Have horse, why travel?
Alpinista with Luke Morris wins the Longines 131.Grossen Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten racecourse, 2021
By Lissa Oliver
It used to be a case of “have horse, will travel” for some globetrotting trainers, when internationally renowned races and global competition could really put them, and their horse, on the map. We didn’t know how good the southern hemisphere sprinters were until they arrived at Ascot; and we didn’t know how good the European middle-distance and staying horses were until they travelled to Australia or were exported to Hong Kong. Now we’re seeing Japanese horses as a force to be reckoned with, and they’re not travelling for prize money. The big stage establishes the big player.
But still, global competition was only for the big players and stardom was the attraction, not money. The Gp. 1 champions competing abroad had earned their airfare already. Those below simply couldn’t afford to travel to take them on.
With the two recent problems—the global pandemic and the more localised Brexit—travel should have become harder and, indeed, we’ve seen from past pages here that travel between France, Ireland and Britain—the busiest thoroughbred routes—has decreased quite significantly as a result.
For many trainers, however, those problems have not been a deterrent. The lucrative prizes abroad are worth the added effort and paperwork to plunder. Whether there are smaller yards trying to target better prize money to pay their way or owners seeking black type for their horses, a more flexible approach to the programme can pay dividends—especially for those who think out of the box and look further afield or to lesser-known countries.
Sir Mark Prescott is a prime example of using the European race programme to enhance the stud value of his horses. He is already synonymous with working backwards from a big handicap target to ensure the most efficient and beneficial preparation possible. Now he is transferring those tactics to target what might be perceived as Europe’s less competitive Gp. 1 races.
The race of the season in 2021 turned out to be at Hoppegarten at the beginning of August when Alpinista won the Gp. 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin for Sir Mark Prescott and owner-breeder Miss Kirsten Rausing, winning €106,900 as well as enhanced black type.
More interestingly, finishing second that afternoon was Torquator Tasso, trained by Marcel Weiss. And we all know what he did next, taking the Gp. 1 Grosser Preis von Baden en route to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. In third place was Charlie Appleby’s Walton Street, who won the Gr. 1 Canadian International on his next start. Alpinista meanwhile continued on her unbeaten season to claim the Gp. 1 Preis von Europa at Cologne in September and the Gp. 1 Grosser Preis von Bayern at Munich in November, taking her earnings to €509,314 in the process.
That was a nice case of black type and prize money, but even for the lower grade horse that doesn’t aspire to Pattern level, there are lucrative opportunities beyond Britain where many trainers are struggling to cope with what amounts to the ‘poor relation’ in prize money terms.
Amy Murphy is just one of several British trainers to open a satellite yard in France, where she describes the prize money as ‘out of this world’. Gay Kelleway and Paul George are among those to also cite prize money as the motivation, as well as the additional temporary fix of avoiding Brexit issues with French runners.
Over-wintering horses in Dubai is popular with those that can afford to do so, but France also offers a more cost-effective chance to get winter sun on their backs while competing for prize money that is higher than the average British winter all-weather handicap. Marie-Laure Treal, assistant director at Cagnes sur Mer, tells us, “Until 13 March, the Winter Meeting of the Hippodrome de la Côte d'Azur offers 59 race meetings. Trainers may rent boxes for the period at €50 per box per month and accommodation is offered for stable staff, allocated according to the different requests and availability.”
While France is the obvious choice when looking for increased earning potential, other nations are also trying to attract international attention with eye-catching purses. As Irish trainer Adrian McGuinness points out in relation to Meydan’s Gp. 1 Al Quoz Sprint, “There's €700,000 on offer to the winner. I could win more in one race than I won in the whole season in Ireland last year, despite the fact I had the best campaign of my life.” He also points out that the runner-up prize of €300,000 is higher than the winner’s purse in the Gp. 1 Prix de l’Abbaye.
With emerging countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and even Libya using money to secure their instant place in the international calendar, trainers need to be more broad-minded than ever when planning campaigns.
The Belgian Galop Federation has many racing opportunities with prize money from 5000-800 Euros
Many opportunities for an average rated horse are much closer to home and easier to target. The prize money might not be eye-watering, but neither is the competitiveness in comparison to similar races at home.
