Tag Archive for: Michael Bell

Carrytheone raring to go in search of unique double

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Carrytheone will have just 44 hours of preparation as he targets a quickfire ‘team competition’ double in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup Mile at Ascot on Saturday.

Unfortunate not to be closer than fifth in the big handicap at Ascot on King George day, the Stuart Mizon-owned seven-year-old, who is trained by Michael Bell, was only in action on Thursday evening in the finale of the Racing League meeting at Chepstow.

The son of Lope De Vega timed his charge to perfection in the hands of Saffie Osborne, to get the verdict in a three-way photo with Rahmi and Streets Of Gold to claim the feature worth over £38,000 by a short head.

Carrytheone now swaps the red silks of Wales & The West for the yellow jacket of the Rest of the World team.

He is already in position at Ascot, after eating up and having a jog at Fitzroy House on Friday morning, to the delight of Bell.

“He did well in the circumstances,” said the Newmarket trainer, whose charge has been allotted the services of South African rider Rachel Venniker.

“I think he had good form on soft ground, so we were hopeful going into it and Saffie gave him a great ride and he bagged another decent prize.

“He ate up last night and he jogged up fine this morning, so he is now at Ascot waiting for tomorrow. It’s still the plan, he looks absolutely fine this morning, chilled and relaxed.

“Obviously, it’s a very quick turnaround, but given the prize-money on offer and the quality of the opposition, we feel it’s worth taking a chance.

“It’s not the norm to back up so quickly, but given the race seems to be full of a lot of horses on all-time highs (ratings), or not in the best of form, I think we are tempted to take our chance.”

Carrytheone promises to be in good hands with Venniker, who has broken new ground for female jockeys in South Africa, where she is the only professional female rider, having twice been crowned champion apprentice.

The 22-year-old’s boss is well known to British racegoers, as Michael Roberts rode a string of big-race winners, including the great Mtoto.

“I am stable rider for Michael Roberts, so it is brilliant to have an ex-champion jockey in Britain and South Africa as my guv’nor. He has all the wisdom in the world to pass down. I am always trying my best to apply the knowledge I pick up,” Venniker said.

“Michael has given me plenty of advice and I am sure I will be getting more now I have had a look at the track – a few tips about what to do and how to do it properly. Michael was an incredible jockey and is always trying to help me. I am sure it will pay off.

“It is an honour and privilege to be invited to ride in the Shergar Cup. I have been to the Saudi International Challenge, but to be invited to this is incredible. When I am not racing myself, I am always watching what is happening over here and I have seen quite a bit of the racing.

“The interest back home is massive. All the trainers I ride for and the owners in my main stable are super excited. I arrived on Sunday and this is my first time in the UK. I am very excited. I have been to London and done the touristy stuff and went to Newmarket to ride out for Mr (William) Haggas.

“It will be incredible to be riding in the first Shergar Cup with a 50-50 split of female and male jockeys and I am so proud to be part of it. It shows how much the sport is changing.”

Glory days with Big Orange were so sweet for Bell

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Michael Bell has trained a Derby winner, Nunthorpe speedsters and a dual Oaks heroine. But few horses have given him as much pleasure in his career as Big Orange.

It may have taken him four races to break his maiden, but he hinted at what was to come when finishing fourth in the Queen’s Vase on his very next outing.

Big Orange won his next two races at Listed level and ended his three-year-old season at Ascot on Champions Day, not disgraced behind Dermot Weld’s Forgotten Rules when fifth in the Long Distance Cup.

Understandably connections had high hopes for him the following year, and while his first two performances were bitterly disappointing those who kept the faith were rewarded at 25-1 when he dropped back to a mile and a half to win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes.

Then his love affair with Goodwood began. Back-to-back Goodwood Cups went his way, and only an emerging superstar in the shape of Stradivarius could deny him the hat-trick in 2017, the year he had won the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

“He had slightly lost his way a bit at the start of his four-year-old career, so we schooled him over hurdles and it obviously did the trick as he went and won the Princess of Wales’s for the first time. It just freshened him up, whether it made a difference, I don’t know,” said Bell of his slightly unusual preparation for a Group Two Flat race.

“The first time he won he beat Quest For More with Trip To Paris just behind and actually that day Trip To Paris had a 4lb penalty for winning the Gold Cup, so you could argue on the day he was the best horse. He was a good horse for Ed (Dunlop).

“The Goodwood Cup was a race that suited him down to the ground, but unfortunately when he was going for the hat-trick Stradivarius appeared as a three-year-old and trying to give him 13lb just proved beyond him.

“He was only beaten a length. There was a deathly hush when Stradivarius walked in as at the time Big Orange was very popular, but it really was a case of the prince taking the crown.”

