Graeme McDowell was happy to concede defeat to his hero Sir Alex Ferguson, as sporting worlds collided in the Coral Adonis Juvenile Hurdle.
The 2010 US Open champion was represented at Kempton by Harry Derham’s Givemefive, a horse he was obliged to purchase after losing a bet on the golf course to the young handler, and one who McDowell has also persuaded five-time major champion Brooks Koepka to become involved in.
Having impressed his owners watching on from Florida with impressive victories at Market Rasen and Warwick, there was no way the Northern Irishman was missing his biggest assignment to date, calling in at Sunbury on his way to play in the Middle East to get his first ‘in person’ taste of the ownership experience.
While green jackets and Claret Jugs were not up for grabs at Kempton, Givemefive showed all the guts and determination that has always impressed those close to the four-year-old, producing an above-par performance to claim a silver medal.
He went down by the barest of margins to Kalif Du Berlais, with not only Derham’s uncle Paul Nicholls spoiling the party but also the former Manchester United manager Ferguson, who was in Saudi Arabia to watch his Spirit Dancer land a very valuable prize.
“It’s my first experience as an owner live and Harry has made this an unbelievably cool experience,” said McDowell.
“We were gutted but Sir Alex is one of my heroes, so I’m happy to let him have that one there – he looks a hell of a horse as well.
“They think very highly of Kalif Du Berlais and I thought we had it for a second, but it was a lot of fun, it was a great race. I couldn’t have asked for anything more and if he popped his head in front there that would have been dream stuff, but it was a lot of fun.
“There are a lot of parallels to golf and you could get a horse with all the talent in the world, but the wrong attitude and it’s not a champion horse. Givemefive is not the biggest horse in the world, but we love his attitude and his work ethic and the team at Harry’s keep calling him a little dude. That was a hell of an effort.”
The three-quarter-length defeat did little to diminish the enthusiasm of McDowell who admitted to being bitten by the racing drug after this first visit to watch his charge.
He went on: “There’s nothing quite like doing it in the flesh, it’s a first time for me and it’s really cool. It’s a bit of a drug and I can see how people get hooked.
“Brooks was supposed to come, we’re on our way to the Middle East right now and on the road for three weeks, so it was tough to get away for an extra day away from the kids, but I really wanted to come and see this race and it was sort of on the way.
“I flew in this morning and I got a little red eye going, but a few beers and I’ll be OK.”
McDowell revealed Koepka has also been fully engrossed in Givemefive’s progress from his Stateside base and was immediately on the phone in the aftermath of his Kempton appearance.
“I think Brooks wants a stable full of the things and he wants to know if Givemefive is running in the Kentucky Derby this year!” quipped McDowell.
“It’s been a fun experience and Brooks has enjoyed it, he’s texting through and obviously we’re disappointed but we love the effort from Givemefive.
“I think Brooks was wondering what I was dragging him into. The story is Brooks had won his fifth major last year and we had just got Givemefive and we’d spoken about it and I said to him ‘I think we’ve got a horse here you need to get involved with’.
“We have a WhatsApp group and it’s lighting up all the time and Brooks is texting away.”
McDowell and Koepka are far from the first members of the golf fraternity to flirt with horse racing, with the legendary Gary Player, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood just a few who have a keen interest in the sport.
Following Givemefive’s progress has proven far from straightforward due to the busy nature of the golfing calendar, but the latest duo to swap their golf clubs for the racecourse have been extremely impressed by the way Derham has made them feel part of his close-knit community of owners.
McDowell added: “There is a big crossover with golf and horse racing and I have spent a lot of time around guys like JP McManus. I think for the guys growing up in the UK and Ireland like myself, then racing is kind of in the blood.
“I got to know Harry through AP McCoy actually and when he was talking about getting his own yard, I said ‘hey when you do, let’s do something together’. I’m so happy for him and he’s such a nice guy with a great team. It’s been great to see his success and also to be a small part of it.
“I was walking behind Harry coming out from the stables into the paddock and I was thinking ‘this is kind of cool, what you have to do’. You see these guys training at home and getting to see them grow into the athletes they are and then coming out of here and competing.
“We’ve had so much fun so far and Harry and his team have really made it fun and exciting and interactive, living in Florida and still feeling very connected to the yard and the training and everything that is going on.”
