Editor-In-Chief with 20 years experience covering the betting angles to breaking news stories. Daily slots player, Portsmouth fan and League Snooker Player
October 24
Ed talks us through how his business has grown alongside that of Harry Derham Racing and his vision for its future.
Q: Why might there be a large dominance with French breeding, and what's impacting this?
๐ซ๐ท French horses are dominating Grade 1s! ๐๐ฏ Fashion-driven buys & talent keep them ahead. ๐ฌ๐ง๐ฎ๐ช need to step up! ๐ชโจ
EB: “There's a lot of fashion-based purchasing going on in Horse racing and people buying French stock because they have been doing well and there's no doubt about it the French breeds have been dominating Grade 1s in the UK and Ireland.
“Even if you try and clarify it between French juveniles that come over or horses that come off the flat in France, versus Irish pointers a lot of the Irish point-to-pointers are French bred anyway.
“Willie Mullins has done amazingly well buying recruits from France and it works really well for him, we've personally found it incredibly competitive as they're hard to buy and they're not cheap horses - quite frankly it's very hard for us to get a look in.
“The French are clearly doing something right because the horses are very talented and the English and the Irish need to fight back.
“There is a definite dominance from France at the minute.
Q: Is there anything that you would like to see change to help the British breeding industry as a whole?
๐๐ฌ๐ง The GBB scheme is boosting British breeding with mega bonuses! ๐ทโจ Let's bring more mares home & raise the bar! ๐๐ช
EB: “I think there's a tremendous amount being done by the GBB scheme which for those that don't know is a wonderful scheme where breeders will put their young stock into this scheme by buying into it and then they can pick up bonus prize money.
“If you're 100% GBB which means that both the foal was born in Great Britain and the stallion stands in the UK you're eligible for 100% or it’s 50% if the stallion is abroad and the foal is born in the UK.
“If you win a bumper you get £10K and if you win a hurdle race you win £20K and if you win a Chase now this year it's £30K on top of the prize money - which is a mega scheme.
“It's relatively new and a lot of people have latched onto it, but I really do feel like that scheme is a massive advantage.
In answer to the question, I'd say there is a lot of work being done already and maybe now it's just a case where we need to try and source more of these GBB fillies and make the most of what's available to us.
“I think perhaps the only thing we can do is try and breed more in the UK and make the most of that scheme. Get mares back in the UK and try and raise the bar there and have a higher standard of mare I think would be very sensible.
Q: What are your thoughts about the value of the mares races?
๐๐ Mares' races are essential & thrilling! ๐๐ They keep top talent in action & create unforgettable moments like Honeysuckle at Cheltenham! ๐๐
EB: I massively do think they’re valuable, I know it splits opinions and a lot of people are against it but at the end of the day it's 50% mares that are going to be born and you need to have races for them.
“The more races you have the more you're going to encourage people to race these mares for longer and enjoy them for what they are.
“They're really talented mares at the end of the day and it creates good racing and it's very competitive so I'm all for it.
“To be honest, personally, I generally think one of my favourite memories I've ever had at Cheltenham was watching Honeysuckle come back in and you know if you take races like the mares race away you're not going to have those moments and I've never heard a crowd roar as loud as that at the winner's enclosure and that to me sums up exactly why we have those races.
Q: Would you tailor the races or keep them as they are?
๐๐ง No changes needed! The current race setup works well, serving a purpose despite smaller fields. Let's keep the good races rolling! ๐๐
EB: “I actually would keep them as they are, to be honest.
“I think you know it works well at the minute, I probably wouldn't change it and I appreciate that people would say the field sizes aren't massive but they do serve a purpose and you know they're good races that we have right now and hopefully it'll remain that way.
Close Brothers Mares Hurdle Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Cheltenham Festival)
Q: What would you change about the English program in order to help compete with the Irish program, in particular at Cheltenham, as the Irish dominance over the last few years has been astronomical?
๐๐ฎ๐ช Irish dominance? It's all about sourcing top horses, not race programs! ๐๐ฐ Relentless trainers like Mullins & Elliott make the difference. ๐๐ฅ
EB: “I'm going to be really controversial here to be honest, I don't think it's a program issue leading to the Irish dominating against us, I think it really comes down to the fact that they are sourcing the best horses.
“They're very good trainers and so are the English trainers, I mean it wasn't that long ago before we saw Nicky Henderson have seven winners at the festival and now it's hard for him to be competitive and he's got good horses and so do many other English trainers.
“I really think it comes down to how hard you're trying to buy to get these best horses and like Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are relentless and Henry De Bromhead.
“I personally found that myself… I spent a lot of time out on the Irish point-to-point fields on weekends this year and walking back to a Lorry park in a rainy field in Wexford trying to buy a horse and Henry De Bromhead had already beaten me to it and that's the difference.
“Willie Mullins has got an amazing team of Harold Kirk and Pierre Boulard in France and they do not miss, they're watching every race and they're the first ones to get there.
“I guess the hard thing is trying to find clients that are happy to pay the money to buy these horses but it really comes down to hunger for it and trying to get the best horses to be competitive.
“At the end of the day, the races they're running aren't going to change how many races they're going to win at the festival, like Willie didn't have many runners in handicaps. Paul Townsend only had one ride in a handicap all of the festival. It's nothing to do with handicap ratings, it's just getting the best horses.
Q: A lot of the English owners are going over to Ireland so it's trying to keep the English owners retained to England isn't it?
