Tag Archive for: Tom Clover

Clover looking to Lonsdale Cup for Al Nayyir

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A second shot at the Lonsdale Cup could be on the cards for Al Nayyir following his recent narrow defeat at Sandown.

Tom Clover’s charge was beaten a short head by Vauban at Group Two level at York last summer and has since enjoyed a winter spell in sunnier climes, contesting the Red Sea Turf Handicap in Saudi Arabia before performing with credit in the Dubai Gold Cup.

Having finished third behind subsequent Gold Cup hero Trawlerman on his return to Britain in Sandown’s Henry II Stakes in late May, the seven-year-old returned to the Esher track for the Listed Coral Marathon earlier this month and was again denied by a short head, this time by veteran stayer Coltrane.

Clover said: “He ran super, I think maybe just as an older horse he might have found the ground a touch tight perhaps on that summer, quick ground.

“He was only beaten in a photo and I loved the way he hit the line strong, so hopefully he can win another stakes race soon.

“He could well go back to York, obviously he was a close second in it (Lonsdale Cup) last year. We’ll see how he is, but it could well be the plan at the moment.”

On Saturday Clover saddled big-race runners at Newmarket and York, with high-class sprinter Rogue Lightning far from disgraced in finishing ninth in the July Cup – beaten just over four lengths.

“He ran well, it feels like he loves being in trouble and it’s hard to find a clear passage through, but he wasn’t beaten far,” the trainer added.

“Hopefully we can work back from the Dukhan Sprint in Qatar in February, which he won this year, and hopefully he’s up to winning another stakes race soon.”

Tabletalk looked a major threat after travelling strongly in the Group Three Silver Cup at York, but his effort petered out late on and he had to make do with minor honours in third behind Al Qareem.

Clover said: “He ran well, I thought he might go and nearly win and I don’t know whether Ascot took it’s toll perhaps – maybe it came a bit soon.

“I’d like to think he’s up to winning a Group Three and that looked a good opportunity, but we might have ran him back a bit soon.

“We’ll see how he is. We’ll give him a quiet week and build him up from there.”

Al Nayyir out to make most of Marathon opportunity

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Having bumped into subsequent Gold Cup hero Trawlerman on his latest visit to Sandown, Al Nayyir bids to open his account for the season in the Coral Marathon at the Esher circuit on Friday.

Narrowly beaten by Vauban on his first start for trainer Tom Clover in last summer’s Lonsdale Cup at York, the seven-year-old spent the winter months abroad, finishing fifth in the Red Sea Turf Handicap in Saudi Arabia and then eighth in Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan.

He was not disgraced when third behind Trawlerman and Coltrane on his return to British action in the Henry II Stakes in late May and takes the latter on again at Listed level on the eve of the Coral-Eclipse.

Clover said: “He seems to be in good shape, so I hope he’ll run a nice race. He’s training well and we’re looking forward to running him.

“Trawlerman was obviously impressive (at Royal Ascot) and I’d like to think we’ve come forward a touch from that run. If we’re there or thereabouts that would be great.

“I just felt he stalled a little bit last time out perhaps and we thought the cheekpieces might just sharpen him up a bit, we’ll see.”

Andrew Balding’s Coltrane is sent back into battle just over a fortnight after finishing fifth in the Gold Cup, while Alan King declared his stable star Trueshan, but he has since been declared a non-runner due to unsuitable ground.

Listed honours are also up for grabs in the preceding Davies Insurance Solutions Gala Stakes, which sees William Knight’s stable stalwart Checkandchallenge test his powers against the Balding-trained Windlord and Cash from David Simcock’s yard, among others.

Windlord, owned by Juddmonte, has been deployed as a pacemaker for the brilliant Field Of Gold in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes on his last two starts and now returns to a venue where he has smart form hoping to make the most of his sights being lowered.

Clover still on cloud nine following Royal effort of Flowerhead

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Queen Mary second Flowerhead is set to move up to six furlongs for her next start after giving rookie handler Charlie Clover a day to remember at Royal Ascot.