Marcel De Bruyne, MvG, Belgian Galop Federation, tells us, “Our showpiece—the Prince Rose, a National Listed Race over 2100m—will be run in Ostend in August with total prize money of €12,800, with €8,000 for the winner.
“This race is open for three-year-olds and older who have never been placed in the first five of a Pattern race. The weights are 52.5kg for three-year-olds and 56kg for four-year-olds and older. Horses that have won or been placed second or third in minor races will have to carry extra weight.
“Some other races can be interesting for foreign runners in Ostend. The four races I highlight each have a total prize money of €8,000, with €5,000 for the winner. Three conditions races in July and August are the Miler Cup, 1600m; the Prijs Half Oogst & BFG Galop, 1800m; and the Prijs BFG & Nymphenburger, 2200m.
“They are for four-year-old horses and older without a handicap value or a value equal or lower than 30kg (66 lbs) and they carry 55kg (121 Ibs). Penalties for prize money received for wins and places since 1 July 2021 are 1kg per €1,000.
The Gr.3 Stockholm Cup - Sweden’s major race, run at Bro Park in September and worth 155000 Euros
“Then we have one handicap, the UAE Sprint Cup over 1000m in August for four-year-olds and older with a handicap value equal or lower than 30kg.”
See the the complete list of races and conditions here: www.bgalopf.be/Meetings.htm
Scandinavia offers a great deal of potential and Svensk Galopp highlights for foreign visitors the 2400m Gr. 3 Stockholm Cup—Sweden’s major race—run at Bro Park in September and worth €155,000. The Svensk Derby is worth €120,289, the Listed Zawawi Cup €48,282; and supporting races include the Listed Lanwades Stud Stakes, Listed Bro Park Sprint Championship and the 1400m Appel Au Maitre Svealandlöpning—the latter being Sweden's most important two-year-old race, often attracting foreign runners. Svensk Galopp is a rising star in the racing world with plans for another new course project in Skåne.
Norway’s Ovrevoll hosts the Norsk Derby in August with a value of 121970 Euros, and the Oslo Cup in Junne with a value of 53000 Euros
In Norway, the Norsk Derby at Ovrevoll in August has a value of €121,970 and the Gp.3 Oslo Cup in June a value of €53,000.
Spain is another country on our doorstep but perhaps off the radar. The Madrid Grand Prix over 2500m at the end of June is the major summer highlight, worth €60,000. They race most of the year, with a break from 29 December to 6 March.
The autumn-winter season begins 11 September, the highlight being Champions Day 16 October. The Champions Day card includes the Gran Premio Memorial Duque de Toledo, over 2400m with a value of €68,000; and the Gran Premio Ruban, over 1200m worth €40,800; as well as a strong supporting card and lucrative added premiums of €5,000 for Spanish-breds.
The premiums are always a boost, and every European country contributing to the European Breeders Fund also hosts a wide range of races aimed to improve opportunities at a grassroots level.
Rachael Gowland of the British EBF tells us, “If a horse finishes sixth or better in any of the EBF races in Britain, it will be eligible to enter for one of the two finals. Each final is run over 7f and has a value of £100,000, with prize money down to eighth place.
“The colts’ and geldings’ final will be at York Friday 7 October and the fillies’ final at Goodwood Tuesday 6 September. The EBF is contributing £50,000 for each race, and we were very lucky that York and Goodwood both came back to us and offered to match our prize fund.
“The EBF is a cooperative, and all member jurisdictions benefit from a pool of international stallion registrations; an EBF-registered horse is qualified to run in EBF races in any member country.”
Simon Sweeting, chairman of the British EBF, explains, “With a reduction in racing in 2020, came a small surplus of funds for the British EBF. The trustees were keen to make sure that this money was re-focused to do the maximum good it could for the industry. This series not only provides tantalising prize money targets but also aims to add the EBF’s weight to encouraging owners to re-invest at the yearling sales. With no early closing stages and over 100 chances to qualify a horse, we hope that owners and trainers will support this new initiative.”
In Ireland, the Median Sires Series consists of 26 races each worth a minimum €25,000. The Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is the showcase.
