Autumn In Paris

 How often have I said - 'How lucky we are to have Debbie on the team'! Not only does she take fabulous photographs of our horses, both on the track and at home, which adds so much to wjat we offer as syndciators, but she is a pretty good with a pen too - and every few months is kind enough to write about her travels overseas. Last weekend Debbie was in Longchamp foe the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe and sent this 'Postcard from Paris' 

  A quiet week in the UK means a postcard from France…the theme of which seems to be ‘temperament’!
It will be of no surprise to you that of all the NBR horses, the one I’m most emotionally invested in is
Penselwood, not least because he came from a breeder that I’ve worked for, or that he’s trained by former
boss and very good friends in Sir Mark and William. Therefore I felt no shame in groaning, when over
breakfast in the Heath Court Hotel after our stable visit, William suggested his first start would be in “about
three weeks time” – knowing full well that this was when I would be in France for my annual trip for Arc
weekend.
I always book my trip months in advance to keep Eurostar and hotel costs down. One thing I was late
booking was my train from Swindon to St Pancras, which when I looked, was a whopping £122 return! A
considerable increase on the 40 or 50 quid I’d been used to paying. Add in £71 for parking at the station
(again a big leap from £24), I had to think outside the proverbial box… NBR to the rescue! Whilst it seemed
counterintuitive with the current fuel prices, it turned out it was cheaper to drive to Nick, leave my car
with him and get the train to St Pancras from Bedford by well over £100…Blimey. Many thanks to Nick and
Cheryl for minding my car on their drive and it did mean that I could leave a framed photo of Nevada
Samaba’s Wincanton win for Nick to deliver to Craig later that week at Southwell.
Due to my additional involvement in Arabian racing, I go to France well ahead of my strictly thoroughbred
colleagues, as the Thursday is dominated by what was the only physical Arabian racehorse sale in Europe
(there are a few pop-ups now). Held by Arqana at Saint-Cloud racecourse, in the same ring as Saturday
night’s thoroughbred sale, it is a mixed sale primarily of two-year-olds (Arabians don’t race until they are
three) and horses in training, along with a few foals, yearlings, broodmares and the occasional stallion.
What struck me on my first visit back in 2012, was the inclusion of horses with an engagement that
weekend, usually in one of the two Group 1 Arabian three-year-old races there the following day, or
maybe what is effectively the French Arabian Oaks at Longchamp on Saturday and very rarely, the big
event, the €1millon Arabian World Cup held before the Arc itself on Sunday. These horses don’t go
‘through the ring’ in the physical sense (for fear of damaging their chances) but are sold instead whilst a
video of race performances plays across an empty ring. Most confusing for un rosbif!
To be fair, it’s a sharp way of making money on what’s fairly obviously not a world beater. The only one
that came close in my time was a three-year-old that went on to win the colts’ Group 1 the next day (and
several others), who was part of the Shadwell dispersal following the death of Sheikh Hamdan. Called
Moshrif, he later had the distinction of tempting Ryan Moore back on to an Arabian and they came within
two and a half lengths of winning their share of $2.5 million when second in Qatar. For those thinking it
was a temperament issue that had kept him off them, Ryan had picked up a whip ban on one when an
apprentice, so perhaps it was temperament, only that of the jockey not the horse! Sale prices were up, the
average increasing 38% to €63,071, though nothing that went on to run over the weekend covered
themselves in glory, the biggest ‘ouch’ being the €200,000 wildcard filly that finished last in the Oaks.
What’s that saying about a fool and their money being soon parted?
Thursday’s racing at Saint-Cloud also includes some black-type thoroughbred races, the fillies Prix Dahlia
often has a strong UK challenge, and it went the way of a Justify filly in the Sangster colours trained by
Brian Meehan and ridden by Christophe Soumillon. The card opens with a Group 3 that was made famous
four years ago when Soumillon elbowed Rossa Ryan out of the side door at the bottom bend, which
ultimately resulted in him losing himself the Aga Khan job. Soumillon’s temperament came up again on
Saturday when, after winning the second race, the Prix Dollar on the George Scott trained Wimbledon
Hawkeye, there was an announcement in the press room that he would not be giving post-race interviews