One of the newest names to the training ranks, Clover has enjoyed a dream June, saddling not only his first ever winner but quickly taking his tally to five. However, it is his 100-1 runner-up at the Royal meeting which has firmly shone a spotlight on his fledgling Newmarket operation.

“It’s getting increasingly hard to find words to describe Wednesday, it was a very special day,” said Clover.

“We love this filly and you hope for a run like that, but it’s hard to do it on that big stage and she was incredibly gutsy and did us incredibly proud.”

Flowerhead ultimately proved no match for Aidan O’Brien’s ultra-impressive scorer True Love in the Ascot Group Two, but having been drawn on the far side of the track, Clover was left to ponder what might have happened if able to race closer to the main action on the stands side.

“I saw Aidan’s horse in the pre-parade and I was seriously worried as she is the most impressive two-year-old filly I’ve ever seen,” explained Clover.

“But It would have been fun to see her drawn upsides True Love and have a bit of company and see if they could have had a hammer and tongs battle. Would we have come out on top? I don’t know, but I think we certainly could have got close.”

Although just failing to join brother and fellow Newmarket handler Tom Clover on the Royal Ascot roll of honour, the 29-year-old hopes to soon match his exploits in Group company, as connections plot the next move with Flowerhead.

Owned by Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing, the daughter of Starman appears set to step up in trip, with Clover highlighting Newmarket’s Duchess of Cambridge Stakes (July 11) or a return to Ascot for the Princess Margaret Stakes (July 26) as possible options.

“She seems to have come out of the race really well and we can now think of picking up some serious black type,” continued Clover.

“She shapes like she wants six and the data at home would back that up, but she was showing plenty of speed so that’s why we went for the Queen Mary over the Albany.

“However, Colin (Keane, jockey) felt she was little bit off her feet in the early stages and then when she found her feet she came home so strong that six furlongs next would be the right direction.

“There’s plenty of six-furlong races we can target. The Duchess of Cambridge is on the radar, although that might come to soon. She’s absolutely pinged out the race, but I am aware she has already had three starts and we just want to get our next move right.

“We’ll have that race on our radar, but failing that we can go back to Ascot for the Princess Margaret at the end of next month.”

Monday Musings: Of Lazarus, and the Rogues

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York is my idea of a holiday, writes Tony Stafford. Four days of wonderful racing, dinner in excellent restaurants peopled by friends from the racing world, and accommodation – or rather – home from home, at the elegant town house of Mary and Jim Cannon, midway between the station and the racecourse – not bad eh!

From City Of Troy on the opening day – dry coat after the Juddmonte, unlike sweaty at Sandown, his hardest race by my inexact barometer – to the facile Ebor win of Magical Zoe on Saturday, events flowed into each other. The four days provided a melange of thoughts as I drove home down the A1. The reverie was soon expunged when the diversion took us across to the M1 – in all an extra 48 miles on the journey and around an hour on the time.

But back home, checking the later results, after leaving before the last, I was thrilled that having wished William Knight luck as he arrived with one of his owners just after midday, I saw that he had provided the last-race exacta. His old-timer Sir Busker (12/1), a Group 2 winner on the track two years ago and the stable star for longer than that, beat Dual Identity.

There were two winners on the day, the other being Tom Clover’s Melrose Stakes hero Tabletalk, also at 12/1, that nicely rounded up a great spell for both trainers, and a situation that earlier in the year you would never have thought possible.

William Knight endured a horrific 2023. He’d kicked off with three UK wins by February 8, and went off to Dubai with stable star Sir Busker hoping to get some of the big money on offer. You could predict that maybe the kickback on the dirt track there might prove troublesome. In the case of Sir Busker, it was a piece of turf propelled in his direction that went into an eye, causing serious injury.

He needed an operation straight after and then to convalesce for several months before he could be brought back. William did well to get him ready to run in the autumn and in an upside-down season kept him going through the winter, picking up some place money at Newcastle around the turn of the year.

Then came his “winter break” – April to August – when he returned to Glorious Goodwood three weeks ago, a lovely day out for the Kennet Valley Syndicate that had already collected more than half a million pounds for his career exertions.

But to return to 2023 and the aftermath of Dubai. Knight had three early all-weather wins on the board, but from February 8 to September 12 last year, 171 days, he won just three further races – two in June and one in July.