The Irish EBF Auction Series for two-year-olds bought at auction for €72,000 or less is worth a minimum of €20,000 per race and has two finals, the main one worth €120,000. The Connolly's Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series and Irish EBF Auction Bumper cater for the National Hunt horses in a similar fashion.
EMHF update - Could European Racing improve its techniques for courting students?
By Dr Paull Khan
Racing is not alone in its desire to encourage greater interest amongst the younger generations. For decades, we have bemoaned our ‘ageing demographic’ and, while there may be little evidence of anything more than an aged demographic (raising the suspicion that it was ever thus), we, like so many others, are constantly seeking the key to attracting youth to our sport in all capacities: punters, racegoers, careerists.
For advice on this, who better to turn to, we reasoned, than to students themselves? Enter the European Student Horseracing Federation (ESHF)—a fledgling organisation whose members are University Racing Societies. Founding Chairman Robert Dargan explains: ‘The ESHF was established in May 2020 when I was elected chairman of Trinity College Horse Racing Society. It was founded to help racing societies to promote their presence and activities in their respective Universities. As I was fearful they may not survive the effects of COVID—given the fact that their normal events—visiting breeding operations, training facilities and going to the races could no longer take place due to restrictions. I thought it was very important to keep the societies active, to help promote the sport of horse racing to students, who are the next generation of supporters, participants and owners. I also wanted to have a central place for student horse racing enthusiasts to share their passion with other like-minded students from other universities and countries. I felt such an organisation did not exist for these purposes.’
Together, we began the search for a Fellowship Observer—a competitive process open to ESHF members where the winner would win an expenses-paid trip to Warsaw, and where, COVID permitting, we will hold the EMHF’s General Assembly in October, alongside racing at Poland’s premier racetrack, Sluzewiec.
Students were invited to distil into 500 words their thoughts on what European racing administrators might best do to encourage youth participation.
Entries were received from racing and equestrian societies of Universities across Ireland and Britain, including Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Cambridge and University of Nottingham.
The top three entries - click on link to read:
EMHF Fellowship Observer Competition winner Ciara Dineen.
Ciara Dineen, a first-year equine business student at Maynooth University, emerged as the winner. Ciara hails from a racing background—her father was both a jockey and trainer in his day, and she now dovetails her studies with working at John Joseph Murphy’s yard in Cork. Like several of the competition entrants, she feels that more could usefully be done to organise and foster the direct involvement of students in various aspects of the sport. From the organisation of student ownership syndicates to an enhancement of the ‘student raceday’ concept, which would see the addition of stable visits in the days leading up to the race, allowing the students ‘up close and personal’ access to one or two of the runners on the day—whom they can then cheer on, come the raceday, bonded by their newfound acquaintanceship.
The student ownership syndicate is not an entirely new idea. There are two variants: syndicates for alumni of schools or colleges and those for current members of college Racing Societies. Pierce Dargan, brother to Robert, and better known as CEO of Equine Medirecord, has been a trailblazer in this area. Pierce founded the Blackrock Racing Syndicate, made up of alumni of Blackrock College, a well-known school in Ireland, at the end of 2018. The syndicate got off to a dream start, with its first horse, Arthurian Fame, winning at the first time of asking. Exultant Blackrock members, decked out in the school’s blue and white colours, memorably hoisted trainer Joseph O'Brien aloft and into the winner’s enclosure.
The success didn't stop there, with the syndicate going on to win the Microsoft Cup at Leopardstown, where the power of the concept could really be seen. Over 200 alumni of Blackrock turned up to see the ‘the Fame’ win at the local track for the school, which is less than a 20-minute drive away. Even though most were not directly involved, Pierce describes how having the syndicate being part of an already existing identity really helped drive interest, not only to join the syndicate but also to grab the attention of the wider past and present pupils of the school and its extended community.
‘I think syndicators work very hard to establish a unique identity for their racing club or syndicate to help draw interest from potential members. This can be quite difficult, but when you are able to use the name and sports colours of the university or school, it really makes that draw for potential members much easier, as they are already part of that community. Also, educational institutions are always very anxious to engage and build strong ties with past students, and a syndicate or racing club is a perfect way to do that. I know personally it has helped me stay connected with friends to whom I had not spoken since leaving school; and it was the perfect reason to meet and share a great day out with them. And when the horses are doing well, it brings excitement not only to the members but the whole community, as shown by the number of people who came to watch Arthurian Fame run at Leopardstown. I also think it is the perfect way to build a path for young enthusiasts to become new owners in the sport.
