When King’s Salute forged clear of his field at Lingfield on 28th November in the thirteen furlong Marsh Green Handicap, the three-year-old Kingmambo colt was making a little bit of history for his owner, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum. When the dust settled after his two and a half length win over his elders, headed by Ed Dunlop’s Coeur de Lionne, the realisation dawned that another remarkable achievement had been notched up in this most remarkable of years for MJR.
 
Incredibly, King’s Salute’s facile win  was the one hundredth such success in 2009 for horses trained by Mark for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum, Sheikh Mohammed’s second son and Crown Prince of Dubai. A graduate of Sandhurst, Hiss Highness is an accomplished horseman in his own right, winning a medal at the Asian Games. His distinctive green colours have now become a familiar sight on the racecourses of Europe. Taking foreign successes into account (Eastern Aria’s Saint-Cloud win and Shakespearean’s massive haul in the Goffs’ Million), the tally of his horses’ MJR winners this year now stands at 102.
The century of wins marks the arrival of Sheikh Hamdan as a major player on the racing scene. Through his father he had always had an interest in racing and breeding but this has moved to a new level since 2008.The horses which carry Sheikh Hamdan’s silks are all part of the Darley Stud Management team. Mark’s brief from Darley is to unearth potential stars; this has been done to great effect in recent years with horses such as Shamardal, McCartney, Kirklees, Campanologist and others. That one hundred winners should have been chalked up in eleven months shows how well and how thoroughly Mark is carrying out that brief.
Does anyone know if training one hundred winners for one owner in a year is a record?

Joe Hits Century

Tuesday 17th November turned out to be a bit of a red letter day for Joe Fanning. For at Southwell that afternoon, Joe rode a treble of winners to bring up his century for 2009. Those of us who were present at Ayr in July when Joe was injured in the notorious pile-up as the horses straightened for home are particularly pleased that the popular Irishman was not too badly deflected from that target.
As he scrambled to safety amidst the carnage of what seemed just an ordinary ten furlong handicap, Joe was on the mark of seventy-two wins for the year, and on course for his best ever total of one hundred and six. For a few horrible minutes it looked as if the injury could be particularly bad; in the end, a fractured left collarbone was the only serious injury Joe sustained. Having missed three or four weeks at the busiest time of the season, Joe looked to have his work cut out to land the century. Southwell’s card that November afternoon was to witness Joe’s triumph over that latest dose of adversity.
The afternoon began in grand style, when Joe partnered Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’s Solicitor to success in the seven furlong maiden. Having just his second run, the Halling colt stretched right away from his field to score by no less than nine lengths!
Half an hour later, Joe nursed Ruth Carr’s Swiss Art home at 8/1 in the seller, and the treble was completed when Elusive Fame landed the Class 5 handicap, heading Reg Hollinshead’s Iron Out well inside the final furlong and holding on for a neck success. The Elusive Quality gelding was notching his third success of the year in MJR colours.
This season has also seen Joe land his most valuable win, when Shakespearean landed the Goffs Million at the Curragh. At time of writing, Joe leads Greg by just one win in the fight to end the year as top MJR jockey. It’s too close to call, but we suspect that, compared with that afternoon in July, Joe will be quite happy with the way things have turned out.

‘Seasonal’ Statistics Stack Up Well

The publication of the Racing Post’s ‘eight-page statistical review of a year to live long in the memory’ on Tuesday 10th November served once again to demonstrate the folly of having an official championship which does not coincide with the full calendar year. Indeed, the ‘year’ to which their sub-heading referred spanned just 225 days, from March 28th to November 7th. The exclusion of all-weather races outwith those dates, and the inclusion of identical races within those parameters, simply makes no sense; the calendar year, is, surely, the natural period over which to gauge success.



