Ralph Beckett and Kia Joorabchian

Kia Joorabchian opens up on Ralph Beckett split

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Wed September 17, 2025 · 3M ago

Kia Joorabchian has again spoken of his frustration at Ralph Beckett’s ITV Racing interview during the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

It came at a time when news had broken that Amo Racing had removed several horses from the trainer including the unraced Frankel filly named Partying, the top lot at Tattersalls Book One last autumn.

Beckett told Matt Chapman at the time: “There’s no tiff. Moving unraced two-year-olds midway through the season is unusual but Kia is an unusual individual.

"When we split four years ago at this meeting, at that moment I was happy to see them go. They went at my instigation that time. Then he sent me a yearling. I said I’d take one, then all of a sudden I end up with six.”

He continued: “So there is no fallout, no tiff. Kia’s Kia, we move on."

But speaking on Monday’s Nick Luck Daily Podcast, the Amo chief said the decision came after a run of mishaps with their horses at Kimpton Downs Stables.

“I thought he gave a very unfair interview. I’ve been an advocate of if you’re going to say something, especially in racing, please tell everybody the truth and let everyone know what has happened,” Joorabchian said.

“Ralph decided at Goodwood to say that we had moved some unraced two-year-olds which was very unusual and didn’t give any real explanation, and I thought that was very unfair, the way that he tried to portray the situation.

“I just wanted to clarify and clear the air. We were not the only owners who moved unraced two-year-olds, he had several of his other big owners move unraced two-year-olds. Those horses ended up at the Gosdens and other places, people who still have horses in training with him.

“We were just another group that moved a smaller bunch of unraced two-year-olds that were not even in his yard, they were in pre-training in August.

“When you have a yard in Newmarket the size of what we’ve done and have these boxes that are absolutely free and empty, it made very good sense to us to say that because they are still in pre-training, it makes very good sense that they should be moved.

“And I just wanted to clarify the fact that You Got To Me and other horses... we’ve had some very unfortunate times. It was a shame that we had a horse with big prospects, gelded by accident. They chose the wrong horse when I think they were taking him to the vet to be gelded.

Angelo Buonarroti ridden by David Egan

“And Angelo Buonarroti who we moved from Raphael (Freire) to Ralph, he was a big prospect for us, got a cut and sadly had to be put down. He was a very expensive purchase. Serendipitous was an expensive Laurens filly who had two years with Ralph and hadn’t quite got going, hadn’t yet run.

“Cathedral missed the Guineas and then we had Square Necker, another horse was injured that Ralph bought with our bloodstock people, and he’d had him, and he never managed to quite pick up.

"As you know he’d done an incredible job with You Got To Me who won the Irish Oaks. When we bought her, we had really high hopes for her this season to be some sort of flagbearer for us. Unfortunately, her first race she ran really badly and in Goodwood he came to me and said I think you should retire her because she’s a Classic winner and there’s not much more I can do.

“So, we said OK if we’re going to retire her, we’ll move her to Ireland where we keep a lot of our mares and Adrian (Murray) and Robson (Aguiar) said look, we’d like to see how she is because we can’t do anything until February or March.

“So, there’s no harm in leaving her with us and letting us see how she develops. She still has an Arc entry, still has a few other Group One entries and loves that fast so ground so is still a Breeders’ Cup prospect.

“But I did tell them that Ralph was very adamant to retire her so please go very carefully with her even though we don’t have anything to lose if she doesn’t succeed in her next race because she’s still a Classic winner and still a very valuable broodmare prospect which is one of the reasons we purchased her.”

Joorabchian says he spoke to Beckett at the time.

“I had very long conversations with him, several conversations with him, and after his interview not only did I write to him I also called him and spoke to him and said I was very disappointed because I said to him you know very well we were not the only group who moved unraced two-year-olds, you had other big owners who did that,” he continued.

“You know the unfortunate amount of mistakes and accidents we’ve had together over the last two years, and I thought it was a very unfair comment you made, but Ralph is Ralph and he does love to argue.

“But I consider him as a very good person, and we still have horses with him in partnership and I really do hope those horses are fruitful and successful. I respect him as a trainer and I understand what has happened between him and I has been very, very unfortunate.

“I can’t speak for him, but I am very respectful of him and his training ability and I do enjoy his company and we’ve had a lot of rocky times but if you look at what has happened over the last two years, we’ve just been very unlucky together.”

Kia Joorabchian opens up on Ralph Beckett split

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