Good Evening, Friend
Horses In Training Sale: Can Earthy tempt you in?
The purpose of this email is to explore how many of you would be interested in purchasing an unexposed 'more to come' flat handicapper at this month's Tattersalls HIT Sale, namely a 2YO filly trained by Amy Murphy, called EARTHY, who won on her second handicap start, just ran with credit at Southwell, and given her size/frame, should continue to progress as a 3YO and likely beyond.
She's a proper flat handicapper in the making, who we should have some fun with in the seasons ahead, getting us to the racecourse plenty, winning in turn, and giving us much to cheer, with the heart pumping.
If that excites or intrigues you, please do read on...
Earthy... (2YO, Earthlight x Capriole)
You can see a photo of her above. A big strong filly with more to come.
You can find her official sales page, including pedigree, via Tatts, HERE >>>
Earthy is Lot 1501, and will be sold on the final day of this sale on Friday 1st November, hopefully when everyone else has gone home or run out of money! Please click the link above, watch her 'promo' video. You can also find some info on her breeding.
She won her second handicap start, which you can watch HERE >>>
UPDATE: Last night Earthy ran at Southwell, an decent 5th not beaten too far, front 5 clear, beaten by the right horses, in what was a competitive race for the grade, the 1-2 handicap debutants who were fancied, as was the 4th. She travelled well again, maybe still over-racing a tad, but moved into it, found for pressure and kept on, while flattening out a tad late on. That was her 3rd start in 6 weeks, and 6th in total this season, which is plenty given her age and size, she puts a lot into her races and we know will be a much better 3YO as she strengthens up. That's probably the perfect result for us, she showed enough, stuck her head down and galloped, but without catching the eye of too many and forcing up her price.
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An exciting journey ahead with plenty of racecourse visits...
Earthy cost her current owners £50k as a yearling, and as is the way with the operation, if they're not likely to be Class 1 'Saturday' horses, they're happy to move them on, usually at a loss. Of course that gives us opportunities, especially when on the lookout for a progressive horse who could climb the handicapping ranks, hit the racecourse plenty, get competitive and with many more wins to come in the years ahead.
Earthy has some size about her, and she's done well to win as a 2YO, especially as she's still a bit green and hasn't learnt to fully settle. As you can see above, she has a frame to strengthen into, and there's loads more conditioning to come all over, especially her shoulder, and rear. Her back end is still a bit higher than her shoulder, which is a good sign, as with time, the front end will catch up, as she continues to mature. This natural growth and strengthening all over, as she fills into her frame, should lead to further improvement in time, certainly into her 3YO year, but likely beyond. She should keep improving with experience. That's good news for us. She's a strong sort with good bone, and a decent attitude. She sticks her head down and tries. There's plenty to be said for having a hardy flat handicapper to call your own, to roar home.
These flat handicappers can keep improving, aged 4, 5 and 6, sometimes beyond. Just look at Jordan Electrics this season, aged 8. He was rated 72 on his seasonal return, with x9 wins on the board since making his debut as a 2YO, averaging less than two wins a season (still very good going of course!). This season, he won x7 races and shot up to a mark of 101. 29lbs improvement in one season, as an 8YO. Astonishing, but a season to give us all hope when dealing with what we hope may be similar sprinting types. Copper Knight would be another fine example of a hardy handicapper who just gets better with age, winning his races. He's now 15/101 in his career, aged 10, and bagged another this season. We do need more hardy flat handicappers! :)
Back to Earthy.. she has taken a while to get to grips with the game and there's no doubt plenty of mental improvement to come also, as her racing brain develops and she matures more generally. She takes her training well, is straightforward, has a good attitude and can race handily, which is always useful. Evidently she handles the all-weather, and it may be that's where she's best in time, but there's nothing to say as yet that she won't be as effective on turf. Her breeding suggests that shouldn't be a problem and her first few turf runs can be ignored, as she was being handicapped. She's very sweet natured and likeable as a 'person', she won't bite your hand when feeding her polos!
There's also a chance that Earthy could improve plenty more for having her soft palate cauterised, to improve her breathing, which is a very common procedure. There's some evidence that such ops could really help offspring of her sire, Earthlight. Evidently Earthy has been able to win with no issues so far, but it's a reason for a further jolt forward of improvement. She will also improve again for a short break, having been on the go for most of her 2YO year, for all she's shown no signs of stopping just yet, but she'll do well for another holiday when the time comes. This is a handicapper to be excited about into her 4, 5 and 6 year old year.
Ideal Conditions?
It looks as though her ideal conditions will be 6-7 furlongs (although a strong run 5f may not be out the question), and it will be great to have a 'sprint handicapper' who in time can run plenty, give us many days out, plenty of competitive action, and a few wins every now and then. Her sire was a classy 6-7f horse, multiple Group 1 winner. Her dam has produced five multiple/winners to date, stamping speed, stamina and class in plenty. Her dam's sire, Noverre, is a decent influence of winners also. There are numerous back-type winners down the dam's side of the page, and mixed with an exciting first season sire and with some size about her, I can see why she cost £50k as a yearling. One of her half-brothers, Arnold Lane, raced x60 in his career, and with any luck she has a similar constitution!
Earthy looks as though she'll be a superb syndicate horse, with potential for many more competitive runs and wins. We should get plenty of action and days out in the seasons ahead, a hardy horse who should be able to run plenty as she matures. As with all horses who are maturing and have a decent attitude, they can 'take-off' at some stage and you never know where that may lead.
Obviously it's highly unlikely she turns into a multiple Group 1 winning mare such as Highfield Princess, but I always take heart that she started on the all-weather off a mark of 57 and was beaten in her first C6 handicap. It's a game of us dreamers! :) However, we'll obviously be delighted if she can race plenty, give us a thrill, and win in turn at her level. There are plenty of mares handicap options also as she gets older. At the moment she works like a potential OR70-75 handicapper, but that's as she is now, before taking account of any future improvement for the reasons discussed above. Maybe one day she'll 'do a Jordan Electrics' !
If Earthy does climb up the ratings in time, given her breeding, there's a chance of course that she could retain residual value as a future broodmare, especially if her Sire continues to do well. However, that's a 'nice to have/bonus', the aim is to have some fun with her in the seasons to come as a racehorse.
We all enjoy each other's company at the races, and she should give us many opportunities to meet up and cheer her on, pumped with adrenaline, and either celebrating, or commiserating, with each other.
THE PLAN...
Below you can find a form to register your firm interest. Before we head to the sales, we need to have a firm idea of whether Earthy would be a goer as an RTPS horse.
In an ideal world we'd get her for around £12k, which I think is realistic. In truth it's hard to predict the market with these HIT sales. We'd be happy to go up to the £15-18k region max, but think we'd have to leave her after that. It could be that this work is wasted, but that's the game!
If we are fortunate to get her, she will head back to Amy's to be trained in Newmarket, and will be campaigned in whatever races / courses we deem suitable, and over time we'll do our best to run her all over, in the South plenty, East, Midlands/North. I suspect in time she'll get a spin on most AW courses and we'll see which surfaces suit best, but she should be just fine on turf also.
She'll be an exciting and worthy addition to the squad, and we hope you'll support us in this next adventure.
Please register your interest using the form below. It includes a forecast of future costs per share % including our standard Newmarket/ Amy Murphy fees...
