Harry Charlton Stable Tour: Guide to their 2025 team

In a sport where first impressions count for a lot, trainer Harry Charlton can be pleased with what he achieved on the track in 2024.

Two Group Three winners alongside a first Royal Ascot triumph in his own name are exactly the sort of results any trainer looking to make an instant impact could wish for. Having established solid foundations in his first season at the helm of Beckhampton Stables, plenty will be watching on to see if he can build on those exploits.

And with the likes of leading Betfred 2000 Guineas contender Cosmic Year leading his roster alongside Royal Ascot hero Hand Of God, and the equally talented pair of Kikkuli and King’s Gambit, there is every chance of even better things to come this season.

Charlton said: “I think if you stepped back from it and said you would have two seconds and a winner at Royal Ascot and that Okeechobee would win a stakes race, and Time Lock would win a stakes race, you would have to say it was a good season.

“There is a lot of quality here now. The difference between us and some of the big yards is the number of quality horses the big yards have. I guess we are always looking for more horses and more quality, but we are lucky we have got five or six nice horses, like Cosmic Year, to go to war with.”

AROLLA

She is back here again. She wasn't the easiest to train and only got four runs in last season, but I would say she is one that needs cut in the ground. She is looking to try and snaffle some Black Type. With the weather how it is we are slightly on hold with her at the moment.

BALTIC

He is five now. He won four for us last season and is still only rated 85. He is huge so there is still a bit of scope for him and he might stay two miles one day. He was literally too big to run early on at three and was so weak, however he started his winning spree off 58 at Pontefract at the back-end of his three-year-old career and that is when he started to click.

The penny really did drop and he only wins by narrow margins which kind of helps things as well. I think his mark is still competitive just because of his size and scope. He ran up at Thirsk on Saturday night but the track, and the ground, were just a bit tight for the big lad, however you would like to hope he can step forward from that run.

BALTICUM

He was a good fourth on second start at Newmarket and is bred to stay well. He's a good looking Sea The Stars horse. I think he is a horse that should progress through the year as he has got good size and scope about him. He looks like a nice horse. Once he steps up in trip in handicaps he will have a better chance.

COMPLETELY RANDOM

He is a nice scopey horse by Havana Grey that was second in one of those three-year-old only six furlong handicaps at Newmarket last year. He ran once at the July Course and then had a little break before running a nice race at Southwell. He travelled like the best horse that day. We dropped him back to five furlongs at Southwell the other day. He missed the break and got behind and looked a bit outpaced, but finished very well inside the final furlong to show he can run over either five or six.

He is a progressive type and hopefully can run in some of those proper sprint handicaps. There is a valuable race at Leicester over six furlongs for him the weekend before the 2000 Guineas and that is the next port of call. That should suit him well as it is an easy six. We will mix and match over the two trips with him depending on the tracks and the ground. I think he's a nice horse.

COSMIC YEAR

My expectations at Sandown Park were that I hoped he would win, but I didn’t think he would do what he did as we had never seen that in his work. He is a good mover. At home we never let him pass another horse. We always rode him from the back of a group of five two-year-olds and let him finish upsides them, but he was the one making up the ground. We never said go and win your gallop by five lengths. The thing I liked about it in general was that he was as relaxed on the racecourse as he is in his work.

He jumped up and sat on the girth of the leader. They never went any pace, but he wasn’t going to pull he just sat there lobbing along. I think he is a quite laid back by one from the stallion. It was too close to run in some of the stakes races at Newmarket and we didn’t want to go a mile in the autumn. The only race we considered was the Horris Hill, but we didn’t want to run if it was a bog. We had built him up, and done work, that meant he was ready if he had to. I thought mentally it was good to let him out there for a day out on the Rowley Mile.

He was ready to go and do something, but he was very inexperienced and we thought it would help him this year. We didn’t do a lot in the gallop. It was just an easy gallop and not him about winning by five lengths, but it also gave him an experience of the track.

It was nice he was able to do what he was meant to do at Kempton Park. It was a very slow pace, but he relaxed nicely off it and picked up well. He took everything great.

