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What is it with some owners , are they just straight out greedy bastards , CW has won them millions on this horse over the last couple of seasons , now one ride that "They" think is average and they want sack him , Christ he ran second , I don't believe he would have gone any better ridden closer as he would have had to do a bit of work to be closer to the eventual winner and IMO he wouldn't have beaten her on the day , she was super . Just like everything else in this world people want it all , be grateful for what you have got you miserable gits and stop being bad losers .

Tuesday The HOL suffix belonging to Skylight Brochard, a three-year-old gelding sent out by Tim Donworth to win the Listed Prix Montenica at Chantilly last month, is unusual enough but it doesn’t tell half the story of a downright bizarre feat of breeding. Skylight Brochard is not only one of just five thoroughbreds whose births were registered in the Netherlands in 2021, but his very existence is also a complete accident. His breeders and owners, the Brochard family of Rotterdam, had neither any knowledge of, nor interest in, horse racing before he turned up in their lives, totally out of the blue. This strange story begins with Desmond Brochard, who ran a gym until he had to sell up due to Covid and now works in construction, looking to find a riding horse for his then 14-year-old daughter Jill. “Jill was learning to ride, so I went to a dealer here in Holland looking for a cheap horse for her to get started on,” says Brochard. “She tried out two or three but she ended up falling in love with an 11-year-old mare as she was so sweet and friendly. The dealer didn’t know much about her, as she was part of a truck of ten or 15 horses he had bought blind out of Ireland, as he does every week or so. “I bought the mare for very little money and Jill rode her for two months, but she was getting bigger and bigger, and eventually she got a wound on her leg that we needed to call the vet for. The vet said she thought the mare might be pregnant, and they could confirm it with a scan, so I said ‘okay, you do that’, and ten minutes later it was confirmed to be true. “My first reaction was ‘oh God, that’s going to cost a lot of money’ but Jill was very excited and said ‘can we keep it, can we keep it?’” The unexpected pregnancy made Brochard consult the passport for the mare who had been christened Sky by her new owners. They found, much to their surprise, that she was a thoroughbred named Fonseca. The Red Clubs half-sister to the tough and top-class miler Gabrial had finished well beaten on all her three starts for Andrew Balding and Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, but was still bought by Tally-Ho Stud and Geoffrey Howson Bloodstock for 8,000gns at the end of her three-year-old season. The purchasers no doubt hoped that a well bred mare by the sadly short-lived source of numerous crack sprinters and Classic heroine Sky Lantern might throw some fast, useful performers. However, her first three offspring to hit the track – Setting Sun (by Kodiac), Vino Rosso (by Zebedee) and Strawberry Hind (by Kodiac), bred by PJB O’Callaghan and Randolf Stevens Ltd – failed to win from 29 starts collectively and her fourth foal, The Covex Kid (by Mehmas), showed zilch on his three starts at two for Paul Midgley. It was no surprise, then, that her services were dispensed with. “I saw the name Weatherbys in the passport, so contacted them, and they told me the mare had come from Tally-Ho Stud,” continues Brochard. “I got in touch with Tally-Ho and they told me that she had been covered by Mehmas, and the pregnancy must have been missed in scans as she suffers from cysts in her womb. “The year before she hadn’t got pregnant to Kodiac, and that must have been why she had been taken to auction, where an Irish dealer bought her as part of a job lot of horses to send to Holland and resell for leisure purposes.” He adds: “Tally-Ho gave us some options, including kindly offering to take the mare back and replace her with a horse who was more suitable to be ridden, but by that point the foal had been born and we had all fallen in love with him, so we kept both of them. “I didn’t know anything about horses, even less racehorses. I had no idea who Mehmas was, or what to do with a foal. I asked the instructors at the stable where Jill rides if they knew of anyone with the knowledge to help, and they didn’t, but after a bit of searching online and a few phone calls I was put in touch with Renate van der Kraats. “I got in contact with Renate and she knew exactly who Mehmas was as soon as I mentioned his name. She knows everything about racing, and bloodlines, and that was really the beginning of our adventure.” Van der Kraats, an accomplished horsewoman who has ridden competitively, couldn’t believe her ears when she received the call. “Mr Brochard rang me out of the blue around two years ago, and he told me he had a horse and a foal,” she recalls. “I said ‘okay’, and then he added that he had found out that she’s a thoroughbred. ‘Right,’ I said, and then he told me that the foal was a Mehmas colt. “‘Mehmas?!’ I said in total shock. I couldn’t understand how a Mehmas foal had turned up in Holland. He told me the full story and I still didn’t believe it. I'd never heard of such a thing happening.” Desmond and Jill Brochard (pictured below) decided they would race the now three-month-old Mehmas colt, in spite of being a working family without deep pockets, and they placed their fate in the hands of Van der Kraats, who faced a race against time to get the youngster registered for racing. “I warned Mr Brochard that it would cost a lot of money, but he wanted to give the foal every chance of becoming a good racehorse,” says Van der Kraats. “The first thing I had to do was negotiate with Tally-Ho to get a covering certificate for the mare, and to get her export certificates in order too. “By now the foal was about five months old, and I wanted to get him and the mare out of Holland as soon as possible, as it’s not a good country to bring up a foal like him – it’s too wet and windy, and there isn’t the knowledge of raising and handling thoroughbreds. “Ideally he would have gone to France or Germany within six months, so that he would be eligible for either country’s premiums, but in the end time ran out and I had no other option than to put him in the Dutch stud book.” A Mehmas colt in the scarcely used Dutch stud book stuck out like a sore thumb. The other four foals registered in 2021 were a colt and a filly by the veteran Dutch Derby winner Volfonic, a filly by El Honor and a colt by Xi. None of those have made the track. Finally a home in France was found for Skylight Brochard, as the colt was monikered in honour of his dam’s stable name and his breeders. “We wanted someone in France who spoke English, as we can’t speak French, and in the end we found Haras des Dorrells in Normandy, which is run by an Englishwoman, Jane Philo, and has raised some very good trotters and sport horses as well as thoroughbreds,” says Van der Kraats. “We went to visit the mare and foal every two months. Jane and her team did a great job with the colt, doing all the basic work with him, loading him onto the horse walker, getting him used to going on a lorry and so on. He became exceptionally well mannered in his time there. “He wasn’t big, but he was well built and a lovely character. He was always a bit of a standout. He went to Ecurie de la Dentelle for pre-training in December, where he had a shoulder injury which required some stitches, so we gave him more time there to recover and by the middle of March he was ready to go into training. “Again, we wanted a trainer in France who could speak English, to make communication easier, and so we approached Tim Donworth in Chantilly and he looked at the colt and was very happy to take him. “We’ve been to see him in training a few times. It’s very strange seeing our little Dutch horse working alongside all those expensive progeny of Kingman and Siyouni.” Skylight Brochard's own pedigree actually took a sudden turn for the better as he entered training. His full-brother The Covex Kid, who had been so disappointing at two, found a new lease of life with Amy Murphy, winning five of his seven starts at three. He was sold to race in Bahrain for 160,000gns at the end of that season, and has since won five of his ten starts in his new home. Skylight Brochard’s racing career didn’t get off to the most auspicious start either. He travelled to Le Lion d’Angers for his first outing, the Brochards making the long journey from Rotterdam to support him, but he refused to enter the stalls in an uncharacteristic display of obstinance. Putting so much effort, not to mention money, into getting the Brochards' unintentionally bred colt to the races suddenly felt like a stupid mistake. Not for long, though. Donworth sent the family videos of the colt entering stalls at home perfectly happily the next day. His antics at Le Lion d’Angers had been a one-off, and the accidental