Weekend of Champions

Written By George Allen

Newsletter #20

Syndicate News

Last week was a big week for us. Medal of Glory stepped out for the first time at Navan. The race didn’t pan out exactly as one would like. She was keen early and got no cover. But she battled on gamely in the final couple of furlongs to finish a flying home 5th.

Kevin O’Ryan, racing presenter and Irish form expert noted her after the race as the one to watch next time out.

She bounced out of the race in great nick and we are searching for her next target, sooner rather than later.

See the link of Medal of Glory’s race here.

We attended the Tattersalls Sommerville sale this week in Newmarket.

We came away without buying anything in a trade that was as buoyant as we have seen in years. At all levels of the market aswell which is a reverse on the trend of selectivity seen for the last 5/6 years.

We underbid a couple of horses and were a few bids short on others.

241 - A Camacho filly from Whatton Manor - Bought by Rod Millman for 17,000£

149 - A Bungle in the Jungle filly from Llety Farms - Bought by Star Bloodstock for 27,000£

If we had a blank cheque book at the sales we would have come home with Lot 100 a Tasleet who made 75,000£ to Robson Aguiar.

The next sale we will be attending will be the Tattersalls September Yearling Sale. It’s a three day sale so will give us more scope to source the right horse at the correct value.

A lot of old and new faces were at the sales grounds. Talking to vendors they told us their horses received record numbers of shows. The median price jumped 101% so that proves the crowd were not just kicking tyres.

I envisage the yearling sales continuing to be very strong throughout the next few months.

New Horse…Coming Soon

Although our trip to Newmarket proved fruitless, we managed to source our first yearling for our 2022 2 year old roster. The opposite of good idea is more often an even better idea. With that in mind we decided to look at other avenues to find horses that fit our criteria.

With the yearling sales starting off strong we have made a conscious effort to call breeders, view their horses at the farm and make some offers before horses go to auction. We are confident in our valuations and felt we might be able to get a vendor to sell from the field, something that is very common in France and other jurisdictions but not so much in Ireland.

We struck gold last week with a breeder who we have a great relationship with. We found a yearling filly who’s four siblings have all won, three of them at 2 and the other at 3. Her half brother by Starspangledbanner was a potential group horse that died before showing his true potential. The filly is by a Sioux Nation one of the last few sons of sire sensation Scat Daddy to go to stud, a winner of the Norfolk stakes and the Phoenix Stakes at 2, he will produce early 2 year old horses.

We will release all the details around shares in the coming week and we are absolutely delighted to acquire this filly for Brownsbarn Thoroughbreds.

Charlie talks…Weekend Racing

Wow what a weekend. Where to start?

 

Irish Champions Weekend and the St. Ledger meeting at Doncaster sees over 13 Group races take place on Saturday and Sunday.

 

The St Leger is the highlight at Doncaster on Saturday where Hurricane Lane looks very difficult to oppose. On the form he has shown and on his breeding he could improve over the extra distance which makes it an almost impossible task to take him on. He is already 6lbs clear on the ratings. Plenty of guts will be needed but he is battle hardened and I just can't see how anything else can improve enough to catch him. In saying that his odds are very short so thread carefully.

 

Meanwhile over at Leopardstown Tarnawa in the Irish Champion stakes looks very difficult to oppose as she continues her preparations towards the Arc. It’s a small but select field but Poetic Flare and St Mark's Basilica will give her plenty to think about. I expect Tarnawa to have too much class and to win what is traditionally the best race ran on Irish soil.

At 12.40 a very interesting looking line up for the fillies listed race but I expect Corviglia to be very hard to beat. She has oozed class on her last two starts and as long as the ground remains in the good side she should continue her progress here.

 

The 3.45 1 mile 4 handicap at Leopardstown looks seriously competitive as one would expect for the prizemoney on offer. However Presto looks like he has been brought to the boil nicely by the Oliver McKiernan yard. I think he will be overpriced here and while the drop back in trip may not look ideal, they will go a serious gallop which will bring his stamina into play. He will also have headgear on to sharpen him up and with his jockey claiming off 3lbs to boot I'm expecting a big run from him.

The Curragh on Sunday opens with another fiendishly difficult looking 7 furlong handicap. My eye is drawn to what appears to be one of the most exposed looking runners in the field, Chessman. There will be plenty of horses plotted up for this prize but Chessman looks like he has been kept on ice for a while with this prize in mind. Yes he hasn't won for over 5 yrs and that was on his debut but on the pick of his form he can cause a shock here if he sparks back to life. 

Horses to follow:

Corviglia - 12.40  - Leopardstown - Saturday 

Presto - 3.45 - Leopardstown - Saturday 

Chessman - 1.45  -Curragh - Sunday  

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George Allen https://www.Brownsbarnthoroughbreds.com
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