Stradivarius (left) denied Big Orange a hat-trick in the Goodwood Cup
Stradivarius (left) denied Big Orange a hat-trick in the Goodwood Cup (John Walton/PA)

Reflecting further, Bell said: “I don’t think there was anything specifically about Goodwood that suited him, he also had a good record at Ascot, he ran well in a Melbourne Cup and at Meydan. The key to him was just fast ground. When he could bounce off fast ground he was a top-class stayer,” said Bell.

“Big Orange was an absolute joy to train and the day he won the Gold Cup I would say was my favourite ever on a racecourse. It was such an amazing atmosphere and to do it in the style he did was very rewarding.

“It’s very hard to beat Coolmore in the Gold Cup, but it was an excellent ride by James Doyle I always felt. I know Ryan (Moore) felt it might not have been his finest hour on Order Of St George, but Ryan is his own harshest critic.

Big Orange (left) saw off Order Of St George in a thrilling Gold Cup at Ascot
Big Orange (left) saw off Order Of St George in a thrilling Gold Cup at Ascot (Brian Lawless/PA)

“For me, Order Of St George got to Big Orange and then Big Orange found more.

“He had a huge fan base, I think it was because he was so big and his whole demeanour on the racetrack. He quickly became very popular.

“When you look back at the likes of Persian Punch, Double Trigger, Yeats – there are loads of stayers who became popular as they go on for a long time and they are great to watch.”

Sensational Sariska lived up to all her billing in Curragh cruise

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Throughout racing’s long and storied history, few Classics can have been won with such ease as Sariska’s Irish Oaks in 2009.

In following up her Epsom triumph over Midday – herself a subsequent multiple Group One winner – Michael Bell’s Sariska looked to have the world at her feet.

Ridden by Jamie Spencer, she had the perfect partner as his patient style saw Lady Bamford’s homebred come swinging into the Curragh’s home straight still on the bridle.

When Spencer allowed his mount an inch of rein, Sariska quickly made up ground on the pacemaker Roses For The Lady, ridden by Spencer’s good friend Fran Berry, with the winning jockey taking a long look across at his hard-at-work pal before it was time for goodbye.

Without much further effort from Spencer, Sariska crossed the line as a three-length winner, hardly knowing she had been in a race.

“She had worked very well the one time we worked her after Epsom and we went there brimming with confidence as she’d done everything we’d asked of her since Epsom,” said Bell.

“Obviously Jamie was the perfect fit for her. The one bit of work she did after Epsom showed us that she was absolutely on her game and with the ground in her favour, I’d have been absolutely devastated if she’d got beaten.

“Jamie rode her to perfection, but the way she won I probably could have ridden her myself!”

While Sariska did have winning form on quick ground, that day at the Curragh it was riding heavy and it was by far her best performance.

Bell went on: “She was a very big, heavy filly and although she was effective on faster ground, she clearly excelled on soft. Her mother was effective on it, the whole family were, and being by Pivotal all signs were she was better with some juice.”

Sariska (left) was beaten by Dar Re Mi on her next outing when in season
Sariska (left) was beaten by Dar Re Mi on her next outing when in season (Anna Gowthorpe/PA)

In the immediate aftermath Sariska looked a major player in the rest of the season’s top races. However, she met with defeat in her next outing against Dar Re Mi in the Yorkshire Oaks when it later emerged she was in season.

Despite beating Midday once again on her return the following season in the Middleton Stakes, she was then second to Fame And Glory in the Coronation Cup in what was to be her last race as her famous character then came out in spades.

She refused to leave the stalls for both the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille and was swiftly retired.

“She did come back and win as a four-year-old, so you couldn’t necessarily say running that day at York when it transpired that she was in season left a mark,” said Bell.

“Every horse is slightly different, there’s only so many times you can go to the well with horses and later on in her career she waved the white flag and said ‘I’ve done enough’.

“She’d never shown a hint that she might refuse before the first day she did so at York. She’d always had character, but that was very unexpected.

“The die was cast once she’d done it a second time. We took her for a barrier trial at Lingfield and simulated race conditions as best we could and she pinged the gates. She was just clever.

“That day in France, when Jamie approached the stalls he said he knew she was going to do it, despite the day at Lingfield. She was just clever.

“On pure ability she is right up there with the best I’ve trained. We’ve been lucky to have some very good fillies over the years but I would say her and Red Evie were the best by some way.”

Michael Bell salutes Hayley Turner on hitting 1,000 winners

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Michael Bell has paid tribute to Hayley Turner after she hit a milestone tally of 1,000 career winners at Chelmsford on Tuesday night.