“I did nothing different to always, but we just couldn’t get going. Thank God we had that little flurry at the end of the year,” he said.

A further ten wins came from September 6 to December 18, a Lazarus-type return from the dead as far as the racing community was concerned, and just in time to have a little confidence going into the yearling sales season.

One of the late winners was the filly Frost At Dawn and after her easy win at Chelmsford in early November, William took the calculated risk of sending her to Dubai – not least with the memory of Sir Busker still fresh in his mind.

But owner Abdulla Al Mansoori’s acceptance of the plan paid handsome dividends. On the fifth of her six runs at Meydan, she out-sprinted the Godolphin odds-on shot Star Of Mystery in the Nad Al Sheba Sprint. Dreams of a win in the £600k-plus championship on Dubai World Cup night did not materialise, but the grey filly had done everyone proud.

Project forward to the 2024 season. As we’ve indicated above, Knight had won only three races in the more than five months of last summer, the seventh win of the year coming on September2.

This year, following Frost At Dawn in March, Knight has won 28 races; one in April, four in May, ten in June, eight in July and with Sir Busker on Saturday, another five in August.

Almost all have come from handicaps – “At least when they run as badly as ours did last year, the handicap marks have to drop.” True enough, but horses like Atlantic Gamble, off a mark of 79 at Kempton winning for the fifth time this season having started the run on 56; and Blenheim Star, three wins starting from 51, is rated 69 with the prospect of more to come.

Always approachable, he can also point with satisfaction to Saturday’s opening race third with the recently gelded Checkandchallenge. A 33/1 shot, he looked the likely winner until a little ring-rustiness allowed a couple of horses to pass him.

If William Knight’s good form has been heartening for me, I’m also chuffed that the Tom Clover stable seems to have ridden out the unexpected (at least to me) of the Rogues Gallery horses.

Tom and wife Jackie brought that syndicate’s Rogue Millennium, a daughter of Dubawi, from a 35k 2yo buy to a £1.6 million guineas sale, in the meantime collecting a couple of stakes races and running well at the top level. Rogue Lightning won valuable handicap sprints, turning an 80k breeze-up acquisition into a £1 million sale to Wathnan Racing, who have kept him with Clover.

Then in the spring came news of a parting of the ways, The Rogue apparently becoming uneasy about another syndicate muscling in on their territory, or that’s how it read at the time.

No sooner had the 2024 Horses in Training book come out in March/April than the 16 horses listed under the Rogues Gallery had been dispersed far and wide – well all around Newmarket anyway. Talk about gratitude. I’ve no idea if Tony Elliott bought the two stars on his own judgment or that of Tom Clover, but I immediately got the dead needle to their horses.

The Thursday before York, I went to Chelmsford and the flashy red vehicle emblazoned with Rogues stuff was parked next to me. If I had been a little more mobile or less conspicuous, I might even have let the tyres down!

Mr Elliott might well be a great bloke and his syndicates do well and are endorsed by a couple of influential figures, but I was delighted when their Rogue Invader finished a place and two lengths behind Fire Flame, albeit himself a beaten favourite, the horse I was there to watch.

On Friday at York, the Clovers ran recent arrival Al Nayyir in the Lonsdale Cup and if he had had another ten yards to travel he would have beaten Vauban rather than lose by a short head. The six-year-old will be one to watch out for in any long-distance race from now on.

They had a winner elsewhere that day and another at Goodwood on Saturday, but the main event came in the Melrose Handicap, now much stronger as the three-year-olds are excluded from the Ebor, which follows later in the card.

Their lightly-raced Tabletalk came through strongly to win comfortably, beating Coolmore’s The Equator, in a faster time than Magical Zoe took to win the Ebor. He can go a long way as can Tom and Jackie, who have matched last year’s tally of 22, even without the rogue element.

Tabletalk was an appropriate winner that I suggested in response to a request for “a winner” from the three lovely Scottish ladies on my table on Saturday. Once something like that wins, you become fair game for the rest of the day. Nice though.