owner-breeders’ dreams were still alive. Skylight Brochard duly broke his maiden on debut at Dieppe a fortnight later, by three and a half lengths, and in no Mickey Mouse race either. The runner-up was De Sica, a son of Demarchelier who represented time honoured owner-breeder Peter Brant and was rumoured to be one of Jean-Claude Rouget’s best two-year-olds. He might not have lived up to that billing, but he did win a Clairefontaine maiden next time out and finished second in a Chantilly Group 3 after that. Skylight Brochard didn’t immediately uphold the form himself, finishing sixth and fifth in his next two starts, but he got back on the winning trail at Deauville in November, and after finishing second on his three-year-old bow in February, defeated the Archie Watson-trained favourite Action Point to win the Listed Prix Montenica last month. He holds entries for the Prix Djebel at Deauville a week today – where he could take on Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Unquestionable – and the Prix Sigy at Chantilly six days later. Skylight Brochard's value has soared, which admittedly wasn't hard when his dam was bought for such a pittance, but the Brochards aren’t considering selling him unless they receive an enormous offer. “We spend a lot of money on the horses now, but it’s so exciting to see what it will bring, and where it will take us,” says Desmond. “We want to go from A to Z on this adventure, and we’ve formed a real emotional attachment to the horse. I’ve made an agreement with Jill that we’ll only sell him if we’re offered a life-changing sum. We’d be fools not to consider it in that case.” Desmond Brochard, who confesses that he didn’t even realise thoroughbred racing was a big deal in France until he had a horse of his own enter training there, is unsurprisingly now a bit of a racing nut. “We go as a family to watch the races in France, and I look up all the horses we’re running against to analyse our chances,” he says. “I’m learning about all the stallions and pedigrees too now. I find it all very enjoyable. It’s become a big hobby for me." He’s not even ruling out buying more horses and having a string. “If Skylight Brochard continues to run well, and earns more money, we want to buy another mare, and maybe some land in France to be a breeder there,” he adds. “That’s how much we’re enjoying it now.” The Brochards do have another potential racehorse on their hands, as they chose not to retire Fonseca, AKA Sky, after her miracle foal. A year after he was born, they mated her again. “The family decided they would like to cover the mare, but it had to be a stallion at a very low price, as they were already spending a lot of money on Skylight Brochard,” says Van der Kraats. “Also, don’t forget, at this point The Covex Kid had been well beaten in three starts, and so the mare had no good runners from four foals. “I chose a lovely German stallion, Dschingis Secret, who was located only ten miles away from Haras des Dorrells. My friend Adrie de Vries rode him and told me he was a very easy character, and we went to visit him at Haras de Montaigu and he looked like a nice model. Somehow, in spite of her previous problems, she got in foal on the first cover. “She produced a French-bred yearling filly by Dschingis Secret, who is quite big, unlike Skylight Brochard, and dark like her mother and The Covex Kid. Because of her size she’s not going to be early. It’s a shame she isn’t by a more commercial sire, but this was before any of her progeny had won a race.” Sights were set a little higher after The Covex Kid’s glow-up, and so Fonseca visited Golden Horde at Montfort et Preaux last year. She is due to foal in ten days’ time, and if all goes well with the delivery, she will then head to Haras de Bouquetot to be covered by Lusail, who this year has become the first son of The Covex Kid and Skylight Brochard’s sire Mehmas to stand in France. “It’s an extraordinary story,” reflects Van der Kraats. “All this has happened from a cheap riding horse purchase. I’ve never known anything like it. I hope it inspires other people to consider a first investment in breeding or racing. A proud as punch Brochard sums up: “It’s changed our lives. I never dreamed that this could happen to people like us. Racehorses are usually for rich people.” No doubt about it, this is one of the most curious breeding stories behind a stakes winner to have appeared in Good Morning Bloodstock. Oh, and don’t worry: Jill Brochard, a budding dressage competitor and eventer, got another riding horse in the end.

