MAN ON A MISSION

Apologies for the lack of posts over the summer months but I have been busy setting up a new venture, which I will tell you about shortly.

Following Mad Moose's abortive attempt to entertain and frustrate in equal measures at Royal Ascot, it's been a busy summer with trips to Goodwood, York and Newbury although the vast majority of the runners have been at the Northern tracks, making constant travel to watch, financially prohibitive.

Star of the season has to be Lexington Place, a horse we had very high hopes for early in the season and who disappointed for Richard Fahey before getting a new lease of life at David O'Meara's and rattling up a quick 4 timer to add to his early maiden win. Very good runs at Goodwood and York have marked him down as a sprinter with a lot of potential and with his half brother Rex Imperator winning the Stewards Cup and half Sister Heavens Edge winning her 2 year old Maiden, a very good season for the Dam, Elidore.

Tatlisu came back to form with 2 wins already in his 3 year old season and looking to be improving. Ruth Carr got a win out of good old Victoire De Lyphar (his first since his 3 Year old Career) and the Ultra Consistent Our Boy Jack has been placed 5 times, without a win, his consistency and honesty meaning he gets little respite from the handicapper.

2 year olds Go Jamesway and Maupiti Express have been disappointing, Strange Magic has been waiting for some soft ground (better handicapped for the Autumn) and Stand my Ground is just back following a mid-season break.

Of course I musn't forget the tremendous success of Sandiva, which led to her big money sale to Sheikh Johaan of Qatar. I couldn't have been happier to see her win easily in France and she will almost certainly go into the winter as one of the favourites for 2014 1000 Guineas.

Which Brings me to my Mission..........

Regular Readers of my blog will know that my roots are in jump racing and that I have previously run my own partnerships and kept my connections with the West Country jumping fraternity. My experiences with Mad Moose and the fantastic Twiston-Davies team, have whetted my appetite to increase my connection with the yard and when I visited Moose in the Summer, I was shown a lovely 4 year old gelding that Nigel had bought at Brightwells April sale at Cheltenham. He immediately took my eye and I decided to try and form a partnership to buy him. My sale proceeds from my share in Sandiva, enabled me to buy 50% of the horse alongside a long standing friend of the Twiston-Davies family, David (Willy) Langdon. A combination of friends, Twitter and advertising on the excellent RaceHorseTrader website, enabled me to set up a small partnership under my Staplegrove Racing name.

And here he is .....

 

 

MISSION TO MARS

 

Mission to Mars has had 1 run in an Irish Point to Point, finishing 3rd to two horses who were also sold at the same Cheltenham sale. He is closely related to both Bosun's Mate and Nigel's superb chaser Young Hustler. His sire Presenting is responsible for jumping stars Denman, War of Attrition, First Lieutenant, China Rock, Ballabriggs and of course our own Mad Moose!!! amongst many others.

 

 

Mission to Mars (Marty) is working well at home with a Bumper debut on the cards in the next 3 to 4 weeks. It is incredibly exciting to be in at the very start of what we hope will be a long career over the sticks as we follow our boy through the various learning stages of the jumps game. I also hope that Marty will be the first of many Staplegrove Racing horses over the coming years.

 

 

Just hope that he doesn't listen to advice from his illustrious stablemate!!

HAVE WE SOLD A ROYAL ASCOT WINNER OR IS THERE ONE WAITING IN THE STALLS?

It's been an extremely busy and eventful few weeks in the lead up to Ascot and today Middleham Park Racing announced that we have completed the sale of our extremely promising filly SANDIVA to Sheikh Johann Bin Ahmed Al Thani and that she will run in his colours in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot on Friday.

I'm sure a lot of people will wonder why the syndicate has chosen to sell a young horse, that is potentially on the verge of greatness, when that is surely our dream, to own a horse that can run in all the top races. A very valid question and one that all the syndicate members had to ask themselves this week.

When Middleham Park Racing but any horse, they are always looking for potential improvers or great value yearlings that have the potential to win prizemoney and hopefully increase their value. The majority of our syndicate owners are normal working men and women who love the sport and invest what they can afford in order to be involved as an owner in our wonderful sport. The pleasure we all get from watching our horses on the track, at the stables or on the gallops is immeasurable and worth every penny.

