MARCH 2023
CACHET in the spring sunshine
By Harry Herbert
The turf season is off and running although sadly we didn’t exactly get off to a flyer with Atrium who floundered in the awful heavy ground at Doncaster! It was such a shame as he was in great shape for the race and his working companion rubbed salt into the wound by sluicing in at Doncaster on Sunday!
I have just returned from a stable visit to Newmarket in glorious sunshine. What a thrill and so wonderful for our owners to see their horses bounding up Warren Hill looking fresh and well. The Guineas trials will soon be here and as we all know the season proper starts then. Believing will run in the Nell Gwyn (Gr 3) at Newmarket in the hope that she can emulate Cachet’s win in the same race last year…
BELIEVING (3yo b f - Mehmas ex Misfortunate)
Meanwhile Jake and I will be working the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up sale to find another star. Jake’s purchases in breeze ups over the past six years have produced a 23% strike rate of black type performers from horses bought which is quite some achievement especially when there is also a QIPCO 1,000 Guineas winner included! Maybe Sea Eagle, currently rated 86 can add to this tally! Anyhow do look out for the launch email which will arrive in your inbox soon after that sale - provided of course that we can find the right horse at the right price.
BREEZE-UPS SUCCESSES INCLUDE…
Cachet, Spycatcher, Sea Eagle, Proverb and Believing
With my best wishes,
Harry Herbert, Chairman
On The Track
By Emily Scott
March is always a turning point in our year when the focus switches from National Hunt to the Flat.
The excitement turns from the Cheltenham Festival to the return of the turf at Doncaster’s Lincoln meeting. It was unfortunate that Atrium couldn’t get us off to the dream start we had hoped in the Lincoln, but as we know this is a notoriously hard race to do well in, especially when ground conditions are so extreme, with some of the finishing horses reminiscent of the toiling Cheltenham hill rather than Doncaster’s Town Moor!
A big highlight on the track this month was Mount Tempest’s devastating win at Warwick. He was stepping back to 2m having failed to get home over 2m4f at Ffos Las on his previous start. He raced prominently and looked much more the finished article this time as he jumped from hurdle to hurdle and forged clear approaching the last to win comfortably. For a horse that is well over 17hh it is astonishing that he can travel with such ease over the minimal distance, and I think testament to his raw ability that he has won twice over hurdles this season. Dan hasn’t ruled out running him again, but either way he is an incredibly exciting novice chase prospect for next season. Amazingly we do still have a couple of shares remaining so please do get in touch if you are interested in being part of his journey!
MOUNT TEMPEST storms the last under Harry Skelton at Warwick
Beau Balko very nearly made it 3 from 5 this season when going down by a head in a Novices Championship Hurdle Series Qualifier at Stratford on Saturday. He raced enthusiastically and got a nice lead into the race by the free going Jupiter De Gite. He took up the running turning for home and if it wasn’t for a slightly iffy leap at the last, he may have held on. Still, this horse remains full of potential (the leading pair were over 12 lengths clear of the third who was rated 130) and he is qualified for a valuable race at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, which is where he will hopefully head next.
BEAU BALKO will likely head back to Sandown to recreate his victory in February
Another jumper who will be running again this season and should be competitive on his next start is Evander who is on the come back trail after a year out of action with a tendon injury. He is not the easiest horse to train at home, so he has needed a race or two to put him spot on and his latest effort at Carlisle was much more encouraging. He lost 10l at the start but moved through the field in good style and jumped brilliantly before getting a little tired towards the finish. He has been dropped 3lbs and is one to watch on his next start.
It was great to see Revision back and running to a good level of form on his seasonal reappearance at Kempton this month. Rated 77, he was chancing his arm in a 0-85 and was only beaten a 1¾l having suffered serious interference a furlong from home. He has thrived since that run and is likely to be returning to action on the turf at Pontefract next week.
REVISION pulled clear to win last year at Newcastle
Chantilly
Chateau de Chantilly
By Alex Smith
Following an absence of several years, we were delighted to return to the beautiful Chantilly for our first visit of the season. We have enjoyed such success over the years with fillies trained France, starting with Whim back in 2011 and more recently with Luminate a group winning daughter of Lawman who went on to sell for over 900,000 guineas at the December mare sale in Newmarket. So it was with genuine excitement that we travelled over to see our latest recruit, a lovely daughter of Arc winning sire Waldgeist trained by Nicolas Clement.
