NEWMARKET

Dave Yougman with his monthly news letter from HQ

WE are all here at Newmarket looking foward to the new turf flat season with our first meeting of the season on April 13-15 with the Craven fixture, one of my favourite meetings of the year.

The Wood Ditton Stakes is always interesting as there are nice types introduced in this race for their first ventures onto the racecourse and this year will be no different. Trainers here at HQ are busy now preparing their horses for this event.

TWICE OVER is a stallion I like a lot. What a good horse he was when he was trained here by Henry Cecil at Warren Place. He is now at stud in South Africa and may well have some of his progeny come to race here this season. I hope you like my photo of Twice Over with Henry’s daughter Katie. As you can all see, like Henry she has a natural love of horses.

IT was a sad time for all at Banstead Manor Stud recently when they lost Kind. She had a lovely Kingman colt then a few days later had complications and died. She was such a wonderful broodmare, having such stars as Frankel, Noble Mission and Bullet Train. Her little foal is doing well and let’s hope Kind has left behind another little star.

FORMER jockey Sandy Barclay passed away here at HQ recently after having suffered with cancer for sometime. He was a boy wonder and looked to be the next Lester Piggott back in the 1960s but sadly things didn’t all go to plan in that respect and he didn’t hit those heights but he still had a fine career in the saddle.

He was stable jockey to Noel Murless for a couple of years when I was with the stable and I always enjoyed riding work on the gallops with him. He was a very quiet reserved young man and a fine horseman. Sandy was 72.

TRAINERS are going up a gear with their horses now and some are in strong work, one in particular that is impressing me is UNCLE BRYN at the John Gosden yard. This colt has wintered extra well and is doing great in his early work out on the gallops and hopes are high he will have a very good season.

SPECIAL ENVOY is a two-year-old colt in the string out of Marlinka. He is the first horse Elite Racing have had with Gosden, the master of Clarehaven, and it is a nice type.

GODOLPHIN have all their juveniles working away well now and Charlie Appleby has a lovely daughter of Frankel named WITH THE MOONLIGHT that is already impressing me in her early work on the Godolphin private gallops at Moulton Paddocks. She was a February foal out of Sand Vixen but well forward and a highly promising sort.

WILLIAM and Mo Haggas have their youngsters doing well and PERSIST, a bay filly by Frankel owned by Cheveley Park Stud, is already going along very nicely. This attractive, well-balanced filly is out of Persuasive and is showing herself to be a really smart horse.

SIR Michael Stoute is not one to rush his youngsters but CRYSTAL CAPRICE is doing all the right things at the moment in her early work and looks an exciting prospect for the master of Freemason Lodge.

This daughter of Frankel is out of Crystal Zvezda, a Dubawi mare. What I have seen of her has made me think she will be winning races.