‘Our generation want to be involved. We’re not content to be spectators any more.’ …
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Starting stalls - Under starters orders
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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 42
Racing in Central Europe: Hoping for another Overdose
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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 41
Harmonising the rulebook - how can racing be improved?
A harmonised rulebook across the globe would benefit racing, writes Katie Roebuck, but with the world unable to agree on more pressing issues such as climate change or the economic crisis, how easy would it be to implement?
Katie Roebuck (European Trainer - issue 29 - Spring 2010)
Nina Bach - up and coming female German racehorse trainer
After winning more than 100 races as an amateur and then as an apprentice jockey, Nina Bach set up as a trainer in 2004 in the Rhineland-Palatine in Germany. Through hard work and a level head she has had an upward curve of success ever since.
David Connolly-Smith (European Trainer - issue 29 - Spring 2010)
ITBA Expo 2010 - Establishing itself as a key event on the racing calendar
The second ITBA Expo took place in Ireland at Kildare’s Goffs Sales Complex in January and the bi-annual event looks certain to establish itself as a major part of the European calendar.
Lissa Oliver (European Trainer - issue 29 - Spring 2010)
The outdoor life - should racehorses be turned out?
Three million years ago, various species of the genus Equus existed across North America, Europe and Asia. Predominantly animals of the steppes and plains, they made attractive targets for the human hunters who shared these harsh regions. Eventually, some 6,000 years ago in the Ukraine, the relationship was changed from hunter/prey to herdsman/livestock.
Barry Sangster & Phil Dyson (European Trainer - issue 28 - Winter 2009)
Peter Schiergen - we profile the leading German racehorse trainer
The number of champion jockeys who went on to become champion trainers afterwards can be counted on the fingers of one hand. In German racing history, only the great Hein Bollow scaled the heights in both professions, winning more than 1,000 races both as trainer and jockey. However, he will shortly be joined by Peter Schiergen, who was German champion jockey for five successive years in the 1990s, setting a European record of 273 winners in his best season of 1995, and retiring at the end of 1997 with 1451 winners to his credit.
David Conolly-Smith (European Trainer - issue 23 - Autumn 2008)
Mike de Kock makes Newmarket his European summer base
Meeting Mike de Kock, I soon knew that he most certainly is a case of a horseman turned businessman, and remaining a horseman first and foremost. Strange really, when it comes to light that he was brought up in a Dutch / English family with no connections to horses.
Geir Stabell (European Trainer - issue 18 - Summer 2007)
Meeting Mike de Kock, I soon knew that he most certainly is a case of a horseman turned businessman, and remaining a horseman first and foremost. Strange really, when it comes to light that he was brought up in a Dutch / English family with no connections to horses. Well, probably not much stranger than the fact that one of his classmates in Johannesburg was a boy called David Ferraris. A son of a trainer. The two boys soon developed a common interest in racing. This March, some thirty years later, they both celebrated a big win on Dubai World Cup night. Same guys, same interest, but today they are men. Horsemen. With a global view.
Mike de Kock is breaking new ground as he takes nine horses to England this year. ”Not necessarily to race in Europe only”, he points out over a cup of tea in Newmarket, ”also because it is so easy to travel from here.” Yes, de Kock has a wide horizon. When he takes up ten boxes rented from Geoff Wragg’s Abington Place, his intentions are not to experiment a bit with runners at the two courses on the other side of town. One might have guessed as much. How did he select the horses, by the way?
”I took the best from my team in Dubai”, he smiles, in what must be a relaxed manner deeply rooted in his pedigree. After all, the man is due at Heathrow Airport some three and a half hours after we meet – to fly back to Dubai. Missing planes is hardly his style. Getting edgy is probably even less so.
