Trainer Jeremy Noseda revealed on Twitter early on Tuesday that all horses owned by Phoenix Thoroughbreds in his Shalfleet Stables in Newmarket had been removed. Those included the one-time GI Kentucky Derby aspirant Gronkowski (Lonhro {Aus}), who will be sent to New York-based trainer Chad Brown ahead of an expected bid for the GI Belmont S. on June 9, Phoenix's Vice President of Equine Operations told Racing Post. Ludt also revealed that trainer Martyn Meade, who is the father-in-law of bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington, who is also involved with Phoenix, has received the €1.4-million two-for-two Walk In The Sun (Street Sense).
Trainer Ed Vaughan confirmed to the TDN that he had received a pair of 2-year-olds formerly under Noseda's care, and Ludt told Racing Post those were a $875,000 daughter of Scat Daddy bought at OBS March and last year's Arqana August top lot, a €1.55-million son of Dubawi (Ire) and the Group 1-winning Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}).
“The Phoenix-owned horses have left Shalfleet. I am shocked and surprised. I have received no reason or explanation for their decision,” Noseda Tweeted on Tuesday.
The change comes two months after Phoenix parted ways with its former bloodstock and racing manager Kerri Radcliffe, Noseda's former partner. Ludt told Racing Post, “[Phoenix founder and CEO] Amer [Abdulaziz] has a vision and Kerri and Jeremy were integral parts of the group when it started. The group has grown a lot in a short period of time.”
“We're an international group with a lot of horses in America, Europe and Australia. To a degree it's kind of like a personnel change, and our opinion was to make a change. We decided to move the horses and scatter them around with multiple trainers, rather than being concentrated with one trainer. The decision wasn't taken lightly.”
“The 2-year-olds are spread out with Martyn Meade, Karl Burke, Ed Vaughan and Robert Cowell. The older horses are being spread out to the same guys. Sir Michael Stoute and Andre Fabre already train 2-year-olds for us. It's unfortunate but sometimes decisions have to be made. We felt it was a change that was necessary for Phoenix to take on the next step of its plan. We'll continue to buy, continue to race and hopefully continue to win. This does not preclude us from having horses with Jeremy again.”
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