When SANDIVA was bought last August for just £18,000, her breeding value was already in place as a half sister to a Listed winner and Richard Hannon's exciting Wentworth. What she did on the track exceeded our expectations and it was inevitable that offers would come flooding in after winning so well at Naas. We turned down a number of deals before we got the 'offer we couldn't refuse'. Whilst it is a shame to lose out on a possible superstar, the money will be re-invested, no doubt in further purchases, to enable the syndicate owners to continue to enjoy their ownership experience for a while longer.

The financial reality is that we need to win prizemoney to pay the training bills and sell at a profit on occasions to offset the many that don't work out so well!!. Middleham Park Racing's fantastic placing of their horses is an enormous help - 3 More Yearling Bonuses won this year and a number of BOBIS bonuses bear testament to that.and their ability to buy well, alongside their trainers, is uncanny.

ON TO ASCOT -

When one door closes, another opens or in this case, a stall opens!! The question will be whether the mercurial MAD MOOSE chooses to wander out of it, on his way to racing in the 2m 6f Queen Alexandra Stakes on Saturday at Ascot.

Since he got the better of us again at York, we've left it to Nigel and his team to 'Sort him Out'. He has recently enlisted the help of the brilliant and very successful Gary Witherford to help Moosie and he will be with him at the start on Saturday in order to improve Moosie's chances of getting away on terms.

MAD MOOSE is the horse who 'Dreams and Disasters' could have been invented for, but he has massively exceeded all our expectations as well as frustrated us with his antics (Trips from Somerset to both Aintree and York to see him stand still!!!)
However Moose has a very decent chance in this long distance race. Despite running over 1m 4f and 1m 6f on the Flat so far, Moose was third over a very testing 3 mile hurdle last Autumn, so no reason not to be confident he will stay the trip, something a lot of his opponents won't be able to match.

Will he start - Will he Win? Nobody will know until the last race of this years Royal Ascot on Saturday but we will all have a wonderful day, whatever happens.

ALL FOOTSTEPS LEAD TO YORK AND ASCOT

Well I did promise you that MAD MOOSE could do anything and he did in some style at Chester in finishing 2nd to the magnificent Mount Athos in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes.

We were absolutely delighted with Moose's performance, he clearly relished the occasion and is performing to a really high level after only 2 Flat runs. The handicapper has reacted with a mark of 100, which counts him out of the Ascot Stakes, but leaves him eligible for all Top handicaps, Listed and Group Races.

He will run this weekend in the Listed Stowe Family Law Grand Cup at York. At entry stage it looks a competitive little heat but we will see at Declaration stage later this morning.

 

Mad Moose (courtesy of Darren Birdie)





Later on that Friday afternoon, we watched as our Footstepsinthesand filly SANDIVA made her debut for Richard Fahey under jockey Tom Eaves. She popped out the stalls well and sat in 3rd place, running extremely green as Tom tried to settle her. She looked like she didn't know how to go through the gap, so Tom switched her to the outside at the furlong pole. She settled matters in strides to go 6 lengths clear and earn the top Racing Post Rating for a two year old filly this year of 92.

We are all extremely excited by Sandiva and with her family, she could be a very valuable young lady. In the meantime we will look for a novice or maybe listed race prior to her most likely Royal Ascot target, the Albany Stakes over 6f.

 

 

Joining Mad Moose at York on Saturday will be another tremendously exciting filly STRANGE MAGIC. Strange Magic ventured to France late last season to be placed in 2 Listed races and has taken her time to come to hand this year, due to the harsh winter up in Malton. As a sprinting 3 year old, she will not be easy to place so we may be on our travels again as the season progresses, particularly as our girl prefers a bit of juice in the ground.

She is likely to make her debut in the big all aged 5f Sprint at York, which should put her spot on for whatever opportunity we can find for her in the next few weeks. Not sure there is anything suitable at Royal Ascot but we will hope for a good start on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to going to York on Saturday, great to have runners at one of my favourite Flat courses, hoping dreams continue to be realised and disasters kept to a minimum.

 

THE MOOSE IS LOOSE AT CHESTER

I never imagined that being involved as an owner with Mad Moose, would allow me to experience such a wide range of emotions and experiences. From our first meeting, the day before my 50th Birthday at Market Rasen, Moose has gained almost cult status through his exploits (and lack of them!!).

