A big surprise!

On Sunday ONEWAY held an Owners' Day.

It was not only a thank you to all the owners who have supported us since the beginning but also a chance for us to show our owners our new stables.

Having had a vintage year highlighted by Group 2 two-year-old winners Classic Blade and Firth of Fifth, we saw the need for expansion and have recently taken over Paul Blockley’s yard adjacent to the original yard.

Tom now has space for 72 horses on site.

It was also an opportunity for ONEWAY to show off the yearlings that Tom had purchased at the various sales over the past few months and hopefully to sell a few of the mighty beasts. The yard was successful in selling a few but there are a couple more to go and the details are on our website, just click The Horses for Sale tab.

But the wonderful surprise of the day was the announcement by Tom of his engagement to his secretary Sam Paton (see photo)

"TRAINER TOM IS FAN-DAS-TIC" - My favourite headline from the Sport of the World!

Sport: Alastair Down, July 12

Dascombe shows he has Classic touch
TRAINER TOM IS FAN-DAS-TIC

SOME horrendous weather meant that this week's Newmarket July Meeting was not so much Panama hats as Panama Canal.

But there was loads to soak up, not least the emergence of Lambourn’s Tom Dascombe, 35, as a fast-rising force in the training ranks.

Freddy flying. Click here for the full story

Dascombe won classy two-year-old races with Classic Blade and Firth of Fifth, who cost a combined £15,000 — rather less than some of the big stables spend on headed notepaper a year.

He started training in 2006 and had 12 winners from just 16 horses and those who cottoned on early reaped their reward last year when the yard struck 26 times.

Already this season he has sent out 22 winners and the quality is going ever upward.

A driven character, who chomps through nearly as many cigarettes as I do, Dascombe is no silver spoon merchant and is very much a team man.
Direction

But, unlike many trainers, he is very much a grafting part of the team rather than one who sits back and lets the team work their socks off for him and pats them on the head every Pancake Tuesday.

What this week will have done is attract owners with just that little bit more money to spend.

And they will want to be in on the ground floor of an operation going places.

Dascombe strikes me as having his head screwed on pretty tight and if he proves a good placer of horses in handicaps he will continue to make huge strides.

One man in need of a decent season is Sheikh Mohammed. Despite the gulf that has opened up between his operation and old rivals Ballydoyle, his great passion for the game remains.

His Godolphin empire is a supertanker and changes of direction take time.

And hearing him speak on Channel 4, you could tell he is dug in for a long haul.

Read Alastair Down every week in the Racing Post

"Blade gives Dascombe his first Group win"

cuttings library - www.racingpost.co.uk

HE has not been training long enough to establish the race-winning pedigree of a Peter Chapple-Hyam or a Richard Hannon, yet Tom Dascombe made a solid start when he exploded the established pecking order to land the TNT July Stakes to record his first Group victory yesterday, writes Jon Lees.
Chapple-Hyam, seeking his third win in five years, and Hannon his fourth in the oldest two-year-old race in the calendar, were relegated to second and third spot as Classic Blade - entered "on a whim" by third-season trainer Dascombe - made all the running under Richard Kingscote in the Group 2 race.
"He won a Class 2 conditions event last time and I said to the owners, 'let's stick him in and see what happens'," said Dascombe.
"I was out in America but managed to get on my computer and saw there were only nine entered. I thought we had to go for it.
"It's amazing. Our target last year was to have a Listed winner, which we achieved with Max One Two Three, and our target this year was to win a Group race; so we better make it two Group winners now.
"Above anything else, I'd just like to say a big 'thank-you' to all my staff because they all worked really hard for this."
Classic Blade cost ¿19,000 at Fairyhouse and will now contest the e300,000 Tattersalls (Ireland) Sales race at the Curragh on August 23 for the numerous members of the Classic Strollers partnership.
Kingscote, whose biggest win before this was in a £60,000 Ascot handicap, will ride him again.
He said: "Tom gives me brilliant orders and trusts me and everything worked out well. It's our first Group winner and it's great for the yard. Tom's an up-andcoming trainer and he's doing brilliant."
Sayif, Chapple-Hyam's challenger, was reeling in Classic Blade approaching the line and failed by only a short head.
His jockey Alan Munro said his mount ran off a straight line and should have won.
The ground was blamed for the defeat of Prolific. Harry Herbert, managing director of owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, said: "He travelled like a very good horse but once Ryan Moore let him down he couldn't quicken. As long as the ground is good or faster he will run in the Gimcrack."
Result TNT July Stakes 1 Classic Blade ............6-1 2 Sayif ........................3-1 3 Prolific ....................2-1f Owner Classic Strollers Trainer Tom Dascombe Jockey Richard Kingscote Groom Aimee Barnes Breeder Ballybrennan Stud Distances Sht hd, 3l

