The British art of understatement is an essential part of Henry Candy’s method.
“Quite nice”, “fairly pleasing” and “acceptable” are the Candy locutions for “over the moon”, while “rather disappointing” and “not quite what one had hoped for” mean “gutted”.
It is 40 years since the modest man with a wry sense of humour saddled Time Charter to victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, one of the most important all-aged races of the year.
The white-nosed lady with the short, purposeful, clockwork stride flashed her four bleached socks past all bar On The House when a staying on second in the 1000 Guineas of 1982.
And Candy had her spot on for the Oaks, despite being sent off a 12-1 chance under then-apprentice Billy Newnes, on account that her pedigree suggested she would not get a mile and a half.
“She was at her best in the spring of her three-year-old career probably,” Candy casually offered.
“The Oaks win was memorable. It was a job to know what her trip was, because she was by that extraordinary horse Saritamer.
“He didn’t stay at all. He was trained by Vincent O’Brien and I think he had other sprinters at the time, so he made Saritamer into a miler, but basically he was just a sprinter.”
It was easy to see why Candy had trip reservations, since the sire had won races like the Cork and Orrery (now the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes), July Cup and the Diadem. Time Charter was the first foal of her dam Centrocon, a high-class racemare who won the Lancashire Oaks.
“It was an extraordinary pedigree and it took me a while to work out that a daughter of Saritamer could actually get a mile and a half very well,” he added.
The powerfully-built bay, owned by Robert Barnett, won the 13-runner Oaks by a length from Slightly Dangerous in a record time, quicker than Golden Fleece’s Derby success a few days earlier.
“That was probably the best she’d ever been on Oaks day, which was lucky,” chuckled Candy.
“She couldn’t quite manage to give the weight away in the Nassau before it became a Group One and then she won the Sun Chariot.”
It had been expected that Time Charter would be retired at the end of her Classic campaign, yet after her performance in the Champion Stakes, which was then run at Newmarket, it was decided she would race on.
Candy said: “Her Champion Stakes was a remarkable performance. It was very, very wet. If you see pictures of it, all you can see is umbrellas.
“Billy rode her that day and he was coming through and riding his usual sort of hold-up race, when he wiped out somebody, who I think was Greville Starkey on Kalaglow.
“You could see the bubble coming out of Billy’s head saying ‘I’d better win by a long way!’.
“He gave her a smack and rousted her along, and she won by seven lengths. It was incredible. Very, very impressive.”
Time Charter took time to come to hand in the cold, wet spring of 1983 and having missed the Coronation Cup, made her second start of her four-year-old season in the Eclipse.
Newnes gave her too much to do at Sandown when finishing sixth to Solford and he was keen to make amends three weeks later at Ascot.
He never managed it. Yet Newnes owes a huge debt to journalist and broadcaster Brough Scott.
The scribe was watching work with Candy one Thursday morning from their Stone Age burial mound vantage point high on the ancient Ridgeway at Kingstone Warren, some 10 miles west of Wantage, when the then-23-year-old suffered a near fatal fall.
It was supposed to be a routine gallop for juvenile Silver Venture and his rising star jockey, yet suddenly the colt staggered and somersaulted at a three-quarter gallop.
Candy said: “Billy had a quite a major fall. His life was saved by the mighty Brough Scott up on the gallops. Brough had come to look at Time Charter and she was doing a little bit. Billy was on another horse, a two-year-old. He was having a breeze and going very rapidly, but had a heart attack and hit the ground.
“Billy was unconscious. We were a long way from the yard. This was before mobile phones existed. So I said to Brough, ‘you stick with him’, and I shot back to the office and rang to get an ambulance. Brough, to his eternal credit, realised that Billy had swallowed his tongue. So, he hooked it out and saved him.”
Scott also had to resuscitate the rider, who suffered a broken collar bone and damaged ribs, with Newnes obviously sidelined for the Ascot race.
Joe Mercer, one of the most stylish riders Britain has ever seen, came in for the ride in the King George.
“Joe actually rang up for the ride – jockeys didn’t have agents in those days – and that suited, as we were delighted to have him. It was his first time riding her,” said Candy.
The 48-year-old rang Newnes the previous day to ask the younger man’s advice. ‘Just let her settle and she will do it when you want her to’ was the answer.
And that was how it looked to those in the stands. The early gallop was slow and Time Charter lay last at Swinley Bottom. Lester Piggott took Diamond Shoal to the front. Sun Princess, the 9-4 joint-favourite was close and looking dangerous when Mercer pulled out 5-1 shot Time Charter wide for what turned out to be the winning challenge.
It was Mercer’s first Group One winner for four years.
