Tom Dascombe welcomes you to the ONEWAY website 2008 was Tom's third season as a racehorse trainer. He trained 42 winners to exceed his second year score of 26 and 12 in year one.
Tom had two targets for 2008: to train more winners than in 2007 and to have a Group winner. Both targets were achieved and, in the case of Group winners, he won two Group 2's over consecutive days at Newmarket in July.
Tom writes:
"I have expanded my racing yard by taking over Felstead Court as an extension to High View Stables and now have some 80 horses in training. My target for 2009 is to train 52 winners and to train more Group winners than in 2008.
2008 was a fantastic year for ONEWAY.
The year started in the best possible way, on a beach in Thailand. Within days of getting home two winners were on the board. Savile's Delight and Sawwaah got the year off to a flying start which was a huge tribute to my excellent staff as I had been away for two weeks. The aim was not only to up the winners but to improve the quality and in 2008, with five individual black type performers our goals were being met with over £250,000 in prize money and with runners in Group 1 races in the UK, France and the USA.
The 2yo's, in particular, were a revelation with the highlights being Group 2 wins by Classic Blade in the TNT July Stakes at Newmarket on Thursday 10 July followed by Firth of Fifth's win in the Weatherbys' Superlative Stakes the very next day. Both 2yo's were purchase by me for relatively small sums.
I bought Classic Blade as a yearling colt from Tattersalls Ireland Yearling Sales on spec for just 19,000 euros because I liked the look of him despite his pedigree being by the unfashionable sire, Daggers Drawn. He did not attract very much interest when I was trying to sell him to my owners or to those who were interested in having a horse with me. So I decided to syndicate him and managed to sell 12.5% to one owner and 25% each to another two. It was a real struggle to sell the rest until Tony Owen of the Classic Strollers visited me in the Spring to see if I had a 2yo available for them. The Daggers Drawn was, at the time, all I had left so they took the remaining 37.5%. It turned out to be a highly exciting and profitable investment as Classic Blade sold for 130,000 guineas at Tattersall's Horses in Training Sale at Newmarket on 28 October.
Classic Blade went on to run in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville when, with hindsight, he wasn't quite right and then produced a much better performance coming fifth in another Group 1, the Middle Park, at Newmarket. As can be imagined it was a huge thrill for everyone involved not only to have a winner of a Group 2 but to have a horse good enough to compete in Group 1's.
I purchased Firth of Fifth, a colt, at Tattersall's Newmarket Yearling Sales in 2007 for the minimum bid of 5,000 guineas. He is sired by Traditionally, another unfashionable sire, and was consigned by Peter Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud who I knew to be a straightforward man. The colt had an enormous swelling on his hock which Peter assured me was only superficial but it was enough, clearly, to put other buyers off. Well, he turned out to be a fantastic bargain which was recognised by Dan Perchard, a member of the 123 Racing Patnership, who had made a profit from the sale of Max One Two Three. Firth of Fifth went on to compete in two more Group 2's the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood and the Royal Lodge at Ascot but was not as competitive as in July.
Another lovely 2yo by Elusive City, which her owners named The Legal Blonde, was purchased by me at Tattersalls Ireland for just 20,000 euros. I liked her so much that I kept a 25% share. She came 6th of 14 beaten 11 lengths in a Nottingham maiden on her debut on 12 July on soft ground. I somewhat surprised her other owners by running her in a Listed race at Ascot against colts on her vey next start. She came second beaten a neck. On the strength of that performance and still a maiden we sold her to the States for a princely sum. She is now in training in Santa Anita and we look forward to following her progress.
We also had Listed race success with our 3yo's.
Clifton Dancer had grown into a really strong athletic filly over last winter and she went on to win a Listed race at Warwick at the end of June much to the delight of her enthusiastic owners, the Clifton partners.
Zaskar, my favourite filly, by Anabaa, had won two of her three races as a 2yo and then won first time out as a 3yo by six lengths before competing in a Listed race at Lion D'Angers. She came second gaining coveted black type and was sold for an exciting sum to race in the USA. I was lucky enough to get to train her for her first run there which was the Group 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park.
The season might have been even better had we not suffered from a bug from mid-August until late October. It was a difficult time made easier to bear with the patience and support shown by my loyal owners.
Right at the end of the year, on Sunday 7 December, I took three horses to Lingfield's All-Weather track and won with all three. They were The Game, for Khan X2, Yellow Printer, for Findlay & Bloom and Saucy for Mrs Bernadette Quinn. This was the first time I had had a treble, in fact, the first time I had had more than one winner on a card. It was a great day as it meant I had had six winners in four days and the doldrums of August and September were virtually wiped from the memory bank.
With nearly 40 yearlings for next year and a really exciting bunch of 3yo's as well as some of the familiar older horses I know that we can look forward to the best year yet in 2009.
You can find out more about me, my horses and my statistics by clicking on the headings at the top of each page.
All the latest news from ONEWAY is to the side of the home page and further details are contained in the ONEWAY Blog.
Born in 1973 in Bristol, Tom first got his passion for horse racing at an early age watching the ITV Seven with his Grandfather and Dad, (Bill). On Saturdays all three would go to the local tracks, Bath, Chepstow, Cheltenham and Salisbury and watch Steve Cauthen push home another winner, or John Francome conjure another great leap out of a Fred Winter favourite.
Having started riding ponies at three years old, Tom's first 'job' in racing was with trainer Henry Candy in Lambourn, just down the road from his ONEWAY base 17 years later. It was only for the summer before one more year at school. It was here that Tom realised he was not going to be a flat jockey. At 15 he was far bigger and heavier than the older lads.
After leaving school it was off to the Champion traainer himself, MCP. And what an introduction to racing: a professional well-managed business in an otherwise amateur industry. Martin was ten years ahead of his competitors. Tom thinks he learnt more in his first five years there than he would have done in 15 years anywhere else. Martin was quite simply a genius. When people thought things could not be done he proved them wrong time and time again.
Tom says "The thing I learned from Martin above all else was to listen to everyone but always make up my own mind".
10 years of race riding resulted in 96 winners, a ride in the Grand National and no broken bones, so it was time to move on. Having spent three years as assistant trainer to Ralph Beckett and time track riding at Churchill Downs, Tom got a job in Florida breaking in yearlings. Just two riders broke in 80 yearlings in two months; it was hard work but very rewarding.
Tom says "the American way is much faster and in my opinion, just as good. You just get on them!"
On returning to England Tom took two horses to Dubai for Ralph Beckett and that is where he met Mike De Kock, a truly brilliant trainer who again taught Tom a lot. Mike works his horses hard and feeds them well but his main skill is his ability to spot unsoundness in a horse and treat it before it becomes a long-term problem. Tom spent two years with Mike in Dubai, South Africa and England and it was two of the best years of his life. Not only is Mike a great trainer and a wonderful bloke but also a brilliant golfer.
Tom says "In the two years with Mike my golf improved tremendously. In the winter of 2003 at the Dubai Racing Carnival I had 16 horses of Mike's under my care. The results speak for themselves:
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