White Dreams Of Unlikely Double With Holloway Boy And Arsenal

Nick White’s two sporting passions are building to a climax this week as Holloway Boy, the first horse he has owned outright, heads to Newmarket Racecourse on Saturday for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas while Arsenal FC bid to revive their Premier League title hopes after a series of recent setbacks.

Islington-born White, who owns a garden centre near Southend, is a long-time season ticket holder at the Emirates and has been “Arsenal through and through for more than 50 years”. 

He loves his racing just as much however, and he enjoyed success beyond his wildest dreams – which he celebrated accordingly – when his 60,000-guinea purchase Holloway Boy won the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot on debut last June, carrying the red and white silks which mirror his team’s strip.

White was delighted when Arsenal went back to the top of the table, albeit briefly, on Tuesday night with a 3-1 defeat of Chelsea, he remains “hopeful” that they may yet win the Premier League at the end of this month for the first time since 2004, although he accepts they “now need Manchester City to trip up”.

He is even more hopeful perhaps of Holloway Boy, who joins stable-mates Indestructible and Flight Plan in a field of 14 at Newmarket for the first leg of the 35-race QIPCO British Champions Series. 

Whatever happens though, he’ll relish the big day, along with his family and his pals “the Holloway boys”, after whom the colt is named, in a party of more than 20. Confirmation that Christophe Soumillon has been booked for the ride has fuelled his optimism.

You only get one crack at a race like this

“I’ve been after Christophe since January,” revealed White. “I want to give the horse the best chance possible, so I wanted a jockey with big race swagger. You only get one crack at a race like this, and Christophe is one of the top five jockeys in the world. Danny (Tudhope, who partnered Holloway Boy at Royal Ascot and to October’s Vertem Futurity third) was always going to be claimed for Flight Plan.”

He added: “I turned down big offers after Royal Ascot, but I’ve no regrets. I’m more than happy. I’ve had so much fun out of him already, plus all the excitement of looking forward to this since October. 

“I’m the luckiest man in the world to be in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas. I keep pinching myself. It’s such an honour to have a horse good enough to run in the race, and I’ll be over the moon if he gets into a place.

“Everybody is writing us off but I don’t care. There were excuses for every race he lost after Royal Ascot, particularly at Doncaster where he went from one side of the track to the other. It’s all ifs, buts and maybes, but I’m sure we’d have finished closer in second there if he’d kept straight instead of racing crab-style. He’s got the talent, but it’s a case of when to press the button.”

Burke double-handed in Guineas quest

Trainer Karl Burke agrees that Holloway Boy was unlucky not to be second to the red-hot Guineas favourite Auguste Rodin at Doncaster. He said: “Holloway Boy is a high-class horse with a lot of natural ability. It was very unlike Danny to get the tactics wrong and follow the outsiders on the far side of the track rather than the first three favourites he was drawn next to, and then to kick the horse in the belly two and a half out.

“It was a comedy of errors really, and Holloway Boy got labelled a bit unfairly. I do think if we’d raced in that group we’d have been second.”

The Craven Stakes winner Indestructible, a new recruit to the stable, is the shortest-priced of the stable’s trio and Burke said: “They all did a little piece of work on Tuesday with their own lead horses and Indestructible went particularly well. He’s come out of the Craven really well and we were delighted with his performance there.”

Last month’s Burradon Stakes runner-up Flight Plan is not merely making up the numbers, however. Burke said: “If I was having a bet I’d be having a good each-way bet at the prices on Flight Plan. He’s another high-class animal and will improve an awful lot for the Newcastle run.”

Triple Threat?

Auguste Rodin, who won the Futurity with real authority and is already proven at the Guineas trip, is much shorter in the betting than his stable-mate Little Big Bear, who topped the European Classifications after scorching home seven lengths clear over six furlongs in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh but will have his stamina to prove.

Their trainer Aidan O’Brien, who already has a record ten wins to his name here, has mooted a possible Triple Crown campaign for the more stoutly bred Auguste Rodin, while he is prepared for Little Big Bear to return to sprinting if he doesn’t stay.

He said: “They are two different profiles and they will probably go separate ways after Saturday. Auguste Rodin will move up in trip almost definitely, and it will tell us a lot about Little Big Bear, whether he’s going to stay at a mile or move back. It’s going to be very interesting and informative for us.”

With regard to the Triple Crown, he said: “It’s class that those horses usually have, and class usually comes with a combination of speed and stamina. Too much stamina and they are too slow, too much speed and they won’t stay. Auguste Rodin always exuded class from the first time he worked.

“As the shortest of the three races this could be the most difficult for him, but because of the class he has shown in his work, and always has shown, we think there’s a good chance he’ll pass this first test. He’s in very good form so far.”

Godolphin is doubly represented too. Charlie Appleby has already acknowledged that his hand lacks the obvious strength it had last year, when Coroebus caused a bit of an upset by beating the champion 2021 two-year-old Native Trail in a stable one-two, but both runners java earned their place in the line-up.

William Buick unsurprisingly picked Native Trail 12 months ago, and this time he has opted for Silver Knott, despite having chosen to partner the unbeaten Noble Style when the pair galloped separately at the Craven meeting.

He said: “Silver Knott was a good two-year-old who did very little wrong and was only just touched off at the Breeders’ Cup. It’s obviously a very good race, but he’s still progressive and he’s in very good form.

“Noble Style is a Gimcrack winner and unbeaten, so he’s a high-class horse too, but he’s stepping up two furlongs to a mile.” 

Frankie’s Farewell tour to start in style?

The Dewhurst Stakes form, often the best guide, is represented by the Andrew Balding-trained Chaldean, who will be Frankie Dettori’s last ride in the race, and Royal Scotsman, who races for Paul and Oliver Cole.

Chaldean’s prep suffered a major hiccup when he unseated Dettori leaving the stalls in Newbury’s Greenham Stakes, but Balding believes he will still have derived benefit from the trip to the racetrack. However, plenty will fancy Royal Scotsman to turn the tables, as he was beaten only a head and was arguably a shade unlucky.

Oliver Cole, in his fourth season sharing the licence with his Derby winning father, couldn’t be happier with Royal Scotsman and said: “He’s very fit and well and we are expecting a good performance. He was never going to run in a trial as that would have meant starting earlier, and we were confident that on our gallops we could get him ready first time out.”

Roger Varian saddles the well-fancied and unbeaten Mill Reef Stakes winner Sakheer, an exciting colt with bags of speed who has to prove himself over the longer trip, as well as Charyn, who was second in the Greenham Stakes.
The field is completed by Saint-Cloud Group 1 winner Dubai Mile, Goffs Million winner Galeron, and Hi Royal, who won a novice at Ayr.