July Newsletter

This midsummer newsletter comprises a full update on the current Horse Watchers team, as well as a report from last week’s Tattersalls sale at Newmarket, where we added four new members to the squad.

All shares in the new horses were quickly snapped up by existing shareholders so we are unable to offer the chance to get involved in the new additions to our team but we will be looking to add further horses at upcoming sales.

The obvious place to start is with our flag-bearer RAASEL, whose star continues to ascend. At the start of the season we were hopeful he’d be able to add to his five consecutive successes in the second half of 2021, but we’ve still been very pleasantly surprised by his sustained rate of progress. He has taken successive rises in grade in his stride this year, winning a handicap at Goodwood, a listed race at Haydock and the Group 3 Coral Charge at Sandown, all under the excellent James Doyle.

Some have pointed out that Raasel had a clear passage at Sandown whereas a couple of his rivals met trouble, but we’re not convinced the track suited him ideally and we think he might be able to take his form to an even higher level next time in the Group 2 King George Stakes at Goodwood, a course at which he’s unbeaten. If he can extend his winning run there, the Nunthorpe, the Flying Five and even the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint may beckon, but we’ll take each race as it comes and just enjoy the ride. He’s the most talented horse we’ve been involved with.

His stablemate LIBERATION POINT returned to winning ways in June in less exalted company - it was just a claimer at Chester - but the victory still gave us a kick. This talented son of Iffraaj showed enough speed to handle the drop back to an extended 7f, and front-running tactics seemed to suit him down to the ground. He performed just as well when second back in handicap company at Chelmsford on Tuesday, bumping into an improver, and he seems as good as ever. The fitting of blinkers has really helped him and he should continue to give a good account of himself.

Meanwhile, HATHLOOL now has four victories to his name after fairly bolting up at Leicester on Thursday when the good pace played to his strengths, recording a personal best in the process. He’s typical of one of Mick’s in that he has thrived on his racing, and there could be better still to come from him. We’ll try to get him out under a penalty next week, and longer term he’s likely to have an entry in the Cambridgeshire.

Like Hathlool, SAATTY came to us from Kevin Prendergast in Ireland. He made an immediate impact by winning two of his first three races for us last year, but he hasn’t been in quite the same form this season and he was sold at Newmarket last week. We wish his new connections every success.

Last winter’s winning machine INTERVENTION has had his scheduled spring break and is nearly ready to go again. He went up 16lb in the weights as a result of five successes early in the year, but his last run - when a very close fourth in a big field at Haydock - suggests there may still be some mileage in his mark. He’s very durable and should continue to give his owners plenty of fun in handicaps at around six furlongs.

NIGHT ON EARTH, another who made hay during the all-weather season, winning four times, shows no sign of losing his enthusiasm, and his fifth of 12 at Newmarket’s July Meeting was even better than the result suggests as he ended up on his own against the stand rail. He thrives on his work and will be out again before long.

BALDOMERO, on the other hand, is now likely to have a short break with a view to an autumn campaign focussed on the all-weather. His best efforts (and both his wins) have come on artificial surfaces and he’s now just 1lb higher than when beaten an agonising head in the Lincoln Trial at Wolverhampton in March. We’re very hopeful he can be placed to advantage at the likes of Kempton and Lingfield in the second half of the year.

Up in North Yorkshire, STARSHIBA has gradually come to the boil. He took several runs to gain full fitness but a close second at Ayr in June suggested his turn was near and he was again narrowly beaten in a blanket finish at Epsom on Thursday night. He’s well handicapped on the pick of his form from last year and it should be just a matter of time before he strikes gold.

Positives have been harder to glean from stablemate TIGER TOUCH’s last few runs. We thought he’d be able to score from a reduced mark in the spring, but after finishing on the heels of the leaders at Ayr he found disappointingly little at Newcastle, having been well placed early in the straight. We’ll keep persevering with him but it’s fair to say our expectations have been scaled back a bit.

RHOSCOLYN didn’t handle the very quick ground in the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket last Saturday and James Doyle sensibly allowed him to coast home once he was clearly held. His superb third in the Buckingham Palace the time before is already proving strong form and he has several possible targets in the next month, including the International back at Ascot and Goodwood’s Golden Mile in which he was second last year.

