One of the most compelling stories to emerge from the Flat racing world in the last two seasons has its roots in the Costa De Sol.
Paul Teasdale and his wife Rachael are getting used to dining at racing’s top table thanks to the exploits of their Group 1-winning sprinter Big Evs, the quicksilver Mick Appleby-trained colt who has become one of the most popular horses in training.
Their success has been built on significant investment allied to some considered planning and the starting point was at the Hipódromo de Mijas, close to Malaga.
It was in Spain where the foundations for their racing operations were laid at the beginning of this century, with the highlight being victory in the Mijas Cup courtesy of the Les Eyre-trained Mushajer, a horse previously owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum and trained by Marcus Tregoning.
I was a normal punter who liked going to the races and having a bet
Paul, who lives in East Yorkshire with Beverley his closest racecourse, recalls: ‘’For many years I was a normal punter who liked going to the races and having a bet. I was into it in a big way but in the early 2000s someone persuaded me to buy a horse in Spain with Les.
‘’We were based in England but spending time in Spain. I bought one and we did well, so I bought more. We ended up having a lot of horses with Les and winning plenty of races.
‘’We won the Mijas Cup in 2006 with Mushajer, the premier race in Spain at the time. In fact, we were first, second, third and fourth in four goes at the race.
‘’I was with Les for the best part of 19 years. When he came back to England, we ended up having a few horses with him, including Bedford Flyer, before he retired last year.
‘’Then I was looking around and decided on Mick as a trainer, so sent three horses to him and said, ‘We have lost a bit of our energy in racing but if we build it up and get it back, we will buy some more horses.’”
Appleby has certainly delivered his side of the deal and the Teasdales have reciprocated, spending close to £1 million on the four yearlings that they sent to the trainer’s Rutland stable for this season.
Teasdale continues: ‘‘Les didn’t advise us to go with Mick, but I narrowed it down to a couple of trainers I liked and admired.
‘’I wanted a yard big enough to be professional but not too big that there was not that personal feeling.
‘‘Also, my best horse at the time was Bedford Flyer. He was probably not quite as good as he had been but was still strong on the all-weather. I thought Mick was a good place to send him.
‘’There are some very good trainers in the north and we respect them. It wasn’t because Mick was better or they were worse, it was just we decided to go with Mick. We have built up a good relationship.”
Mick is a great trainer and he has a good team
Teasdale has put plenty of thought into who he should trust with his horseracing investment.
He says: “We are careful who we work with. We think Mick is a great trainer and he has a good team. What struck us more than anything at first was that it was just such a happy yard, a real joined-up stable with good staff and good people, who work hard. We think that helps the horses.”
After Big Mojo, the son of Mohaather bought by Teasdale for 175,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls December Yearling sale, won the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes at Glorious Goodwood in July, Teasdale referenced a “good man in Ireland” responsible for sourcing his new recruits.
That man is Conor Quirke, who operates out of Hunting Hill Stud near Castletownroche in County Cork.
‘’Conor has bought everything recently,’’ says Teasdale, the founder of Castleford-based compliance testing business Premier Technical Services Group, which employs 3,000 people and serves 30,000 customers.
It is not always about results but how hard people try
‘’He is a quiet, unassuming guy backed up by wife Kathryn. They are careful what they select and conscious of what they spend and how they spend it.
‘’He does a lot of research and puts a lot of effort in. The link came through Les – he was buying for him and bought Bedford Flyer.
‘’I haven’t been to the sales for many years, although I may go in October or November this year. I let Conor do the buying, although I sometimes watch online while we are bidding.
‘’You trust good people to do certain things and you get to know which ones are the right ones – and which ones aren’t.
‘’I am a Yorkshireman born and bred, cautious in my approach. It is not always about results but how hard people try and the effort they put in.
‘’You can’t always be successful, but I think we have built up quite a close and successful team. Once we have built those relationships, we are keen to invest and back up what we want to do with the right talent.’’
After Teasdale transferred his horses from Eyre to Appleby, Big Evs, a son of Blue Point, was the first horse he specifically bought for his new trainer.
The latest effort of Big Mojo, who appeared not to stay six furlongs when cruising into the lead before fading into fourth in the Gimcrack Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting, reflects the intention to stay involved at the sharp end of the sport.
Yet no matter what Teasdale’s future purchases achieve, they will struggle to match the emotions stirred by Big Evs. His big following is in part due to the thread of poignancy which runs through his story, being named after Teasdale’s late friend Paul Evans.
As Teasdale puts it, the colt “has been nothing short of sensational’’, his wins last season including the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot and a thrilling victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, beating the US speedballs in their own backyard.
This summer, Big Evs has successfully mixed it with older opponents, winning two of his four races, including a thrilling success in the King George Qatar Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.