"Charlotte has the champagne style as Aimee shows her winning smile"

cuttings library - www.racingpost.co.uk

THERE may have been non-runners aplenty on the 'sticky' track, but judging by the thousands turned out in their finery there was an overwhelming entry for the 'best-dressed lady' competition yesterday.
Photographers were having a field day snapping numerous female forms dressed - a term that applied loosely in some cases - in every colour and none, and our man Edward Whitaker was shooting with the best of them as Charlotte Webber, a vision in red, installed at long odds-on by paddock watchers, walked off with first prize.
However, it was another girl in red, one who might have finished rather nearer last than first had she not been too busy to enter that contest, whose picture provided the most lasting image of the day - and might do more to sell the joy of racing than a hundred Sovereign Series.
Aimee Barnes, a young groom with Tom Dascombe, was wearing a T-shirt that rather bore the hallmarks of her job looking after half a ton of horseflesh, but few would have noticed as her face was the very embodiment of elation, her smile never wavering as she posed for yet another photo and a friend embraced her as though she had won the Lottery. Twice. In a rollover week.
'That's what a winner means' might be the caption the BHA marketing team could use as the 18-year-old, from the jumping town of Newton Abbot, was beside herself with glee at the short-head TNT July Stakes success of her charge Classic Blade.
Nor was her boss, saddling his first Group winner in his third season with a licence, anything but ecstatic and he and the delighted Classic Strollers partnership of owners went off to celebrate in a mood that suggests they could have made a big dent in Webber's prize - a year's supply of champagne from sponsors Lanson.

Published: 12/07/2008 (Sport) Alastair Down is happy to see a top sprint handed to the French for once

cuttings library - www.racingpost.co.uk

Tom Dascombe had already had a pretty decent meeting after winning Thursday's July Stakes but made it a dream week by adding the Superlative Stakes with Firth Of Fifth. You occasionally hear trainers pointing out that winning a particular big race never changed their lives or brought them more owners. But if a small trainer wins the National, potential owners don't flock to them thinking, "all I need to do to win a National is send one to this bloke", because they know a one-off when they see one.
But this was qualitatively different.
Owners need to feel they have found something that is accessible at their level and that is why this week will work wonders for Dascombe. It is not just that he has won two shop window televised races at a serious meeting, it is the fact that he has done so with unfashionably bred two-year-olds who cost ¿19,000 (Classic Blade) and 5,000gns (Firth Of Fifth) - the sort of money that wouldn't pay the milk bill at some yards. SO OWNERS will look at the Dascombe results this week and say, "I can afford a bit of that type of action", and vote with their cheque books. If this doesn't prove a career-shaping few days for the trainer, it will not be an opportunity missed but the opportunity.

