The 2024 Flat Year kicks off for the King with his first runner at Kempton on Wednesday. The unraced 3yo colt Calculate makes his debut in an 8f maiden at the Sunbury track. He’s a Cracksman colt out of the unraced Al Kazeem mare Craftiness. Her first foal wasn’t up to much and the mare appears to have died after being covered by Galileo and Australia in 2021. Something must have been amiss. Balding is in fair form and Rob Hornby takes the ride and it would be good to see some promise from this colt.
Another year brings hope but uncertainty with it. Last year was disappointing after the previous two seasons. Every move of the King is construed one way or another. He doesn’t seem as sentimental as his mother but undoubtedly enjoyed some days at the races: especially the Royal Ascot victory of Desert Hero and the same horse’s run in the Leger.
So, what do we know? Well, he sold a fair few horses over the last 15 months but the total number of thoroughbred horses owned is larger today than it was in 2004. He still has in excess of 25 broodmares which looks a healthy number. The stallions used in 2023 to cover the Royal mares you could not really fault, so investment continues. A slight surprise was the sale of a yearling, which I’ve never seen. That could just be good sense.
One area of interest has to be what is coming through this year? The GBB website lists the Royal filly foals (not colts as this bonus is only given for fillies) born in Great Britain each year. For 2022 (this years 2yos) there were 11 fillies born: in fact all the Royal fillies for this year were born in GB and will carry that suffix. A few months after being born there is a first registration of the foal and payment, followed by a second registration 6-9 months later and a final registration later still. The story has been that every filly registered in the first round was then registered in the second and third rounds (unless they died) and then went into training. This year all 11 of the fillies were registered for the first two rounds but 4 of them have not been registered for the third round. Now why is that? All 4 of them may have died, but that is unlikely. It could also be that they will be registered soon (maybe they’d maxed out on the credit card) or it could be that they are being sold with the inference being that the purchaser can pay the final fee. We shall see.
The 2022 foals not registered are:-
Time Test out of Fiery Sunset (half sister to Circle of Fire: mare already sold);
Sea the Moon out of Good Hope (half sister to Candle of Hope: mare already sold);
Magna Grecia out of Shimmering Light (half sister to Treasure: mare already sold);
and Cable Bay out of Pack Together (half sister to Serried Ranks: mare already sold).
There’s a pattern there.
I usually use this website (GBB) to see new filly foalings and for names of these horses (The Queen was particularly good at not only naming her yearlings early but also giving them good names). Last year no 2yos were named as of 1st Jan 2023 but I can already see 5 have been named of the 7 fully registered fillies and 2 are already in training. They are:-
Purple Rainbow by Night of Thunder out of Daphne, with Haggas, and Royal Equerry by Kingman out of Memory, with Beckett.
As regards the 2yo colts you can only trace those that have been named. Of the 5 that have so far been named 2 have gone into training. They are:-
Dust Cover by Showcasing out of Dusty Dream (first foal: mare already sold) with Beckett and Camel Train by Dubawi out of Desert Flyer (first foal).
You can get the names off the Breeders Cup website and then find if they are in training off the BHA website. So there are 4 unnamed colts, who possibly are to be named or are to be sold. 2022 was a low foal year mainly because there were a few late foalings in 2021 and mares were rested or retired.. It looks like there are 19 2024 yearlings and 24 Royal mares covered and hopefully in foal ( some will have been barren etc.).
What has definitely happened has been a slimming down of the training roster. In 2022 there were 10 trainers. At the beginning of ’23 Cox, followed by Bell, Hannon and then by Charlton left the ranks. I saw no mention of this in the media, though they did mention the addition of Prescott and Beckett (though Beckett had trained for Charles, when POW). There must be a possibility that Hughes joins the 4-that-went as he was sent no 2yos last year and so currently has no horses registered with him. It would seem a little unfair on him, as even though the lesser sorts were sent to him he got races out of nearly all of them. More surprising would be the other trainer who appears short of Royal horses and that is Stoute. He has one 3yo owned by the King as he was only sent one 2yo last year. Prescott was sent two 2yo horses last year but both were gone by the end of the season. Will he be sent 2yos this year?