-ALL WEEKEND. So much for the specially constructed stage and backdrop the sponsors had prepared with
the ‘live video link’ for the rest of the world unable to attend! As someone well old enough to remember
Choc Thornton refusing to give interviews before he’d spoken to connections (which I agreed with), this
level of entitlement for a such a globally prestigious weekend (the first seven races on Sunday are Group
1’s) seems more than poor form, particularly when younger jockeys such as Tom and Hollie or Billy
Loughnane are so good with their communication.
Soumillion’s petulance aside, it was a great weekend, particularly for the Brits, Saturday’s highlight for me
was the clear win of Qirat, a horse who I’ve always felt was a little better than he’d been billed. Shooting
from the stands rail, rather than head on, I’d little time to consider the Caballo De Mar/Scandinavia tussle
in the Prix du Cadran, I was just glad the winner was ‘on my side’ and not ‘covered up’ by the second. As
always, the background talk all week was on the weather. I had confidently (read ‘bravely’) travelled light,
and though it had rained in Paris on my arrival on Wednesday, apart from a light shower whilst on the
courtesy bus home on Saturday evening, that was it. No testing ground at Longchamp.
Though the weather had been kind, technology hadn’t. Whilst I’d managed to send pictures from the sale
on Thursday, on arrival in the press room at Saint-Cloud, the laptop was giving a very definite ‘non’! Now,
it’s not the first time it’s happened there, even the natives (and my desk neighbour Scott Burton) think the
wifi is rubbish, so I shrugged it off, sent my pics from the lobby of my friend’s hotel before we went to
dinner. Arriving early at Longchamp on Saturday (press room desks are a bit like hotel sun loungers, though
in this case it’s the Japanese not the Germans you have to beat), I settled down to trying to resolve the
connection. After two hours and with racing imminent, my phone was fine, but nothing could convince my
laptop to connect. Temperamental tech situations are such that even people you don’t much like will
sympathise, as we all know that not being able to send, means a probable loss of income, as well as being
monumentally irritating. As a last-ditch hail Mary, I attempted an ‘air drop’ from laptop to phone
(essentially a Bluetooth operation) … Hurrah! It worked, technically it shouldn’t have (as it said it wasn’t
connected), but I was thrilled. I then had to go round and apologise to those who’d got a less than cheery
hello from me when I’d been in the throes of despair earlier on.
I was particularly pleased as Heath House runner, Consent was defending her title in the sixth, the Prix de
Royalieu. I obviously knew William was over with her (as he wasn’t going to be at Southwell for
Penselwood), and should she do well, I knew I’d want to send on some photos. Consent doesn’t have the
best of temperaments (hers is a fairly tongue in cheek name!), as I knew from spending a particularly
memorable afternoon on the lawn with her at Heath House as she stubbornly refused to ‘smile’ for the
camera. However, she seemed relatively good humoured with Singh as they walked around the pre parade
ring, which gave me time to chat with William and get a little bit of video comment on Penselwood to send
to the team back home.
In the event both horses ran as expected, Consent had won last year on easy ground so to finish fourth was
a fine effort and William was thrilled with her run.

Thanks to connectivity issues (did I mention them?), Iwasn’t able to watch Penselwood’s debut until I was back in the Longchamp press room on Sunday. Ithought Jack Gilligan gave him a lovely ride, and I was delighted to see him on board as he took out hisapprentice licence whilst I was working there – he was particularly keen and I got him to run to the postbox on the corner with his application so as not to miss the post. He’d then gone to the States with hisfather, trainer Pat Gilligan, as a ‘bug rider’ (US slang for apprentice) and did well (407 winners from 4,000rides) but wanted another go in the UK, riding his first UK winner in a decade on his return for Sir Mark inDecember 2023. With his Stateside experience, Jack knows the importance of ‘gate speed’ however it’s fairto say Penselwood does not! However he wasn’t bought to be a lightning fast two-year-old and he willundoubtedly improve for his first experience.
Sunday, fresh from the excitement of watching Penselwood’s debut, I was delighted to see a filly from the
same Saxon Warrior crop get up to win her first Group 1 in the opener. Green Empress had been tipped to
me by the Coolmore team when I’d visited Saxon Warrior et al on Irish Guineas weekend (if you check back
in the newsletters I passed it on to you too!) She’s now won two Group races and her three seconds have
all been to the mighty Sun Goddess, but she looks a serious Classic prospect in her own right. There’s the
possibility that I may get another chance to cheer her on this year as she may head to the Breeders’ Cup at
the end of the month.

What’s not to like about seven top level races back-to-back? Nothing, apart from having to trek around the
course to the five-furlong finish of the Abbaye. As a photographer this means you have to decide whether
you want racing pics or paddock and then winners enclosure images, you can’t have both unless you’re
channelling Usian Bolt and are prepared to jump the fences to cross the middle of the course [N.B. this
made me Google Japanese Olympic Steeplechase results and apparently they had their first finalist Ryuji
Miura in 2020, 7 th , who was then 8th in 2024, perhaps they should recruit from the press corps!]
Most years, as this, I settle on a racing image and walk over in good time, take a breather, curse at the
position of the sun (it’s always behind the runners and makes for dark ‘challenging’ images), try and adjust
my settings for the best result and pray that the winner runs clear after the line to make a better image
with the stands behind.