๐ฌ๐ง๐ Let's make England appealing for owners! ๐๐ช Embrace proactive efforts & create unforgettable experiences to keep them here. No sulking, just action! ๐๐ก๏ธ
EB: “Maybe we've got to be better, more appealing to keep them here, I appreciate they want to go over there and have some fun and that's perfectly fine and what a great experience to have a horse over there and you know go for a nice weekend in Ireland and enjoy that.
“However, we've got to fight back and make it appealing too, we've got to be proactive and that's the only thing we can do in my opinion.
“I appreciate you know everyone's got different answers on it, but I really think that's what it comes down to. So we can’t sulk about it, we’ve got to be proactive and that’s the only thing we can do in my opinion.
Q: Are there any stallions that stand out to you at the moment?
๐๐ French stallions are leading the pack! ๐๐ฅ Stars like Doctor Dino & Goliath Du Berlais are making waves with exceptional crops. ๐ฟ๐
EB: “Definitely, I think there's stallions that I preferably focus on and there's others that may not have done as much yet or are proving to be at a level. I probably still look at them but perhaps take them slightly less seriously as others.
“I have a band of stallions that I'm really after and very keen on.
“There’s no doubt about it, the French stallions are really leading the way at the minute, there are some amazing stallions over there Doctor Dino, Kapgarde, there’s No Risk At All, they're absolutely flying and Saint Des Saints has been a massive influence on pedigrees at the minute.
“There's a couple of young stallions that are really exciting to me over there. I think Goliath Du Berlais looks like he really could be anything, his first crop of three-year-olds this year has been absolutely exceptional.
“The son of Saint Des Saints out of the Kings Theatre Mare is a Grade 1 winner over fences; he's produced eight winners from 30 runners in his first crop which is phenomenal. His horses have averaged £86K in the Arkle sale this year which shows there's plenty of demand for them and even the French were coming over to Ireland to try and source them themselves.
Q: Your relationship with Harry Derham over the last couple of years has been flourishing. Can you tell us more about that?
๐ค๐ Flourishing partnership with Harry Derham! Driven & motivated, we've turned our jokes into reality, pushing each other towards our dreams. ๐๐
EB: “I met Harry when he was working down at Paul Nicholls. A very good friend of mine, Stan Shepard, plays a massive role as to why I'm in the sport, to be honest - I was at school with him and I used to ride out for his parents. Stan was working for Paul Nichols at the time and living with Harry and I went down there in my year after A Levels to work for Paul for a year.
“Harry and I just got on very well. We’re both quite driven people and kind of very motivated to get to where we want to get to and I always said to him that I want to buy horses and source top-level horses and he always said that he wanted to train one day.
“So we would always joke that one day we'd end up doing it and now it's a reality which is very special. Harry's a tremendous person, is incredibly focused, incredibly determined, and sets the bar very high and I think the two of us push each other on.
“I’m very lucky to be working with him, to be honest.
Q: And talk us through your business as a whole, you've been here now for a good few years and put your own stamp on the place, how do you see your development of this business going forward?
๐๐ข Four years in, growing the bloodstock business with a vision of becoming a premier National Hunt Stud. ๐๐ Aiming for seamless, top-quality horse production for clients and trainers! ๐๐
EB: “So the bloodstock business has sort of been going for four years now or I've been sourcing horses for clients and it started off very small and I was just conscious I wanted to learn and try not to make too many mistakes so you know took it slowly to start with.
“Harry's allowed me the opportunities to go and buy some nice horses. I have a number of other clients that have been very good to me so you know that that's just building all the time. I’ve got a very good collection of owners and clients who I have a very good relationship with.
“When I finished university this was a beef and arable farm and one of the first things that changed was the cows were sold with the intention of redeveloping the place into one day being a National Hunt Stud.
“At the minute it's a busy yard. There's anywhere between 50 and 70 horses here most of the time and then you know they're anything from young stock to old stock and that's something that I want to try and grow.
“The big vision is to try and be able to produce young horses for clients whether that means we're breeding them or horses that we’re sourcing as young horses.
“I want to make the trainers' lives easier. I want to just be able to hand them over 10 ready to go. Who have been through all their education and we've looked after them until now and that's very much division for the yard.
“As for the bloodstock, just try and buy as many Grade 1 winners as we can.
Q: Do you have any further thoughts on how you would like to see the British Breeding programme develop?
๐๐ฌ๐ง Boost UK breeding by encouraging early racing! ๐๐ Junior hurdles & learning from France's approach can enhance British racing's future. ๐๐
EB: “A particular passion of mine is the concept of horse racing earlier. I respect that many horses need time to mature and fill their frame, however, a lot can be said for training horses at a younger age to educate. In France, 97% of their national hunt stock will have run in a race over obstacles by the end of their 4yo season. This is a stark difference from the 36% in the UK.
“We have seen a dominance of French-bred horses winning graded races in the UK that ran as three-year-olds in France and I feel strongly that we must promote our junior hurdle series in the UK to try and encourage our stock to race earlier here.
“Statistically, French-bred three-year-olds sold at store sales are on average ratings no better than the Irish and English breds, however despite a smaller proportion of horses being bred in France, they still outperform us.
“The Junior Hurdle series is a great concept. It is tremendously positive to see Tattersalls Ireland adding a 2yo section to the Derby Sale next year to get behind this program. We must learn from what works and use it to promote British racing.”