Love Is The Answer For Palmer

There are red-letter days and there are purple patches. For Hugo Palmer, July 2015 will always be colored with joy at the memory of his horses galloping their way into a terrific run of form, headlined by the trainer’s first Classic winner. This momentous occasion was followed a week later by another of a more personal nature when wedding bells chimed for Palmer and his long-time girlfriend, Vanessa Webb.

A sporting Aussie, the new Mrs. Palmer won’t mind one bit that she now has to share her husband’s affections with another female, Covert Love (Ire), a tall and scopey daughter of the late Aga Khan stallion Azamour (Ire) who romped to an impressive victory in the G1 Irish Oaks at The Curragh on just her fifth start.

A week earlier, fellow 3-year-old filly New Providence (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}) landed the G3 Summer S. at York, while Home Of The Brave (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) followed up Covert Love’s Group 1 strike by landing the G3 Minstrel S. at The Curragh 24 hours later.

“It’s certainly a month I won’t forget,” said Palmer, basking in the sunshine at his Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket. When he started training just four years ago with 11 horses in what was once Luca Cumani’s overflow yard, little did he dream how quickly his stable’s profile would rise.

“It’s funny how things happen,” he continued. “Sometimes they finally happen and you’ve been expecting it for a while–like Home Of The Brave. He’s just finally strong enough to do what he showed us he could do, even as a yearling. Then the polar opposite was Covert Love, who I always thought was quite nice but I’d have fallen off my chair if you’d said to me in January that she would be my first Classic winner. She’s just improved and improved and it’s really nice when they do that.”

Palmer’s immediate neighbors in Newmarket are the big-hitting and globe-trotting stables of Cumani, Marco Botti and Ed Dunlop. With around 70 horses in training, he may not yet have the numbers to match his colleagues but he is delighted with the quality of his stable’s residents. After a luckless first trip to the Breeders’ Cup last year with Aktabantay (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who injured his foot on the eve of his intended start in the GI Juvenile Turf, the trainer is also keen to travel far and wide in pursuit of big-race success. He said, “Last year’s 2-year-olds were a really exciting bunch of horses–it was wonderful to have the likes of Aktabantay, New Providence, Disprove (Ire) and Spanish Squeeze (Ire). Then we looked at last year’s yearlings when they came in and I was pinching myself because they were an even more impressive bunch all round and on paper the best of them haven’t come near the track yet. I have a lovely Sea The Stars colt out of a Sadler’s Wells half-sister to Mizzou (Ire) and Baydar (GB), who is Aktabantay’s brother by Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire).”

The stable’s juveniles also include a Lope De Vega (Ire) half-brother to ill-fated Breeders’ Cup winner Chriselliam (Ire), as well as a number who have already impressed on the track. Chief among these is Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}), who kick-started a tremendous run for Al Shaqab Racing at the Qatar Goodwood Festival when winning the G2 Vintage S.

“Galileo Gold didn’t surprise me at Goodwood, but if he hadn’t been bought by Al Shaqab I probably wouldn’t have run him there because he is an immature horse, and I did wonder whether the bustle of a big meeting was right for him,” said Palmer, who missed the colt’s star turn while on a brief honeymoon in Italy.

“However, he was very well in himself and Harry [Herbert, Al Shaqab’s racing manager] left it to me and said, ‘if you’re happy with the horse then run him.’ It all worked out very nicely.”

Having provided a dream result on one of Qatar’s big days, Galileo Gold is likely to aim to please further on yet another major sponsorship day for Al Shaqab in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc day.

“He’s crying out for a mile and he’s a Group 2 winner, so I want to run him in a Group 1 next, so this race makes sense as it’s on Qatar’s big day,” said the trainer.

New Providence is likely to be on her travels sooner than that, with a pencilled-in engagement in the Ballston Spa H. at Saratoga Aug. 29.

“She’ll feel like she’s running loose with her 3-year-old allowance, but she tries her heart out and I think she’ll get the extended mile,” said Palmer, who has further Atlantic crossings planned.

“I would love to take Home Of The Brave to America–taking a Starspangled banner colt called Home Of The Brave might generate a little buzz. In many ways I’d like to run him in the [GI] Breeders’ Cup Mile, but I’d worry about the ground for him in Kentucky in November, and the same goes for the [G1] Prix de la Foret on Arc weekend. But he could go for the [GI] Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland and if he traveled well and ran well we could think about going back for the Breeders’ Cup.”

For now, his stable star will stay closer to home, with Covert Love being aimed at a return to the Knavesmire for the G1 Yorkshire Oaks Aug. 20. A laidback individual with an old-fashioned head and long ears, the kind filly would melt most hearts even without being any good, but she has an abundance of talent, which the trainer is itching to develop over this season and next.

“Doesn’t she look like she’ll be even better as a 4-year-old?” he asked with pride as he ran his hands over her lengthy frame, all too aware that such a valuable filly as Covert Love is now may not get the chance to prove that. He added, “She’s very clean-winded and light-framed so she doesn’t work a lot. She spends most of her time cantering around Bury Hill. She’ll work once between The Curragh and the Yorkshire Oaks. It’s really now just a case of keeping her happy and ticking over.”

We stood admiring Covert Love in her outdoor pen, with Home Of The Brave and New Providence enjoying the sun on their backs in nearby enclosures. It’s a tip Palmer picked up from his days working for Gai Waterhouse in Australia, where ‘day yards’ are more commonplace. He said, “I think being in Australia influenced the way I train in lots of little ways–for instance, the desire to have the horses outside as much as possible. I’d love to have more space to turn them out.”

He is full of admiration for his former boss and mentor Waterhouse.

“What sets her apart is that she is endlessly fascinated by what other trainers are doing,” he explained. “Gai spent her time in Newmarket seeing what different people were up to. She went to the Channel Islands when I was working for her and found one of the local trainers and spent an hour with them. She’s fascinated by other people’s methods and she always wants to know why. She’ll pick things up and she’s not too proud to believe that her way is the only way. That’s what I’ve tried to do too.”

Born in the Scottish Borders and brought up on the vast, picturesque estate of Manderston, Palmer is hardly of humble origin. He will inherit his father’s title of Lord Palmer but is unencumbered by the stuffiness so often associated with British aristocracy. Affable and a skilled communicator, he is a worthy flagbearer for the new generation of trainers in England’s ancient racing town, which he is clearly thrilled now to call home.

“I love training in Newmarket,” declared the 34-year-old. “If you want to be a lawyer, you want to be working for a magic circle firm in High Holborn and if you want to be a banker you want to be with a major bank in the city of London. That’s how I feel about training in Newmarket. I love the banter on the Heath in the morning.”

“We’re all facing the same pressures–the staff strains, the owner strains and, more importantly, the horse strains,” he added. “Every time something goes wrong for someone else we know that that was us 10 minutes ago and that will be us again in 10 minutes’ time. I think that provides a real camaraderie among trainers. When you’re having a good time everyone says ‘well done’ because we all know how easy it is to have a bad time.”

Bad times have been far from the trainer’s mind of late. One further international runner later this year will provide the newlyweds with the chance to have a proper honeymoon in Vanessa’s home country when Short Squeeze (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), who is co-owned by Australians, heads south to compete in the G1 Toorak H. at Caulfield in October.

“If he runs well in that he’ll go on to the [G1] Emirates S., but those are likely to be the only two races he’ll have for us down there and then he’ll stay in the country and will, I believe, join Chris Waller’s stable,” said Palmer.

Short Squeeze may be one who gets away, but there will be plenty lining up to take his place at one of Newmarket’s fastest-rising stables.