Soumillon back on Aga Khan horses

Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan

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AK has sacked Lemaire and put the Belgian back in the green and red.

Sensible decision for me. I don't have enough fingers to count Lemaire howlers on his horses over the last few seasons.
 
Sad to see but completely agree. Lemaire has been a shadow of his best days. The last serious injuries he suffered a few years back seem to have taken their toll on him physically and mentally.
 
No just sending some horses to Weld. Retaining Oxx and Halford although I assume they'll end up with less. Since Azamour has the Aga Khan had a top class horse in Ireland?
 
If Oxx were sent the same quality horses Royer Dupre has , they would have better results.

About Soumillon , obviously a better jockey than Lemaire is but this is surprsing news
 
The news reports only mention Weld getting yearlings and 2yos, Miesque?

They also mention, by the way, that there won't be a retained jockey in Ireland next year.
 
Does he even have 25 with Oxx this year? Hardly run any of them if he has. Oxx having an ultra quiet year, barely any runners, especially in decent races.
 
Grey said:
They also mention, by the way, that there won't be a retained jockey in Ireland next year.
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I assume part of the deal with Weld was that Smullen would ride. Aga has very limited options for a third trainer in Ireland.
 
In that case it's not a slap in the face, it's a kick in the face. Has John Oxx taken to the meths, or started hanging around outside the Begum's bedroom window?
 
I think Dermot is a good trainer but sacking Oxx he has last the north.

The head to be hunted should be the one of the racing manager, its is a similar situation to Crisford in Godolphin.
 
On The Bridle said:
Weld takes in 25 sick horses....watch this space. Oxx's have been rotten all year.
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How will Weld manage this? Would he not be worried about the virus being transferred to his current string or will he have a quarantine/satellite yard until the horses have sorted themselves out?
 
DKW has a second yard for backward types.
Might the Aga's horses poor form this year be related to the poor summer 2012 especially if winter fodder is sourced in GILLTOWN'S 1200 acres ?
After this good year his stock next season could be an entirely different proposition.
 
edgt said:
DKW has a second yard for backward types.
Might the Aga's horses poor form this year be related to the poor summer 2012 especially if winter fodder is sourced in GILLTOWN'S 1200 acres ?
After this good year his stock next season could be an entirely different proposition.
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They import the Lucerne and some grass hay from Canada
 
I feel for Oxx. I was looking at Steve Taplin's 2yo book tonight and Oxx this year has €850,000, €800,000, GUI310,000 and GUI210,000 Sea The Stars 2yo's - as well as an Aga half to Azamour. All yet to see the track.

I can understand diversifying his stock but Weld doesn't make sense for the Aga Khan's business model for me. Complete and utter bandit.
 
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Pretty sure he was in Galway this year and took an unmerciful rip of drink and thought it the best craic ever. As a result has decided he want to be top owner there.
 
He has been top owner at Tramore for several years now so I would imagine he will now up his sights to Wexford, Ballinrobe, Sligo, Bellewstown and Clonmel before even thinking about Galway.
 
trackside528 said:
I can understand diversifying his stock but Weld doesn't make sense for the Aga Khan's business model for me. Complete and utter bandit.
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Not sure about that, seems to fit the Khalid Abdulla business model quite well.
 
John Oxx was interviewed yesterday by Gary O'Brien and was his usual dignified self, while emphasising the stable is still very much open for business.

Brian O'Connor's blog on irishracing.com a few weeks ago says it all, pretty much:

Eaten Bread Soon Forgotten

September 9, 2013 by Brian O'Connor
The Aga Khan is obviously free to do with his horses as he wishes. And the level of success the Prince has enjoyed over the decades testifies to his ability to make right calls more often than not. But his apparent decision to effectively cut links with John Oxx must be the most graceless call seen in Irish racing for quite a while.
Not sending yearlings to Oxx this Autumn on the back of a single season wrecked by illness will be described as decisive by the Aga’s team but to many of us it smacks of short-sighted desperation and a lamentable lack of regard for what the trainer has achieved for the owner over the last twenty four years.
Eaten bread might soon be forgotten but Sinndar, Alamshar, Azamour, Timarida, Ebadiyla and plenty others would sustain most owners for a lifetime. Not, it seems, the Aga Khan.
The decision to add to his trainer-roster in Ireland was understandable on the basis that Oxx’s sub-par season testified to the potential dangers of having too many eggs in one basket. There is also the precedent of how the Aga has three trainers in France. But the decision not to send yearlings – the juvenile crop for 2014 – is loaded with significance in that it effectively starts the clock on a run-down to the link between the owner and one of the most successful trainers in Irish racing history.
Maybe that link will be re-established in time, but if that’s the case, a total cut on yearlings going into Currabeg is pretty blunt evidence to the contrary.
It’s certainly a hell of a toll for one virulent bug to take. But this move hasn’t come in isolation. It comes on the back of a conspicuous lack of top-flight success by the Aga Khan’s Irish based horses in recent years. Alandi was the last Group 1 winner, and that was in the Cadran, a strictly second-division contest in terms of top-class international thoroughbred breeding. There is also the reality that the Aga’s principal focus has always been on France, a focus aggressively encouraged by the trainers there, and bolstered by prizemoney levels higher than here.
If the primary focus is on France, it’s hardly surprising then there is an element of ‘second-pick’ about Ireland so pointing the finger at Oxx for not coming up with the Group 1 goods is patently offside if the ammunition he gets from the operation isn’t up to scratch in the first place.
It’s not as if the trainer lost his touch since Azamour: there was a certain horse called Sea The Stars who wasn’t too shabby and he was campaigned with a sure touch globally applauded by anyone with even the faintest appreciation of the difficulty involved in producing a top-flight animal.
Oxx has remained typically dignified, and mostly silent, on the issue, characteristically describing the season as a ‘temporary little difficulty.’ There is though a lot of sympathy for a man so widely liked and respected within the game. However even if Oxx was as popular as scabies, the suspicion would remain that the Aga Khan’s trigger-finger has twitched way too quickly.
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