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Lady Bowthorpe: A Dream Come True.
G1 Prix Jean Romanet (2000m) contender Lady Bowthorpe burst onto the scene with a second behind Palace Pier in the G1 Lockinge Stakes (1600m). She has been consistent throughout the season and recorded a deserved first Group One victory in the G1 Nassau Stakes (2000m) at Glorious Goodwood. We speak to her owner Emma Banks...
Do you have a background in racing?
I've owned racehorses since 2014 so not long. I grew up in a family where my immediate parents were not interested in horses but on my father's side, my grandfather and my uncle had racehorses. I had my own ponies and horses from about the time I was 11 years old until I went to University at 18. I'd go racing a little bit, but I wasn't a massive racing fan. In 2014, I went to Goodwood. My uncle Michael Banks, and his wife Rosalind were there. Rosalind had a horse running in the apprentice race and I really enjoyed the occasion. It had been suggested by my father that a racehorse might be a fun thing to get involved with because I was very focused on work, and I decided I'd go for it. I bought my first horse in the Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale in October 2014.
What attracted you to Lady Bowthorpe?
Every year that goes by, I'm getting a little better at looking at the catalogue and understanding the pedigrees to then look at the horses, but I am a thousand miles away from being the person that should be actually choosing the horses. I'm really lucky that William Jarvis [Lady Bowthorpe's trainer] and James Toller help buy my horses. James does a huge amount of preliminary work then goes to look at hundreds of horses before ruling them out for one reason or another. Then I go with William and James to look at a shortlist which could be forty horses and she was on the list. She was a good-looking horse – a nice walker and a decent size. She was a second foal. What we have done predominately is buy horses who are first or second foals because I can't afford to buy the horse with the most incredible page. So instead, we buy into a younger dam and hopefully the horse can make its own page and brothers and sisters can help. When I bought Lady Bowthorpe, Speak in Colours had not won in Stakes company, and he's gone onto be a multiple Group winner. They've upgraded the mare and it works for everyone.
It felt like she really leapt onto the scene this year and improved from four to five years old – were you expecting that and what do you think it was down to?
I don't think you can ever expect anything like that. William thought she was talented as a two year old and then she had a fracture in a foreleg and that ruled her out for some time. Once she was back on track in August as a three-year-old, she looked promising then she came back at four and honestly, we were hoping for good things.
After winning her first race as a four year old she then had a couple of shockers where everything went wrong for her each time. She won the G3 Valiant Stakes at Ascot in July last year with a blistering turn of foot. I think her final three furlongs were the fastest three furlongs of the entire weekend at Ascot and Enable had run that weekend. We knew she could be really fast and she ran a couple more times last year and things went against her. We came into her being five with a lot of hope that there was more there, but did I expect it to be as good as it's been? No, I don't think I ever expected that, but I hoped we'd get another win.
She won the Dahlia first time out as a five year old and since then, we've not looked back. She's not won everything, and I think we've been really unlucky on occasions, but no-one can say at any point that she hasn't run well or tried very hard. You could argue the case that she may have won all of her races this year if the circumstances had been different…but that's racing. If everyone won every race that they should, it wouldn't be interesting and that's the exciting part.
How did it feel at Glorious Goodwood when she claimed her first Group One in the Nassau Stakes?
It was fantastic. It was weird because her coming second in the G1 Lockinge Stakes (1600m) actually felt more surprising because we went into that race thinking we will just throw the dice. She was up against an incredible field of top-class milers and to get as close as she did to Palace Pier… that was the most exciting race. At Goodwood, I never expected us to win because I may dream about winning but I prepare myself that we won't. When she did win, it was almost a sense of relief and vindication for her. I was so pleased for William [Jarvis] and Kieran [Shoemark] and the horse but it felt like the right thing had happened for her. She deserved it and it was particularly lovely that it was such an important race. It felt like the whole world was watching. When she is at the races, she gets that much bigger, and she absolutely thinks she's the bees knees. The amount of pleasure she is giving so many people is fantastic.
What was the thinking behind heading to France for the Prix Jean Romanet?
We had been thinking about it for a while and we needed to be sure that the mile and a quarter worked for her, she showed at Goodwood that it does. We like the fact that the Prix Jean Romanet is level weights. It's an important, prestigious race and it fits really well into her schedule. There was a concern about York as an experience for her, walking across from the stables to the course – she's not the greatest traveller and can get quite agitated when she's at the racecourse because she knows what she is there to do. She's not difficult but she is definitely up for it. Now we know that she is a better traveller than she was, it seemed a good plan.
Kieran Shoemark has an excellent relationship with Lady Bowthorpe. Will he retain the ride?
Yes, absolutely.
Are there any future French targets after the Prix Jean Romanet?
We've talked about the Prix de l'Opera. There is a lot on in October and has all the relevant entries she needs at the moment – the Sun Chariot, a couple of entries at Champions Weekend at Ascot and the l'Opera is definitely part of our thinking too. We need to see how she goes, she has had a long season. Her first race was on Guineas' weekend and she's run nearly every three weeks since the start of May. I wanted to see her after the Nassau Stakes, so I drove up to Newmarket early on the Friday to take her a packet of Polos. You wouldn't have known she had a run a race, she looked great, she hadn't lost much weight and she was ready to go. It seems she's bouncing out of every race stronger and stronger. At some point she may say she's had enough, but at the moment it seems that she is loving her racing and so is everyone around her!
Would you be tempted to keep her in training as a six-year-old?
I am tempted. I would love to keep her in training as long as she wants to – she and Stradivarius could be the oldest horses in training! I'm torn about it. We will have to see how she is going – at any point if she says no, that will be that. A mare that's running as a six-year-old as talented as she is – it's rare. Enable did it but they were trying to get the third Arc and we don't have that target. We are not going to be in the history books if we race next year, but having said that, I probably won't have another horse that's as good as her and so having another year of this would be fabulous.