Racing Post Cutting July 12th

cuttings library - www.racingpost.co.uk

DOING it once could be regarded as a fluke but doing it again just 24 hours later leaves no room for any doubt - Tom Dascombe is clearly a trainer on the up.
A day after beating the big battalions when Classic Blade gave him a first Group-race success with a short-head victory in the July Stakes, he repeated the trick in the Group 2 Weatherbys Superlative Stakes, and did it in style too.
Dascombe's Firth Of Fifth, stepping up in class after an all-the-way auction maiden success at Lingfield, ran his rivals into the ground again to score by a length and a quarter under Richard Kingscote.
"This just goes to show it is sometimes worth running," said Dascombe, who is now quoted at just 10-1 to win a Group 1 race this season by Coral, who rate him a 40-1 chance to win a British or Irish Classic in 2009.
"I was more confident with Classic Blade because it was an easier race. On form, Firth Of Fifth couldn't beat Bryan Smart's horse Prime Spirit, but he has kept improving and is tough."

Cutting from The Guardian on Friday 10th after Classic Blade's Group 2 success

Fortune favoured by brave move on Lucarno | Sport | The Guardian

Tom Dascombe achieved his main ambition for the year when another front-runner, Classic Blade gave his yard a first Group-race success with a narrow success from Sayif in the July Stakes. Dascombe, a former assistant to the outstanding South African trainer Mike de Kock, has held a licence for less than three years, but has already sent out 56 winners at an impressive strike-rate of 19%.

"Last year our target was to have a Listed winner, which we achieved, and this year it was to win a Group race, so now we'll have to win two," Dascombe said. "He only cost €19,000 at Fairyhouse, so his next target is easy. He'll go for the €300,000 Tattersalls sales race [at The Curragh on August 23]."

A few more cuttings

Bonilla's late, late show helps Marchand lift Cup | Sport | The Guardian

Tom Dascombe's quest for a second Group race victory after his win in the July Stakes on Thursday lasted precisely 24 hours, as Firth Of Fifth produced a near-identical display from the front to take the Superlative Stakes by one and a quarter lengths.

The step up to seven furlongs has been the making of Firth Of Fifth, who cost just 5,000gns as a yearling but ran on bravely to beat a field that included Grand Ducal, the favourite from Aidan O'Brien's yard, who was 335,000gns more expensive at the sales, but finished out of the frame.

"He had a huge hock on him, he did it on the way over, and there was no interest in him so we thought we'd have a go," Dascombe said. "My vet did a fantastic job on him and it's come good."

Still drinking Champagne...not enough time to post!

We thought we better celebrate Thursday night....little did we realise that we would have to drink all day Friday and Saturday!

A few press cuttings for good measure

The Telegraph

The Times

Sky Sports

American Oaks

Breeze - Up Sales at Doncaster 9 to 10 April 2008

I shall be at Doncaster on Wednesday and Thursday for the breeze-ups. There are 170 lots catalogued and they breeze from 10.30 am on Wednesday and go through the ring on Thursday from 11.00 am. If anyone wants me to purchase a nice 2yo for them they should give me a call on my mobile.

Cutting comments about Lambourn's heads of state

So ran the headline to the Dikler's column in Wednesday's Racing Post. He was talking about The Gentleman's Shop in Hungerford where hairdresser Cara Dinham was commenting on the hair and style (or lack of it) of some of her trainer customers.

Apparently Clive Cox's choice of hairstyle owes a lot to fellow trainer Tom Dascombe.
"Tom was late for an appointment once", Cara explains " and I told him I couldn't cut his hair because of the next customer's appointment. He asked me to do whatever was quickest, so I shaved it all off. He hasn't been back recently."

Lambourn Open Day

It is the Lambourn Open Day tomorrow, Good Friday, and we are expecting quite a number of people to be visiting the yard. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible. The admission price is £12 and this entitles people to visit as many of the yards in Lambourn as they wish as well as entrance to the field for the events in the afternoon.

Tom is captain of the trainers tug of war team and has also volunteered to do a bungee jump. He needs your support because the whole event is in aid of Lambourn Valley Housing Trust and the Air Ambulance Service and he has to have sponsorship for his moment of madness. All contributions, whatever the amounts, will be gratefully received

The Open Day is being sponsored by Betfair and with their help the majority of the operating costs will be covered so that more of the monies raised will go to the charities.

