The MPR Pub Quiz
As the saying goes ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ and out of the darkness of isolation, The MPR Pub Quiz was born. Over the last month, we have held a weekly Pub Quiz live on Youtube, hosted by our very own Tom Palin. It’s been a fabulous success with the
|
|
|
videos having over 1,500 unique views between them. The quiz has been growing week on week, and there have been hundreds of you watching along live on a Sunday evening. We've even had a few trainers testing their knowledge! It has been so much fun chatting along with everyone in the live feed which has helped bring Team MPR together in this tough time. We plan to continue the quiz throughout lockdown to hopefully, give everyone something to look forward to at the end of the each week.
|
|
|
|
The quiz is held every Sunday at 8 pm and is free for anyone to play. If you’d like to join in this week, keep an eye out for an email on Sunday with the link to the live stream and the first round of questions!
|
|
|
Our Youtube channel is packed with videos and updates on all of our horses. Subscribe to our channel to stay up to date with everything MPR. Click the link below to head straight there.
|
|
|
|
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
It seems to have been a lifetime since we were last able to watch a live race but developments this month mean there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Racing in France is set to return on the 11th May with a day of Group races at Longchamp! The recent announcements from the French Prime Minister, regarding sporting events being cancelled until September, doesn’t apply to Racing. French Galop's plan states that racing will take place behind closed doors with only a trainer, a jockey and one groom per horse allowed. Horses and jockeys from outside of France will not be allowed to compete. Thankfully we have a French resident in our ranks, MENSEN ERNST, in training with Jean-Claude Rouget. Mensen Ernst looks set to be our first runner back since the Coronavirus outbreak, with no date set for racing to return in the U.K. or Ireland.
In a recent email to owners, the ROA (Racehorse Owners Association) highlighted some of the initial plans for a return to racing. The intention is to keep the racing programme as close to normal as possible to try and accommodate horses of all abilities. This, in turn, may lead to an extension of the flat season beyond the usual end date, meaning some horses will be kept in full training for longer. The BHA is keen to get racing going as soon as they are given the green light by the government. This week they have asked racecourse to submit an expression of interest in hosting fixtures so that the BHA can start to piece to together what the season will look like. It has been suggested in a recent Racing Post article that owners and trainers can expect to know some of the fixtures by the first week of May. The return of racing in France should act as a blueprint for racing here and in Ireland Hopefully, by the time the next newsletter comes out, we will have some racing to talk about in whatever capacity.
You can read the full article from the ROA by clicking the link below and read a 'hot off the press' announcement too!
|
|
|
Sesame Birah
Team MPR should have been descending on to the famous Newmarket Rowley Mile course this weekend to watch SESAME BIRAH compete in the 1000 Guineas. Both the 1000 Guineas and the 2000 Guineas have had to be rescheduled due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Sesame Birah was a star for us last season having cost only £15,000 at Doncaster’s Premier Yearling Sale. As with everything this year, all plans have been put on hold until we know when races are going to be run. We hope our filly eventually gets her day in the sun, and who knows…the Hannon team have quite a history of winning Classics with big priced runners!
|
|
|
Champion National Hunt Trainer
Nicky Henderson OBE and Paul Nicholls OBE are usually locking horns until the final few race meetings of the season to decide the National Hunt Trainers' Championship. The Championship is decided on the amount of prize money won by the yard across the season. Unfortunately, we were deprived of the usual grandstand finish to the Championship due to the suspension of the National Hunt season this year. When the curtain came down it was Nicky Henderson that had his head in front and was crowned Champion. Congratulations to the whole team at Seven Barrows on another fabulous year and for a sixth Trainers' Championship title.
|
|
David Lanigan On The Move
The news that David Lanigan was moving his entire family to America came as a bit of a surprise. He’s been one of our top trainers since we first joined forces in 2016. Kasperenko, Lexington Empire, Longsider and the recently departed Prince Of Eagles are a testament to the quality of trainer David is. We wish David and his family all the success with their new venture in America, and they will be sorely missed.