To have experienced the Highs (Leading him into the winners enclosure at Cheltenham last April and again after his fine Second to Sprinter Sacre in the Victor Chandler in Jan) and the Lows (Refusing to race at Cheltenham and Aintree festivals), I really thought the Rollercoaster ride was over, until that afternoon, only 2 weeks ago, when he pinged out of the stalls to beat 3 very well bred 3 year olds at Doncaster, becoming the first 9 year old to win on his Flat debut for 18 years!!

So it was, in fact, just oranges at half time, and we move into the second 45 minutes, where, remarkably, our gutsy chaser, takes on proper Group horses in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes, tomorrow, at Chester.

Moose has already proven that he is capable of absolutely anything so we travel up to Chester with Dreams intact and the well wishes of his increasingly massive army of supporters, ringing in our ears.

IT'S CERTAINLY A MAD MAD WORLD WHEN MOOSE IS INVOLVED!!

FLAT DREAMS AND ONE INFAMOUS DISASTER

The New Flat Season is upon us and I am absolutely delighted and incredibly excited with the horses that I am involved with this year. For someone living in Somerset it is rather obtuse that this season all of my Flat Horses (bar one notable exception - more later) are trained in the North of England.

The main reason is that these are brilliant trainers and incredibly nice genuine people, who make you feel as important as any owner with their own string of horses. I hope the following brief summary helps you follow my Dreams and Disasters throughout the 2013 Flat Season.

Richard Fahey

Our Boy Jack - 4 Yr Old Gelding

Our Boy Jack was amazingly consistent last year, improving from a mark of 67 to 85 by the end of the season.

His first two runs this season have been disappointing, running very free in the Irish Lincoln and then not enjoying the Lingfield surface last time. I'm sure Richard will get him back to his best and Laura Barry struck up an excellent relationship with him last season. 7f and decent ground would be his ideal conditions.

 

 

 

Strange Magic - 3 Yr old Filly

 

As you all know, Strange Magic is my baby, being both my biggest investment by far and also named by me. She didn't let us down last year, winning on her debut before running behind Maureen in a Gp 3 at Ascot and in two big sales races before a 2nd victory at Catterick. Her season finished in style finishing 2nd and 4th in two Listed Sprints at Longchamp and Fontainbleu. She finished the season rated 95, which is going to make this season really tricky, especially as a sprinter.

 

The winter hasn't been kind and a lot of Richard's fillies are taking a while to come ready but we hope to see Strange Magic back on the track in next few weeks. Listed Sprints at home and abroad on softish ground would be ideal. Lets hope she progresses even further!!

 

 

 

 

 

Lexington Place - 3 Yr old Gelding

 

Three very promising runs in maidens last year made this boy everybody's 'Talking Horse' over the winter and you can imagine our disappointment when he completely failed to settle and act on very heavy ground on Musselburgh over 7f. One week later, when little expected, he dropped to 6f and made all for victory at Newcastle over 6f under an inspired Tony Hamilton ride. He is very much still learning the game but it looks like he is a sprinter like his 102 rated brother Rex Imperator. Hopefully he will continue to improve with experience. Now rated 4lb higher at 69, he is entered at Newcastle on Thursday over 5f.

 

 

 

 

 

Tatlisu - 3 Yr old Gelding

 

 

Tatlisu looked extremely promising on his debut, winning at Musselburgh from no other than Hototo, who went on to be the Top Earning 2 yr old in Britain, picking up two sales races. Our lad, however, seemed to pick up some strange quirks, including stalls problems and bucking all the way up the York straight!!. Richard roughed him off quite early to give him time to mature and now he has been brought back slowly and is ready to make his 3 yr old debut.

 

Richard has entered him in a Claimer at Beverley on Thursday over 5f and this looks a good opportunity to start him off in as he is well in with his rating of 78. Hope he can run very well this week on way to fulfilling his enormous promise as the season progresses.

 

 



 

 

 



Sandiva (Footstepsinthesand - Miss Corinne)

2 Year Old Filly

 

This beautifully bred filly is a Half Sister to none other than Richard Hannon's very exciting 3 yr old colt WENTWORTH as well as Listed placed filly IRISH CLIFF. She was bought for only £18000 at the Doncaster DBS sales in Aug 2012.

 

Another of Richard's fillies who are waiting for the warm weather, we expect to see her on the track in May. She is already showing that she could be very decent and is entered up in all the big Sales Races. Very hopeful for our girl and her illustrious relatives.