Turner rode David Simcock’s Tradesman to victory to tip the count to 1,000, fittingly sporting the Khalifa Dasmal silks she wore when she landed her first Group One success aboard Dream Ahead in the July Cup in 2011.

Simcock has championed her throughout her career and so too has fellow Newmarket trainer Bell, with Turner apprenticed at his yard as a teenager before sharing the 2005 champion apprentice title with Saleem Golam.

He said of her milestone victory: “It’s a huge personal achievement, she’s a credit to her profession and in many ways has been a role model and pathfinder for all female jockeys. She set the standards they aspire to.

“She came to me aged 18 or 19 having ridden one winner and it was pretty obvious looking at her ride that she had some natural ability.

Margot Did and Hayley Turner winning the Nunthorpe
Margot Did and Hayley Turner winning the Nunthorpe (John Giles/PA)

“At that stage I had to work quite hard to get owners to use her, but very soon her talent shone through and my job became pretty easy after she was riding bucketfuls of winners for us.”

Turner enjoyed a notable association with Bell’s top sprint filly Margot Did, with the duo contesting valuable five-furlong contests and landing the Nunthorpe at York together, just a month on from Dream Ahead’s July Cup win.

“She rode her in all her races, she’d already won the July Cup by that stage so that was two Group Ones in the space of a month. I think she then won a Group One in America the next autumn for David Simcock so she was on an absolute roll by then,” Bell added.

Bell also noted that Turner has shown plenty of resilience to go with her talent as her career has recovered from two major injuries, one of which caused a decision to retire in 2015 that was later rescinded.

He said: “Don’t forget Hayley also had a sabbatical, or a retirement, and a couple of injuries that would have finished most people off. A head injury back in the day when she missed a year, and also that awful injury in the Park Hill, she then subsequently retired for another year.

“She probably missed at least two years riding through injury and it’s testament to her strength of character and fitness level that she’s lasted so long and been so successful.”

Bell hoping for Dettori magic with Ambiente Amigo

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Michael Bell is thrilled to have secured the services of Frankie Dettori to partner his exciting juvenile Ambiente Amigo in the bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.

With his retirement looming, Dettori is set to bid farewell to the Rowley Mile following this week’s two-day fixture and Bell is hoping to provide him with what could be a final Group One success at Headquarters, in a race the Italian has already won on a record seven occasions.

He said: “Frankie goes back a long way with the Gredleys (owners). He was their next-door neighbour for 10 or 15 years when he lived in Stetchworth, he won the Henry II Stakes for us on Big Orange and was second on him in the Goodwood Cup. We’re looking forward to it.”

Second on her July course debut, Ambiente Amigo has since bolted up twice at Lingfield – scoring by seven lengths on turf before a six-and-a-half-length verdict on the all-weather.

The daughter of Postponed clearly faces a significant step up in class in Friday’s feature, but Bell is keen to roll the dice.

He added: “Obviously she’s bossed two relatively ordinary races and this is a bit of a leap of faith, but I think it’s definitely the right decision to run and we’re looking forward to the race.

“She’s been very impressive in her two wins and this on our doorstep so we’ll give it a good go and see what happens.”

Dettori out luck on final Royal Ascot ride, as Burdett Road takes Golden Gates

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Frankie Dettori was out of luck on his final Royal Ascot ride as Knockbrex trailed home well beaten in the Golden Gates Stakes won by Burdett Road.

Dettori went into an early lead on Charlie Johnston’s charge, but the writing was on the wall before the turn for home and he quickly backpeddled.

That left Liberty Lane in front but he too paid for his early exertions, as Neil Callan made stealthy progress on Michael Bell’s three-year-old.

Burdett Road (20-1) went several lengths clear and the race looked over. However, a combination of tiredness and being in front on his own meant he was in danger of being caught.

Lion Of War, briefly stuck in traffic earlier in the straight, came with a late rattle but the 9-2 joint-favourite could only close to within three-quarters of a length.

It was a second winner of the week for Callan having won the Queen Anne on Triple Time.

Bell said: “He loved that fast ground when he won at Newbury so we were hopeful he’d be effective today. It was a much deeper race, he’s not done much since Newbury, he is very good looking horse, bred by Gredleys, who we have been lucky for, so I’m delighted.

“The colours have been lucky, and the Gredleys have been great breeders for many years. Bill is not here today, but he will be thrilled, watching at home, he was on the gallops this morning and was here on Thursday.

“It is very hard, the most difficult thing about training when you have been doing it for as long as me, when you can clearly do the job, is getting the well-bred horse to walk through the door. You can’t train fresh air!

“We are lucky we have the Gredleys and many other nice horses. It is tough old business, but we are lucky to have what we have and very grateful for another winner here.”