In the latest instalment of our Stable Tour series this autumn, Graham Clark paid a visit to the rapidly-progressive yard of Harry Derham.
Harry Derham has not looked back since making the decision to branch out on his own and his burgeoning stock looks set to rise again this season with the team at his disposal.
Saddling 14 winners from his temporary home at Frenchman’s House Stables in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign the 30 year old hit the ground running at his new purpose built yard at Boxford last season after sending out 44 domestic winners from just 179 runners.
There is a different dynamic at Upper Farm Stables heading into this season with Derham blessed not only with some useful older horses, but a greater depth of novice hurdlers that possess the sort of potential star quality that can help accelerate his career even further.
While not one to get ahead of himself, the avid cricket fan, who spent six years as assistant to his uncle, and 14-time champion National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls, expects progression from his team this season and it would take a brave person to bet against that happening.
Derham said: “It went better than what I was hoping for last season. It was a big challenge as it was my first season in my new yard and I was trying to get new systems in place.
"It gave us a bit of confidence when we were running horses in November that they ran well, which probably calmed me down as it meant what we were doing was working. We finished the season well.I feel like we have given ourselves a good foundation to work off.
“Horses like Jasmine Bliss winning two bumpers, Noahsgreatrainbow winning a bumper and Queensbury Boy winning a bumper show that you have a bright future.
“We have a much better team this season as we are very fortunate that both new, and existing owners, have invested.
"This time last year I had horses with handicap marks that were ready to crack on with whereas this year I’ve got a lot of younger horses, but I think it is a high quality team. My target is progression so I want to do better than last season.”
“She is a really tough horse to get right, but she was really good at Haydock, however she was not so good at Huntingdon, but I needed to run her again.
“Her pedigree is very good so she will start in the Listed mares’ novices’ hurdle at the Coral Gold Cup meeting with the idea of getting black type as she will be worth a lot of money if she does.
“She will never run much and I will be very shocked if she races much beyond this season. She is very well handicapped, but she might have two or three goes this season. I had her in training at the beginning of July last year and I ran her in the middle of March so that gives you an idea of how tricky she is."
“He won two races in the spring for me then got beat at Huntingdon by Pickanumber. I was mortified when he got beat, but the Pickanumber won the Swinton Hurdle by 10 lengths so I didn’t feel so bad then.
“He will go to Cheltenham on November 15th for a two mile novices’ handicap hurdle. If that goes well I would love him to end up in that good handicap hurdle at Ascot over Christmas. I think he can be a decent two mile handicap hurdler this season."
“He is very much the stable star. He was great last year and he just kept progressing. The similarity between this year and last year, is that he has been a bit of a nightmare to get fit.
“His body creaks when you are getting him fit, but when he is up to fitness he copes very well. He has just had a few little things that haven’t been quite right. I hope that we will be ready for the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton, but everything needs to go right between now and then.
"I’m going to run him in a couple of graded hurdle races and he will tell us if he is good enough to run in something like a Kingwell Hurdle later on, or if he needs to go back into handicaps and carry a lot of weight, which he has proved he can do.
"If there are four or five runners in some of those Grade One races, like the Fighting Fifth, then damn right we will go as there is a lot of money on offer. I’m optimistic enough that he is still improving, but I don’t think he will get to 160-plus.
"The Kingwell Hurdle would be a big objective for me as it is usually run on soft ground, and it is worth a lot of money, and he has done well there before. I would love to have him at his best for that."
"He is new to us this season and he will go to the veterans' chase at Sandown Park on November 10th and the aim will be to try and get him in the final of that series.
"It is cool to have a veteran chase as most of my horses are four, five or six year olds. Noel (Fehily) and Dave (Crosse) feel that he is an older horse that has been at the same place for a long time and that a change of scenery might just get that last bit of improvement from him. “If we can get that spark back in time he could win a veterans’ race."
“He is going to stay hurdling this season as he is quite a raw horse and is not ready to go chasing yet. I think he will end up wanting two and a half miles, but he won’t be busy this season as we want him to be a chaser and he is quite tall, and quite raw.
“We will just mind him and keep him on good ground. I hope this time next year we can start in a novice handicap chase.
“He is a horse that will win races as he is very genuine as he showed at Market Rasen. He ran very well to a point at Sandown in the spring, but he wasn’t quite mature enough for that race. I think a season of racing in slightly lower class races will help him be a decent two and a half mile chaser.
“There is a race on Coral Trophy day at Kempton over two-and-a-half miles and I have that in my head as a spring target for him."
“He has been incredibly hard to get fit this year. I would suggest 142 is a pretty tough mark as he showed on his comeback at Uttoxeter.
“He has done really well and he is a really capable horse. I suspect he will need to come down a bit before he comes good. We just need to keep him sound.”
“He won for James Horton on the soft at Haydock Park in the summer on his first start in a handicap. He is a Zoffany out of a Galileo mare and he jumps particularly well from what we have seen from him at home. We will hopefully have him out fairly soon.”
“The two and a half mile handicap chase at the Scottish Cheltenham Trials Raceday at Musselburgh in January is going to be worth £100,000 this season and we will work back from that.
