Free Dinners & High Land Prices
BBT Newsletter #2
Week 16
George Talks….
The US Masters has passed us by. The weather is getting warmer and the ground is drying up. Undoubtedly, there will be upsets on the racecourse over the next 7 days with good ground performers excelling. GAA should be on our screens but we all know why not and racing is the only thing keeping me going. While there were fireworks at The Craven meeting from the Godolphin pair, the trade was notably muted in the Tattersalls sales ring for ready to run 2yr olds. A good clearance rate but few significant prices. Some may blame the pandemic for this, and they are probably right.
Three Ideas this week.
1. Owners back at UK tracks – What can we do now to change the racing experience? I think racing (BHA) should provide a free dinner to all owners. It’s human nature to feel happy when fed for free! Take some of Bet 365Exec Denise Coates 6000 Billion! Buy the owners a dinner. I stand corrected if this is already being done!
2. Sales videos – A great asset to those who were trying to purchase bloodstock online. I think we should make this a requirement for putting together a catalogue for every sale – at the very least a picture?
3. Hello to our Irish farmer subscribers! I saw a chart during the week showing that the price of land is going crazy again. I had a look then at historical land prices. We are going back to the days of the Celtic Tiger! What has this to do with horse racing? Stop the builders buying horses!! See IPAV land chart here. If anyone has any news on the ground with crazy prices please email me. We all love land gossip. “My Field”!
Character of the Week
John Nallen
The Minella maestro bought 10 foals at the sales 5 years ago. Among them were a future gold cup winner and grand national star. He owns the Minella Hotel in Clonmel, see their website here, it looks like a fantastic spot. Naming all his horses with the Minella suffix, marketing genius! He has shot to fame by appearing delirious as Rachael Blackmore rode the horse he nurtured and sold to win the biggest jumps prize at Aintree, watch here. This certainly isn’t a flash in the pan. Minella has been associated with many winners down through the years, I came across a great insightful article into the man and his operation, here.
What are we up to in the world?
Visited a couple a trainer this week to check their facilities. We are scouring the catalogues of upcoming sales to find our horse for the summer syndicate 2021. We break the catalogue up between the three of us and make out a shortlist and compare notes. Asking “Where is there a gain with this horse?” Everything we buy has an end in mind and must have a high probability of being saleable during or at least after the horse’s racing career is over. Why are very commercial focused? The main priority for BBT is entertainment, engagement and education of our owners. But we know if the account only goes one way, it isn’t fun. If we can land a big touch every now and again (Once every year or two) it may just cover the monetary outlay for us all. Then, the emotional bank account of winning is brimming full for many years after! That’s why we focus on it making monetary sense! Keep the dream alive.
Pre-Registration for Summer Syndicate 2021 - Access Here
We are in the process of finalising details for our flying filly syndicate for 2021. Free, no commitment pre-registration is now open.
Stuff I find interesting…Listen, Read, Watch
I listened to a podcast about Sea the Stars, my favourite horse of all time, his Arc win the pinnacle for me. All episodes are about famous horses, their story and they interview the key people involved. Worth a listen and better than hearing the misery from the radio!!. Link to Spotify here.
A great audiobook (Via App Audible) called “The Dynasty” – It’s the full story about The New England Patriots American football team. Long but worth a listen if you are into sport, and yes I haven’t a clue about American Football either, great story though and its gets you into the game. I spent an hour or so looking at Youtube videos after it! Buy the audiobook here.
Documentary on F1 is fantastic, its on Netflix and is an addictive watch. One on horse racing please Netflix! Or Amazon. See trailer here.
Thomas talks bloodstock….
As the flat season moves up a gear, we are digesting a robust weekend of top class action while also looking for clues from the many classic trials. The Greenham stakes in Newbury on Sunday is a traditional trial for the Newmarket classic. It’s roll of honour including the likes of Frankel and Kingman (defeated in the 2000 Guineas by Night of Thunder).
