August Newsletter
With summer drawing to a close and the busiest period of the racing year reaching its conclusion, now seems a suitable time to take stock, and to reflect on the progress of the eight-strong team currently operating under the Horse Watchers umbrella.
Newmarket’s July Sales saw us add two new recruits to the ranks, and one of them, the 3yo SAATTY, is already off the mark. A gelded son of the smart 6f/7f performer Markaz, he’d looked open to improvement on the form of his six runs in Ireland for Kevin Prendergast, and Mick was keen to crack on with him soon after he’d arrived at the yard. Saatty isn’t a flashy worker by any means, but it didn’t take him long to approach full fitness, and we gave him entries for the Grey Horse Handicap at Newmarket and a 5f maiden at Chelmsford in the middle weekend of August.
Not wanting to overface him first time up, we chose Chelmsford because it looked the weaker contest, although it would have been hard to predict just how uncompetitive a race it turned out to be. As the field approached the first bend, one of Saatty’s three rivals turned right instead of left and took the other two runners with him, gifting our horse an unassailable advantage. Inadvertently, Oisin Murphy’s decision to hug the inside rail on Saatty turned out to be a race-winning manoeuvre.
In many ways it was the perfect start for Saatty. He collected first prize for what was no more than an exercise gallop and had a positive first experience on a British racecourse. Because the race was essentially a non-event, his handicap mark has remained unchanged on 70 while his current Timeform Rating stands at 80+. There will be plenty of opportunities for him over the coming months and we’ll no doubt learn much more about him next time. He’s now likely to head to Epsom on Bank Holiday Monday where William Buick is provisionally booked to ride.
Our other purchase at Newmarket was HATHLOOL, and in this one’s case we’re happy to play a longer game. A former stablemate of Saatty’s in Ireland, he raced only twice for his previous yard, showing promise on his debut and giving the impression his second outing might have come rather too soon.
The plan was always to geld him and give him a minor wind operation, with the all-weather beckoning later this year. Physically, Hathlool is a more substantial type than Saatty, just the sort to benefit from time and patience. He’s bred to be useful, being by the promising stallion Awtaad out of a well-related German Listed winner, and we’re hopeful he’ll prove well bought at 22,000 guineas - he cost ten times that price as a yearling.
Middle-distance handicaps will be Hathlool’s target in due course but he’ll need one more run in a maiden or novice beforehand. Expect to see him at some point during the autumn.
Resisting the temptation to rush a horse until the foundations are firmly set remains crucial to what we’re aiming to do as a syndicate, and the 4yo LIBERATION POINT is the latest example to reap the benefits. A strapping son of Iffraaj, he came to us for 16,000 guineas last autumn from Richard Fahey’s yard. The form of his debut at Newcastle in December 2019 worked out extremely well, and he’d pulled clear with a useful Stoute-trained colt at Pontefract on his only 3yo outing.
Towards the end of 2020, however, it was clear he wasn’t moving as well as Mick would have liked, and after a series of small issues it wasn’t until July of this year that Liberation Point started working seriously again. Since then, he’s done nothing but please his work riders, giving the feel of a very different horse from earlier in the year.
Liberation Point made his debut for us in a maiden at Ripon on Monday and created an excellent impression in seeing off the odds-on favourite, digging deep under Kevin Stott to assert inside the final furlong. That was over a mile on good going, and the feeling is he’ll come into his own over further, while some ease in the ground may always be to his benefit. Handicaps will be his next port of call, and we’re hopeful he’s all set for a productive autumn campaign, when he’ll be fresher than the majority of his rivals. His opening handicap mark will be published on Tuesday but Timeform have him rated 90p after Ripon.
In what proved to be a memorable week for the Horse Watchers, MAHANAKHON POWER gained his second success in our colours in a 1m2f handicap at Chelmsford. Now, patience may be a virtue where some horses are concerned, but “MP” could probably run twice a week, every week. His first win at Yarmouth came only four days after his previous outing, and the Chelmsford victory was on his tenth start since he debuted for us in the spring.
Mahanakhon Power absolutely thrives on racing, and Chelmsford represented a career-best according to Timeform ratings as he ran to a mark of 74. The win was achieved in characteristic fashion too, as he bounded off in front and kept on dourly, making deserved amends for a defeat at Nottingham the previous week when he’d set fierce fractions in front. He’s been a fun horse to be involved with, and will now head to Yarmouth on Sunday prior to being sold at Goffs in Doncaster early next month when we hope he’ll catch the eye of some jumps trainers.
Autumn should see the return of RAASEL, who has more ability than his mark of 73 indicates - it’s just a question of unlocking it.
