Berkshire Shadow

There is much to admire about the team at Kingsclere, especially during a season when Andrew Balding has been in or near the top spot of the trainers' table throughout. But one particularly admirable facet to the Balding stable is in its sourcing of young stock at the yearling sales.  Key to that process are the trainer's mother, Emma Balding, and Kingsclere's racing manager, Tessa Hetherington.  The duo can regularly be spotted forming an advance party on the sales grounds, sifting through the catalogue to ensure that they are left...

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...