The Horse Watchers sales report | Martin Dixon on eight new recruits
The Horse Watchers were busy at the sales last week and added eight recruits to their string, as well as saying goodbye to a couple of notable success stories. Martin Dixon explains the reasoning behind the purchases.
NEW RECRUITS
Daring Legend
He has a really useful pedigree and has the size and scope to make a better three-year-old. A couple of his runs were encouraging enough. He met a bit of trouble and finished with a bit more to give at Haydock last time, and the first two home there have both come out and won subsequently. That looks like a solid piece of form and he was better than the result. But over and above his form he's a good-looking, rangy two-year-old with the scope to train on. He will have the winter off and has gone to Mick Appleby.
Walsingham
He was our number one target going into the sales last week - he was one we had all identified and were very positive about how he had shaped and the strength of his early form. He's going to David O'Meara who we've had loads of success with generally, including with a similar type last year in Westernesse who was just starting to find his feet when a little injury shortened his season. Walsingham should have won his last start when he met some trouble and got going too late, just missing out in a photo-finish, and we think we've got a well-handicapped horse that can be campaigned to good effect in the UK. He will be put away and brought back for the turf season.
Different Tone
Different Tone stays with Ed Walker which will be a new partnership for us. One of our biggest supporters Laurence Bellman has his own horses with Ed Walker and I've got to know Ed myself in the last couple of years and get on really well with him, so we're delighted to have a horse there. We were very impressed with Different Tone's win at Lingfield on his penultimate start when he really quickened away strongly in the final furlong, beating a horse of Sir Mark Prescott's called Robusto who at the same sale made 65,000 guineas. We thought Different Tone won with a lot up his sleeve at Lingfield and then the ground conditions would have been against him at Ffos Las when it was very testing. We feel based on his Lingfield win, and the manner of that win, there's quite a lot of mileage in his handicap mark. He's got a useful pedigree, we think we can stretch him out further in distance and he will be kept ticking through the winter.
Helter Skelter
He's going to Rebecca Menzies. He's a strong, good-looking, good-moving horse and came with a very clean report from the vet, Eoghan Nagle, who was very positive about him. We've got him from Ireland as a three-year-old so he's not got a dissimilar profile to Painters Palette who Rebecca did tremendously well with. We felt like on Helter Skelter's latest start he was committed for home a bit too early but shaped like comfortably the best horse in that race. With that in mind we think he's got more improvement in him. He'll be given a short break and Rebecca will take her time with him and look to get him started in the late-winter/early-spring.
Sonnerie Power
He's a bit more of a proven horse than some we've bought but we loved the way he won at Kempton last time. He picked up strongly from an unpromising position and overcame the run of the race to win with a lot in hand. He's very effective on the all-weather and we can aim him at some of the better middle-distance all-weather prizes over the next six months. Beyond that we've hopefully got a nice horse for the turf as well because he's not had a lot of racing on the grass and we still think he's got the potential to be as good on turf. But first there's some nice pots for him on the all-weather. We'll consider taking him to France as he's French-bred so is qualified for the French owners' premiums.
Island Native
He's been bought with the all-weather bonus prizes in mind. His last two runs have been good placed efforts around Wolverhampton and he's already got seven points on the board for the all-weather bonus season. We think he's a tough, consistent handicapper and the way he's run on his last couple of starts suggests he's well capable of winning races this winter. His consistency is a major plus point when it comes to the type of horse you want for the all-weather bonus. He's going to be trained by Mick.
Escarpment
He's a big horse who has been off the track since June with a small hairline fracture but he's now recovered. His early form was quite eyecatching - he was in the frame on his debut at Newmarket behind Kolsai who now has a BHA rating of 106. He's obviously been a bit immature physically but his early promise combined with his frame suggests he can make into a better four-year-old. He's gone to Mick.
Lope de Ruede
He's a well-bred, quite weak-looking three-year-old but he's got a nice bit of quality about him to still grow and strengthen up plenty. He was quite an expensively bought yearling and we feel like his run at the Curragh suggests a mark in the mid-60s is very workable even as it stands, but he has the potential to progress into a stronger four-year-old. Hopefully there's plenty of improvement. He's going to Rebecca Menzies who did exceptionally well with a Lope de Vega horse in Painters Palette. We like Lope de Ruede's pedigree and him as an individual but he just needs a bit of time to fill his frame and strengthen up, and we feel like there might be a lot of improvement in him as a four-year-old.
TWO SUCCESS STORIES MOVING ON
Painters Palette
He's a horse that underlines what we're trying to achieve with getting improvement out of horses, giving the owners enjoyment and success on the track and then, at the other side, hopefully getting a nice sale that can be reinvested into other horses. Rebecca did an amazing job with him right from the start to get him to tune into his racing and thrive. He wasn't the easiest mentally to get in the right place, but she obviously did that and he started to show his form with real consistency by the end of the season, fulfilling his potential. We had our eyes on the Redcar Straight Mile Final from a good two months before it was run and Rebecca got him there in peak condition and he did the business. He was a huge success and a flagbearer for us in the calendar year.
Aphelios
Mick did an equally brilliant job with Aphelios - he improved 22 lb on the BHA's ratings from when we bought him and sold him. He was a horse that we paid quite a bit for and got a similar return at the end, but he won a lot of prize-money and gave us a lot of enjoyment and some memorable days, particularly the York win on his final start for us. We wish every success to his new connections in Scandinavia.
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