“He is not the easiest horse to get right nowadays, but that is going to be his big objective. It was great seeing him win up there last season.
“He is a lovely horse, and he is lightly raced for me, but every run has been good. The key is to just get him right for Musselburgh.
“I’d love to run him in the Topham over the Grand National fences as I think that race would suit him well, but I’ve not been able to get him to the spring yet.”
“He did really well last season. He came back really sick from Fairyhouse, hence I didn’t run him again.
“He had a lovely prep run at Haydock on the Flat and ran a bit better than I anticipated as I thought he would get tired earlier than he did. He will go for the Masterson Holdings Hurdle.
“It will be a tough season for him, but I’ve got something like the Scottish County Hurdle at Musselburgh as a good slot for him. I think he would absolutely rock and roll around there and go a right gallop as he is very nimble.
“He is not going to get any more mature as last season was him, hence he was a good juvenile, but he is genuine, and pretty hardy, and he will win races and I’m sure of that."
“He was with Willie Mullins, but he has had 18 months off, and he has been sent to me by new owners. It will be a case of just getting him back to the track. He has some useful bits of form on his record, but I would be surprised if he runs before December.”
“He raced once at Doncaster last season, and ran absolutely awful, but apart from that he was really progressive.
“I think he could be a Lanzarote Hurdle type animal as that two miles five furlong trip on slow ground will suit him well. He is a quirky horse and in the spring I really got the hang of him. He has been a bit of a slow burner, but his work this year has been good.”
“The plan is to go to the Paddy Power Gold Cup with him and he will go straight there. I was very pleased that I didn’t run him in the spring. I was trying to get to know him.
“There was nothing wrong, but I hadn’t seen what I had seen on the track at home and I thought it was the wrong thing to run him.
“Now I know him better, I’m glad I didn’t run him as he wasn’t in great form in the spring. He has got the right profile for a Paddy Power as he has been around Cheltenham and he has run well in a Martin Pipe.
“He has got graded form over fences, and he is pretty unexposed. Horses that have similar profiles to him have won the Paddy Power.
“He is a clean-winded horse and I’m happy to go straight there, but he could have an away day beforehand. It is a bold call to go straight there, but his profile for the race.”
“I’m very excited about her as I think she is one of my better prospects to be honest with you. Not many win two bumpers over here. I think she is well above average and I would be really disappointed if she didn’t make into a significantly better horse now going over hurdles.
“She will start at Exeter on November 18 in a National Hunt mares’ novices’ hurdle over two and a quarter miles which is a fabulous track for her.
“There is then a Listed mares’ novices’ hurdle at Haydock back over two miles and three furlongs. If that all goes well you would love to end up in the Jane Seymour at Sandown in February as she copes well with the mud, and I think she is quite a strong stayer.
“Queens Gamble won her bumpers with a smart turn of foot whereas Jasmine Bliss won hers by out galloping the others. She is well above average.”
“This is a horse we have not seen the best of. I got him in the spring and ran him at Newbury and he ran a really good race in a novices’ hurdle, but he pulled too hard, and jumped badly. “He did everything wrong so we decided to give him a couple of runs to educate him. He ran well to finish third at Taunton behind Secret Squirrel and then I ran him too quickly back at Sandown.
“He was just being cocky and he needed to realise he is not as clever as he was. He has grown up nicely and I think he is a talented horse.
“He will stay hurdling, but I think he will make up into a decent chaser. He will go to Sandown on November 10th and I would like to try and win that valuable handicap hurdle over two miles on Tingle Creek day.
“He might run first time and tell us that he needs further, but we haven’t seen the best of him.”
“She is a Galiway filly who will start at Fakenham on October 30 in a fillies’ juvenile hurdle with the intention to get to the Listed fillies’ juvenile hurdle on Coral Gold Cup day at Newbury. She jumps well and has gone nicely at home.”
“She is going to go novice chasing this season. She ran well at the Cheltenham Festival and we dropped her in thinking they would go a real good gallop and that the race would fall apart.
“As it happened they crawled and we were in the wrong spot. She could start at Bangor in the middle of November in a mares’ novices’ chase. I believe that chasing will help her as I think she is a decent mare.”
“He is well above average. He travelled very well in the Listed bumper at Newbury, but probably just got outstayed by Dan Skelton’s horse and we put him away after that. I thought he had done enough.
“If I have got a good one he is probably it. He has schooled well and everything is fine. He could start in a maiden hurdle at Cheltenham on November 17 or somewhere around that time frame.
“You are hoping in the spring that he will end up in some of those better races if he progresses, and stays sound. In terms of raw ability he is certainly one of my best horses.”
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“He is a lovely horse. He was beaten off 103 and ended up being rated 122. He will start at Newbury on November 7th in the same conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle that we won with Brentford Hope last season, but I think he will end up wanting two and a half miles.
“We are going to stay hurdling this season, but I think he has progressed again, however I think he will need to. He is very genuine, and he is only five. I think he could end up winning a nice Saturday handicap."
"The form of his last race has worked out really well, but it was a shame he got injured after that. He is fine now and we will start him at Exeter on November 8th in a handicap chase over three miles. He is rated 122 and he is a proper staying chaser.
