04/01/2025
2024 REVIEW
2024 was a truly spectacular season as once again a Lingfield winner on New Yearās Eve meant we hit 45 WINNERS for the calendar year, although this time all 45 came on the flat in the UK.
It was a record-breaking season for prize money as we brought home Ā£667,000 and it enabled the yard to finish 42nd in the Trainers Championship (our best placing since finishing 25th in 2005 which was largely thanks to Sergeant Cecilās handicap treble). With just 44 individual horses running in 2024, every other UK based yard ahead of us had more individual runners (our string was still particularly busy with an average of 8 starts each). Of those 44 runners, 25 of them found their way into the winnerās enclosure ā our winners to runners strike rate of 57% was not matched by any other stable that ran at least 21 individual horses and just shows what strength in depth we had amongst the string.
You always need a Saturday star to remain in the headlines and in 2024 we truly had a one in the diminutive but exceptionally tough three-year old filly Adaay in Devon. As a juvenile she had an excellent season, landing four Ā£20,000 Great British Bonuses with wins at Windsor, Goodwood, Carlisle and Leicester prior to ending her campaign with a Listed second at Newmarket. Itās often hard work for a successful juvenile to train on from two to three so expectations were on the low side and itās safe to say she certainly exceeded them! A promising start to the season saw her finish fourth in Listed Cammidge at Doncaster on the opening day of the season against her elders. She then picked up a three-year-old handicap at Bath with the minimum of fuss before going onto win the Listed Lansdown Stakes at Bath over five furlongs. She then ran a stormer to finish second in the Group 3 Commonwealth Trial at Ascot before finishing third in the Carnarvon at Newbury on Lockinge day. She made all the running to land her third success of the season in the Listed Scurry Stakes at Sandown just before Royal Ascot. At York she probably produced a career best when second in the Group 3 Summer Stakes, Flora of Bermuda reversing the form from Sandown but she battled on gamely to regain the runners-up slot. In a busy season she continued to rack up the prize money, finishing fourth in the Shergar Cup and second in the Flying Fillies at Pontefract and wasnāt disgraced when finishing sixth in a couple more Group 3ās at the end of the season. She won Ā£142,609 in prize money and took her career earnings to Ā£262,851 ā an amazing achievement and she will be back for more as a four-year-old.
While Adaay in Devon is renowned for her toughness and reliability, the same cannot always be said about Amazonian Dream but generally he was on his best behaviour and racked up four wins. The hardest part is getting the jockey on board and down to the start in one piece and the nature of Windsorās paddock meant most of his turf campaign was at the riverside venue and he was competitive in the Fitzdares Series throughout the summer. He won twice before finishing second in the Ā£70,000 Final, losing out by a neck. He then misbehaved at Salisbury so we decided to give him a couple of runs on the all-weather and he won two more handicaps at Southwell and Kempton, taking him to Ā£71,927 in prize money for the year.
The small AW string had a very productive winter, and they were headed by Just a Spark who won her first three races of 2024 including a Ā£25,000 handicap on one of the Sunday evening fixtures at Kempton before running a career best on AW Finals Day when finishing second in the Ā£150,000 Fillies Handicap, winning Ā£36,255 for second place.
Another four-time winner was Woolhampton and while she too isnāt straightforward, often blowing the start but if in touch at halfway she loves a fast run five furlongs and will often fly home inside the final furlong. She won twice at Ascot, Windsor and Nottingham and won another Ā£60,000 in prize money although unlike 2022 and 2023 where she brought home Ā£49,000 and Ā£48,000, she wasnāt our top earner which shows what a great season the yard had.
Once again it was another busy and consistent campaign from Billy Mill as he won three more races, including a valuable Sunday evening handicap at Newcastle (his third success at Gosforth Park) as well as races at Ascot and Wolverhampton. Heās now won six times since we picked him up as a three-year-old from Richard Hannon and over Ā£110,000 in prize money.
It was a slightly frustrating season with the juveniles, as a virus seemed to hit the younger horses in the yard in the middle of the season so hopefully they will strengthen up into some progressive handicappers at three. However, Middleham Park Breeze Up purchase Master Technician ended up having a very productive autumn, only making his debut in September, he went all the way up to Musselburgh to win a Ā£30,000 Maiden in November and he provided the syndicate with their 100th winner of the campaign at Lingfield on New Years Eve. Meanwhile the tough filly Emporess also had a great autumn, enjoying the saturated ground to win at Bath and followed that up with two seconds at Leicester and Goodwood.
We still managed to pick up a couple of Great British Bonuses with the two-year-olds. Santa Savana made an impressive winning debut at Leicester in May and ran with credit in stakes company thereafter. Her dam Sufficient strengthened up nicely from two to three and that should be the same with her. Meanwhile Sweet Sonata got her Ā£20,000 bonus when making all the running at Newbury on her third start and should do well in three-year-old handicaps.
