wasn't for Highclere of course, he was for
the Royal Ascot Racing Club, but he was a
75,000gns colt from the first crop of Mont-
jeu. You do get quite manic, setting these
things up: you want to prove that it could
happen. I didn't just want everyone to have
a bit of fun, I wanted to prove that they
could achieve at the highest level. Our syn-
dicates have been placed in all the British
Classics, and we've raced 80 horses at Roy-
al Ascot with a win-and-place ratio around
40 per cent.
And on the other side of the coin?
I'd sold all our shares one year, I was cock-a-
hoop, and asked Richard Hannon if he had
any yearlings that might suit. He had a colt
and a filly, so I went to take a look. Both
were very nice, but we tend to buy more
colts and so I said we'd take the colt. And
Richard said: "Don't you like the filly then?
I'd keep a leg in her." And I thought: "Well,
that's a slam-dunk sale, if you can say the
trainer wants to keep a leg." "And she'll
win the Queen Mary," he added. Well, the
filly was useless. And the colt was Canford
Cliffs. But I know everyone has a story like
that.
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