In Givemefive, both Koepka and McDowell now have a high-class performer to take them on the next stage of their ownership journey.
Having provided one half of the golfing duo with a day to remember at Kempton, exciting plans for the future will now be formed over a celebratory drink at the 19th hole.
“I’m going to spend some time with Harry because I’ve not seen him since I lost the bet with him in London last year about Givemefive,” said McDowell.
“It was a decent bet to lose and if you are going to lose a bet, it may as well be that one!
“My heart was racing harder than it’s raced for a long time there and with what they think of Kalif Du Berlais and what he could go on to achieve, for Givemefive to hold his own as a smaller horse and to hang in there the way he did shows his work ethic.
“He’s a cool horse and I think we’re going to have some fun with him.”
Ghostwriter gallop sparking Cox’s Classic dream
Clive Cox has been buoyed by a racecourse gallop ahead of Ghostwriter’s Qipco 2000 Guineas bid, confident his smart Newmarket form can prove a positive in the opening Classic of the season.
The son of Invincible Spirit was unbeaten throughout his two-year-old season and finished 2023 with a statement victory on the Rowley Mile in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
With that experience under the colt’s belt, Cox was happy to forego an early-season trial in favour of a pipe-opener at Kempton, with Ghostwriter – a general 14-1 shot to claim the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite City Of Troy on May 4 – reported to have thrived over the winter.
“I’m very happy with Ghostwriter and he has his Newmarket course form,” explained Cox.
“I’m very pleased he has done exceptionally well over the winter and we will be going there with a racecourse gallop under his belt. He’s done very well and that is why he hasn’t run in a trial.
“He’s been to Kempton and he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse who has done well over the winter and we think that will have benefitted him far more than racing on testing ground, with his previous experience at Newmarket hopefully holding him in good stead.”
Another star juvenile for the Beechdown Stables team last season was the Kennet Valley-owned Dragon Leader, who suffered defeat just the once in five starts in 2023 as he proved a real money-spinner for connections.
Big victories at York and Redcar sandwiched a near miss in a valuable Doncaster event and Cox is eyeing stepping the son of El Kabeir up in trip this term when ground conditions allow him to return to action.
“He was a very productive runner last year earning over £300,000 in prize-money,” continued Cox.
“I’m pleased to say he’s wintered well, but he’s definitely better with a dry surface and we wouldn’t be making any concrete plans at the minute. When the ground gets a little bit quicker you will see him.
“Last year he was looking like seven furlongs would help him and I would be very hopeful he will get a mile. We kept him at six last year simply because he was so well qualified for those races. Six and a half was no problem for him at Doncaster though in the Weatherbys race.”
‘Mixed emotions’ for connections of Surrey Quest after epic Scottish National
Connections of Surrey Quest may have suffered agony at Ayr in the Coral Scottish Grand National, but could have bigger and better days on the horizon, with next year’s Grand National now entering calculations.
After four miles of action, Toby Lawes’ progressive seven-year-old was left to fight out a thrilling finish to the Ayr feature with Willie Mullins’ Macdermott, with the trainers’ title-chasing Irishman’s runner coming out on top after not only a titanic battle to the line but an excruciating wait while the judge deliberated over the result.
A standard-bearer over jumps for the Surrey Racing syndicate, Surrey Quest’s owners headed to Ayr full of confidence in their Kevin Brogan-ridden 20-1 shot after some promising results this season.
And despite being left with “mixed emotions” following the nose reversal at the hands of the Danny Mullins-ridden winner, they can take comfort that their charge has continued on the upward curve that has already seen him strike twice in his four starts this term.
“We’ve got mixed emotions and we thought the horse was in absolute brilliant shape heading up there,” said Clive Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing with Steve Grubb.
“Statistically we might have needed the run, but other than that everything went to plan and Toby was very meticulous in his preparations. He came here in great shape and everything went to plan, we just lost out on the nod.
“Winning is everything in this business and coming second, not matter how close, it feels like we came nowhere. We’d have been happy with a top-seven finish to be honest so we have to be proud. Kevin and Toby have done a fantastic job with this horse.
“We know he is a good horse and we wouldn’t have come up here if we didn’t think we had a chance. Surrey Racing as a company doesn’t go to races we don’t think we have a chance in and we’re just so proud of the run – we honestly thought at the line we had done it.