Some cynical buggers on here…… We all know Debbie Kepitis, along with the Tighe and Treweeke families, owned Winx and are now $27m better off because of it. The attachment to the mare is obvious, and she was quoted as saying they did not intend to bid on the filly, but in recent weeks the family had realised how strong that attachment was, and the likelihood of her going overseas prompted the change of mind. I think it is brilliant she put her hand up to keep her in Australia. Winx had already lost her first foal by I am Invincible which almost cost her life, and there was no guarantee she would have another one. ( Good news today that she is in foal to Snitzel ) Woppit Bloodstock and Chris Waller will handle her as they did Winx. Whether she attains heights anywhere near Mum, time will tell, but even so the opportunity to carry on the bloodline down the track was no doubt another reason to keep her in Australia. Good on them.Wish them all the best whichever way it goes.

Thanks everyone for the support of our comps...thanks team mates sorry we miss the big dance but more fun to come....congrats to our opponents today and thanks over the many weeks to SNM your help is really appreciated more than you know...these comps are undoubtedly the best available...congrats to all the finalists.

Thanks, say no more, you have done an amazing job.

In a word WOW .. hope he stays sound for the first week in November. Congrats to James and Wellwood team .. brilliant day

Based on projections of attendance, this should do the job and not be too cost prohibitive....

Please can you sort out your singulars and plurals , is it one thick head with a number of arseholes or a number of arseholes all connected to one thick head , much appreciated .

I have to wade into this discussion, but NOT from a betting perspective. Barriers definitely make a difference from the horse's point of view. Some horses dislike being in tight quarters, and for them, an inside draw is a disadvantage. Others can't manage to sit wide and do extra work, so outside draws don't suit at all. Just depends.

Cup Day Tradition - ROOTED World Famous Jumps race over the HILL - ROOTED General state of Racing - ROOTED $55m Track - NOT ROOTED (apparently) Seems the Muppets can root everything except what they needed to .... Apparently this shot is from the meeting when they decided to send the Track developers home early

Foxton should be in play to, Central Districts struggling for surfaces as well, it’s going to be a long winter…..

I want to thank my McGinty team mates for a fantastic run in the comp , thanks to Pogo and Little Tramp for pulling out some highlight results and to Memphis for regularly supporting my average results . This has been a fantastic comp to be part of and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the next few weeks . A big shout out to SNM ( John ) for his fantastic efforts updating every race promptly every week , you're a Legend . I like many hope this sort of comp will be something that happens again in the future .

A joke...so many times and they get the minimum...two tier system for the small guys and a separate one for big stables...JMO

Absolutely loved this! Not sure if it got any mainstream News coverage but it should have. Interesting all the comments around poor judgement from other riders. This was a 'freak' effort so pretty hard to point blame at the other riders in my opinion. Let's face it - we are all talking about it because of it's abnormality. 99 times out of 100 such a lead results in the horse walking over the line, so for POJ to maintain the strong gallop to the line was incredible. The only ride I would comment on is the brilliance of Declan Bates - in this instance his nickname 'Master' is fitting, rather than the funny connotations of it. Seemed to let her do her own thing, gave her a little rest before the rise and then they were history. One thing I do wonder is he she had wobbled up the straight, and finished out of the money, if Maher would have had a 'face like a half sucked Throatie' like he did with the Jimmysastar ride One of the great G1 wins of all time and we should celebrate the positive side of it

The 2.02 time is misleading. Look at the splits at the top of the replay and the first 200 is 15.14 despite her coming out of the gates like a bull!! Then she racks off mid 11s. I think the distance was circa 2040 (I have no idea why - the rail was out on the bend but that doesn't explain 40m). In summary; - This was an exceptional performance against quality opposition. Nothing the other jocks could have done. The race was over by the 1000! - In October Jenni was 3 wins from 22 starts. Now she's racked up 4 G1s and produced an amazing performance. I'd love to know the back story - on her third trainer and didn't race for 10mths at one point. - What amazing viewing! I backed a loser and was screaming for Jenni at the 300. Poetry in motion

Pic from today

They couldn't find a way to spend $55 million on it

scooby3051 maybe the Ellerslie club will dish out free fig jam sandwiches to the public at their next meeting.

Agree Blue The biggest issue is getting folk on course, without BGP the numbers would be thin Our DNA not like Aussies at all, even the young ones over their flock to the races Our stupid attempt to “corporatise” racing was a monstrous fail and those that left, like me, ain’t returning …. Big big issues ahead

Well if your trying to straighten out a recalcitrant young horse with some wayward and possibly dangerous tendencies then I would suggest that bashing it over the head repeatedly isn't going to help solve the problems , actually I won't just suggest it , I'll say straight , it won't help . You need to build trust and giving a horse a bash ain't the way to do it . Generally it is an anger management issue ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, with the human .

Horrible to read ..Cant help but think ,if he did those things at the track with others watching ,what goes on at home when no one else is around.

Even though he hasn't called for years, he was great today at Palmy. Head and Shoulders above Rosanowski, so come on get him back fulltime and get rid of Rosanowski as a commentator.

If that code proves to hard to crack Rev, this is a tried and tested fallback.....

