I am very pleased to report that John and I have bought a lovely daughter of Motivator for the Club at the Breeze Up sales last week.  I can assure you that it was not our intention to come back with yet another Motivator but this filly really caught our eye and with a budget of under 40,000 guineas it was always going to be a shade tricky in what was a remarkably strong market, largely thanks to Sheikh Mohammed!  This filly breezed really well and looked to have an abundance of natural speed.  You can watch the Breeze on www.tattersalls.com (go to View Craven Breezes – Lot 142 video).  She is out of the unraced A P Indy mare Anayid who is a daughter of the Group 1 winner Aqaarid who won the Fillies’ Mile (Gr 1) at Ascot.  Aqaarid herself is also a daughter of a Group 1 winner in the shape of Ashayer who won the Prix Marcel Boussac (Gr 1) at Longchamp.  This, therefore is a family of top class two year old performers  and Anayid’s first foal Sand Tiger won his only start at two last year - highly impressively trained by Andre Fabre and is thought to be  group race performer this year. 

Richard Hannon will train this filly and she has already settled in well at his Herridge Stables.   She looks to be a very precocious sort and could be on the racecourse by the end of May or beginning of June.  Who knows, maybe she will become Motivator’s first winner which would be highly appropriate! 

I love this filly who has plenty of spice and life about her -  again similar characteristics to her father.  She is a neat, strong, very racy filly and unless she goes through an unexpected growth spurt looks the type to be making a debut in the first half of the season. She is very eye-catching on the gallops and although she is only doing an easy canter at the moment, she holds herself beautifully and you can tell that she is itching to go a stride or two faster.  A Royal Ascot appearance would not be out of the question from a physical standpoint provided that she has the ability!

Capitelli is currently at the Stud here at Highclere and we have decided to extend her stay for another month or so as she has taken her time to put condition on having had quite a robust two year old career last season.  She is a light framed filly and when she came back to Highclere she wasn’t one hundred percent sound following her run at Great Leighs.  X-rays of her knees and joints are pretty good although the vets have advised that we keep her to light exercise just to play it safe.  This filly will take no time to get ready and as she requires good or faster ground we can afford to extend her holiday at this stage and prepare her for action in late Spring. 

This colt has done fantastically well from two to three and looks the type who will continue to progress physically throughout this season.  He has an amazing shoulder and depth of girth on him and throughout the winter his quarters have also strengthened up but there is still more improvement to come in this area.   Michael’s horses trot throughout January and then start back cantering up Warren Hill on February 1st and I suspect that that can’t come soon enough for Advisor who was extremely fresh and full of himself when I saw him early last week.  Both of his races last season were highly frustrating but I have no doubt that this is a horse with a future and hopefully he will be one who we can direct into a race at the Royal Meeting provided he lives up to expectations. 

I am afraid that Florist  has been a dismal failure since my last note. This filly has been consistently lame due to a kissing spine problem and, although she is sound now, we feel that it is best to send her to the Tattersalls February sale without a run for the Club. 

Metaphoric is currently on the horse walker but will have another scan in approximately three weeks time to see whether he can resume ridden exercise.  It is possible that he will be kept on the horse walker or possibly even turned out if that scan is not as good as expected but I will of course let you know the result when it happens.  In an ideal world it would be great to try and get him back for the Goodwood Cup as Michael and I very much see that as his principal target.  The horse himself looks marvellous so all fingers are well and truly crossed that the tendon fibres have all knitted back together so we can resume normal operations! 

Bay colt - Motivator ex Penny Cross      
Price: 70,000 Gns
Trainer: Michael Bell

I was delighted with this horse when I saw him at Michael Bell’s yard last week.  He has gone through the breaking process with the minimum of fuss and he looks to be a real chip off the old block as he has that wonderful Motivator head, shoulder and general outlook.  Looking at him physically I suspect that he could make up into a mid summer two year old and at this stage one couldn’t be happier with his progress.