 

 

 

 

 

Go Jamesway -  (Royal Applause - Tatbeeq)

 

2 Year Old Colt

 

 

This chap has only just come into our hands and I was very lucky to get involved as shares were snapped up extremely quickly. He was picked up for only £20,000 at the Tattersalls Breeze-Up Sales after a very impressive Breeze up the Rowley Mile.

 

A Ready to run sprinter, I would expect to see him on the course, once Richard has had time to gauge his level of ability.

 

 

 

 

 

David O'Meara

 

Stand My Ground - 6 Yr Old Gelding

 

Last Year, I missed out on the opportunity to buy a share in Penitent, despite thinking that he fitted the bill perfectly of a high class horse who David O'Meara could work his magic with. How right I was!!

 

I was therefore determined not to miss out again and after watching a piece of work up in North Yorkshire, I agreed to buy a share in the 6yr old Stand My Ground. Previously trained in the French Provinces, he had performed really well at Listed class and run very promising races against a number of horses who went on to perform at a much higher level. This despite being campaigned at a variety of trips and running styles.

 

Again, Stand My Ground has been entrusted to the brilliant David O'Meara to see if he can work his magic again.

 

Stand My Ground made his debut for us in a Listed Race at Doncaster over a Mile. Expected to need the run and maybe to struggle to get the Mile, Stand My Ground exceeded all our expectations by running on better than anything to finish 3rd after being boxed in on the rail. He is entered in the Group 2 Bet 365 Mile at Sandown and a Listed race at Leicester over the weekend and I hope he takes me around the world as Penitent has done for his lucky owners.

 

 

 

 

Maupiti Express  (Chineur - Azucar)

 

2 Yr Old Gelding

 

 

Bought by David O'Meara and Nick Bradley at Arqana Sales in November for a mere 12,000 euros, this French Bred sprinter has been bought specifically to target 2 year old sprints in France, where the French Premiums bring Prize Money up to levels not achievable in the UK.

He is showing real promise at home and should be seen out in May probably over 6f.

 

 



 

 

 

Ruth Carr

 

Victoire de Lyphar

 

Ruth has done a fantastic job, trying to get Victoire back to his best, with her very relaxed set up and training methods. Vic is finally starting to relax and showed a little promise after a well behaved performance last time out.

 

He owes us nothing after his 3 year old exploits and we just want him to enjoy his racing again. If he does, we will have a very well handicapped sprinter on our hands.

 

 

 

 

AND FINALLY......................

 

 

Nigel Twiston-Davies

 

 

Mad Moose - 9 Yr Old Gelding (and Worldwide Superstar)

 

 

Yes it's true, The Moose will be making his Flat debut at the age of 9 at a course near you soon.

 

Nigel feels that he needs to enjoy himself again and has put him through the stalls without problem at home. We will run him in a couple of maidens to see how he gets on and who knows we might have another Overturn on our hands. Nige has a ready made Flat jockey in the family in the shape of Willy, who has been a revelation over the winter for Richard Hannon and many others.

 

The Moose owes us nothing after finishing 2nd in a Gd 1 Chase behind Sprinter Sacre and 4th in a Gd 1 hurdle behind Zarkandar, Rock on Ruby and Grandouet and picking up over £20,000 in prizemoney this year. Easy to forget after his recent exploits. I like the term 'Flawed Genius' .

 

 



 

 

 

I hope you enjoy following the exploits of my horses (and Me!!) as we dream our dreams and try and smile at our disasters in 2013.

 

Enjoy your Racing.

 

 

 

 





 





THE STUBBORN ONE

THE STUBBORN ONE

 

 

 

Wednesday at the Cheltenham Festival was a massive day for the Twiston-Davies team as Sam drove The New One home, clear of Irish hotpot Pont Alexandre for his Dad Nigel, to set up a great week for the team, despite the pre-festival concerns over a bug in the yard.

 

 

Thursday brought the excitement of Mad Moose's intended run in the Byrne Group Plate. The meeting already had a sense of perspective as I was attending, as usual, with my brother Pete, who was recovering from a heart attack, only 3 weeks previously, so we were determined to enjoy our day.

The previous day, I had bumped into Oli Bell from Racing UK, who had been in touch, following reading my blog and we had agreed to meet up to do a piece for Racing UK about Mad Moose's chances and the excitement of having a runner at the festival. To my delight, we were able to do this on Thursday and Oli had mentioned that Moose was 'Quirky' to which I replied that he wasn't called Mad Moose for nothing. Neither of us or the Racing UK viewers were to know that this was to be a portent of what was to happen later in the afternoon.

