Chalk and cheese. Craie et fromage…
Doncaster and Deauville. Poles apart in so many ways. But both stepping into the forefront of our minds and lives today…
Goffs Premier Yearling Sale up in Yorkshire. Candida and Charlie Harris working the grounds. With Anthony Bromley upsides. Thousands of yearlings will go through several sales rings in the weeks and months ahead. Many of those yearlings will be useless and unable to get out of their own way at the “gallop”. But there will be gems aplenty that take their connections on wildly brilliant journeys…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and one person’s swan will be another’s goose. Pedigrees pored over. Stallions that float in and out of fashion. Bloodstock agents hold the fortunes of given sires to ransom because they are a sensitive bunch and, in the main, don’t buck many trends…
If stallions fall out of fashion, few and far between are the agents who are prepared to face the raised eyebrows and knowing glances from their peers. Meaning “cold” stallions get colder – until one of its progeny pops up in Group 1 Winners Enclosures and the agents and buyers come flocking back…
Fickle. Fragile. Fine margins. One bid can define. One bid can lead to glory. Or…
My own particular criteria is that I like (need) the Dam to have performed to a mark of at least 80. There are exceptions to all rules, but I find this a decent benchmark..
The Sales season is properly under way. This one is a lot more realistic than the boutique “madness” of Deauville last week. May we be lucky in the weeks ahead, and bring home horses that will take us to all the right places. Hard work – and a lot of luck please…!!
Deauville. Cross Channel forays used to be a core part of our summer – until rules and regulations and rising costs associated with a silly idea called “Brexit” made the whole gig infinitely harder and expensive….
Sophie travelled over with Kenergy through yesterday. More paperwork than previously – but manageable, and hoping and planning to repeat the trip on a regular basis…
#havehorsewilltravel
Kenergy taking on some decent types in a 10 furlong maiden – owners in opposition who, I think, are pretty new to the game. The Wertheimers, The Aga Khan Studs, Godolphin and Coolmore….
Tough race. Big ask. Multiple Group 1 winner Alexis Pouchin doing the steering for us. Decent prize money on offer that would make many UK courses blush – certainly for a 3-yr-old maiden…
Here’s hoping that our first step back into France for a year or three goes well, and that we are regulars on that Eurostar thingy…
Must dash. Plane to catch. And lunch will be better, I suspect, than at Lingfield or Wolverhampton et al…
