phillipa, amy, st. leger & I.C.W.

​Phillipa Cooper, owner of Sweet William, is too nice to be constantly doorstepped by Matt Chapman. I like Matt, do not get me wrong, but he is a slightly smelly cheese compared to the rose aroma of Phillipa, or Mrs. Cooper as I suppose I should address her.
What is more, she is everything a breeder of racehorses should be. She embraces the history of the sport, emphasising that her fellow breeders should forego speed, speed, speed and return to the breeding of more stoutly bred horses. To her, as it is to me, the ‘Cup’ races on the flat are the only races worth their salt and if were not for them, perhaps, the history of our sport might have been short-lived. Although her horses are given time to mature by her trainer John Gosden, now aided by his son Thaddeus, who will doubtless continue in the same vein when his father steps aside, and the prospect of winning any other type of race other than a race over 14-furlongs+ is given little consideration, it would be a boon for the sport if she should some day own and breed a horse happy at 12-furlongs and perhaps be precocious enough to be thought of as a Derby horse.
Owned by anyone other than someone with such a depth of feeling for the horses she breeds at Normanby Stud, and trained by someone who fully understands and appreciates the ethos of the owner, would Sweet William have reached the heights he is presenting attaining? Great owners deserve great reward. May you grace our racecourses for another fifty-years, Mrs. Cooper.
One little thing, and this addressed to Matt Chapman. Phillipa Cooper will always be the breeder of Gregory. Just because she summoned-up the courage to sell the horse to Wathnam – not their cleverest purchase, I suggest -she has not given-up the privilege of breeding the horse. A small matter, as I said, though Matt does keep saying ‘former breeder’ when he should be saying ‘former owner’. I suspect as part of the deal she asked Wathnam if she could have the horse back when his racing days are over. Mrs. Cooper is that type of breeder. Yesterday she told Matt that the day before she had gone to visit Samuel, the horse that won her a Doncaster Cup back in 2010. She also looked-in on the dam of Samuel. That is why she is one of favourite owners and I even forgive her for beating Trueshan.

Just want to say what a fine ride Amy Waugh gave Faylaq – son of an Arc winner – in the first race at York yesterday. If that had been Murphy, Moore, Buick or Marquand, the praise would have been effusive. As a 3lb claimer the praise was more muted. Also, Jim Goldie is greatly under-estimated as a trainer.

I used to love the St. Leger. It was my favourite classic and one of my favourite flat races. This year’s renewal has been described as ‘boutique’, which is a way of suggesting it might not be overly competitive and with too small a number of runners to justify its position as a ‘classic’. The St. Leger is dying and is only kept breathing relevance due to Coolmore’s persistence in remaining faithful to their stoutly-bred colts, fillies, stallions and broodmares. If ‘the lads’ were to decide to go with fashion and turn their operation to a speed-dominated operation, the staying division would  nosedive into obscurity. That said, I hope Sunway wins today and give his French, though English-based, trainer a deserved big winner.

Why o why o why does the St. Leger have to clash with Irish Champions Weekend? Why? Is it so overwhelmingly difficult for the B.H.A. and the I.H.R.B. to get together to draw-up their respective racing calendars so that the two top autumn race-meetings are staged at least a week apart? As things stand, there are no less than three major staying races in a two-day period, two of them being St. Legers, the other one of the triple crown Cup races. It is right stupid, downright lazy, ridiculously inefficient.