Ring out the Old....

As readers will appreciate, because of Christmas print deadlines our January edition went to press before our final winners of the year and, indeed, the “noughties” were chalked up. As the penultimate win took the yard onto another notable milestone, we thought it only fair to mark these successes, however late!
January’s Klarion went to press on the basis of 219 wins for the year. That total moved on to 220 when Secretive landed the opening seven furlong maiden at Southwell on 22nd December. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’s Shamardal colt was making his racecourse debut, but despite that he was sent off the odds-on favourite, as only one other runner had any racecourse experience. That horse, Exearti, set out to make all the running, with Secretive running distinctly green in the early stages. However, Joe Fanning, who has been riding at the top of his form in recent weeks, didn’t panic and eventually produced the colt to win with something in hand, defeating Golden Tiger by three lengths.
The victory may well prove significant in Secretive’s career in the fullness of time, but it carried a wider significance in the present in that it was Mark’s 2,400th British flat win. In all truth it seems no time at all since the 2,000th winner was chalked up!
The curtain was brought down on a record-breaking year when Capricornus landed the juvenile seven furlong maiden at Wolverhampton on 28th December. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’s Rahy colt stepped up on his debut run some twelve days earlier to land his first win under Joe Fanning, a creditworthy performance especially as he had been drawn very wide.
That win brought the final tally for the stable in 2009 to 221, with Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed’s share of that total being a remarkable 105.

...Ring in the New!

A new year; a new decade, a new challenge. How would the stable begin its 2010 campaign? We did not have long to wait for an answer.
Crone Stud Farm’s Seeking The Gold colt Love Delta had four runs as a juvenile, the latest of which came at Kempton on 16th December. Racing off a mark of 71, he was sent off the 5/2 second favourite in a field of four for a six furlong handicap at Southwell on New Year’s Day.
Joe Fanning rode the colt, who set out to make all in company with Sweet Child O’ Mine. The filly edged ahead with three furlongs to run, but Joe had yet to play his cards and when he made his move, Love Delta responded well to take it up a quarter of a mile from home. Despite hanging right, Love Delta stayed on well to win by a length and three quarters from Sweet Child O’Mine.
A great start to the new campaign. Could it possibly match last year’s record of success?

It’s Carnival Time Again!

The Dubai International Racing Carnival kicks off this year on Thursday 28th January and runs until 5th March. The Carnival is then followed by the Dubai World Cup meeting on 27th March, featuring the fifteenth running of the Dubai World Cup itself. Prize-money in the main event has been raised to a staggering $10m, making the race the world’s richest once more

For those of us addicted to the fascinating and fast world of flat racing, the Carnival and the World Cup provide thrilling action just at the time of the year when we need it most, when the British winter has been long and hard, and when the start of the British flat still seems an agonisingly long way away. And this year’s action in Dubai promises to be even more exciting than usual, with the new Meydan Racecourse scheduled to open for the first meeting on 28th January.

The new racecourse can hold 60,000 spectators, and is the only track in the world featuring its own five-star hotel. A ‘dress rehearsal’ for the first meeting was held on 19th January when four races were staged at the new course. The course features a 2,400 metre grass track, but, interestingly, it also features a 1,750 metre all-weather Tapeta track, the same surface installed by Mark at Park Farm and upon which our horses seemed to thrive last year. By all accounts the professionals concerned in the rehearsal were most impressed by the Tapeta track and the racecourse facilities, and the feeling is that this year’s Carnival will be exceptional, even by Dubai’s own high standards. Critically, the rise in prize-money has been matched by a rise in the standard of the horses competing there.

Since Fruits of Love’s thrilling success in 1999 our horses have not enjoyed the best of luck at Nad al Sheba, but the Carnival has now become an essential part of the world racing programme and Mark has seen fit to target the meeting once more this year, sending an initial team of five horses in search of the usual excellent prize-money.

Leading the team of Middleham bounty-hunters is the German Group 2 winner Lovelace. Mr Hamad Suhail’s Royal Applause entire is now a six-year-old, and although he didn’t set the heather on fire at home last year he continues to be rated 108 and could thrive at the new track.