David has arranged for William Knight to take over the reins at Rathmoy Stables. William has been training in West Sussex since 2006 and has enjoyed success at Group level with Illustrious Blue. Many of our horses will be staying at Rathmoy under the new regime, the transition should be seamless, with David staying on for a couple of weeks to help merge the two operations. We look forward to welcoming William to our training ranks and can’t wait for our first stable visit to Rathmoy Stables. You cand read all about David's move across the pond in the racing Post article below.
|
|
|
We raise £5,500 towards their Charity Auction
It’s a tough time for everyone at the moment, but those that are working on the frontline in our NHS are going above and beyond to help all of us. Equestrian Relief was set up this month to bring all equestrian sports together to raise money for NHS Charities. The event ran over a week with a charity auction and with icons from a range of equestrian sports taking part in challenges. We decided to support the efforts by donating a share in our No Nay Never colt in training with Tom Dascombe, for the charity auction. When the gavel came down on the final day of the event, the share had been purchased for an incredible £5,550. Equestrian Relief set out with the aim of raising £100,000 but with all the donations and proceeds from the auction, the final total was in excess of £250,000! We’d like to thank everyone for their generous bids and we look forward to welcoming our colts new owner to the racecourse.
“Thank you once again for your support of Equestrian Relief and for your auction prize donation which we are delighted to report raised £5550.
We are absolutely delighted to report that the entire campaign raised £250,000. “
- Mel, Equestrian Relief.
|
|
|
Racing Welfare
Our Charity Partners Racing Welfare, who give such marvellous support and assistance to everyone who works in racing, have just launched an emergency appeal in response to COVID-19 to try to make up some of the income lost through the impact of the Coronavirus at a time when their welfare team are busier than ever supporting everyone in racing in the past few weeks.
Here’s why the appeal has been launched.
Racing Welfare – COVID 19 Emergency Appeal
“What we are all facing is unprecedented and could have a lasting impact on the British horseracing industry. We know that this is a very challenging and uncertain time for everyone, and for Racing Welfare the financial impact has been severe.
We are experiencing a significant drop in income as fundraising events and activities have had to be cancelled and with no idea when we might be able to start them up again. We are therefore looking at a loss of fundraising income in 2020 of around £500,000 at the present time.
We have also had to change the ways in which we support our beneficiaries as face-to-face contact is no longer possible. All this whilst we are already helping many more people who are in crisis as a direct result of Coronavirus and we expect to help many more people throughout this period as the number of cases rise.
Our appeal has been kick-started by a wonderful donation of £50,000 from a prominent figure within racing who wishes to remain anonymous but we still have a long way to go.
You can support us now by donating on this Just Giving page and sharing it with your friends and families: Racing Welfare Covid-19 Emergency Appeal
Thank you for your support and stay safe.”
|
|
Two of our owners, Tony Elvin and Jamie Brownlow, have done some incredible work fundraising
for Racing Welfare.
Read their stories here:
|
|
|
Tony says:
“We held our 2nd Annual Cheltenham Preview evening in Hull. Our panel was a fine list of prominent racing people: Commentator Malcolm Tomlinson, Racing Post reporter David Carr, Racing TV broadcaster Chris Dixon, trainer Micky Hammond, and jockeys Danny Cook & Colm McCormack. Our very own MPR owner Jamie Brownlow also joined the panel to share his thoughts.
|
|
|
|
It was great entertainment once more, enjoyed by around 80 Guests including quite a few MPR owners! Plenty of tipped winners passed the post and probably the biggest winner tipped was the Mares Hurdle on Thursday, which of course our very own Marie’s Rock would off gone off fav for, if surely had she been able to run.
On the evening we had an auction to raise funds for Racing Welfare, which raised £495. Hopefully next year our, we will be able to hold our 3rd event with another super panel.”
|
|
Jamie says:
“Tony and I spoke and he asked about the idea of having a winter MPR racing scarf and to also do it for charity, where 50% of the money raised could go to Racing Welfare.
I thought that was a nice idea, so I asked Tim and he thought it was a great idea. So, I looked about for some design ideas
|
|
|
|
and came up with the stripe and multi-coloured tassel edges, which Tony and Tim liked and I then found a supplier and with the help of Tim and Sarah, we were able to show them in the newsletter and put the word out with owners and they have sold very well. Thank you to everyone who has bought one and I am pleased to say that they have raised £515 for Racing Welfare, who do such a brilliant job for everyone who works in racing.
If you would like to order one or more, they are £20+£3.10 P&P each, with 50% going to Racing Welfare.
Email info@middlehamparkracing.net and they will forward your name and email to me and I will deal with your order.”
So, thanks to Tony and Jamie's incredible efforts, Racing Welfare’s Covid-19 Appeal will be in receipt of £1,010.
