Category: Updates from the yard

We are in transition and gearing up for the winter season and Cagnes sur Mer, and that always means the semi-annual pilgrimage to my favorite Horses in Training sale in Newmarket. I got back last night, just before our first new arrival, Santarini, a three-year-old filly who had been in training with Richard Hannon. She is a nice big filly who has run a few places in England and is eligible for French premiums, so I’m sure we can have a bit of fun with her here. She is still a maiden, so it should be easy enough to find races for her. We’ll take her for a test drive tomorrow and get a better idea of how she’ll settle in.

She’ll be joined by Eternal Gift, a three-year-old colt who looks very interesting. He is being repatriated after starting his career in France and then being shipped to England, where he ran a couple of places but wasn’t good enough to prompt the owner to hang onto him. But he is a winner here, so clearly French racing suits him better than that across the pond. He also is eligible for premiums and will be targeted at Cagnes.

The sales were the usual exhausting mix of horrible weather, unhealthy (but oh so tasty) food, plenty of alcohol and the endless parade of horses accompanied by the ceaseless patter of the auctioneers. I do love the sales, though, probably most for the things one overhears: “Yes, he’s a weaver, but not a bad one.” “Oh now that ankle won’t give you a bit of trouble. He’s never taken a lame step.” “He’s just sitting on a win, you know. It’s a real shame the owner wanted to sell because I’d love to hang onto him.” “Sound as a pound, he is.”

And better, from the podium: “Make no mistake, sir, you’re going to lose him to the lady at the door…” “Sure to win, I’m told.” “Good-looking colt here, unlucky in his last start.” “C’mon, lads, don’t let him go for that!” They really do put on a show at Tattersall’s, but by the end of the second day I was hearing the auctioneers in my sleep, as usual. In any case, it’s all over now until July, so we have to get down to work.

Coming up on Monday is Milly (Surrey Story), who will have another run or two before she goes off to the breeding stock sale in December. We’re trying her back on the fibersand because the ground is so dismal everywhere. She didn’t handle the surface well in Cagnes, but she’s a different horse now and might do OK.

On Friday, I hope to debut our two unraced three-year-olds, Grey Falcon  and Blue Lilac. They’re entered in the 1,600- and 2,100-meter maiden races on the fiber in Chantilly. I’m not sure who will run which race yet; I keep changing my mind over who would be best over which trip. In any case, I’ll probably end up just trying to make sure we get in, because they both need to get on with it now and we need to see them on the track before we can make any further decisions. There are the usual crowd of big-name owners and trainers entered, but we’re just there to run, so it won’t matter.

After that, Deep Ocean will go back to Chantilly, where he finished second last Saturday. The handicappers cooperated after our race in Longchamp and duly knocked us down a kilo, which allowed us to get to Chantilly with a chance. Maybe we can win it this next time. Hard Way also has an entry over 3,000 meters in Angers, but I haven’t decided whether or not he will go yet. Both of the old guys seem in decent form.

We’ve had to send King Driver out to the country to recuperate further from his tapeworm and the resulting intestinal problems. He was just not putting it behind him here yet, unfortunately, so he won’t be ready for Cagnes after all and we’ll have to forget about him until next year. I hope he makes a good recovery, but we’re still watching him very closely.

Magical Flower is also likely to be looking for a new job since she’s shown very little interest in her current employment. You’d think with the economic crisis going on she’d be motivated to hang onto the work she has, but sometimes there’s just no reasoning with horses. We will try to get her a last run, this time with blinkers, but then she is likely to be moving on. Very frustrating, because she is a beautiful filly and seems physically very well at the moment.

Gorki Park is working his way back from a mild case of shins and hopefully will be ready to try something in December. Sageburg is doing great as a sire, so it will be very fun to finally see him start his career.

It’s hard to believe another Arc weekend has come and gone. As usual, there were big parties, lots of fun and great racing. Our usual table of 24 in the owners and trainers restaurant went well as usual, and put us ringside for some of the best thoroughbreds in the world. Many of our owners were there, and for those of you who missed it, mark your calendars for next year. The hope is always, of course, that we might have something good enough to run that weekend ourselves, and you never know – maybe next year’s the one.

