Tag Archive for: The Hawkstonian

The Hawkstonian out to hit top gear for Clarkson

The Hawkstonian will make his long-awaited debut in the Quinnbet Open National Hunt Flat Race at Uttoxeter on Friday.

The son of Jukebox Jury is in training with Ben Pauling after he was bought at the 2023 Goffs Arkle sale for €45,000 by Highflyer Bloodstock and the Naunton Downs handler.

The four-year-old grey is named after a brand of beer owned by Jeremy Clarkson, who has teamed up with Old Gold Racing to make a first venture into the world of racehorse ownership.

The Hawkstonian is one of 11 runners in the two-mile contest which will conclude the card at the Staffordshire venue.

“I did speak to Ben yesterday and he is really bullish,” Ed Seyfried, chief executive of Old Gold Racing, said.

“This is the first horse that Old Gold Racing has had with Ben, but he’s one of those people who talks a horse down and does well rather than the other way round.

“But he said to me that he’s worked with some of the best horses in the yard and he goes as well as any of them. If we see half of the horse we see at home then we might have a very good horse on our hands.

“I think we have a very good horse on our hands, he just does all the right things. Also as Ben says, you prove it on the track and not at home but Friday is going to be interesting.

“I think if you win a bumper, you always think you are brilliant and are going to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. But it doesn’t matter, it’s all about learning.”

Clarkson is not expected to make the trip from Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds, which is situated near Pauling’s stables, to watch his first ever runner, but Seyfried does not believe it will be long before the TV presenter will be trackside.

“The fact that Jeremy has got involved is fantastic, he gets it, and hopefully we will get him on the racecourse soon,” he added. “I’m really excited, I wouldn’t be excited if I didn’t have the confidence that Ben’s got.

“I wouldn’t say he (Clarkson) is a natural equestrian, however he is very competitive. I think the better The Hawkstonian does, the more the competitive streak of Jeremy Clarkson is going to come out.

“It does put a lot of pressure on, but we’d rather champ at the bit ourselves to give the chance to teach people about racing and take people on the journey. That’s why we champion the experience of owning a racehorse.

“Win, lose or draw, we will be on a journey. Putting a lot back into racing, it’s going to be very eye-catching. Everything is good about it.”



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Jeremy Clarkson runner The Hawkstonian nearing racecourse bow

The Hawkstonian is on track to make his eagerly-awaited racecourse debut in November.

The four-year-old son of Jukebox Jury is in training with Ben Pauling and was bought at the 2023 Goffs Arkle sale for €45,000 by Highflyer Bloodstock and Pauling.

The Hawkstonian is named after a brand of beer owned by Jeremy Clarkson, who has teamed up with Old Gold Racing to make a first venture into the world of racehorse ownership.

Pauling’s Cotswold-based training operation is located close to Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm and the Hawkstone brewery and they are excited to see what the grey can do on a racecourse.

Ed Seyfried, chief executive of Old Gold Racing, said: “Ben Pauling is very excited about him.

“There isn’t a long-term target yet, but there are possible races coming up at the end of November.

“One at Ascot and one at Newbury so he’s being aimed at those, but with a lot of these horses that haven’t been on a racecourse before, it’s very often five steps forward, a couple of steps back.

“Although we haven’t had a setback, we think we’ll see him on a racecourse somewhere at the end of November.”

Big City Roller is another horse with Old Gold Racing gearing up for a return to the racetrack after an extended spell off it.

The Charlie Longsdon-trained six-year-old won a point-to-point in January last year before he made a winning start under rules in a two-and-a-half-mile novice hurdle at Carlisle in the hands of Lily Pinchin.

He followed that up with a second-place finish at Chepstow but has not been seen since that December run.

He is another horse that is exciting connections and Seyfried said: “He’s now back in pre-training, he’s probably got another four weeks of pre-training, maybe five, with Sally Taylor who just does the most brilliant job for us.

“He’ll be back with Charlie Longsdon in five or six weeks time and one would expect to see him on a racecourse in December and we are obviously very excited about that because he’s a very exciting prospect.

“We’ve got Apple Away, Kingston James and Big City Roller as our exciting horses for this winter that we know about.”



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