Promising as a 2yo but unraced at three, he was a relatively cheap purchase from Marcus Tregoning’s yard at 10,000 guineas and looked a bargain when making his debut for us in a novice at Chelmsford in January and going down narrowly after looking all over the winner. He failed to beat a rival in two starts afterwards but a proper break since then will hopefully have done him the power of good.
Raasel certainly seems in fine shape at present. We tried him in a hood and a crossed noseband on his last start at Newcastle in an attempt to get him to settle but he again overraced and found little. After the layoff he seems a more relaxed individual at home, far less buzzy than used to be the case. He’s still doing solo exercise but it won’t be long before he’s working his way to full fitness. Sprint handicaps will be on the agenda in the closing months of the year and if we can find the key to him he’ll win races off his current mark.
Switching our attention to North Yorkshire, Dave has taken charge of TIGER TOUCH, a son of American Pharoah we bought at the Arqana Deauville Sales at the beginning of July. Formerly trained in France, Tiger Touch seems to have settled in well at Upper Helmsley and his work had been encouraging before he made his debut over 1m2f at Sandown last Sunday. Finishing down the field there was clearly disappointing but there were extenuating circumstances and we’re expecting him to come on plenty for the run.
For a start, the Sandown race, part of the well-received Sunday Series, was a warm one with a near-maximum turnout - the healthy prize money saw to that. Tiger Touch’s chance was compromised when he drew the outside stall of 17, and in a competitive, well-run race in a big field his fitness was tested to the limit. Our feeling is that, on the back of a layoff, Tiger Touch was found wanting in relation to his race-conditioned rivals.
In addition, recruits from France can take some time to acclimatise to a different training regime. For example, Safran, another ex-French member of Dave’s team, finished last on his British debut in June but has since been running creditably off marks in the 80s, and it’s probably just a matter of time before that one gets off the mark over here. All in all, Tiger Touch, a strikingly attractive 4yo, seems likely to leave the Sandown form behind in due course.
His neighbour RHOSCOLYN has been our standard bearer this year. From modest beginnings when finishing last at Wolverhampton in April, he has scaled heights few of us thought likely, winning three handicaps on the bounce in May and June, including memorably at Epsom on Oaks day. In the process he has picked up just shy of £100,000 in prize money.
Rhoscolyn’s star continues to rise, and on his most recent outing, at Glorious Goodwood, he was second in the prestigious Golden Mile, giving the impression he’d have gone close with more luck in running. That was another personal best on the Timeform figures for Rhoscolyn - his new rating is 114 - and he now looks well worth his place in pattern company.
On that score, he’s heading back to Goodwood on Sunday for the Group 3 Supreme Stakes for which he is the Timeform Top Rated in the race. He’s shown such a liking for the course that this or Saturday’s Celebration Mile were going to be his next target and we go there confident of a big run. The ground is likely to be firmer at the weekend than he has encountered this year, but his best run and his only win as a 2yo came on going described by Timeform as good to firm, so we’re certainly hopeful he’ll handle it. Incidentally, Dave sent him for an away-day at Easthorpe at the start of the week, and Rhoscolyn worked as well as he’s ever done, so it’s all systems go as we bid for a first domestic Group race success.
Any future targets will naturally depend on what happens there, but Rhoscolyn also has entries in Group 2 events at Doncaster and Leopardstown in September. He’s come a long way in a short space of time and it’s possible we’ve not seen the best of him yet.
Finally, the only member of the team yet to make it to the racecourse is the 2yo SCALDED, who hasn’t had much luck in his short career to date. He’s a straightforward type at home and was working well and close to a run when injuring a sesamoid on the gallops in June. That’s quite a serious injury, but he had an operation soon afterwards and is currently recuperating with a view to racing on the all-weather this winter or on the turf in the first half of next year. Fingers firmly crossed for him.
Meanwhile, we’re always on the lookout for further additions to the Horse Watchers string. Next week’s Tattersalls August Sale at Newmarket is currently under scrutiny, and it’s then only a couple of months until the big Autumn Horses-In-Training sale which takes place at the same venue. 2020’s sale unearthed Rhoscolyn, Liberation Point and Mahanakhon Power.
We’re also in the process of putting together a three-horse syndicate for the all-weather this winter. The first member of the team is the 4yo filly SEAGULLS NEST, a daughter of Camelot who showed a consistent level of form for Mick Channon without quite managing to get her head in front. An ordinary maiden should be well within her range, her handicap mark looks very fair, and crucially she has already shown a liking for Lingfield’s Polytrack.
She’ll be trained by Mick, who was crowned champion all-weather trainer once more in 2020-21, and will be joined by two new purchases before the all-weather season begins. The syndicate will run throughout the winter, and an all-inclusive price will cover all three horses, the aim being to wrap things up and move the trio on again at the Guineas Sale next May. To find out more, or indeed for any other information about getting involved with The Horse Watchers, simply get in touch via the website.