American Muscle - French Fizz
New girl - Chevelle (Fr) - she is introduced below - have a look at her videos and then see her details on the FOR SALE PAGE! She is unbelievable value!!
When it comes to cars – in America you are generally either one thing or the other – you’re a Chevy or a Ford guy or girl. This week I have managed to be both – and there was not a muscle car or pick up in sight!
It has been a ‘full on’ sort of week – a little bit of everything this week for sure!
On Sunday we headed up the A1 to Doncaster – in preparation for the one-day Goffs UK Summer Sale. On the way up we kept up to speed with both the Open golf in Troone and the Test Match in Trent Bridge. An amazing final round from American Xander Schauffele saw him lift the Claret Jug in Troone, and a sparkling spell of spin bowling from Shoaib Bashir saw England wrap up the Test Match and clinch the series win in Nottingham. We booked into the Hilton and were just at the bar ordering a pint when we were rounded up and taken to the end of the dining room and seated with a social bunch for a bite of supper. A very convivial evening ensued – great fun – loads of chat and stories it was good to see everyone in such good form!
Monday was the day of the sale – a mixed catalogue, consisting of both flat and national hunt horses in training and a bunch of three year old national hunt stores. The sale also included the dispersal of Chris Giles racehorses, and with the quality that they brought to the party there was always going to be some fireworks when they went through the ring. The fireworks began when lot 65 walked in the ring – and things really hotted up when Newbury Bumper winner Regents Stroll made his appearance 2 lots later. I was a keen observer in the ring – as plenty of us were keen to see if Gordon Elliot would try and get revenge for losing Caldwell Potter to the Nicholls team when he went through the ring earlier this year and made a World Record price. As it transpired, Gordon didn’t get a look in! From where I positioned myself I could see all sides of the sales ring, and it was the Goffs MD Tim Kent who, acting for an undisclosed bidder on the phone, stunned the crowd with an opening bid of £400,000 – the bidding was brisk, and it was eventually Tom Malone, acting for a group of Paul Nicholls’ owners who won out with a bid of £660,000 – a new World Record. I had been chatting with Tom on Sunday night, and it was clear that Paul Nicholls was very determined to take those that he trained back home, and that is how it panned out. It was a fun few minutes in the ring! Always nice to see a few wealthy men with big egos go head to head over a few horses!
The rest of the sale was pretty much mundane stuff, a couple of French Graded winners went through with big price tags, but I have to say the stores on offer were not the best.
It was a warm day, and good to catch up with several of our trainers. Olly sat down and gave an update on Tintagel Queen, Itchy Feet and Auditoria. He was keen to run the latter in Worcester on Thursday afternoon in an amateur riders handicap hurdle. Audrey seemed back on form after being in season and running flat last time out in Newton Abbott, and she would have the benefit of the countrys leading amateur jockey, James King in the saddle. Plenty of positives, and with the summer break coming up it was a good chance to get her out before the near three week break.
Alan King came by and reported that he was really happy with the Lindas Lad filly, and that Rockola was looking fantastic doing two canters and moving great.
Fergal was another one to sit down and have a chat, we had both received a video from Connor Brace that morning – Maria’s Flame having her first canter back – she was fresh and well for sure! Ferg was keen to run Mamoon Star on Friday in Uttoxeter, he has really been in rude health at home – absolutely flying in his work – and seems very much back to his best! With headgear applied, and Johnny Burke on board – it was hoped we would see him back to his best once more. Greyval is doing plenty of cantering as is Intrepide Sud – who is A1 after his colic scare.
It was also good to see Will Kinsey, who gave an update on the 2 yr old half sister to Hidden Beauty that he has at his Peel Hall yard in Cheshire. He is really happy with how she has developed over the summer, and he will get her back in a stable in the next couple of weeks and crack on and get a bit more education into her.
