Queen's Family Reigns Supreme For Elsworth

Arabian Queen and David Elsworth | Emma Berry

When the famously irascible David Elsworth stalks down the drive to greet you with the words, “I'm at war,” the safe assumption to make is that today is not a good day to start asking him annoying questions.

It therefore comes with great relief to discover that the subject of his ire this dank February morning is not the arrival of a TDN correspondent but a throng of screeching jackdaws circling the ramparts of his private fiefdom at Egerton House Stables.

The main yard at Egerton, with its original ornate 19th Century tiling in each well-maintained stable, looks fit for a king, and indeed it once was in the days when it was inhabited by royal trainer Richard Marsh and his string, which included the Prince of Wales's homebred Derby winner Persimmon. Nowadays, the King's Yard is home to not one but two queens–Golden Horn's G1 Juddmonte S. conqueror Arabian Queen (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and her year-younger half-sister Australian Queen (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}).

Bred by Elsworth's long-term patron Jeff Smith at his Hampshire-based Littleton Stud, the siblings are stabled alongside each other, alert ears pricked from pure bays heads while two pairs of intelligent, kind eyes survey their visitor. That, however, is where the similarity ends. Australian Queen's head is almost twice as long as that of her high-achieving sister and she stands at least a hand taller.

It's fair to say that without being furnished with the details of Arabian Queen's pedigree and race record, many probably wouldn't give her a second glance, though it would take a brave man to say it within earshot of her devoted trainer.

Elsworth's mind is easily switched from plotting ways to murder his resident murder of crows by casting it back to a glorious day on York's Knavesmire last summer.

“I'm competitive and I'm fiercely protective of my horses,” he confesses, the dismissive comments regarding his diminutive filly following her 50-1 defeat of the Derby winner still clearly rankling some six months on.

“We went there knowing what a good horse we had. I'm not saying I expected her to beat Golden Horn but I knew she'd beat plenty of them.”

The 76-year-old is fully entitled to feel protective of a member of a family which he has come to know as well as his own through three generations. Arabian Queen's grandam Dashiba (GB) (Dashing Blade {GB}) was a dual winner and twice listed-placed during the trainer's days at Whitsbury, while dam Barshiba (Ire) (Barathea {Ire}) joined the ranks shortly after Elsworth's move to the edge of Newmarket and quickly became one of the stars of the new stable.

“I've been fortunate enough to have those two fillies and now this generation,” he says.

“Barshiba only had one eye and she won the Lancashire Oaks twice. It took the trainer a long time to identify her best distance. She had stamina in her pedigree but she showed plenty of ability over a mile and was placed in group races at the distance behind good horses.”

That coveted blend of speed and stamina has been passed on to her first foal, Arabian Queen, who was sharp enough to win over five furlongs as a May 2-year-old on just her second start and later that season claimed the six-furlong G2 Duchess of Cambridge S.

“Though she won over five and she was fast enough to be beaten narrowly in the Queen Mary, she also stays, and that's what we want with every good horse,” says Elsworth. “I'm not sure about a mile and a half but she certainly gets a mile and a quarter. She didn't do and wouldn't drink any water when we took her away to France to run against Treve (Fr) in the Prix Vermeille so I don't think we can blame the distance for her run.”

Whether or not she tackles a mile and a half again later in the year, Arabian Queen's early-season target could be the G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. over a mile at Newbury in May.

Her trainer offers, “We're toying with the idea of starting off in the Lockinge. There is a race in France but I don't really want to take her there after last time. She's bouncing at the moment. I couldn't feed her high-protein grub at this time of the year as she'd be unrideable. She bounces round the trotting ring and hacks down the canter and she's really doing very well. I can't wait to start to step her work up a bit but she's right where I want her at the moment.”

The twice-raced Australian Queen, who was runner-up in a seven-furlong maiden at Kempton last month, may be seen back in action as soon as Saturday at Lingfield.

“She didn't show us the same precocity as Arabian Queen so we sat on her until she started to show something. I think she'll be a better 4-year-old but I'll be surprised and disappointed if she doesn't show a good level of form this season,” says Elsworth.

With no 2-year-old from Barshiba, the trainer already has his eye on Arabian Queen's yearling full-sister. He says, “Jeff usually invites us to the stud to show us the yearlings and there's a smashing filly coming though. When I saw her at the farm I put a tag round her neck saying, 'Elsworth, Egerton'.”

Though forever most readily associated with two of Britain's most beloved geldings of the modern era–the outstanding steeplechaser Desert Orchid (GB) and Jeff Smith's warrior of a stayer, Persian Punch (GB)–Elsworth has long had a golden touch with classy fillies, too.

The multiple Group 1 winner In The Groove (GB) (Night Shift) and G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Dead Certain (GB) (Absalom {GB}) are just two examples of his talent in this regard and, as with many of the stable's incumbents, their bloodlines live on in current members of the string. Stand next to most trainers on the gallops when a batch of unnamed youngsters canters past and they'll reel off each one by name of their sire. Not so with Elsworth, from whose lips detailed three-generation pedigrees are uttered frequently.

“I like this filly, she's from In The Groove's family–I also trained her dam's half-sister Passified (GB),” he says of the Bahamian Bounty 2-year-old whose great grandam Pineapple (GB) was In The Groove's half-sister. Then there's Justice Well (GB), a great grand-daughter of Dead Certain. The racing career of her grandam Dodo (Ire) (Alzao) was also overseen by Elsworth.

“I tend to follow my nose when it comes to buying horses,” he explains. “I like looking at the pedigrees ahead of the sales and then if I like the individual I instinctively tend to go back to a family I know. With owner-breeders it's not difficult of course, as Jeff [Smith] sends them to me and I've been fortunate to train some lovely horses for him.”

He continues, “For instance, Justice Lady (Ire), who won on her first start the other day, goes back to Lochsong (GB). I didn't actually train that family for Jeff but the filly is by a sire [Dream Ahead] that I nearly bought and I rather liked him–I have three fillies here by him. So when I saw Justice Lady at the sales and she was from Jeff's family she really appealed to me as I follow families.”

Followers of Dashiba's family will know that her son, the 102-rated Dashing Star (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) is also with Elsworth and he has been joined at the stable this year by his 2-year-old full-brother.

Despite having won most of National Hunt racing's major prizes, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National, Elsworth now sticks resolutely to the Flat, the one major tie to his celebrated jumps era being his assistant trainer Paul Holley, the former jockey who steered Oh So Risky (GB) to victory in the G1 Triumph Hurdle. Holley is also the stable's star work rider and has been closely associated with the four black-type-earning progeny of one of Lordship Stud's good mares, Swiss Lake. The latest of the family to appear in the stable is the mare's as-yet unnamed Frankel (GB) colt, whom Elsworth bought for 235,000gns at Tattersalls' October Sale. Meanwhile, his half-brother Swiss Spirit (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) has retired to Elsworth's old stomping ground at Whitsbury Manor Stud.

He may not have trained their dam, but he did train Swiss Lake's sire, the influential King's Stand S. winner Indian Ridge (GB). The lesson perhaps to be learned is that when David Elsworth follows a family, it's probably one worth following.

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