Lincolnshire based Trainer James Given and I go back nearly 20 years when he first started out training, and I started out in racehorse ownership.
In fact James actually trained Mister McGoldrick to win his first ever race at Haydock way back in 1998.
When he left his yard to race under NH rules with Sue and Harvey Smith, James always followed Mister McG throughout his career, and it was typical of the man for him to be there at the Cheltenham Festival in 2008, and to be one of the first to come over and shake my hand after McG won the Byrne Group Plate.
Fast forward now to the present, James had seen McGoldrick Racing had branched out into summer flat racing with Becky the Thatcher, and he was keen to find out if a further addition maybe on the cards.
It was always my intention to have two on the flat, but he didn`t know that. So when I answered his question with a “maybe” he began to tell me about a yearling he had been asked to train by Mrs B E Moore, whose original intention was to send her to auction in the Autumn yearling sales, but she withdrew her in the belief she will turn out to be a decent sort.
Mrs Moore was then looking to lease this Harbour Watch yearling to either an individual, or a small syndicate recommended by James, with herself contributing 25% of the training costs which would obviously entitle her as well to 25% of any prize money earned.
The offer from James ticked all the right boxes for me, especially the breeding…….just click on below and watch and listen to the video….so it became a no brainer for me to agree when Mrs Moore was happy to offer McGoldrick Racing the lease, with James as the trainer.
