Key Players On Trail Of Classic Success

Should Headway (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) emerge triumphant in next month's G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas S., he will represent the culmination of more than 40 years of thoughtful endeavour by the Player family.

Whatton Manor Stud, halfway between Grantham and Nottingham, was “about 50 acres of nothing and a dozen cow boxes” when Peter Player first set eyes on it back in the early 1980s. Now, with his son Ed at the helm, it is 10 times the size and a thoroughly modern operation.

“Complacency is a terrible thing in any business and none more so than in the horse business,” says Player. “Nowadays we have all the fields mapped by satellites, soil analysis, the grasses analysed to see how good or bad it is, and we've changed the feed. If you think you can't improve, you might as well pack it up.”

Player snr forged links with some of the most cherished figures of the age, working for Douglas Gray at Sir David Wills's Hadrian Stud as well as starting his own business on a shoestring in Newmarket.

“In about 1972 my wife and I managed to rent a tiny bit of ground from the Duke Of Sutherland,” he explained. “Literally one mare cost 100 quid, another 300 and that was it—all on about nine acres. Talk about The Good Life, that's about what it was. We were down there all hours and eventually paid for horses in training by baling straw and then selling it into Newmarket. One year I think we carted 17,000 bales, all by ourselves.”

It was an association with Sir Henry Cecil that really saw Player's fortunes change.

“We had a share of a horse with William Hastings-Bass and Henry came down one day and said 'I'm appalled to see you've got a horse with William, why won't you have a horse with me? We're great friends, am I no good?'”

“I'd said that I couldn't afford it and Henry said, in his usual sort of way, 'what can you afford?' I mentioned some ridiculous sum of money and he said 'any more horses you have with me, that's what I'm going to charge you.'”

Most notably came Upend (GB) (Main Reef {GB}), who Cecil trained to win the G3 St Simon S. and who has produced the likes of Group 1-placed Musicanna (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and grandsons such as Hungarian sprinting sensation Overdose (GB) (Starborough {GB}) and G1 Arkle Chase winner Contraband (GB) (Red Ransom).

“At the beginning of the 80s an aunt of mine suddenly out of the blue said 'I'm unmarried, I've got no children, I'm going to leave the farm to you up here in Nottinghamshire but in the meantime would you like to come up here and help me run it?' The Willses were cutting back and when we went up there, [Sir David] said, 'would you like to take my mares up there?' James Wigan arrived, we kept some for him and that went well, and then we kept some for George Strawbridge. In that time, we bred Eagle Mountain (GB) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) for James, and Moonlight Cloud (GB) (Invincible Spirit {GB}) and Journey (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) were both bred at Whatton for Mr Strawbridge.”

He continues: “It's an awful lot to do with luck, especially when you read about people who've not had a winner in over 30 years of owning horses. It was lucky that it wasn't long in the early days before we realised that Sharpen Up was a sleeper, rather in a similar vein to perhaps Siyouni (Fr). He was down about three or four thousand and Siyouni started at €7,000. We managed to buy some shares in him and it made a hell of difference when he rose to the giddy heights of 20 or 25,000, which in those days was quite a lot of money. Our policy is to invest in either shares or breeding rights and luckily we saw the potential of Siyouni, and Showcasing as well.”

None of this is probably quite as serendipitous as Player, who also found time to be chairman of The National Stud, British Racing School and Newmarket racecourse, has outlined so modestly. He regained the surrounding land from tenant farmers, raised Longhorn cattle and managed the paddocks carefully.

“My father was very forward-thinking 20 years ago with all the arable land and planted shelter belts around it, so as we've brought more back into the stud, it's already got lovely woodland around it,” says his son, who worked for Rossdales veterinary practice and for Eddie O'Leary before moving back to Whatton Manor 13 years ago.

“What's nice is that my father is still very involved but he's away more often and lets me get on with the day-to-day running. Any major decisions we'll sit down and discuss, much like Tally-Ho or Yeomanstown studs do, I imagine.”

Ed Player continues, “The industry as a whole, particularly prepping yearlings and the sales, has just moved on ten-fold. In the last 10 years it has become so competitive. If you're not trying to modernise and trying to improve, you're just going to get left behind. We're always talking to other industry experts and cherry picking ideas, and we have a great team of people here.”

On the other hand, though, Peter's experience is invaluable.

“I'm a great believer that even very old families often come back,” he adds. “Ones that the modern person doesn't recognise, I can see them as Moller or Howard de Walden families, and a horse has to have a semblance of a pedigree, even though looks and conformation are important too. Combine them all and you've got a much better chance.”

“The rush for speed is the one area possibly where my son and I can have some robust discussions. There is a danger of breeding for nothing, and if you get a good stayer nowadays, you can win a lot of money and the programme is looking after them a bit more.”

He continues, “We try to have a broad spectrum of families, of speed and of a mile, mile-and-a-quarter horses. My son is more commercial, but you have to be. I've nothing against a horse like Nathaniel (Ire) at all, he's doing extremely well, but if you look at some of the trainers with large strings—Richard Fahey, Kevin Ryan, Richard Hannon—they want the faster horse, the Ascot 2-year-old who will probably be a miler in his 3-year-old career.”

The William Haggas-trained Headway, who was co-bred with Larry Stratton and Adam Driver, fits very much in that bracket. Last season's G2 Coventry S. runner-up, who showed such a sharp turn of foot in the recent Spring Cup at Lingfield, was out of the Whatton Manor-bred, Cecil-trained On Her Way (GB) (Medicean (GB).

“He was a lovely foal, very active, a good mover, and having discussed with the co-owners, we decided that the foal trade was strong and we were pretty pleased to get 38,000gns for him at Tattersalls,” Ed recalls. “We were thrilled he went to a proper farm in Pier House Stud and even more delighted that he later went to William Haggas.

“From quite early on, we were hearing positive reports about him. To nearly win at Royal Ascot and win like he did the other day—the time experts were saying his last furlong was exceptional—you get very excited. They're extremely hard to breed, those good horses. I can't believe he'll be good enough to win a 2000 Guineas but to potentially line up with a chance would be fantastic.”

As the Players had bought On Her Way back at a handsome profit after she had finished racing, they accepted “a good offer” for her from Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock and a half-brother by Bated Breath (GB) went for an impressive 120,000gns at October Book 2 last year.

“We would be absolutely delighted if he did win a Classic as she was bought by a lovely person who is pretty new to the industry and he's a great guy,” Ed says. “We still own a half-sister to On Her Way called Sunburnt. She's had a Hot Streak (GB) yearling filly, a Mayson (GB) colt foal and is visiting Havana Gold.”

Currently there are around 50 mares at Whatton Manor Stud, half of which are owned by the Players, and other graduates to look out for this year are Journey's half-sister Stream Song (GB) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and the pinhooked Fighting Irish (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), both of whom could also go for European Classic trials.

It is a long way from that field in Newmarket in every sense.

“When my father was getting everything going he didn't have the finances and was using cheap stallions or mares he bought very cheaply,” says Ed Player. “Now we've got some fantastic new clients and seriously good mares are coming on the place. Go down to any one field and there'll be foals by top-quality stallions—Dark Angel, Sea The Stars. We're very fortunate to be working with lovely horses.”