Well done both of you!
|
|
We have some further fundraising initiatives for Racing Welfare's appeal coming soon!
Keep your eyes peeled on our social media channels for more information.
|
|
|
|
Share Offers Coming Up This Weekend
Many of you have been asking whether our 'April Fools' offer will be happening, so due to popular demand, tomorrow, we will be emailing all those on our mailing list and our owners, details about an exclusive share offer, which will run for 24 hours only, so keep checking your inbox for that!
We understand it may not appeal to everyone, but shares have continued to sell, and as so many have been asking about it, we have decided to run the offer this weekend.
|
|
|
Silks On Screens
Weatherbys are offering lock screen wallpapers for your phone with your choice of silks for a small donation to NHS Charities.
A great idea!
|
|
|
ONE TO FOLLOW...
Trainers' Edition
|
|
All of our trainers are raring to go for the flat season, so we thought we would ask some of them for their one Middleham Park Racing horse to follow. As you can imagine it wasn't easy for any of our trainers to have firm plans for any of the horses, as we still don't know what races will be run this year. It was brilliant to see some of our new horses get a mention, as well as some of our familiar runners.
Get your notebooks at the ready, here is what they had to say...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mick Appleby - Motawaafeq
I’m looking forward to seeing Motawaafeq run on the turf. I think he has a lot of ability and could be a lot better on turf and have a lot more to offer.
Mick doesn’t have any firm targets in mind for Motawaafeq but did mention Star Of Southwold has an entry in the valuable Listed Pramms Memorial at Jageresro in Sweden in May, should he be allowed to travel over for the race.
|
|
|
Roger Fell - Ustath
Ustath is a new recruit to the yard and has had a nice break since we got him. He’s going well at home and looks well. He shows enough at home to make us excited for this year.
SHARES AVAILABLE
|
|
|
Marco Botti - Cosmic George
He is a nice promising 2yo nice horse for when the 7f races start he keeps improving and filling out. Considering the situation this year luckily he hasn’t lost anything and he should be exciting for the summer/second part of the season. We will have to wait for the race program to be released to finalise race options for him.
SHARES AVAILABLE
|
|
|
Richard Hannon - Lexington Force
My MPR horse to follow for the season is Lexington Force. He won with a lot of authority at Kempton and Martin Dwyer reported that he was one of the nicest horses he has sat on for a long time. He has started his career perfectly with his first run and his next run will tell us a lot more, but he looks as though he could be a nice black-type performer.
|
|
|
|
David O’Meara - Blonde Warrior
New recruit Blonde Warrior has been pleasing us since we have had him on our gallops this year. He looks like a horse with a very fluid action and a high cruising speed. His form suggests fast ground will suit best and the way he moves at home would back up the form. He looked impressive in his first 3 races as a two-year-old, all of which were on good to firm. He is very well handicapped off 85 if getting back anywhere close to that form.
We don't have any concrete plans in place for him just yet but off 85 we will be looking to win a handicap to get his mark up so he could possibly have a crack at some of the big 7 furlong handicaps later in the season.
|
|
|
Charlie Johnston - Marie’s Diamond
We have four nice two-year-olds for MPR who are all now in full work, galloping and building towards the racecourse which is an exciting time. But our star member of the team remains Marie’s Diamond. He was working well this spring before his return at Wolverhampton where he ran creditably and we were hopeful he would improve from that. Obviously, it is hard to make precise plans at the moment but he has shown his versatility over 7 furlongs and a mile and has performed well on his travels so there should be plenty options for him in Listed and Group races.
|
|
|
David Lanigan - Gold Arch
My horse to follow is Gold Arch. We identified him as a kissing spine before his last run last year. I think that is why he was bad at jumping out of the stalls last year and going right-handed. My theory is that going right-handed it would pinch him. This explains why he was always slow out of the gates as he was protecting himself. This year we have done him with the proper medication in his back which was done on January 5th as the withdrawal period is 90 days. This year he looks like a man and is holding his weight and has a lot more power behind the saddle. I think all of this is just that he has no pinching in his back and is comfortable.