"He is a talented horse, but he has had a long time off and he needs to keep progressing again. He has not got many miles on the clock and I’m excited about him as I don’t have many staying chasers. The day he won at Market Rasen he was really eye-catching.
“If he wins, then we will go up a gear, and if he needs the run, which there is a fair chance he will, then he will go to a similar place.
“I’ve got in my mind that I would love to go the Mandarin at Newbury over Christmas as they have put more money into it and three and a quarter miles around there will be a fabulous place for him.”
“He ran in a couple of bumpers last season and he ran well on his debut over hurdles at Warwick the other day. He will end up being a lovely horse, but he is going to be a chaser. He won’t be massively busy this season."
"He ran an absolutely fantastic race at Punchestown. He is a high quality horse that jumps well. He will start in a two miles four furlongs novices’ hurdle on Coral Gold Cup day.
“His owner David Maxwell, Noel Fehily and I were chatting about the Challow Hurdle in the autumn and if he is that level.
“If he turns out to be at that level I don’t think we will end up there as it can leave a mark on them in the spring. Just because he was a good bumper horse it doesn’t give them the right to be a good hurdler, but he has got a lot of ability."
“She is back now and is absolutely fine. Her owners are deciding whether she runs in the Greatwood Hurdle or Gerry Feilden to start with.
“It was only a small bit of heat in her legs that kept off in the second half of the season, but it would have been the wrong thing to do to ask her to race. I’m very confident the best is yet to come from her.
“She is rated 130 and Casa No Mento, who she beat in the Listed race at Taunton, went and won at Punchestown is rated 137 now and we took care of her quite well. I believe there is a lot more to come from her.
“I’ve not said much about her so far as she has done it and hopefully she will keep doing it. If she goes well in a handicap you would hope she could end up in the Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle at Doncaster in January. That is how I see her progressing.”
“He will go chasing this season. I was kicking myself second time out with him last season as I should have put cheekpieces on, but I didn’t.
“He has schooled really well over fences and the plan is to start off at Plumpton on November 4 over three-and-a-quarter miles. I hope that he will turn into one of those regional national type horses.
“He is probably not up to being a Welsh National type horses, but those extreme distance races at smaller tracks will suit him well. I think chasing will be an advantage to him as hurdles got in the way a little bit.
“I think he is probably better off carrying weight in those races where he is one of the bosses. I’d be really disappointed if he didn’t win a couple of chase races.”
“He has been here from the start, and has done well, but he is paying the price now and needs to come down in the handicap. He will win again.
“He ran well the other day at Kelso and finished third, but he was well beaten and there were no excuses. I’d say he now wants two and a half miles plus, but he needs a few runs to come down in the weights.
“Last year I trained him hard for his Chepstow win and it paid off, but it didn’t pay off in the long run, but when he comes back down in the weights he will be fine.”
“He had to have an X-ray on his face after Punchestown as he got shouldered, but he is fine. That was a gutting result at Punchestown as he was going nicely that day. He took a chance at a fence and you can’t do that there. His first half of the season revolves around going to Newbury twice, firstly on November 7, then for the two and a half mile race on the first day of the Coral Gold Cup meeting.
“He is in the grip of the handicapper, but he is a good, tough, genuine horse. You don’t always know what you are going to get with him as he is quite hard to predict the form he will be in, but he always gives his running.
“I will have him fit and ready first time out as that can often be the time to catch him really. A change of scenery has done him good."
“You don’t see too many horses improve out of Gary Moore’s yard as he is an exceptional trainer and I’ve had that frank chat with his owners.
“Gary, and the owners, agreed he needed a change of scenery as he is quite a quirky horse, which you have seen when he has to get lead down to post.
“It is likely he will run in the Greatwood Hurdle to start off with. I don’t think it will be easy to get the best out of him, but he has got a decent amount of ability at his best.”
“He was disappointing in a bumper at Warwick in the spring. He just lost his head, and pulled too hard, and Alice (Stevens) rightly educated him.
“I think he is an EBF Final type horse and the objective will be to get him qualified for that. “Hurdles will slow him down and he has schooled well. I’d like to think he can leave his bumper form well behind.”
“He is a horse that has not done that well yet, but he will do in my opinion. He finished second in an ordinary novice hurdle over Christmas time. He will end up being a decent chaser.
“He is not going to be a top horse, but he will be a decent chase and we have not seen his best. He has been a long term project. I think we will do one more run over hurdles and then go chasing.”
“He came to us from Johnny Murtagh’s. He is a very well bred horse that was owned by the Aga Khan.
“He won on his handicap debut at Bellewstown over a mile six furlongs and he won very nicely. I think he is above average.”
Bumper horses
“JASMINE D’AIRY is a very nice filly as she is a winner of a bumper in Ireland. The team would like her to run in the Listed bumper at Cheltenham in November.
“MOSSY FEN ROAD is another that is very nice as are KIWI RUSH, KORKORAN, JACKIE HOBBS and DRAMATIC ENCORE.
“KING WOODY has never run before and he is out of Ms Parfois and he could be as good as any of them. None of them will be particularly busy this year.”
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