, 12 months after another, the Deutsches Derby winner In Swoop (Ger), had finished second. Another son, Alenquer (Fr), won last year's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland. For a stallion that has only had 272 runners to date, and not that many more to come, a ratio of 10.7% stakes winners to runners reads well.

Italian Flavour to Japanese Success

The Irish Oaks winner and Arc runner-up Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was arguably the best known of the offspring of Holy Moon (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}) on the international stage, but the mare also produced a trio of winners of the Oaks d'Italia.

The three – Charity Line (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), and Cherry Collect (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) – were all bred by the Botti family's Razza del Velino and have all subsequently been sold to Japan for their broodmare careers.

The most successful in this secondary phase to date is Cherry Collect, whose three-year-old son Satono Glanz (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}), bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, won Sunday's G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai, his second victory at that level. He is the mares's sixth winner from six consecutive foals to race, along with the Listed winner and Grade 2-placed Wakea (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Listed winner Diana Bright (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Charity Line has produced three winners from her three runners, while Final Score has also produced three winners to date.

The sisters will not be the only Italian Oaks winners to be gracing the paddocks at Northern Farm as Katsumi Yoshida also purchased this year's winner, Shavasana (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) from her owner Mario Sansoni prior to her Classic success. She too was bred by Razza Del Velino and trained by Stefano Botti.

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Bahrain Turf Series Hailed At Home And Away

After two months and ten races, the curtain came down on the inaugural Bahrain Turf Series on Friday, with the results of the final two contests having both international and local appeal.

Britain's champion trainer Charlie Appleby fielded his first runners of the series in the seven-furlong Al Sakhir Cup and duly landed the spoils with Silent Film (GB) (New Approach {GB}), who rallied under a strong drive from James Doyle to win by a head from Shebil Aljazira (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}).

The 4-year-old winner was landing his third victory in succession in three different countries, having won a seven-furlong handicap at Sandown back in June and then reappeared at Meydan last month to win off a mark of 94.

“He's a horse we pinpointed for the race so we're delighted he's gone and won,” said Appleby. “It's a great series they have set up in Bahrain and we're just happy that we've been able to find the right horse to come over and be competitive. Everyone is very happy in Dubai, and I'm sure we'll be part of the Turf Series moving forward.” 

The following race, the Vision 2030 Cup, went the way of the partnership which is leading the tables in Bahrain his season, with dominant local trainer Hesham Al Haddad, who trains in partnership with Fawzi Nass, claiming his seventh victory in the series with Zagato (GB) (Frankel {GB}) under Neil Callan, the leading rider on the island for the current campaign with 19 wins under his belt.

Shaikh Sultan Aldeen Al Khalifa of Al Mohamediya Racing is a familiar figure both at Tattersalls and on British racecourses, and his visit to Newmarket last September proved to be a fruitful one as he purchased the smartly-bred Zagato from John and Thady Gosden's stable for 55,000gns. John Gosden had also trained her dam, the dual Group 1 winner Izzi Top (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), for breeder Meon Valley Stud. 

A winner at Thirsk last year over a mile, the 4-year-old has been gradually finding his feet in his new homeland and he had previously finished third then second in earlier legs of the Turf Series on Dec. 31 and Feb. 5. On Friday, he blew his rival away after skimming the rail round the tight bend for home and blasting through under Callan to win by 6 1/2 lengths. 

“Zagato has been an improving horse and he has improved with each start,” said Fawzi Nass. “We'll see what the handicapper does with him but he'll probably get an entry into the King's Cup which is a race run over 12 furlongs so he'll have a further two furlongs to negotiate.” 

With $50,000 per race up for grabs in prize-money, the Turf Series also rewards the horse to have earned the most points throughout the series in two distance categories: 'Pot A' is for horses racing over six and seven furlongs and 'Pot B' for those over nine and ten furlongs. 

Happy Craf (Arg) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), trained in Bahrain by Allan Smith and the winner of four of her last five starts, took the $25,000 Pot A bonus, while the Newmarket-trained Arqoob (Ire), representing William Jarvis, landed the same bonus in Pot B, with $15,000 going to his owners and $10,000 to the trainer. Though Arqoob did not win one of the races in the series, he appeared in five of them, placing three times.

Music agent Emma Banks, who is involved in the ownership of Arqoob and who enjoyed a memorable season on the track in 2021 with her Group 1-winning filly Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), said, “What a fantastic bonus to keep him out here. He hasn't won yet but he's been ultra-consistent and passed a lot of horses. It's a really interesting way the points have worked out and makes for an interesting end to the series.” 

