David Ord chats to Jedd O'Keeffe as the remarkable Saisons D'Or heads to Wolverhampton for the 100th start of his career.
Saison's D'Or is the archetypal stable stalwart.
He heads to Wolverhampton on Tuesday for his 100th career start, in a race named after him. The bold, front-running grey, has been a remarkable servant for Jedd O’Keeffe and owners, The Fatalists.
I must declare an interest here. The syndicate was the brainchild of my brother who manages the group of racing enthusiasts. I was there for the first two or three horses but, with typically astute timing, didn’t get involved when they struck gold.
That was with Saisons D’Or; the winner of 12 races and placed 28 times. A horse groups like this can only dream of owning.
“The remarkable thing about him is I actually bought him as a foal and he’s been with me ever since,” O’Keeffe said on the eve of the landmark outing. “Most older horses his age and with his experience have changed stables a time or two, they’ve been to the sales, moved around and those moves can rejuvenate them.
“But he has been here all that time and if he is fed up with me then he’s not showing it! He’s still running very competitively and has just been here at the yard. I think he only once went away from here for a very short time, up to where we put our horses out to grass. He goes out where we are all the time but actually away from the yard, a couple of miles down the road, only the once. He’s an incredible horse.”
And the will-to-win, the desire to compete, still burns bright. The 11-year-old has already won this season, at Southwell in April, and matched that performance on Timeform ratings when second at Wolverhampton last month.
“We know from his homework how competitive he still is. Even though he may not be rated especially highly, if we want to test a younger horse then we go to him. If they can beat him on the gallops then we know they’re alright because he’s such a good work horse and he's so competitive. He won’t lie down. Occasionally he doesn’t break that fast in his races and if he’s in behind horses he hates it. He hates being restrained and he hates being in behind.
“He wants to be in front, he wants to be up there and dominating, doing his thing. He’s amazing to still have that instinct after all this time.”
And he’s a special horse for everyone connected with Highbeck Stables.
“Not only do we all love him but I personally have a deep respect for him too,” O’Keeffe continued. “He just still wants to do it, he wants to train every day, he wants to race all the time. I have a deep respect for him, and we all absolutely adore him and love him. He’s part of the fixtures and fittings at the yard, more so than I am."
And while going into the contest with eyes wide open, the Middleham handler is hopeful of a good run on Tuesday.
“It would be a dream if he could win on his 100th race, it would be amazing with the race named after him and I don’t think it's impossible,” he said. “But I was a bit disappointed to see Ridger, who beat us at Wolverhampton and who will be favourite, in our division. We have to take him on again and while we’re better off in the weights this time, that horse has been winning well and I doubt he’s come to the end of his winning run. But if Saisons D’Or could finish in the first three, that would be a great result.”
And with the desire to compete as strong as ever, the son of Havana Grey could yet return for more in 2027.
“In a lot of ways that is an owners’ decision. All I said to them is ‘I will tell you when I think he’s either not fit to continue racing or he doesn’t want to do it anymore. If you want to stop prior to me saying that, that’s fine too’.
“But what I wouldn’t do is keep him going when he either can’t or doesn’t want to do it anymore. So we haven’t really had a conversation about plans, one or two people have asked, but that’s for Richard, the syndicate manager, and the members to decide. If they want to keep going and I think he’s happy, then we’ll keep going.”
That’s for the future, Tuesday the here and now, but the final word from the trainer is on the horse's remarkable consistency over 10 seasons of racing. Only twice in a calendar year has Saisons D’Or failed to win a race, as a two-year-old in 2017 and three years later.
“I’ve never had one like him. I remember that 2020 season, which was the year of Covid, and he ran back on the first day racing returned, in the second race on the card at Newcastle. He finished second and was obviously going to get clobbered by the handicapper because they pulled nearly five lengths clear of the third. So, I ran him back quickly at Haydock and with him having a break he bounced but had gone up in the handicap and as a result and that year was a bit of a mess, partly because of Covid as we never really got into a rhythm or routine.
“But apart from that he’s just been the model of consistency. How rare is to have I horse like him? Well, I’ve never had another one and would be very, very lucky to get one in the future too."
A remarkable servant and still going strong at the age of 11. Fingers crossed Saison's D'Or can give the O'Keeffe team and the Fatalists another night to savour on Tuesday.
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