In his final column of the year the top trainer reflects on a successful 2023 and how the team building is shaping up for next season.
'We’re getting our rewards now'
This is my final column of the year and all in all I have to be pleased with how we did in 2023.
At the time of writing we’ve had 104 winners and earned more than £2million in prize money for the first time since 2019.
We’ve achieved that without a champion this time around, it’s been a case of lots of horses contributing. The two-year-olds shaped well and while we didn’t unearth a Group One winner during the season among them, we’re keeping most for next year and that’s exciting.
We got the first real signs in the spring that they were going to be OK. We buy a different horse now, ones with the pedigrees to go on at three. I can safely say that our three-year-olds in 2024 will be stronger than the same division in 2023 and that gives you plenty of reasons for optimism.
Of the older horses Spirit Dancer finally came good and I was absolutely delighted for Sir Alex Ferguson who has been so patient with him. I said the horse needed time and Sir Alex was fantastic – he likened it to trying to develop a young footballer and we’re getting our rewards now.
Spirit Dancer heads out to Bahrain for the International Trophy this week. It’s a very valuable race and looks like being very competitive but I was delighted with his run at Newmarket last time and he is in great order right now.
Vintage Clarets deserves a mention too. He’s won four sprint handicaps which is always an achievement. He’s typical of a horse who was a very good two-year-old but started life in handicaps on too high a rating as a result.
They struggle, lose their confidence and often miss a season. However we dropped him back to five furlongs, got him going forward again and he’s had a great year. He wasn’t the first and won’t be the last sprinter to struggle at three.
The team for next year is starting to take shape. We've 50 or so yearlings in at the moment with more to come and the breeze-up sales in the spring.
'As nice a yearling as we've ever bought'
I was pleased with the business we did this autumn. I think we managed to buy nice colts and fillies with pedigrees that we wouldn’t have been able to afford last year. They would have been too expensive.
In terms of the money we had to give I think we got some real quality. Colts were costing 50 or 60,000 who were 100,000-plus last term.
We have paid six-figure sums too. We went to 120,000 guineas for a Hello Youmzain colt at Tattersalls Book Two and I’d say he’s as nice a yearling as we’ve ever bought. You take a chance with a first-season sire with the likes of him but there are others, by the stallions like Kodiac, who are here now who we wouldn’t have been able to get last autumn.
We have plenty that cost 20,000 and 30,000 too. We try to keep away from the real small, sharp ones now. Don’t get me wrong they do their job and get you up and running but more and more we’re looking for horses who will continue to develop.
The other side of the business in the autumn is selling horses - and we sold quite a few and got a fair price for the majority of them.
The one I was sad to see go is Golden Move, a horse I’ve always loved. He’s a belter of a horse and I hope he ends up winning a Champion Hurdle after moving to Paul Nicholls.
We’ll have a small team in action over the winter, only around 15 horses. Our focus will be on getting the full battalion ready for when the spring comes around again and continue the education of the yearlings.
There's lots of hard work ahead but we've plenty to look forward to. It's exciting.
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