Andrew Balding: Aussie’s Sheila Lavery comments were disgraceful and won’t be forgotten in a hurry
I KNOW I wasn’t alone this week in being outraged at some of the comments made about one of my colleagues.
Luke Murrell, of Australian Bloodstock, made some disgraceful remarks about Irish trainer Sheila Lavery, who is well-respected throughout the sport.
If you missed it, they recently bought a horse from her to race Down Under and he was incredibly disrespectful towards Sheila in their promo video.
It was a cheap shot and totally unnecessary – I know he has since apologised, but I think they may have just made life difficult for themselves if they want to keep on doing business in this part of the world.
It won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
That aside, the focus at Park House is very much on the next seven days.
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We are in full-blown Royal Ascot mode, and all being well we will have between 22 and 26 runners across the week.
It’s the biggest week in the Flat calendar so you do feel a bit of pressure going there, but if you can get a winner on the board nice and early the week becomes a lot more enjoyable.
I’ve some incredible memories of the meeting from over the years.
I remember going there as a schoolboy and Forest Flower winning the Queen Mary for my dad. She was absolutely rapid and I was hooked from that point on.
We also had an amazing day there in ‘94 when Lochsong won the King’s Stand with Frankie on board.
She was already a fan favourite by that stage and I remember there being an amazing atmosphere when she won in front of a massive crowd.
And then our first winner in 2007 when Dark Missile won the Wokingham – with a very fresh-faced William Buick claiming 5lb.
Looking back, William’s allowance was a bit of a steal, wasn’t it?!
We’ve had plenty of emotional days, too.
I was desperate to have a Royal Ascot winner for King Power after Vichai was killed in the helicopter crash, and when Cleonte won the Queen Alexandra a few months later there were a few tears, I can tell you.
That was a tremendous day, and so was the day we had a winner for The Queen with Tactical.
It was in that very weird time when racing had just restarted after Covid and there were no crowds, but I know it gave her a huge amount of pleasure.
No doubt 2021 was our best year at Ascot so far, when we ended up having four winners and finishing second in the trainers’ standings.
We couldn’t have timed it better as that was the season we were being followed around by the Amazon film crew for the Horsepower documentary.
Fair to say the producers of the show were pretty chuffed with our results!
We are heading there with a lovely team of horses again this year, but it is unbelievably competitive and there are absolutely no guarantees.
Of our squad the two obvious big guns are our Classic hero Chaldean and top stayer Coltrane.
Chaldean goes in the St James’s Palace on Tuesday and is the one they have to beat.
It’s going to be a tough race, with Paddington coming over from Ireland and the unknown quantities in Cicero’s Gift and Mostabshir.
But our lad is training brilliantly at home and we head to Ascot very hopeful of a big performance.
And what can you say about Coltrane? He is a legend of the yard.
He won the Ascot Stakes last year so we know he is proven over the Gold Cup course and distance.
It’s a unique and historic race and one I would love to add to the CV, and with no Stradivarius or Kyprios this year the race is wide-open.
Hopefully the sun keeps shining and we get a good slice of luck next week – having a good Ascot doesn’t half set you up for the rest of the season.
It’s a pretty quiet one for us this weekend, but I would say CHASSERAL is our best chance of a winner.
She heads to York for the big sprint handicap off a lovely weight and she has been pleasing me on the gallops.
The horses are in form so fingers crossed she can send us into next week on a high.
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