God bless Miss Yechance and smiley young Jack Nicholls, who did exactly that.

Jack even hung around long enough in interviews for me to get his photo when I arrived in the paddock for theArabian World Cup, bless him, no Soumillon temperament there (though admittedly the grandsire was a
bit feisty!)
With the three-time winner, the Arabian ‘Frankel’, Al Ghadeer retired to stud, the Arabian World Cup went
to 2025 second HM Alchahine, and with barely a breath drawn it was on to the Arc. So many top-class
horses run in this, these days I forego the paddock to get a decent shot of them all going to post, as they
are likely to be needed for stallion copy later in the year. Of course, the fly in the ointment here is the red
hood…A colleague recently asked Aiden O’Brien why none of his wear them to post, to which he replied,
“they don’t need them because they’ve been properly schooled”… Indeed!
If you’ve no financial or emotional skin in the game, from a media perspective the ideal winner of a big
race is usually not the favourite. You’re looking for a good story. This year’s St Leger is a perfect example, a
race that most of the racing public have forgotten, let alone the general public, and despite some
warranted cribbing about lack of wider media coverage of the result, it should be noted that plenty of the
domestic racing press had chosen to be Ireland that day instead. With Saffie Osborne riding the winner, it
made the front pages of (some of) the papers, not just the sports pages and was a definite ‘story’ and a
‘result’ for those who had been there. Though I have a fondness for Diamond Necklace, having
photographed her in her box as a foal on another trip to France, a Coolmore win, with Soumillon up, wasn’t
going to raise the rafters. After a bit of on the rail debate with my nearest colleagues we decided that
though unlikely, our best result would be Maltese Cross, French bred, ridden by a thoroughly likeable and
media savvy Tom Marquand, William Haggas guaranteed to be thrilled (possibly even tearful) and a larger-
than-life film producing owner in George Waud. Sixth. Just out of the prize money. Oh well.
Don’t get me wrong, Daryz was an admirable winner. Back-to-back wins for colts are rare. His sire Sea The
Stars (also the sire of Maltese Cross mind) is definitely in the twilight of his autumn and Daryz is a more than admirable replacement. His retirement to stud has swiftly been confirmed, though to which Aga Khan
establishment, in France or Ireland, it has yet to be announced. As an industry story, it’s the right result,
from a photographer’s perspective, well… Mickael Barzalona, though charming, is fairly reserved in his
celebrations. Trainer Francois Graffard, much the same and Daryz went to post in a red hood! C’est la Vie!

Monday, a smooth trip home, or rather back to Bedford and then home. It would be remiss, having dined
out in the home of gastronomy and fine wine for five nights not to mention Wednesday’s restaurant. Arc
weekend is generally a chance for me to catch up with many, often older, friends from the Arabian racing
world. This means (out of manners on my part) we go to the restaurants nearest them and unless, as can
occasionally happen, they’ve had a winner or need some other celebration, we’re usually quite modest in
our choices. Wednesday night it was just me and Val Bunting, ‘breeder’ in terms of mating selection and
raising, of the world’s best Arabian racehorse Al Ghadeer, formerly trainer of his great grandsire Amer, a
sire of champions, and a fair judge of a thoroughbred, having purchased the Luca Cumani trained Bonny
Scot for Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani.
We literally walked round the corner from her hotel and ordered salads and a glass of champagne each.
Well. Salads were lovely. The champagne arrived, not in a flute or a coupe, but in a red wine glass. Full of
ice. Wow. We were so taken aback, we completely forgot to photograph it for posterity as we were too
busy decanting the ice (using a fork) into the empty water glasses. If that wasn’t enough, when we were
nearing the bottom, the same waiter (surely his first day ever??) asked if we wanted another. Val, who is
not shy with champagne, was quick in with a ‘yes please, but no ice this time’ and after a few minutes the
lad returned and asked for our glasses, as they didn’t have any others. In Paris. As neither of us wanted to
neck our drinks, we suggested he come back a bit later, which he did, and miraculously with two fresh, ice-
free glasses. I’ll never let the French criticise British cuisine again!
Back to Penselwood. As I expected, having come out of his race well, his on-track education continues at
pace, “the worst thing a horse can do after a race is to come out of his box the next day too fresh, as I’ll run
him again straight away!” was a common comment from Sir Mark during my time there. In Penselwood’s
case, as for many of the Heath House incumbents who are destined to be better at three and over further,
the plan, providing they stand it physically, is to get their three runs in to get a handicap mark as quick as
possible, so that they can have the rest of the autumn/winter off, to grow and mature. If those three runs
result in a lowish mark, all the better for their three-year-old campaign. The other important aspect is that
Sir Mark is well aware of the cost of keeping a horse in full training, and I’ve never known him to waste an
owners money, if a horse is useless, he’ll be quick to deliver the bad news, “this one’s no good, get rid of
him” or in one particularly trying filly’s case, “she’s seen through the game, best retire her”.
So I’m delighted Penselwood is declared for Kempton on Monday and I look forward to seeing you all
there.