It looks as though Old Father Zieten has no hope of getting a run in the Brocklesby on Saturday at Doncaster. He needs 16 of the horses entered to come out if he is to make the cut.

On Easter Monday Rowan River is engaged at Yarmouth in a mile fillies handicap at 3.25 pm.

Extract from Sporting Bet website

Following trainer form is an angle that all punters should try to exploit. Turning this into a profitable exercise is often fraught, though, as we all latch onto the more newsworthy yards of Paul Nicholls and David Pipe. However, there is a bright young training star delighting the more savvy punters out there and his name is Tom Dascombe.

In his second season of training Tom Dascombe had an impressive 26 wins from 134 runs (a strike rate of 19%). This put him sixth in the strike rate table behind only training leviathans like Sir Michael Stoute, Godolphin and Sir Mark Prescott. Backing all of his runners blindly would have resulted in a level stakes profit of £38.64. One could have turned over an even bigger profit by following his horses in handicaps where he had 15 winners from 68 runners, netting a return of £44 to £1 stakes.

And this is not just a two year peak: Mr. Dascombe has started 2008 as he means to go on. In January he had 3 winners from 7 runners (43%). My hope is that when the flat season starts some of the more influential owners dig deep into their pockets at the sales and send some really classy types to this young turk.

Keep this man on your side, whatever you do!

Runners, declarations and entries W/C 6 March 2008

A mixed week so far with Desert Dreamer winning on Monday and Savile's Delight being beaten a nose (about two inches!) on Tuesday. Savile's Delight was in front half a stride from the line and again half a stride after but sadly not where it counts. Richard Kingscote gave both horses great rides.

Naughty Thoughts has been declared for Saturday at Wolverhampton in the 7.30 pm. It is an Apprentice Handicap and Ross Atkinson rides. The race is restricted to apprentices who have won less than five races and Ross won his fifth race yesterday. Timing is everything! He is only 16 years old and is apprenticed to Gary Moore and already has earned a reputation for the way he rides.

Our hopes next week are pinned on Hope Road.

It does not look terribly hopeful though. On Monday he is entered in two races at Stratford, the 2.10 a juvenile hurdle and 4.40 a handicap hurdle. In both he has ballot marks requiring 16 horses to come out of the first and eight out of the second. It is even worse on Tuesday, the first day of the Festival. He is entered in the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices Handicap Hurdle at 5.20 but requires 23 horses above him in the list to come out before he gets a run. As they used to say 'There's Bob Hope and No Hope' and we have the latter. If he doesn't get a run either day I will just have to find something else for him.

Nervous anticipation

As I'm posting on here as much as anyone I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands that my views are my own and may not necessarily be the views of the other posters, especially Tom.

When Tom was riding I was very keen on National Hunt and enjoyed going to the largest meetings such as Cheltenham, the Welsh National and the 'Sandown' Gold Cup but now-a-days I'm finding it difficult to get that excited about it!

This year I've been invited by a supplier to go to World Hurdle Day at the Cheltenham Festival. I'm pleased to be going but I guess that unlike in the past, when I've been studying the horses and making sure that I know exactly what's going on, this year will probably start and finish in the bar.

It's now quite a few years since I worked with a bloodstock agent in Kentucky but it was probably that trip that made me much more interested in the flat.

Whenever I go to the States I always seem to cause controversy. As a teenager I remember staying with a family in Bay City, Michigan and upsetting the son by saying that I thought Bruce Springsteen was rubbish. I have since changed my mind. When working with Chad Schumer I probably repeated my conviction that National Hunt racing was much better than flat.

However, my appreciation for the flat started to develop the day I visited Nureyev at Stud. Just the fact that he 'sneezed' all over my jacket got instant respect for some bizarre reason. I was in awe of this magnificent beast. And it wasn't just because of his daily ritual!

