After COVID left a fragmented 2020 for all, it was good to get back to a semblance of normality, in the world of racing at least, over the last twelve months and it proved to be a productive year for the yard.
The final tally saw us record 35 WINNERS and 118 PLACES (44 of those in the runners-up slot) with a prize money haul of £355,000. Although you are always targeting winners, we also aimed some of our higher rated horses at valuable Class 2/3 handicaps, especially in the fillies and mares’ sector, where second and third placings would result in double or treble the earnings of first prize in a traditional Class 4/5 contest. While we had twenty-one individual winners, with a trio recording three wins, we were delighted that a quintet of our team earned over £20,000, thanks in part to some excellent place prize money picked up in better races.
As Oisin Murphy has first choice on riding our horses, we were delighted to see him land his third jockey’s title as we teamed up for ten winners together in 2021. We wish Oisin all the best considering recent news, offer him our full support and look forward to teaming up again in the future. While Oisin was our leading jockey in terms of winners, we also established a mutually successful link-up with Irish jockey Ross Coakley. Based with John Oxx before he retired, Ross was left without a base in Ireland last season and decided to try his hand in Britain. A mid-season move meant it wasn’t easy for him to gain contacts but through joining Oisin’s agent Gavin Horne, he appeared on our radar and it worked out well as Ross rode seven winners for the yard from 72 rides. While Ross is already starting to ride winners for some of the bigger operations this winter and we have no doubt that his talent will be seen by the wider world, hopefully we can still team up for plenty of winners in 2022 and beyond.
Yard flag bearer was four-year-old Able Kane as he landed three victories, the highlight of which was a £50,000 Handicap at Doncaster’s St Leger meeting live on terrestrial television. As his half-sister Sweet Pursuit improved with age and experience, we were delighted this imposing son of Due Diligence managed to win as a juvenile and we were hoping for big things at three. However, he initially went through the motions and it was only when a visor was applied that he landed back to back wins at Bath and Leicester last autumn. However, there was nothing lacklustre about his campaign this time around, starting off with a couple of seconds before gaining a deserved win at Leicester in May. He went onto finish second in the twenty-five runner £50,000 Steward’s Cup Consolation at Goodwood and secured two more placed efforts before his Doncaster success. He ended the year by toughing out a two-length victory in soft ground at Leicester, his mark going from 79 to 93 and earning £66,355 in prize money. While things will undoubtedly be tougher next year, his ability to handle rain softened ground will always stand him in good stead and hopefully he can find further improvement.
The three-year-old fillies had a strong campaign with Crazy Luck, Four Adaay and Silent Flame winning eight races and over £85,000 between them despite ending the season rated just 80, 73 and 76 respectively. Crazy Luck won a £20,000 Great British Bonus as a juvenile and we were concerned she might be harshly handicapped at three but she proved tough and resolute, landing back to back wins at Chester and Newbury before a run of three seconds in £30-40,000 Handicaps, including losing out at Ascot in the Shergar Cup by a neck. We couldn’t be too disappointed as she was merely a reserve until an hour before the race and the first four were covered by half a length. Silent Flame is an Al Kazeem homebred filly belonging to one of the yard’s long standing supporters Gloria Abbey. Her dam Burnt Fingers had been fragile but was a winner for the stable as a four-year-old and already has a track record of producing tough offspring. Although Silent Flame didn’t make the track at two, she started off in March with three runs on the all-weather before winning a Class 5 on her handicap debut at Salisbury off 58 and going onto land two Class 4’s at Ffos Las and Salisbury. She then stepped up into a couple of Class 2 Handicaps, finishing third at Salisbury (Crazy Luck was second, the pair earning over £10,000) and then finishing runner-up herself at Pontefract. She ended up improving 17lbs over the course of the season and we hope she will improve again at four. Four Adaay rounded off that trio and despite three wins, it was a bit of a ‘what if’ season for her! An exceptionally speedy two-year-old that didn’t see out the minimum trip, she strengthened up nicely over the winter and returned at Lingfield in March by landing a Novice with the minimum of fuss, dead heated returned to the AW at Lingfield in May and then bolted up at Goodwood on soft ground two weeks later. After that, things certainly didn’t go to plan, she was a short-priced favourite for a four-runner race back at Goodwood in June when the meeting was abandoned due to waterlogging yet it was another four months before she encountered soft ground again and her season ended up with some shocking draws at Leicester in the autumn. In six of her seven starts after Goodwood she wasn’t beaten more than two lengths and picked up plenty of prize money in some competitive events but never had a clean run. We think she is still well handicapped off 73 and there are some nice prizes to be won with her granted some better fortune at four.
