'Maybe He's As Good As We'd Hoped' – Hamilton Excited About Hot Prospect 

Over a decade on from Pathfork recording a memorable Group 1 triumph in the National Stakes at the Curragh, the American-based Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton of Silverton Hill Farm are dreaming of further big-race riches in Europe with Hotazhell (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}). 

If it has been a while between drinks for the Hamiltons in Ireland, Hotazehll appears as though he was worth the wait. Like Pathfork, Hotazhell is trained by Jessica Harrington. 

He announced himself as a pretty serious colt with genuine Classic aspirations when landing the G3 Tyros Stakes–a race that has been won by Teofilo (Ire), New Approach (Ire), Gleneagles (Ire) and more–at Leopardstown last Thursday.

Bonnie Hamilton is rightly excited about what the future might bring for the son of Too Darn Hot, who was shrewdly sourced by Harrington from Eddie Linehan's Lackendarra Stables at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale for 200,000gns in the spring. 

“As Christophe Clement always says, the dream is still alive until it's not,'” Hamilton said. “From a distance, and from talking to Richie [Galway] and Jessie, they feel like Hotzhell is really only starting to tap into what he could be as a racehorse. It would be great if he turned out to be a Classic horse. That's what we're after.”

Hamilton added, “We've always dealt with really great people in Ireland who have made the whole experience really special. I feel like they are honest with us as well. The Irish really appreciate racing and there are very good horses over there. The whole experience is so good.”

Things could get even better for Hotazhell, who Harrington reports to be under consideration for the Futurity and the National Stakes at the Curragh. He would not look out of place in the line-up for Group 1 races this term judging by how he accounted for some well-touted rivals at Leopardstown and Hamilton has even pledged to be there in person for his next appearance.

She said, “You'd always be wishing that maybe he could come over here for the Breeders' Cup at some point but, the type of ground that he likes, I don't think that would lend itself to the Breeders' Cup in California this year. I think we're pretty good owners-we think it's best to listen to the trainer who knows best. If you have trainers you trust and stay out of their way, you will probably do much better in the long run. We're going to try and get over to see him run come hell or high water.”

Eddie Linehan [right]: sold Hotazhell at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale

“We were very bullish about this lad at the sales,” Linehan explained. “We knew he was a very special horse from day one and, as soon as we pressed a button, we knew he was different to anything we had before. I've sold nine black-type fillies in nine years at the breeze-ups but this is the type of horse we have been searching for and hopefully he can elevate us to the next level at the breeze-ups. I think he's the horse we've needed to try and get up the ladder.”

Linehan added, “They seem to be very bullish about him at Jessica Harrington's. We were probably a bit disappointed that he only made 200,000gns at the Craven, but it was early in the sale, so maybe that counted against him. But when we heard he was going to Harrington's, I couldn't have been happier. The best horse my father ever sold was a horse called Oscars Well, who won two Grade 1s over hurdles for Jessica Harrington, so that was my first thought when Hotazhell went there. 

“Before he ran in the Tyros, they were listing out some of the horses who had won the race down through the years on Racing TV. I was thinking to myself, 'if he can win this, he really could be anything. Sure enough he did and I think he could be a proper Group 1 horse now.”

It is Galway, a key cog in the wheel at Harrington's world-famous yard, that has been credited by Hamilton for finding Hotazhell at the sales. However, the instruction to go and find another Pathfork only came about by chance. 

Hamilton explained, “It's really interesting because we've been to Royal Ascot four or five times with runners and of course we love that. We said a few years ago, why don't we try and get a runner ready for that again. We have a homebred two-year-old here in the States and he is out of a mare who ran respectable at Royal Ascot so we thought he might fit the bill. We asked Richie last autumn if they would take him and he said they'd love to have him. Well, I think I put the jinx on the horse because he was just not an early two-year-old. Of course, I was disappointed and when I rang Jessie and Richie, they said, 'why don't you just let us buy you something?'”

She added, “We weren't going to be spending seven or eight hundred thousand on something but they went to Newmarket for the Craven Breeze-Up Sale and called us with their list. The first one went through for too much money and I was pretty bummed. Then Hotazhell came through and Richie just said, 'you got him'. Really all of the credit needs to go back to Richie.”

Those renowned pink Silverton silks are regularly sighted at the big meetings in America but, make no mistake, Hotazell's emergence as a genuine Group 1 contender in Ireland means just as much to the owners.

“We've been doing this long enough to know how difficult it is [to find good horses],” Hamilton said. “We've had runners in the Kentucky Derby and, you know what, we probably didn't appreciate that enough at the time. It's very special to have a horse like Hotazhell because there is such a high level of racing in Ireland. There's a fine line between being excited and expecting but maybe he really is as good as we were hoping he would be. It's truly just as exciting watching him in Ireland as it would be if we had one over here in Kentucky. A good horse is special anywhere in the world, especially in Ireland.”