January 12th Update
The cold weather didn’t stop racing in Deauville this week. We braved the snow and ice (we did find some very cosy bars!!) to watch Surrey Noir in his latest handicap race. However, after hearing the pre-race instructions from the trainer to the jockey, it seemed the jockey was more affected by the cold than anticipated! Upon reviewing the race afterward, it was disappointing to see such a lacklustre performance. From a favourable draw, the jockey took Surrey Noir further back in the field, and there was little action throughout the race. That said, we’ve had a series of races with unfortunate excuses, much like his runs in England. It's time to move on. Surrey Noir will next race in a claimer, and we hope this will provide an opportunity for a fresh start with new owners.
We certainly appreciate the prize money in France, but handicaps can be tough to win. Horses don’t move up in the ratings unless they win a race, so those solid performers who finish 2nd or 3rd are often "well in" for their next race. It’s a smart system that aids race planning. When the Owner Breeder magazine asked for our thoughts on how to make racing more competitive in the UK, we suggested that adopting a similar handicap structure could be beneficial here. You can read more about it in the article linked below.
After the abandonment of Kempton on Saturday, Surrey Quest may be rerouted to Haydock on Saturday for the £100k Peter Marsh Handicap, scheduled for 2.30, a premier handicap over 3m 1.5f. The weather looks better this week, so we’ll have a look at the entries tomorrow and make sure the ground isn’t too attritional. If he doesn’t run at Haydock he’ll be aimed at races at either Sandown or Musselburgh at the start of February.
The other two NH horses are well, but the gallops have been frozen, so they haven’t had too much work. Surrey Lord needs the hard work, so he won’t be seen on the track until the end of the month or early in February for his last bumper. Sea Presenting has been excelling in school, she’s a 3m chaser in the making and we are really excited how she is progressing, with such a willing attitude. Toby now thinks because of the way she is schooling, and the fact she has already seen a racecourse, that she should debut straight into hurdles without the need of an educational bumper, there are a few mares only options towards the end of the month.
A date for your diary – Saturday March 22nd for a Surrey Fire and Surrey King owners visit at Hughie Morrison’s. More details to follow nearer the time. Hughie is very welcoming, so you don’t have to wait that long to visit, just let us know and we’ll arrange it for you. That is the same for Tom Clover as well and as with Hughie, we will organise a bigger visit in March to see Surrey Moon and Surrey Shadow. Shadow is working well, and Tom is eying a run in February, there are two potential dates that may suit at Kempton, 12th or 19th so make a very tentative note.
As we enter 2025, we’re assessing our available shares, evaluating demand for new horses, and considering which horses may be sold as the year progresses. At the moment, we don’t have any shares available in National Hunt horses, so we’re considering the possibility of purchasing a new one this year. Currently, we have just one share left in Surrey King and three shares in Surrey Etoile. As a result, we’re not actively seeking a new flat horse right now, though that may change once we attend the yearling sales in October. We’re particularly excited about the three well-bred yearlings we purchased last year, all of whom are on track to debut later in the summer. We believe we found outstanding value in what appeared to be a buoyant market—though, of course, time will tell if that proves true. But is it a buoyant market?
Demand at Tattersalls Book 1 was clearly driven by powerhouses Coolmore and Godolphin, add Amo Racing to that mix, and that demand spilled over into Book 2. The net result was that the average price of yearlings sold last year in the traditional yearling sales window was £74.35k, a 12.6% increase on 2023. That was the highest ever and 21.6% higher than 2020. However, this is clearly fuelled by the seemingly ‘money is no object’ top end. When the 5000 yearling sales are broken down into 10% segments, the top 10% average was £423k, nearly 28% higher than the previous year’s high of £330k, but the next 10% only rose 2%. We don’t, well, we can’t afford to operate in the top 20% of the market so it’s interesting to note that the remaining 8 segments average all fell with increasing percentages as we drop down to the lower ends of the market (2.9%, 5.9%, 8.3%, 11.2%, 14.4%, 17.5%, 21.7% and 25.5%). Hope therefore, that not all costs are rising!
2024 saw the usual well-bred horses taking the big prizes but it wasn’t Dubawi or Frankel who took the UK Champion Sire title, have a guess before reading on? Dubawi lead the European Sires with 25 stakes winner, while Frankel had a quiet season, relinquishing his UK crown to Dark Angel, son of the recently departed Acclamation. His son Charyn was outstanding in 2024 winning 3 Group 1s and now stands at Montfort et Preaux for €35,000. Dark Angel has achieved the title without the support of a 6-figure stud fee in stark contrast to those before him in the recent era. One of Acclamation’s other sons, Mehmas, had an amazing year with a record-breaking tally of 63 winners and 8 stakes winners from a 2022 crop produced on a stud fee of ‘only’ €25k. Mehmas only ran as a 2-year-old and started his stallion career in 2020 at a fee of only €7.5k, he stands this year at a lofty €70k !
Good luck to all those connected to Surrey Quest
Possible races and events.
January
Saturday 18th – Surrey Quest – Haydock – The Peter Marsh, 2.30pm
Monday 20th – Sea Presenting – Warwick
Sunday 26th – Surrey Lord - Fontwell
Thursday 30th – Sea Presenting - Wincanton
February
Saturday 1st – Surrey Quest - Sandown
Sunday 2nd – Surrey Quest – Musselburgh
Wednesday 12th – Surrey Shadow – Kempton
Wednesday 19th – Surrey Shadow – Kempton
Saturday 22nd – Surrey Quest - Newcastle
March
Saturday 22nd Surrey King/Surrey Fire Stable Visit
Saturday 29th – Surrey Shadow - Doncaster
April
Saturday 12th – Surrey Quest - Ayr