Aurelien Lemaitre steers Luminate to Group victory at Chantilly
There is something particularly special about arriving in Chantilly with the stunning Chateau as a backdrop. The five star Jeu de Paume has thankfully retained all it’s style and elegance as well as comfort and was the perfect setting in which to enjoy a glass or two of chilled Taittinger before heading into town for dinner. Nicolas had arranged for us to dine at a local bistrot, just a few minutes walk form the hotel. Clearly a regular there we were beautifully looked after and enjoyed some delicious traditional French cuisine. Nicolas even brought a bottle of Armagnac produced by his father which went down particularly well!
Some owners of the Francisco Goya Syndicate with TONIGHT and trainer Nicolas Clement
After a leisurely breakfast we drove to the yard to see Tonight being saddled up before heading out to the stunning Chantilly gallops, surrounded by an ancient forest. It really is the most extraordinary experience as you walk through the woods, hearing but not always seeing the horses galloping on a mixture of sand and all weather tracks, and then suddenly coming across a string such as Andre Fabre’s as they come off the gallops!
Tonight really impressed us with the way she moved and covered the ground. While she won’t be a particularly early filly, Nicolas was very hopeful she would be running this year, possibly in August, so potentially a trip to Deauville and some delicious seafood beckons for her owners! Having departed the yard, and with the help of a delay on our British Airways flight (what’s new!) we found another excellent restaurant in town for a “light”! lunch before heading back to the airport. Chantilly can also be easily reached via Eurostar and then a local train (25 minutes) so is very accessible.
QUANTUM FORCE (2yo b c - Land Force ex High Luminosity)
TONIGHT (2yo ch f - Waldgeist ex Leenavesta)
Tonight is partnered by a lovely colt called Quantum Force. By first season sire Land Force, he is trained by George Boughey and is rapidly developing into a very impressive looking colt who should be in action mid-summer. The Francisco Goya syndicate is a two horse syndicate with just a few shares still available at £17,075 plus VAT.
Rolf’s Rambling’s
![Rolf[69].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61f12359c76c4c234ba9a355/1671720372982-05Q1VND86OGEQX6N2E4W/Rolf%5B69%5D.jpg)
By Rolf Johnson
The Jockey Club is dropping dress codes – at the races. They are after ‘Gen Z’ – 11 to 25-year-olds who have a dress code which can change at the drop of a hat. Virtually anything goes on the Heath but don’t push your look (sic) in the Jockey Club rooms. Meanwhile Royal Ascot holds out against those who would ditch tradition in pursuit of ‘inclusivity’ and ‘modernization’. But does racing really have a ‘staid image’ problem?
JOCKEY CLUB ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM - OF WHAT TO WEAR
“C’mon Dover! Move yer bloomin’ arse!” blew the cover of common Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle, dressed to the nines for her Royal Ascot Royal Enclosure debut. Eliza urges Dover over the line her outburst so vulgar, so raucous in the Oscar-winning 1964 film My Fair Lady that an aristocrat in earshot, pluperfect in top hat and morning suit, faints in shock.
Letting emotions rip in a tight finish is no sin. I was ‘over-excited’ when our runner took the lead at a Royal meeting, and so was the bloke next to me. Not built for formal dress (hired you know) his vast, perspiring frame strained buttons and seams. His ear-splitting “Go on my son” registered high on the Doolittle scale.
I ventured, tentatively: “Are you from Highclere?”
“Nah mate, Brixton, ahm from Brixton” (one of London’s less fashionable boroughs). I proffered congratulations – less the high fives.
Even in this day and age we discriminate over language, accents but the purpose of dress codes is to oblige crowds to conform – preferably willingly, without coercion. Otherwise the jobsworths (yes, I know, unfair labelling) in bowler hats may step in to ‘shepherd’ the black sheep who have strayed from the appropriate enclosure.