Officially rated 44lb lower than Rhoscolyn, GLORY AND HONOUR hasn’t cut much ice in three runs so far in our colours but he has faced stiff assignments in novice races and he should do better now that he’s qualified for handicaps. We’re still unsure about his trip requirements as he won a point early in his career but isn’t short of speed by any means. We’re stepping him up to 1m6f for his handicap debut at Redcar on Sunday and we should learn a lot more about him then. Hopefully an opening mark of 59 gives him enough scope to win a race or two.

Our two-year-old ZEBADAAY has an even lower level of form than Glory And Honour, having beaten just one rival in his three outings to date, but - believe it or not - we feel he may have a future in low-grade handicaps. He’s a late-developing type who has found things happening too quickly for him at this stage of his career, but he wasn’t beaten that far on his third run at Redcar and he’s been allotted a basement mark for handicaps. He’s also now been gelded and we’re hopeful that when he returns to action he’ll be an improved model.

He’s been joined at Upper Helmsley by the first of our new recruits, ZOZIMUS. A four-year-old, previously trained in Ireland by Donnacha O’Brien, this son of Footstepsinthesand had some very solid form in 2021, finishing fourth in the ultracompetitive Cambridgeshire at Newmarket where he was just two places behind Anmaat, who went on to win the John Smith’s Cup last weekend.

Zozimus has been held up by minor problems this year and hasn’t seen a racecourse, but Dave loved what he saw of him at the sale and we think he’s 30,000 guineas well spent. It’s early days but we’ll come up with a plan for him in the next few weeks.

At the beginning of sales week, we had our usual in-depth discussion about what we considered the most interesting lots in the catalogue and ended up with a shortlist or two dozen or so potential purchases. These were whittled down after physical inspections by the trainers, our vet and the rest of the team at Newmarket.

Horses that might have ended up running in our colours included ENCOURAGED, a progressive four-year-old who has done well this year for James Fanshawe (75,000 guineas exceeded our budget); MOONIS, a big son of Muhaarar with bags of potential (ended up changing hands and going elsewhere for 45,000 guineas); CHIEF WHITE FACE, an out-and-out 5f horse with more than a passing resemblance to Raasel (sold for 38,000 guineas); and BAYRAQ, a lightly raced three-year-old previously trained by Owen Burrows.

However, in the end we were the successful bidders for three new recruits from other sources, and all of them will join Mick at Langham.

The first of the trio to come under the hammer was NASIM, a three-year-old son of Galileo Gold previously trained by Andrew Balding. Successful twice over 1m for the Balding team, he didn’t build on the second of those two wins but we’re hopeful he has some untapped potential and, like many before him, that he’ll benefit from a change of scenery at Mick’s.

If he does, he’s on an attractive mark, just 1lb higher than when scoring at Southwell in March from two horses who won on their next outings. We’ll formulate a plan for Nasim in the next month or so but the likelihood is he’ll be campaigned over 7f or 1m, and it has not escaped our notice that he is two from three on the all-weather.

Nasim went for 32,000 guineas and we paid the same amount for MOBASHR, a four-year-old previously trained by Marco Botti. He looked a useful prospect early in his career, winning three of his first five races, and, although his recent efforts have been more subdued, we think he’s the sort Mick can revitalise.

Two of the three victories were on Lingfield’s Polytrack and his current mark is now 6lb lower than the second of them. If he benefits from Mick’s regime he’ll be adding to those three wins at some stage.

Our final purchase was APHELIOS, a three-year-old who came from Roger and Harry Charlton. At 70,000 guineas he’s the most expensive horse we’ve ever bought and we think he’s worth every penny.

For a start he’s well-bred, being a Kodiac half-brother to a 7f Group 2 winner, and he really looks the part too, impressing all who saw him at the sale. He seems very sound too, with good wind and a perfect report from the vet. He was placed on all five of his starts for the Charltons, winning a 6f handicap at Windsor, and we reckon there’s plenty of mileage in his current mark of 75.

Expect more news on Aphelios and all our squad in the next newsletter, and if in the meantime you’d like to join our syndicates, follow us on Twitter at @Horsewatchers1 or contact us via the website.