Today I prefer to go straight to the AW form rather than a Kelso or Huntingdon. I do always stop to have a second look at Wincanton, Newton Abbot or Taunton but I think that this is just habit as I always used to turn to these cards to see if Tom was riding.

This year I'm really looking forward to that first Donny meeting. I can't say I have a horse in mind just yet for the Lincoln but I do like the look of a past winner.

ONEWAY has already saddled six winners from 12 flat runners during 2008. I know Tom is keen to beat last year’s total and he's had a great start to do just that. He's got a fair few 2-year-olds this year but nothing out of the top drawer on breeding. Of course he's been fishing in very different ponds from the big stables but hopefully there may be a star or two.

It was this time last year that Tom eventually sold Max One Two Three and look what happened with her. Let's just hope one or two of the new recruits can perform to the same level.

Max will be entered in many of the top 3-year-old fillies’ races this year. It's going to be exciting. But you never know what the season holds until that first outing.

It's funny but from my experience the really top horses cause more anxiety than excitement.

I guess it's because they will tend to do worse than anticipated.

The anticipation equation

Anticipation = 3-year-old will win the Guineas, the Derby or Oaks and a Breeders Cup or Arc.
So I’m looking forward
with excitement to Parisian Gift, Clifton Dancer, Zaskar.....

A quick update! Hope or No Hope

It's half term and I've been struggling to write any posts! I've taken 3 days off this week but each of them has ended up with me wishing I had gone into the office. Running your own business as Tom would appreciate often calls for all hands on deck all the time.

Hope Road runs at Warwick in the TURFTV JUVENILE NOVICES' HURDLE @ 2pm. With 16 runners and a couple of previous winners in the race it looks rather competitive. But I'm going to be bullish and say the first three home will be

Prideus
Metaphoric
Hope Road

What order? Not sure.

Noel Fehily takes the ride as Timmy Murphy is at Sandown.

My father is keen to point out that Warwick is a front runners track and maybe that won't suit Hope Road but I guess he will be closer to Prideus today than the first time they met.

I know that Tom was pleased to get a run before the 24th as it would enable Hope Road to get a handicap mark before Cheltenham entries. Everyone would love a day out at Cheltenham!

A few friends own shares in the beast and one of them, Ed Prosser of Racing Post Bloodstock fame, referred to Hope Road as No Hope after his first run over hurdles. This was revised to Slight Hope after his run at Plumpton the week before last and we want it to change again today to Lots of Hope!

A busy week and another run for Savile's Delight

This week has been really busy at Oneway and my office. The first quarter of the year always generates new business opportunities and this year has been no different. Hopefully a few will come off and new business deals will be struck. This year might see a rapid deceleration in the marketing sector and, if it does, we need to be more protected against the credit crunch hangover. (Tom would also like to have a few more clients so please give him a call if you are interested in a horse or share).

The job at Oneway is not so different. 2006 was a great start with a handful of two-year-olds and older horses giving the stable a good start. 2007 was a brilliant continuation but with a slightly different profile of two-year-olds, a few older horses and only Ishi Adiva and Shawhill
in the three-year-old age group. This year Oneway has more two-year-olds, mostly bought by Tom at the sales last autumn, a few older horses and for the first time a handful of the classic generation.

Of course the most exciting of the three-year-olds, on paper, is Max One Two Three, the winner of the Rockingham Stakes at York. As Andrew Black (Bert) has hinted to on his blog we will be aiming her at the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. We might be trying to bite off more than we can chew but we will give it a go. Her form is good. A line through Rosa Grace her conqueror at Newbury (which Tom blames himself for!) would have seen her running in the first four in the Dubai 1000 Guineas run at Nad Al Sheba last week.

Apart from Max, Tom also has Clifton Dancer a nursery winner, Zaskar a dual winner last season, Parisian Gift a winner at Lingfield this winter and Gross Prophet a multiple winner and a seriously consistent type. There are also a couple of others that we will discuss over the next few weeks.