No pressure PS. They're a tough bunch team Horlicks. Phil and Aaron near the top of individual aggregates and both Rev and Gubellini very race hardened. Question is, will Rough Habit's relatively low aggregate come back to bite them in the final wash-up? Good aggregate worth half a point in a tie situation. Good luck mate, it's going to be a fun day. I'll be trying to post Live points table updates after each race to add to the drama

Interestingly enough, in the days when I used to follow racing much more closely than I do these days, some of the worst jockeys were in the NI, often in the CD. I never really used to have any Southern jockeys on my "wouldn't touch with a barge pole" list. And the problem in the SI is not the jockeys as much as the shocking programming. That is why form can be inconsistent. And form is equally inconsistent in the CD where a horse can fail in an $18,500 race at New Plymouth and then come out and win a $40,000 at Trentham. And vice versa. That would seldom happen in Australia. Half the horses in any given race in the South aren't racing over the distance they would prefer or in their preferred class or after an ideal gap, but they have to take any opportunities available to them. If they wait for the perfect race coming up next week they have every chance of being balloted out. I feel quite sad when I see a typical $18,500 low key race in the south with 12 starters and six of the jockeys are from the NI, often the very top jockeys like Kennedy and Doyle. How on earth are southern jockeys to gain experience and skills if they can't even get a ride at a low key meeting? Some of them have to drive 6 hours to get two rides. It must be a pretty dispiriting occupation. And when they ride at certain tracks with about six people in attendance and no atmosphere they must wonder why they bother.

without a shadow of a doubt barriers are one of THE most important factors in assessing potential outcomes, every race is different so looking at whether inside or outside barriers throw up more or less winners is totally irrelevant. they make a HUGE difference to the potential outcome of races.

Don't agree Insider. They need to follow through with renaming Government and other agencies in the normal language for most New Zealanders, ditch thousands of public service bludgers who were cynically positioned in "work" by the Ardern/Hipkins cabal late last year and marginalise Swarbrick and her coterie of queers. I'm picking most thinking NZers are delighted that the evil bitch Adern is gone and are even applauding the wonderfully lucid Shane Jones as he lines up the parasitic Waitangi Tribunal. It's tough to produce financial largesse for everybody when the incompetent previous lot have emptied the pot with their Marxist behaviour.

That Ozzie commentator was bloody awesome, really polished professional... Cheers Iraklis

They are not machines she has done a super job...lets hope not one run to many.

This horse is nuclear horse, no?

I thought he was very good, No magic men, no dressed up with nowhere to go, just called it as he saw it. And didn't try to mention that stupid passing lane name 6 times.

Wish Mike a speedy recovery...he is one of the good guys.

Considering he was the person saying that he was determined to stop this happening , as ever the silence is deafening .

NEWSFLASH; Castlepoint Beach to host all Auckland Group and Listed races from April 11th until further notice.

It is odd to me that a lot of weight in their decision was based on the fact that he had a mortgage to service.Shouldn't matter at all,plenty out there that have lost their jobs and have had to look at other ways of doing things. Me x2

Well first of all hats off to the Randwick track staff for providing a racing surface that nobody expected after the overnight flooding .....it was a brilliant effort and a safe racing surface. The racing was great as well and there wasn't a dry eye on course when that grand old trainer Les Bridge won the Donny with the wonderful grey Celestial Legend who will win many more races. The Derby was a case of 'Hats off to JMac' as his ride won the race on Riff Rocket as the runner-up Pericles with Blake Shinn on top circumnavigating the field as JMac sliced through the middle like a skilled surgeon and it won him the race. Plus it was the great Kiwi expat Chris Wallers first Derby which completes the set for him. As for the Group one Sires Stakes for the 2yo's ......well that was Jason Collett at his absolute best ....waiting waiting waiting and then BANG he got up on the well supported Manaal 11/2 and proved the fillies are a smidgeon better than the colts this year. The disappointment was the fav Storm Boy but the writing was on the wall after the Slipper that his 2yo campaign was on 'wobbly' legs and I made him the 'lay of the day' as 2yo's will tell you when the green light has gone to amber which he did on Slipper day but as he was valued at $40 Mill they really wanted a group one with him but it was a case of going to the well once too often. The TJ Smith was also a great race with another grey Chain Of Lightning upsetting the favs with a rail hugging Damian Lane special which proved she was up to group one company on soft tracks. I thought I Wish I Win was excellent and only peaked on his run the last 50mtrs which also showed he is a true race horse after two horrible trials leading in. He only turns up on race day like good horses do. Imperatriz was also excellent and finished her campaign in style running a very game 4th. She certainly didn't shirk the task and after an interrupted run and many horses would have turned it up .....but she was coming back again at the post. A truly champion mare who will be back at Randwick for the Everest in the Spring. So now we look forward to Oaks and Queen Elizabeth day next Sat and Orchestral can hopefully prove her worth by going out in style. Interesting to see James Cummings saving his filly for a re-match rather than taking on the boys in the Derby......another great race day awaits us. FF.

