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00:00In this week's segment of News You Can Use presented by Dali, we go across the pond once
00:05more to our own Emma Berry. Emma, how's it going over there and how's the rain?
00:12Still raining. Yeah, unfortunately, it looks like we're getting into heavy ground this weekend for
00:18champion stakes. But before that, we're still sort of only just over halfway through the
00:25colossal Tattles October yearling sale in Newmarket. So we're into the second week in
00:30book two. But book one was just, well, I think it was described by the Tattles chairman,
00:38Edmund Marney, as outlandish. And I would back him up on that because I could barely
00:42stay in my seat for running around chasing people buying seven figure lots. It was,
00:47I've never known a sale like it. I mean, it was hot on the heels of what basically
00:52has been happening over here, stateside, September sale, Resolute Racing. And now we
00:58have Kia and Ammo Racing. What's been the general feeling about Ammo Racing buying everything in
01:05sight? How many times did you have to interview Kia? Well, yeah, he did. He initially didn't do
01:12interviews. But then he did. So he did consent to some interviews. And he works with Bloodstock
01:17Alex Elliott, who's also called up quite a lot to speak about what they were doing.
01:24As you know, he was active, the team was active at Keeneland in September,
01:27and even more so here in Newmarket. I mean, I don't think anyone could have predicted
01:33the level at which they spent last week. It was around sort of 22 million guineas and
01:39mostly, some of them on their own, some in partnership with Asha Cab Racing.
01:44And they were driving the market as well as underbidders to Sheikh Mohammed,
01:50the Godolphin team, Coolmore. Godolphin was the biggest spender and Ammo very close up there as
01:56well. Between those two, just those two entities, they accounted for about 35% of the turnover
02:02of book one, which was the equivalent of roughly $175 million for 345 horses altogether. So I mean,
02:10it was a phenomenal week. And yeah, along with Keeneland in September would certainly be the
02:15strongest sale that's taken place anywhere this year, I would say.
02:20Is Sheikh Tamim and Wathenden Racing basically focusing their spending sprees on ready-made
02:29racehorses as opposed to buying young horses at sales? Or are they really involved in the sales
02:34as well? A bit of both. A lot of in-training purchases through this season and last.
02:41And they tend not to identify themselves in the yearling sales process. But their agent
02:50is Richard Brown of Blanford Bloodstock. Now, he does buy for a lot of other people as well.
02:55And he was the sort of third or Blanford Bloodstock as the agency was the third leading
02:59buyer at book one. And I'm sure that a number of those purchases will end up running in the
03:04Wathenden Racing silks. And yeah, they're another team sort of amassing a really sort of strong team
03:11of well-bred horses that you have to think they're going to be going down the road of
03:17eventually standing stallions and obviously having a decent broodmare band as that's the focus now
03:23for Ammo Racing. They've got some nice horses to retire to start, including King of Steel,
03:27who won the Champions' Stakes this time last year. And yeah, that's how their focus is shifting
03:33as well, along with some other new players like Salhi Asad from Saudi Arabia. I mean,
03:38there's a lot of emerging nations coming through and seeming to focus their buying on Europe and
03:46starting breeding operations in Britain, which obviously will help this country.
03:50This would be for Zoe as much as Emma. So Zoe, why would a buyer like Shape to Mim want not to
03:58identify themselves after the fact, after they've actually, not during the bidding process, I
04:05understand that, but after they purchased? I mean, why the secrecy?
04:10I've got no idea. Like, I don't know what the deal is with that, because we all know it all
04:18comes out in the end. Like, there's no hiding anything anymore.
04:23Well, no, as soon as the horses are registered as in training or entered for races, we know who
04:27they're running for. I don't know. That's been a little bit their profile at public auction,
04:33certainly, possibly to do with him being the Emir and the head of state in Qatar,
04:41albeit Sheikh Mohammed from Dubai was there all week through book one last week and,
04:48you know, very obviously bidding alongside his agent, Anthony Stroud. So I think, I guess it
04:54just depends on the individuals. And at this moment, they're sort of a little bit more private
05:00in the initial stages of their purchases. Have there been any surprises as far as
05:06freshmen size, new size, anything that really hit the mark that wasn't a surprise or perhaps
05:11wasn't just sold like hotcakes so far? No real surprises. I mean, I think a lot of
05:18people were expecting the St. Mark's Basilica yearlings to sell well. He was the, you know,
05:22champion two-year-old, champion three-year-old, and he's, you know, they've been well supported.
