Jane Chapple-Hyam may have lived in the UK for many years but she is still a proud Australian and therefore played her part in giving an international sensation to last week’s results at Royal Ascot.
And that’s part of it. The Coolmore and Godolphin Stables by Aidan O’Brien and powerful Charlie Appleby may have more winners at the meeting, but Chapple-Hyam than she has two winners, on par with William Haggas, Richard Fahey, Karl Burke and George Boughey, all with larger reserves to call upon. In fact, her strike rate is second to none, as trainer Abington Place has only taken three horses to Ascot, with Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) and Claymore (Ire) (New) Fly {GB}) each won their group race missions while older bettor Intellogent (Ire) (Intello {Ger}) finished second in the fiercely competitive Royal Hunt Cup.
“You always hope it happens but it’s so competitive that you often go home scratching your head, because this is such a tough company. And it’s hard to win a race anywhere, let alone Ascot,” said Chapple-Hyam as she reflected on a stellar week for her stable that ended with a winner. another win at her home Newmarket racetrack on Friday night.
The sculptural Group 1 winner Saffron Beach has taken on the steady star role on Chapple-Hyam’s selection team for three seasons now and, arguably most gratifying, is her return. in good form in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. finished after some stiff opposition at the G1 Dubai Turf in March.
“I stood next to David Loder and he just made it sound so easy. When we got to two fur rounds, he said, “You win,” Chapple-Hyam said of the man’s three-and-a-half year long victory.
“She is only 500 kg short, and she has just grown into such a strong stout person. If you looked at her from behind and from the side without looking at her head, you would think she was a pony.”
With a Royal Ascot win to stand next to last season’s Sun Chariot success and a second 1,000 Guineas, Saffron Beach is now gearing up with a big end-of-season goal in mind.
“Our goal is really to win the Breeders’ Cup, so we’re working backwards from there and we don’t want to over-racing her, so we didn’t put her in Falmouth, Chapple-Hyam, who coaches the 4-year-old in place of her step-brother Ben Sangster, wife Lucy and son Ollie, as well as James Wigan.
“We felt we should aim for things like the Prix Rothschild in Deauville, and then we had the Sun Chariot right up the road.
“When I was a 2-year-old and early 3-year-old, I could have him run every two weeks, but now we are reasonable. We’re spacing out her races, which makes sense, because then we’ll get to the Breeders’ Cup and have a good chance of not being in the lead. “
There is relief along with joy in the event that Claymore returns from his last place in the G1 Poule d’Essai Poulains. The foal, owned by South African Mary Slack, who also owns the yard he trained on, had just one start-up win as a child before chasing the Native Trail (GB) home in second place. 2nd place in the G3 Craven S.
The coach said: “The way it is, it’s disappointing in France. “My heart sank when I saw the draw, 16 out of 16. And then I thought in hindsight, I should have pulled out, but I’m not the one to withdraw because of a bad draw. . And the good side of it is, he goes over there, he gets stabbed in Longchamp. He went there a teenager and he came back a man. The whole trip is perfect for a learning experience.
“But unfortunately, just a bad draw and a bad run. We had to line up through French Guineas and I was quietly confident [at Ascot]even when I was doing a fight scene. “
With a Group 3 win in the book, Claymore will now start his promotion once again, with G2 York S. his next target likely to be on July 23.
She added, “I think he’s going to grow into an adorable 4-year-old. I think these new Bays will get better with age. “
Chapple-Hyam is as well positioned as anyone to comment on the Ballylinch Stud New Bay stallion as trainer for his only Group 1 winner to date and two of six winners. won his Team. Just across the street from her stables at Sir Michael Stoute’s Freemason Lodge is the exciting Promising Flybridge (GB) trained, runner-up in the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. and bred and co-owned by James Wigan, who also participated in Saffron Beach. Meanwhile, Wigan’s son Harry is one of the owners, in a group that includes Mimi Wadham and Violet Hesketh, the most recent winner of Chapple-Hyam by New Bay, Nizaaka (Fr). The 4-year-old won the July Course on Friday night in her second start for the trainer after being purchased during the December Sale last year.
“I am very proud to say that I have seven New Bays in the yard out of 40, so I am very happy about that,” she said. “Lucy Sangster and I also bought a mare named Vitamin in December, foal for him. We thought, ‘We’re going to jump in now and get one,’ knowing I’ve got Claymore and Saffron Beach. We had a lovely pony and then we sent it back to New Bay. So we’re just trying to buy every New Bay we come across. ”
The 80th-rated Nizaaka, like Saffron Beach, could have its passport stamped to France this summer. Her coach said, “I feel like the team might be a little bit adventurous going to Deauville. She is such a nice person and she can only improve her game. We’ll try and pick up some sort of black somewhere along the line. “
Meanwhile, Fiona Carmichael’s former France-trained Intellogent employee, who won the G1 Prix Jean Prat while looking after Fabrice Chappet, could return to longer range missions. The 7-year-old has raced in the US, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, as well as the UK and France, and Chapple-Hyam is aiming to return for the Bahrain Trophy International Third in November.
“He’s a pretty smart horse to be our Ted, as we call him, and I feel he did a great job watching him get knocked out in the fourth round,” she said of the Royal run. His Hunt Cup, in which he was defeated half-length by Dark Shift (GB).
“Obviously he had a problem before coming to me but all is well and he is enjoying his race. And he’s done a lot of exercise over a mile and a quarter, but I feel like a mile in the Hunt Cup would be fine because they go really fast, and then he can get back on top of them. ”
She continued, “He had an entry at York in the John Smith’s Cup. I was lucky enough to have a runner in the first Bahrain International, and indeed Intellogent ran there and I was stabbed after him. And he ran well on that track, so I would love to send him back there.”
Chapple-Hyam first rose to prominence as a coach when her 100/1 shot Mudawin (Ire) landed Ebor in 2006, in the first season she got her license. She has never been afraid to travel her horses and has saddled her horses in France, Germany, USA, Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and her native Australia. Nor does she hate inviting them into a smart company, with the end result being a successful streak in the equity race in which double-sized cages would be something to be proud of.
“Well, we just did our best with what we had,” she said humbly. “It has always been a cold and difficult winter. So for me, this winter, having Saffron Beach and Claymore has made getting out of bed so much easier. ”
Those early mornings must be getting easier all the time.