Having said all that, reliable racing statistics are hard to track down these days. The Post’s Members’ Club has not helped in that respect, numerous forumites having expressed their intention to boycott that particular development over recent months. So, with all due respect to the official season ‘refuseniks’ (yes, we do mean you, Mark), you’ll forgive us if we plunder the published stats for some nuggets of good information.
The 165 winners in Britain notched up by Mark Johnston Racing within that window were achieved at a strike rate of 16%. Taking together the winners total and adding to it those horses finishing second and third, the percentage of horses placed 1,2,3 from a total runs figure of 1055 was a very healthy 40.38%.
Looking at the juvenile runners in that period, out of ninety-three individual horses to have run, forty-four were able to land a win (47.31%). The fifty-nine two-year-old wins were achieved at a strike rate of 18%. These two figures, excellent in isolation, acquire even more significance when compared against some of our rivals. Richard Hannon, for example, enjoys a huge reputation as an excellent trainer of juveniles. Over the same period, his stable’s statistics were 47.10% and 15.49%, whilst Barry Hills returned figures of 41.07% and 16.77%.
Mark trained one hundred and eighteen horses to win during the ‘official’ turf season out of a total of two hundred and twenty-seven. This represents a percentage of 51.98, a figure which compares favourably with other top trainers: O’Brien 26.19; Hannon 45.83; Gosden 42.86; Hills 45.19%; Oxx 25% and Cecil 48.35%.
Turning to the jockey stats, Joe Fanning finished in 20th place, with Greg Fairley in 30th. Greg enjoyed the edge in strike rate for MJR rides in the period (18% to 15%), while Joe’s overall strike rate of 13% was the better.
And what of the horses, owners and sires? Good news on all fronts – Shakespearean fourth in Top Flat Horses in Britain and Ireland; Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum fifth in the ‘British Flat Owners’ Championship, and Shamardal confirmed as Top First Season Sire in Britain and Ireland.
All in all, not bad for a mid-term report! Look out for the final statistics of a wonderful year in Klarion Update next month!

Treble Kickstarts November Campaign

An across-the-card treble at Nottingham and Kempton on 4th November opened the yard’s account for November in some style, with performances full of promise for the all-weather season that lies ahead.
First into action was the Green Dot Partnership’s Green Lightning, who ran in the second division of the somewhat depressingly named PHS Direct Online Flu Kits Maiden Stakes at Nottingham’s afternoon meeting. Facing fifteen opponents over a mile and seventy five yards, the Montjeu colt made all under Joe Fanning to win at the rewarding odds of 9/1. Green Lightning was sent clear in the final furlong and landed the spoils by two and a quarter lengths from Grande Saggio with Mme de Stael seven lengths back in third. It seems fair to conclude that the colt improved for the step up in trip, and as Timeform noted that he was ‘impressive’ it may be that this fellow will be one to watch over middle distances as a three-year-old.
Certainly his pedigree suggests he may have plenty of improvement in him. He is a half-brother to Lady Ballade, a winner of five races in Japan and to a minor winner in the States. He is also closely related to Sligo Bay, a winner over a mile in Ireland who went on to land the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup. His dam, the Halo mare Angelic Song, was herself unraced but is a sister to Glorious Song, the dam of Singspiel and Rahy.
Over at Kempton Park, Anthony Hogarth’s Pulpit  colt , Nave,  was sent off the 3/1 favourite under Greg Fairley for the digibet Nursery, stepping up to a mile for the first time. Held up in midfield, Nave was hard ridden by Fairley with a quarter of a mile to run and was noted making good headway in the centre of the track a furlong out. Staying on well close home, Nave scored by half a length from Calypso Star with Until The Man two and three quarter lengths behind in third.
Nave, out of the Nureyev mare Lakabi, is a brother to Throne of Power, who won twice in 2008 and was rated around 90, and a half-brother to Coronado Rose, a triple US sprint stakes winner. This was an impressive run as he was the only one of the principals to come from off the pace in this race.
Joe Fanning had made the journey from Nottingham to partner Mr Graham Mezzone’s Mannlichen in the Kia Soul, Safe Bet Handicap later on the Kempton card. The three-year-old Selkirk gelding had had two runs in October, finishing fourth on each occasion. Dropped a pound for Kempton, Mannlichen was sent off the 13/8 favourite, the danger looking to come from Amanda Perrett’s Silent Act. With Richard Hannon’s Capitelli leading the field of seven, Joe settled Mannlichen in fourth. Silent Act hit the front with two furlongs to run, but Mannlichen had him covered, responding to Joe’s urgings to surge ahead at the furlong pole. At the line, the winning distance was two lengths, with Key Regard taking the minor honours three and a half lengths back.
It’s always great to land three wins in a day, and with November providing such limited opportunities it was nice to open the account in style!

Mikaelle Exhibits

For many years, Mikaelle Lebreton has lit up the pages of the Klarion with her superb photography. Similarly, visitors to our website are treated to fantastic images of our horses, and owners rely on her for sending them images of their pride and joy on a regular basis. Now, at last, Mikaelle has been persuaded to exhibit some of her work by Middleham’s Hill House Gallery (www.hillhousegallery.co.uk) as part of their Christmas Show.
Mikaelle takes up the story: “Jo Stockdale is to blame! When Jo used to work here, I spent ages telling her she should have a go at being a full time artist (that was good advice, even if I say so myself!!). For the last few years, Jo has been nagging me to get my pictures out. I think it felt like too big a step to take and I never went any further than thinking about it.

