ROBERT COOPER
More wit and wisdom from our man at Sky Racing
If you’re fortunate enough to attend either the Derby or Royal Ascot, June is the month to dust down your top hat, although as I remember during the Lockdown Summer of 2020 plenty of racing fans donned their party best while basking and betting in their gardens.
Whatever takes your fancy - and post-Ascot it’s usually Panama hats all the way until autumn. Racing fans are the lucky ones in many ways; not only following this great sport but the added comfort of knowing the festivals and landmark events neatly divide the calendar, lending a sense of much needed structure to our lives.
That configuration was all over the place last year when racing returned in early June; Royal Ascot took place as usual mid-month, but we had to wait until July 4th for the Derby and Oaks, with both Classics run on the same afternoon. The outcome, however, was a familiar one, with Aidan O’Brien bagging both races with Serpentine and Love.
The genius O’Brien has won the Derby a record eight times; six of the last eight winners have stemmed from Ballydoyle and this time round BOLSHOI BALLET, is favourite to become the sixth colt sired by the remarkable Galileo to win the Blue Riband. Unquestionably Galileo’s most gifted son was Frankel, winner of all his 14 races, ten of them at Group One level. Maybe now is the time for Frankel to make his mark on this most prestigious race on the planet. Derby victory for the Ed Dunlop trained JOHN LEEPER would not only be a feather in Frankel’s cap but this beautifully bred colt is the daughter of Snow Fairy, herself a champion at home and overseas, the globe-galloping queen won Group Ones in Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland and of course Epsom in the 2010 Oaks.
However the name JOHN LEEPER would be a headline-hogging story on its own should he win the Derby. Yes, it’s all in the name. The potential winning trainer is Edward Alexander LEEPER Dunlop, his younger brother Harry James LEEPER Dunlop is also a trainer, and both are sons of JOHN LEEPER Dunlop, winning trainer of two Derbys with Shirley Heights (1978) and Erhaab (1994). In a fabulous tribute to the Dunlop family, JOHN LEEPER’s owner and breeder Cristina Patino, who also owned Snow Fairy, named him. Both horses carry the red and yellow silks of Mrs Patino’s company, Anemoine Ltd.
She bought Snow Fairy at Tattersalls
Ireland in December 2008 for a bargain €1,800. And what a snip she was, winning over £4m in prize money. Time now for a Derby winner?
JOHN LEEPER certainly possesses the ability to win but possibly his lack of racing experience could be a hindrance on such a high-octane occasion like the Derby. This will be only the fourth race of his life, and despite winning both his starts in 2021 he still races with the ‘L’ plates on.
At Newmarket last month he beat Sir Mark Todd’s TASMAN BAY (a lively Derby long-shot) despite running with the choke out for most of the race. But quality racehorses are smart students and it is likely that the precocity we saw at Newmarket will be replaced by a more professional performance at Epsom. Sadly I missed the 100/1 on offer a couple of months back, and will probably wait until the day before plonking my fiver on his nose. A first Derby for Ed Dunlop beckons and probably a more colourful headline than maybe, ‘Number Nine For O’Brien’.
I’ve earmarked a few horses for Royal Ascot. I’m probably aiming a bit high but I always like a crack at the two big handicaps, the Royal Hunt Cup and the Wokingham for a potentially lifechanging each way double. Michael
Dod’s BRUNCH went agonisingly close in the Lincoln and ran to a similar level at York when again narrowly thwarted. Most consistent, he looks a major player in the Hunt Cup. And although plans have yet to be finalised I hope
Eve Johnson Houghton’s sprinter JUMBY lines up for the Wokingham.
I’ve been following his progress for a while and I don’t believe we’ve seen the best of him. He won a decent handicap at Newmarket last month, with I hope a few pounds hidden from the handicapper.
