A look at Opulence Thoroughbreds

You may be wondering what does this Opulence relate to. Well, it is about a new horse racing syndicate called Opulence Thoroughbreds. There are many horse racing syndicates (in fact several hundred) who give horse racing fans an opportunity to have a share in a race horse. Syndicates have grown in popularity in recent years because it is a less expensive (dare I say cheap) way of ‘owning’ a horse.

Opulence Thoroughbreds started in 2020 and have a variety of syndicated horses at differing price points.

With my niche being two-year-old horse racing, I’ve take a particular interest in their juveniles over the last few seasons.

Opulence Thoroughbreds is a more branded outfit with a high level of media coverage advised by Cornelius Lysaght. This British journalist and broadcaster has a wealth of experience and was the BBC’s horse racing correspondent from 2001 – 2020.

Other ambassadors for Opulence include, Luisa Zissman. She is an English retail entrepreneur. Also, the runner-up on the 9^th series of The Apprentice. She has a great passion for horse racing.

What do you get from your purchase?

• Visiting your horse at the stables

• The thrill of race day experience

• Share of prize winning and sales proceeds

As you may imagine, Opulent Thoroughbred have a select number of high-profile trainers including: Andrew Balding, William Haggas, Roger Varian, Stuart Williams, Ed Walker, Paul & Oliver Cole, Charlie Fellowes, Michael Bell, George Scott, Jack Channon, Dr Richard Newland, Clive Cox, Harry Fry, Evan Williams & George Boughey.

All syndicates are kept small from 10 -20 people. Also, tailored to your interest and affordability.

Throughout the year there will be opportunities to visit your trainer’s yard and enjoy the spectacle of seeing your horse run on the gallops. It’s brilliant insight to appreciate the preparation before race day.

The thrill of going to the races. Your owner’s badge allows you and your guest full access to the parade ring and winners enclosure. You can also get complimentary food and drinks in the lounge.

Taking a look at the horses in training for the 2023 season:

Being interested in the two-year-old horse racing niche, I see Opulent Thoroughbreds had 20 juveniles in training this season

They had 7 three-year-olds.

They had 6 older horses aged from four to six years old.

Three National Hunt horses (aged five and six)

And two broodmares.

Opulent Thoroughbred are predominantly interested in two-year-old horse racing, which is the most exciting age group and offers the chance of training a high-class talent that races at pattern class.

If you are interested in being part of a forward-thinking horse racing syndicate then you will have to go a long way to better Opulent Thoroughbreds.

Mildmay Novices' Chase

The Mildmay Novices' Chase is a Grade 1 novices' steeplechase run over 3 miles and 210 yards on the Mildmay Course at Aintree in early April. As the title indicates, the race is restricted to horses, aged five years and upwards, who, at the start of the current season, have yet to win a race over regulation fences. Both the race and the course on which it is run are named after Anthony Anthony Bingham Mildmay, second Lord Mildmay of Flete, a popular amateur jockey, who rode in – and came agonisingly close to winning – the Grand National either side of the Second World War.

The Mildmay Novices' Chase was inaugurated in 1981 and boasts an impressive roll of honour, which includes future Cheltenham Gold Cup winners Bregawn, Burrough Hill Lad and Native River and future Grand National winners Rhyme 'N' Reason and Royal Athlete. The race was awarded Grade 2 status following the revision of the National Hunt Pattern in 1989 and upgraded to Grade 1 status in 2014.

The Mildmay Novices' Chase often features horses that previously contested the three-mile novice steeplechasing 'championship' at the Cheltenham Festival, the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. The last horse to complete the double was Might Bite in 2017. Nicky Henderson, trainer of Might Bite, also saddled Sparkling Flame (1991), Irish Hussar (2003), Burton Port (2010), Terrefort (2018) and Chantry House (2021) for a total of six winners and is the most successful handler in the history of the Mildmay Novices' Chase.

The 2023 renewal of the Mildmay Novices' Chase is scheduled for 2.50pm on Friday, April 15 – the second day of the Grand National Festival, a.k.a. Ladies' Day – and, at this still early stage, it is hard to look far beyond the likes of The Nice Guy and Minella Cocooner, who feature prominently in the ante-post betting for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.

Aintree Hurdle

 

As the name suggests, the Aintree Hurdle is a Grade 1 hurdle race run over 2 miles and 4 furlongs on the Mildmay Course at Aintree in April. Inaugurated, as a Grade 2 contest over 2 miles and 5½ furlongs, in 1976, the race was shortened to its current distance in 1988 and promoted to Grade 1 status three years later. Interestingly, while the Aintree Hurdle is open to horses aged four years and upwards, no four-year-old has ever won.

Morley Street, trained by the late Gerald 'Toby' Balding, won four consecutive renewals of the Aintree Hurdle, in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, and is the most successful horse in the history of the race. Balding, who died in September, 2014, also saddled Beech Road to victory in 1989 and, alongside Nicky Henderson, is jointly the most successful trainer. In 2010, for one year only, the name of Dick Francis – Champion National Hunt Jockey in 1953/54, but probably best known for his calamitous ride on Devon Loch in the Grand National – was added to the race title, following his death in February that year.