I wasn’t nervous at all as he doesn’t have any flaws so in my mind he was always going to win. I just wanted everything to go smoothly and it panned out perfectly.
He is now ready to do something more serious, but what that is I’m not sure. I think we will let all the Guineas trials finish and see what kind of race we think it is. We will then talk to the Juddmonte team and see what they say. I think rattling quick ground would be a concern at Newmarket, but he has got a very good mind so I would be confident he could cope with the occasion.

GRAND KARAT

He had form figures of first, third, first on his last three starts on the all-weather. He probably does get a little bit unbalanced as he is straight behind so those flat tracks suit him. He has done well physically. He is a big strong lad and could be a horse that we have a bit of fun with.

He is not quite at the level of Ten Pounds yet. We ran him at Sandown Park once last year and he didn’t show up there. When you are trying to make up ground from behind then hit those ridges and they just often roll around in behind. We weighed him before he ran at Kempton Park the other night and he was a bit heavy so he was always going to need it.

We dropped him in just to try and get him to relax as he can be a bit keen. When he has won he has jumped forward. I thought he ran a solid race and he will come on for that.

HAND OF GOD

We were hopeful he was a pretty good horse and I think he showed that when winning the Golden Gates Stakes. He picked up a niggle in the race at Royal Ascot so was lame the day after it. He had a period of time off, but has been back cantering since October. He is properly in the system now. There was a chance of him running at the back end of last year, but we didn’t really want to bring him back out on heavy ground and are we going to gain anything by running him on the all-weather so the answer was no.

We have just geared him towards to the turf. I think we will be heading for the Suffolk Stakes which is a nine furlong handicap on the Sunday of the Guineas meeting at Newmarket. He won his maiden there and I think it's a track that suits him well. The race obviously comes on the back of him being off for nine months, but it is a starting point.

We hope he is going to turn into a stakes horse, but he is only rated 102. It makes sense as a starting point to run in a nice valuable handicap. He has got a very good mind and is very laid back.

HYPNOTISED

He is a No Nay Never half brother to Nightwalker. He looks like a straightforward hardy horse. He feels like he could be a relatively early two-year-old for the team that could be worth keeping an eye on.

KIKKULI

He ran a blinder in the Jersey Stakes and we had to rush him back quickly for the Prix Jean Prat. It was the last Group One against his own age group and we had to give him a pop given his breeding. He ran well in the Hungerford Stakes, but probably got there a little bit soon. We went to America, where he didn’t have a whole lot of luck, and on another day he would have probably finished third to Carl Spackler.

He is an exciting horse and I think the plan is to start him at Haydock on May 12th in the Spring Trophy as a prep for the John O’Gaunt Stakes back there. He will be entered in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot as there is just a chance a stiff six furlongs will suit him and there is the chance he will travel over to America again from midsummer onwards too/

KING’S GAMBIT

It was just circumstances that he got a little bit far back at Royal Ascot, but he ran big and he then ran big at York twice upped to Group race company. He ran a fair race in the Champion Stakes on his final start last season so is a fun horse to have around. He has been gelded after running in the Amir Trophy in Qatar. It was on our mind at the end of last year.

He is full of energy and we just thought it might allow him to be trained a bit differently and eek out five per cent improvement in him like these tweaks can do. He is high class and I think he might stay further than we have been running him over. I think he might be a mile-and-a-half plus horse. When we ran him in the Great Voltigeur people queried if he stayed, but I just think he ran into two exceptionally good horses.

He is a very decent horse and things weren’t quite ideal in Qatar as we switched tracks and it was like running around Chester. Once Rebel’s Romance got into the lead that was it. We didn’t really travel around there and Mickael Barzalona came back in and said he needs further.

The Wathnan guys have got their eyes on the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot as he hasn’t won a stakes race. It is just a case of whether ten furlongs is too short for him now. We will probably have a pop at a Group One and if he doesn’t go in there we could then go for the Wolferton. It may not be far enough for him so he will have other entries, but there is a good mile-and-a-half programme for horses like him.