A son of Tim de Kock and Ann Tinkler, Mike grew up next to ”the other Newmarket” - the racecourse in South Africa. With two years’ service in the army, working with horses, his interest in the animals grew. ”When I got out of the army, I got a chance to work for David Ferraris’s father, who was a champion trainer”, he recalls.
de Kock is now a family man, married to Diane and they have Matthew (15) and Kirsten (12) on the team. ”They will come to England in their school holidays”, de Kock says. ”Diane’s father, John Cawcutt, was a champion jockey”, he continues. ”She was born and bred in racing. She works for me, pre-schooling all the horses”.
He became a trainer by accident. ”The third trainer I worked for, Ricky Howard Ginsberg, died of a heart attack at 44, and I took over. Quite frankly, I did not want to become a trainer – as it wasn’t paying much. I had actually been for an inteview for a job outside racing when this all happened. I was within weeks of leaving. The owners gave me this chance when I was only 24 years old, and I had around 50 horses. It was a good start, and I was lucky enough to have the owners sticking by me. I had my first Group winner in about four months.” He still trains for some of the owners who helped launched his career in 1988. ”My client base has expanded”, he says, ”but some owners have been there since day one.”
Good for South African racing that he didn’t leave the sport. Today, good for international racing also. A leading trainer in his homeland, de Kock has an excellent record in a competitive part of the racing world. ”There are around 200 licensed trainers in South Africa”, he explains, ”and with 150 horses I have the second or third biggest string. About ten per cent of all trainers handle over 100 horses.” To the question of which big races he has won, his reply sounds not far off a comment on yesterday’s weather, ”I have won pretty much all of them”, he says and finishes his tea. Not that it doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t show. There is no salesman like grin to go with the words, no politician like waving of hands. Remember, this is a horseman, and a very calm one at that. There can be little doubt that laid back men like de Kock are precisely what highly strung thoroughbreds prefer having around them to get the most out of a life at the races.
de Kock had his first runner outside South Africa in 2000. ”Horse Chestnut”, he recalls, ”he ran in the Broward Handicap at Gulfstream Park. He was a super horse. Super!” All of a sudden it shows on his face, Horse Chestnut was special to him, and he has never been willing to compare other horses to him. ”We wanted to go to the Dubai World Cup - it was the same year as Dubai Millennium - it would have been an interesting race. The only way out of South Africa was travelling via New York, then on to Gulfstream and go that way to Dubai. We had problems because of the African Horse Sickness and restriction on movement. You could do 60 days in quarantine in America, and get away. The plan was to go to the Donn, which is a good prep for the World Cup. Sadly, he was injured. He won the Broward though, and proved himself on dirt. Many of the Fort Woods go on dirt. He is a son of the great broodmare Fall Aspen, and she won on dirt.”
But for a third in a G3 over 1000 metres as a juvenile, Horse Chestnut would have retired unbeaten. He won nine of his ten races, including four at Group One level.
When de Kock was offered to train Horse Chestnut, he soon knew the value of the task at hand, and the success with this champion means a lot still today. Horse Chestnut was bred by the Oppenheimer family, ”I train most of their horses now and they fill nearly half my yard”, de Kock explains, ”we have quite a few owner-breeders, and I do not go that often to the sales. I do, but I never go with an open cheque book. When buying, I look for the classic type, a horse that can show speed early and win me a mile then win over a 1 ¼ miles later on. I train juveniles, and had the champion last year – called Kildonan – but I do not enjoy pushing young horses. I am not a big believer in two-year-old racing, I know that can be a bit a of commercial suicide, but it’s just not for me. I have many unraced juveniles, and the rewards are there when they get older. I often take these young horses to Durban in the winter, by the sea level, where they can enjoy a better climate, then come back to ’Jo’burg’ to race.”
His team in Johanneburg is big, he employs ”close to 70” and when US journalists called him the ”Todd Pletcher of Africa”, their readers quickly got the picture. The Yanks would have welcomed him with open arms and he would have fitted right in on the other side of the pond. Why did he choose England?
”Ah!! Look, racing here is fantastic, we have been watching it on TV at home for years. I find this a massive challenge. Let’s face it, we will be racing against some of the best horses in the world. I’d love to be a part of the big meetings, Royal Ascot, York and Goodwood. I am looking for this to be a yearly base, I am not coming just for this year. The Dubai Carnival is great, but it is also just ten meetings, and it is too hot to train there in the summer. You need to get out. If you’ve got good horses.”