The 2023 renewal of the Aintree Hurdle is scheduled for 3.30pm on Thursday, April 7 – the opening day of the three-day Grand National Festival at Aintree – in the same spot it has occupied since 2013. Not altogether surprisingly, the Aintree Hurdle is often contested, and won, by horses that ran in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival the previous month. In the last decade, Annie Power (2016) and Buveur D'Air (2017) won both races in the same season, while Zarkandar (2013), The New One (2014), Jezki (2015) and Epatante (2022) ran with credit at Cheltenham before winning at Aintree.

Race Focus: Finale Juvenile Hurdle

The Finale Juvenile Hurdle is a Grade 2 juvenile hurdle run over 2 miles and 11 yards at Chepstow in late December. As the name suggests, the race is restricted to horses aged three years, at least if run as scheduled. However, in the event of postponement to the following January – which has happened five times since 2010, due to waterlogging – the race is restricted to horses aged four years, since all horses born in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate their birthday on January 1.

Currently sponsored by Coral, the Finale Juvenile Hurdle was, until August 2022, the only Grade 1 race run at the Welsh track and one of just three races of its kind in the whole of the British National Hunt calendar. At that stage, it was downgraded to Grade 2 by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) as part of an annual review of the National Hunt Pattern.

Nevertheless, the Finale Juvenile Hurdle remains a significant trial for the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, with Defi Du Seuil, in 2016/17, the last horse to complete the double. The 2023 winner, Comfort Zone, trained by Joseph O'Brien, went on to win the Finesse Juvenile Hurdle, run over the same course and distance as the Triumph Hurdle, and is currently quoted at 10/1 for that race and the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Martin Pipe saddled four winners of the Final Juvenile Hurdle, namely High Knowl (1986), Enemy Action (1988), Hopscotch (1990) and Rainwatch (1997) and, more recently, Nicky Henderson has done likewise, courtesy of Mister Banjo (1999), Nas Na Riogh (2002), Blue Shark (2005) and We Have A Dream (2017). Jointly, the two legendary handlers are the leading trainers in the history of the race, which was first run in 1971.

Dead Cert?

 

2/9 favourite unseats jockey at the last. It just goes to show that there's no such thing as a dead cert!

Cheltenham Gold Cup

As the most prestigious race run during the National Hunt season, the Cheltenham Gold Cup requires little or no introduction. However, for anyone unfamiliar with the 'Blue Riband' event, the Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 steeplechase run over 3 miles, 2 furlongs and 70 yards on the New Course at Cheltenham in March. The race was inaugurated, as a steeplechase, in 1924, but was run on the Old Course at Cheltenham until 1959.

The legendary Golden Miller – who remains the only horse to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season – won five consecutive renewals in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936 and is, unsurprisingly, the most successful horse in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Other notable winners include Arkle, the highest-rated steeplechaser of the Timeform era, Mill House, Kauto Star, Desert Orchid and Burrough Hill Lad, to name but a handful.

The late Thomas 'Tom' Dreaper saddled Prince Regent (1946), Arkle (1964, 1965, 1966) and Fort Leney (1968) to victory and, more than five decades after his retirement in 1971, remains the leading trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Looking ahead to the 2023 renewal of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which is scheduled for 3.05pm on Friday, March 17, it may be worth noting that six of the last seven running have been won by Irish-trained horses.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, the early ante-post market is headed not by reigning champion, A Plus Tard, but rather by Galopin Des Champs, who has won three of his four starts over fences with consummate ease and was an unlucky loser in the Turners Novices' Chase, when falling at the final fence with the race at his mercy. The home challenge is headed by Ahoy Senor and L'Homme Presse, who filled the first two places in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase,

Altcar Novices' Chase

 The Altcar Novices' Chase is a Grade 2 steeplechase run over 2 miles, 3 furlongs and 203 yards at Haydock Park in January. As the name suggests, the race is restricted to horses, aged five years and upwards, who start the current season without a win over regulation fences.

The Altcar Novices' Chase began life, as a lowly Class D affair, in 1996, but was elevated to Class B status the following year and again, to Grade 2 status, in 2007. In 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005 – the 2001 was abandoned due to frost – the race was run 2 miles and 6 furlongs, before reverting to its original distance in 2006.

The 2023 renewal of the Altcar Novices' Chase is scheduled for Saturday, January 21, when it is one of four Grade 2 races on the Haydock Park card, including the feature race, the Peter Marsh Chase. Cholmondeley trainer Donald McCain is currently the most successful handler in the history of the race, having saddled Will Be Done (2009), Our Mick (2012), Testify (2018) and Minella Drama (2022) to victory.

Since the demise of the famous drop fences at Haydock Park, which were replaced by more forgiving, portable versions in 2007, the course present a less severe test of jumping than was once the case. Nevertheless, novices tackle seventeen obstacles during the Altcar Novices' Chase, so sound jumping is a pre-requisite, especially if the going is on the soft side.

That said, course form, even winning course form, is not, with none of the last ten winners having previously won at Haydock Park and only three having any experience of the Newton-le-Willows track. For the record, nine of the last ten winners of the Altcar Novices' Chase came from the first three in the starting price betting market.