05:27A stallion who's sort of figuring a little bit more at book two this week. He's got very
05:32small books at Study of Man. He's got a very interesting runner on Saturday,
05:36favorite for the champion Phillies and Mayor's stakes, that's Kalpana, the Jumbo Philly. And
05:42Study of Man is an extraordinarily well-bred horse. He's by deep impact and he's out of a
05:47Stormcat daughter of the great Miesque. I mean, you hardly find a nicer pedigree than that,
05:52in my opinion. And he's covered quite small books at Landweid, Stardew New Market, but
05:56his runners, especially now he's got his first three-year-olds this year, and they've really
06:01made quite a splash, you know, from the numbers that he has on the ground. And he's starting to
06:07sort of rise in some people's opinions. And, you know, a couple of his yearlings
06:12particularly sold very well yesterday, one going to Joseph O'Brien, one going over to France to
06:16Andre Favre, you know, they're starting to get into those bigger yards. So he's going to be
06:20selling to keep an eye on. He's quite an under the radar horse really, but it'll be interesting
06:26to see how he develops as he covers bigger books. And he certainly did cover, I think, around just
06:31over a hundred this year. So we'll be seeing hopefully some more from him. I think he's a
06:35really interesting horse. Well, now that I've exhausted my supply of sales questions, which
06:40would be one, let me move on to racing. The British Champions Day, that's something that
06:48we all follow over here. If for no other reason than we typically get some Breeders' Cup horses
06:55out of Champions Day, especially from the Coolmore contingent. So tell us about some of the horses we
07:00can be really focused on this weekend. Well, I promised myself I wouldn't mention Kiprios again,
07:06because I think I mention him every time I come in here. But Kiprios is running on Saturday
07:12in the Long Distance Cup. He's just the best there around. And he's a terrific horse.
07:16It's just an absolute one of those heart on his sleeve horses that just is fantastic to follow.
07:22So he'll be favourite for the Long Distance Cup. And then I mentioned Kalpana earlier,
07:26who's also favourite for the fillies and mares. It's four Group 1 races and a Group 2 on Saturday.
07:34The two big Group 1s, if you like, in my opinion, the Queen Elizabeth, the second stakes. We're
07:39going to see Tanfana coming back from the Sun Chariot, hopefully. She won her first Group 1
07:43just a couple of weeks ago at Newmarket. Very interesting filly on the up. Also an on the up
07:48trainer, David Monoisier, who's French but trains in Britain. And he's a real trainer to follow,
07:53in my view. He gets terrific results from horses not bought really expensively. This filly cost
08:0020,000 euros at the German yearling sale a couple of years ago. She's by Soldier Hollow,
08:05who was a terrific stallion in Germany, but it's not high profile here. So she's going to be
08:11interesting going up against Charin, who's sort of champion Marler elect in Britain. He's about
08:16to retire, actually, to Sunbay in France next year. But he's been a terrific horse for Nolan
08:23Bissikoff and his trainer, Roger Varian. But probably what could be the story of a few
08:29weekends ago at Newmarket is a horse called Prague. And he's been supplemented for the QE2.
08:34And he's one that got away from Coolmore. It doesn't happen very often. But this time last
08:40year, his owner, Amadeo Dal Pos, who is also his rider and is also the head lad for his trainer,
08:45Dylan Cunha, bought him for 10,000 guineas at the horse's training sale. And he's now a Group 2.
08:50He hadn't raced before that. He's a four-year-old. He's run this year. And he's now a Group 2 winner
08:55who's been supplemented for the QE2. And it would be quite a story if, you know, within a year of
09:01buying him for such a relatively small amount, he's now lining up in a Group 1 on one of the
09:06biggest days in Britain. So that's going to be a lovely story to follow. And champion stakes
09:13itself, we've got Economics, who's the horse that a lot of people are talking about here.
09:18He's unbeaten this season in four runs. He won the Irish champion stakes, beating August Rodin.
09:23And he's now going up against Calandegan, who was second to City of Troy last time at York in the
09:30Jumbo International. So that's a real sort of British-French clash, William Haggis against
09:36Francis Graffa. Two, you know, very exciting three-year-olds taking each other on.
09:43And one horse in that race I just think probably might be overlooked but shouldn't be is another
09:49French raider, Irosine, who's a seven-year-old but loves the soft ground, is very versatile
09:54over distance, and I think actually should be taken quite seriously on Saturday,
09:58even with those two big horses in the race.
10:01Economics would be the one to follow, right? Unbeaten in four starts, he missed the derby,
10:06like he is the headline horse. How's he going to handle the ground? And do we know where we're
10:12running? Because round course, flat course, jumps course, which course are we going on while the
10:16cats and dogs keep falling?
10:19They haven't quite made the final decision as far as I'm aware at this stage, but it looks like
10:23they're going to be going to the inner track, which is, you know, used as the jumps track
10:27through the winter, but obviously hasn't been raced on through the summer. So, you know,
10:32hopefully the ground will be a little better there. It's a, yeah, it's a question mark over
10:36how he'll handle really testing ground. He's a big, powerful, long striding horse.
10:41Hopefully he'll get through it. It's obviously going to be the same for all of them,
10:45Colander can run at Royal Ascot on completely different ground.
