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| Staff Writer |
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For Karl Burke, a career in training was never on his radar. But so far for that career, it has seen Burke train 13 Group One winner, a huge sign of success for the stable.
Born in Rugby, UK, Burke was raised in a pub and it was here his interest in the sport began.
“My dad was a publican, and I got my interest really in racing and horses from there. It was a big Irish pub and there was all the gambling and horse racing on Saturdays and a lot of gambling going on in the pub. So it sort of sparked my interest from there,” Burke said.
His interest in horses was taken to the next level thanks to the influence of fellow Rugby native and Zetland Gold Cup-winning hoop, Ian Johnson.
“That’s going back a while ago now in the seventies, Ian rode for Arthur Budgett and he was from Rugby as well. His dad used to come into the pub, with Ian, during the winter when there was no race. I remember going to a riding school with him when I was about 12 or 13 and he gave me a few tips on what to do and what not to do on the back of a horse and it went from there really.
“Then I started working in a local state racing stable, which was not too far away, and eventually I went down one summer to a trainer called Hugh O'Neil.
“I was supposed to be there just for the summer and I didn't go home. Then I went home one day and just said I'm not going back to school, I'm going to be an apprentice jockey.”
His time in the saddle would begin with him having five rides on the flat.
“I was always going to be too heavy for that. I went riding over the jumps and I only rode for about ten years professionally.”
MAKING THE MOVE TO PROFESSIONAL TRAINING
Burke would receive his trainer’s licence in 1991 even though initially the desire was not burning in the role.
“When we started, we were doing liveries and pre-training for a few people, owners, and trainers, that I knew.
“I never really wanted to train I'll be honest and then I got the interest and enjoyed preparing the horses and feeding them and getting them looking well. Quite a few of the owners and trainers were very happy with the horses and the way they returned to them they asked if I would start training.
“They said if I started training they would support me and so that tempted me in and of course when I did start training they never supported us, but that’s the usual story.”
In that first season going out on his own, the stable started with extremely humble and lowly numbers as Burke said.
“Nine. We had nine horses to start because you had to have nine or ten on your license to get a license.
“I think from that nine about five of them were broken down. We just had them out there as numbers, just to get us a license. So, we were pretty thin on the ground.”
His stable has since included some classy types that have included the likes of Laurens and Daring Destiny, Burke contributing a lot of the success of the stable to the pair.
“We've been lucky. Daring Destiny never actually won a Group One race but she won a Group Three and a Group Two in Germany. She really got us on the road with a Group winner. She took us from training a few broken-down horses to moving into flat racing properly.
“At the time I thought this is much easier and thank God she came along when she did.
“Apart from her and Laurens we’ve been very lucky and had lovely colts as well.
“Havana Grey who is doing brilliantly last season as a champion first-season sire. He won a Group One for us so we have been very lucky.”
RIYADH BECONS
Burke now prepares Al Qareem, the 4YO gelded son of Awtaad, for the Saudi Cup. Last year he won twice before finishing fourth in the Group Two Queen's Vase and a second placing in the Group Three Bahrain Trophy Stakes a month later.
He would be given a 66-day break following a seventh place in the Group Three John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes at Goodwood but on his return, he exploded winning the Group Two Qatar Prix Chaudenay at Longchamp by the shortest of margins.
“I think he's done really well. The way he finished off last season, the last run was a little bit disappointing, but it was the end of a long season.
“He was on the go this time last year and we ran him all the way through the summer, he is a very good tough horse.
“It's very hard this time of year in England as you're not working too many horses at this time of year. But we had a little bit of a break and we brought him back and he’s literally done a piece of work this morning and worked it nicely.
“He is yet to have a really good blow this season so we will be taking him away for a racecourse gallop soon and we have our fingers crossed that he runs a big race.
“He's a tough and honest horse so I'm sure he'd run a race as long as he's fit enough. The tempting thing for us going out to Saudi is the prize money obviously. If he can finish third or fourth, then he’s going to pick up a career-best price.”
He was bought off the back of the Shadwell dispersal following the passing of Sheikh Hamdan felt all around the world.
“He was recommended to me as an unraced horse, an unraced two-year-old so I saw him down at the sales and he's a lovely big stamp of a horse and we tend to train more or certainly have more sprinting type horses in the yard. So, it was nice to get a horse with a bit of potential to stay a distance.”
The plans for him were being decided by Burke between a Saudi campaign or possibly the Gold Cup on Dubai World Cup Night, prize money being a major influence on the final decision.
“I think so you can't ignore it. Can you? We are always looking for horses that can compete in those meetings and he's an obvious one. He's not a slow horse and I remember Ryan Moore after he won on him in Group Two in France said that he's quick enough to win over a mile and a half on slow ground.
“So, it is a little bit of a punt but I’d rather be going in there off the back of a good run and going in there real confident and hopeful, as we are. He’s very honest but I’d be lying if I said he was at the top level of his form, I just don’t know.”
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TRAVELLING PLANS FOR AL QAREEM
He will fly out from England on the 19th and will land in Saudi eight days before his run. The plan will be guided by how he performs in the Cup but the program beyond has been plotted as Burke said.
“He will hopefully run well enough to get an invite out to World Cup. He will have to come back home first however as they’re trying to change the quarantine rules but at the moment, they won’t allow horses to travel from the UK to Saudi and then Saudi to Dubai.
