There are worse ways to break your maiden than in a £308,000-to-the-winner contest against 19 rivals, so hats off to ROA member and owner Jason Goddard, who saw his two-year-old Diligently scoop the enormous prize in the Harry’s Half Million By Goffs Premier Yearling Stakes at York’s Ebor meeting in August.
Goddard, who was watching from home that day, would have settled for second place – still worth a not inconsiderable £123,000 – with a furlong to run, yet Rossa Ryan conjured a late charge from Diligently, overhauling hot favourite Arizona Blaze near the finish to send his owner into raptures.
“My son Ben was in the kitchen and came running in when he heard me shouting at the TV,” Goddard says. “To be honest, at one stage I was looking at third or fourth, but he picked up inside the last 100 yards and went past the Amo horse.
“It was a surprising result, but I think everything else was slowing down.
“Rossa rode a fantastic race. He’s a top-five jockey – a future champion. I’m sure one of the big boys well snap him up, he just rides so well.”
Diligently is certainly well-named and could describe both his trainer Clive Cox’s method to sourcing horses and Goddard’s approach to ownership.
As his recent victory suggests, Diligently, a son of Cox’s former Group 1 star Harry Angel, was purchased at the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale for £100,000 last year.
At the same auction in 2019, Cox selected a son of Mehmas for Goddard – he was Supremacy, a £65,000 purchase, who progressed into one of the top two-year-olds the following year, taking the Group 2 Richmond Stakes and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes.
Goddard says: “Diligently’s York victory was more of a surprise. Clive always said he was a nice horse; we thought he might end up at Royal Ascot. He’s just taken time to develop – I think he’ll prove to be better than he’s shown so far.
“With Supremacy, we knew from an early stage that he was very good – it was just about him showing it on the racecourse. We had an amazing ride with that horse.”
Goddard hails from the Newbury area and having enjoyed horseracing growing up – “I remember my father following Dancing Brave and Nashwan in the 80s” – was always likely to plump for a Lambourn trainer if the opportunity to get involved as an owner presented itself.
That opportunity came when he sold his IT business, Hammer plc, in 2016. His father-in-law, Ken Lock, a small owner-breeder, already had horses in training with Cox and made the necessary introductions. Dark Shadow was the first winner for the new partnership – and the rest is history.
“I’ve never had horses with another trainer,” Goddard explains. “Clive does all his own work and picks all his own horses. He always looks for the best quality and to get some value.
“He’s incredibly hard working. I’ve been with him at the sales – he always gets there the day before to look at every horse, certainly every colt. If there’s something nice that looks good, he gets them vetted and if it has the right pedigree, he advises where we go with our valuation. Some become too expensive, others you can buy.”
He continues: “Clive is a stallion maker. If you look at the ranks of stallions, he trained Kodi Bear, Profitable, Harry Angel, Supremacy, Nando Parrado and Golden Horde, and before that Lethal Force.
“He buys horses at a very reasonable price and trains them to do very well – and a lot of them end up at stud. I’d be surprised if there’s another trainer who has made that many stallions at this moment in time.”
The aforementioned Supremacy, now ensconced at Yeomanstown Stud in County Kildare, where he stands alongside Dark Angel, Invincible Army and Shaman, had his first yearlings sell this autumn – one of whom will race for his original owner, having been selected by Cox for £100,000 at Goffs in August.
So far, Goddard, who is often accompanied to the races by wife Joanne and daughter Georgia, has resisted the urge to invest in any broodmares to send across the Irish Sea despite holding a couple of nominations to his former sprinter.
He says: “I’ve not moved into breeding as I love the way that Clive does things. Breeding racehorses is like having a kid – you don’t know what you’re going to get! You could produce an Oxford scholar – or not.
“From what I understand from Yeomanstown, Supremacy is good at his job. He covered around 150 mares in his first year, he seems popular, and his stock have been well received. As a commercial stallion it looks positive at present – he then has to start doing it on the track.”
Despite his recent valuable triumph with Diligently, Goddard is concerned about levels of prize-money further down the chain, feeling that the jam is being spread too thinly.
He says: “The truth is that with a three-year-old, if you’re running around for three, four, five or six thousand pounds, it becomes less cost effective to keep them in training when your training fees per horse can be £25,000 a year.
The sport has a problem with too much racing
“If you win £5,000 at Windsor on a Monday night, once you’ve taken the jockey’s fee, trainer’s amount and travelling costs into consideration, you’re ending up with £2,500 or £3,000, which might cover a month’s training costs.
“Most horses only ever win once or twice. If you’re paying out £25,000 in training fees and only getting back £7,000 or £8,000 in prize-money, the equation just doesn’t work out.
“The sport has a problem with too much racing. There’s a lot that’s just there for the bookmakers – and I’m not even sure they are that interested or making much money from it.
“In Ireland they don’t have much racing Monday to Wednesday and their prize-money is higher. Though that may change with the proposed ban on gambling advertising.”
Other issues of concern include the inability to bet on his horses due to bookmaker-imposed restrictions – “I’ve had accounts closed and requests to see my finances, which I won’t be showing” – while the two-year-old banding system, dictated by auction and median auction value, also gets the thumbs down.
Yet there is much to look forward to for Goddard, who stresses the importance of finding good homes for his racehorses when their racing careers come to an end, not least Diligently, who looks to be improving with experience, while following the progeny of his Group 1 hero Supremacy is sure to be an exciting journey.
“I have four in training, plus the yearling I bought, and Clive might recommend something at Book 1 or 2 [of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale], in which case I would have a look,” he says.
“I got into racing ownership because I want to be competitive. That’s the whole point – I want to run in big handicaps and Group races, which is why the Supremacy moments were so magical.
“After Supremacy won his maiden at Windsor, Clive rang me to say he wanted to enter him for the Richmond Stakes. So, we went to Glorious Goodwood during Covid – there weren’t many people around – and he won the Richmond by four lengths.
“To then go on and win the Middle Park was an amazing experience. It is one of the top two-year-old races in Europe – it’s the pinnacle.”
Goddard adds: “When we go to the smaller racetracks, it’s all about building up to try and have a go at some of the big boys and be up there with them. And that’s very exciting. But it’s always great to get a win from any horse.”