Fantastic Syndicate
Opportunities
Jason Fildes gives a round-up of the horses in Highclere’s northern syndicates, their trainers and their success to date
It’s at this time of year that we begin to look ahead and get excited about our northern horses for the 2020 flat season. All of them are back in training and, although the turf season doesn’t start until March, I am constantly being asked about which horses we have at the respective stables so below is a full list in alphabetical order:
BYLINE
A three-year-old colt at Kevin Ryan’s yard near Thirsk. He won a maiden before finishing seventh in the Gimcrack at York. He looked really well when we saw him recently and will be aimed at six furlong sprints this year.
EVANDER
Our only National Hunt horse trained in the north at the moment, he is with Oliver Greenall in Cheshire. Evander thrilled us by winning at Sedgefield on Boxing Day having been second on both his first two starts.
IMMACULATE
She is a very pretty, well bred filly. Only a two-year-old, Immaculate has just arrived at Mark Johnston’s Kingsley Park stables at Middleham, Yorkshire, to begin her racing career.
KNIGHTED
At the other end of the scale from Immaculate, Knighted is now a five-year-old. He is at Kevin Ryan’s Hambleton Lodge yard in his fourth season of racing. He has run 14 times, winning four and has provided his owners with plenty of fun. He’s best at a mile.
PRECOCITY
She has run twice, both at Ripon and finished fourth and third. We think she’s better than that, but has had a few niggling injuries so we’re being patient. She is due to go back up to Richard Fahey’s Malton stable before the end of January.
SERMON
He is trained by Tom Dascombe at Cholmondeley, Cheshire. What a great year he had as a two-year-old with seven runs, being placed six times. He ran at York, Chester (twice) and Haydock, all with great credit without quite winning. Tom is going to aim him at Sprint Handicaps this season and he’s sure to win races in 2020.
THUNDEROUS
He had three runs in 2019 and won them all, including the Listed Denford Stakes at Newbury. At this point he was one of the highest rated two-year-old colts in training but Mark Johnston was concerned about a slight injury, so we decided to give him a rest. He has grown and strengthened during the winter and is probably being aimed at a £100,000 race at Newcastle on Good Friday. If he runs well in this, the plan is to go to the Dante at York before having a tilt at the Derby at Epsom! He’s a very exciting, unbeaten horse.
WARRANTY
He has run twice, finishing second and fourth. Mark Johnston thinks he will be suited by middle distances, so we expect to see him running over a mile-and-a-half plus. He’s a big horse and still growing – we expect him to be a strong, tough three-year-old and win a race or two this year.
We have just bought two new horses which, as yet have not been named. There are still some shares available in both of them, so if anybody is interested, please contact me (details below).
The first is a colt by Acclamation and is to be trained by Tom Dascombe in Cheshire. He is a superb looking two-year-old, who we hope will be making his debut at Chester in May. Michael Owen, the ex-footballer, has taken a share in this syndicate, which should be great fun.
When we visited Kevin Ryan’s Hambleton Lodge stables recently, he showed us a handsome son of Kodi Bear that had been bought at the Newmarket sales. He moves so beautifully we couldn’t resist. Highclere has bought three-quarters of him and we’re going to issue 15 shares at about £5k each.
Highclere – Jason Fildes
01200 444622
07721 311778
jason@highclere.co.uk
highclereracing.co.uk