He is off 78 and in a 4-year-olds 0-80 over a 1 mile and 1/2 he should be hard to beat. I think when he steps up to 1 mile six you will see a different animal.
|
|
|
|
|
Trainers have also been giving their thoughts to several news outlets this month. Stable Tours have been published for Richard Fahey, Tim Easterby, David O’Meara, Richard Hannon, Hugo Palmer and Richard Spencer. Eleven of our horses were mentioned in total, including some of our new 2-year-olds! You can find links to all of the articles below.
|
|
|
We have had quite a few 2-year-olds receiving their official names this month. Here's a list of all the new names.
|
|
|
BEECHWOOD DAVE
No Nay Never ex The Tempest colt - Richard Fahey
Beechwood Dave follows on from a number of our horses in MPR colours that have been named by Rob Wood, of Beechwood Motors.
|
|
|
CAYMAN MOON
Sea The Moon ex Nota Bene colt - David Lanigan
David Gough named this colt here is what he had to say about the name - "Grand Cayman is our family’s favourite holiday destination and Moon is a reference to the colt’s sire."
|
|
|
KEEPING SECRETS
Showcasing ex Hot Secret filly - Richard Fahey
“Staying with the theme of ‘Secret’ from the family, Keeping Secrets, seemed like a nice name for a gorgeous filly.”
|
|
|
LEXINGTON BULLET
Showcasing ex Starbotton filly - Richard Fahey
Tony Denham “Lexington Bullet is in keeping with some of the other Lexington’s I’ve named over the years with a war theme.”
|
|
|
LEXINGTON FURY
Footstepsinthesand ex Majraa colt - Richard Hannon
Tony Denham “He is named after the two-time heavyweight world champion boxer Tyson Fury. Hopefully, he will share some of the fighting spirit of his namesake.”
|
|
|
PETITE AMIE
Showcasing ex Landale colt - John Murphy
Petite Amie is a lovely name, chosen by one of her other owners that suits this filly down to the ground.
|
|
|
ROGUE NATION
Acclamation ex Xema colt - Richard Hannon
“The name comes from the Mission Impossible franchise, it’s the name of the 5th film in the series.”
|
|
|
VENTURA MUTINY
Showcasing ex Ealaan colt - Richard Fahey
Ventura Mutiny was named by Keith Denham, we've had a few successful Ventura's over the years lets hope this colt will follow in their footsteps.
|
|
|
Under The Radar
Blonde Warrior - David O'Meara
We bought him at the horses in training sale last October and sent him to David O’Meara to work his magic. He’s been pleasing David at home and is one to follow on fast ground when racing resumes.
|
|
|
|
Middleham Park Racing Shop
White Rose Saddlery does an amazing job producing all of our merchandise. They have remained open throughout this crisis and any support we can give them would be greatly appreciated. So if you have been meaning to get yourself an MPR tie or a new jacket; now would be a great time.
|
|
|
Acclamation
In the second instalment of ‘Stallion In Focus’ we will be looking at another stallion that features regularly in the breeding of our 2-year-old cohort, Acclamation. One of the stalwarts of Rathbarry Stud, Acclamation has made a name for himself as a sire of sires since he retired to the covering barn in 2003. He has 123 stakes winners to his name including the likes of Marsha, Dark Angel, Equiano, Aclaim, Expert Eye and Mehmas. Acclamation comes form the infamous Northern Dancer line but through Try My Best instead of the more familiar Danzig or Sadlers Wells. This means he is an ideal outcross for many dams and damsires but he still has the successful Northern Dancer in his pedigree.
Acclamation was a born to be a sprinter, he is by Royal Applause out of a 5f Group 3 winning mare called Princess Athena. It may surprise you to hear that Acclamation never managed to win at Group 1 level, something which is more common than you might think among stallions. Showcasing, Bated Breath, Kodiac and Sir Prancealot are all examples of stallions that didn’t hit the big time on the racecourse. That being said Acclamation was definitely a top group performer. He won the Group 2 Diadem Stakes and finishing 2nd in the King's Stand (beaten by Choisir) and 3rd in the Nunthorpe (beaten by Oasis Dream).
|
|
|
When you are looking at yearlings by sires with a record like Acclamation's you know you’ll have to dig deep in your pockets. The average cost of one of his yearlings in 2019 was just short of £60,000.00, which when compared to 2018 (£70,000) and 2017 (£107,000) is good value. We were delighted to take home three colts by Acclamation from Goffs Premier Yearling Sale, all three of which are in training with
|
|
|
|
Richard Hannon. As you will see from the pictures of our three Acclamation really stamps his stock. One of the first horses we purchased at last years yearlings sales was our ex Xema colt, now named ROGUE NATION. The case behind his pedigree is plain to see with his stake performing half-brother, DARK EMERALD, being by Dark Angel (a son of Acclamation). The theory seems to be holding up as we are hearing good reports from Richard regarding this colt. Xema is a daughter of the infamous Danehill, a damsire of too many top horses to mention. The combination of Acclamation and Danehill has already produced Johnny Barnes trained by John Gosden (OR 110) who now stands in France as a stallion. Expert Eye was also bred on the Danehill line through Dansili.