“They have to come back to the UK and that’s how it is at the moment.”
He is owned by Nick Bradley racing and Burke like many other trainers I had spoken to had great respect for the owner and syndicate head.
“He's very passionate and hard-working. He works the sales very hard and we do a lot of work together there. He's been very successful at what he does.
“We actually bought Al Qareem and sold it to him. I did put into a few of our other owners and they declined so we still have half of him and I didn’t want to get left with all of him at the time. So, I invited Nick to join us and obviously, he's delighted to do that, he has won a lot of prize money last year.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that he rubs people up the wrong way sometimes but he is very focused and great at what he does.
“Nick is a good guy to be involved with and he's just very focused around the sales and around the racetrack.”
For the Saudi campaign, the plan was to send stablemate 3YO colt Holloway Boy to unleash on Riyadh but as Burke said those plans had changed.
“I was hoping for him to go and we sort of had him pencilled in to go for the dirt Derby over the mile. It was very much again money-orientated as a huge prize.
“He's a Guineas horse and it seemed that it might have seemed a very strange thing to do, running him on dirt.
“But the dirt out in Saudi, I was out there last year, and its very kind and not a harsh dirt at all.
Obviously, Mishriff went there and won twice on it and all of the jockeys thought it was very kickback and isn’t severe. So I just thought if we go out there and have a crack at it for the money, that we still had two months to bring him home and prepare him the Guineas.”
GROWING PAINS
The stable now has grown to have 128 boxes which are full during most seasons.
“We're in the process of adding a few more to that but if I'm honest I never wanted to get this big. I never thought we would be capable of getting this big but in the last five or six years we've gone particularly well.
“Horses are hard to turn down when you are being offered the calibre of horse that we are being offered so we’re busy and full but it’s exciting and it’s a good problem to have.”
The old adage is that it only takes one to have something special and another great problem for Burke is the more boxes the greater the chance that such a jewel is found.
“We are very lucky that we have got several lovely 3YOs who will hopefully make some of the Classics.
“A very good filly called Electric Eyes, she was second behind John Gosden’s favourite (Commissioning) for the 1000 Guineas and in our opinion should probably have won on that day.
“But if she performs well in that she'll go for the Guineas but the question mark over the trip for her in the colts in the 1000 Guineas.
“We also have got Flight Plan and he’s possible for that.”
The 3YO son of Night of Thunder won his last start in November while racing in Newcastle.
“We also have got a couple of very nice three-year-olds that we will aim for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.
“Marshman was second in the at Yorke is a colt by Harry Angel and White Rosa and is showing he is a very good sprinting horse.
“Dramatised is another 3YO filly who was second in the Breeder’s Cup and she is aimed at this year’s Breeders Cup, but hopefully via Royal Ascot.
“We have a few nice older horses in the stable also and across the board, we have a very strong team.”
LOOKING AHEAD AT DUBAI AND BEYOND
For now, Al Qareem is the only Burke-trained runner to take on Saudi and potentially Dubai.
“There's nothing else pencilled in for the Dubai World Cup meeting, and obviously nothing else for Saudi.
“We just haven't got the right horses, you know the 3YOs we want to save them for the turf here. By travelling out there you're taking a gamble and you end up missing the summer program here in Europe. So, we have to be pretty selective.”
With the journey having taken Burke from never wanting to pursue a training career to where he sits now with success and stars in the stable to say he has learnt a lot is an understatement, as he said.
“I suppose I've learned plenty. I mean thinking back we may have made so many mistakes and I always remember whenever you make mistakes and tell yourself to not do that again, nine times out of 10 you will do it again but on a different horse or whatever.
“A major lesson for us when we were doing the pre-training and breaking of horses we sort of experimented with feeds to get the horses looking well. I think that's important and generally, if a horse looks well, he is well and I've sort of kept to that principle.
“Because we were experimenting at that time we had stuck to the same brand of food for a long, long time. Funnily enough, we did change it there a year ago but that was after 20 years on the same feed and last year they really took off, so maybe I've had it wrong all that time anyway,” Burke grinned reflecting.
“But you know we had a lot of success on that feed for the first 20-25 years of training.
“I'm a great believer that there's no wrong right or wrong way to train a racehorse and any fool can get a horse fit.
“However I think it's important to balance your feed regime and your training regime - I think that's the key and you have to get that right.”
Having wins and memories across his career that has spanned two decades Burke definitely holds several key races home and abroad as ones to target, compete and hopefully take the spoils in.
“As far as the UK I'd love to win a Classic here. We were lucky enough to win the French Oaks with Laurens and we have been second in the Derby but I would love to win a Derby. It’s a great occasion.”
He even holds an aspiration to take a star Down Under to run in the Race that stops the nation, in the Melbourne Cup.
“I've been lucky enough to travel to Australia and been to the Melbourne Cup a couple of times just as a spectator and I would like to send a horse down there but again you have to have the right horse and the right connections to go down there.
“It's a huge trip but yeah that'd be a great ambition and who knows Al Qareem may be the horse that takes us there this Autumn or Spring.
“I think he'd be a good horse to go down there and we have actually had a lot of interest from Australian bloodstock agents about him.
“And you know with what he did last year we were tempted actually to send him to the Melbourne Cup as a three-year-old but he'd had a long, long year.
“I think this year if we prepare him right, it could be the year for him to do that as a great 4YO for sure.”