See Frankel’s Guineas Demolition Job
Such names are extremely prevalent today as leading stallions thus proving the importance of the race. On Sunday it was the aptly named Chindit, a son of Coolmore’s new acquisition Wootton Bassett, who took the lead late on to gain victory over the Tally-Ho homebred Mehmento with The Lir Jet taking the third slot.
Chindit was conceived for a fee of €20,000, whereas his stallion commands a fee five times greater than that sum in 2021 on the back of a phenomenal year on the track. Mehmento was sold at the relocated Goresbridge breeze up sale for a mere €14,000 and was bought by one of the most successful breeze up purchasers in Richard Browne of Blandford bloodstock. His luck has a lot of accrediting to Tally Ho as the roll of honour between the pair includes Dream Ahead, a five time group 1 winner bought for €36,000, Umm Kulthumm winner of a Group 3 bought for €75,000 and Ardad a Group 2 winning 2 year old bought for €170,000. The latter has made an exuberant start to his life at stud with four winners from seven runners to date. His dam, Good Clodora is due to foal here at Tally Ho Stud next week and she is carrying to first season sire Inns of Court who has produced some impressive foals from his first crop. Mehmento’s sire, Mehmas who resides at Tally Ho was also a breeze up purchase for €170,000 by Peter and Ross Doyle who purchased Chindit for €65,000 as a yearling.
The Lir Jet was bought by Robson Aguiar for a bargain €8000, intended for a breeze up, rescheduling forced Aguiar to sell him privately before winning a group 2 at Royal Ascot. The Lir Jet is by stallion Prince of Lir who was sold at the same auction as Ardad for the same price.
As we move into Goffs Doncaster breeze up auction this week, it is imperative to note the importance of these sales not only as a source of winners but also stallion producers as noted above. Ardad, Mehmas and Prince of Lir are only some past pupils that lit up the ‘breeze’ in recent years before achieving huge success on the racecourse proper. As Mehmas has excelled with his first runners last year and is carrying that same momentum through to this year, eyes will be peeled to see if Ardad can achieve similar achievements after making such a promising start, winners of novice races are great for numbers but it is high class stakes performers which will separate the good from the great stallions.
Ardad has made a splash with his first 2 year-old runners
Charlie Talks Betting…..
This weekend sees the passing of the baton as the 2021 UK jumps season comes to a close at Sandown Park. The talk at the moment is all about " Super leagues" .The 2021 UK jumps season will have left plenty of UK trainers scratching their heads as their Irish counterparts seem to be in league of their own. The main highlight from the UK side has been the jumps jockey championship battle between Harry Skelton and Brian Hughes. At the time of writing Skelton looks to hold the upper hand and should collect his 1st title this weekend. A mention also to Paul Nicholls who has dominated the UK Jumps Trainers Championship from start to finish this year and looks to have built a nice team of horses for next season. See his interesting stable tour here.
The Bet365 Gold Cup is the final staying test of the season and looks like it will be run on good to firm ground.This will give a chance to stamina laden jumpers who couldn't slog it out in testing conditions earlier in the season. That man Paul Nicholls holds the aces as he has left in the top weight Clan Des Obeaux. This will force a lot of runners to race from out of the handicap. Interestingly, one of his other runners Enrilo, ticks a lot of boxes and odds of 6/1 look fair about his chances.
The first flat classics of the season are over 10 days away. The 1000 and 2000 Guineas markets were shook up last week. Two standout performers were both from the Richard Hannon stable as Chindt (mentioned by Thomas) and Snow Lantern laid down classic markers. The former who won a decent looking maiden in great style could make a serious impression in the 1000 Guineas but just yesterday she has been ruled out and instead will head to York.
The aforementioned Hannon yard are in great form at the moment. Looking through their entries for this weekend it was noticeable how keen they are to get Beat Le Bon back to the track after his luckless run at Newmarket last week. He is currently entered in 3 races on Saturday (See entries here) . He should get competitive. He is now back down to his last winning mark and should be fighting fit after his recent efforts.