thanks ron and princess-- i suppose its one of those indeterminable things--you just have to trust to luck a bit--i met irish trainer Sean Harley (father of Martin) driving his horse to Kempton from Donegal-- almost a weeks travelling there and back--he was down at Kempton 48 hours before the race--the Horse duly won at 9/1 iirc-- made the journey worthwhile no doubt !
Goffs have announced that Paul Makin is to disperse some of his bloodstock interests at their November Sale later this year. The 25 horses to be sold are: THREE YEAR OLD FILLIES: CHICQUITA (IRE) (MONTJEU ex PRUDENZIA) 2010 Group 1 Darley Irish Oaks Her yearling sister made €1,000,000 in 2013 SPARKLE PLENTY (IRE) (GALILEO ex GWYNN) 2010 Half-sister to Group 1 Investec Derby winner Pour Moi BROODMARES: FLEETING SPIRIT (IRE) (INVINCIBLE SPIRIT) 2005 in foal to Galileo Group 1 Darley July Cup; Group 2 Temple Stakes; Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes; Group 3 Molecomb Stakes SONG (IRE) (SADLER'S WELLS ex JUDE) 2006 in foal to Frankel Own sister to Classic winner Yesterday and Group 1 winner Quarter Moon GILT EDGE GIRL (GB) (MONSIEUR BOND) 2006 in foal to Redoute's Choice 6 wins including Group 1 Qatar Prix De L’Abbaye FUNSIE (FR) (SAUMAREZ) 1999 Dam of Champion Authorized and Hydrogen, the world’s highest priced yearling of 2012 TAHARA (IRE) (CAERLEON) 1994 in foal to Fastnet Rock Dam of Group 1 Prix De L’Abbaye winner Gilt Edge Girl and Group 2 Flying Childers winner Godfrey Street SCENICA (ARG) (INTERPRETE) 2004 in foal to Invincible Spirit Group 1 winner in Argentina LADY KARR (GB) (MARK OF ESTEEM) 2001 Own sister to Group 1 Derby winner Sir Percy and dam of Group 1 performer Mikhail Glinka PISTE NOIRE (USA) (DIESIS ex SKIABLE) 2006 Own sister to Three Valleys TWO YEAR OLD FILLY: SEA THE STARS filly ex SONG (You've Got It) 2011 YEARLINGS: GALILEO filly ex FLEETING SPIRIT (Bounding Away) OASIS DREAM filly ex GILT EDGE GIRL (Mollycoddled) FOALS: GALILEO filly ex FLEETING SPIRIT GALILEO filly ex FUNSIE GALILEO filly ex TAHARA MONTJEU filly ex SCENICA OASIS DREAM filly ex LADY KARR DANSILI filly ex SONG HORSES IN TRAINING: CHIEF HAVOC (USA) (GIANT'S CAUSEWAY ex LA REINA) 2010 Grade 2 winner in the US JOE PALOOKA (IRE) (GALILEO ex GLINTING DESERT) 2010 Brother to Alfred Noble NOBODY LISTENS (IRE) (GALILEO ex SHOUK) 2009 Sister to Group 1 winners Alexandrova and Magical Romance SONG AND DANCE MAN (GB) (DANEHILL DANCER ex SONG) 2010 ACHTUNG (GB) (MONTJEU ex FUNSIE) 2010 DRACO’S CODE (GALILEO ex LADY KARR) 2011 I wonder if Mr Makin is in some sort of financial trouble as all lots are to be sold without reserve, meaning he may well make a big loss on some of the mares which were only purchased in recent years. Many of them were bought privately for undisclosed sums, but he paid £1.7 million for SONG in 2009.
I've looked into it and Racing Post are calling it "a complete dispersal", so sounds like Mr Makin is getting out of racing, in Europe at least.
He'd not be the first Australian to disperse their breeding stock. Nathan Tinkler of Patinack got rid of his earlier this year after his financial concerns forced him to.
But did you see Janabelle, he bought a lot of them back in at a reduced price so I wonder if he was pulling a tax dodge by "reducing" the commercial value of his stock. I'm not sure where Paul Makin made his money, Nathan Tinkler was in coal.
Paul Makin made his money from gambling. He developed some computer software that made it easy for him to make huge sums of money gambling in Hong Kong. Maybe he has gambled his fortune away. It would be sickening to lose all those wonderful horses wouldn't it........
Thanks *Stick*, I had the back of my mind that it might have been investments or similar that earned his fortune. Something must be wrong for him to part with all of his stock, and such a high quality batch at that.
A new video of Frankel at stud, filmed for the Dubai Racing Channel, is up on his website. Part 1 Part 2 The video was made in June so is a little out of date, he actually ended up with 126 of his 133 mares confirmed in foal.
It's not a secret Stick, but yes I am in foal and due to drop early March. It means my posting on here will probably start to get a bit sporadic from Christmas onwards and once I'm on maternity leave (end of January) I won't have access to a lot of materials that I usually consult to answer people's questions, but we'll see how it goes
Delighted for you PN. I reckon you are going to be a great Mum. Plenty of practice dealing with us children on here!
Thanks You can run your own sweepstake on the arrival of baby PN if you like - due 4th March so hoping he/she is not delayed and clashes with the Festival!
Do you know if it's a colt or a filly yet PN? Will help me with my odds compiling. A sweep would be good. Name the sex and the date!
No idea what flavour it is yet, we haven't decided if we're finding out and the scan to confirm isn't for another 6 weeks
Back to the horses: JOYEUSE is declared to run in the Fillies Listed race at Salisbury tomorrow. Based on her third at Royal Ascot I expect her to be favourite. I'm going myself (long drive!) and am told both Lady Cecil and Lord Grimthorpe are making the trip from Newmarket for the race, so I'd take it to mean there is confidence behind her.
Tinkler had a load of financial problems. There were frequent stories in the Aus papers of the training stables running out of money to pay bills, staff etc. The "buyback" of stock was not quite as straightforward as it appeared. Magic Millions handled the auction but withdrew several lots when they found out that Tinkler was bidding. Prior to the sale he had tried to sell the whole breeding operation (estimated he spent AUS$300 million on them) for AUS$200 million to Sheikh Fahad Al Thani (they said no thanks.....) He's managed to alienate most of the Aus thoroughbred & racing industry
JOYEUSE was pretty impressive yesterday, she looked to travel very well in the race in a similar style to her illustrious brother. One thing I will say about her is that she struck me, both before and after the race, as a very intelligent filly. She was looking at everything, not in a spooky typical 2 yo kind of way, but in a "I'm taking this all in and processing it" way. Even while she drank her post-race water her ears were flicking back and forth and her eyes scanning her surroundings. She never appeared nervous. Several people around the winners enclosure commented on her attitude and I think it's safe to say there is more to come from her.