The Brits who ruled our Indian Empire came up with the word Posh - Port Side Out, Starboard Home meaning you’d steamed through Suez First Class. The original posh ‘toff’ Beau Brummel died destitute and shabby. Fashion is a living language spawning clichés so we get “form is transient; class is permanent” - togs or thoroughbreds. Now our profligate sport, led by the Jockey Club no less, is ditching time tested attire: Royal Ascot will hold the fort against the fads.
“The Royal Ascot Style Guide is the bellwether (isn’t that the one carried by the leader of the flock?) in the world of occasional dressing…items relating to stag and hen parties would be considered novelty clothing.” At the rate we’re going brogues and tweeds will become not just obsolete but ‘novelty clothing’.
Outrageous attire! One woman ventured where others feared to tread. Trailing cameramen in her wake Mrs Gertrude Shilling would storm Royal Ascot in the 1970s wearing insane headgear and outrageous ‘threads’ that inspired the punk rock generation. Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) upstaged Gertrude in 1976 perching the Sydney Opera House on his head. Mrs Shilling responded with dazzling dottiness – a piece of millinery consisting of a four-foot arrow through an apple (something to do with William Tell?).
But for over the top exhibitionism racecourse tipster Prince Ras Monolulu was runaway winner of the chutzpah stakes. Charismatic West Indian giant Monolulu - allegedly he choked to death on a Black Magic chocolate – sported the gaudy dress code of an Abyssinian chieftain, topped with monster ostrich feathers. His huge presence took him places where others of his ilk could not go.
One Royal meeting I too fell foul of dress etiquette - over a single button. Crossing the road into the Royal Enclosure with my boss, an ex-Commando Captain, a ‘stickler’ for convention, he spotted I’d omitted to leave the bottom button of my waistcoat undone. He’d stopped Panzers and seizing the opportunity to halt traffic rollicked me for my sartorial ignorance.
The ebb and flow of Royal Ascot hemlines, necklines, fascinators are the stuff of headlines every June. The potentially catastrophic distraction of hot pants in the 1960s was averted by an express ban. Oh, the apoplexy they would have caused – and to the horses. The potentially hotter potato of transgender dress was addressed by Ascot in 2019 (you didn’t notice?). Service dress (encouraged) does not cover combat wear: national dress is also given the thumbs up but the bare-bosomed regalia of ladies from far flung reaches of the Empire – say Polynesia or sub-Saharan Africa – was dealt with before it became too ticklish.
Wide-brimmed Australian Bush hats, corks dangling, might pass muster at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day – but not at Royal Ascot; not even as Aussie sprinters wipe the floor with ours. True story: An Australian couple landed at Heathrow from Sydney and hurriedly taxied to Bath to see their Highclere runner. Now Bath midweek isn’t exactly fashion conscious (though Elizabeth Hurley caused a stir when she turned up for her Highclere winner). But our Aussie couple, even after that ten thousand six hundred and fifty-mile journey, were leading contenders for best-dressed couple.
Their progress into the owner’s enclosure was barred by - a jobsworth - with the damning “Ladies wearing sneakers are not allowed”. You can’t climb the social ladder wearing the wrong boots but this lady was so chic she could have scaled mountain peaks in bare feet. The effort to convert the blocker into grudging acceptance that £500 Gucci loafers, gold eyelets were not ‘sneakers’ (trainers) didn’t take the shine off the day; the horse won.
This year there’ll be a revolution at the 149th Wimbledon tennis championships: white is out. Throughout the ages players were obliged to wear white, not “off white or cream”. Outfit designers can now mix their palettes with whatever colours take their fancy…and the ravens were already considering leaving the Tower of London (when the nation will fall) when MCC members in the Pavilion at Lords could shed their heretofore obligatory ‘egg and bacon’ yellow and red striped blazers, in the scorching heat of last summer.
Tattersalls and Silver Rings were once a sea of flat caps (‘Peaky Blinders’ are giving them a bit of a comeback) and trilbies. Pity the poor ‘Hatters’ (still the football club’s nickname) of Luton since racegoers largely abandoned headgear. (Peterborough FC, which has seen better times, is still nicknamed the ‘Posh’). Glorious Goodwood wouldn’t be either glorious or Goodwood without its panorama of Panamas.