10:49So yeah, it's going to be a test, and there's a bit of an unknown, but he is the horse that
10:55people will want to see on Saturday. Economics, no question.
10:5917 have been declared. I think Aidan had six or seven.
11:03Do we know which ones are going? I know Los Angeles, can he bounce back from the arc?
11:08I mean, that's a, that's a tough go. Would he be going?
11:12No, I mean, final decks will be made on Thursday morning. So we'll, we'll sort of hear the
11:18light of the confirmation stage on Monday. Yeah, they've all stood their ground and
11:23I guess he will wait and see, because as you say, it's quite a quick turnaround from the arc,
11:27which was running quite testing ground itself. So it's obviously a question of how much that's
11:31taken out of him. So yes, it's unknown at the moment, exactly which of their team will turn
11:37up, but they'll have something that's for sure. And Los Angeles is obviously the standout of the
11:41entries at the moment from, from Balidoel. Obviously over here right now, as you know,
11:48everything's sort of, the focus has sort of shifted towards the Breeders' Cup. And one
11:52of the challenges that I face every year about this time is that a lot of times the European
11:57contingent doesn't really get solidified until you get even closer to the Breeders' Cup than we are
12:02now, even after British Champions Day. I mean, we know about City of Troy. We know Godolphin's keen
12:09on notable speech coming over for the mile. I've read about Big Evs coming for the turf sprint and
12:14his young mate Big Mojo for the juvenile turf sprint. Maybe Facteur Cheval for the Classic.
12:22He's American owned now. So what are some of the other European horses, if you have your ear to the
12:27ground, about that we might be looking forward to seeing for the Breeders' Cup?
12:35Well, I gather Ramachuel is coming from France for the Breeders' Cup mile as well.
12:40Notable Speaks actually have a workout on Saturday morning on the race course at New Market. And he's
12:46looking in great order. And that's obviously, as you say, been his long stated aim to try to get
12:52his trainer Charlie Atwood's fourth consecutive Breeders' Cup mile win,
12:55which will be quite something. But Ramachuel absolutely, you know, she's been a filly that
13:02has been sort of knocking on the door all season in the top races and then was extremely impressive
13:08in the Prix de la Forêt on Earth Day. That's seven furlongs. But she can definitely cope with
13:16the mile as well. And her trainer Christopher Head, son of the legendary Freddie Head, is
13:23absolutely intent on bringing her to America. And that's, I think, she'd be a very interesting
13:28contender there, along with, I'm presuming, Porta Fortuna, who has been,
13:32you know, an absolute revelation this season in the top mile races. She's an absolute
13:37standout filly and American owned as well, and was obviously over the last year or two. So
13:43for Donna Kerry-Bryan, I'm sure she'll be returning. And then I think possibly in the turf,
13:50we could look out for JRB, who is a group two winner here. He's a decent horse. He was second
13:56to Economics in the summer in Deauville. And he's trained by Brian Meehan, who's won the turf
14:01twice with Dangerous Midge, and obviously Red Rocks, of course. So, you know, he's a trainer
14:08that loves to aim at the breeders' cup when he's got a good one. And JRB is a horse that needs to
14:13take another step forward. But that seems to be the plan for him to come for the turf as well.
14:17Thanks for that. Thanks for the pronunciation on Rama 2L, by the way. I was wondering about that.
14:25I've got one more question. I just happened to like pop on your Twitter before we got on.
14:32Who are Rattlesnakes?
14:34Oh, yeah. And I can't believe it was an album, Rattlesnakes. It was the first album for
14:42Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. And I'm really showing my age now that that's one of my
14:45favourite albums of all time. And it's his 14th anniversary this week. So there we go.
14:50I have to look it up. And you too. That's you, Randy. Rattlesnakes. Let's look it up.
14:56Have we transitioned to music now? Is that where we are? Okay. Rattlesnake. I haven't heard of that
15:02horse. There's a good name for a horse, actually. I might use that in the future.
15:10There is a horse over here that was called Rattlesnake. I think he's been retired right now.
15:14Okay.
15:16All right. Well, Emma, thank you so much for joining us. That was Emma Berry with News You
15:20Can Use. You heard Emma Berry talk about some of Knight of Thunder's runners in the upcoming
15:26British Champions Day. And what a year he's having. His three-year-old Colt Economics won
15:32the Grade One Irish Champions States and Desert Flower took the Grade One Fillies Mile on Friday.
15:38He is also the sire of the brilliant Royal Ascot winner Fairy Godmother and the undefeated,
15:44exciting Grade Three Stakes winner Ombudsman. They are among 16 stakes winners he had in 2024,
15:52a year in which he also notched his first $1 million euro yearling. He is most definitely
15:59a sire on the rise. Knight of Thunder. Knight of Thunder. He's definitely the heir apparent
16:05to Dubawi from what I've seen.
16:21Desert Flower will remain unbeaten.