 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |
There is hardly a more iconic sight in flat racing than seeing the famous blue and white striped cap of Shadwell Racing.
A fixture at all the biggest race meetings across the world since the 1980s, Shadwell has been a top-class operator for decades and has won almost every major race in the sport.
World-famous horses such as At Talaq, Nashwan, Salsabil, Nayef, Taghrooda, Battaash, and Baaeed have all represented the yard with aplomb and have been able to win races at the very elite end of the sport.
One man with deep connections with all the aforementioned is Shadwell’s Racing Manager, Angus Gold.
Having been Shadwell’s go-to man for well over thirty years, there isn’t too much that Gold hasn’t seen or experienced, but this past weekend during Ascot’s Champions Day, Gold would have received a timely reminder of just how beautiful this sport can be.
With Shadwell looking for their next big star, they may have found it in the shape of Anmaat. A recent Champion Stakes winner, his victory was a timely reminder to the rest of the paddock that they can still produce winners at the very highest level.
With the Bahrain International Trophy looming ahead, and still basking in Anmaat’s remarkable victory, we were able to grab some time with Gold to reflect on his plans for Bahrain feature and the Shadwell operation in 2025.
Anmaat’s road to Champion Stakes glory hasn’t been straightforward. A highly progressive horse as a youngster, he won the prestigious Gr.1 Prix d’Ispahan and looked to have the world at his feet before being struck down by a devastating injury.
With his career in the balance, some, including Gold, believed that he may never recover and that his racing days would be over. As Gold explains,
“He’s a lovely horse and very special for us. As has been well documented, he had a serious foot injury last year, and I wasn’t sure he would ever race again, so he’s done incredibly well.
He had very nearly a year off back at Shadwell to start recuperating, and everybody there did a brilliant job of giving him the time and helping him back to a full recovery.
He went back to Owen Burrows, his trainer, hugely overweight but they managed to get the weight off him and get him back to his racing weight. Probably the most important part of all is that the horse’s heart is enormous. He has a huge heart. He loves his work, and he still had the will to ride and train and run through any pain he might have felt from his foot. He’s really been the star of the whole show.”
Having been at the top of the racing game for decades, the passing of Sheikh Hamdan in 2021 naturally rocked the Shadwell Operation right down to the foundations, and everyone connected to the Shadwell yard has had to be patient while the yard adjusts to a new future.
Whereas in previous years, the likes of Baaeed and Battaash have flown the flag all over the world, 2024 has been tough, and there was a feeling that the team was lacking a star. However, that has all changed now, thanks to Anmaat’s brilliant Champion Stakes victory.
“As everybody knows, we had all those good old horses after Sheik Hamdan died, but they’re all coming to the end of their careers, and we haven’t built back up yet to the stage where we’ve got lots of other nice group horses coming through. So he’s very important to us,” Gold shares.
“He’s shown with his recent victory that he has genuine group one class, and he is able to compete right at the top level. Remarkably, he’s still learning; although he’s going to be seven next year, he’s only run something like 14-15 times in his life. He’s also had his little niggles and hasn’t been the most straightforward to train, so we don’t want to do anything that’s going to jeopardise his welfare.”
With the horse now having so many options, Gold is unsure where his star will turn out next.
“We don’t know if we will take him to the Middle East next year. He will have plenty of big European races that he will be eligible for next summer: the Eclipse, the Prince of Wales and the Juddmonte International, so we will have to take our time with him and make sure he’s ready.”
 |  |
Whilst the jury might still be out on whether we will see Anmaat run in the Middle East, one horse Shadwell will definitely be sending over is Alflaila.
“It was quite a challenge to get him back on the track after a small fracture he had at the end of last year. Given his previous injury, there was uncertainty about his mental and physical recovery.
“However, he's a resilient horse and loves his work. We provided him with the necessary time for recovery, and his team did a great job in bringing him back.
“He's a true warrior who always gives his best,” Said Gold.
A multiple Group winner, he will head eastwards with questions to answer following his poor run in the 2024 Juddmonte International.
“The plan for Alflaila is to come to Bahrain. We know he was disappointing in his last effort at York, and there is no point pretending he wasn’t, but I don’t think he was at his best that day.
For whatever reason, he was very slow away. He got a bit worked up beforehand, which is unlike him, but since then, they’ve been very happy with him at home, and he seems to be coming back. So the plan at the moment would be for him to come out, and depending on what happens there, then we can see whether we keep going with him or make other plans.”
As we get closer to the 2024 Breeders’ Cup, one horse that Shadwell hopes to send over to compete for major honours is Raqiya.
An exciting 3YO filly, like her stablemate Anmaat, she is lightly raced, but she will head over to America in great form following her victory in the Oak Tree Stakes at Goodwood earlier this year. However, she will be running further than most initially expected.
“As a Blue Point filly, we thought she would be all about speed, so we kept her at six furlongs, but the female side of her family has pedigree between seven furlongs and a mile, so we thought she might get further,” says Gold.
We didn’t get a chance to run her further until Goodwood, and although her victory in that race was a little controversial, we learnt that she stays, and she likes fast ground. We obviously wanted to run her again, but the ground was against her, so we have kept her fresh for the Breeders’ Cup.
The plan when over there is hopefully, she’ll get into the Breeders’ Cup Mile. It’s hard to say just how good she is, but I think that last race showed she belongs, and I think it’s the perfect race to try her in.
“I’m not saying she’s good enough to go and win a Breeders’ Cup mile, but I think she certainly deserves to take her chance. Jim Crowley has always thought Raqiya would be very well suited to racing in America with a fast pace to aim at and fast ground, so we’ve just got to see.”
With Shadwell finding its feet again, there are signs that they are beginning to work their way back to the top end of the sport, where they truly belong.
Anmaat was able to offer a glimpse into the future. Couple that with the hopes of both Alflaila and Raqiya, and suddenly Shadwell looks like they have a great base to build from.
For Gold, who has been there and done it all, there are no doubts about how his operation is moving. Whilst it may take some time, the Shadwell rebuild is well under way, and the hope is that over the next few years, the famous blue and white silks will be regularly winning the most prominent races all over the world once again.
Anmaat may be the operation’s current star, but there will be hopes that his Champion Stakes victory is just the beginning and plenty more successes will follow.