Interview with the in-form Sandy Thomson, trainer of Becher Chase hope Hill Sixteen
Adam Houghton speaks to in-form trainer Sandy Thomson ahead of Hill Sixteen's attempt to go one better than last year in the Becher Chase.
The full gamut of emotions was felt across two of the home nations on Tuesday evening, from the joy of the English fans to the despair of the Welsh after the Three Lions cruised to a 3-0 victory in their World Cup clash, booking the winners a spot in the last 16 and the losers on the first flight home to Cardiff.
Whilst many of us were counting down to kick-off, Scottish trainer Sandy Thomson was on his way home having saddled his final runner of the month on that afternoon’s card at Ayr, namely Bak Rocky, who was a rare runner from his yard to miss the target recently when finishing only third in the Virgin Bet Handicap Chase.
November was otherwise a month in which Thomson showed a ruthless streak in front of goal that Marcus Rashford would be proud of. For context, he enjoyed nine winners from 24 runners during that period and no other trainer who saddled 10 or more runners in Britain and Ireland could better his impressive 37.5% strike rate.
The World Cup references would probably wear thin on Thomson, for whom football wouldn’t even be his second sport. Before carving out a successful career training National Hunt horses, Thomson had already enjoyed his fair share of success as a rugby player, notably winning the Scottish Championship with Kelso back in the 1980s.
Thomson can certainly sympathise with both the English and Welsh football fans, though, knowing all too well the high and lows associated with top-class sport, and that’s probably just one reason why he’s enjoying the hot streak in his second sporting endeavour while it lasts.
“It’s just one of those things,” Thomson began as our conversation sound-tracked his drive back to his Lambden yard in Berwickshire, trying to put his finger on why things have panned out as well as they have in recent weeks.
“Nothing really has changed that much, we’ve tweaked one or two things at home certainly, but the horses are well and it’s all just fallen into place. I think the great thing is how many of them have won first-time-up and will hopefully improve for the run as well. That’s been one of the really pleasing things.
“Dingo Dollar winning at Aintree in October was great, but a lot of them were needing the run and once we got into November it just seems to have taken off. We’ve not really had a horse run a bad race for a while, which is always great. It’s all about happy and healthy horses and long may it continue.”
Thomson began November as he meant to go on with five winners from his first six runners, capped by a 1079/1 four-timer on the first Saturday of the month at Kelso. That was understandably a huge thrill for the trainer as he dominated at his local track, just a short walk from where he did likewise on the rugby field and where he still has a significant following.
More recently, Thomson enjoyed another huge thrill at Carlisle on Sunday as Bass Rock made the perfect start to life over fences with an impressive victory in the two-mile novice chase.
The way Bass Rock dismissed his rivals in what looked a warm race on paper beforehand certainly took punters by surprise – he was the 12/1 sixth choice in a field of only seven – but it seems that Thomson was always hopeful of a big run from a horse who was useful over hurdles and has reportedly been a natural jumper of fences from the start.
Thomson explained: "You hoped that he might have been that good a chaser because some of his hurdling form was very good. Last season he was third at Haydock in the big hurdle race and he probably doesn’t stay three miles, so that was a good run. We’d then had a few problems getting him to Ayr and that was a good performance to win because he wasn’t fully wound up that day.
“He’s always jumped very well and he’s schooled very well at home. It was his jumping which put the others to the sword on Sunday and the race just worked out very well for him. It was a performance that I hoped might be there, but I didn’t think it would be as emphatic as it was!"
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Bass Rock is now a winner over distances ranging from two miles to two miles and five furlongs and that versatility will give him more options as he progresses through his first season over fences. The next step on that ladder is likely to be a novice handicap at Wetherby on December 27 and Thomson is understandably excited about what else the future might hold for the burgeoning star of this stable.
“Yes,” was Thomson’s emphatic reply when asked whether Bass Rock could potentially be in the same bracket as former stable star Seeyouatmidnight, who won nine of his 21 races under Rules, including the 2014 Rendlesham Hurdle at Haydock and the 2016 Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.
“When you have a horse that does what he did on Sunday, you can dream and think maybe we do have another one who can compete at the top level. If he wins at Wetherby, then we can really begin to think about bigger and better things. Hopefully, he might be good enough to run in those graded novice races.
“That would be hugely exciting for everybody and I’m absolutely delighted for Ray [Anderson Green, owner]. He’s such a huge supporter of racing, especially northern racing, and it’s great that he has a horse that perhaps could be going to the really big days.”
Speaking of big days, Thomson is looking forward to Saturday’s action at Aintree and the Boylesports Becher Chase as Hill Sixteen attempts to go one place better than last year.
Beaten just a nose 12 months ago in a race run in filthy conditions, Hill Sixteen warmed up for this year’s renewal with an encouraging third at Kelso a few weeks ago and all roads have reportedly led back to Aintree since.