Although we didn’t buy anything in Doncaster, I did manage to land a nice one from a bit further afield. As many of you will know, I spend an awful lot of time watching French racing, trying to identify value horses off of the flat that will give syndicates a lot of fun over hurdles in the UK. Last autumn I spied a filly called Chevelle that ticked a lot of boxes and popped her in the tracker. Regular readers will already know I am a big fan of the sire The Grey Gatsby – I was one of the first to identify his potential as a sire of jumpers, and purchased Greyval as a three year old off of the flat in France to contest juvenile hurdles in the UK. She was from his first crop, and one of the first of his progeny to jump hurdles, but they all seemed to be well built and tough individuals, and she proved me right by winning the Fillies Listed Juvenile Hurdle in January 2023.
We like Greyval a lot, and I was keen to add another one by her sire to our team when the opportunity arose – and did so when I spotted a big, strong good moving colt in one of the yearling sales in Newmarket in the autumn. We managed to get him, and he went down to Jason Maguires for the winter. If you read this waffle every week you will know that Jason has been breaking him in for the past few weeks and has been very impressed with him – what has been exceptional about him has been his schooling – from the minute he stepped foot in the lose school, he has absolutely loved to jump. He just sees an obstacle and attacks it – if anything he could be a bit too brave!
Chevelle is his full sister and I had spotted her in a couple of runs in the south of France last October and November. As we have been slowly educating the 2 yr old at Ivy Lodge Farm she has been running in the provinces over there. Her two runs as a two year old were good efforts, a close second on debut to a horse now rated 87, who was only just pipped touched off on it’s latest start by a horse rated 107! The other three horses to fill the first four places are all well bred, having very smart half siblings, and the fourth went on to run over hurdles – beaten just 7 lengths in a maiden hurdle in Auteuil that boasts Lossiemouth in the list of previous winners, and always throws up a good filly or two – in fact from this years renewal – the first and second both went on to score in Listed company in Auteil next time out!
Chevelle’s three year old career had not gone so well, having run twice over 9f at two she stepped back in trip for her seasonal bow in 2024 and ran ok, but was then dropped back to 7 furlongs for her next start, and was unsurprisingly found wanting for speed – her pedigree is all about stamina, and the emphasis on speed back over 7f was never going to suit. She was then declared in a claimer in Vichy a couple of weeks ago and we watched closely. She was beaten 2 lengths in that race – and finished 5th in a bunch finish – but again she looked in need of a step up in trip – and although we didn’t claim her that evening – we did make a play for her later that night, and although it took a few days to get a deal done we manged to buy her on Monday morning. She is a big scopey filly, who looks like she will be well suited to 2 miles and 8 flights of hurdles, but what we were all excited about was the fact that her full brother is such a natural over an obstacle. He has now progressed to jumping hurdles in the arena – and even at two he is giving other babies a lead over them – he is exceptional – and with this new filly the hope was that, in sharing the same genes as him – she too would be a natural over an obstacle and therefore ideal for juvenile hurdles. AP McCoy once said – if a horse stays and jumps – it doesn’t matter how talented it is – it will win a juvenile hurdle – we hope she does both.
Tuesday, back home – getting the paperwork sorted for the import of Chevelle from France. She would be going straight to Maguires to start schooling.
Jack and Liam were into Ravenswell – Jack to see his horse Mamoon Star do his final piece of work before his intended run in Uttoxeter, He was very good, just as Fergal had said – in the form of his life – now all we needed was for him to get a run – there were 268 horses entered at the meeting and it was not certain that he would get in due to the fact that there would not be enough stables for those declared when declarations closed at 10.00am on Wednesday.
One that was declared was Auditoria for Worcester on Thursday – I was looking forward to seeing her again – she had been in season when she last ran – and with problem behind her – she would hopefully run well.
Wednesday morning, we headed up to Warren Chase to see the team there. Auditoria had a school under James King and looked in fabulous form! She pinged up the hurdles and was on great terms with herself! Tintagel Queen was moving well in the school and did a couple of canters – she will be ready to run in October when hopefully there is a bit of rain around and some suitable ground. Olly said that he would be very disappointed if she wasn’t up to winning a race or two this season. He had fancied her to win on her next start after making such an impressive debut in Lingfield last season – but injury cut her season short – she will hopefully pick up where she left off last season. Itchy Feet is back in work – and the vet is really happy with him – his workload will increase from August 1st.
