Still Flaming June

We had a great weekend in a very hot and sultry Chantilly with a few of the Surrey Etoile owners. We enjoyed a Friday evening meal, and then on Saturday had a trip to Tim’s new stable, watched Surrey Etoile on the gallops, lunched whilst watching the Lions, went racing at Chantilly Racetrack which featured two Listed races on its 9 race card, followed by a concert, and to cap it off (it wouldn’t be a trip to Chantilly without it) a late night trip with many of the racegoers to The Paddock, the town’s only Irish Bar!

There is so much to like about French racing, raceday efficiency is great, everyone is super helpful, and despite a big crowd late into the evening (the gates opened at 2pm and the bar’s closed at 11pm, nearly 3 hours after the last race) it had such a relaxed vibe about it with all areas of the racecourse open to all.

We can’t wait to watch Surrey Etoile race which if all goes to plan should be in October, However, watching him on the gallops, he has a lot of filling out to do as he’s still looks weak and a bit uncoordinated especially when walking, surprisingly he looks better when he’s galloping. The plan will be for him to start off racing in a novice or maiden over 1600m at one of the Paris tracks.  Tim’s new yard is lovely, with a plaque on the wall saying it was the home of the legendary Sea Bird, who won the Derby and Arc in 1965 and was (on ratings) the greatest racehorse of the 20th century, in fact the only horse to have a better Timeform ranking is Frankel. Fingers crossed Tim has a big winner next Sunday with The Sheriff running in the 156th German Derby at Hamburg, a race we enjoyed a 5th place in 2019 and would love to return and go a few places higher, Surrey King maybe?               

We are racing on Tuesday with a visit to Chelmsford with Surrey Fire who goes in the 8.30 race, a competitive open looking class 3 (0-90) handicap over a new distance for him of 2 miles, with Tom Marquand riding. With the firm ground there haven’t been any decent options on turf for Fire, as much as a late evening race at Chelmsford doesn’t really appeal to the owners, he’s ready to run and so we’ll take our chance and hope he can turn the tables on Road to Wembley and Trouville who both finished in front of him a month ago at the same course.  

The only other piece of (good) news is that Surrey Shadow will be back on the gallops tomorrow and will slowly be brought back up to race fitness so he’s ready to run when the rain comes.    

We read a good article about sire at Royal Ascot that I thought some parts were worth sharing. The leading sire was No Nay Never with 4 winners joining his sire Scat Daddy as the most prolific source of Royal Ascot 2-year-old winners this millennium. Three stallions posted two winners, Dubawi. Blue Point and Awtaad. Awtaad stands at Derrinstown Stud at just €7,500, while Dubawi and Blue Point command six-figure fees on the Darley roster. Frankel and Wootton Bassett put the most top-three finishers on the board at Royal Ascot this year, with five apiece, although both fielded just one winner. 

How the 2,000 Guineas of 2014 is turning out to be an excellent stallion-producing race. The first three home all supplied Group 1 winners at this year's meeting, Night of Thunder, Kingman and Australia.   

Surrey Shadow’s sire, Territories, who was far from unpopular with breeders at Dalham Hall Stud when he was sold to stand in India from this year, reminded everyone what he could do with the likeable Lazzat. Another sire we like, Golden Horn, was finally represented by his first Group 1 winner on the Flat to add to his two Grade 1 winners at this year’s Cheltenham festival.   

On the flip side, Mehmas’s frustrating relationship with Royal Ascot goes on. Since his first crop raced in 2020, he has sent 47 two-year-olds to the royal meeting, with his best results being three runners-up. Sea The Stars meanwhile dented his British and Irish champion sire hopes with a lacklustre showing at Royal Ascot this season. With so many races staged over ten furlongs and further at the meeting, he can normally be relied upon to come up with at least one winner, but he drew a blank this time. The rich assortment of sires who performed well at Royal Ascot this year brought home that we are passing further into the post-Galileo era. Indeed, the late Coolmore phenomenon managed only one medallist at the meeting, namely Gold Cup runner-up Illinois. 

Good luck to the owners of Surrey Fire on Tuesday. 

Possible races and events.                          

July
Tuesday 1st – Surrey Fire – Chelmsford 20.30