Immediately after Solwhit had won the World Hurdle, we rushed down to the pre-parade ring to see our hero being saddled. Moose looked relaxed and was in tip top form, with everything in his favour. In the parade ring amongst the throng of connections of 24 horses, Sam was his usual really positive self, letting us know how he was going to hold on to Moose for as long as possible before going for it from the bottom of the mighty Cheltenham hill.

We rushed up to the Owners and Trainers viewing area, just behind Venetia Williams and her owners and exchanged Best of Lucks with Tim Vaughan, standing alongside of us. As had been the case all week, the horses were at the start very early and they circled for what seemed like ages before the crowd's roar told us that the horses were rushing out through the small gap to the shute to the very close starting line. Watching on the Big Screen, the field rushed to the first fence to be greeted by the Flag Man and the starter calling them back. No sight of Mad Moose until he was walked into view as the field regrouped at the starting line. Unfortunately the starter didn't ask them to circle to get Moose back into the group, so sadly the inevitable happened when he let them go again and Moose stood stock still as the field went on their way. After removing Head from Hands, we watched the finish before rushing back to the unsaddling for the story from Sam.

Sam's smile had turned to a scowl by the time he rode the 'Quirky' Mad Moose back to greet us. No reason but 'The Stubborn One' had just dug his heels in with no warning and from then on was never going to start. Sam was annoyed, Nigel embarrassed and the owners a mixture of amazement, laughter and disbelief. But as we said the Nigel, there's always another day.

Hindsight is a marvellous thing but the sight of the screens around the stricken Matuhi, who had fallen when challenging at the last in our race, was a real smack of perspective, as sadly were the horrific injuries that took jockey JT McNamara off to Frenchay hospital, where he still lies one week later.

Our prayers and sympathies are with JT and his family as they watch over him and not to forget the owners and stable staff of the David Pipe trained Matuhi, who lost his life when challenging for the lead at the last fence. Not for them the chance to pat their horse and call him a 'Naughty Boy' and refer to him as 'Quirky' next time he runs.

Mad Moose (The Stubborn One) will be back to prove himself at either Aintree or Punchestown (or both) and we might just leave him in a couple of races - 'JUST IN CASE!!!'



IS IT MADNESS TO BELIEVE WE CAN WIN AT THE FESTIVAL?

It's Cheltenham Eve and I'm lucky enough to have an interest in a horse entered in two races this week, giving me the chance to have a runner at the Festival for the second year running.

MAD MOOSE exceeded all expectations last month when finishing an amazing second to Jump Racing Superstar SPRINTER SACRE in the Grade 1 Victor Chandler Chase. This was Moose's best ever performance and earnt him a 5lb rise from the handicapper. During the week we toyed with the possibility of spending £17,500 to supplement Moose for the Champion Chase and another showdown with the Sprinter. In the end all horses stood their ground,, so we decided to stick to the handicap route of either the Byrne Group Plate over 2m 5f on Thursday or the Grand Annual over 2m on Friday. As Sam Twiston-Davies gets on so well with Moose, we will run where Sam is able to ride, with Moose being pretty adaptable between 2m and 3m.

As the weeks have approached, my enthusiasm and positivity have increased and I cannot see how Moose is not a much shorter price for either handicap, given his last run. I'm sure if Somersby was entered off Moose's mark he would be single figures but Moosie stands at a lovely 33/1 for either race, to my biased mind, an enormous price given his brilliant course form.

But surely the bookies can't be wrong, His 2nd to Sprinter Sacre must have been a complete fluke, as must his previous good runs against Top Class opposition.Surely he can't win a big Cheltenham Handicap off his increased weight - after all, these races are won by unexposed types from France (usually trained by Henderson, Nicholls or Pipe)

But Moose doesn't know how to run a bad race and come race time his loyal owners will lap up the atmosphere in the Parade ring before young Sam comes and explains how he is going to win and then we will make our way up to the viewing steps to watch through shaking binoculars.

He's already given us some amazing days and we love him to bits (as do his adoring Cheltenham Fan Club), but if he could get us into the winners enclosure, then Dreams will be coming true.

AND WHAT ABOUT IF HE WINS.............................