“Willie Mullins has so much ammunition and it’s just unfortunate we have come up against one of his and I guess the funny thing is if he wasn’t going for the championship he might not have been here today.”
Surrey Quest holds an entry for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, but his exertions north of the border make it unlikely he will try to replicate what Kitty’s Light’s achieved 12 months ago and make a rapid reappearance.
Instead sights are fully turned to Liverpool and the famous Grand National fences where Surrey Quest could take in December’s Becher Chase ahead a crack at the big one itself in 12 months’ time.
Hadingham continued: “It’s just mixed emotions, we’re so proud of him and we’ve had a super time up here in Ayr. I guess now we know we’re going to go on to bigger and better things with him.
“We might have a look at the Grand National now and we might look at coming back to Ayr again. He’s such an economical jumper that now the National has changed a bit and the fences are slightly lower, that is something we can look at.
“There’s so many big races next year he can go for and the Becher is one we will look at and we’ll take it from there.”
Arrest expected to make his mark as a four-year-old
Kieran Shoemark is relishing stepping into the boots of Frankie Dettori aboard Arrest, as the St Leger runner-up makes his return in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury.
Arrest played a key role in Dettori’s UK swansong last season and was a beaten favourite for the Italian’s final Derby ride at Epsom, before just failing to send the 53-year-old off in a blaze of Classic glory when second to Continuous at Doncaster in September.
Shoemark was three places behind Arrest with Gregory on Town Moor, but having taken the reins aboard many of John and Thady Gosden’s star Clarehaven inmates since the relocation of Dettori to California, he will get the leg-up aboard Arrest for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
The 28-year-old hopes the soft-ground loving colt can build on his positive finish to last season and feels there is plenty of improvement to be seen during his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s obviously a big horse and hopefully he’s going to improve with age,” said Shoemark.
“Hopefully the ground is not going to dry out too much at Newbury and we know he wants soft ground.
“His run in the Leger was brilliant – the ground went against me on Gregory, but he enjoyed it. He’s a proper mile-and-a-half horse, not short of speed by all means, and the softer the better for him.
“He’s a big, strapping horse and I honestly believe he will get better with age. He’s entitled to, so there will be plenty to look forward to for the year ahead.”
As well as winning the Chester Vase, Arrest’s other victory last term came at Newbury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and joint-trainer Thady Gosden is confident the race more commonly known as the John Porter is the ideal spot to kick-start the son of Frankel’s season.
“He’s a very talented horse, he ran great last year and was second in a Classic,” he said.
“He’s developed very well over the winter and is a horse of great size and quality and he’s really filled into his frame and has been really pleasing leading into this race.
“He doesn’t mind getting his toe in at all and the track and trip should suit.”
Arrest will be in receipt of 3lb from William Haggas’ Hamish, who went through 2023 unbeaten, winning on four occasions, all at Group Three level.
Hamish is one of two in the race for the Somerville Lodge handler alongside Mujtaba, but main hopes lie with the stable stalwart, who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian, and got the better of Karl Burke’s Al Qareem on his final start of last year in the rearranged St Simon Stakes.
The Spigot Lodge-trained five-year-old is another slated to concede weight to Arrest and his trainer is excited to get Al Qareem back on track.
Burke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him run and he’s been ready to run for the last month.
“He’s working well, a mile and a half is his minimum trip, but on this ground I’m happy to start him off there.
“He’ll step up and be a good one-mile-six and two-mile horse later in the year. It’ll be a tough race, but I think he’ll run really well.
“We were lucky to keep him and he got travel sickness coming back (from Dubai). He’s hard work at home, Danielle Mooney rides him every day and he pulls her arms out every day, but he’s a lovely horse to have.”
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Chesspiece was behind Arrest when sixth in the Leger before finishing off his season with a silver medal in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot.
He makes his first start after being gelded in the royal blue of Godolphin, while Andrew Balding’s Alsakib steps out of handicap company after finishing last year on a real high on home soil.
Max Vega won this in 2022 and having finished third last season, returns for a third crack, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also represented by Salt Bay.
Last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera makes his first Flat outing for Gary Moore, having been seen juvenile hurdling this winter, with Jack Channon’s Certain Lad completing the line-up.
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