Tintagel Queen warms up ahead of two canters
Auditoria awaits her turn
Itchy Feet looking very well!
Olly is upgrading his facilities, with work on updating and extending an existing gallop that will be a huge boost to the facilities. The sand gallop will have some work done in a couple of weeks, and there are plans for work in the yards too! It is yard that very much looks forward and it is great to see.
While at Ollys we were closely tracking the declarations for Uttoxeter on Friday – would Mamoon Star get to run? –Iit was soon clear that he would be struggling – and eventually he was one of a great many that was eliminated. Such a shame as this had been the plan for a very long time – and we will now have to wait until after the summer break to see him – and that may have to be up in Perth!
Good to get a video of Cloud Dancer from Josh Moore – who was obviously riding one upsides CD which jogged his memory to give his owners an update. CD really well – moving great and ready to start cantering!
There was still work to do organising the transport for Chevelle – but when you leave things in the hands of Sarah Buckley, you know things will get sorted out with the minimum of fuss. Sarah is such a huge help – she lets me know what paper work she needs, and when to get it to her, and she sorts the rest – Sarah is simply superb – but Oh for the old days – pre Brexit, when horses moved freely across the continent with nothing more than their passport -,now there are health documents and huge amounts of customs paperwork to sort out – thank the Lord for Sarah! With everything in place, Chevelle would be collected on Thursday, travel on the overnight ferry to Portsmouth and then head on up to Maguires.
When I knew she would be arriving, I put out a bulletin to our Whatsapp groups and there was a big response! A huge amount of interest in her – and nobody had seen a picture of her or even knew her name yet! I was simply putting a bit of ‘bread on the water’ to see what interest there was in her and what size of share they would be keen to take. The overwhelming response was 10% shares – so that was that – decision made – she would be syndicated to 10 people – and judging by the level of response, there would not be many shares left when I got her details drawn up and sent out!
Thursday – Office in the morning, before heading over to Worcester to see Auditoria run. It was really good to see a couple of old school and college mates around the paddock before her run I have not seen them for quite a while, and it was great to see them both in such good form. Auditoria was her usual sassy self, and the visors had to be applied half way across the course from the stables as she it was not proving easy to get them on in the stables. She looked really well in then paddock, and when James came out, he said there looked to be a nice bit of pace on but he would buck out and be handy with her without forcing her. Sean Bowen had advised him to stay wide and off the rail as the ground was chewed up down there, and all was going to plan – she was travelling and jumping well until a mistake at one down the back – after which she seemed to down tools and was never travelling thereafter. It was a gloomy debrief – Auditoria is what she is – she isn’t a superstar, but over the course of the 3 ½ years we have had her she has always been consistent and given her syndicate a great day out – usually going home with a cheque. Her last two outings have been disappointing, we thought the run in Newton Abbott was due to her being in season, but there were no such excuses this time, and it rather looks like she has fallen out of love with being a racehorse.
Auditoria after her run.
I was cheered up on the way home when Jason sent a video of 2 yr old Gatsby having a canter down at Tom Georges – his second trip there. A couple of weeks ago the plan had been for him to be back out in the field a couple of days after we saw him – but Jason felt that he needed a couple more weeks of work – and to see the difference in him for those two extra weeks is utterly amazing – he is really starting to get a figure now – he is a big slab of a horse, and Jason felt that he needed an extra couple of weeks to get some more work into him and get him to lose a bit more of the visceral fat he was carrying – that is working very well – and with his weight loss, he has also started to grow again, and even out – his withers now catching up with his bum! Such is the way he has developed over the last two weeks; Jason has decided to keep him in for another fortnight – and really get him trim before he goes out to grass again. He goes really well, and Jason is very impressed with him! Thank goodness – having just purchased his full sister!!