He was also a creditable third to Aussie sprinter Asfoora in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and although Big Evs could only finish eighth to Bradsell in York’s Nunthorpe Stake last month, his chance had been significantly reduced when handed an unfavourable draw.
The results have justified the decision to keep Big Evs in training after his two-year-old career, but Teasdale admits there was a risk attached to the decision, especially with some tasty cheques being waved in his direction.
Plenty advised the wisest course of action was to quit with the colt while the going was good and whisk him off to stud, but Teasdale resisted, just as he had rebuffed the lucrative offers for the colt last year.
It has been reported that those included a bid of £1 million for a 50 per cent stake, a figure his owner dismisses as being “ridiculously low.”
For me the most important thing was keeping the memory of Paul alive
The reality is that cash was never going to prise the colt named after the pal he lost to cancer from Teasdale’s grip.
He and Evans had been friends for four decades and shared trips to the races, most notably their beloved York, for 25 years.
It was Evans who Teasdale took to Doncaster for a behind-the-scenes tour and breakfast as guests of Channel 4’s Morning Line, which he had purchased at a charity auction.
‘’We had some substantial offers to retire Big Evs or to sell him at two for someone else to race,” says Teasdale, who splits his working week between Yorkshire and London.
‘’We wouldn’t entertain someone else racing him with the name meaning so much. I suppose we took a risk deciding to keep him in training. We had over 30 offers for him last year!
“For me the most important thing was keeping the memory of Paul alive. We had some fantastic days together. We were very close. He would have absolutely loved every minute of what has happened.
‘’Big Evs was one of the best two-years-old in the country, if not Europe, last year. He has certainly trained on when a lot of people didn’t think he would. He is now standing up in Group 1 sprints, which is a big feat.
‘’At the end of this year it will be time for him to have a quieter life and go to stud. We are very satisfied with what he has done. We have an idea of where he is going but we are still trying to finish it off.
‘’We have had some great people come to talk to us about him. There have been rumours, but it will not be announced until the end of the season because we want to focus on his racing until he finishes running.
‘’I don’t think being commercial comes into it. It is about choosing the right home for Big Evs and keeping a legacy alive.
‘’To see Big Evs become a great stallion and [his progeny] running will be delightful for us. More than anything, it has been about doing the right thing for him.’’
Before retirement arrives, the dream now is for Big Evs to make a successful curtain call when he returns to the Breeders’ Cup, this year run at Del Mar in California.
‘’We got an invite to go to the Breeders’ Cup after Goodwood last year and went into it not quite knowing everything about it – but we learnt quickly.
We were so proud of him when he won
‘’My wife and I only went out on the Thursday with the race on the Friday, but we had a brilliant experience and they looked after us enormously well.
‘’When we got there, we understood how difficult it would be to win. You realise how far you have come with the races set up for an American-style horse racing around a bend.
‘’We knew it would take a great horse to travel all that way and win it after being in quarantine for 48 hours. We were so proud of him when he won. That just spurred us on to go back if he is good enough – and we think he is.”
Teasdale and Rachael race under the RP Racing banner – a name taken from their respective initials. They have planned for when Big Evs’s racing career is eventually over.
He says: “Last year I was lucky enough to buy a lifetime breeding right to Blue Point, Big Evs’s dad, from Sheikh Mohammed so I have a nomination every year without queueing.
‘’We have bought a Sea The Stars mare called Light The Stars and sent her to him this February. We have a little filly coming in February next year and have also recently bought a mare called Georgeta, who is in foal to Havana Grey.
‘’We are very keen to re-invest. We will support Big Evs at stud, but also have his legacy living on by widening our investment into the breeding side.”
Teasdale continues: ‘’I’m wary of Book 1 – there are some great horses, but it is very expensive. Book 2 is probably more the value end.
‘’We have had a great year with Big Evs, and Big Mojo is just starting. We are pleased with what we have done, and we still have a lot to come out of the two-year-olds, particularly a Lope de Vega filly called Loopey, who is a back-end two-year-old/early three-year-old type, so we were not expecting anything this year.
I have always wanted to win the Ebor and then send the winner to the Melbourne Cup
‘’We would like to continue on the track we are on, to be competitive in Group 1s, own some decent horses and enjoy it while we are doing it.”
The victories so far achieved by the Teasdales have largely been in sprints, but that has not been by design. One of Paul’s big ambitions is to win York’s Ebor Handicap, a dream inspired by Eyre’s 1997 success in the race with Far Ahead.
‘’I have always wanted to win the Ebor and then send the winner to the Melbourne Cup,” he relates. “That has been the dream, but I have not managed to get there yet. Maybe that is something for the future.”
Given the Teasdales’ success so far, you wouldn’t bet against it happening.
