The Horse Watchers will be sponsored by Timeform
Intervention carries the distinctive orange and black silks of the Horse Watchers

Horse Watchers celebrate Intervention bagging £20,000 bonus


The prolific Intervention bagged his connections a £20,000 bonus after he was crowned the all-weather horse of the month for December.

Intervention was a 21-race maiden in Ireland when he was picked up by The Horse Watchers and moved to Mick Appleby towards the back-end of 2021, and he has since won a remarkable 11 times for the operation which is run by Racing TV pundits Chris and Martin Dixon and sponsored by Timeform.

Intervention may have turned seven on New Year's Day, but he has proved better than ever of late and won all three starts in December to earn 15 points in the Arena Racing Company-backed competition. That saw him edge out Enola Grey (14 points), Darlo Pride, Storymaker and Thapa VC (all 13 points) to the prize.

Points are awarded to those finishing between first and fifth on a horse's first three starts in a month at Lingfield, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton.

Video Play Button

Unlimited Replays

of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays

Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits Sporting Life Plus - Join For FreeSporting Life Plus - Join For Free

Martin Dixon said: "We're delighted with Intervention. He's obviously thrived this winter and is in the best form of his life.

"In terms of prize-money he's gone over £100,000 in career earnings, and that's not accounting for the £20,000 bonus. It's the icing on the cake to get a big bonus like that with a horse who has spent a lot of his career running in class 5 and 6 races.

"To now be running at a higher level and winning more prize-money than he's ever won before is brilliant and testament to the great job Mick Appleby and his team have done."

The Horse Watchers have also been successful in recent weeks with Heathen, Goldsmith, McCauley's Tavern and Penzance.

Penzance was completing a hat-trick when landing a competitive handicap at Newcastle on All-Weather Trials Day and he now has a shot at the Final on Good Friday on his agenda.

Martin Dixon, who started his career at Timeform, added: "Penzance is a prime example of what we're trying to achieve as an ownership group.

"He has improved significantly in his four starts for us, he's rapidly climbing the ranks and he's an exciting young horse with a pretty high valuation now he's got to the point where he's got. He's giving his owners a lot of enjoyment, he's winning plenty of prize-money and his value is on the rise all of the time.

"We've got some exciting targets for him at the back-end of the all-weather season. He will go to Lingfield's All-Weather Trials Day in early March and then to Finals Day on Good Friday, so hopefully there's a lot more prize-money to be won with him for the rest of the all-weather season, and we're optimistic that he can translate his improvement to the turf as well."


More from Sporting Life


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