ANGEL OF ANTRIM (Josephine Gordon) Nottingham 10 May 2024 - Pic Steven Cargill / Racingfotos.com

Monday Musings: A Perambulation

At least we had South Africa’s biggest weight-for-age race to talk about last week, writes Tony Stafford. This time, it’s a perambulation taking in Exeter Stables near Newmarket, Manton in Wiltshire, and a couple of sports-themed restaurants and entertainment venues in London’s West End.

I’ve got to know Michael Solle, a senior executive of the wine/whisky company UKV International, and was delighted over the past two years to get an invitation to a couple of his company’s events. These were staged in part to reward and, more importantly, recommend to clients existing and prospective various potential future investments.

First in the deep winter – probably February of 2023 – it was to London’s Strand, between Fleet Stret and Trafalgar Square, that we all pitched up at Oche, where darts – obvious to anyone that watched Luke Littler and co a couple of weeks ago – is the gimmick.

The design was very clever, nine individual oches (if that’s the correct plural) with seating behind and alongside the thrower. Most of the 100 or so invitees had a go – your observer could not be persuaded to reveal his limitations.

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Meanwhile copious amounts of finger foods arrived, and wine and whisky were later added after a senior sommelier from the top West End shop Hedonism Wines made a presentation, bringing a few exquisite examples of each for everyone to sample and hopefully add to their portfolios.

But I had another mission that day. I spoke regularly at that time with Sam Stronge, husband and assistant to trainer Ali, and he had mentioned to me a three-year-old they had where the original owners, who included a long-term pal Geoffrey Bishop, wanted to sell a half-share. That horse, Angel Of Antrim, originally a 37,000 Guineas yearling, was available for sensible money. He had run promisingly in his three runs at two, acquiring a handicap mark in the process, and was recently gelded.

Covid was just about finished and after I was introduced to the owner of Oche, I set about getting him interested. Unfortunately, Sam, who had intended to come along, was unable to be free at the last minute, so the sale wasn’t as easy as it might have been. Now it would be impossible as he has taken over much of the retired Dave Roberts’ team of jump jockeys including champion Harry Cobden.

I left that afternoon convinced we did have a sale, but a call the following morning soon ended that illusion. He stayed with his original owners, won a small race with Ali Stronge later that year, and another in 2023 for the same owners, but with Ed Dunlop.

In March 2024, he was sold for 6,000gns whereupon he joined Phil McEntee, again winning a single race for new owners Derek Lovatt and Colin Bacon. Lovatt has been around the racing game for a long time and, when Simon Lockyer had his brief spell of mega-multiple ownership with the late Shaun Keightley around 2020, Lovatt was a fellow owner there.

A real shrewdie, Derek always had a plan, but I doubt even he would have believed what an amazing transformation was in the offing. Now a five-year-old, Angel Of Antrim joined rookie trainer Jack Morland late last year in his new base at Exeter House Stables.

I had a happy connection with the yard as it is where Vince (later Victoria) Smith trained with a degree of success between 2004 and 2008. He deserved better than the five years and a total 54 wins he amassed during his spell there. Raymond Tooth did well with such as Majestical in the yard while, in the latter part of 2006, Vince gave William Buick rides when even his own boss Andrew Balding was hesitant. After several winners he was off, with Michal Tabor’s recommendation, to Todd Pletcher and thence a stellar career as multiple champion jockey with Godolphin and Charlie Appleby.

Probably a decade ago – time goes so fast – on my weekly Thursday trips to Brian Meehan’s Manton yard, where Raymond also had a serious involvement, I met Giles Morland, owner of some smart horses in the stable. Giles was also one of the early members of the Sam Sangster-arranged Manton Thoroughbreds syndicates.

Giles’s son Jack would often be around, and such is the passage of time that the young man, now 29, has fitted in a few years working in the top Australian stable of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace (now in Hong Kong), where he supervised a 20-horse barn, and subsequently five years as assistant to Ed Dunlop down the road from his present base. He took out his licence to train here on October 1st last year.

Now though, he has the gig at Exeter House Stables, owned by Charlie McBride, from where he, and Lovatt and Bacon’s Angel Of Antrim, after three wins in 23, has suddenly won four races in a row. The total prize money for the four wins is as paltry as it gets, around £15k, but this is the UK after all! I presume the shrewd owners have collected a few bob off the bookies, as long as their affordability checks panned out! The official purse money is not in truth much different two decades on than it was for Regional Racing.