Who are these people that are supporting him? The fact that he didn't think it was excessive would indicate that something is.very wrong

He shouldn't be allowed to train Horses again after doing what he did. Hope the Horse is ok, and can go on and have a successful career. He shouldn't even be allowed to even look at a Horse, no need for that kind of behaviour whatsoever.

Draw for the Semi-finals Championship McGinty vs Veandercross Bonecrusher vs Avantage Veandercross with a nice 5-0 win today to set up a semi-final clash with the high scoring McGinty outfit. Should be a cracker n0? Avantage well led today by Mooseman with a narrow win over Melody Belle to set up a semi against the minor premiers, and comp favourites, Bonecrusher. Plate Sunline vs Rough Habit Mufhasa vs Imperatriz Chestnut the star as Rough Habit progress to take on Sunline - what a clash that would have been!? Imperatriz, courtesy of a strong showing from #48 (PMD) will take on Mufhasa in the final semi-final.

It's a long story, but an extremely well known electrical chain totally stuffed up the price on this Samsung curved screen model about 7 years ago, not long after they first came out I think. I noticed while out having coffee, took a photo of it with the price tag, checked their website (the wonders of the modern smartphone) and then checked their smaller models inside the shop. The website said it should have been several thousand dollars more. In-store the smaller versions were more expensive. I knew it was wrong, but what is a man to do? I thought I'd plead ignorance and see what they'd do. They realised pretty quick it was the wrong price, they withdrew a bit of free stuff they were originally going to give me for a cash sale, but the salesman had a chat with the manager and they let me have it for the low price. By the time I'd completed the paperwork the price on the model in the shop window had increased by $4 or $5k [I can't quite remember now]. Another irony was that when they delivered it a few days later, upon unpacking it they discovered a fault in the frame around the screen and had to fly another one up from ChCh. I'm in a smaller house now that I was at the time, so yes, it is almost like being in a theatre.

I note that from April 12 midweek (industry) meetings will have a minimum stake of $17,000 down $1,500 from their current levels. Top end stakes are being increased sure but surely NZTR could maintain the present $18,500 minimum stakes. Seems unfair?!

Palliser no I am not having a laugh about Craig Rail. You started this thread by criticising George's innacurate calling horses across the line in their correct order. Listen to Craig tomorrow calling the second day at Riverton. His calling of runners first to last will match the final placings posted on line later.

Your taking the Piss, he's very average these days in terms of accuracy. His biggest weakness is he quite often cannot read a race in terms of who was going to win 200 out . T Lee was very good at that

Hey congratulations SIR JOHN on the amazing scoring and results. Team Horlicks hope you won your family Game of Wingspan and got all the Easter Eggs. !! Champion you, John.

leave george alone best commentator left tony lee and him a class above anyone

Confidential memo work sheet for Kirrama for Team Horlicks vs Veandercross Team of Kloppite, RFTime Burgler Paul Pondy , and Say a lot Less.

I think he's trying hard to get it right , I will say he is accurate in a finish and sees them coming unlike some .

Who needs a handicapper? Weight makes no difference anyway

Get what your saying Idolmite , but I love a front runner , I love it when a horse says if your good enough catch me . Not a sit and sprint but like PoJ on Saturday , she just says I'm going all out if you can match me go for it and good luck , nothing better .

I agree. If they'd ridden him closer it probably would have stuffed up his breathing