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Thomson said: “When we went last year, we didn’t really know much about him because we hadn’t had him long. I’d been delighted with the way he’d run at Carlisle before he went to the Becher and I thought he could run a nice race if he took to the fences with the weight he had.
“Obviously, it was gutting to get beaten like that and because of the way things have worked out he’s got quite a lot more weight this year. But we know a lot more about him and we’ve been training him specifically for this day. Last year it was a case of put him in and see what happens. Granted a bit of luck in running, I think he must have a great chance.”
Empire Steel will be another interesting runner for Thomson at Aintree on Saturday. Still relatively lightly raced for an eight-year-old, he developed into a smart handicap chaser last season and a couple of good runs in the first part of the current campaign could tee him up for a return trip to Merseyside in the spring.
“Very much so,” Thomson replied when asked whether there could be more to come from Empire Steel this season. “He’s not the easiest to keep sound, but I hope we’re getting there. Obviously, two and a half miles is going to be on the short side on Saturday, but we’ve got to start somewhere.
“After Saturday he’ll go back to the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby. He was quite an inexperienced horse when he went there last year [fell four out when looking the likeliest winner] and he’s got quite a few more runs under his belt now.
“The owner would love him to go for the Grand National and he’s not that far away now from having a high enough mark to qualify. That is somewhere we might go, but you can’t really put all your eggs in one basket and keep a horse for the National to try and keep their weight down. He’ll certainly run plenty before the National even if he manages to get in there.”
Another National is on Thomson’s mind before then, specifically the Scottish Borders National at Kelso on Sunday, a race which has epitomised the highs and lows of National Hunt racing for Thomson like no other in recent years.
After winning four successive renewals of that marathon test with Neptune Equester (2014 and 2015) and Harry The Viking (2016 and 2018) – the 2017 meeting was abandoned – Thomson has endured some rotten luck subsequently, something he is hoping to put right on Sunday when he could saddle up to three runners in the shape of The Ferry Master, Flower of Scotland and Donna’s Delight.
“Unfortunately, in the last three years we’ve had three runners, two of them have gone off favourite and none of the three has finished,” Thomson summarised.
“I don’t know how many darts we’ll throw at it on Sunday. The Ferry Master will definitely go and he’d have a great chance if he could reproduce his Scottish National fourth of last year. He’s got a really nice weight.
“It just didn’t work for him last season, but he went to Ayr over two and a half back in October and I was very happy with him. He’d lost his way jumping, but he jumped much better than he did last season and finished his race well.
“It’s probably not going to be soft enough for Flower of Scotland. Although she’s very small, she jumps for fun and showed at Carlisle that she looks like she’ll stay four miles. And Donna’s Delight really needs it bottomless, but it’s four miles and I could see him running on into a place.”
The man who can look forward to a strong book of rides for Thomson this weekend is Ryan Mania, who is now well established as the yard’s number one jockey having returned to the saddle during the 2019/20 season after a few years in retirement.
Thomson could not speak highly enough of Mania – who was in the saddle for all but one of the yard’s winners in November – nor the rest of the team which has helped to produce such spectacular results in recent weeks.
“Absolutely,” Thomson confirmed when it was suggested to him that Mania had become an integral part of the operation. “Ryan has this great ability to get a horse running and jumping and to be in the right position at the right time. It’s massive having him coming in, schooling the horses and riding them.
“We’ve got a great team all the way through. Like everybody we’re short of staff, but the staff we have are very good. That again is perhaps the biggest part of why things are going so well. We’ve got a team who just get on and do their job. It takes the pressure off me, so I can concentrate more on the horses.”
Thomson certainly spoke with the air of a man who isn’t feeling any pressure and why should he when things are going as well as they have been recently? He certainly has few complaints, though it’s clear that he has ambitions of climbing higher still should the right owners come along with the spending power to take him to the next level.
“What we do with the ammunition we get is unbelievable,” Thomson added. “We’ve got a great team of owners, but they don’t spend necessarily a huge amount on their horses, but we go and compete with them. It would be nice to get some really nice young horses that cost a bit more, but that’s the way it is. We’re very lucky to have the horses we have.
“We have the likes of Empire Steel, Hill Sixteen, Doyen Breed and Bass Rock – he’ll be up to around [a rating of] 140. When we’ve got 40-45 horses and ten percent of them are up to a rating of 140, it speaks volumes for everybody in the yard and the great owners that we have who send us these horses. Fortunately, we’re producing the goods for them.”
The challenge for Thomson now is to continue producing the goods well into December, the same challenge that faces Marcus Rashford and the rest of the England squad.
There won’t be a World Cup to be lifted at the end of it for Thomson, but a Becher or a Scottish Borders National would be reward enough this weekend for a man who has perfected the scoring touch in recent weeks.
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