The reason I mention this is that the older horses are very well and seriously fresh at the moment! Tom is definitely getting his hands dirty both in and out of the saddle! Let's just say that Clifton Dancer one of the most passive horses of all-time has decided to 'drop' his rider on each visit to the gallops. This was previously unheard of I'm not even sure that she got this excited when she was being broken in!

Add the well being of the classic generation and older horses to the frisky two-year-olds and I'm sure that Alton Towers would be considered a breeze! Let's just hope that everyone and all the horses stay in one piece.

I'm guessing that it could also have a lot to do with the very mild temperatures that we are having this year. In our garden the daffodils are already out (my wife says that they aren't the winter type), the catkins are on the trees and the birds are in full song at 6.20 in the morning. I
imagine the horses also think it's spring, let's just hope we aren't surprised by a long cold snap. I remember when Sheikh Mohammed took some of his two-year-olds to Dubai to winter for the first we all thought that they would have a massive advantage on their return because they would be more forward in their coats etc. Well I think 'nature' may well be trying to even this out.....but that's definitely not a good thing!

Today Savile's Delight runs at Southwell. His last two visits to the track have produced wins over the minimum distance. I would hope for the same result today. His run at Wolverhampton on Monday was rather disappointing. There seems to have been lots of comments about the distance but I personally don't think 7 furlongs is out of his range. He has, of course, previously run and won over 7f even beating horses such as Fonthill Road. In the blog at the weekend Tom mentioned that he was concerned about coming round the home turn with a wall of horses in front, which was absolutely the case. As such the draw, losing a shoe and a bit of indecision probably cost him the race and so it's best to move on. Today would be a great opportunity to do just that.

Of course there are a couple of other beasts in the race and the most likely 'second' would be Spoof Master ridden by Tom’s good friend Jim Crowley. Jim is having a magnificent time of it on the flat and fully deserves to be 5th in the AW Jockey's Championship. Let's just hope he doesn't add another winner to his tally in the 3.50 at Southwell.

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A cross the card double makes it 5 winners from 9 runners

Yesterday was a mixed day but arguably our most successful on the racecourse with Savile's Delight and What's for Tea winning at Southwell and Lingfield respectively.


What's For Tea landed the seller for Tom Dascombe (Image link from Racingpost.co.uk)

After last week's 'adventures' to and from Doncaster and Wolverhampton two winners is fantastic!

Bruce Jackson wrote in his report from Lingfield for the Racing Post "Tom Dascombe is a new kid on the block in comparison but has the same
winning habit, improving his already impressive stats in 2008 with an
across-the-card double, initiated with the selling win of What's For Tea, whom he promptly lost at the auction.

After the success of Savile's Delight at Southwell, Dascombe, who
had his multiple winner Sawwaah claimed last week, restored stable numbers in claiming Desert Dreamer after he finished second to Ninth House in the 7f claimer."

What's for Tea was bought for 6,200gns which was 200gns more than we claimed her for out of a seller in August. Since August she has won twice and been placed seven times, she is a model of consistency. However, Tom is looking for a few more quality horses so even though she may well win one or two small races he felt it was important to look for another star, so let her go.

The horse box wasn't empty on the way home as Tom claimed the Gerard Butler trained Desert Dreamer who came second in the Claimer on the Lingfield card. The horse is rated quite highly in the mid 70's but has previously been rated in the 90's, the form is solid and the time of the race very quick.

Savile's Delight ran a great race at Southwell and seems to enjoy the surface at the track. It can be argued that he hasn't beaten anything of much quality in his two wins at that venue but he's done it well on both occasions. Let's hope his passion for racing has been rekindled.

Tom has got very few horses to run at present. There are very few fit and able horses in the yard for the AW season but what he has got will run whenever conditions suit. This time of year is mainly about bringing along the 2-year-olds. The mild weather has its good and bad points but the wind can be a real pain as it gets under their tails and makes them all a handful. The yard has definitely seen a few hairy moments with 'fresh and wild' 2-year-olds bucking, rearing and cause merry hell. Let's just hope one or two of them turn out to be superstars!