Juvenile Amazonian Dream was the last of the quintet to pass the £20,000 barrier with £25,000 in prize money to his name, although again things were far from straightforward for him and his owners last year. At £35,000, he was an expensive purchase for one of our yearlings but he was a striking sort in the mould of Lord Kintyre, all muscle for a two-year-old and his work in the spring had been very promising. He headed to a hot Newbury Maiden on his debut and while he went off at 25/1, we weren’t surprised he ran a stormer, looking the likely winner before being claimed on the line by future Coventry winner Berkshire Shadow. Unfortunately, his behaviour went the wrong way but still ran to a solid level on his next two outings before finding the buzz at Royal Ascot too much. He was much more cooperative in the preliminaries before the Super Sprint but absolutely walked out of the stalls and lost a front shoe and part of his hoof in the process, losing out by a similar distance to what he lost at the start was frustrating to say the least. We lowered our sights a little and headed back to Newbury for a Nursery where he was again slow to stride before flying home under David Probert to win by a nose. Nine days later he followed up by a nose once again in a £35,000 Sunday Series Nursery at Sandown, while breaking better he was squeezed out at the start and had to be switched around rivals which left him with a mountain to climb. However, the runner up Whistledown, carrying 23lbs less, shied approaching the line, losing valuable momentum which gave us a second winner on ITV4. That was where the luck ended as he ended up getting cast in his box and sliced a bit off his hip bone in September and that was the end of his season. Hopefully he will make a full recovery as we always felt he was much better than his mark of 88 and he can return to the track in the second part of 2022. However, we have gone full circle by buying his full brother at the yearling sales, he has been named Safari Dream and has similar attributes and is proving better behaved!
Another highlight for the team was getting two of our former stars back in the yard and getting the duo back into the winner’s enclosure. Prince of Harts had a strong three-year-old career, as befitting a half-brother to our stable stars Taws and Duke of Bronte, winning three times and was sold for £170,000. However, he didn’t take to Newmarket and Stuart Williams kindly suggested to owner Tom Morley that he return to Devon. While he seems to have lost his speed as a five-year-old, his consistency has returned and he benefitted from a cracking Oisin Murphy ride to win by a neck at Windsor and was placed a further six times although he rarely got a strong pace on his favoured soft ground that sees him to best effect. Meanwhile Airshow had also won three times for the yard by the time he went to the sales as a three-year-old and while he was always a difficult ride, we thought he had the potential to make up into a decent sprinter especially on the all-weather round Kempton where he had a record of 3112 so we were disappointed to see him go. He ended up going the wrong way and his owners Middleham Park decided to send him back and although he isn’t quite as good as he was, he found some consistency in the summer and landed back-to-back wins at Bath as well as three seconds, two thirds and a fourth. He has had an autumn break and is back for an AW campaign which started off well with a solid second at Southwell in December.
Some of the old favourites that have become lifers in the yard also had good seasons. Seven-year-old Sir Plato has become an enigma as he only performs when crossing the bridge and heading for the undulations at Chepstow. Like 2020, he got two wins at the Welsh venue and he took his career record to 11 and hopefully he can add more to his tally in 2022. Six-year-old mare Crystal Casque is extremely consistent, probably too consistent the way our handicap system is geared but she was runner-up in a £20,000 Nottingham Handicap behind future Listed winner Light’s On in the spring. Kempton is arguably her best track and she thoroughly deserved her fourth success at the Sunbury venue in August (her sixth win in all). Meanwhile the yard veteran Handytalk landed a 5f Sprint at Chepstow, his sixth career success and took his career earnings past the £60,000 barrier. Able Kane’s older sister Sweet Pursuit also picked up a couple of wins at Windsor and Chepstow taking her career total to eight.