At the other end of the spectrum, it was time to say goodbye to a few of our old stalwarts. Ever-green veteran Airshow picked up a couple of amateur races under Pat, including over a mile at Salisbury, which meant his fourteen successes came over 5f, 6f, 7f and a mile! He ended his career with fourteen wins from 95 starts and Ā£134,000 in prize money and it was brilliant that he returned to the yard having completely lost his way with another stable as a six-year-old and it has been the catalyst to an important relationship with Middleham Park. Meanwhile, fellow 9yo Crystal Casque also retired from racing, the pair both winning thirteen times for the stable. An amazing 2023 saw Crystal win five times, including giving Jo Supple an Ascot winner but she hadnāt suddenly improved 10lbs as an 8yo and she faced a never-ending battle with the handicapper this time around but still ran with credit all season, unlucky not to get win number 14 with three places in the summer but her career earnings surpassed Ā£115,000. Age also caught up with Able Kane, although he nearly went out on a win when second at Southwell on his final outing, extremely unfortunate to come up against a horse that went onto land a hat-trick. With a peak mark of 93 he was often competing in extremely competitive events, his highlight a Ā£50,000 handicap success at Doncasterās St Leger meeting and he retired with eight wins and Ā£142,000 in earnings. Crazy Luck had been tough and consistent throughout her career and while she wasnāt in quite the same form this time around, she added another success at Nottingham to take her earnings to Ā£90,000 as well as a Ā£20,000 GBB. Meanwhile Master Grey has also been retired from racing with seven wins to his name. He has been a useful asset as a lead horse over the past few seasons and he remains in the yard with Beth and has been enjoying himself doing some showjumping and is always available to lead the young horses when needed.
Still going strong though is Bama Lama, this consistent homebred mare won three races as a six-year-old and had a run of thirteen consecutive places. She seems to excel at Windsor, Chepstow and Ffos Las with her seven wins split between the three venues. Another homebred filly to have a good campaign was Cypriot Diaspora, who added two more wins on soft ground at Nottingham and Goodwood to her juvenile success at Leicester. Silent Flame became well handicapped, and the blinkers transformed her focus with a couple of wins at Newbury and Goodwood. Four Adaay didnāt have much luck with the weather, losing a few winnable options due to abandonments but thoroughly deserved her success at Sandown. Miss Moonshine was our 2023 New Years Eve winner, but she also got off the mark in 2024 with a win at Southwell to give her four successes on the all-weather. Meanwhile Master Carpenter filly Davidās Diva racked up a December, January and February hat-trick on the all-weather, although she wasnāt quite as progressive as the Tony Caroll trained The Craftymaster who won seven times during the winter and it was great to see Master Carpenter having plenty of winners from such limited opportunities.
Calm Waters was a new addition to the yard and she had more ability than she showed but picked up a couple of races at Windsor and Ffos Las. On his debut for the yard, Another Run lost his maiden tag in impressive fashion at Southwell, routing the opposition but unfortunately sustained a leg injury that caused him to miss the rest of the season. Runaround Sioux produced a smart performance when winning on handicap debut at Chelmsford but hasnāt really had much luck since and remains a well handicapped filly. Twisted Tiara wasnāt the easiest filly to deal with but took a good opportunity to win at Bath. Forest Hills is the type to strengthen up with racing and he improved as a three-year-old to win at Salisbury and he should improve again at four. Mullins Beach was frustrating but it all dropped right when he won at Ffos Las. While another newcomer to the yard was Ajrad and he ran out a ready winner at Chepstow and when things drop right there are plenty of races in him off a low mark. At the other end of the spectrum Fast Steps had his third campaign at the yard and was consistent throughout the year and thoroughly deserved his success at Newbury.
Although not winning, plenty of the others went close. Foot problems have hampered Safari Dream since a stellar two-year-old campaign, but he racked up a couple of seconds and is extremely well handicapped if he can gain some confidence and a clean run with his feet. Enigmatic Princess was hit hard by a virus and never showed her homework on the track but still picked up plenty of place prize money in maidens. Be An Angel was unfortunate not to make a winning debut when second at Leicester and ended her two-year-old season with a second at Wolverhampton. With a bit of luck she should land a Ā£20,000 GBB at three. Mapledurham made a really promising start to her career when third at Newbury in a hot maiden but was sidelined by injury halfway through the campaign. Gloryous was quite a weak two-year-old so it augurs well for her future that she finished second at Salisbury and she should be much stronger at three. Meanwhile, Just An Hour struggled to find his feet but numerous third and fourths showed that he should be a well handicapped horse going into 2025.
So all in all a cracking 2024 and while it will be hard to beat in 2025, we are already off the mark with Tadreeb making a winning debut for the yard on the 3rd so hopefully it augurs well for the rest of the campaignšš
Racehorse Trainer based in East Devon
