Quito (finally) bows out

[my miss storm cat]

Thank God... it's about time.

Feel better, gallant warrior. Hope the rest of your days are happy.

[my miss storm cat]

Racing post.....



Grand servant Quito retired - but stud chances look 'slim'

by Tom O'Ryan

QUITO, whose rags-to-riches career has been the stuff of fairytales, has run his last race – but, despite being a rig, he is set to undergo a fertility test in the “slim” hope that he may have a future as a stallion.

The remarkable ten-year-old returned home sore after finishing unplaced in last month's Darley July Cup at Newmarket and has been retired by trainer David Chapman.

Chapman had bought him for 3,500gns and has placed him to win no fewer than 18 races and more than £460,000 in prize-money, including the Ayr Gold Cup and seven Listed contests for owner Michael Hill.

“He's always had trouble with his joints and has had surgery on them in each of the last two winters,” said Chapman. “He was very sore when he came back from Newmarket, so we've decided to call it a day with him.”

The veteran North Yorkshire trainer added: “Although he did tremendously well for us, I have always maintained that, because of his dodgy joints, he never really fulfilled his true potential.”

Bred by Sheikh Mohammed, for whose son Rashid whom he won two minor races in Dubai, Quito was snapped up by Chapman at Newmarket's July Sales in 2002 when he was looking to buy “a present for myself” on his birthday.

Three months later, Quito won a handicap at Wolverhampton off a mark of 59, a measly figure considering that Quito rose to a peak of 115 as his career went from strength to strength.

Winner of the 2003 Ayr Gold Cup – “A big day,” recalls Chapman – Quito underlined his versatility the following year when finishing second, beaten only three-quarters of a length by Babodana, in the Lincoln Handicap over a mile.

“He won at Wolverhampton before going to Doncaster where he had to carry a 5lb penalty in the Lincoln. It wasn't the cleverest thing I ever did,” admits his trainer wryly.

Although he never quite managed to capture a Group race, Quito, who was rarely ridden at home, and was trained largely on the lunge-rein, ran some of his best races in defeat in top company, not least when finishing a neck second to Reverence in last year's Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock, and when runner-up to Steenberg, beaten half a length, in the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes.

“Tony Culhane got on better with him than anybody else, and got to know him so well,” said Chapman, of the jockey who rode him to no fewer than 14 wins.

“My grand-daughter Ruth (Clarke) did a wonderful job on him at home and at the races – she got on with him better than I did. He was a horse with a lot of natural ability, a great engine.”

Come the end of this month, Quito, whose only remaining testicle is buried deep in his body, will be temporarily transferred to Twemlows Hall at Whitchurch in Shropshire where his fertility will be tested.

“We're not holding out much hope as we've already been told that there's only a very remote chance that he could produce fertile sperm.

“His good ball is long gone and the one he's got is only about the size of an acorn. But we feel it's worth testing him as he's a beautifully-bred horse, whose mother (Qirmazi) was a European champion.”

If Quito does not have any future as a stallion, he will return to Chapman's Mowbray House stables near Easingwold to spend a well-earned retirement.

Unsurprisingly, Chapman produces a predictable response when asked whether he has ever spent 3,500gns more wisely than the day he bought Quito. “Never,” he smiles.

[NoChanceToDance]

He was a star. I will miss seeing him at the track. He loved racing, i'm not too sure how he will like retirement...... not that much, i doubt. It's for the best though.


Be good, Quito.

If he doesn't get to become a stallion, i hope they will parade him on good racedays, he would love that. Like Dessie used to do.

[brockguy]

he was a grand old horse. I loved to watch him race.. I hope he takes retirement well.

[NoChanceToDance]

Chapman splashes out
on Fan Club


by Edward Prosser
.


IN THE week his stable star Quito retired, trainer David Chapman on Thursday made his dearest ever purchase when spending 35,000gns at Doncaster's August Sale on Fan Club, a winner in France for owner-breeder Khalid Abdulla.

The three-year-old, who recently finished fourth at Deauville, won a
Maisons-Laffitte maiden last year for trainer David Smaga and Chapman is excited to be welcoming the new recruit to his Stillington yard.

“It's the most I've ever spent on a horse and I'm really thrilled to have got him,” said Chapman. “He's fit and well and ready to go as he ran last week and he's got some really good form in France. I don't have an owner for him at the moment.”

A first-time visitor to Doncaster, Bahrain-based Hussain Ali Ahmed
Bukannan, paid theday's top price when buying Slate for 40,000gns out of Jamie Osborne's yard.

“He's going to race in Qatar, where I have 22 horses,” said Bukannan. “I feel he is a good horse but we will find out when he gets to Doha. I have been to Newmarket before but this is my first time at Doncaster.”

Five two-year-olds who had been bought for 166,000gns by owner Ian Clark at Doncaster's Breeze-Up Sale in April returned to the South Yorkshire sale ring on Thursday having not been paid for.

Clark will be asked to pay 47,000gns to the sales company after the quintet recouped 119,000gns of their original cost.
Trainer Charlie Mann paid 30,000gns for the pick of the group, offered from Jimmy O'Reilly's locally-based yard, when buying a Spartacus colt who had cost 45,000gns four months ago.

“Owner William Harrison-Alan has bought him on my judgement and he'll go back to his place but I'm not sure where he'll be trained,” said Mann.

The three-day sale's highlight was the sale of Feathard Lady to Graham Wylie for 275,000gns on Wednesday and that helped the fixture - the first staged at Doncaster since its merger with Goffs - to show an advance on last year.

“Trade at this week's August Sale has matched the weather - hot!” said Henry Beeby, who remains managing director of Doncaster Bloodstock Sales as well as being Goffs' new chief executive.

“We were naturally delighted to reclaim the world record for a National Hunt broodmare when Feathard Lady realised 270,000gns, which converted to €426,600 and proved, yet again, that DBS can achieve the very best prices for any horse.”

He added: “There is a lot going at DBS at the moment. This was the first sale since we merged with Goffs and I'm pleased that buyers continue to enjoy the same unrivalled hands-on service from the DBS team which was enhanced by some input from a couple of Goffs regulars.

“This is what we promised when we merged and I guarantee that visitors to any Goffs or DBS sale will continue to be met with a service that is unmatched.”

Doncaster's St Leger Yearling Sale begins on August 28.