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| Staff Writer |
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Prize money was a major motivator for trainer Noel Meade to enter Layfayette in the US $1M Group Two Bahrain International Trophy on 17th Nov in Bahrain. The French Navy Gelding horse has won nine Group Two races, including a victory at the Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh in May last year. Layfayette earned his trip to Bahrain by winning the Group Three Royal Whip Stakes in August.
Meade isn’t sure where Layfayette will go from here, as owner Patricia Hunt’s husband passed away over the summer.
“He was really the brains behind their horses,” Meade said. “We’re a bit up in the air regarding what’s happening next. They’ve decided they’re going to keep Layfayette because he was the best horse they had. One of their sons is going off to Bahrain to see him run.”
Meade is excited about what Layfayette could accomplish. He is planning to make the trip to Bahrain and see how the horse can perform.
When it comes to building momentum, Layfayette wasn’t able to do so during his last race at the Thomas’ of Foxrock “Jim and Kathleen Murphy” Memorial Trigo Stakes. Layfayette finished in fourth place at the race to claim a €1,600 prize.
“His last run wouldn’t look as good as he really is,” Meade said. “But the reason for that is that after he ran the previous time, we knew he was going to Bahrain, and we decided to give him a little break and let him ease down for a while.”
During Layfayette’s career, he has picked up US$ 4,44,250.71 in earnings during 33 career flat turf races. Layfayette has won nine races, including a first-place finish at the Curragh in August. Winning that race provided Meade with the confidence to take Layfayette to Bahrain.
“Well, what happened, he won a race at the Curragh which gave him an invite to Bahrain,” Meade said. “And it’s the, the race is worth 1 million. And what was an invite like that? And it’s over the right trip; a mile and a quarter is ideal. Once we had the invite, then we thought we’d surely go because it’s the end of our season here.”
Meade believes that being better rested for the race in Bahrain will provide Layfayette with more energy.
“So, when we ran him the last time, he wasn’t just as revved up as we hope he will be in Bahrain,” Meade said. “So, the ground turned up very soft that day, and he got very tired, and the last furlong, um. But, uh, I think we have him in a very good place now, and he’s done a lot of work since then and touch wood at the moment.”
Meade Has A History Of Success
Meade is the owner of Noel Meade Racing. Meade’s Tu Va Stable is situated in a small village called Castletown KP in Co Meath near Nava, Ireland. Meade is a native of Castletown, County Meath, Ireland. He started working in horse training in 1971.
During Meade’s career, he has been crowned Champion Trainer in Ireland seven times and won five National Hunt trainer titles.
Layfayette Needs To Adjust To The Environment
Before racing in Bahrain, Meade has been making the necessary adjustments to get Layfayette ready to run. The heat presents a problem. So, Meade had Layfayette make a trip to the barber.
“Well, obviously, it’s coming to the winter here now, so we’ve had to, he’s had to get his hair cut, so he’s had, he’s been clipped out, so we, instead of just half, taking half the hair off, we took it all off him, so he’s been clipped out to go to Bahrain, so hopefully that’ll, that’ll keep him cool,” Meade said. “But other than that, he’s a horse that takes a lot of work, so I have done plenty of work with him before he was gone. So, I’m hoping he worked yesterday morning; we were very happy with that. So hopefully now we, we have him in good shape.”
Getting to Bahrain will be a trip for the Irish horse. He will have to fly from Ireland to the UK before making a 24-hour layover. Then Layfayette will take a flight to Bahrain.
Meade thinks the competition will be hot for the race, but that isn’t something he wasn’t anticipating.
“It looks a very hot race this year, much hotter than it has been over the last year,” Meade said. “It looks very strong. It seems to have attracted, well, the prize money is so good.”
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Meade said that while Layfayette is an older horse, he is still capable of putting together strong races. Running in a high-pressure spot won’t be something Layfayette will have difficulty with. Meade said he would be comfortable running Layfayette in the Middle East in addition to the UK.“He’ll race in the same races right through again next season,” Meade said. “We probably learned a little bit. I know he’s getting a bit older. We learned plenty about him, but he’s, touch wood, he’s been a very sound horse. And, uh, we’ve been able to race him. And, uh, I think we can, we can pick our way through the races next year even better than this year because we know where we should go and where we shouldn’t.”
The upcoming race will serve as an important measuring stick to see how Layfayette travels.
“Dubai is always open,” Meade said. “We’ll talk, and we'll see how we get on in Bahrain first.”
Meade Still Plotting A Future
Before this season, Meade said he hadn’t thought about running races in the Middle East too often. This trip with Layfayette will be an important one for everyone to gather information about how to prepare to run these races. Arranging travel and getting the horses prepared to compete at their best will be a challenge for the entire team.
“No, this is the first time I haven’t even thought about going to it before, but obviously, we’ll find out a little bit more about it when we’re out there, and we can see what, what, what the future holds,” Meade said. “I think, actually, I was at the race course, we did a trip, a cruise in the Gulf a couple of years before COVID, and on one of the trips, I think we actually did see the race course in Bahrain at that time. And so I think I know what the track is like.”
So far, Meade hasn’t hit any bumps in the road. But he emphasized that they haven’t done much just yet.
“Everything so far has gone very smoothly, but we haven’t taken off yet,” Meade said. “So, we don’t know what, but I suppose, like, training conditions are really what we’d be a little bit concerned about now, just as to what we want to be training on. That’s really the, the only, the only concern I have at the moment.”
There’s a lot of money up for grabs in Bahrain. Meade is hoping Layfayette will be the horse to break into the big-money group.
“This is a completely new venture for us,” Meade said. “It’s very exciting, to be honest.”
With a number of top horses from around the world in the field, Meade is eager to see how Layfayette can hold up.
The amount of prize money available in Bahrain will draw top competition. Layfayette’s trainers want to show that he belongs in that group.
“It is really phenomenal money,” Meade said. “When you think like our prize money is, is much, much better than the UK, but still not in anything like the league of that. It’s incredible money. No, this is fantastic. This was, they announced, uh, upgrades this year, the Middle East, uh, both these bodies announced upgrades and that’s why we said, ‘Okay, let’s figure out how much this comes to’, and that was the end result.”
By Dean McHugh