Thoroughbred Tales - showcasing the good work of the unsung heroes of racing - celebrations were in order when Stormy Girl provided Rebecca Menzies with a first ever Black Type success

By Sally Anne Grassick

The Thoroughbred Tales family continues to grow on social media with each new guest host and, as any family would be, we were delighted to see one of our own have the biggest success of their career shortly after hosting the account. Stormy Girl provided Rebecca Menzies with a first ever Black Type success when she won a Listed raced over six furlongs at Pontefract last month. 

Rebecca’s “Thoroughbred Tale” started when she joined Ferdy Murphy’s team during a gap year that ended up turning into a training career. When Murphy relocated to France, she struck out on her own with a yard of just eight horses in York. In 2016 she relocated to Howe Hill Stables in County Durham, formerly the home of John Wade, where she trains a dual purpose string of 65 horses, which keeps her and her team busy all year long. 

“We started out as a jump yard, but I soon realised that we couldn’t afford to keep a full yard rented if we only had a few horses running during the summer,” explains Rebecca. “We are located close to the A1 and have five racecourses within an hour or so of the yard, so it also made sense commercially to give it a try. We were lucky that a lot of our jump owners supported us by sending a few flat horses when I took out my dual licence. I could see it being a 50/50 split between flat and jumps horses in the future. We had a couple of two-year-old winners last year and that definitely gave us the confidence to pursue that route. The Listed success of Stormy Girl was a huge moment for us all; we have been celebrating ever since! I was confident she was going to run well the time before in a Listed race at York, but she was disappointing and scoped badly afterwards. I never lost faith in her ability though as I have always known that she is the best horse I have had anything to do with to this point. It was nice to have that view confirmed last time. She works on her own at home as I currently don’t have another horse good enough to work with her, and she is ridden out by Nathan Moscrop. I hope there is more to come from her and we have a few options at Newmarket, Newbury or even over in France later in the year. Her owners, Mike and Eileen Newbould of Stonegrave Thoroughbreds, have been really supportive so it is nice to be able to repay that faith with a Black Type filly.”

Every young trainer knows they need big winners to catch the eye of potential new owners, and never more so than in a year as full of uncertainties as this one. “I have had some interest from people who would like to send me flat horses, and it is good to advertise the fact that with the right material at hand, we can train horses to a good level in that sphere. These are difficult times for everyone, not just in racing, so it is important to try and promote yourself and our sport to a wider audience. That was one of the reasons I was keen on supporting Thoroughbred Tales by guest hosting the account for a week. I had been following the project for a while and found it very interesting seeing how other yards and studs operate. I learnt a lot from the week I hosted and enjoyed answering followers’ questions. It has not been easy for owners this year, but the various social media platforms have helped people feel closer to the action. Many of my owners take their horses home on a rest so they are very close to them. It makes it hard when they can’t give them a pat after they’ve won a race so we try to make an extra effort to reward them for all their continued support. There are difficult times on the horizon and every trainer will need to have their owners behind them to get through it.”

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Thoroughbred Tales - focussing on the unsung heroes in the racing world - during the coronavirus shutdown - how racing fans kept connected

By Sally Ann Grassick

The recent lockdown period has been tough for people in every walk of life all around the globe; however in racing and breeding, it has largely been a case of “business as usual” as far as daily routines are concerned. Foals still have had to be born, mares have still needed to be covered and racehorses have still needed to be cared for and exercised; even if none of us have had any idea when they would actually see a racecourse again. 

In a bid to keep racing fans connected with what was going on behind the closed doors of training yards around Europe, ‘Thoroughbred Tales’ had some excellent guest hosts during the lockdown period from both the racing and breeding industry, including Elwick Stud, Salcey Forest Stud and Sophie Buckley of Culworth Grounds, Irish jockey Gary Halpin and our first ever equine host in the John Berry trained social media star Roy Rocket. Trainers from three different European countries also hosted during the period to show firstly how the daily care and training of the horses was continuing regardless during the initial lockdown but also, following on from that, how they were adapting as racing gradually resumed around Europe behind closed doors.  …

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Introducing ‘Thoroughbred Tales’

By Sally Ann Grassick

The world of racing and breeding has been my home for my entire life. I am lucky enough to have grown up in this wonderful industry that has not only provided me with a career and the opportunity to travel the world but has also introduced me to some of my closest friends and even my boyfriend. After all of this, I feel as though I owe something of a debt back to the industry. We are ultimately just custodians of this great sport, and it is our duty to pass it on to the next generation in as healthy a state as possible.

With that in mind, I have been trying to come up with various projects that would enable me to use my presence on social media to promote racing to a wider audience. Sometimes, racing gets a hard time of it in the press around big meetings and mostly from people who are ignorant to just how well racehorses are cared for. Last year I appealed to racing professionals to respond to negative posts on social media about racing with invitations to their studs, yards and racecourses in order to educate the public rather than with anger and accusations of stupidity. Most people will not take you up on it, but one lecturer of a sports journalism course at a university in the UK contacted me about organising a day out to a yard and the races for her students. I thought if each of us can get through to at least one person on social media, then it is worth the effort; and a positive message will spread organically from there.

I wanted to flood social media with positive messages about the racing and breeding industry and to use the hardworking people behind the scenes to do it. There are so many amazing stories in racing, and I think the sport can only benefit by sharing them with the public. For too long now, top trainers and jockeys are the only faces that the public associate with racing, but I wanted to pull back the curtain and show fans aspects of the industry that they may never have had access to before. I also wanted to provide a bridge between newcomers to the sport and the people who are the backbone of the industry—a link so that they have the opportunity to ask the questions they have always wanted to know the answers to but never had anyone to ask. 

Along with some other passionate professionals from various parts of the industry, we launched “Thoroughbred Tales” in November of last year. The social media project, which centres mainly around Twitter, drew inspiration from fellow curated accounts such as “@IrelandsFarmers” which is hosted by a different Irish farmer every week and has almost 27,000 followers. We aim to have different guest hosts from all areas of racing and breeding showcasing the high level of care given to thoroughbreds at every stage of their lives as well as the hard work and dedication that goes on daily behind the scenes in the industry around the world. Within four months we have already over 4,000 Twitter followers, but we feel that number will grow significantly if racing professionals get behind this social media project. 

We have had some great guest hosts to date including Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Employee of the Year 2019 Great Britain Catch Bissett, who showed followers what it is like behind the scenes at Nick Alexander’s yard, Fairyhouse Racecourse Manager Peter Roe, Eddie Linehan, who runs a breaking and pre training yard in Co. Cork, and assistant trainer Leandro Mora, who was looking after USA-based trainer Doug O’Neill’s team of horses at the Dubai World Cup Carnival. Our own Thoroughbred Tales team members Lizzy Sainty and Aisling Crowe also showed our followers around the respective stallion trails in France and Ireland. Each guest host posts photos and videos throughout their week explaining their daily routine and encouraging followers to get involved and ask them questions. 

The Thoroughbred Tales team are very passionate about this project, but there is only so much we can do without the support of people within the industry. We have many exciting guest hosts already lined up for the weeks to come, but we need more people to get on board by hosting, following the account and retweeting posts. Let’s make the people at the heart of racing and breeding the real celebrities of our sport. 

To get involved, look for us on Twitter: @ThoroughbredTale or on Facebook: facebook.com/ThoroughbredTales.

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