The Art Of Buying And Training Racehorses

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I got hooked on this side of the racing game following Ivan Allan around as he judged horses of all ages privately or at sales, (he even played around with trying to pin-hook) and enjoyed listening to his discussions about training with men like Henry Cecil and Andre Fabre.

Ivan never was interested in timing his horses in their work. Maybe he didn't want extra information that enhances expectation when he wants to keep his cards close to his chest. He always poo pooed the stop watch guys.

Ivan was very interested in the anatomy of a horse and what could be 'forgiven' in confirmation in a yearling from one 'family' but not another from years of experience watching them develop.

If anyone has comments or articles on this subject it would be interesting. Don't think the writer of the attached article is the 'Mike Dillon' of Ladbrokes infamy but he makes some interesting observations regarding the New Zealand fraternity. :)

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Interesting but Ivan Allan I suspect would disagree on one point at least. I know he regarded racing as first and foremost a business.

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Very few people can judge what a foal will turn into. A yearling is difficult too. For years I had no idea what Ivan was so meticulously 'judging' as horses were lead out of their boxes at sales and walked back and forth in front of him. He ridiculed me when I asked questions so I just stood behind him and looked. I listened when he was chatting to the Mike Ryan's and Mike Dillon's and slowly realised that horses have characteristics visible in their relatives going down in generations just like people do. :)

[imaufo]

Not just in their bodies either Glory...a lot of horses have similar temperaments to their parents. I think Sostenuto was a well known sire to many barrier rogues.

People got sick of buying them I think.

I like horses with brains.

If I had money I would be buying a few Lonhro yearlings. I think he had the most incredible temperament for a race horse. He was very smart, calm and relaxed. He thought about things...you could watch him thinking before he raced. It was one of his defining characteristics.

The horse below looks very similar to a very good horse I used to look after. I wonder if they are related? He had a lot of Sir Ivor in his blood.

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I don't even recall the horse's name at the moment. I will have a mosie through some old files and see.

Ivan would not buy a horse that did not have a good termperment, (which is hilarious considering his own), but that was the deal breaker for him.

In the late '90's we were looking at a yearling at the Tattersals October sales and Ivan was very interested in this horse, but it had two handlers leading it around. He thought it might have some kind of temperment problem. He asked a vet to make sure it wasn't tranquilised. He was very excited about this horse. He had listened to it's heart in the box before it was in the parade ring, and it had a very good sound to him. I recall the vet saying he wondered if there was something wrong with the horse's sight having passed him for everything else Ivan was concerned about, but Ivan didn't seem to pick up on what the vet said. Ivan had that look in his eye.

Every time Ivan had that look the horse turned out to be something pretty special. This time it was disaster. The horse was blind. Ivan refused to pay but Tattersals paid for the blind yearling out of money he sent for other horses and there was such a problem. :)

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One of the original group that came down from Lambourne to be trained by Ivan through Chris Wall and his Newmarket 'Chevron' racing company. It was a Bay and could be this one. It fascinates me the ability of horse people to look at a horse and know it's pedigree.

The first time I noticed a clear 'family resemblance' was in horses with Lomond in their pedigree. A dear friend for many years is the Australian director John Lamond who has a distinctive nose and so (to me) do Lomond horses. Every time I saw a horse at the sales with that nose and looked it up in the sales book there was 'Lomond' :)

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I think all of these two year olds were winners.

[imaufo]

We were only discussing the other day about traits that you could easily spot.

There is a horse here that passed away recently called Rorys Jester. he was a chestnut witha flaxen mane and tail. very distinctive colouring and he passed this colouring onto his many foals. Very easy to spot.

http://www.collingrove.com.au/images/rorysjester600.jpg

Rory's Jester 1982 16 hh - Crown Jester - Rory's Rocket (GB)

I bought a young broken down horse once from a trainer in Sydney. I bought him as a hack...he was pretty dopey, very big and quite lame. I spent a lot of time in the libraries and horse bookshops tracing his pedigree. I spent hours and hours searching through, looking for links and sires of sires. It turns out that my horse was quite well bred. He was by Sovereign Rocket ( Grey Sovereign line) out of a Rorys Rocket called Eastern Breeze. So this made him a close relation to Rorys Jester on the mares side and I found plenty of close relations on the sires side as well. I see these horses in many pedigrees today and its good to know the history behind some of the families.

He eventually came sound and after all his dressage work became very fit so I put him into work and one morning had him clocked by the track clocker. He went pretty good and won three races.