We did have a horse in the money on Arc weekend a couple of years ago when Hard Way was third in the handicap. The racing calendar has since change and his handicap no longer exists, so this year we had to settle for racing on the Monday after the Arc – when good old Hard Way showed he’s still a fun racehorse by finishing second in his handicap there. Surrey Storm also had a run but didn’t care for the bottomless ground (which Hard Way loves). She’s had two off races now and has had a long season, so we are deciding whether to race again before she goes to the breeding stock sale in Deauville in December. At the moment, I think we will try another time, because she is not training like a horse that’s gone over the top. Her jockey in Chantilly, Christophe Lemaire, also didn’t think she was running like a tired horse, but rather like one that would prefer better going. Nothing is on the cards for her at the moment, since she’ll have to go on the fibersand at this point because it’s been raining nonstop and there’s no good ground to be had in France at the moment.

Hard Way, on the other hand, is ready to go again, but there’s no good entry for him until mid-November at Fontainebleau, so we’ll have to wait. Even now, I am dreading the thought of that race – not for him, who should have a good chance to win – but for us, since there are few more dismal places I can think of than the Fontainebleau racecourse in mid-November! I’m still scouring the condition books to make sure there is nothing more hospitable that I missed.

Magical Flower ran a second race on Monday at Compiegne, and it didn’t go too well. She didn’t really like the ground, but she’s just not much of a fighter. She has great action and plenty of ability, but when challenged by other horses, she seems to just say “right, go ahead then, if it means that much to you. See you back at the barn…” She is working very, very well at home, so we’ll next bring out the sheepskin cheekpieces to see if we can’t motivator a bit more, before moving on to blinkers if we have to.

Deep Ocean ran yesterday at Longchamp in a race that was too short over ground that was too heavy. But he is too highly handicapped, and we have no choice but to race until the handicappers show mercy. We only need to come down a pound to run in the race I’d really like next week in Chantilly, and I’ll find out tomorrow whether that can happen. Fingers crossed, because the horse seems to be in fine form and I’d really like to find a nice little race for him.

Meanwhile, our unraced horses are coming on well, and the two three-year-olds are just about ready to try something. Grey Falcon has transformed himself over the past two months, toning up and learning to gallop. He went through the starting gate last week along with Blue Lilac, our unraced Irish filly. The work went well, although the Falcon hardly fit in the gate and I think he was afraid to jump out for fear of taking it with him. He did figure it out, though, and I don’t think either of them will give the gate crew any trouble on race day. They may both go to Chantilly on Nov. 9 for a maiden race over a mile.

King Driver is still recovering from the intestinal mess his bought with tapeworm left behind. It’s been a long battle, but it seems we may finally be coming out on top. He is such a lovely horse and this setback has been a real blow. We hope very much to have him right for Deauville in December and then on to Cagnes.

Gorki Park is coming along, too; we had to back off for a bit because of shin problems, much as I had tried to avoid that, but I think he’s just about ready to pick up fast work again. I hope to get him out at two in Deauville, and then he, too, will have Cagnes as a primary target.

Hard Way is a quirky beast, as anyone who knows him will tell you, and while he is a willing horse most of the time, he has very strong opinions on things. And if there’s something he’s unhappy with, he does what the French do: He goes on strike.

He has tried to tell us before that he’s not keen on racing in Maisons-Laffitte. This is his home, after all, and it’s fine for training and overall general quality of life, but he’d prefer not to have to actually do any real work here. At least that was the message we got loud and clear when he finished up the field on Friday in what should have been a very easy race for him. Christophe Lemaire, his preferred jockey, came back and confirmed what I had suspected: He just doesn’t like this racecourse. He has run here only twice before, and both were relative disasters. One was clearly pilot error, and the second time he just didn’t fire. I was hesitating between two entries, the one here at home and one in Craon, where he won three years ago. The company looked easier in Maisons-Laffitte, but on Saturday morning, I was very much wishing we were heading to Craon instead.