Another headline grabber could be Newmarket trainer William Jarvis whose talented filly LADY BOWTHORPE looks worth a bet, probably in the Group Two Duke of Cambridge Stakes. She ran the race of her life (so far) when emerging as the only challenger to the Gosden’s imperious miler PALACE PIER in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month. She finished over five lengths clear of the third and if it were possible to airbrush PALACE PIER from the picture, we’d be hailing a superstar. LADY BOWTHORPE has an impressive
turn of foot and with an Ascot victory already under her belt last summer, further success looks likely – as long as she steers clear of PALACE PIER.
Us hard-nosed reporters for Sky Sports Racing are often at the mercy of the elements, in other words when it rains we get soaked. The other evening at Bath, the sky was slate grey and shelter was not forthcoming when the storm clouds loomed. The only dry spot my cameraman and I could find was behind the mobile toilets, nestling beside some unsavoury wheelie-bins; in an instant, most of life’s necessities were at my fingertips. Nevertheless, the show must go on – and every cloud, and all that – amid the gloom the few present witnessed an impressive victory by a first time out Clive Cox two year-old called INSTINCTIVE MOVE who looks Ascot-bound. Even his often poker-faced jockey Adam Kirby managed a smile when I spoke to him afterwards in the drizzle. He looks an exciting prospect. Cox seems to have an above average bunch of youngsters this year.
Every aspect of training or owning racehorses in these Covid times must be deemed hazardous and insecure, and I was saddened to learn that Lambourn trainer Michael Blanshard has decided to call it a day after holding a licence for 41 years. The former assistant to Henry Cecil, Barry Hills and Henry Candy, says he just doesn’t have enough horses to make it pay. He’s trained some decent ones along the way and won some top-notch races too. Lemhill (won the John Porter Stakes) was one of Blanshard’s first Group winners, with further success from the very speedy The Trader, winner of three Group races in France and runner-up in the Prix de L’Abbaye, Welshman (Chester Cup), Rambling Bear (King George Stakes, Goodwood) and the marvellous mare Tea Pot, placed in two Cesarewitches.
When Blanshard started training in 1980, profit margins were tight and penny pinching was essential. Back then I worked in a bookshop and was able to obtain a copy of the very pricy Timeform Racehorses Annual less the booksellers discount. Michael Blanshard was one of my happy customers. He was without doubt a talented trainer but he may have missed a lucrative money-making opportunity. When delivering the book (no charge) to Lethornes Stables, accompanied by the weighty volume, I couldn’t help noticing in Blanshard’s bathroom a Beatles bathmat, surely an heirloom worth thousands in today’s fickle memorabilia market. What would you pay to dry your feet on the loveable mop-tops? When asked the whereabouts of the Fab Four mat, he told me that he had given it away. More fool (on the hill) him.
Changing direction, in career or lifestyle, can be hazardous and rewarding in equal proportions. David Macdonald had been executive director of Uttoxeter racecourse for 14 years when he decided to relinquish a “six figure salary” for a more fulfilling existence – buying and selling records.
Now, under the banner Blue Sky Vinyl (always an Electric Light Orchestra fan) he unearths dusty record collections – buys them, shines them and sells them. There is no doubt his tenure at Uttoxeter was a thumping success; the atmosphere at the Staffordshire track was always vibrant and positive. “Last summer,” Macdonald recalls, “Uttoxeter was a lonely place. From 21 staff we were down to just three. I saw myself as the conductor of an orchestra, but the orchestra was no longer there.”
Nowadays Macdonald says, “I now wake up with a smile. I spent much of last summer thinking it over and after discussing it with my family I decided to give it a go.” Failure is not a word in Macdonald’s vocabulary. “I thrive on meeting people and I’ve had a passion for vinyl for most of my life. As a student at Edge Hill University I was in charge of entertainment and I booked the Smiths for £850 – that was in 1983, the year they sang This Charming Man on Top of the Pops.” And while conductor of the “Uttoxeter Symphony Orchestra” he booked the Kaiser Chiefs and Madness for the increasingly popular after racing concerts.
As an avid vinyl collector myself – we never called it vinyl back in the day, they were just LPs or records – I am full of admiration for David’s new adventure. As for swapping the microphone for the stylus? Certainly food for thought!