IRISH BLOODSTOCK FORUMS :: View topic - Will Shk Mo be at the sales in force?

Martin X»Mon Aug 14, 2023 14:15 pm
He doesn't have to be at the sales but you can be sure his money will be there! Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Mon Aug 14, 2023 14:16 pm
Well he was certainly present last year! strangely though I haven't seen much of him in Newmarket over the summer, ( I don't mean at Waitrose doing the weekly shop). I just get the feeling that the whole project is beginning to be less important to him. The Godolphin runners are really doing less well at the moment and maybe I am wrong but I don't feel that there is quite the same urgency or leadership that there used to be. I would imagine that all the personal stuff took its toll and he might feel a lot less welcome these days, so who knows. Maybe not the end but possibly the beginning of the end. God help Newmarket if I am even partly right. Reply

Reference Point»Mon Aug 14, 2023 14:36 pm
It was what I was sort of getting at TOTH. I think he needs a freshen up and putting a new trainer at the top of Warren Hill may spark his enthusiasm. I cycle past it and its still empty and I haven't seen him all year which makes you question how keen he is. Can you imagine a no show??? CA needs to buck up or move on. Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Mon Aug 14, 2023 15:37 pm
So that's you on the bike RP, and I thought it was the ghost of Cecil Boyd Rochfort (The Captain). Its unbelievable the money that has been spent on what was already one of the best yards in Newmarket and never a horse in sight. You would think he would move someone in if he still had that burning ambition. Now he has had his Derby winner or two what is there left to prove. I haven't been on the gallops as much this year, not so much because I don't enjoy it, work days were always my best moments, but its been so wet and cold this year. I am too old for that! So maybe he has been more than me but I don't think so. Reply

Reference Point»Tue Aug 15, 2023 7:54 am
Tbf I see myself more as an aging Bradley Wiggins. It's hard for those that don't live in or know Newmarket the extent of his and his brothers presence in and around the town. Every road out of Newmarket leads to a Shk Mo (or his brothers) stud or training facility. Newmarket (as well as British horse racing) can't afford to be without him. With his two brothers gone and Godolphin performing so poorly it's not much of a surprise he isn't around as much. Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Tue Aug 15, 2023 12:07 pm
You must be a not very ageing BW, its pretty steep up and over Warren Hill, I think I would go up the Bury Road much less of a gradient but then I expect you go from Moulton past the Packhorse and over to Gazeley. Either way more or less everything you pass belongs to Sheikh Mo. You can ride a long way in that part of the world and everything for miles is theirs. Every one in East Anglia should get a bike and then we could dispel all the nonsense about it being flat. I need to get out on my bike more but its been so wet this year, I don't mind the hills but hate the spray up my back. Reply

Reference Point»Tue Aug 15, 2023 12:29 pm
Up Warren Hill then up Moulton Hill past Gazeley Stud (sadly very quiet these days), over to Barrow and on to Bury. On the way back Little Saxon, Ousden, Saxon Street and down Duchess Drive to home. I pass a lot of studs!!! Reply

Villicious»Tue Aug 15, 2023 13:04 pm
This is a conversation ( no not R.P. In all his Lycra clad glory) that is had every 2 years without fail and has been going on for 30 years or so. Historically a quiet year at the races fuels the fire and the scouring of the sales becomes intensified. So many nice horses still come from the various sales around the world and there is a certain other team who seem so very good at knowing when to stick their neck out a little bit further than the competition. Throwing everything in with Dubawi seems like it may no longer be the answer as age is perhaps creeping up. A few more choice purchases and correctly timed retirements to fund them might not have been a bad idea. I think the shocking publicity regarding the Sheikhs life choices would be enough to make anyone wary of having a public profile. Only Trump is stupid enough to keep bashing his head on a brick wall when all about are bashing it for him. Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Tue Aug 15, 2023 15:36 pm
It just feels a bit different this time around 'Villy'. I wouldn't show my wretched self if I had, had my personal life dragged through the media. Its a bit unfair really. He is a man from the middle east, a powerful man from the middle east and he is welcomed here because of his wealth and influence. The wealth and influence of a man from the middle east. Then he is castigated because he behaves like a wealthy and powerful man from the middle east. What do people expect? I am no lover of the racing operation but on a deeply personal level I have a great deal of sympathy for him. Whether or not you like what they do or the way they do it, they have pulled European and British racing out of the swamp. Much of what we see today is wholly because of what has been done in the past by the Middle Eastern owners and breeders. We need to be a little bit more respectful and a big bit grateful. Reply

Villicious»Tue Aug 15, 2023 16:27 pm
I always think of those lovely â€˜Britsâ€™ TOTH who moan like stink about how we are going to hell in a handcart and then up sticks and move to Spain or some equally unlucky destination. They then proceed to behave appallingly in whichever mini British/Irish enclave they have chosen, taking on not the language or any smidgen of the culture. Yet they remain completely immune to the irony of their vacuous existence. Per chanceâ€¦ Have we digressed? Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Wed Aug 16, 2023 6:37 am
Nothing wrong with a bit of digression! but are you having a go. I am trying to find a home in Italy. The other half is supportive but not quite as enthusiastic so its pretty slow going and I may have left it a bit too late. I want to find a place in Puglia where there are few British and I am trying to learn a bit of Italian but its very difficult. You need to be very careful around gender words as the Italian for Girlfriend and Boyfriend (for example) are very similar and in rural Puglia there is a lot less liberal thinking. It would be pretty easy to ask the Guy behind the bar 'How is your boyfriend doing'. Reply

Reference Point»Wed Aug 16, 2023 7:39 am
Tbf if you ask a bloke in the NHS how their girlfriend is you would probably get an email from HR asking you to use more gender neutral language. Reply

TOPOFTHEHILL»Tue Aug 15, 2023 15:26 pm
You surely do RP but the very significant majority of them are all in the same ownership, whichever way you go. Now the challenge for next week would be to go from work to home without passing one of Sheikh Mo's. Methinks you will need a helicopter. Reply

Irish Paddy»Tue Aug 15, 2023 16:26 pm
I watched a TV program a few nights ago about the growing and development and building structure of Dubai. It's development is credited totally to Sheik Mohammed. It must be at least 30 years since I was last in Dubai and what I saw of Dubai these days was amazing. Full credit indeed to Sheik M. Reply

Irish Paddy»Tue Aug 15, 2023 17:28 pm
Just to add..... tonight TV will show the second program as follows: "Inside Dubai"......10.pm 103 Virgin Media One "As Dubai plans to double the number of visitors over the next 20 years, how is the city - and the Brits who have made their homes there - dealing with the frenetic pace of change? " Reply