Or perhaps it was still about that beer incident. Hard Way usually has his oats soaked in Guinness every night. Two days before the race, I ran out, so he had his dinner without his beer. He usually jumps into his food, but that night, he ate the good stuff (apples and carrots) and then stood in the middle of his box with his head down. I continued the rest of the yard work, and a few minutes later he decided to lay down, abandoning dinner. This is not at all like Hard Way, so I was worried he might be sick. I took his temperature and it was normal, so I went away and came back to check an hour later. His manger was licked clean and he was standing there eating hay has if nothing had happened. I was still suspicious, but his appetite was fine the next day. That next night, I had restocked the beer, and he ate with his usual enthusiasm.

He certainly didn’t act like anything was wrong when I was riding him, either. Hard Way has an onboard GPS, and he knows exactly where he is at all times out in the St. Germaine national forest, where he trains. There is a small hill where we usually gallop, and it is now impossible to do otherwise. A few days ago, he was particularly keen going for the hill and absolutely flew up the trail. I admit I was certainly not in control of the situation at that point, but he was. I would have started to worry, but I know that HE knows how long the path is, and where we turn. So sure enough, when we were approaching the corner at still serious speed, he eased up and around, doing his best quarter horse impression.

He’s come out of his race fine, and might go to Chantilly next. At least I know he approves of that track, since he’s already run in the money there. St. Cloud also seems to suit him, and he also likes Longchamp. One thing’s for certain – we’ll keep Maisons-Laffitte off the calendar.

The time has flown by, and I’ve been reminded by more than a few people that this blog has been sadly neglected. So no more: giving in to popular demand (all five of you), I vow to do better. So a general update:

Hard Way the wonder horse will run in Maisons-Laffitte on Friday. I had wanted to take him to Craon on Saturday to run in the same race he won three years ago. It would have been a great story – he’s come back, the entry was good and I might have even tried to put up the same jockey we had then. The track down there is fantastic, and you can’t beat the atmosphere. It’s one of the few tracks in France where people show up and it’s a real event. I entered in Maisons-Laffitte just as a backup, but it turns out that the race here at home looks much, much easier than the one in Craon. It’s a tough decision, because Hard Way has only run twice in Maisons-Laffitte, and both of those attempts went badly. But we’ll give it a third try. If he doesn’t fire in this company, with his preferred jockey, Christophe Lemaire, aboard, we’ll definitely scratch the home track off our list.

Deep Ocean will tackle Longchamp on Saturday if he doesn’t get eliminated. I’m hoping, actually, for France Galop to open up a third division, which would be a good entry for him. As it stands, he might just make the cut and get into the second division of the handicap, and he won’t have much chance there. He is coming off a seventh place in Lyon in a race I had hoped to win. We didn’t get a good trip that day, so I’m hoping for better luck closer to home. Since the entry is questionable, we’ll change jockeys this time, which is probably a good thing. He’s become quite coltish, and he needs a strong hand to remind him what his job is.

Milly (Surrey Storm) ran a clunker last week in Strasbourg, also a race in which I thought we had a good chance. A few things went wrong: First off, Strasbourg is really (expletive deleted) far away and I don’t recommend trying to drive there. Ever. The only way to get there is by crossing Paris, which in our case took two hours – coming and going. Second, our jockey fell in the first race and broke his wrist, so we had to make a last-minute change. Third, the ground was actually quite hard, rather than soft as listed, and fourth, she has just started to go in her coat, and fillies often fall off form just a bit when that happens. I don’t think she’s over the top for the year, because she is working well at home, so we’ll definitely try to get another win in before she goes to the breeding stock sale in December.

Magical Flower is coming back into form nicely after her very long lay-off with a broken foot. She is almost ready to go, and I hope to race her on Oct. 1 or 2. King Driver is on the easy list for the moment; he was supposed to race last week in Fontainebleau but spiked a high fever two nights before the race. We’re still not 100 percent sure what is happening, but it seems to be an intestinal infection, which could be quite serious. For now, he is responding well to antibiotics and he has just started back in light work. Fingers crossed we can put this behind us soon.

Our new recruits Gorki Park, Grey Falcon and Lilac Lane (well, we’re not sure that’s her name yet, but we think it might be) are working well. Gorki is probably the closest to a race. The Falcon still has some weight to lose and he’s a huge beast that is still growing, so he’ll take a little more time. Lilac went through her growing pains earlier and now seems on track and is cantering regularly. Hopefully she won’t be far behind Gorki. All three of them will have a date soon with the starting gate, which promises to be an eventful morning.