So that leaves the big four: Balding, Haggas, Gosden and Beckett. Balding has 4 3yos and Beckett has 3yos and 2yos. Both these trainers publish their strings but the other two take more seeking out.
A lot will happen in the next three months before the turf season starts and I’ll be watching to see what happens.
Another year brings hope but uncertainty with it. Last year was disappointing after the previous two seasons. Every move of the King is construed one way or another. He doesn’t seem as sentimental as his mother but undoubtedly enjoyed some days at the races: especially the Royal Ascot victory of Desert Hero and the same horse’s run in the Leger.
So, what do we know? Well, he sold a fair few horses over the last 15 months but the total number of thoroughbred horses owned is larger today than it was in 2004. He still has in excess of 25 broodmares which looks a healthy number. The stallions used in 2023 to cover the Royal mares you could not really fault, so investment continues. A slight surprise was the sale of a yearling, which I’ve never seen. That could just be good sense.
One area of interest has to be what is coming through this year? The GBB website lists the Royal filly foals (not colts as this bonus is only given for fillies) born in Great Britain each year. For 2022 (this years 2yos) there were 11 fillies born: in fact all the Royal fillies for this year were born in GB and will carry that suffix. A few months after being born there is a first registration of the foal and payment, followed by a second registration 6-9 months later and a final registration later still. The story has been that every filly registered in the first round was then registered in the second and third rounds (unless they died) and then went into training. This year all 11 of the fillies were registered for the first two rounds but 4 of them have not been registered for the third round. Now why is that? All 4 of them may have died, but that is unlikely. It could also be that they will be registered soon (maybe they’d maxed out on the credit card) or it could be that they are being sold with the inference being that the purchaser can pay the final fee. We shall see.
The 2022 foals not registered are:-
Time Test out of Fiery Sunset (half sister to Circle of Fire: mare already sold);
Sea the Moon out of Good Hope (half sister to Candle of Hope: mare already sold);
Magna Grecia out of Shimmering Light (half sister to Treasure: mare already sold);
and Cable Bay out of Pack Together (half sister to Serried Ranks: mare already sold).
There’s a pattern there.
I usually use this website (GBB) to see new filly foalings and for names of these horses (The Queen was particularly good at not only naming her yearlings early but also giving them good names). Last year no 2yos were named as of 1st Jan 2023 but I can already see 5 have been named of the 7 fully registered fillies and 2 are already in training. They are:-
Purple Rainbow by Night of Thunder out of Daphne, with Haggas, and Royal Equerry by Kingman out of Memory, with Beckett.
As regards the 2yo colts you can only trace those that have been named. Of the 5 that have so far been named 2 have gone into training. They are:-
Dust Cover by Showcasing out of Dusty Dream (first foal: mare already sold) with Beckett and Camel Train by Dubawi out of Desert Flyer (first foal).
You can get the names off the Breeders Cup website and then find if they are in training off the BHA website. So there are 4 unnamed colts, who possibly are to be named or are to be sold. 2022 was a low foal year mainly because there were a few late foalings in 2021 and mares were rested or retired.. It looks like there are 19 2024 yearlings and 24 Royal mares covered and hopefully in foal ( some will have been barren etc.).
What has definitely happened has been a slimming down of the training roster. In 2022 there were 10 trainers. At the beginning of ’23 Cox, followed by Bell, Hannon and then by Charlton left the ranks. I saw no mention of this in the media, though they did mention the addition of Prescott and Beckett (though Beckett had trained for Charles, when POW). There must be a possibility that Hughes joins the 4-that-went as he was sent no 2yos last year and so currently has no horses registered with him. It would seem a little unfair on him, as even though the lesser sorts were sent to him he got races out of nearly all of them. More surprising would be the other trainer who appears short of Royal horses and that is Stoute. He has one 3yo owned by the King as he was only sent one 2yo last year. Prescott was sent two 2yo horses last year but both were gone by the end of the season. Will he be sent 2yos this year?
So that leaves the big four: Balding, Haggas, Gosden and Beckett. Balding has 4 3yos and Beckett has 3yos and 2yos. Both these trainers publish their strings but the other two take more seeking out.
A lot will happen in the next three months before the turf season starts and I’ll be watching to see what happens.
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