The Road to Lingfield Glory
by Bill Young
Angel Gabriel gets off the mark in style at Lingfield 15.12.25
Having attended a wonderful champagne picnic at York with Highclere in the summer of 2024 and seeing Aviemore win for my very close friend in Highclere colours at Ayr I decided that I would love to enter racehorse ownership.
The first step was monitoring the Tattersalls yearling sales to see what yearlings Highclere were buying. Immediately a lovely Mehmas colt jumped off the page at me.
The next step was my wife and I making the long drive down from Ayr in Scotland to attend the Yearling Parade. Seeing my colt in the flesh sealed the deal and we entered the Angel Gabriel syndicate to be trained by Ralph Beckett. I did check and there are a few other trainers in the UK further from our home!
I also decided that having taken the plunge I was not going to go about this in a half-hearted manner. The next adventure was in November travelling down to Harry Whittington’s to see Angel being broken in and ridden for the first time. A fabulous experience. The trip was also enhanced by stable visits to Roger Varian and George Boughey in Newmarket.
All reports were very positive over the winter, and I set off for the long journey to Kimpton Down Stables in late March to see Angel Gabriel working on the gallops. Again, a fabulous experience and a chance to meet some of my fellow owners. Excitement definitely rising.
The next major update was when I saw Harry at the Dante meeting, and he was very positive about progress and was hoping entries could start to be made in the not too distant future.
A few weeks later though and the news dropped that he had developed an injury and was going to have to head to the Newmarket Equine Hospital for a procedure that would keep him off the track for a considerable time. I thought I am now really learning about owning a racehorse!
I would have to say the communication during his recuperation was absolutely excellent and it became clear that it looked likely that his first run would be on the all-weather at the end of the year. Then came the news he was being entered for a race the final day of the turf season at Doncaster. Brilliant news in one way, terrible in another as I was going away on a long-haul flight that day and was so disappointed to miss his first run live.
Thankfully we were able to see the race live in the departure lounge and it was obvious many thought there was a religious fanatic joining them on their flight as I kept shouting “Come on Angel” I did make a public announcement to clarify the situation after the race. The adrenaline alone carried me across the Atlantic.
On returning home 10 days later the first email I saw was one confirming he was a definite runner at Southwell on the Friday night 2 days hence.
This was a bit of a surprise as he had only run just over a week ago. This presented a number of problems with being able to attend just a couple of days after our return from holiday not least that it was also my wife’s birthday that day. Oops….
Anyway, Friday morning saw me setting off early for a 12 hour round trip not helped by temperatures of -7c and a horrible low sun most of the way. I did eventually make it and met up with Emily and another co-owner at the course. This was only the second time I had been racing under floodlights, and I have to say that a cold
dark night in December at Southwell does not compare favourably with an evening of racing under the lights at the Rio Turf Club.
Excitement was very high however particularly as Angel was odds on. The only concern when we got down to the paddock was, he was so laid back you could just not believe it. Emily commented on it as did Rossa and we all just hoped he would not stumble out of the gates. He did!
Although he ran on well to be second, he was never really seen with a chance of winning behind a smart looking Amo debutant.
My initial reaction I must admit was one of a fair degree of disappointment, but Rossa reassured us that he was still very much learning and at some point, the penny would drop. Suffice to say I did not sample Southwell’s glamorous nightlife to drown my sorrows as another long drive beckoned.
Word then came through of an entry for Lingfield on Monday 15th December and after initially discounting any chance of attending I then started to get creative and came up with a cunning plan to fly down to Gatwick and saw it was doable to then get to Lingfield with a couple of train journeys.
This plan was thrown in to disarray when on Thursday I received a notification that Angel had also been entered for Southwell. No, no, no who dislikes me so much they would put me through that journey again.
Saturday morning and I must have refreshed Monday declarations 20 times before the wonderful news he was running at Lingfield after all. Christmas has come early for me.
Jumping into action flights were quickly booked, and anticipation began to rise at an unhealthy rate especially as it looked like he would go off as favourite again.
Delighted winning owners (Bill centre holding the trophy, fourth from the left)
My alarm was set for 3.30 am on Monday and when I arrived at the airport, I receive a few funny looks as my only baggage was my binoculars. Travel went perfectly and I even arrived at Lingfield before the gates were open. Having gone from racing at night under floodlights to racing in the morning felt a bit strange but I had been up for so long my system was a tad confused anyway.
It was great this time that a lot of the other syndicate owners were there and we chatted excitedly about whether today was the day.
Spirits were lifted even higher when we were in the pre-parade ring and Ralph himself came marching across. A few “he must real fancy him today” comments were heard among the owners only to be shot down when Ralph admitted he had a lot of staff on holiday and so had to come himself.
Every discussion seemed to centre round would he jump out of the stalls today. Rossa raised spirits higher by saying that if he does not jump, I will make his mind up for him. The only other person who seemed to relish seeing Ralph on course more than us was Mark Chapman who almost bowled a couple of us over in his desire to get a pre-race comment from Ralph.
It was time and the mood among us on the stands got a little more anxious. Then the gates opened, and for a stride we thought here we go again, but no Rossa woke him up very quickly and chased him up to lead. From there everything was smooth apart from a split second when Hen Party the 2nd favourite looked to be mounting a challenge at the furlong pole. But no, a quick glance at Rossa immediately confirmed that he and Angel had everything under control.
Then just the feeling of complete exhilaration took over as they sailed past the wining post. I realise I am incredibly lucky to have felt this with my first horse, but it is such a good feeling.
We all then returned to the winner’s enclosure to be described by said Mark Chapman that Ralph appeared to have brought his bouncers with him today, charming. Both Ralph and Rossa confirmed that although he had won today that there was every chance that he would improve even more next year as he had missed 4 months of full training this year with his injury. This improved the mood even further.
We then proceeded to the presentation where my kind co-owners allowed me to accept the trophy as I had travelled so far. Then we had champagne as we watched multiple replays and the champagne has never tasted so good. All this and it was not even lunchtime yet.
A lovely lunch followed and then everyone drifted away in extremely good spirits. My excitement for the day was not quite all over yet as my Lingfield bag with the lovely prize decanter caught the attention of the airport security. When they asked what was in the box, I had to say I really hoped there was a trophy as my horse had just won at Lingfield and I had not even had time to open the box. Thankfully they saw the funny side and after a quick swab of the trophy base I was on my way.
Finally, having snoozed off on the plane dreaming of next season’s triumphs I was rudely awakened by the Tanoy asking us all to take our phones off flight mode and switch them off completely as the fog in Glasgow was very dense and they needed all their instrumentations. Thankfully all was well after a tense 15-minute descent.
Then a drive to get home by about 10pm and a nice cup of tea to watch the replays about half a dozen times. What a day and what an experience, thank you to all at Highclere for making this possible. And next seasons could be even better, but please York, Ascot, Newbury, Newmarket or Goodwood, just don’t send me back to Southwell.