Berkshire Boys Hit The Big Time

ASCOT,UK—It was a dream that started with the purchase of two relatively inexpensive yearling fillies at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale of 2013.

Berkshire Honey (GB) (Sakhee's Secret {GB}) never raced and Berkshire Beauty (GB) (Aqlaam {GB}) eventually won over a mile at Southwell in January as a 4-year-old. Hardly the stuff of dreams at this stage, but standing in the winner's enclosure on a sundrenched day at Royal Ascot is something quite different. 

A little over seven years on from their first foray into the racing world, that's where Paul and Lisa Spickett found themselves on Tuesday thanks to the Coventry S. winner Berskhire Shadow (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

The colt's purchase from one of the best breeders in Britain, Cheveley Park Stud, may have marked a step up in quality, but by Book 1 standards, his 40,000gns price tag was still fairly modest. It's safe to say, however, that the grandson of Ballymacoll Stud's outstanding racemare Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) is worth considerably more than that now, and that the Spicketts will likely be on the receiving end of enquiring phone calls from several stallion masters.

“I'm ecstatic,” said Paul Spickett after the Andrew Balding-trained Berkshire Shadow extended his record to two wins from two starts–both in his owners' home county of Berkshire. “This is a childhood dream come true. It's just a magical day.”

He added, “The vibes were that we were going to win but we were up against a lot of good horses. Shadow didn't put a foot wrong [on debut] at Newbury; we wanted to run him again but we couldn't, so Andrew said 'let's just go straight to Ascot and, win or lose, we've got a good 3-year-old'.”

Berkshire Shadow is the second runner at Royal Ascot for the Spicketts after Berkshire Rocco (Fr) (Sir Percy {GB}), who was runner-up in the G2 Queen's Vase when the meeting was held behind closed doors last year. He then went on to fill the same spot in the St Leger. 

“We had our first Royal Ascot runner last year so we decided to get all dressed up at home as we couldn't come racing, and we had a second in the Queen's Vase which was amazing, but this is phenomenal,” said Spickett, who runs his horses in the name of his company Berkshire Parts and Panels. 

“I work hard with all my guys on the shop floor so when I get the odd hour off I put the odd little wager on and I have just been looking forward to coming racing with my wife and enjoying the day.”

Spickett credits his trainer's mother, the notably good breeder Emma Balding of Kingsclere Stud, for helping him with getting started on the racing and breeding front.

He continued, “I had a very good mentor, which was Andrew's mum, who told me in no uncertain terms not to spend too much money. So I took that on board, although I was originally only supposed to buy one horse and I came back with two. The great thing about today is that Berkshire Shadow was bought for my wife. She loves greys and she wanted to get back into racing and we couldn't have hoped for a better day.”

The owner has kept his first two racehorses and he can now add breeder to his list of racing interests. 

“I still have them both as broodmares and they board with Jenny Norris. Honey has bred [dual winner] Jojo Rabbit (GB), which has been brilliant, and everything Beauty breeds is just so pretty I almost don't care about the racing. I take my grand-daughter Ophelia over to visit the mares and foals and she loves to go to see them so it's something nice for us all to do as a family. I'd like to step up the breeding a little bit and might look for a nice mare.”

Spickett has all his horses in training at Kingsclere with Balding, including the returning Berkshire Rocco, who was a late withdrawal with a minor injury on the morning of the Dubai Gold Cup in March.

“Rocco is back in training and we hope to see him back racing in the autumn,” he reported. “The Baldings are an amazing family. I'm just a working-class boy and they took me on board as I am and it has been fantastic. I feel really blessed.”