Debbie

Monday – Sir Mark Prescott sent through a voice note for the members of The Sharnbrook Partnership, owners of Penselwood, giving his thoughts on their horse’s debut in Southwell on Saturday evening. Sir Mark was satisfied with the run and reported that Penselwood had come out of his race in good order and would be out again in 10-14 days.

With the likelihood of a quick turn around between runs, it seemed like a good idea to get the race report out as soon as possible – it focused the mind somewhat – and I was quickly prodding away at the keyboard – I’m still a one finger typist – so definitely not setting any speed records in that department!

Fergal O’Brien has liked Vegas Gold ever since he walked in the yard, and he sent through a clip of him cantering on the hill gallop under Gina Mangan – who Fergal said, ‘Loved him too’. He looks like a lovely young horse, and the plan that we have for him is still very much in place. As we have with our 3yr olds in the past few years, we do like to aim them at the Listed Bumper in Cheltenham on New Years Day, having had a run before hand if possible. The only one that went straight there on debut was Cloud Dancer who was so green all the way round, Jamie Moore had a real job on his hands! The plan with Vegas Gold is for him to make his debut in Aintree next month and then if all goes well, to head to Cheltenham. The way he goes at home has not put anyone off the plan!

Jason Maguire called with an update on all 3 horses at Ivy Lodge Farm, Cloud Dancer would have an ‘MOT’ from the vet on Tuesday – before he steps up a gear. ‘Floyd’ our homebred 4yr old, had a slight cough over the weekend, and the vet would check him over as well – nothing sinister, just a head cold. The Blue Bresil 3yr old is going very nicely, and Jason is very happy with him – he has grown and strengthened and having filled his big frame, is a very impressive horse now!

            Tuesday – another clip of Vegas Gold ascending the hill at Ravenswell, with a lovely ex Irish Point to Pointer, and a 120 rated hurdler who has won three of her first six starts and is possibly unlucky not to have won 2 more!

Penselwood has come out of his race very well – and got an entry in Kempton next Monday – another 7f novice event.

Ridin Solo is in great order up with Donald McCain – and got an entry in Worcester next Monday. A card created as a result of the dry weather, with all hurdles cards for all 3 days in Chepstow over the weekend, two all chase cards have been added to the programme in Ffos Las and this one in Worcester. Both tracks can provide nice safe jumping ground, and this showed a surprisingly large dose of common sense from the BHA!

Cloud Dancer had his MOT – all good with his legs, and a scope showed that he was healthy too. He had a trach wash – which is a procedure that involves the vet putting an endoscope with a tube attached to it up a horse’s nose, past the larynx and down to the lungs. The vet then squeezes sterile water from a syringe through the tube, down to the end of the scope, and then draws the same liquid back up into the syringe. The colour and consistency of the liquid that comes back up is an indication of a horse’s wellbeing. Cloudy, like chicken soup, shows the presence of mucus and means the horse has a bacterial infection, pink/red indicates the presence of blood, and indicates the animal has burst a blood vessel. A clear liquid means there are not problems in the horse’s respiratory tract, and that he/she is healthy and well.

As you can see, Cloud Dancer got a clean bill of health!

Over at Barbury Castle - Nevada Samba worked with Uhtred Ragnarson in behind - a strong piece of work! 

            Wednesday – Alan King sent through a video of the Alan King Racing Club’s, Ghost Dancing working up the hill over at Sharpridge. She is in great order and is stepping up through the gears now.

Having taken Ridin Solo to Worcester earlier in the summer, only to put him straight back on the lorry and take him home again as a result of some very quick going – Donald sent through a photo of the ground at the track on Wednesday when he was there with runners.

A lot different from the surface we encountered a few months ago and spot on for him to run next week!