Gatsby - the 2 yr old. He has changed so much in two weeks!
Friday – Auditoria all well after her outing in Worcester – sadly as she had disappointed the previous evening there was a fair bit to deal with in the morning – which meant that I had to turn down a kind invite to the ARC box in Ascot at their afternoon meeting. It was decision time for Audreys owners – which route to go down – continue with her in training or retire her. Olly and I both suggesting that she looked to have fallen out with the job and the right choice would be to retire her – but it is not our decision, that rests with her owners – initial thoughts from the majority were to retire her – it will be sorted in the next few days.
Just before breakfast Chevelle arrived from France – and she was everything we had hoped for – she has size, scope and had travelled very well, she was very relaxed when she came off of the lorry. After a bit of breakfast and a chance to settle in for a couple of hours, Jason couldn’t wait and gave her a spin in the lose school – her first taste of jumping – and like her full brother – she was an absolute natural! A big positive as this is why we had bought her in the first place! It very much looks like all the pieces are falling into place – she has all the physical attributes to make a jumper – she has a great mind, and she loves to jump! All the boxes ticked. She will spend the next few weeks at Ivy Lodge Farm, where she will acclimatise to her new regime, and her new job of jumping, and then she will head up the road to Fergal O’Brien – he has trained three fillies to go down the path that we have mapped out for Chevelle, and they have all hit the targets that we set them – Ferg is the man for the job! Have a look at her on the For Sale Page – but be quick – to say the uptake in shares has been phenomenal is an understatement! 07909 518902 – or email nickbrownracing.co.uk
The other two down with Jason – the two 2 yr olds are both really well – Floyd is enjoying the benefits of being the ‘perfect pupil’ and teachers pet – he was so good to break in, that his work was done in 5 weeks – and he has since been out in the field relaxing.
Floyd relaxing in the field - waiting for his pal Finbar to finish his Primary School
His pal Finbar on the other hand has been less straight forward, and as a result is still having to go to school every day. In fairness he is getting there now, and his primary school will come to an end towards the end of next week after which he will head back to The Elms.
Finbar having a lose school
Saturday – a trip down to Wembley – to see The Boss! Bruce Springsteen! Having started the week a ‘Chevy Guy’ with the purchase of Chevelle who shares her name with a model of Chevrolet made in the late 60’s and early 70’s – I switched to being a ‘Ford Guy’ last night when we headed down to Wembley Stadium to see The Boss, Bruce Springsteen once again – The Boss 302 was a variant of the Ford Mustang built in the same era as the Chevelle!
Chevelle
Boss 302 Mustang
Are you Chevy or Ford??
Springsteen and the E Street Band at their sublime best again last night – If you have never seen them – do! A fantastic night – great to meet up with friends before the gig for a few beers, and then 3 hours of non stop Bruce! I will say that although Wembley is a fantastic stadium, just where our seats were, the sound quality was not the best – and not quite as good as in Hyde Park last summer, which is the best I’ve ever seen him – but nevertheless it was an epic show!
Paying homage to the master!
Luke Harvey gets everywhere!
74 - He's Seventy bloody four!!!
Up at Bankhouse – Donald is very happy with his team – Dino Bellagio is cantering – and still being Dino – he is such a character – which is easy for me to say from over 100 miles away! Charlie who rides him every day probably calls him a few more choice words! Old Blue Eyes is looking great as ever and moving very well as is Ridin Solo.
Next week – I am looking forward to heading down to meet Chevelle for the first time and will tie that trip in with a visit to Fergals. I have the chance to head down to Glorious Goodwood for a couple of days of the festival – and will do if time allows – it is a Glorious place to be!
If you want a share in Chevelle – don’t hang about – I’ve just sold another one! - her details are all on the FOR SALE PAGE - I have only shared them with exisiting clients for now - they will be released on our social media platforms on Tuesday!! Don't miss her - You've seen her - I think I have managed to snaffle an absoulte bargain!!