So much for catching up…

Hard Way and Milly (Surrey Storm) did us proud this week, with Hard Way running second in Deauville and Milly third in Lion d’Angers. Hard Way battled hard to the line to grab second in the usual blanket finish of a 20-runner handicap. He’s a great old man to have around the yard, and he always performs when we need it the most. He’ll have an easy few weeks now and probably go down to Craon on Sept. 22 to run the same race he won three years ago. Not bad for a horse that was supposed to be retired!

Milly was a bridesmaid again and keeps knocking on the door. She is tough and consistent, but she couldn’t hold off the winner who came flying on the outside carrying only 49.5 kilos to her 55.5. She was only beaten half a length again and will win one of these soon. Both horses came back well and have good entries ahead.

Meanwhile, we’re at the yearling sales in Deauville over the weekend, mostly to kick the tires and meet people rather than to do actual buying. The prices there will be high, although there may be a bargain or two on Monday or Tuesday. The horses at the yard will have an easy weekend, because a heat wave has descended over central France and there’s no point in pushing them when cooler days are likely just ahead.

Deep Ocean heads to Deauville tomorrow for a return to the fibersand in a 1,900-meter handicap. Looks tough to win, but if he runs to form, he shouldn’t be too far off the mark. We won this same race two years ago with Turfani, and it would be nice to do it again. In any case, Deep will kick off several runs in Deauville in August for us. Hard Way and King have races in mid-month, and Deep will probably go back near the end of the month.

Milly followed up her second at Longchamp with a third in Vichy in mid-July, and she will either go back to Vichy or to Lion d’Angers in mid-August. She is proving to be ever tougher. The ground in Vichy was dismal after a week of racing every day and a good dose of rain. She was outpaced at the start, and found herself shuffled back to mid-pack. Going into the final turn, I thought we were well-beaten because Christophe Lemaire already had to give her a crack to keep her moving. Entering the stretch, he asked again, and she responded, if only a little. He continued to ask, and she started to move, passing horses to be beaten only a length in the end. It was an amazing stretch run from her and a great ride from Christophe, who was blowing harder than the horse when they came back to unsaddle. He could have given up on her, but he didn’t.

She took the race in stride, as usual, and hasn’t left a grain of oats in the feed bin since. She’s had 10 races this year, and taken checks in five of them. I keep waiting for her to ask for a break, but she instead keeps asking for more. Eventually, she will need a break, I would think, but she’s not asking yet, so we’ll press ahead.

Gorki Park, meanwhile, is settling in very nicely. He seems to have a very good head on his shoulders, which will help him once he starts racing. He is working with our unraced (and still unnamed) three-year-old Irish filly.  I’m not sure which will get to the track first, but I think my money’s on him. She is a very big girl and seems to be going through a growth phase at the moment, so we have to be patient for the moment.

Meanwhile, we’re all enjoying the summer, which seems to have finally arrived with some decent weather. I don’t want to jinx it, but it looks like August might actually give us a little sun. Off to the yard for a gin and tonic!

King Driver goes back to racing school tomorrow, trying his first handicap in Dieppe. If he progresses as he should from Vittel, he should be in the money. Two things are working against us: The draw and the ground. We are drawn far outside in hole 13, and Dieppe was a swamp on Monday for the jumps meeting. I think King will handle heavy ground, at least from the looks of the paddles he has for feet, but things should have dried up quite a bit today and I’m afraid we might just end up with a sticky mess tomorrow, neither heavy nor soft. Still, if Tristan can find a back for him, we should have a chance. That’s a challenge breaking from that post, but he’ll do his best. In any case, one thing is clear: The horse is improving, and he comes from a family of winners. If not tomorrow, soon.

We’re also adding a horse to the yard from the Newmarket sales: Grey Falcon, an unraced three-year-old Clodovil gelding. Normally I would shy from a horse that hasn’t yet raced at three, but this one is clearly backwards and just needs a bit of time. He was bought for one of my American owners and should be ready to go in the fall. He gets French owners’ premiums and is a lovely big horse with a good paper, so watch this space for his progress. At the moment, he is at Xavier Richard’s in Normandy working off some of his baby fat.