While he wasn’t one of our established horses, it was nice to see some patience rewarded with four-year-old Mercurist. He was an extremely backward as a young horse so once COVID hit we turned him out in the field for eight months and brought him back for an AW campaign. He was impressive when things went right, landing wins at Wolverhampton and Lingfield within nine days in February and was unlucky not to get his third win on more than one occasion before he went to the July Sales. One of the most frustrating horses we have ever trained was Hawridge Storm, a horse blessed with ability but little inclination to exert himself as he often walked out of the stalls. Neck defeats off 77 at Grade 1 Tracks Ascot and Goodwood as a three-year-old showed he could win a race and a spell hurdling (placed at Newton Abbot and Warwick) sweetened him up enough to make a winning seasonal debut as a five-year-old at Windsor, helped by a fantastic ride from Oisin Murphy. Sadly, he reverted to type on his subsequent outings and we wish his new trainer in Germany well.
One of our old favourites that had a solid yet frustrating season was Master Grey who was placed in seven of his ten starts, losing out by a neck and a head on two of those, hopefully he can rectify that in 2022! Age finally caught up with Sir Roderic but he so nearly picked up a ninth win when losing out by a neck at Chepstow in July. He was such a progressive three-year-old, teaming up well with Freddie Tylicki to win five times going from 67 to 97 in the rankings. While he struggled in competitive handicaps, he found his level again at six and seven and continued to give his loyal owners The Links Partnership plenty of fun. He retires sound and healthy after 69 starts, winning eight, placed 24 times and earning £64,665 and is the perfect horse for the Retraining of Racehorse classes and he will excel in that sphere. Unfortunately, Singing The Blues who won four times in both 2019 and 2020 picked up a leg injury and won’t be back until the middle of 2022 while Hawridge Flyer was second on his 2021 return at Windsor (nearly a Storm/Flyer Double for owner Eric Gadsden) but his season ended early due to injury but he is well handicapped if we get a clear run in 2022.
After the success of Bettys Hope in the 2019 Super Sprint, we started 2020 with our biggest ever crop of two-year-olds. The condensed nature of the season due to COVID meant it was very difficult for those that couldn’t win in open novice company and by allowing horses to enter nurseries off just two runs (which we did take advantage of with some, such as Coul Kat) the handicap route was extremely competitive, so it was an average season. However, it meant that we had a host of well handicapped three-year-olds in 2021 and there were 17 WINS from that age group.
Coul Kat progressed again from two to three, finishing second on his return at Epsom and won a competitive three-year-old handicap on Brigadier Gerard Evening at Sandown. He rose 22lbs in the ratings from his Nursery debut to that third career success and it probably left him competing outside of his grade and he ended up losing his way in stronger contests. Things did not go well for Hurricane Helen as a juvenile, she got colic after making her debut at two and required a lifesaving operation. While that was a success, she developed an infection which became resistant to traditional antibiotics, and she ended up in the vets for a month and had to wear a corset for another two when coming back to the yard. We didn’t know whether she would be able to race after such extensive surgery and while we took things steady, she made the track and ended up progressing through the season to win twice at Bath and Ffos Las. As she was confined to box rest and couldn’t be turned out for a winter holiday from two to three, we are hoping that a proper break will see her strengthen up nicely from three to four. Another we hope will improve plenty from three to four is the massive Mountain Ash who was still a gangly teenager at three but managed an easy success at Lingfield on the favoured stands side rail. He showed that was no fluke by finishing runner-up at Chepstow and Kempton in the autumn and he is likely to be much better than a rating of 53. Also, a winner on the favoured stands side rail at Lingfield forty-eight hours before Mountain Ash was Greycious Girl. She only cost £2,000 as a yearling and gave her owners plenty of fun and ended up being sold for £4,000 to Scandinavia in October. We also have a nice mix of homebreds in the yard and we were absolutely delighted to get our first winners on the board for Canisbay Bloodstock as Bama Lama, who needs very soft ground to excel, won twice in three days at Windsor and Ffos Las in August.
