The Sunday Syndicates Post – Vol. 4, Issue 12

Is there anything more exciting than a 2yo getting entered up for the first time? Saturday afternoon The Racing Manager app lit up owners phones as the uber exciting Far Above The Law was entered to make his debut in Chelmsford on Good Friday. Whether he’ll be ready or not first up will remain to be seen but he is a colt who we have very high hopes for for the season ahead.

We’re hoping he can kick our 2024 2yo squad off to a perfect start, a team that we’ve the utmost hope for as probably our best assembled team ever. He’ll hopefully be closely followed by Far Beyond who is set to make his debut in France for Tim Donworth in the coming weeks. They share the same sire and he’s displaying some nice qualities at this early stage. There are some big prize money pots in target for the strapping chestnut. If you haven’t checked out our flat stable tour from last week give it a watch below.

Its Willies World and we’re just living in it. Or is it?

One has to feel that we’re living through a generation of true greatness such are the feats of Willie Mullins. He reached his 100th Cheltenham Festival winner last week which is a truly astonishing feat. He is one of the all-time sporting legends who can be mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Mohammed Ali, Messi, O’Driscoll, Palmer and any other sports person who has championed their sport. He should be adored, admired and celebrated for years to come.

From bumpers to juvenile hurdles, Champion Hurdles and Gold Cups he has done it all and done it with such humbleness, class and personality. Anytime we have a stable tour down there he goes above and beyond to answer every single question asked and spend as much time with owners as they’d like. Much has been made about his dominance of the sport but you just have to listen to what his closest rivals say about him. Elliot, De Bromhead and Cromwell all admire the man and thank him for pushing the boundaries and pushing them to be even better at their crafts which was duly evident during the week with some fine hauls from the aforementioned handlers.

Willie has been our most successful trainer to date, maintaining a 100% strike record in bumpers first time out. Whatever about our most exciting team of flat horses the crop that we are sending to Willie this year far outweighs anything that we have sent to him before. Fine praise given that that included Cabaret Queen, Grangee, Nós na Gaoithe and West End Victory. Our final two horses with shares remaining are both by sires whom Willie had Grade 1 success with at the Festival.

Further to that we also managed to purchase the only two fillies for sale at public auction last year by those two sires Jeu St Eloi and Great Pretender. Lossiemouth was imperious in the Mares Hurdle and further bolstered the trainers fine record with Great Pretender fillies having handled the careers of Benie des Dieux and Grangee in years gone by but the dashing grey could be the best he’s had yet. We had a huge response to our filly after that result and she has quickly become the fastest selling horse on the website.

We have a weekly team meeting to keep track of targets and goals we set out, ways to improve and pieces of business that need to be addressed. On Friday we were going through what shares were left in what horses and I had to take a second glance at the Jeu St Eloi filly. I genuinely thought she would be sold out at this stage but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Now after Kargese ran an absolute blinder to be second in the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle for Willie there was a sharp uptake in share sales as, like the Great Pretender, we secured the only filly by Jeu St Eloi for sale at public auction last year. I thought she was one of the best value purchases we have ever made and I cannot wait to see what she can achieve for Willie in the coming years.

Henry de Bromhead yet again displayed how he is one of the finest trainers at getting horses to peak right on the big day. Slade Steel was a game winner of the Supreme and it was a magnificent training performance to get Captain Guinness back to win the Champion Chase. Only for the aforementioned Lossiemouth Henry would have had the 1-2-3 in the Mares Hurdle courtesy of Tellmesomethinggirl, Hispanic Moon and Lantry Lady. We’re delighted that Henry is taking charge of our Waldpark filly who is a half sister to the Grade 1 winning hurdler Adagio.

Gordon had to be patient at the Festival for his first winner especially as all of his horses were running cracking races in defeat. He finished up with a fine week in the end but for me it was the defeat of Gerri Colombe which stuck out the most. I thought he ran a fine race in defeat to the Champion that is Galopin des Champs bolstering his credentials as a top class staying chaser. That result had us all very excited as we have our first horse with Gordon, Jana Colombe, who in fact happens to be a half sister to the multiple Grade 1 winner.

For me it was another marvellous week showcasing the best that jumps racing has to offer. There are, like many big sporting events, some minor issues to be ironed out but that dream of having a runner at the Festival is something we all strive for. That dream is very much a possibility with this team of Syndicates.Racing horses and trainers. Cheltenham 2025 here we come!

Night Raider single figure odds for Classic glory

Far Above’s half brother, Night Raider, firmly put himself into the 2000 Guineas picture during the week with another authoritative display at Southwell for Karl Burke. The son of Dark Angel is now 2/2 and is around 8/1 for the first Classic of the year. Watch his demolition job below.

Thank you.

Thanks for reading. If there is anything we can do to assit you please reach out john@syndicates.racing.