Bargain hunting
Robin Oakley Any fool can get a horse fit to run,' I have been told by many a trainer. 'It's getting inside their minds that counts.' Particularly with slow learners. Newbury's card last Saturday produced plenty of traditional scenes — a Group winner for Barry Hills, the richest handicap of the day falling to Luca Cumani, a classy animal from Henry Cecil winning after a long injury break. But it also showed us how well they and some other trainers know their charges.
Brian Meehan's Fool's Wildcat had been pleasing in his home gallops. But his racecourse figures in three attempts read 634. After the EBF Dubai Tennis Championships Maiden Stakes, however, the fierce rictus of concentration that is Brian's racecourse face broke into a bonhomous vicar's gleam. To aid the two-year-old's concentration blinkers were applied for the first time and the Forest Wildcat colt scooted clear of his field in the last furlong to win comfortably.
'Brian has always thought the world of this horse,' said Graham Skeats, manager of Favourites Racing, 'but he has been a very slow learner and the blinds have concentrated his mind. Jockey Jimmy Fortune thought he was a nice horse the way he lengthened and stretched.' That maiden victory behind him, the Forest Wildcat colt (described in the racecard as 'bay or brown' and I'm damned if I could tell the difference any more than I can when Mrs Oakley returns from the hairdresser) could go on to better things. As a result of those first three runs, though, some of his classier entries have been scuppered. Clearly those racecourse results had been nibbling away at somebody's faith.
Asked by the Racing Post before the Usk Valley Stud Nursery about the prospects of his Mr Keppel, Jamie Osborne declared that he was on the upgrade. 'I've always thought he was a big, talented horse but slightly thick. The upshot is that he's got himself well handicapped. He took a long while to get the hang of things.' Punters duly took the advice, making him favourite, and Mr Keppel made the case for the less-bright ones at the back of the class by taking the six-furlong contest in good style. Afterwards Jamie declared, 'He's improving. He dosses away in front and he dossed away again today but he's pretty decent.'
Looking at the tempting pot in Redcar's Two-Year-Old Trophy next week Jamie wondered aloud if Mr Keppel was good enough and then noted, 'On the bare facts of the form he might not be. But we've not got to the bottom of him yet and he's coming right at the right time of year.' An improver like that should be kept on the punter's side until beaten. Both Jamie and jockey Tom Queally reckon Mr Keppel, who had already won at Haydock and Brighton, should get seven furlongs in decent company. `If he settles,' added his jockey.
Barry Hills reckoned before the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes that it was a Group 2 for the taking and his Dark Angel, previously the winner of a rich auction race at York but found wanting over the minimum five furlongs in the Flying Childers at Doncaster, duly did the business, though jockey son Michael Hills conceded that he might have been headed in another stride by the fast-finishing Strike the Deal. Dark Angel is one of the greys jointly owned by Chris Wright and Catherine Corbett.
Mrs Corbett first asked Barry to buy her a cheap grey filly with the proviso that both the dam and grand-dam should have been winners. The request was duly fulfilled with the purchase of Desirable, who won the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes and was third to Pebbles in the 1984 1,000 Guineas. She cost 7,000 Irish guineas at Goffs and was later sold to Robert Sangster for £1 million. Greys carrying the blue and silver silks have included Negligent, third in the 1,000 Guineas, and Nicer, the winner of the Irish equivalent. Not surprisingly, there have been a few more since, and when Barry found that he was bidding up against Chris Wright in the sales in pursuit of suitable grey candidates he persuaded the two to come together in what has been a considerable success story. Dark Angel's York victory in the St Leger Yearling Stakes netted a useful £187,000 and some of that has clearly been reinvested. Barry has bought them another grey at the Doncaster Sales.
Although occasionally a bargain buy wins big races over jumps, it doesn't happen that often on the Flat. Victories like that of Linda Jewell's Rowe Park in the Group 3 Dubai International Airport World Trophy are therefore all the more welcome. The small, 20-strong Sutton Valence yard is better known for its jumpers. But although they knew early on they had a nippy customer in Rowe Park they didn't run him as a twoyear-old, feeling that he was backward and needed time to develop. The patience has paid dividends. Not only has Rowe Park in his 12 outings now won seven races over the minimum five furlongs, the Newbury success was also the yard's first-ever Group winner. It was a triumph not only for the Jewells but also for Rowe Park's lad Craig Messenger, who told the trainer the first time he rode him on the gallops, 'You've got a Group horse here.' Not something you expect to hear about a horse you have purchased for £1,200 and who may go to France for the Group One Prix de l'Abbaye. Linda Jewell now has daughter Karen as assistant trainer and she says that that is allowing her much more time to go around the sales and find more horses. Bargain-seeking owners take note.
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