November Newsletter
The week of the Tattersalls Newmarket Autumn Sales is probably the busiest of all for the Horse Watchers. Over the years the fixture has been an excellent source of future winners - the likes of BIG COUNTRY, SAAHEQ and RHOSCOLYN were purchased there - and at the start of the week there were plenty of horses we were interested in from a catalogue of over 1500 lots.
In the days before the sale, we had a couple of lengthy group discussions to whittle down an extensive list of possibles to a more manageable number, and to put a rough value on each of the horses that made the cut. Martin, Chris and Matt assembled at Newmarket on the Sunday, and over the next four days, in conjunction with our vet and our trainers, the likely candidates were inspected more closely. By the end of the four sessions we had increased our string by three.
The first point to make about this year’s sale is that competition was unusually fierce, and there were significant rises in turnover, average price and median price compared with 12 months earlier. 92% of the lots that went through the ring were sold, signifying an extremely strong market.
A major consignment from the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Shadwell Estates was always going to be popular - we ourselves had sourced HAKAM, MITHQAAL, KASBAAN, SAATTY, HATHLOOL and RAASEL from Shadwell in the past - and 118 horses from that draft sold for a total of 5.2 million guineas. Keeping the market buoyant was significant interest from Middle Eastern buyers, fuelled by increased racing opportunities in the likes of Saudi Arabia in recent years.
So obtaining perceived “value” proved difficult, and by the end of day one we had not landed a successful bid. ESHKAAL, a twice-raced son of Exceed And Excel with Richard Hannon, REIGNING PROFIT, a speedily bred son of Profitable with Michael O’Callaghan, and MUTASARREF, a useful maiden winner in the care of Dermot Weld, were all on our radar but passed through the net for various reasons.
Similarly, the consistent handicapper FIEROSPEED and the Queen’s INVEIGLE, a horse we’d had our eye on for quite some time, were carefully considered but ended up being sold elsewhere. On a brighter note, Matt took a punt very early in the sale and bought ELEKTRONIC (for 3,000 guineas), who’ll join Mick from Richard Hughes, and the following day he also secured FOX POWER (for 28,000 guineas), who’ll switch to Matt’s white-and-black silks from the blue and white of King Power.
Another key purchase on the first day was CAIRN GORM, a useful sprinter formerly trained by Mick Channon. He was bought by the Value Racing Club, who have done so well in recent months with Boundless Power, and like that gelding he’ll join Mick at Langham.
Day two dawned with renewed hope, and it didn’t take too long for us to get on the scoresheet. At 120,000 guineas, ALREHB, a half-brother to the top-class Muhaarar, was beyond our budget, as was another from the Shadwell consignment, HANNIBAL BARCA, who changed hands for a cool 500,000 guineas.
But we were happy to secure WHITTLE LE WOODS for 20,000 guineas, and this three-year-old son of Lethal Force completes the three-strong team for our all-weather syndicate. He has run consistently well in five races on turf this year for Michael Dods but it’s his all-weather record (two from three) that catches the eye and he should give us plenty of fun in sprint handicaps over the next few months.
Joining him at Mick’s will be BALDOMERO. This three-year-old is unlikely to be seen on a racecourse as early as Whittle Le Woods - he’s due to be gelded and will then have some time off - but he looks an exciting prospect for 2022. He’s bred to be useful (by Shalaa out of a mare who was second in a French Group 2) and he showed a decent level of form in seven runs for Joseph O’Brien in Ireland. Given that he cost £460,000 at the breeze-ups last year, we’re hoping he proves a snip at 32,000 guineas. Good-quality handicaps at up to a mile are likely to be where he plies his trade. Expect more news about him next time.
High on our list of possibles on the third day was LIFETIME LEGEND, a three-year-old maiden previously trained in Ireland by Andrew Oliver. A big, robust son of Pride Of Dubai, with a stamina-laden dam’s side of his pedigree, he has some solid form in middle-distance handicaps and looks the type to progress again as a four-year-old. At 55,000 guineas, he went for slightly more than we wanted to pay for him, but it’s not hard to see him winning races on the Flat or over jumps for his new connections.
We had to pass on the imposing OLD FLAME, who went through the ring for 250,000 guineas, as well as the smart FUNDAMENTAL, who still has potential but was out of our range at 240,000 guineas. However, towards the end of day three the hammer came down on our bid of 40,000 guineas for STARSHIBA, and this talented gelding will join Dave at Upper Helmsley.
By Acclamation out of the useful Dashiba, from a really successful family, this four-year-old has some strong handicap form to his name. His short-head second to Perotto at Goodwood in June, for example, looked even better when that horse followed up in the Britannia at Royal Ascot. Starshiba ran off 87 at Goodwood, and after a few subdued efforts later in the year he’s now down to 82. We’re hopeful he’ll benefit from a change of scenery and make his mark in handicaps over seven furlongs or a mile.
That concluded our business for the third day, and day four was always likely to be quiet. We had a look at KEEL BAY, a progressive Irish juvenile who has the potential to win a race or two, but we were satisfied with the week’s work and called it quits.
There is news of a further addition to the string, however, as we have bought the four-year-old INTERVENTION privately out of Charles O’Brien’s stable in Ireland. This gelding is a maiden after 21 starts but he’s been knocking at the door of late in some strong sprint handicaps for the grade.
Usually a fluent traveller, he has not had the rub of the green in terms of draw or track position in recent races, and he joins Mick off what could be a lenient mark. He has form on the all-weather and on both a sound and a soft surface, and we’ll be surprised if he can’t make an impact in run-of-the-mill handicaps.
Intervention has been busy so will have a short break with a view to him starting off for us in the early weeks of 2022. Seemingly a very sound animal, he should be the type to run regularly when he’s back at concert pitch, and he reminds us of SUPERSTA, who had won just once from 21 attempts when joining Mick in August 2015; by the following May he had another six victories to his name.
The previous newsletter discussed the rest of the string in some detail, but it would be remiss not to mention RAASEL, who completed a four-timer in scintillating style at Nottingham at the end of October. This was his most impressive success of all. In a well-contested race, he travelled strongly as usual and showed a rare turn of speed to settle matters soon after James Doyle pushed him along over a furlong out.
A hefty 13lb rise for that win made it an easy decision to run under a 5lb penalty over the same course and distance on Wednesday, and Raasel made it five on the bounce in very different fashion. This was a race with less of a contested pace, and after a sluggish start Raasel found himself towards the rear. With the leaders not stopping, Tom Marquand switched Raasel to the outside and the horse showed a really willing attitude to edge ahead inside the final furlong. He’s come such a long way in the last six weeks and he’ll be contesting some of the top five-furlong handicaps next year, after a well-deserved rest!
Meanwhile, the all-weather syndicate got up and running in positive fashion with NIGHT ON EARTH, who ran a promising first race in our colours at Wolverhampton on Monday night. With a bit more luck he might have won, as Rossa Ryan reported that his saddle slipped in the early stages, but Night On Earth impressed with the way he knuckled down in the straight and at the line he was only a neck behind the winner Red Walls. He looks in great nick and will hopefully be in for a productive winter.
He’ll be joined on the all-weather by HATHLOOL, who has been ticking over nicely and has entries at Newcastle and Wolverhampton on Monday. We’re still learning about Hathlool, but he’s doing everything right at home and he’ll be qualified for handicaps after his next run. SEAGULLS NEST is limbering up for her first run in our colours, too, and there will be more news about her in the next newsletter.
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