On Wednesday evening in the inevitable Italian restaurant Del Rio, Irish photographer Pat Healy posed the question “Vincent or Aidan?” a conundrum that could never be adequately resolved. That brought the conversation around to the late Gerry Gallagher, Vincent’s long-term traveling head lad.

One year, Vincent, to Pat’s recollection, had five winners at Goodwood and a couple more on his way back home from there and Gerry backed them all.

When he returned to Ballydoyle, he told Vincent that he’d made a nice pot of money and wondered whether he could buy a bit of land there on which to construct a house.

Vincent asked where he had in mind. Gerry said: “There’s a rough patch of land just to the right of the entrance.” Vincent said to leave it with him and after a couple of days called Gerry in and said yes, he could buy it.

Gerry realised it might not have been the greatest idea to tell the trainer how much he’d won, but anyway asked what he wanted. Vincent took a breath and said: “One pound.” The house was duly built and Gerry and his family lived there for the rest of his life.

Two days later, I was sitting down to lunch when Polly Murphy, the lady who always comes to greet visitors to Ballydoyle and takes them to wherever they need to go, sat down next to me.

I told her the story and asked her if it was true, as it was such a heart-warming incident. Polly said: “Do you see the lady sitting at the table behind us, ask her, she’s Gerry’s daughter Trish.” “It is, and while I’m married now, my brother still lives there,” said Trish.  Small world.

-        TS

Monday Musings: Trainers with Form

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A few hours from now (I’ve started even earlier than usual today) UK betting shops will be opening for the first time in three months, writes Tony Stafford. Those frustrated souls who do not have access to computer or telephone betting will therefore be back in the game. With the two-metre social distancing rule, sort of still in place, it will be interesting to see how it will be managed by designated employees.

Over time, many betting shops have become denuded of staff, often appearing at quiet times to be one-man or –woman affairs. So while Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrison, Lidl, Asda and the like can provide employees to monitor the outside queues, who can be spared by Hills, Coral, Ladbroke and the rest to ensure safety entering the betting emporia?

But, as we saw in various public demonstrations last week, the British red-blooded male (and sometimes female) is all-too-willing to ignore such niceties when the mood takes it. Let’s hope the much-sought-after “R” number was not too much inconvenienced by the various scrums in London town and elsewhere.

On my weekly analysis, Monday to Sunday, another 452 fewer deaths brought the latest tally to 1156, a fall of more than 32% on the week, more than maintaining the trend. So if the premature return to lemming-like crowd scenes did not damage the “R”, the return of the public to the racecourse in probably a limited degree, might not be too far off. Goodwood and York must be the two tracks most hoping for that prospect.

Many other shops are opening – even hairdressers! – from today, so anyone dressing up at home for Royal Ascot as I’ve promised myself to do tomorrow, can go for a quick tidy-up in preparation.

The overnights for the first two days are now set and the trainers who have made the most dynamic re-start, Messrs Gosden, Johnston, Hannon and Balding, all have double-figure representation. Six extra races have been added, bringing more opportunities for smaller stables, but the top teams still dominate with multiple chances in the handicaps especially.

From the first two weeks’ action, John Gosden, who will be expecting success from 11 overnight declarations on the first two days, and with Stradivarius in the Gold Cup to wait for on Thursday as he goes for a third Gold Cup, clocked up 29 wins from his 93 starters. Mark Johnston has 17 declared on the first two days, and he too has made a flying restart, with 20 winners from his 128 runners.

A Saturday four-timer, all in Michael Tabor colours and with Seamie Heffernan in the saddle, projected Aidan O’Brien on to the domestic 13 mark at home in the first week, plus Love in the 1,000 Guineas. The Saturday quartet was spearheaded by Peaceful’s emphatic triumph in the Irish 1,000, yet another Classic winner, along with Love, for Galileo. The suggestion – it must have come from somewhere, but I’m not sure where – that Peaceful might join the team and come over for Saturday’s Coronation Stakes is both mouth-watering and eminently possible, knowing the ambition of owners and trainer.

I’ll be hoping to be still wide awake around 1 p.m. today waiting for the five-day entries. If only we could go on Saturday. The eight races kick off with the Silver Wokingham, like Wednesday’s Silver Hunt Cup, a 24-runner innovation, with the Wokingham itself staged as the seventh race on the card.