And good horses he has. Based in England, South Africa’s champion trainer feels that he will be ideally positioned for international raids with them. ”Transporting horses is so easy from here”, he says, ”very professional, it’s like posting letters! So, if we want to race in France, Germany, Hong Kong or USA, we can.”
”I really have to get my head round different ways of training”, he admits, ”this is completely new, also compared to Dubai, where it’s all flat, we train and race on circular tracks, similar to South Africa”. On the subject of training, in different countries and different climates, de Kock says ”you always have to adapt to what you have, and methods are therefore different around the world. Certainly, that is also part of this that I love. You can pick up things from colleagues when training in new places, and incorporate them into your methods, you know”.
”We bought Asiatic Boy specifically for the Dubai Carnival”, de Kock explains as we switch to one of his best horses. ”We got lucky.”
Will Asiatic Boy be suited to English turf courses? ”We don’t know”, the trainer admits, ”he is a big, long striding horse, and hopefully training on undulating tracks will help him adapt. One thing in his favour is that he is a very, very sound horse.”
de Kock is now taking his training experience to new grounds, after having moved successfully from South Africa to Dubai, where he also had to adapt. ”The dirt courses are much deeper in South Africa than in Dubai”, he says, ”so therefore we work less distances at home. In Dubai, I will be working my horses nearly twice the distance compared to South Africa.” Taking a glance up the Warren Hill, de Kock comments: ”I think it is possible to train too much, and too hard here”, but quickly continues; ”Look, I am fairly scientific in my training, I work with treadmills, I work with body weights a lot, and hopefully I will be able to piece it all together - to see how working up these hills affects the horses.”
Two key factors pop up when Mike de Kock talks about the prospects of running a global operation: ”I think it can be done”, he says, ”but only with the right staff, and with understanding clients. You must have the right people on the ground, who are straight and honest with you, and feed you the right information. It’s not easy though. It is very taxing on you, on your family, and on your staff and their families. Therefore I don’t think it is something that I would do for a long time. Certainly for a few years but I doubt it will be sustainable, at some point you have to settle somewhere. It is no problem to ”winter / summer” though, for instance in Dubai and England.”
This summer will be an interesting and busy time. de Kock really will be running up those air miles, as he is shuttling between his base in Johannesburg and what will be a small, but very exclusively inhabited, satellite yard in Newmarket.
Assistant Trevor Brown, an ex-jockey who has been with de Kock for three years, will be in charge of the team from early May, and de Kock plans to come over early in July. ”Brown will have three of my grooms, one of them has been travelling with me since the first year we came to Dubai”.
He uses his own feed, supplied by Mitavite, ”an Australian feed”, he explains, ”they are very good, sending the food to me wherever I am in the world, so the horses will be staying on the same diet. But not in South Africa, as we can’t get it there – it’s just too expensive. But the diet I use is similar. I weigh my horses at least three times a week, that tells me a lot about each individual. When I am going for a big race I weigh every day, at exactly the same time of the day. It is very important, the weight ”talks to me”.
Different climates has always been a subject in international racing and ”horses do not mind the cold”, de Kock says, ”though some horses peak in the summer, some in the winter. I do not know what it is, maybe even genetic, but I have seen it many times. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the thoroughbred is better at four than he is at three. When the horse is three or four, he is still growing, and can have little niggling problems. When he is five and six, his skeleton has settled down, there are no more pains, therefore he tries that little harder.”
If a horse is more likely to be at his best at four, should the classics be for that generation?
”Absolutely! Look, if you have a lightly raced, sound four-year-old, you can clean up. I wish we did everything a year later. I suppose financially it is not easy. But; on the flip side, how many horses are we losing because we have been pushing them at two? So maybe the financial implications will work in your favour if the horses are given more of a chance to mature, then able to race later. What is wrong with having a five or six-year-old still running?”
South African horses are quite tough, according the de Kock; ”they are hardy, in wintertime in Johannesburg the ground is quite firm. We are therefore breeding a horse that can race quite often. A lot of horses are also imported, from Australia, Brazil and Argentina.”