            Thursday – Jason sent through a clip of ‘Floyd’ having a canter on the deep sand. He looks terrific, and is keeping his condition really well, something he struggled to do in the spring. He has been a late maturer but is coming together very nicely now!

The Alan King Racing Club’s, John Harrison has been thwarted through the summer by quick ground and bad draws, so Alan has taken the decision to introduce him to a few flights of hurdles as an option for him over the next few months. Having had a pop over a few logs and poles, he schooled over hurdles in the school on Wednesday and took to it like a duck to water!

            Friday – Molly’s Lad gets ever closer to his seasonal reappearance – and had his first away day gallop of the autumn. He went over to Martin Keighleys gallop, where he was ridden in a piece of work by Fern. He worked nicely and had a good blow afterwards. He will come on massively for the work, and should be ready to run in 2/3 weeks, when he will start off in a 2m handicap hurdle to blow a few cobwebs away, before stepping up in trip as the season progresses.  

Penselwood got a further entry in Southwell next week – Sir Mark does like to keep all options open.

Tattersalls published their catalogue for their November National Hunt Sale in Fairyhouse, and within it was Molly Childers 2026 filly foal by Luxembourg – offered by her owners, Jimmy and Eileen Furlong of Thistletown Stud. Jimmy had told me a few weeks ago that she was a very good-looking foal – so we look forward to seeing her in the coming weeks.

A catch up with Jason – the Blue Bresil 3yr old is going very nicely, and he would be clipped over the weekend. Floyd now over his cough and back doing plenty of cantering on the deep sand.

            Saturday – Penselwood declared in Kempton on Monday afternoon. Luke Morris in the saddle. Once again, an educational run – over an inadequate trip. The hope is that he behaves as he did on debut, breaks slightly better than he did in Southwell, and runs a similar sort of race, perhaps showing slightly more on this his second start.

Ridin Solo declared in Worcester, Theo Gillard in the saddle. He was a shade disappointing last time out in Bangor when we expected the step up to 3m to suit him really well. He was struck into that day, and it took him a day or two to get over it – so there are excuses, and we hope that he can run really well on Monday.

With 2 runners on the same day – I will head over to Worcester where there will be a good group of Red Sash Racing Club members on track to see Ridin Solo, and Debbie will be in Kempton on a somewhat quieter mission.

Fergal’s office sent through the results of recent gastroscopes carried out at the yard. Both Molly’s Lad and Vegas Gold were scoped to see if they are suffering with ulcers, and the good news is that both were fine!

Alan King gave Uhtred Ragnarson an entry in Uttoxeter next Friday. He failed to see out the 2m4f when last at the track in July and was much better back over 2m last time out, despite hanging left after the last and giving up a winning opportunity. Hopefully he can go one better this time!

With Alan on the road to Newmarket, his assistant, Robin was on camera duty and sent through a clip of Ghost Dancing working very nicely in a good bunch.

The other horse in the Alan King Racing Club, I’d Go Maniac is working well, and on course for a run in Newbury in a couple of weeks, after which he will head off for a break as he has been on the go for a very long time!

Around the remainder of the team. Jimmy Gatz is building back up to full fitness, and it will not be long before he is heading away for a gallop or two. Olly Murphy in good form, winning the valuable Silver Trophy for the second consecutive year in Chepstow yesterday.

Up with Donald McCain – all the horses are really well and look fantastic! Old Blue Eyes doing plenty of cantering up the hill, Dino Bellagio back in strong work after having his wind tweaked, and the Pethers Moon 3yr old going very nicely – he improves week on week!

At Barbury Castle, Nevada Samba is working very nicely and will be ready to run when the ground is suitable – we are looking at early November with him.

The family are all well down at Park Wood Stud. Savingforvegas had her teeth checked this week, and they needed a bit of work. The dentist carrying out only minor work as she is currently in foal – she will need more extensive work carrying out next spring after she has foaled.

Nancy (2025 by Nirvana du Berlais) and Nev (2026 by Nirvana du Berlais) are both really well. A representative of one of the sales companies was due to inspect Nev a couple of weeks ago – but I have not heard from him, and as I was in two minds about selling him this December anyway – I am now leaning more and more towards keeping hold of him in the short term. There are pros and cons of going in either direction with him – but one thing looks certain – with Old Blue Eyes, Nevada Samba and Vegas Gold all to run this autumn – the pedigree doesn’t look like it is going to get worse – so keeping him for a while longer may just be the best thing to do!

Thanks again to Debbie for her Postcard from Paris – nice to have a proper writer for a change!

With a few runners next week, it should be a fun week – drop by next Sunday for a catch up and a full debrief – sadly for you - written by me!!