Another seasoned six-year-old in the team is Triplin Racing’s In The Wings gelding, Record Breaker. This fellow landed the Lanark Silver Bell (at Hamilton, of course) last June before finishing runner-up to Drill Sergeant at Royal Ascot.

Alan Spence’s Bikini Babe is a three-year-old filly to watch. The Montjeu filly signed off last term going down by just half a length in the C.L.Weld Park Stakes (Group 3) at The Curragh, and will, presumably, improve over distances beyond the seven furlongs she faced that day.

Master of Arts is a five-year-old gelding by Swain who has only joined the yard relatively recently after being tried in the hurdling arena. Having run up a sequence of six wins for Sir Mark Prescott in 2008, he will now race for Mr Brookhouse and is rated 100.

Tartan Gigha won three times for Isobel Bird in 2009, including in Epsom’s Investec Mile. The five-year-old Green Desert gelding is also now rated in the high nineties, and a crack at the superb prize-money on offer seems eminently sensible.

While these horses comprise the Dubai team for the Carnival, it is possible that Jukebox Jury may also be sent to contest the Group 1 Sheema Classic. Look out for further news in next month’s Klarion!

On Top of the World

The eyes of the racing world will, once again, focus on that most fashionable of Swiss ski resorts, St Moritz, during February as the racecourse on the frozen Lake St Moritz again plays host to the “White Turf Meeting.” The European snow meeting has taken place since 1907, and this year’s event will take place over three consecutive Sundays – the 7th, 14th and 21st of the month.

The highlight of the meeting from a racing point of view is the Credit Suisse sponsored Grand Prix de St Moritz, Switzerland’s most valuable race (according to the White Turf website), but the event also comprises music, art exhibitions, good food and a chance to mix with the great and good of the European social scene.

Our main contender at the meeting will be that grand old campaigner, Luberon, now seven years young. Formerly a useful handicapper for Brian Yeardley, the Fantastic Light gelding is now owned by Harald Kronseder, and, as he did last year, Harald intends to partner Luberon in the ‘skijoring,’ an event where the horses race on the lake, towing their partners behind them. This event should not be seen as a novelty, as the meeting was actually constitued after a skijoring race took place in 1906, when thirteen locals raced from the Postplatz in St Moritz to the neighbouring village of Champfer and back! Indeed, skijoring was introduced to the programme for the 1928 Winter Olympics, held in St Moritz, as a demonstration sport. St Moritz has, in recent years, also played host to the Cartier World Polo Cup on snow – again played on a pitch marked out on the frozen lake.

Anyway, Luberon has had three runs in recent weeks which should have him in fine fettle for this unusual assignment, and we wish the old horse and his intrepid owner every luck in what should be a thrilling event.

At time of writing, it’s possible that Graham Mezzone’s Mannlichen, a four-year-old Selkirk gelding out of Robe Chinoise and a winner at Great Leighs and Kempton last year, will also run in Switzerland while Mark may also send Elusive Fame, another four-year-old who was a winner three times last year.

St Moritz’s publicity people claim the resort enjoys three hundred days of sunshine a year and have coined the slogan ‘Top of the World’ for the exclusive resort. Judging by the fantastic photos on their website, www.whiteturf.ch, and the spectacular scenery of the Engadine valley in the Eastern Alps, they might not be too far off the mark.

Proposed MJR Racing Club

Mark is considering the possibility of starting a racing club this year. He has asked me to seek formal expressions of interest in such a club.

If you feel you would be seriously interested in joining a racing club based on an annual payment of £200, would you please send me an e-mail to that effect at scanlonj2@hotmail.co.uk.

The idea is to assess the level of interest in proceeding with a club. Once a certain number of expressions of interest are received, Mark will then decide on the basis upon which such a club could run and the benefits to be offered to members. We would then come back to subscribers with a proposal.

Please note that an expression of interest does not bind you to go ahead, but it would be helpful if only those serious about joining would respond.

Many thanks,

John