Connection with the rest of the world has not always been easy, however. The South African horse sickness issue has been suffereing from a ”lack of understanding”, de Kock says, ”the risk is actually very low, and it is not a contagious disease. We vaccinate and the risk for thoroughbreds is low compared to farm animals living 24 hours outdoors. In fact, little things like not taking the horses out to graze early in the morning or in the evening, when there is a dew, reduces the risks a lot. That is the time of the day they are likely to be bitten. South Africa is on top of this, as you know there will be a complete closedown if horses are affected, with no movement at all. It has been a problem for hundreds of years and not really understood. On this matter, I feel the rest of the world needs to be a little more sympathetic.”
That last word probably sums up the man, I decide as our talk comes to an end. Minutes later he is heading towards Heathrow and ”that dreaded M25”, another track he needs to adapt to this summer. I am sure he will.
Mike de Kock, who once gave quite a self-describing answer when tackling this question on a Personality of The Week Q&A:
Where is your ideal holiday location?
”I can relax anywhere when I take a break from the stable and phones”, de Kock answered.
I am sure it’s true.
The growing pattern - how and why new races have been added
Very few ideas for radical change in horseracing are either universally popular or accepted at the first time of asking. And that’s if a single authority is involved. When a group of nations, some of which have a history of antipathy, bordering on hostility, towards each other’s proposals, come together to examine a programme of alterations, the chances of a speedy and amicable resolution are even slimmer.
Howard Wright (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
Very few ideas for radical change in horseracing are either universally popular or accepted at the first time of asking. And that’s if a single authority is involved. When a group of nations, some of which have a history of antipathy, bordering on hostility, towards each other’s proposals, come together to examine a programme of alterations, the chances of a speedy and amicable resolution are even slimmer.
Something rare happened, therefore, over the last quarter of 2003, which led to January’s announcement by the European Pattern Committee of a greatly expanded programme of Group 1 and 2 races for fillies in 2004. The bare facts are that three separate layers of opportunity confined to higher-grade fillies of three years and upwards have been created and will be contested this year.
As far as the top two Pattern groups are concerned, they break down into three distance categories - a mile, ten furlongs and a mile and a half. Furthermore, the aim has been achieved to provide a steady flow of opportunities, approximately one a month, across Europe from the end of May to the beginning or end of October in the shorter-distance brackets, and from the beginning of July in the longest. In addition, the authorities in Britain and Ireland have sought to build on the framework by enhancing opportunities just below the very highest grade, so that Ireland will have two more Group 3 races, and Britain will have five, in keeping with the overall strength of its current horse population. Behind the creation of what amounts to a pattern within the Pattern, confined solely to fillies and mares, lies an unprecedented intent to do something about a growing European problem, and a remarkable determination to do it quickly.
No time to let the grass grow here, seemed to be the underlying thought, even though caution was raised in some quarters. The ultimate objective was simple: to produce a programme of races throughout the year that would act as encouragement to owners of higher-grade older fillies to keep them in training in Europe. The lure of the US dollar has grown ever more powerful, and with prize-money stacking up high, turf horses have exited Europe with damaging regularity. Cash led the call for colts; lack of suitable opportunities appeared to be a more dominant force for taking away fillies. It didn’t take a genius to fire the European Pattern Committee into thinking that something had to be done. But what? Give the fillies something to aim at, that’s what. And the 2004 programme is the resulting magnet.
Already the radical steps appear to have had an effect. Russian Rhythm, Soviet Song and Favourable Terms in Britain; Six Perfections and Nebraska Tornado in France; Echoes In Eternity from Godolphin: they have all stayed in training as four-year-olds, and the new programme has been cited as part of the persuasion. Each one is out of the top drawer, but in any other year, it is doubtful if all six would have been kept for another season.