“She wanted holding up and she wanted to come late, which he duly did. He rode the perfect race on her,” added Candy.
“It was a wonderful race to win, as were all those other Group One all-aged races.”
And this was a time when the best took on the best in the name of sport.
Candy added: “Now they duck each other. It is all so commercial. People are terrified of getting their horses beaten.
“Whereas in the old days, we used to run them and hope they won. I think she was the first filly to win half a million quid, which was a lot of money in those days.”
She won the Prix Foy with Newnes aboard again and was sent of favourite for the 26-runner Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, where she was a gallant fourth.
Time Charter’s start to her five-year-old season was disrupted by a hip injury, yet such is Candy’s mastery, he had her spot on for the Coronation Cup where Steve Cauthen’s ride was breathtaking. She travelled easily before sprinting away to a four-length success.
“She then should have been the first filly to win the Eclipse, but she got into a lot of trouble in running and got beaten a neck or something, by a very moderate horse called Sadler’s Wells,” teased Candy, tongue planted firmly in cheek.
After nine wins in a 20-race career, Time Charter became a highly successful broodmare and, having retired from the paddocks in 2001, died in her sleep at the age of 26 at Fair Winter Farm in Buckinghamshire in 2005.
“She was, I think, probably the best I’ve trained,” added Candy. “I’ve not had many horses who come close to her. She did a huge amount for us, she was a wonderful flag-bearer and she had quite a good following. I doubt I’ll have another one like her.”
Ghostwriter gallop sparking Cox’s Classic dream
Clive Cox has been buoyed by a racecourse gallop ahead of Ghostwriter’s Qipco 2000 Guineas bid, confident his smart Newmarket form can prove a positive in the opening Classic of the season.
The son of Invincible Spirit was unbeaten throughout his two-year-old season and finished 2023 with a statement victory on the Rowley Mile in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
With that experience under the colt’s belt, Cox was happy to forego an early-season trial in favour of a pipe-opener at Kempton, with Ghostwriter – a general 14-1 shot to claim the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite City Of Troy on May 4 – reported to have thrived over the winter.
“I’m very happy with Ghostwriter and he has his Newmarket course form,” explained Cox.
“I’m very pleased he has done exceptionally well over the winter and we will be going there with a racecourse gallop under his belt. He’s done very well and that is why he hasn’t run in a trial.
“He’s been to Kempton and he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse who has done well over the winter and we think that will have benefitted him far more than racing on testing ground, with his previous experience at Newmarket hopefully holding him in good stead.”
Another star juvenile for the Beechdown Stables team last season was the Kennet Valley-owned Dragon Leader, who suffered defeat just the once in five starts in 2023 as he proved a real money-spinner for connections.
Big victories at York and Redcar sandwiched a near miss in a valuable Doncaster event and Cox is eyeing stepping the son of El Kabeir up in trip this term when ground conditions allow him to return to action.
“He was a very productive runner last year earning over £300,000 in prize-money,” continued Cox.
“I’m pleased to say he’s wintered well, but he’s definitely better with a dry surface and we wouldn’t be making any concrete plans at the minute. When the ground gets a little bit quicker you will see him.
“Last year he was looking like seven furlongs would help him and I would be very hopeful he will get a mile. We kept him at six last year simply because he was so well qualified for those races. Six and a half was no problem for him at Doncaster though in the Weatherbys race.”
‘Mixed emotions’ for connections of Surrey Quest after epic Scottish National
Connections of Surrey Quest may have suffered agony at Ayr in the Coral Scottish Grand National, but could have bigger and better days on the horizon, with next year’s Grand National now entering calculations.
After four miles of action, Toby Lawes’ progressive seven-year-old was left to fight out a thrilling finish to the Ayr feature with Willie Mullins’ Macdermott, with the trainers’ title-chasing Irishman’s runner coming out on top after not only a titanic battle to the line but an excruciating wait while the judge deliberated over the result.
A standard-bearer over jumps for the Surrey Racing syndicate, Surrey Quest’s owners headed to Ayr full of confidence in their Kevin Brogan-ridden 20-1 shot after some promising results this season.
And despite being left with “mixed emotions” following the nose reversal at the hands of the Danny Mullins-ridden winner, they can take comfort that their charge has continued on the upward curve that has already seen him strike twice in his four starts this term.
“We’ve got mixed emotions and we thought the horse was in absolute brilliant shape heading up there,” said Clive Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing with Steve Grubb.
“Statistically we might have needed the run, but other than that everything went to plan and Toby was very meticulous in his preparations. He came here in great shape and everything went to plan, we just lost out on the nod.