|
|
|
The next of our trio to join MPR was KEEP RIGHT ON (ex Khalice) who also has a winning sibling by Dark Angel. Khalice was a very precocious daughter of Bahamian Bounty winning twice as a two-year-old. When you look at the combination of Acclamation and Bahamian Bounty as the damsire, you have a tiny sample size to work with. There are just two registered runners
|
|
|
|
to this pair, however, that does include the group performer Angels Will Fall (OR 106). Bahamian Bounty is by one of the other great dam sires, Cadeaux Genereux, who himself happens to rank very highly on the list of Nicks for Acclamation. To borrow a racing term, this seems like a very ‘unexposed’ breeding combination that has all the right attributes to work well.
|
|
|
The final member of our Acclamation team is VENTURA TORMENTA, who is out of a mare called Midnight Oasis. Surprisingly he also has a winning sibling by Dark Angel, George Bowen (Best OR 107). There seems to be a common theme developing for these breeders! Midnight Oasis is by Acclamation’s old advisory Oasis Dream, who brings the Green Desert line into our colts pedigree. Richard Hannon trained the very precocious Lilbourne Lad (best OR 112) who was bred on the same Green Desert line and for a time was a stallion at Rathbarry Stud alongside Acclamation.
As you will have heard us say before you know what you are getting from Acclamation, he breeds speedy horses. All of our three are from families that have had success with Dark Angel in the past. You can see the case for the breeders returning to the family, and it can only be a good thing. I would expect that these three would be some of the first 2 year-olds you will see on the racecourse this year.
|
|
|
|
Our gorgeous Starspangledbanner colt enjoying a pick of grass after some exercise.
|
|
|
|
Hi everyone I’m Paul Martin - born and bred in Hinckley Leicestershire, a handy place to live seeing as you can get to most racecourses with no more than a three-hour drive in any direction. I’m married to Hazel; we have four grown-up kids with more grandchildren than the maximum runners in a Wolverhampton race! I’m a HGV class 1 lorry driver for Calor gas, so this shows you don’t have to be a millionaire to have shares in a racehorse.
|
|
My first memories of horse racing are my Dad putting on a round-robin bet on a Saturday afternoon and watching it with him on TV, he used to always put a 25p e/w single bet on for me and ever since then I been hooked. I’ve always liked to have a little flutter and always dreamed of being an owner.
The day I finished my mortgage off, I started looking at different syndicates, most were the type you paid the years fee and had to be drawn out the hat to attend the race. Then I found MPR.
The first horse I had was My Girl Jo in 2014 not the best start she ran one race
|
|
|
|
for me then she was retired. Then, I was offered a lease share in Aguerooo, and he won five times for us also giving us an outing to the all-weather Finals' Day at Lingfield, from then on I never looked back.
|
|
|
I’ve been very lucky since then with all my other horses which all have given me great days out and the opportunity to meet many lovely people. The first of them being Clem Fandango (above.) She took us into the winner's enclosure at Royal Ascot by finishing third in the Queen Mary. This has got to be my most memorable day so far since being a share owner. Flo’s Melody won twice for us, these may have only
|
|
|
been sellers races, but I get the same buzz winning low-grade races as I do with any other race. Buckman Tavern won just the once, but I think it should have been two more to his tally if the stewards had been watching the same races I was (but I am a bit biased). The three I’ve got now are Red bond with three wins, Sesame Birah with two wins and Marie’s Rock with three out of three.
What can I hope for in the future? Just to keep on having winners in any grade of race. It would be nice of course to have a classic winner or a Cheltenham Festival winner which I think I’ve got a good chance of next year with Marie’s Rock.🤞
As you can tell I’m not much of a writer the main reason I agreed to do this was so I could thank all the MPR team, trainers, and most of all the hard-working stable staff for making these days possible so,
A BIG THANK YOU & STAY SAFE.
|
|
|
Thank you for sharing your story Paul, you've got a wonderful team of horses to cheer on when racing restarts!
Stay safe everyone and best wishes from the MPR team.
|
|
|
|
|
|