OKEECHOBEE

He has got a lot of talent. There is the Listed Magnolia Stakes at Kempton Park on Easter Monday or four days later there is the Group Three Gordon Richards Stakes, which he won last year. He has done a few pieces of work on the grass and the plan is to take him to Kempton Park before then for an away day. He has been given a Tattersalls Gold Cup entry this year. We supplemented him for the race last year, but he went wrong three days before it.

I said to Barry (Mahon, racing manager to owners Juddmonte) that if we run a big race on his comeback we would be upset if we didn’t have an entry in the Tattersalls Gold Cup. There are good Group Three races in England, but given his history it would be nice to have a pop at something big in case something flares up.

POLYGRAM

She ran a lovely race at Kempton Park on her return. She got a little bit far back off a slow pace, but for me was the one to take out of the race. Visibly she was the most impressive one. She might just be one for the Sandringham at Royal Ascot. It will now be a case of giving her one more run then heading there. She likes quick ground and moves well so that could be a race for her.

SKIMMER

He is Okeechobee’s brother, but we don’t know too much about him yet. He is a lovely big horse and we are just trying to get up to speed with him. He has got a very good mind for a Kingman. He was here last year, but he never really got close to racing. You hope you would get one run in at the end of the year, but that didn’t quite happen. He is a ten furlong type of horse.

His dam Scuffle, who was here, has produced the likes of Logician and Okeechobee so she must just put an incredible mind on them. He is quite laidback at home.

TEN POUNDS

He won a novice at Newcastle and another at Leicester before winning one of those valuable Racing League events back up at Newcastle on his penultimate start. A lot of people rode him at two and he looked exceptionally slow. The thought was he might need ten or 12 furlongs, but I actually think he is going to become a six furlong horse. He is quite well bred, but was quite cheap because he was by Ten Sovereigns, but he is a fair type physically.

We are going to run him in the seven furlong handicap at the Craven Meeting and he seems in good form. He could be one for the Victoria Cup, but equally he could be one that wants six furlongs so we could then look at a Wokingham with him.

TREMOLO

He did well to win at Southwell over seven furlongs. We dropped him in that day and I was quite impressed how he picked up past them. The time before that he was third at the same track. Jamie Osborne’s Heart Of Honor, who was second that day, has since done well out in Dubai.

He seems to have a good mind, but is one that won’t want the ground too soft. Hopefully he can provide the Elite Racing Club members with some fun. He ran at Salisbury on his debut when the ground was soft and that wouldn’t have been for him. He is rated 83 so he is in that quite tricky range.

TRYFAN

We picked him up at the horses-in-training sale from Brian Ellison’s yard. He should have beaten Baltic at Newbury. He got to the front and lent to the left that day and Baltic came back at him on the rail. He is a very athletic horse that hasn’t got many miles on the clock. He turned four this year and is in that similar division to Baltic and will run in those one mile four plus handicaps.

He is by Nathaniel and should stay well and provide his owners with some fun. He carries himself very well and is an athletic mover. He is a beautiful looking horse.

WAVE RIDER

I think he is a horse who is going to need cut. He ran very nicely first time out at Sandown when he was fourth behind Bay City Roller and the form looks quite solid. He had a bit of time off then he ran at Yarmouth in October on soft ground and he got beat by a smart one of Roger Varian’s.

He has run to a fairly solid level, but is still a maiden so we will try and find a suitable race to get his head in front. With the ground being how it is he might have to go on the all-weather.

WINE DARK SEA

He is a very attractive Ulysses gelding. He ran a lovely race at Yarmouth to finish second on debut. He was drawn widest of all on his comeback at Wolverhampton and was leaning out. It was too sharp for him and I would ignore that run, he just got tired in the last two furlongs.

I thought he might get away with it and sneak one in a bad race, but unfortunately it didn’t quite go to plan. I think he is bred to stay and hope he can develop into a nice middle-distance three-year-old handicapper, but we'll see.

He is a nice big horse and should be one to enjoy I think.

Also in the series:

• Andrew Balding
• Ralph Beckett
• Jack Channon
• John & Thady Gosden
• Richard Hannon
• Aidan O'Brien
• Roger Varian

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.