There is a half-share available on another horse that I think will be a bit of fun: Gorki Park, a two-year-old Sageburg gelding who should be ready to run soon. He is being purchased for an owner who would like a partner for the other half, so contact us if you’re interested. He is French-bred, so he is eligible for 75-percent premiums on purses won this year and 68-percent premiums on purses next year. He is not expensive and should be useful, so if you’re thinking of getting a toe in the water, this is a nice opportunity. This is the first crop of two-year-olds for Sageburg, and all of them to race have been in the money.

 

Two of the four runners over the weekend were in the money, with Milly (Surrey Storm) running a very nice second at Longchamp and King Driver handling the gate much better and coming in 4th at Vittel. Hard Way fared less well there, finishing just out of the money in 6th, and Fibs found a mile at Compiegne too long on Monday.

Antoine Hamelin, a new rising star in the jockey circle, gave Milly a brilliant ride from the front at Longchamp and she gutted it out in the stretch to keep second place. She is a small horse with a decent stride and needs some pace at 2,400 meters, so this time I told the jockey he could take the lead if he had to, but to ride smartly and keep at her in the stretch, because she’s tough. He did just that, and she came through. We thought she might hang on to win but couldn’t quite do it. She came back well, as usual, and will go for a handicap next down in Vichy. She is extremely well placed with a rating of 30, so hopefully she might find the winner’s circle again down there.

King Driver schooled in the gate since his debacle at Chantilly and he seemed to have understood the point on Sunday in Vittel, when he stood like a lamb for about five minutes while the horse in the stall next to him threw a temper tantrum. The starting gate in Vittel was quite the spectacle. The girls leading in the horses look like they were rounded up at the local pony club, and while they did their best, they were no match for fractious thoroughbreds, some running for the first time. Two horses were scratched at the gate when the crew finally gave up, and it took nearly 15 minutes to get the 12 remaining runners in their stalls. Even though King went in with only three to go behind him, he had a good long wait inside. He broke brilliantly, and Tristan Normand had all he could do to keep him off the lead. He ran a little too freely in second or third through the race, and managed to hang onto fourth place and open his bank account. It was a lesson well-learned, but we still have quite a bit to do with him. He is a big baby and unfortunately not all that bright, so everything new is quite a challenge. He caused some problems in the parade ring this time because he didn’t want to leave to go to the track, so that will be our next project. He will probably head down to the track at Maisons-Laffitte to school in the parade ring there on Sunday.

Hard Way kept King company on the road to Vittel, but only finished 6th after being stuck with an outside draw of 15. Tristan’s orders were to absolutely put the horse behind somebody, so in order to do that, he ended up in the last third of the group rounding the first turn. On the small country tracks like Vittel, that leaves too much left to do. He ran well and was closing nicely, but a 300-meter stretch run is too short for him from that position. We’ve had back luck three times with him now and it’s getting frustrating, because he’s a good horse and will find another race to win soon. Entries are a bit tough, because he really should be running 3,000 meters, but there aren’t many races at this point. We may need to be patient for a decent entry.

Fibs and Flannel ran much better Monday than he did in his first try for us, but he needs a shorter distance to be in the money. Again, we’ll hope for a decent entry soon.

Obviously lots has gone on since I’ve been back here…catching up where I left off, let’s start with Hard Way. He got a better ride last time out with Christophe Lemaire back in the saddle, who at least tried to follow orders. Unfortunately, Hard Way did indeed learn a bad lesson last time out and jumped out to the front again. But unlike last time, Christophe slowed him down and tried to ride a smart race with what he was dealt. But as soon as he was headed after the final turn, Hard Way decided the race must be over. Christophe did try to convince him otherwise and he did pick up the pace again to finish 7th. We know he can do better, but we absolutely have to sort the starting gate out and get him to break a little less enthusiastically. Usually, I ask for him to be loaded last because he won’t wait in the gate. But next time out, he’ll go in with a few horses still to load, so he’ll have to wait a little, which may be enough to have him miss the break a bit, which in his case would be good.

