Qipco 2000 Guineas dreams for Martyn Meade and his Eminent
Eminent won on his racecourse debut at Newmarket and Meade is hoping his son of the great Frankel can step up again as he tackles the Craven next week
IT’S not easy keeping up with the Frankels.
The superstar stallion’s first crop face a Classic crunch-time this season. Martyn Meade is just happy to be with the in-crowd.
The Newmarket trainer’s Eminent – winner of his sole race last season – will put his Qipco 2000 Guineas credentials to the test at the Craven Meeting this week.
After his impressive debut success hopes are high he can make an impact at the top level. But Meade is under no illusion how tough the opposition will be.
He chuckled: “It’s a pity we’ve not got the only Frankel – they all do look pretty good.
“How many Frankels are going to run in the Guineas? It could be three or four. We’ve just got to hope that ours is the best and has been best prepared for the day.
“You’ve got to have a Frankel in this day and age haven’t you? Where would you be without one?
Hopefully we’ve found a good one.”
All the signs are that he has. Eminent – owned by New Zealand bloodstock legend Sir Peter Vela - is likely to run in Newmarket’s Craven Stakes on Thursday although he has also been entered in the Feilden Stakes a couple of days earlier.
The option of the furlong-longer contest points to the stamina in Eminent’s pedigree with Meade eyeing up York’s Dante for a Derby trial if all goes well.
He’s a 33-1 shot for the 2000 Guineas. Those odds will come crashing down if he’s successful this week.
But the fact he has already seen the racecourse is a surprise to some.
He was bought by bloodstock agent Dermot Farrington - Meade’s son-in-law – for what looks a bargain £157,500.
Meade explained: “I suppose people would have been put off by his size and they would have thought he was going to take quite a lot of time.
“He was a very gangly, backward two-year-old. I think that’s what people generally thought of him when he went through the sales ring as a yearling.
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“We felt we had to run him at the end of last season because he needed something to concentrate his mind. We took the chance of running him in the maiden right at the end of the season.
“One has to be a little bit worried about the lack of experience. That’s why we want to run him in Craven week so we can give him a bit of experience.
“I would be quite happy with a bit of rain. I've got to look after him a bit so a bit of give in the ground is important.
“He’s certainly one of the nicest horses I’ve had but that’s not quite the same as some of the people who have had these sort of horses for 40 years.
“He’s a difficult horse to asses at home as he covers the ground so wonderfully. He doesn’t actually look like he’s going terribly quick – he just lollops and lollops and lollops. That’s his style.
“He’s been disparaging referred to as a bumper horse by Lord Grimthorpe but I’ve managed to get over that.
“He asked me ‘how’s that bumper horse going’ but I’m sure he only meant it in jest.”
Meade – who has business interests in timber, engineering and property - is no stranger to bumper horses. He started with jumpers as a permit trainer more than 40 years ago before “seeing the light” and concentrating on the Flat.
After a spell away from training, he moved into historic Sefton Lodge on Newmarket’s prestigious Bury Road four years ago. The yard – home to Henry Cecil, Luca Cumani and Jeremy Noseda in the past - had been empty since Mark Wallace moved to Australia five years earlier.
Meade has restored the stunning house and stables to their glorious best and added some more boxes to take the capacity up to 50.
That might be only a fraction of some of the super strings he shares the gallops with but Meade – assisted by son Freddie – could not be happier.
He added: “I don’t want to have a yard full of 100 horses and I’m running just to do the numbers.
“We’re very selective about the horses. We reject a lot as I don’t really want to run anything much under 85-rated – it’s not my game.
“This yard suits me down to the ground. We only have really good staff, a maximum of three lots a day and nobody running around. It’s got to be that way.
“I think a lot of these yards that take on so much it must be difficult for them to give the horses individual treatment.
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“Sefton Lodge had been on the market for quite a long time. It had been pretty neglected. I wanted to start training again and Newmarket was the right place to be. It’s the headquarters of Flat racing.
“When I trained before down in Wiltshire we didn’t really have great facilities. Coming here there are no excuses.
“It’s quite a change for me to come here to live in a town and all the things that come with it – getting used to the gallops.
“It’s proved to be worth it – it’s a fantastic place to train. There’s every possible facility to be able to train any horse.”
Meade has also added some state-of-the-art facilities himself. He’s one of the first trainers to install a salt chamber – popular in America and Australia - in his yard.
The sealed room helps clear out horses’ lungs of any infection and is used to clear up skin conditions.
Meade has also bought nearby Snailwell Stud to run alongside the training operation.
It’s his dream to be able to stand stallions there – which is where Eminent comes in. If he were to develop into a top-class performer it’s easy to guess where he might end up.
The same applies to Meade’s Aclaim. He ended last season by landing a Newmarket Group 2 and he is likely to reappear in the Lockinge at Newbury next month.
He also believes Chelsea Lad will progress from handicaps into a Group performer and he has youngsters by top stallions Galileo and See The Stars - among others – waiting in the wings.
It’s exciting times for Meade and his team. And you get the feeling his enjoying every moment.
Meade added: “I’m loving it. I’d love it a bit more if we could win a Classic or a Group 1. That would make a huge difference.”