Tag: The View

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The View number 14: Milestones

We’ve had a great occasion to celebrate this week as Jack O’ Boy won his second handicap in a row, and in so doing pushed my career earnings as a trainer over the three-million-euro mark. This is my thirteen year as a public trainer, and I’m determined to make this the yard’s lucky number.

From the left: Glorious Emaraty with his owners after his win in Cagnes-sur-Mer; the familiar company of Mickael Forest wearing the silks of Bryan Gusdal (Posing for a win by Ray of Hope) and members of High Street Racing at enjoying a day at Longchamp.

We’re settling in well to the fantastic facilities in Chantilly, and we have a top-class team that includes two former jockeys and one active jockey. The quality of the riders and the rest of the staff is really starting to show through in the horses and we are looking forward to a very exciting year. We are putting in grass paddocks for summer turnout, and other facilities are being added.

The only thing we’re missing is the ability to throw a huge party to officially open our stable, which is obviously on hold because of Covid. Luckily racing wasn’t canceled this year so we’re able to continue to work. Hopefully with vaccinations rolling out (a process that has been painfully slow in France, but we live in hope), we can soon start to see each other again.

Me and my entire team extend a huge thank you to our owners, past and present. We could not have built this business without every one of you. Nothing makes us happier than putting all of you in the winner’s circle!

JACK THE STAR!

Owner Susanne Born bought Jack O’ Boy when he finished 2nd in a claimer in Cagnes sur Mer. He’s a small horse but nicely bred, with two black-type brothers, so while he didn’t have a stellar form so far, he seemed worth the risk. He clearly enjoyed the change from the huge yard of Henri-Alex Pantall to a small stable with plenty of attention. We also decided pretty quickly that his best distance might be shorter than the 2000 meters he was currently running, and that fibersand might not be his preference.

Jack O'Boy
Jack O’Boy

When we switched to 1600 meters on the turf at St. Cloud, he rewarded us with an easy win at odds of 70-1! Those odds dropped to 9-1 on his outing on Friday in Compiegne, but no matter, Jack won anyway. We’ll be taking a hit in the handicap ratings for those back-to-back performances, but we’ll see how far Jack can go before we have to worry about that. He’s come out of his race well and we’ll see where he takes us next.

A CAGNES MEETING UNLIKE ANY OTHER

Cagnes sur Mer this year was certainly a different experience than we’re used to, with no public allowed on the track and even owners restricted to one per horse. Despite that, though, the sun was still shining and our horses were in form.

We left Cagnes with two wins and 26 places for just under 100,000 euros in earnings. Most of our new team had never done the meeting before, and I can tell you they’re all counting the days already until next year!

  • The crew after loading the equipment.
    Time to head north.
  • The riders: Johanna, Yasmine, and Maxime.

Quiet Zain was the star of the meeting, with a win and two seconds for his three starts there. We’ve always been lucky enough to have one or two horses that absolutely love this track and keep coming up with the goods year after year. He’s one of them. Four of his five wins have been in Cagnes.

My Sweet Boy finally got his nose in front, too; unfortunately, so did a competitor and we had to settle for a dead heat victory. Next time he won’t share!

LOOKING AHEAD

March and April are always challenging months for us, because we have the after-Cagnes lull when those horses who worked hard leading up to and through the meeting need a break, and we’re still bringing on the horses for the summer.

Obviously, the next meeting in our sights is Vichy, which is set for mid-July, and this year we hope to have a stronger showing this August in Deauville than we’ve had in previous years.

France Galop has raised the owners’ premiums for two-year-olds to 70 percent this year, and those premiums will carry over to the three-year-old season for these horses. We are working on putting together some partnerships on two-year-olds to take advantage of these premiums, so if you’d like to be involved, please let us know!

STATUS REPORT

Here’s where our current string are in their training and plans:

Actively racing:

  • El Viso
  • Folle Passion
  • Junvieve
  • Jack O’Boy
  • Lover Mimi

Coming off layoffs and racing soon:

  • Nile Paris
  • Aborigene
  • King Siyouni

Unraced three-year-olds in training:

  • Addiction
  • Loup Royans
  • Francoise

On vacation at Horsefield Aquacenter and Spa:

  • My Sweet Boy
  • Quiet Zain
  • Space Ace
  • L’Aida
  • Gratiane
  • Lightning War

In foal (we hope!) and returning to race soon:

  • Pantomime
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THE VIEW by Gina Rarick, vol 2

A Look Back

BAYLAGAN taking second place in Clairefontaine.

Baylagan (above) ran a solid race to finish 2nd in Clairefontaine. He’s turned a page physically and is turning into a nice horse. Pantomime ran her comeback race and finished only 9th, and then got unlucky with her entry in Deauville falling into the first division rather than the second, so she had to settle for 6 h place. She is a very big mare, and it’s taking a little racing to get her going, but she’ll be back in the money soon.

Poor Aborigene had a horrible time in Le Lion d’Angers. It poured rain the entire day and by post time the track was knee-deep in mud. He didn’t care for it at all and came home without any money and desperately needing a shower.

New claim Radja has joined the team. He’s a four-year-old colt with a solid record behind him who should be effective on the soft ground going into fall. He had a few niggles physically, but hopefully, we’re on the right track with him.