King Driver, on the other hand, needs a bit more gate training so he doesn’t miss the break. He ran his comeback race in Chantilly on Sunday and I hadn’t bother to school him in the gate first. My feeling on starting gates is that they are highly stressful for a horse, both mentally and physically, so once the horse knows what it’s about, there’s no need to go back to it when not racing. I had forgotten, though, that King is not horribly courageous and when we schooled him originally, he was spooked by the noise of the gate opening, so he stood back before breaking. He did the same thing when he debuted as a two-year-old, but he had learned the lesson for his second race and it wasn’t a problem. Apparently he needed a refresher course, though, because he was fractious before the stalls opened and when they did, he propped back from the noise. Consequently, he was left several lengths behind the pack, which he showed no enthusiasm to join. He ran very green, and in the backstretch he almost decided to go visit the chateau rather than stay on the racecourse. But Fabrice Veron bravely got him moving in the stretch, and he did pass a few horses once he decided to gallop straight and play with the others. He is a lovely big horse and will certainly run much better next time out, which will be in about two weeks. But he’ll go to the gates again first.

Deep Ocean runs tomorrow in Chantilly in the second half of the Tierce. He hasn’t raced in nearly two months; he needed a bit of a break after being on the go all winter, and we also took the time to remove a small sarcoid tumor near his eye that had been bothering him. Entries for him are somewhat limited, because we need 2,000 meters on a right-handed track, with relatively decent ground. All the rain will keep things pretty soft tomorrow, which might not be to his liking, but he ran very well at Longchamp on soft ground, so I’m hoping for a good race tomorrow.

After that I hope to give Fibs and Flannel another try, this time at Amiens on Saturday, but we need a few more horses to forfeit before we’ll have a chance to get in. At the end of the month, Surrey Storm is likely to go to Longchamp for a claimer. I’d rather have a nice small handicap for her, but the racing calendar isn’t cooperating, so we’ll have to go with the claimer.

For the moment, the focus is on Deep tomorrow, who will be ridden by his usual jockey, Gerald Pardon. We’ll get to see how Deep likes Chantilly.

Where do I start? I will try to write this omitting the stream of obscenities I spouted after Hard Way’s race on Saturday, when Stephane Pasquier single-handedly flushed a year and a half of patience down the toilet by allowing Hard Way to bolt along out front, serving as the leader for the field and then practically crossing the finish line at a trot. We were supposed to have Christophe Lemaire in the saddle again, but at the very last minute, his agent pulled him off to ride for a bigger trainer. I was stuck without a pilot and all my usual suspects were already taken. With a 20-horse field, that happens. Of course, when Lemaire’s agent said he could ride, there was absolutely no doubt, so I didn’t bother looking for a backup. So there we were, screwed, and Pasquier was available. I was actually thinking about scratching, because I’d never used Pasquier before and he appeared to be the kind of jockey I try to avoid: One who can ride a fantastic race if he is so inspired, but who seems not to give a shit if he’s not so inspired. Oh don’t you worry, madame, his agent said, he’ll give you a good ride. Ah, words. He rode like a bad apprentice, setting a nice pace for his buddies behind him. Turning into the stretch, he dropped his hands and let the horse hack home (which was probably the least offensive thing he did at that point, because Hard Way had set a blistering pace and probably wouldn’t have had much left to give).

I usually hold my tongue with jockeys, because I never know if I might one day need them again. This was not the case on Saturday, and I made it clear that I was extremely unhappy. Angry. Furious, really. It’s quite probable that not only did Pasquier get the message, but most of Maisons-Laffitte did, too. Ah, well. Two British owners of another trainer overheard my diatribe and quickly got interested. “Do you always swear like that,” they asked? “It happens,” I replied. They took my business card.

Hard Way came back fine, if perhaps somewhat confused. He had never raced in Maisons-Laffitte before so he was surprised to find a racecourse at the end of our walk over. He was allowed to do as he pleased during the race, and then he had plenty of grass on the way home, so I’m hoping he didn’t come away with too bad a lesson. The handicappers didn’t see fit to take off a single ounce after our performance, probably because the ride was so bad they assumed I was trying to lose. That leaves our target still Longchamp on June 11, but we will most certainly have a change of jockey. Again.