But 2004 will not be ‘any other year.’ Jason Morris, racing director at Horse Racing Ireland, is understandably delighted at the response. “This was precisely the aim of the initiative,” he says, adding that the newly elevated Irish races should draw the horses, and bring in the crowds. The reasoning of Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford is impossible to fault. “It’s good news for owners of fillies that have sufficient quality to compete against each other in the top class,” he says. “It has certainly encouraged us to keep Echoes In Eternity in Europe rather than send her to the US, because it makes it easier to plan her programme. She can go to America later in the season.” Favourable Terms is perhaps the least well known of the six named here, but her career lends as much credibility to the new programme as any other. Owner-bred by Maktoum Al Maktoum, she did not race until May last year, and ended the season having won three out of five starts for Sir Michael Stoute, including the Group 2 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown. She would have been a prime candidate for the paddocks in any other year, but it bears repeating that this is not ‘any other year.’ For one thing, the Matron Stakes now has Group 1 status, and who would bet against Favourable Terms attempting a follow-up, now that the opportunities are there to test her rate of improvement? The decision that Six Perfections, for one, would stay in training as a four-year-old was made public within hours of her winning the Breeders Cup Mile.
The European Pattern Committee had set the late-October international meeting at Santa Anita as its first deadline to tell the bloodstock world the bare bones at least of its plan for fillies. They reasoned that owners of the fillies they were targeting, especially those with permanent racing and breeding careers in the US in mind, would be making their own plans by then. Their urgency apparently worked, for trainer Pascal Bary said at the time: “It’s wonderful news for me, my staff and the racing public that the Niarchos family has decided to keep Six Perfections in training, and no doubt the changes to the programme were taken into consideration.” That the framework for the changes was announced in October at all was a departure from normal practice. The European Pattern Committee usually gets its individual thoughts together in the autumn, to be crystallised at the annual meeting in December or early-January. Last year, the committee decided in July that it would set up a sub-group to look at the fillies’ programme, with a view to reporting to the annual meeting in January 2004. They thought there was room for improvement, especially among the older age bracket and particularly in the early part of the season. The sub-group met within two months, and suddenly the mood for change picked up a head of steam, with the French and Irish teams leading the charge, and Britain erring on the side of caution with a plea for a phased introduction of the radical alterations. By the middle of September it had been decided that tinkering with a few races was not enough; there should be a greatly enhanced programme, especially in Groups 1 and 2, and that it if it was to happen at all, it should happen immediately.
The European Pattern Committee met in London a month later, just ahead of the Breeders Cup meeting, and a raft of changes were agreed, taking in all three groups and the trio of distance categories. The Group 1 and 2 details were made public in the second week of December, and the die was cast. In less than six months the mood of the committee had gone from exploratory to explosion. The new races and upgrades have been given three years to prove their worth. If any race does not meet the required ratings parameters, it will be downgraded, without the warning that is given to other Pattern races under the ground rules. Ruth Quinn, the BHB’s director of racing, who played a full part in the process, believes the overall benefits could take that long to work through. “It’s fantastic that the new programme already seems to be having an effect,” she says, “but it has been created with the longer term in mind, and we need to build up a pool of better-class fillies in Europe.” Quinn also believes the outstanding fillies will still take on the colts in the traditional Group 1 races, particularly those over a mile, such as the Prix Jacques le Marois and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. “We didn’t want to create a complete mirror image of the colts’ programme, as they have in the US,” she says, “but we had to make a great deal of improvement in the fillies’ programme if we want to stem the constant flow to the States.”
Philip Freedman, owner of the Cliveden Stud and chairman of the BHB’s Flat Race Advisory Panel, which feeds its thoughts and expertise into the European Pattern Committee, has already seen evidence that the ploy is working. His US trainer Christophe Clement has received fewer European-trained older fillies this winter, and has jokingly suggested he is being put out of business. Freedman, who acknowledges the efforts of a Thoroughbred Breeders Association group chaired by Bill Paton-Smith in first bringing the fillies’ cause to attention, accepts there could be a downside to the enhancements, as owners face greater temptation to keep the best to the company of their own sex. However, he looks to the bigger picture. “We may have to face up to a slightly less competitive Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, for instance, but if the changes to the programme were going to work, it had to be done as a big project,” he reasons. “Adding one or two races wouldn’t have had the same impact. “While I would have been equally happy if, say, the Sun Chariot Stakes had not gone up to Group 1, if we accept that we are running the fillies’ programme as a separate entitity to the colts’, it makes sense for the Sun Chariot to be upgraded. There had to be a logical programme.” The next three years will determine how successful the original logic was. Howard Wright is a member of the BHB Flat Race Advisory Panel.
Howard Wright (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)