At the other end of the sales spectrum, Pride of Hawridge was in danger of becoming very disappointing but his impressive twelve length success under Pat in the Gentleman Amateur race at Salisbury (which we won for the third consecutive time, Biotic 2018, Greeley 2019, COVID 2020) and showed that the ability is there if things go to plan and he is likely to improve plenty from three to four. However, we had a bit of sales success with Lightning Lou, as we picked up this Brazen Beau filly for just £4,500 as a yearling and she proved money well spent. Runner-up on her first two starts at Kempton (80/1 on debut) and Wolverhampton behind a pair of John Gosden horses before winning at the third attempt at Lingfield and getting us off the mark for 2021. As her dam was a half-sister to Sky Lantern, she always had the potential for a bit of resale value and she was sold onto America to continue her career.
The horse that definitely got away in 2021 was Tease and Seize, a son of Motivator that was a bit highly strung to say the least. He was second on his third outing as a juvenile at Wolverhampton and took a while to find his feet in the spring. However, more patient tactics saw him stay on strongly for second at Bath in May and he should have won two weeks later at Salisbury but hit the front far too soon. Unfortunately for us he had value as a juvenile hurdler and was sold to the Olly Murphy team who have done a fantastic job with him, winning his first two starts in that sphere before finishing sixth in the Finale at Chepstow. Hurdling may well have made him grow up and he is well handicapped off 64 on the flat. Onaraggatip was a talented individual that showed just how good he might be when winning his maiden at Windsor with ease at two (second and third rated 99 and 100) but he is an extremely quirky sort and while he racked up seven places this year, a win was elusive. Toptime, a winner at Kempton at two, was consistent this season but needed some help from the handicapper as he finished placed four times, including a second at Chepstow on his final start for the yard. Aviary ended up in the wrong division of a Bath handicap, finishing runner-up to an unexposed improver in October and pulled four lengths clear of the third. On her first start for the yard, Exuding was an 80/1 third at Southwell in December. This well-bred Showcasing filly was a winner on her debut at Redcar for Roger Varian and if she continues to go the right way she should have a good winter on the AW. Exciting additions to the team are Billy Mill and Fast Steps, two three-year-old colts we bought at the Horses In Training Sales from Richard Hannon. The pair showed a decent level of form and we gave Billy Mill a couple of runs on the AW, a career best second at Kempton in December stepped up to a mile was really promising. Both have been gelded and we look forward to seeing how they progress at four.
With the uncertainties of COIVD heading into 2021, we didn’t buy many yearlings and we were lacking in the juvenile department with Amazonian Dream the clear standout. However, we were delighted to get Devon Envoy off the mark at Chepstow and he gave his owners the Horniwinks Racing Syndicates a fantastic day. He needs a straight track and there were few handicap options for him last year but he should have strengthened up for a winter’s break. Miss Anaco was a promising third on her debut at Bath and like her full sister Four Adaay is all speed. She was second in a 0-75 off a low weight at Lingfield in November and there was a frustrating lack of opportunities for her before the end of the year. She will have a winter AW campaign and with the right draws she should have a profitable spell. Twistaline took a long time to get the hang of racing and when the penny finally dropped, things didn’t really drop her way as she twice finished runner-up in nurseries (six of her last seven starts she was beaten two lengths or less) which was frustrating as she was always heading to the sales. The opposite probably applied to Whispering Winds as she excelled herself when finishing third on her third start at Chepstow and went handicapping with a slightly inflated handicap mark. Although she often ran her race, her best effort a half length second at Ffos Las, she wasn’t well enough treated to get off the mark. She only cost £2,000 as a yearling and sold for £4,500 which wasn’t a bad result and like Twistaline will be a fun horse for her new connections next year.
All in all we were delighted with how 2021 went, 35 winners our best total since 2009 and prize money our best since 2007, if we discount the anomaly of Betty’s £123,000 landed in the Super Sprint. We can’t do this without a dedicated team of staff down here in Devon with the support of a fantastic base of owners so we thank you all.
We head into 2022 with a string of 50, our biggest in quite a few seasons, with a better standard of juvenile and our solid team of older horses so here’s hoping for an even better season once again!