Danehills are also a dead givaway. Once you see that big strong bay with the solid jaw and white star you can be almost certain that there is some Danehill in there.

Ive always had a strong liking for the Star Kingdon line horses (chestnuts). I used to own one and I thought he was beautiful

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I have noticed racing men will see a type of horse that draws them time and again. I think the horse pictured is more a Henry Cecil horse than an Ivan Allan horse. Ivan might think it was too showy. As a general rule he did not like a horse that was too pretty and over all seemed more drawn to Bay's. I love grey's. It is life affirming to see traits appearing in the prodgeny. Such a beautiful photograph. Thank you Imaufo! :)

[imaufo]

http://www.stallions.com.au/images/photos/Lonhro.jpg

Lonhro had some beatuiful types at the sales. If they can run as well as they look then they will go places. Unfortunatly Lonhro's pa...Octagonal...although a superstar in his own right on the racecourse, hasnt really produced much apart from Lonnie.

Lonhros mum Shadae was around in my stable days......I didnt have a lot to do with her ( I might have thrown her some hay once or twice) but she was a very pretty, fine type of filly with a sweet nature. Lonhro has inherited her nature i think.

This is the Lonhro/ Bonanova yearling. A great type as you can see, but even better in the flesh.

http://www.tyreel.com/Easter%202007/Lot-84-Lonhro-Bonanova_larg.jpg

http://www.lonhro.com.au/Gallery/images/George_Main_close_up_jpg.jpg

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Will be interesting to see how his projeny do. :)

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I recall looking at some maiden two year olds in the paddock at Newmarket very early in the racing season with Ivan in about 1987. One was particularly 'furry' and I didn't know in those days that was an indication not to bet. Ivan was distracted talking to Susan Piggott and he caught a look at this creature that intensified. He said, run and put a bet on number 3. It won at very long odds! Ivan said: "Should have had a good bet."

Ivan poo poo's pyschic ability and has his own long list of things he checks and looks for BUT every really good winning horse he bought while I was with him (particularly when buying yearlings) he found when he spotted one, usually not even marked to look at in his catelog, as it walked by and he would get that look on his face and if it wasn't impossible money he would find a way to buy it, even when there were reasons not to.

Very few people can do that and Ivan was one of them. Some horsemen have great hands and the greatest jockeys seem to communicate with the horse on another level. Ivan will laugh if he reads this and say something insulting but I saw that connection between Ivan and several good yearlings. :)

When pnhooking or buying a yearling it seems to me like looking for a needle in a haystack.

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General info.

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I don't know what people think about syndicates but it's like anything else, you have to be careful who's in charge. Ivan preferred to own his horses outright or with one partner.

Ivan Allan has only had a license to own racehorses in Hong Kong for a short while.

Within this article you will see how a trainer in Hong Kong could bend the rules and own and train his own horses there.

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Ivan Allan had all sorts of ways to make his business cheaper. He did not like to pay tax and actually he didn't like to pay insurance either. I have an ordered soul and like everything done correctly. It is my 'Virgo' nature. Ivan Allan is a 'Capricorn'.

In the Far East I am a 'Dragon', and Ivan said that his sign was 'The Tail of the Dragon', though I've never heard of that before. Here is an article on English tax for racehorse owners. :eek:

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I love grey horses and I found the attached review of a book about a great grey.

Ivan Allan had a grey filly with a great nature called 'Chamonis' that he bred many fine foals from and who won some nice races herself. Foals are supposed to look like one of their parents and mostly that was the case with Chamonis's foals but one year (I think from 'Romantic Prince'), she threw the spit of 'Northern Dancer'. Ivan sold that foal to Sheikh Mohammed but I don't know if it ever raced. It was odd because I had a dream before the foal was born. I saw a horse's box with a curtain hanging over the top part of the door. A full grown horse's head suddenly pushed through the curtain and it was 'Northern Dancer'.

Ivan's grey filly was named after the little Swiss skiing village we went to on our first weekend as 'lovers'. She is among a group of Ivan's Newmarket horses he trained through Chris Wall in 1987/88/89 in the attached photo.

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Before you attend a horse sale.

Ivan Allan made an arrangement with his bank in London and always ran a big over-draft on the Piccadilly Flat to buy race horses. Every once in awhile he would arrange for someone from the bank to do an appraisal of the flat and I would show the bank chap around and they would up his line of credit according to the current market value.

Ivan has a lot of horse racing connections in Japan. Thought you might find the attached article amusing.

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Not a business for the faint hearted. :D

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Interesting to me, hope to you. :)