New horse arrives - Golden Hour

      Our daughter was incredibly excited I was going to the sales on Tuesday as she was thinking I was going to come back with a pony as well as a racehorse (she is reading ‘The Racehorse who wouldn’t gallop’ by Claire Balding!).  Unfortunately for her there were no ponies for sale but she was still so happy to see Golden Hour.

      I wasn’t expecting to buy anything but thought I would make the trip up to have a look.  Prior to the sale I had been through the catalogue and had been to see one nice, un-raced horse but I just wasn’t sure about it.  There were a few others that were worth a look, two of which were from Goldolphin’s draft.  Godolphin are really good at letting buyers know if there have been any previous issues/problems with their horses.  The lady in charge of their horses told me that they had sold 900 horses last year at various sales over the world - there were some good ones in there who have gone on and done well.  One of the horses I was interested in hadn’t run for a good few months and there was a bit of a list of problems – the biggest of which was a tendon injury which meant he would need a year off, plus I didn’t really like his conformation, which may well not help the tendon issue in the future.  I then looked at Golden Hour, a gorgeous un-raced 3yr old, who has lovely conformation, must be 16.2, moves like a dream, lovely big ears, an honest head and is beautifully bred by Medaglia d’Oro, an American sire who won over $3.6m in prize money aged from 2 – 5 and won and was placed in many of the worlds best flat races including the Dubai World Cup and Breeders Cup Classic.  No less than eight of his progeny have won over $1m including Songbird (over $4.5m), Rachel Alexandra (Horse of The Year) who was also the best 3yr old filly since the 1970s and won over $3.5m.  Medaglia d’Oro has sired 17 Grade 1 winners so far.

      Golden Hour was in training with Andre Fabre in France and never ran as he was too big and backward.  We will give him time and take his shoes off, turn him out in the paddock and plan to run him after Christmas/Spring time.  He is certainly something to look forward to.   His sire, Medaglia d’Oro means gold medal in Italian and the Golden Hour is just after sunrise or before sunset where there is a wonderful golden glow on the land – something we have been noticing more since he arrived and now understand what it means! 

      Below is a picture of him in his paddock after his first night out, it is really good news that he has quickly relaxed and is enjoying being out for the first time, probably since he was a youngster in Kentucky.

 Golden Hour relaxing in the paddock this morning after his first night out

 At Ascot sales

Jim Bolger

      I flew out to Ireland to see a horse trained by Jim Bolger a couple of weeks ago and it was quite an experience.  Jim Bolger is unique in the racing world.  He started out by owning and breeding which normally would be a very good way to the poor house – but he has made an enormous success of it, with some of the wealthiest people in the world investing with him and buying his classic winning stock.
       Some of the best people in racing have also started their careers with him including AP McCoy and Aidan O’Brien [who was champion amateur rider there].  They have learnt the job of training as well as conducting themselves properly and most of all respect for others.  It was great to be welcomed into his home and wonderful that he found time to sit down with me and chat about things in the past.  
       We then went over to his stud where he has 50 youngstock running around plus the broodmares all on wonderful pasture, they looked fantastic, I am sure this is where future soundness starts with good quality grass and feed whilst still growing; it really was 300 acres of dream land in the middle of Ireland.
       He also showed me his grass gallops which were a straight mile and a quarter long and about the width of 3 motorways, I won’t tell you which grasses he had planted as it might give away a secret. I also saw his 2^nd cut of grass for hay or haylage coming along and try as I might I couldn’t see one weed.  
       I have to say Jim Bolger sets the standard - he is also a very kind and generous man who does a lot for people and charity behind the scenes.  I had mistaken the man and I will never judge someone again by what I see on TV. He clearly does not like the media glare, and prefers to be surrounded by his horses at home, horses are much easier than people!