Winter Watch: Welcome Aboard

Welcome to Winter Watch, the new column with the unenviable task of trying to fill the void that now exists after Emma Berry penned her final Seven Days column of 2024, not to return until we hand the baton over again next spring.

It's a daunting act to try and follow, but then at least we're in solidarity with the horses who will be the subject matter of this column over the coming weeks and months. The Berry boots might be big ones to fill, but so too are those of Notable Speech (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), the new poster boy for winter all-weather racing after the latest edition of the 2,000 Guineas saw him become the first colt to win that Classic without having raced at two since 1938.

Instead, the explosive turn of foot that characterised his success at Newmarket, and in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, was first showcased in the low-key surrounds of Kempton where he was three from three earlier in the year. Between his debut victory on January 27 and his coronation as an unbeaten Classic winner, it was just 14 weeks, the sort of fast-track education that would have been unheard of not all that long ago.

Oh, how connections of Rosallion (Ire) must have pined for the days when all-weather racing was considered the poor relation. Without the growth in this sector, and the changing attitudes of trainers towards it, then it surely would have been he who went down in the history books as our 2,000 Guineas winner of 2024.

In the event, the son of Blue Point (Ire) had to settle for the runner-up spot behind Notable Speech, a horse who was given all of the time he needed at two to fill into this frame, a patient approach Charlie Appleby was able to adopt in the knowledge that there would be plenty of opportunities available to him when he was ready to begin his racecourse education.

Of course, Notable Speech is not the only Seven Days alumni of recent years whose first day of school came on the all-weather, hence why this column feels like a good fit in its stead for the winter. The brief will be to keep a watchful eye on the many novices and maidens open to late-maturing juveniles between now and the end of 2024, as well as those for three-year-olds just ready to start in the new year, picking out points of interest and, hopefully, a Classic pretender or two along the way.

We'll embark on a whistlestop tour of the all-weather action in Britain and Ireland since November 1 in this bumper first edition, before moving to a weekly format thereafter.

Class is in Session at Clarehaven

Look away Mick Appleby, but there has arguably been no finer exponent of the new and improved all-weather programme in the last decade than the Gosden stable, home to a handful of Classic/Group 1 winners who learned the ropes at the likes of Kempton and Newcastle in the depths of winter.

It's an illustrious roll of honour we'll perhaps delve into in a later edition of Winter Watch when time allows, but for now it's well worth highlighting a pair of recent winners from Clarehaven in Life Is Beautiful (GB) and Elements Of Fire (GB), both of whom have the potential to make the step up when the times comes for them to be tested in deeper waters.

On November 6, Lady Bamford's homebred Life Is Beautiful looked another two-year-old filly to follow for Night Of Thunder (Ire) when winning a one-mile Kempton maiden by three quarters of a length. That was about as promising a debut as one could have hoped for, especially as the manner of her victory (doing her best work late on) and her pedigree both suggest that she's a filly who will come into her own when she tackles middle-distances as a three-year-old. She's the third winner from as many runners out of the G3 Royal Whip Stakes scorer Beautiful Morning (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) who, in turn, is out of the Listed-placed Date With Destiny (Ire), best known as the sole offspring produced at stud by the 2,000 Guineas hero George Washington (Ire).

As for Elements Of Fire, he won his seven-furlong novice at Chelmsford on November 9 by just a short head, but veteran jockey Rab Havlin always appeared confident that his mount had matters in hand, resorting to little more than hands-and-heels riding. Owned by Isa Salman Al Khalifa of Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) fame, the son of Too Darn Hot (GB) was a 320,000gns purchase at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and is out of a three-parts sister to the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes winner Southern Hills (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}). He should prove capable of much better in due course.

✅ Winning start

Life Is Beautiful (Night Of Thunder x Beautiful Morning) makes a nice debut for team Gosden at @kemptonparkrace pic.twitter.com/ukspxK866X

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) November 6, 2024

Appleby Up and Running

Notable Speech isn't the only high-profile all-weather graduate of recent years for Charlie Appleby, with the others including the Group 1-winning siblings Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Measured Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}), and the team at Moulton Paddocks delivered an early strike last week when Present Times (GB) won division one of the one-mile novice run at Lingfield on November 13.

Gelded long before his debut at Newmarket in September, Present Times is more Rebel's Romance than Notable Speech in that respect, but he looks to have a bright future regardless judged on his Lingfield effort, putting his experience to good use as he made all to win by a length and three-quarters with a bit in hand. Don't be surprised if that novice throws up plenty of winners–the time was around half a second faster than the second division–and Present Times certainly has more to offer as his stamina is drawn out further, in keeping with his smart middle-distance pedigree.

Bought for 625,000gns at Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale, the son of Sea The Stars (Ire) is the first foal out of the G3 Darley Stakes winner Feliciana De Vega (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a half-sister to this year's Irish Derby fourth Matsuri (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), while his second dam is the Listed-winning Oratorio (Ire) mare Along Came Casey (Ire).

The Kameko Filly with Kentucky Roots

American Gal (GB) might not come with a six-figure price tag like Present Times, but she's definitely not one to underestimate as an unbeaten filly by leading first-season sire Kameko. She is out of the winning Grand Slam mare Granny Franny, the dam of seven winners from nine runners, with the others including the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes heroine Kitten's Dumplings and GIII Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap winner Granny's Kitten, both by Kameko's sire, Kitten's Joy.

Trained by Ed Walker, American Gal is well named with those bloodlines rooted in Kentucky, albeit she herself is British-bred by the Granny Franny Partnership who came together to buy the mare for 155,000gns at the 2019 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. Her first two foals to race in Britain managed only one win between them, but American Gal looks cut from the same cloth as her classy American-bred siblings, having followed up her debut win at Kempton with a five-length demolition at Wolverhampton on November 15.