“Winning is everything in this business and coming second, not matter how close, it feels like we came nowhere. We’d have been happy with a top-seven finish to be honest so we have to be proud. Kevin and Toby have done a fantastic job with this horse.
“We know he is a good horse and we wouldn’t have come up here if we didn’t think we had a chance. Surrey Racing as a company doesn’t go to races we don’t think we have a chance in and we’re just so proud of the run – we honestly thought at the line we had done it.
“Willie Mullins has so much ammunition and it’s just unfortunate we have come up against one of his and I guess the funny thing is if he wasn’t going for the championship he might not have been here today.”
Surrey Quest holds an entry for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, but his exertions north of the border make it unlikely he will try to replicate what Kitty’s Light’s achieved 12 months ago and make a rapid reappearance.
Instead sights are fully turned to Liverpool and the famous Grand National fences where Surrey Quest could take in December’s Becher Chase ahead a crack at the big one itself in 12 months’ time.
Hadingham continued: “It’s just mixed emotions, we’re so proud of him and we’ve had a super time up here in Ayr. I guess now we know we’re going to go on to bigger and better things with him.
“We might have a look at the Grand National now and we might look at coming back to Ayr again. He’s such an economical jumper that now the National has changed a bit and the fences are slightly lower, that is something we can look at.
“There’s so many big races next year he can go for and the Becher is one we will look at and we’ll take it from there.”
Arrest expected to make his mark as a four-year-old
Kieran Shoemark is relishing stepping into the boots of Frankie Dettori aboard Arrest, as the St Leger runner-up makes his return in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury.
Arrest played a key role in Dettori’s UK swansong last season and was a beaten favourite for the Italian’s final Derby ride at Epsom, before just failing to send the 53-year-old off in a blaze of Classic glory when second to Continuous at Doncaster in September.
Shoemark was three places behind Arrest with Gregory on Town Moor, but having taken the reins aboard many of John and Thady Gosden’s star Clarehaven inmates since the relocation of Dettori to California, he will get the leg-up aboard Arrest for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
The 28-year-old hopes the soft-ground loving colt can build on his positive finish to last season and feels there is plenty of improvement to be seen during his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s obviously a big horse and hopefully he’s going to improve with age,” said Shoemark.
“Hopefully the ground is not going to dry out too much at Newbury and we know he wants soft ground.
“His run in the Leger was brilliant – the ground went against me on Gregory, but he enjoyed it. He’s a proper mile-and-a-half horse, not short of speed by all means, and the softer the better for him.
“He’s a big, strapping horse and I honestly believe he will get better with age. He’s entitled to, so there will be plenty to look forward to for the year ahead.”
As well as winning the Chester Vase, Arrest’s other victory last term came at Newbury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and joint-trainer Thady Gosden is confident the race more commonly known as the John Porter is the ideal spot to kick-start the son of Frankel’s season.
“He’s a very talented horse, he ran great last year and was second in a Classic,” he said.
“He’s developed very well over the winter and is a horse of great size and quality and he’s really filled into his frame and has been really pleasing leading into this race.
“He doesn’t mind getting his toe in at all and the track and trip should suit.”
Arrest will be in receipt of 3lb from William Haggas’ Hamish, who went through 2023 unbeaten, winning on four occasions, all at Group Three level.
Hamish is one of two in the race for the Somerville Lodge handler alongside Mujtaba, but main hopes lie with the stable stalwart, who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian, and got the better of Karl Burke’s Al Qareem on his final start of last year in the rearranged St Simon Stakes.
The Spigot Lodge-trained five-year-old is another slated to concede weight to Arrest and his trainer is excited to get Al Qareem back on track.
Burke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him run and he’s been ready to run for the last month.
“He’s working well, a mile and a half is his minimum trip, but on this ground I’m happy to start him off there.
“He’ll step up and be a good one-mile-six and two-mile horse later in the year. It’ll be a tough race, but I think he’ll run really well.
“We were lucky to keep him and he got travel sickness coming back (from Dubai). He’s hard work at home, Danielle Mooney rides him every day and he pulls her arms out every day, but he’s a lovely horse to have.”
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Chesspiece was behind Arrest when sixth in the Leger before finishing off his season with a silver medal in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot.
He makes his first start after being gelded in the royal blue of Godolphin, while Andrew Balding’s Alsakib steps out of handicap company after finishing last year on a real high on home soil.
Max Vega won this in 2022 and having finished third last season, returns for a third crack, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also represented by Salt Bay.
Last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera makes his first Flat outing for Gary Moore, having been seen juvenile hurdling this winter, with Jack Channon’s Certain Lad completing the line-up.
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