Dean Ivory: a Study in Versatility

Radlett is generally associated with the leafy streets and luxury sports clubs befitting one of London's most exclusive commuter towns. This year, though, the Hertfordshire enclave could also boast a top-class racehorse as Librisa Breeze (GB) (Mount Nelson {GB}) prepares for the first of what could be many overseas assignments.

The grey has already made his mark at the highest level, rectifying a string of what-ifs in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S., and is most likely to reappear in 2018 on Dubai World Cup night.

Precise plans have still to be finalised between owner Tony Bloom and trainer Dean Ivory, who is about to allow his stable star back on the gallops at Harper Lodge Farm.

“He had a break and I will probably start to do a bit with him this week,” said Ivory. “I'd have thought Dubai would be the idea, but we'll have to decide the best course of action. What we'd do is just give him a gallop here anyway, he ran a blinder first time up for me last year, where he was very unlucky and I'm sure he would have gone very close otherwise.”

That effort to finish fourth in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. prompted several other occasions when Librisa Breeze's hold-up style got him into trouble. The tactics finally paid off at Ascot and opened up new frontiers for the Newsells Park-bred gelding.

He was being considered for Hong Kong in December until suffering a minor setback and the lucrative autumn championship events in Sydney have even been mentioned in dispatches.

“I'd be a bit concerned about travelling him too far for the first time, given so many things that can go wrong,” Ivory explained. “There's the option of going back to Australia in their spring, our autumn. He likes a bit of cut in the ground, he should get it either time he'd go, but it's a long way and there are lots of questions to be asked.”

Ivory's personal relationship with Group 1s had been fractious prior to Librisa Breeze appearing. Old favourite Tropics (Speightstown) had missed out in the same Ascot event three years earlier and suffered an even more agonising defeat to Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) in the G1 July Cup.

That horse's exploits, along with those of Sirius Prospect (Gone West), have seen the 55-year-old climb from the lower rungs to becoming one of the go-to trainers of sprinters. So much so that Bloom, Brighton & Hove Albion chairman and fabled figure from gambling circles, decided to send Librisa Breeze into his care. By that time, his 90,000gns purchase from the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale in late 2015 had a couple of minor wins to his name.

“We were starting to improve, getting better class horses and that was obviously noticed,” he said. “The owners came round the yard, we've got a lovely set up here and a friendly atmosphere, he just slotted in. I always thought he was going to be a nice horse but it was too early to know. I thought he'd maybe be a listed winner but not a group horse. We ran him, he broke the track record at Wolverhampton, but he wasn't quite right afterwards. Once we got him going again we could really start to see true ability.”

“He's one of those that seriously has no quirks at all,” said Ivory. “He's just a lovely horse, a nice person. He's in a stable outside my office, right next door to Tropics, and when people come in, he likes to see them. He'll call you if [he] wants a mint or a carrot, or just a bit a fuss. Lots of horses don't talk to you, but he does.”

Ivory moved to the farm aged 11 when his father Ken, a renowned trainer of sprinters and sharp 2-year-olds, was developing it into what is now–a 115-acre private premises. Ivory Jr., who made his own way in the real world and established a transportation company, was initially a reluctant successor in 2002.

“I never wanted to be a horse trainer, it was the last thing in the world,” he said. “I had my own business, was quite successful and enjoyed it. I used to buy one or two horses, dad used to train them. He wanted a bit of time away, went to Spain for six months, and asked me to look after the place. Then he said he was going to pack up. I said 'You can't, we've done this and that, there are all the gallops'. He said 'If you want to take it over, take it over'. I got it on grandfather rights, but I went to the British Racing school and maybe got a few new ideas.”

He continued, “I have a lot more patience than my father does, but in the earlier days, you had a gun to your head. With little horses to beat the big boys, you had to get them out early and there was a lot of repetition work. I'm not quite like that. You can't wave a magic wand and make a horse better than it is, but my belief is that it's all about confidence, then you can do everything.”

Ivory's methods appear representative of the unconventional route he has followed. He is a great believer in building up endurance and has to box clever in late spring, when his yard is particularly susceptible to pollen.

“If you came to the yard, you'd think I'm training them like National Hunt horses,” he chuckled. “I haven't got just a four-furlong gallop and up they go, we've got a mile all-weather surface, right the way to the top. You'll think I'm nuts but with some of the sprinters, I'll even run them over a mile two, a mile four. What it's about is getting their lungs working, opening them up and teaching them how to breathe. There's no rocket science to that.”

“I think it comes into play at the racecourse when they're a bit wound up and nervous,” he said. “If they can breathe it just warms them up nicely.”

Ivory also believes this programme can help Librisa Breeze mix different trips, adding, “He's bred for a distance–I wouldn't mind him running over a mile two–but his ideal is seven to nine furlongs to a mile one. If you can't find the races, you've got to be a bit versatile. It's like school–you might be good at sport and just take up a different sport but really you could be very good at history.”

“Although we've won one of the top Group 1s, that's a stiff six and he's not really a six-furlong horse,” he said. “You've got to be patient and use that turn of foot. The minute you switch a horse off, I don't think the trip comes into play.”

Ivory's 38 winners in 2017 was one short of his best, but prize-money of over £900,000 was easily a record. Happy with a number between 50 and 60, he has his eye on greater quality in 2018.

“I'm never hard on them as 2-year-olds, I like the 3-year-olds, as I feel you get a lot of weight for age and they get stronger as long as you look after them,” Ivory explained. “We bought a nice little filly who was fourth in a Group 3 called Yolo Star (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}), and there's a nice one who came from John Gosden's yard called Yimou (Ire) (Kodiak {GB}.”

There is also Eirene (GB) (Declaration Of War), a juvenile listed winner who took sixth in the G1 Cheveley Park S.

“She's obviously one I'm very excited about,” he said. “She's put on a lot of condition and I'm in no rush, but I think we're going to have a lot of fun with her.”

Many of the old guard including useful handicapper Stake Acclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) are returning a little later, with Stewards' Cup victor Lancelot Du Lac (Ity) (Shamardal) easing back into work.

“Lancelot won listed races in January and February last year but we gave him a bit longer this time,” he said. “You've got to run three times to get into Lingfield at Easter and that's not the be-all and end-all. He's so versatile, we don't have to go for those sorts of races.”

Given the way Dean Ivory has segued from businessman to top-flight trainer, versatility seems to be a running theme.