Admittedly, she didn't face much in the way of meaningful opposition on the last occasion, but few would argue that this filly already looks very shrewdly bought by the Mildmay Racing team who picked her up for just 25,000gns at Book 3 of the October Yearling Sale.

Flawless two from two! The daughter of Kameko, American Gal bolts up at @WolvesRaces for @edwalkerracing and @loughnane_billy… pic.twitter.com/JLo4NdOdU3

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 15, 2024

Naughty Eyes, the History Maker Nobody Wanted

If American Gal was a shrewd buy at 25,000gns, then what is there to say about Naughty Eyes (Ire), the recent Wolverhampton winner who failed to find a buyer when she was the last lot through the ring at the Guineas Breeze-up Sale, with the bidding never getting past 1,500gns?

There obviously must have been a reason for the relative indifference to this filly at the time–and this is an easy thing to say with the benefit of hindsight–but what a missed opportunity that looks now after her emphatic victory in the six-furlong maiden run on November 11, proving in a different league to her rivals despite looking far from the finished article.

Naughty Eyes, who was initially sold by breeders Tally-Ho Stud for 12,000gns at the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, certainly looks like the sort of filly who will give owner Maddi Bishop-Peck plenty of sport and, whatever she does from here on in, her place in history is secured as the horse who provided her sire, Mehmas (Ire), with a record-breaking 62nd individual two-year-old winner of 2024. She's unlikely to be the last to appear in this space between now and the end of the year, either.

Sticking with the theme of bargain buys, Immediate Effect (GB), a €4,000 purchase when offered by Kirsten Rausing's Staffordstown at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, also deserves a mention as a gelding who is perhaps unlucky not to be unbeaten in two starts for the Sir Mark Prescott stable.

A debut winner at Wolverhampton last month, the son of Study Of Man (Ire) probably should have followed up under a penalty when contesting a seven-furlong novice at Southwell on November 13, doing well under the circumstances to be beaten just three quarters of a length given he endured a rough passage in the straight. He's just the type his trainer excels with, with a step up to middle-distances promising to eke out more improvement.

Stick or Twist with Dundalk Winners?

Fresh from winning the G3 Mercury Stakes for the second consecutive year, this time with the 66-1 shot Ostraka (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}), County Kildare trainer Danny Murphy returned to Dundalk the following week to introduce another promising sort in Perfect Pacemaker (Ire), a striking winner of the five-furlong maiden on the card staged on November 1.

One of only two newcomers in the field, Perfect Pacemaker showed his inexperience at both ends of the race, taking a while to find his stride in the early stages and then hanging left when produced to challenge inside the final furlong, but he was ultimately well on top at the finish in beating the Aidan O'Brien-trained Smiling (Ire) (No Nay Never) by a length and a quarter.

The son of Arizona (Ire) is owned by Rose Day and Karl Kirwan and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for him now. He's speedily bred–his dam is a half-sister to the G1 Prix Morny winner Unfortunately (Ire)–and it's likely to be just a matter of time before overseas buyers come calling, if they haven't already.

Similar comments apply to another recent Dundalk winner in the John Feane-trained Forza Toro (GB) (Aclaim {Ire}), who won a seven-furlong maiden on November 13 for the Twist Of Magic Partnership who own and bred him. Fourth on his debut at Gowran Park in September, Forza Toro proved much sharper with that experience under his belt and barely needed to come off the bridle in beating inferior rivals by four lengths.

The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Dundalk goes the way of Perfect Pacemaker under Billy Lee for the Daniel Murphy yard! 🥇@DundalkStadium | @wjlee24786 pic.twitter.com/1ACI3UDeXb

— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) November 1, 2024

Three Winners In Waiting

Dancing Teapot (Ire)
Camelot (GB)–Lady Adelaide (Ire), by Australia (GB)
Fishdance homebred Dancing Teapot, a full-sister to this year's Poule d'Essai des Poulains runner-up Dancing Gemini (Ire), ran a race full of promise when making her debut in a seven-furlong maiden at Dundalk on November 8, doing her best work at the finish to be beaten just a head by the Ger Lyons-trained Misappropriation (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}). She holds an entry in the Irish Oaks and is surely a filly we'll be revisiting later in this series should Joseph O'Brien choose to try and find a winnable opportunity for her in the coming weeks.

Padua (Ire)
Magna Grecia (Ire)–Heart Power (GB), by Poet's Voice (GB)
Another good middle-distance prospect for the future is Hughie Morrison's Padua, runner-up in division two of the maiden at Lingfield on November 13 after Present Times won the first. The first foal out of a half-sister to the G3 Bronte Cup Fillies' Stakes winner Precious Ramotswe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), 125-shot Padua conceded both experience and first run to the winner, Cape Breton (GB) (Frankel {GB}), so it's to his credit that he managed to get within a short head of that rival. He can go one place better before long to take a small bite out of the 70,000gns it cost to buy him at Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale.

Marhaba Ghaiyyath (Ire)
Ghaiyyath (Ire)–Zam Zoom (Ire), by Dalakhani (Ire)
Bought for just 26,000gns at Book 2 of the October Yearling Sale, Marhaba Ghaiyyath is a half-brother to the Ebor winner and G1 Irish St Leger runner-up Fujaira Prince (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), as well as the dual Listed winner Nichols Canyon (GB) (Authorized {Ire}), who went on to win eight Grade 1 races over hurdles. That all points to stamina being Marhaba Ghaiyyath's strong suit, so too how he shaped when making his debut in a Wolverhampton maiden on November 16, staying on strongly over the extended mile to be beaten just half a length. That was a most encouraging start to his career and he's one to be with next time.