Burrows Hoping To Repay Faith Of Shadwell Team

They say that March, in England, comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. And if trainers dread an equivalent transformation in their horses – inevitable, in so many cases, during the months that follow – the latest addition to their ranks cannot disguise his impatience with the squalls of sleet thrashing the Lambourn hills over the past week or so. Owen Burrows is itching to step his horses up a gear, on spring grass, being fully aware that few rookies have started their careers with as leonine a prospect as Massaat (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). But then nor have many had an education so likely to inculcate the patience that normally only comes with experience.

For all his zeal to make the most of an opportunity still more thrilling for being so unexpected, Burrows has not taken over Sheikh Hamdan's Kingwood Stables as just another young man in a hurry. At 41, he has been seasoned by a long apprenticeship with some of the profession's most respected achievers: initially, as a jump jockey, with Martin Pipe; then through a 12-year stint with Sir Michael Stoute, promoted to assistant trainer; and finally, last year, shadowing the venerable figure of Barry Hills as they prepared for his accession at Kingwood. Once a few stragglers come in, Burrows will be supervising around 50 Shadwell bluebloods, half of them juveniles, at a yard with a chequered history since it was set up as a hill station for Dick Hern's Indian summer. Marcus Tregoning, Hern's successor, trained Sir Percy (GB) here but the stable reached a crossroads after he left for Whitsbury three years ago, and the tenure of John Hills was tragically curtailed by cancer. The latter's father steadied the ship, however, while Sheikh Hamdan's team signalled a renewal of his commitment to the site by head-hunting Burrows.

Born into the game, as the son of David Nicholson's head lad at Condicote, Burrows rode out his 7lb and 5lb claims but eventually accepted that he was never going to match his contemporary, Sir Anthony McCoy. “I remember finishing third in a boys' race at Cheltenham, and Mr Pipe having us up at the house to look at the video,” Burrows recalled ruefully. “McCoy had won the race and Mr Pipe said: 'Who's that lad? That's what you want to be like!'”

In exploring a new dimension of the game under Stoute, Burrows witnessed the preparation of three G1 Epsom Derby winners – Kris Kin (Kris S), North Light (Ire) (Danehill) and Workforce (GB) (King's Best) – at first hand. But when he tentatively investigated the possibility of training himself, five or six years ago, Burrows was aghast at the financial odds against any kind of standing start. He was ecstatic, then, when his work behind the scenes was recognised by Angus Gold, Sheikh Hamdan's racing manager, and Richard Hills, for so long his retained jockey. It was agreed that Burrows should be given a year under Hills Sr., getting acquainted with a new training environment, before taking over the licence this season. In the process, he was able to share the grounding of one of the most promising young colts in Britain. “This time last year Massaat was very big and backward,” Burrows said. “He didn't really stand out until we put him on the grass, late May or early June. But when we did, even in an easy half-speed, I remember thinking: 'Woah, hang on a minute – that can gallop!' From then on, both physically and in his work, he did nothing but please us.”

A narrow defeat on his debut, when storming home at Sandown in July, was a blessing in disguise. “He wouldn't have been ready, mentally, to step up straightaway,” Burrows said. Nonetheless the two-month interval to a maiden success at Leicester required rather more patience than anticipated: Massaat was first held up with a cough; and then had to be withdrawn at the start, after treading on a shoe, when odds-on at Yarmouth. “Paul Hanagan said that he was still a bit babyish at Leicester,” Burrows said. “You could see that as he was running downhill into the kickback. But as soon as he got some daylight and a kick in the belly, well… It took Paul until halfway down the back to pull him up.” Just three weeks later, as a 20-1 outsider, Massaat chased home Air Force Blue in the G1 Dubai Dewhurst S. Unmistakably, and in contrast with the supremely professional champion juvenile, you could see the scopey colt still learning his trade through the race. But his leftward drift in the dip did not stop him opening up by nearly three lengths on the rest. “While we couldn't expect him to win, we did half-expect him to run as well as he did even off the back of a maiden,” Burrows reflected. “And while I know Emotionless was disappointing, those were still very solid horses he left behind.”

Unsurprisingly, given his profile, Massaat has delighted Burrows with his development through the winter. “In an ideal world, though, I need it to dry out now, so that we can get him onto the grass in the next week or so,” his new trainer admitted. “He was a big raw horse last year, very much put in the deep end, so it would do him good to have a run before the Guineas. That won't be the be-all and end-all, though. The mare was very quick, but there's a bit of everything in the pedigree after that, and he's got such a good mind on him that I think he'll get ten furlongs all right. And he can only improve as the year goes on. Really, he's the type of horse you dream of, and I'm very, very fortunate to have one like him in my first season.”

Other 3-year-olds of whom the same might be said include Muntazah (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), third in the G2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge S., and Mustajeeer (GB) (Medicean {GB}), impressive in a Newmarket maiden in September. Both could test the water in races like the Feilden or Dee Stakes. “Muntazah was probably the biggest 2-year-old I've ever had anything to do with,” Burrows said. “He's out of an Oaks third and should stay well, while I really liked the way Mustajeer hit the line.”

Hills Sr. is still taking a benign interest in proceedings at Kingwood and Burrows is grateful to have such experienced men in his corner. “While it's got to come down to me, at the end of the day, it's still very much a team and I'm so fortunate always to have Barry or Angus or Richard on the end of a phone,” he said. “On site I've got my own Limekilns, as such, plus access to grass with a cushion like you've never seen, even on the Round Gallop or Trial Ground in Newmarket. It's all slightly against the collar, and as Barry says: 'They're great gallops so long as you don't gallop them.' A good half-speed is all they need. That's another reason why a prep run would help with Massaat, just to help us know where we are. And that's also why I'm so fortunate to have had a year with Barry here, first. I could easily have come along and done too much. Now I just have to make sure I repay the faith everyone has shown in me, and make the most of the chance I've been given.”