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The return of the Messiah

'Box Driver Bill' returns from a long vacation next week so the yard better be looking spick and span!

Savile's Delight runs in 38 mins and I know that we all wish the connections the best of luck. The last couple of runs have seen him just beaten out of it but today the form looks slighly easier and Richard should have a good draw on the inside.

It would be great to get Februray off to a winning start and hopefully we can get a couple of others under our belt before the beginning of March.

I'm going to save some longer blogs for the next few weeks so I'll sign-off now and here's to a 2/1 winner of the 16.50

Hope Road a big hope for his first run over hurdles

Today, as long as there are no further downpours or last minute cancellations will see the first run of Hope Road for the ONEWAY National Hunt Partnership. He's a nice horse and probably a more natural jumper than either Political Intrigue or Master Of The Race. I'm not sure if he's got the same ability of Political Intrigue but I hope he will show more willingness than the Master. The partners are 2 for 7 over hurdles, it would be great to be 3 for 8 but it is probably wishful thinking first time out.

The race looks interesting with the favourite having run second to Celestial Halo at Newbury. That run may or may not count for much as Prideus was a distant second but it gives everyone a yard stick. The horse that strikes most fear is the David Pipe trained Rock All. Already a 'St Leger' winner this runner could be anything.

The yard is in good form with 3 winners from 7 runners in 2008. I feel that we've been slightly unlucky with the last two runners. What's For Tea ran a solid enough race on Tuesday but came up against an unraced horse who clearly knew the time of day. Yesterday Michaela rode Savile's Delight at Lingfield and the race just didn't pan out as we would have wanted. No pace meant she had little choice but to try and make all which is very difficult at that course. They were second beaten 1/2 length. The horse may run again next week.

3 from 5 but tears as Sawwaah is claimed (or was that the last laugh?)

Wolverhampton was the backdrop for the 3rd winner of 2008. Star horse Sawwaah who we claimed in April last year for £6,000 has run 9 times, winning 5, 2nd on 3 occasions and 3rd once. Friends and foes questioned our judgement claiming a 10-year-old but he's repaid our faith-a-plenty. Our last laugh (but with a tear) was that he was claimed for £10,000 today as 11-year-old. I'm sure there are still races in him and I won't be surprised to see him in the winners enclosure over the next few months.
The horse box wasn't empty on the way home as we picked up a 3-year-old unbroken filly by Mtoto. Let's hope he can be half as successful as Sawwaah.
Attheraces video link

Open Day

We are having an end of season party on Sunday for all my owners, friends & family and supporters.

It starts at 1.00pm with a champagne reception, followed by a hog roast. I will be showing all my new horses, the 16 yearlings and the two I have bought to go jumping next year. We will also be having a raffle to raise money for the Lambourn Valley Housing Trust.

Everyone is welcome, but I would appreciate a RSVP to tomdascombe@onewayracing.co.uk

Horses in Training Sale

Last week I was in Newmarket the whole week looking for a couple of horses to buy to go jumping and to sell some of my existing horses.

Bold Diktator was sold to Richard Whitaker, who trains near Leeds, for an owner of his to go chasing. Rainbow Flame was also sold to go jumping, Ishi Adiva and Treacle Noir were both sold to become brood mares, Ishi Adiva to Spain and Treacle Noir to Ireland.

I purchased Doctor Robert, a maiden 2yo colt, formerly trained by Roger Charlton for new owners to me, Malcolm & Julie Cooper, who are putting together a syndicate to race him. The plan is to win a flat race and then to go juvenile hurdling later next year.

I also purchased Hope Road, a maiden 3yo, formerly trained by James Fanshaw for the ONEWAY NH Partnership as a successor to Master of the Race.

Both my purchases are horses by Sakhee (USA)