 
However, there is a small gallery in Middleham called Hill House Gallery, owned by Nancy Murgatroyd. This is the gallery Jo had chosen this year to host her solo exhibition. Nancy contacted me and asked if I would be interested in taking part in the Christmas Show she was organising over three weekends in November and December. I thought it was a good opportunity to have a go and, with Jo’s help, I got the prints done. I never thought that choosing the right paper could take so long!
There are eight prints in total. It took me a while to decide which pictures to choose as I have thousands on file. There were some obvious ones but others took a bit of thinking about. I particularly like the print called “Winter Attraction,” which shows Attraction and Steven Rabjohn riding home in a blizzard on the Moor. Shots like this are not something you can plan… it’s just “right place and right time”… a good camera and frozen hands!
The selection includes five black and white pictures and three colour ones. I have always loved black and white shots and I think they work very well with horses. The colour pictures I chose are very different from standard racing life pictures and I hope people will enjoy them; there is a shot of horses racing on the White Turf in St Moritz, a shot of the string coming back from the Low Moor under an amazing sky and the last one is a wintery shot which picks up all the soft light we can get up here.
Once the exhibition is over, the pictures will be available from the Wensleydale Gallery in Leyburn. It’s been a very interesting first experience and I would like to think I will carry on and introduce new series to the collection. I am also looking at starting up a website soon.”
It’s a fantastic achievement by Mikaelle and we wish her every success with this new venture. Visitors to Middleham on 5th/6th December will be able to catch the last weekend of the show. Knowing how busy (and invaluable) she is, however, we’d like to remind her to keep herself free at the month’s end for the Klarion....we’d be lost without her!

Kingsley kickback

By John Scanlon - Editor of the Kingsley Klarion



Credit Where It’s Due

Underwhelmed by the press coverage of Mark’s historic feat of training over 200 winners in a calendar year? So was I. That’s why it was so refreshing to read the ‘Turf Talk’ column in Scotland on Sunday’s edition on 1st November. Their racing correspondent, Martin Hannan, noted the feat in the following terms:
“It has also been (a) truly memorable (season) for Scots-born trainer Mark Johnston. I cannot believe the lack of praise for his magnificent and unprecedented achievement of training a record 200 winners in a calendar year on the Flat. Had the Trainers’ Championship been calculated on wins rather than prize money won, Johnston would now be celebrating his seventh championship.”
Hannan continued: “Having annoyed a few members of racing’s establishment over the years, I suspect Johnston will never earn the accolades his feats should gain him. But I can tell you this – that won’t bother the man a jot. With the sterling support of his wife Deirdre and all the team at Middleham, Johnston just keeps churning out the winners, and that’s all that matters to him. In my book, his new record is the finest sporting achievement of the year by a Scot, and should be recognised as such.”
Quite a compliment and surely a more fitting acknowledgement of the double century than most of Hannan’s peers managed to post. Indeed, this was highlighted when the Racing Post carried a review of the Flat season under the banner headline “A Year To Remember” on 11th November. In a listing of ten personalities for whom the season had been ‘particularly special,’ six trainers were featured – Messrs Simcock, Evans, Botti, and Cox; Ms Carr and the Godolphin operation. No mention of the double century either in Steve Dennis’ piece which accompanied their Season Review pull-out on 10th November. Ah well, there’s always next year!


Crown Jewels?

I couldn’t help wondering what the Racing For Change (RFC) people made of the recommendations last month of the Listed Events Review Panel, the body charged with looking at the sporting events ring-fenced for terrestrial television coverage. Both the Derby and Grand National feature on the existing list; to lose either would, prima facie, appear to be another body blow to racing’s standing in the wider community. The review panel determined that whilst the Grand National would retain its place among the so-called ‘crown jewels’, they would recommend to government that the Derby be removed from the list, on the basis that they deem it to be ‘no longer an event of special national resonance.’
Predictably, many commentators focused on the decision to move the race from a Wednesday to a Saturday, seeing the diminution in the standing of the race as a direct consequence of that move; the transformation of a special, one-off holiday event into yet another Saturday sporting fixture. A much more interesting slant on the news was taken by Alan Lee in The Times (17th November). Under the headline ‘Review of crown jewels list creates anomaly as signals become crossed’, Lee pointed out that the potential removal of the Epsom showpiece could be seen both as ‘an insult’ and as ‘a blessed release.’ Clearly, racing as a brand can ill afford any perceived loss of face this proposed revision might bring; on the other-hand, the ring-fencing of the crown jewels effectively protected the terrestrial channels from having to compete on modern, competitive terms for the acquisition of television rights. Put crudely, Jockey Club Racecourses, who own Epsom and the rights to the Derby, may feel their event has lost some of its glitter, but they may also find that they are able to market it at a much higher level to satellite channels and sponsors.
It’s a complicated world. The Panel’s recommendations suggest the Grand National to be more significant than the Derby – a long distance handicap chase prevailing over the Blue Riband of the Turf, targeted years in advance by racing’s high-rollers and their bloodstock empires. It’s at times like these you have to feel sorry for RFC!


