Bell Sitting Pretty As Stable Stars Return

The three names etched onto brass plaques alongside one particular stable at Fitzroy House are enough to cause a passer-by to pause for a moment to reflect on glorious summers gone.

Sariska (GB), Red Evie (Ire), Margot Did (Ire): from the Classic summit to scorching a strip along the turf of York's Knavesmire, the trio left a significant imprint at Michael Bell's yard. Their successor has already proved a worthy inhabitant of this hallowed box, however, as housed within is Europe's champion 2-year-old filly, Pretty Pollyanna (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

There's none of the grandeur, either physical or mental, one might expect of a filly of her acknowledged stature on the racecourse. As her daily rider, stable apprentice Cameron Noble, tacks her up for her morning's exercise, Pretty Pollyanna, recently returned from her winter holiday, turns kindly to him, not minding the intrusion of her trainer and a journalist standing and chatting in her doorway. Doubtless this no-nonsense attitude has helped in her notable achievements to date.

“She's been very easy to train from day one,” says Bell as he casts an eye over the medium-sized bay filly who, in his 30th year of training, will carry the stable's hopes of adding the G1 1000 Guineas to the Classic roll of honour.

That list already includes the 2005 Derby for Motivator (GB) followed by the Oaks and Irish Oaks in 2009 for Sariska.

“She's never missed a dance that we wanted her to take part in. She's very uncomplicated and talented. She's not terribly big but she's a good model and she has strengthened over the winter,” he adds.

Pretty Pollyanna is not the only one who has received a boost in recent months. Bell's string is now in three figures. “It's the first time we've had over 100 horses for quite a few years,” he says. “We have some really nice 2-year-olds this year.”

However talented they turn out to be, the current crop will do well to match strides with the example set by Bill and Tim Gredley's homebred Pretty Pollyanna last season. A winner on debut at Yarmouth, she was just over two lengths behind victrix Main Edition (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) when fifth in the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot before blazing a trail to win the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. on her home track at Newmarket by seven lengths. She and Signora Cabello (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) then left the colts trailing in the G1 Prix Morny, with Pretty Pollyanna finishing three-quarters of a length to the good to set the seal on the championship in Deauville in August. Two subsequent appearances saw her finish fourth in the G1 Cheveley Park S. and third in the G1 Fillies' Mile when tackling that distance for the first time.

“To have a champion 2-year-old is pretty special–the last one we had was Hoh Magic (GB), who also won the Morny,” says Bell. “Pretty Pollyanna was spectacular on a couple of occasions last year. Things didn't go right in the Cheveley Park through no fault of her own, and equally in the Fillies' Mile, Danny [Tudhope] rode her as instructed but I think if we were to do it again, in order to get the mile we'd try to get a lead. I'm very hopeful that she'll get the mile.”

Having returned three weeks ago from her holiday at the Gredleys' Stetchworth Park Stud where she was born, Pretty Pollyanna is still on daily trotting duties while she builds up to her seasonal reappearance in a Classic trial.

“The plan at the moment is to go for a trial,” says her trainer. “Seven furlongs will possibly prove her optimum trip in the future but we'll go for a trial and hopefully she'll come through that and take her place in the Guineas.”

Though both her dam and grandam were unraced, Pretty Pollyanna emanates from a family which has already bought Classic glory in abundance for Bill Gredley through arguably Stetchworth Park Stud's most famous graduate, User Friendly (GB). The daughter of Derby winner Slip Anchor (GB) sailed unbeaten through the first six races of her life, the last four of that extraordinary sequence being the Oaks, Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks and St Leger. She was then beaten just a neck in the Arc by Subotica (Fr) (Pampabird {GB}). User Friendly's half-sister Friendlier (GB) (Zafonic) made up for her lack of racing career by producing the black-type trio of Unex El Greco (GB) and Gender Agenda (GB), both by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire), and Madame Defarge (GB) (Motivator {GB}), while Pretty Pollyanna's dam Unex Mona Lisa (GB) was the result of her 2008 mating with Shamardal.

Despite her Classic pretensions, Pretty Pollyanna has to share the title of stable star at Fitzroy House with another Gredley homebred. At eight years of age, Big Orange (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) is the elder statesman of the stable and, closing in on 17 hands, is certainly the largest inhabitant. He, too, has recently returned from Stetchworth Park, but his stay was a lot longer than Pretty Pollyanna's owing to an injury to a suspensory ligament which meant an enforced lay-off since last spring.

As long as there is no recurrence of this issue, there will be no more joyous reception given to any horse this season than that which will greet the much-loved stayer on his eventual return to the races. Indeed, he has already brought cheer to his home town of Newmarket during the bleak midwinter.

“Big Orange is such a recognisable horse and the first day he was out on the Heath again between Christmas and New Year everyone was asking after him,” says Bell. “One of the reasons he's so popular is his style of racing. He is a big physical presence but the way he sticks his head and neck out is such a good quality and it endears him to the public. It's a pleasure to have him in the yard. He eats twice as much as most horses but it's wonderful to have him back.”

After a solitary start in the G2 Dubai Gold Cup in 2018, Big Orange was being prepared for the G2 Henry II S. at Sandown when his injury was detected, and it is in this race which Bell hopes he will make his resumption this May.

“I'd say we'll aim him at Sandown but he'll have to come through a couple of scans first,” he notes. “I'm hopeful that we'll get him back into full work. Once he starts galloping it becomes a bit more nerve-wracking but given that the injury was caught so early, I'm hopeful. Speaking as a horseman I feel positive–it is slightly walking on eggshells but we'll tread carefully.”

He continues, “We're really happy with the scans so far and fingers crossed we'll get the green light to start cantering after he's done six weeks of trotting. I think we have to be hopeful. He's had PRP [platelet rich plasma] treatment and whether it works or not remains to be seen but all the signs are good. I think it was the great Arthur Stephenson who said 'there's no such thing as a bit of a leg', but we really did catch him extremely early. It was a small bit of damage to his suspensory and on the scale of tendon damage I would say it was probably three out of 10.”

Having been based at his Stetchworth Park Estate just three miles outside Newmarket for almost 40 years, Bill Gredley, now 85, is every bit as well known in the headquarters of British horseracing as his giant Ascot Gold Cup hero. His legacy in the racing and breeding world will be continued by his son Tim, a former member of the British showjumping team and useful point-to-point rider who is now fully immersed in the operation of the stud.

Bell, a long-term trainer for the Gredleys whose former assistant and now fellow Newmarket trainer George Scott is married to Bill's daughter Polly, says, “It's lovely to train for owner-breeders, and especially local owner-breeders who have such a huge interest in their horses. Bill has been at the game a very long time and it has given him, particularly, enormous pleasure. And for Tim, who is now based back at Stetchworth and really focused on it, you can't ask for much more than to breed and own Group 1 winners.”