I’ve often reckoned that the BHA, and especially their official handicappers, do not like small stables winning. Between wins one and four, Angel Of Antrim has been raised a whopping 34lb: up respectively 8lb, 5lb, 11lb and 10lb for his wins. I can think of a few trainers completing four-timers that would have got away with less than half that punitive imposition.

Jack Morland deserves great credit for the flying start (six wins so far) to his career and if he manages to win five in a row with Angel Of Antrim at Southwell on Wednesday, he will be looking at a mark in the 90’s and maybe even a run at one of the Royal Ascot handicaps.

On his site, there’s a picture of a smiling Jack, alongside his father and Brian Meehan, after a win from one of their horses at a Royal meeting. Maybe Angel Of Antrim or one of the other 11 horses in his care can get him to that trainer’s holy grail.

I had my last winner as an owner from Exeter House Stables, Vince and I finding a nice opportunity for Richie Boy in a claimer on one of the Saturday morning Regional (or banded) race meetings in October 2004. I had come to own Richie Boy as jockey Simon Whitworth – he rode my first solo winner at Beverley 22 years earlier - told me that his owner Andy Grinter had misread his colours watching the video of his final start and sent him mistakenly to Gary Moore. He wanted rid and quick!

I accepted the story, gullible as I am, and Richie Boy won on debut for us. I loved Regional Racing, with its succession of level-weights contests for low-grade horses. That day at Warwick the field sizes were 12, 17, 16, 13, 16 and 13. Again it was rubbish prizemoney, but it was 20 years ago. The best thing was the races were mostly 3/1 or more the field.

Paul Blockley, another sadly no longer with us, claimed him from us that bright morning. He offered to let me take a share, but I declined and watched two days later as he wasn’t off a yard but then was on him again two days further on. I was in a betting shop with Keith Sobey in Newcastle, the horse was at Nottingham and won at 50/1!

Blockley then had him in a seller at Redcar the following week (November 1) and he bolted up at 4/7. I went to the track and resolved to get him back, bidding all the way to 12k but gave up, leaving him bought in at 12,500gns.

So, I missed the boat, you would think. Not exactly, as Richie Boy was 11th of 12, last of 15 and 8th of 12 in three runs for Paul later in November.

Switched after that to Jennie Candlish, he graced the turf six more times, once in a hurdle race when as a 100/1 shot he was always behind and fell three from home. His flat placings were last of ten, ten, 12, 15 and 14 after which he passed into oblivion. Tough game that ownership.



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When Noel Quinlan was based in what is now Darryl Holland’s Harraton Court stables, before Shaun Keightley, there was a small, neat, much more modern maybe 15-stall building close to the entrance. James Owen had his Arabian and point-to-point horses there, the first steps on the way much more recently to a brilliant start to his dual purpose Rules career, helped massively by the Gredley family.

I mentioned the handicapper’s treatment of Angel Of Antrim. One of the lesser lights (for now) in James Owen’s Green Ridge yard in the town is Carlton, acquired from the Gemma Tutty stable late last year. My friend Mick Godderidge is among the owners, the Think Big Partnership, and when he completed his four-timer at Chelmsford on Saturday (all over 1m6f at the Essex track) he was running off only 12lb higher than his starting point.

His style of racing hasn’t made for extravagant wins, generally coming late and fast, although Thursday’s more clear-cut verdict off 55 ought to result in more than the 5lb penalty he carried on Saturday. Each of the earlier wins was worth £4k. The team can add to that the ten grand they and Owen collected for Saturday’s win in a race only scheduled two days previously owing to the hit to jump racing by the weather. As I said, twice the money as Angel Of Antrim and considerably less of a handicap hike. Carlton was due to bid for his own five-timer in the opener at Wolverhampton this evening but is now a non-runner; it won't be long no doubt.

As to the other sports-featured experience in Central London, last summer we (me with my golf-playing son) went along to Pitch, one of two (soon to be three) golf hospitality venues. This one is close to Tottenham Court Road station, handily on the new and phenomenally-quick Elizabeth Line.

Another 100 or so adherents to the UKV International family now could smash a golf ball at one of nine screens depicting various holes on a golf course and have their distance assessed. The longest hitters got some very choice wines for their achievements.

Otherwise, it was a similar model to Oche and in the same ownership, although here brute force and ignorance held sway rather than the delicacy required to find treble 20. I wonder where Michael Solle has in mind for his clients (and me, I hope) this year. If we do return to either Oche or Pitch, I can’t wait to tell their owner how much he missed by not buying Angel Of Antrim. Like all the best bloodstock agents, I know which lines of form to highlight!

 - TS

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