Crime and Punishment – Revisited

Readers will recall I expressed some concern about the refusal of the BHA to grant a jockey’s licence to Darren Williams. Full written reasons were, then, awaited; the reasons have now been published and can be read in full on the Stewards Room section of the Resources area of the BHA website, www.britishhorseracing.com. I would urge you all to read the decision in full.
I understand Williams has decided not to pursue an appeal on grounds of cost. He was not legally represented at the hearing on his application, presumably on the same basis. Given the complexity of the matter and the potential effect on his livelihood, this was most regrettable. Does the PJA have a role here, and if so, what?
Having read the decision in full I am left with two lingering thoughts. First, how did other jockeys with a higher profile than Williams involved in the Miles Rodgers machinations secure the grant of a licence, especially having regard to paragraphs 56 to 58 of the decision? Would involvement in drugs offences and tipping lines sit well with the aspirations set out there?
And, secondly, a word is used in paragraph 61 which I think is most unfortunate. The committee says: “Though we acquit Mr Williams of lying on this further occasion…” Acquit is a word appropriate for use relating to exoneration from a criminal charge; in using the term in a civil, licensing matter, there is a risk that an inference may be drawn as to the attitude of the committee in dealing with this application. Integrity, certainly; compassion – you decide.

 John Scanlon

Old Boys Perform With Distinction

In the Klarion we like to celebrate the successes of the entire MJR community, so it’s only right and proper that we pay tribute to some of our former stable stars for their exploits on the track. There have been a number of high profile successes this season, and pride of place goes to Crime Scene who came within three-quarters of a length of winning the Emirates Melbourne Cup for Godolphin on 3rd November. Crime Scene won three races for the stable in his Kingsley House days, before joining Godolphin rated 97 for a tilt at the Dubai carnival. Funnily enough, another MJR old boy, Kirklees, winner of the York Stakes this year, had been Godolphin’s main hope for the race, but was a late withdrawal. Crime Scene won £405,340 (no, that’s not a misprint) for his second placing!
Another stayer to make his mark on the world scene was Mastery. After two promising runs as a juvenile, Mastery made his last appearance for the yard in March this year when running fourth after a very slow start in the Kentucky Derby Challenge Conditions Stakes at Kempton. Switched to Godolphin, the Sulamani colt won the Derby Italiano on his next start before starring on Town Moor in September. Ted Durcan had the horse beautifully settled throughout in the St Leger before leading home a Godolphin 1-2 in the oldest classic.
Regal Parade’s achievement in landing the 2008 Ayr Gold Cup has already been celebrated in these pages; the Pivotal gelding had a further two successes during 2009 before excelling himself in landing the Group 1 Beftred Sprint Cup at Haydock in September. Dandy Nicholls has done brilliantly with this horse who won his first three races for Mark in the early part of 2007. His wins for Mark all came at seven furlongs, after which he was stepped up in trip. Dandy has done well to reinvent him as a sprinter.
Lastly, Campanologist also deserves praise after a busy season. The Kingmambo colt not only won Windsor’s Winter Hill Stakes, a Group 3 event, but finished second, beaten only half a length by Bronze Cannon in the Hardwicke Stakes. He also finished runner-up behind Jukebox Jury in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes.
Well done to all concerned!

Cosgriff’s Crusade!

Many of our readers will recall Anthony Cosgriff, the popular and talented vet from Australia who was part of the scenery at Kingsley House throughout the first part of the decade. In 2005, Anthony took the bold decision not only to take his wife and children back to Australia but also to start up in business as a trainer there on his own account, in the state of Victoria.
Anthony has eight horses in training, including a hurdler named Gorge. Anthony believes in the horse but opportunities to run a good hurdler over a distance of ground have been few and far between in Victoria, and the state has now decided to abolish racing over jumps with effect from the end of next winter. So, having fallen in love with National Hunt racing while living in Middleham, Anthony has hatched a bold plan to bring Gorge to Britain this winter to contest three mile hurdles at Cheltenham and Aintree.
The dream provides a huge logistical and financial challenge to the Cosgriff stable, but with the help of friends like Mark, and sponsors like Totesport, it now looks like becoming a reality.
The Racing Post have asked Anthony to maintain a blog on their website about the venture. Three posts in, it is already required reading and Anthony is displaying considerable talent as a writer. Do yourself a favour and log into the Post to follow the story so far. We certainly wish Anthony every success with his ambitious plan!