Overall, August has been a slow rebuilding month for us, so we plan to start September with a bang!

The Look Ahead

Lots of action coming up in the next week. Baylagan will start us off in Chantilly on Saturday, Aug. 31, in a 1600-meter (one-mile) claimer. He’s been falling nicely in the handicap ratings, so this race should accomplish two purposes: Bring him down to a rating of 30, which opens doors to some favorable handicap entries, and see how he handles the longer distance. If he can stay a mile, we have lots of options.

Dubai Empire is likely to have his comeback race at Longchamp on Sunday, Sept. 1. He’s not quite ready, but we don’t have good entries behind this one so we’ll have to take it and look at it as a race to advance his fitness. We won’t push him but rather see what he will do of his own accord.

The Racetrack at Craon.

On Monday, Sept. 2, we’ll hit the road for Croan, one of our favorite country tracks, with Starstruck and Glorious Emaraty, who will be having his debut for us. Starstruck will hopefully fall into the second division of the Quinte, but that’s not sure yet. We’ll have to take a crack at it even if she’s in the first division because once again, she is in form. If she’s in the second division, she should have a good chance to win. If she’s unlucky to find herself at the bottom of the first division, either she’ll place, or her handicap mark will come down. But she needs to run. Glorious will run a Class 2 conditions race over a distance of 1,350 meters. The objective here is to see how he races; he needs two more races in France to get a handicap mark, and we’d rather not have him too highly rated to start.

Simon’s Smile, our other English acquisition, will debut for us on Thursday, Sept. 4, just up the road at our home track in Maisons-Laffitte. He’ll try a one-mile claimer for jockeys who haven’t won 12 races this year. Aude Duporte will take the ride. We’re looking forward to seeing both of these English horses run.

And Aborigene will be back in action on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Longchamp, where the ground should suit him quite a lot better than the bog at Le Lion d’Angers!

Contact Me For Details

We are going to Tattersalls sale at Newmarket in late October.  There we look for horses with French premiums and opportunities to improve.  If you or a friend are interested in ownership, please contact me.  We offer you the opportunity to buy your own horse or as we say in the yard “take a leg of a horse” which means anywhere from 5% to 50% of the horse.  We have owners who like to spread the costs, and new owners are always welcome.

Cagnes-sur-Mer is not that far off.  Join us for a day, a week, a fortnight, or the entire six weeks from mid-January to late February on the French Riviera.  Many owners and friends are around, and we enjoy days at the races and sightseeing on off days.  Cagnes is an American-style racetrack where the horses live at the track so you can hang out in the barn area, meet many owners and other racetrack characters and they have a great restaurant there.

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THE VIEW by Gina Rarick, vol 1

A Look Back

After our two wins in July, August is off to a slow start with Starstruck as our only runner so far this month. She came up short in the Quinte handicap, the victim of a horrible outside draw and ground not to her liking. She has come back fine and we’re looking for another race for her.

A Look at Curent Events

BAYLAGAN winning in Chantilly.

Baylagan and Pantomime will run tomorrow in Clairefontaine. Baylagan is in a 1400-meter claimer and Pantomime runs a 2400-meter conditions race. Baylagan should be in the money, although this race is not his objective. We’d like to see his handicap mark come down another notch so we can have some fun with him without risk of him being bought. Pantomime is having her first race back after a short break. She’ll probably need the race to get fit for her objective, which is Aug. 24 on the main Deauville turf track. She has an outside draw of 12 and we’ll let her run the race she wants. If she makes money, it’s a bonus! Then next Saturday, Aug. 17, Aborigine is likely to head to Le Lion d’Angers to run a 2400-meter handicap there. He’s a solid little horse and it is shaping up to be a good entry.

A Look Ahead

Our two new horses from Newmarket in July are settling in and should be ready to race by the end of August. Both Simon’s Smile and Glorious Emaraty had minor problems to solve, but we seem to be on the right track with them and it will be exciting to get them running for us. Glorious Emaraty’s sire, George Vancouver, just got his first black-type progeny and it would be nice to add our name to that list!

I’m happy to report that Quiet Zain is coming back well from the injury he sustained winning his Quinte in July and is now back under saddle. He should be ready to run in October. Dubai Empire is also coming along and hopefully will be fit for September. We’ve had to have plenty of patience for our youngsters who haven’t raced yet – Kako Koritsi, Kallistos and Gold Eagle – but hopefully we’ll get there with all of them over the course of the autumn! Gavotte had her debut in July but unfortunately came back with sore shins, so she’ll need more time before she tries again.

The View From the Yard

We are going to Tattersalls sale at Newmarket in late October.  This is one of the sales we look for horses with French premiums and opportunities to improve.  If you or a friend are interested in ownership please contact me.  We offer you the opportunity to buy your own horse or as we say in the yard “take a leg of a horse” which means anywhere from 5% to 50% of the horse.  We have owners who like to spread the costs and new owners are always welcome.

Cagnes-sur-Mer is not that far off.  Come join us for a day, a week, a fortnight or the entire 6 weeks from mid-January to late February on the French Riviera.  Many owners and friends are around an we enjoy days at the races and sightseeing on off days.  This is an American-style racetrack where the horses live at the track so you can hang out in the barn area, meet many owners and other racetrack characters and they have a great restaurant there.