Then it’s the Queen Mary, the Coronation, the Coventry and St James’s Palace, with the chance of 2,000 Guineas runners coming on from Newmarket and Ireland. It would be great to see Siskin, especially after his fine display in the Irish 2000 Guineas, his power finish seeing off the Ballydoyle hordes. It’s more likely, however, to expect a few of the supporting cast from Newmarket and The Curragh to get an entry. Then it’s the Diamond Jubilee, the Wokingham and ending fittingly with the Queen Alexandra as the 36th race of the week. I can’t wait.

Eight races and, as so many are saying, a great chance for racing to get a bigger profile than has been the case hitherto. ITV will make it accessible to all who want to watch it, but without the pomp, ceremony and fashion we’ve come to love. Maybe this emasculated, work-a-day version will leave us with as much regret as pleasure, but I think the BHA and racing’s trainers and owners, jockeys and stable staff, and racecourses, have all done a wonderful job in getting the show back on the road in the  most challenging of circumstances.

The Queen has had plenty of interest from her horses on the track in the past fortnight. So far only First Receiver, a facile seven-length winner at Kempton in the opening week for Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore, has been successful; and he looks to hold a great chance in Wednesday’s Hampton Court Stakes. I thought it also reflected well on the organisers that they were able to do the low-key televised Trooping the Colour ceremony from Windsor Castle on Saturday, on her official birthday. She was actually 94 on April 21st and the way the cameras picked up her still mobile, fully engaged and alert self was a great pick-me-up for everyone watching.

How irritating it must have been for her that the usual venue for the ceremony, Horseguards Parade, tucked in between the Cenotaph and Trafalgar Square in Central London, was being invaded by rent-a-mobs at the precise moment her first official engagement since lockdown was continuing with such dignity and efficiency 25 miles to the west.

If there is one constant irritation for me even in the general goodwill generated by the simple fact of there being some racing – and good stuff – to watch, it’s that “his stable has been in form” routine by various presenters. Form is governed by opportunity and the 200-plus stables by definition, just as the top riders, can have a string of fancied losers, but get another good chance in the next race after which the inevitable “in good form” line is trotted out.

What I think is worth noting, is to identify the up-and-coming operations. Archie Watson has already gone from upstart to top trainer usually with horses sent forward from the start. That rewarding pattern, almost A P McCoy-like, has been a constant factor, apart of course from natural talent, in the emergence of Hollie Doyle, already flying past the 50 mark for the year.

Now she’s getting the best out of all her mounts, for Archie and everyone else, and from the back of the field as well as the front. She, no doubt, will be one of the riders gaining the most attention, if not necessarily the most success, in the coming week.

Among the trainers, it’s been very good to see the emergence of Tom Clover. He had the good sense to learn his trade as assistant to the highly-accomplished David Simcock, and even more to marry Jackie, daughter of the late, great Michael Jarvis.

Last year the couple made the switch from Willie Musson’s Savile House just around the corner from Newmarket’s Clock Tower, a few strides up Fordham Road to Kremlin House, scene of Michael Jarvis’s greatest achievements.  So the Tottenham fan married into an Arsenal household, but harmony is clearly the name of the game. And talent, too, as Tom has fired in six winners from only 16 runners in the two weeks since the restart and 11 from 42 overall this year.

That puts him within reach of last year’s tally of 19, following seven in each of the previous two years, his first two full campaigns as a trainer.

Another to have switched yards even more recently is William Knight, up to HQ after a longish stint in Sussex to take over Rathmoy Stable, formerly the base for the legendary Neville Callaghan and more recently David Lanigan, who is departing for the US.

Knight has also been quick off the mark, and in his case, the “trainer in form” comment is fully deserved. From 14 runs, he’s sent out three winners (13-2, 22-1 and 33-1) and three third places. Four of the eight also-rans have started at 50-1 and above, and talking of opportunity, the average price of ALL his runners has been 33-1. Gosden’s 93 have averaged 4-1. Now that’s making the most of one’s opportunities and Knight I’m sure will continue to be a man to follow, as will Clover.

- TS