From Beau Brummel’s time – the early 1800s – formal dress has been an established part of horse racing’s heritage. Codes are best when they become customs. The Jockey Club’s abandonment of dress codes in its drive to make the sport more “accessible and inclusive” risks compromising the crowd’s engagement.
Anything, virtually, goes when deciding what to wear at Jockey Club courses - Cheltenham, Aintree, Newmarket, Sandown, Epsom bar the Queen Elizabeth II Stand on Derby Day. Royal Ascot’s finger will remain in the dyke. Do we need a debate on dress code when racing faces infinitely more profound problems? To remove any doubt we’re exhorted: “Racing really is for everyone”. There has to be limits. Fans dressed (do they really look like that in ‘real life’?) for summer pop racecourse raves add colour and gaiety. Will they be back though when the music stops? Do Manchester United fans ever wear sky blue?
Coastal resort racecourses, Yarmouth and Newton Abbot, Brighton – Del Mar and Deauville for that matter - have always tolerated their share of customers barely out of ‘beach wear’. Wardrobe malfunction is not a criminal offence: “offensive clothing” would definitely include, for me, the technicolour designs of modern football shirts which are dog’s dinners - if not full English breakfasts. They do prompt one to a final heartfelt appeal: wherever you go racing to parade your sartorial leanings/disasters, when your ‘Dover’ moment comes, like Eliza don’t hold back; but try not to frighten the horses – or the aristocrats.
Clodagh’s recipe of the month
I love to create this decadent Chocolate Fudge Cake every Easter - it looks spectacular and tastes even better! With its buttery, cream cheese icing it’s very indulgent, but it’s Easter after all… I love decorating it with mini Easter eggs and I’m sure it will become the centrepiece of your table! I hope you all have a really happy and joyful Easter with friends and family.
Love, Clodagh xx
By Clodagh McKenna
EASTER CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE
Makes 1 Cake
INGREDIENTS:
For the cake
⅔ cup/65g cocoa powder
7 tbsps /100ml hot water
1 1/3 cup/280g caster / superfine sugar
3 large eggs
4 oz/100g butter
3 tbsps 50ml milk
6½ oz/180g plain / all-purpose flour
2 tsps of baking powder
For the chocolate frosting
12 ounces/340g cream cheese, softened
¾ cup/170g unsalted butter, softened
3 cups/360g confectioners’/icing sugar
⅔ cup/65g cocoa powder
To decorate
Pretty spring flowers
Chocolate swirls or flakes
Mini chocolate eggs or similar
METHOD:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170°C /325°F/gas mark 3. Grease 2 x 20cm (8in) cake tins and
line the bottom with greaseproof / parchment paper.
2. Start by making the cake. Mix the cocoa powder with 100ml of hot water and then
add it to a mixing bowl. Next add in all the rest of the ingredients – eggs, flour, sugar,
milk and baking powder. Mix together (I use my stand mixer) until all the ingredients
are well combined and you have a thick batter.
3. Divide the cake batter between the cake tins and bake them in the pre-heated oven for
25 minutes. Once they are baked remove them from the oven and leave them to stand
for 10 minutes in the cake tins. Then remove them carefully from the tins and place
on a cooling rack and leave them to cool completely.
4. To make the chocolate frosting place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and
whisk for one minute. Next add in the butter and confectioners’ sugar and whisk
together until they are well combined. Lastly add in the cocoa powder and continue to
whisk until you have a light fluffy frosting.
5. Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or plate and smear the icing generously on top
(like a sandwich), then place the second cake on top of the icing. Spread the rest of the
icing over the top and sides of the cake – I use an icing spatula, but you can use a
regular knife.
6. Decorate with spring flowers, chocolate flakes or swirls and mini chocolate eggs.
Where are they now?
STROMBOLI
Stromboli is a 4yo gelding who is living out his retirement with one of his Highclere shareowners, Tony Snowdon and Frances Adams. He was placed 3 times when trained by David O’Meara.
NUGGET
Former Highclere gelding NUGGET placed third in the Star Doncaster Mile at Randwick worth an astonishing $4 Million Australian Dollars!
Out and about with the Highclere camera