She continued, “You can't be disappointed when you go home with prize money from races, prize money from the league table and a lovely trip to Bahrain.” 

Arqoob's trainer William Jarvis added, “I'm so thrilled his owners have been able to come out and witness this race. I'm very proud of him, he's been so consistent and the support I've had from Richard, his owner, has been massively appreciated.” 

Happy Craf is likely to be seen in action next in Europe, switching from Allan Smith's stable to the Newmarket base of his son Martin.

Allan Smith said, “She deserves it. It's a pity we couldn't run her in the last Turf Series race but she's off to England at the start of April. She'll be targeted at Listed and Group 3 races. Hopefully if she can pick up some black type we can send her to stud and then she can return to Bahrain to foal.” 

The Bahrain Turf Series, which got underway on Dec. 10, has been shown through 20 broadcasters around the world via the Racecourse Media Group. Channels to have featured the racing from Sakhir include Fox Sports in America, ESPN in Latin America, Dubai Racing Channel, and Japan's Green Channel.

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Lady Bowthorpe to Skip Sun Chariot in Favour of Champions Day

Group 1 winner Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) will not start in the G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. at Newmarket on Oct. 2, and will instead be pointed at the Oct. 16 QIPCO British Champions Day. Trained by William Jarvis for Emma Banks, the 5-year-old mare won the G1 Nassau S. in late July, but was only seventh in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet on Aug. 22. Jarvis is pointing Lady Bowthorpe to either the one mile G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. or the 10-furlong G1 QIPCO Champion S.

“There's nothing drastically wrong with the mare at all–but we did miss a crucial bit of work with her, and I just felt that she wouldn't do herself justice if she went there a bit undercooked,” trainer William Jarvis told Nick Luck's Daily Podcast. “I don't see any point in lining up in a Group 1 race unless we're ticking every box. Emma Banks is very philosophical and patient and understands the situation.

“We're going to leave her in both the mile race (QEII) and the Champion S. at Ascot. With a bit of luck, that's what we're going to do.”

Lady Bowthorpe narrowly secured the G2 Dahlia S. at Newmarket on May 2 making her first start of the year, and was second to standout miler Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the May 15 G1 Lockinge S. on May 15. She was fourth in the July 9 G1 Falmouth S. to a trio of Group 1-winning 3-year-old fillies, prior to her Nassau score.

“We did give her five days off, and she did benefit from that,” added Jarvis of her French effort. “Obviously it was a below-par effort, and we were desperately disappointed, but nothing came to light. Her action was good, and she looks very healthy still–she looks marvellous, actually.”

Looking farther ahead he added, “No decision has absolutely been made [on her retirement]. We're going to see how she goes on Oct. 16 and probably make a decision then. It doesn't necessarily have to be made straight after that either.

“We'd love to have her in training as a 6-year-old. But having said that, she's got that crucial Group 1 under her belt and owes none of us anything. We've been privileged and very lucky to have a mare as special as her.”

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Sun Chariot Likely For Lady Bowthorpe

Group 1 winner Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) will likely make her next start in the G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. on Oct. 2. Trainer William Jarvis prefers that Newmarket option, with the G1 Prix de l'Opera back in France on Oct. 3 no longer under consideration. Later targets on the calendar include the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. or G1 Champion S. on Oct. 16 for the 5-year-old mare. In her most recent start, the G1 Nassau S. heroine was seventh of eight in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville.

“Obviously, it was very disappointing,” Jarvis said of his star's Romanet performance. “But that's horseracing, it happens. I can't really come up with an excuse for it. It went our way at Goodwood, [but] it didn't in Deauville. We've been in it for a long time, we can understand these things.”

Successful in the G2 Dahlia S. on May 2, Lady Bowthorpe ran a good second to Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the G1 Al Shaqab Locking S. at Newbury on May 15 and was second again in the G2 Duke Of Cambridge S. at Royal Ascot on June 16. Only fourth in the G1 Falmouth S. behind the Group 1-winning trio of sophomore fillies Snow Lantern (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), she scored her first top-shelf victory in the July 29 Nassau S.

“We're going to sleep on it,” he added of the Emma Banks-owned mare. “Sometimes, you can't quite put a finger on it. But the filly has come back healthy and sound, so that's the main thing. She won't go back to France, I wouldn't have thought, for the Prix de l'Opera. So we've got the Sun Chariot as a possible target for her.

“We've got those [British Champions Day] races at Ascot. [So], if we're not pleased with her in time for the Sun Chariot we can wait and take up one of those entries.

“The Ascot races both look very competitive, strong fields. So if she was ready for the Sun Chariot I think we'd take up that option.”

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