The upwardly-mobile Epsom yard of Jim Boyle has long hovered under the radar despite numerous success stories of improving horses from other yards in his 23-year training career.
In complete contrast, a boost for Boyle’s profile came via the seven and a half-length demolition job carried out by his two-year-old debutant Into The Sky in a six and a half-furlong maiden at Newbury last month. The Starman colt soon found himself to the fore and proceeded to clock five consecutive sub 12-second furlongs en route to victory, earning him a whopping rating of 107p from Timeform.
The offers were unsurprisingly plentiful in the immediate aftermath, including one or two major operations who were keen for their own trainers to take over control of Into The Sky. However, long-standing owners Pam Wilson - for whom Into The Sky’s debut victory was a first taste of success - and Roland Stanbridge decided to remain faithful to Boyle, insisting they kept half of Into The Sky along with any potential new investor.
To that end, Into The Sky will now carry the black and white silks of Doreen Tabor, wife of Michael, in partnership with Wilson and Stanbridge as he bids to get the new partnership off to a dream start in Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes back at Newbury this weekend.
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Boyle said of Into The Sky: “We only have five two-year-olds and he was very clearly the best of them - we actually had to work him with older horses, such was the ability he showed. We had to be patient, though, as he grew on us having gone nicely early on. His work was of such a standard that, rather than go somewhere a bit more low key, we opted to head to Newbury. He is a good-striding horse and a galloping track like Newbury was always going to suit him well.”
Sent off at odds of 80/1 that day, Into The Sky’s victory wasn’t a complete surprise to Boyle, but the manner of it certainly was.
“We felt he was considerably above average and the nicest two-year-old we’ve had, hence going to Newbury; but did that translate into winning a maiden there by seven and a half lengths lengths? Probably not,” he said.
On whether his dominant victory from the front end was the plan, Boyle clarified: “Not really. We were happy to let him jump out and for Kieran (Shoemark) to find his way with him. He was in front after about 50 yards because he showed so much early pace. He never looked back.”
Boyle doesn’t harbour any fears about employing similar tactics back at a flat six furlongs in the Mill Reef, saying: “Nothing I’ve seen suggests he is a one-trick pony, but we wouldn’t be afraid to jump out and make all again if that’s how the race pans out."
Boyle further explained: “Our record first time out with two-year-olds wasn’t great (0-156 prior to Into The Sky’s victory), but that has been more through necessity. We train a lot of slow-maturing types and/or homebred projects. Many Men ended his two-year-old campaign by winning a decent nursery at Newmarket last autumn, and he’d have been one of the nicer juveniles we’ve had."
On the subject of Many Men, the plan for him is the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot on October 3 following his agonisingly-narrow defeat at the hands of Tarriance in the Melrose at York.
Although owner James Finch is keen to keep Many Men, Boyle explained: “There has been lots of interest, as you’d expect given his profile, but we’ll just have to see how that all pans out. There are a lot of considerations, but James is a good supporter of mine and keen to keep him."
Returning to Into The Sky, Boyle will hope the loyalty shown by Wilson and Stanbridge in keeping the horse in the yard with a new partner rather than sell him entirely can serve as a fillip for his burgeoning operation, which has seen a complete overhaul in recent years. Development is still continuing apace, with eleven new boxes being installed this week and the eventual number expected to total 65 in time.
He explained: “The facilities we’ve got now compared to what we had is chalk and cheese. I am certain it will allow us to train at a much higher level, especially with the new boxes which will provide a healthier and more spacious environment for the horses. It also benefits the staff greatly in terms of accommodation.
“We’ve been rather pigeon-holed as a yard that can only do well with older horses, but that’s because our MO has been to bring the homebreds along gradually while the more immediate success has come from buying stock at the Horses In Training sales. It’s very nice to show that, on a decent stage with one talented and sharp enough, we can deliver with a two-year-old."
Boyle is one of a number of trainers based in the historic Epsom, which has seen names like John Sutcliffe, Ron Smyth, John Benstead, Geoff Lewis, Reg Akehurst, Terry Mills and Philip Mitchell train there with distinction since World War II. However, with land in the area now at a premium, several yards have fallen by the wayside to housing redevelopment in recent times.
However, Boyle, along with George Baker at his state of the art Downs House facility, show that there is life yet in Epsom. He added: “The infrastructure at Epsom has never been the issue, but we absolutely had to redevelop our yard if we were going to have a future here. It involved a degree of enabling some residential development to ensure the new yard could be built.
"The alternative would’ve been that the yard would have ended up going the same way as some others and been sold off for housing. I could not imagine training anywhere else.”
Boyle has another Starman two-year-old colt in the yard, one who will mean a lot to those at South Hatch given his mother, Hateya, was a Listed winner for them in Sweden during her racing career. Named Hattie’s Comet, Boyle reports the colt won’t race this season, saying: “He has grown and grown, so I took the decision a couple of weeks ago to pull the plug and let him finish developing and maturing. He has got a nice Juddmonte pedigree and the yearling from the mare was top lot at the Goffs UK sale the other day, so he has got plenty going for him.”
Plenty, indeed. So, too, has his trainer, who will be a name to reckon with in years to come, as will Into The Sky if his debut success is any sort of guide.
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