Margarsons Hoping to Strike Lucky

by Emma Berry
   On the day the Jockey Club released the results of a study showing that Newmarket’s racing industry contributes more than £208 million ($344.5 million) to the local economy, it was business as usual for the town’s many trainers, with the rain still falling and the wind still biting.
   There are 12 weeks to go until the Craven Meeting, Newmarket’s traditional seasonal opener, but one man whose spirits are rarely dampened, and who has an extra reason to leap out of bed in the dark at 5 a.m., is George Margarson. Among the 30 horses at his Graham Lodge stable, just a stroll across the road from the course where the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas will be run in May, is one of this season’s Classic hopes, Lucky Kristale (GB) (Lucky Story).
   The relentlessly enthusiastic Margarson is now 61, but springs onto his hack, the 17-year-old former dual Group 3 winner Atavus, like a man half his age. Atavus doesn’t appear to be feeling his age, either. He’s already charged up Warren Hill behind Lucky Kristale during first lot, conducted under the cover of darkness, and, like his rider, his keenness is undimmed as he heads back out in the rain to accompany a pair of 2-year-old fillies and the dual winner Shyron up the hill for second lot.
   “I guess I didn’t have the greatest start in life, so I’m one of those people who thinks that every day you wake up is a bonus,” says Margarson later over breakfast. “In a way, I feel I’ve been quite lucky with horses who have sprung on me when I’ve least expected it. Atavus is a good example of that, and so is Excellent Guest (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}). 
   “I thought the big races were always going to elude him–he’s been second at Royal Ascot twice and second in the Bunbury Cup–but then he goes and wins the Victoria Cup at Ascot first time out last year.” 
   “That sort of thing keeps you going even if everything else isn’t going well, in the sense that you don’t know what’s round the corner,” Margarson continued. “I’m looking at the 2-year-olds now, and you just never know what’s going to pop up, but at the same time I’m realistic enough to know that one might never pop up.”
   A realist he may be, but the exploits of Lucky Kristale have allowed Margarson and the filly’s owner, Elaine Hook, to live the dream for at least a year now. 
   “She was one of the easy ones,” he recalls. “She was the only 2-year-old filly we had last year, so she went out with [older fillies] Imaginary Diva (GB) (Lend A Hand {GB}) and Artful Lady (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}) all the time, and was already doing good canters by January. She found things so easy, and got fitter and fitter, and we soon realized we’d have to start moving her up the gears.” 
   Margarson, who sent out his first runner in 1996 having spent 15 years in Newmarket working for trainer Mick Ryan, has seen plenty of good horses at first hand. During his time at Ryan’s Cadland House Stables, the yard enjoyed top-flight success on the Flat and over jumps with G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Katies (GB) (Nonoalco) and Cheltenham Festival winner Motivator (GB) (General Ironside {GB}). On the personal front, Margarson also met his wife Gaye during his stint with Ryan, the pair being neighbors at the foot of Warren Hill while Gaye was working for Sir Mark Prescott in the yard next door. 
   Since “gambling every penny I had to set up on my own”, Margarson’s own yard has nurtured such talent as the Classic-placed and G3 Greenham S. winner Barathea Guest (GB) (Barathea {Ire}), prolific scorer and fellow group winner Young Mick (GB) (King’s Theatre {Ire}), and multiple listed victrix Polar Jem (GB) (Polar Falcon).
   The trainer continues: “Lucky Kristale never got stressed in her early training, but I could see her growing and maturing. She could have run in the Brocklesby and it would have been very easy to win a string of races with her early on, but Ryan [Powell, apprentice jockey] and Jamie [Mackay] were riding her at the time and both had the same idea–that she wasn’t just okay, she was good. So then we took a different approach.”
   That approach involved a winning debut for Lucky Kristale at her home track last May, followed by victory at Yarmouth in a race the trainer has used previously with some success for his better juveniles, including two subsequent Guineas runners.
   “I wanted to run her in the Yarmouth race that I’d won with Barathea Guest and Imperial Guest. The conditions and timing are perfect if you have a good 2-year-old that you think you’d like to run at Royal Ascot,” he explains. 
   While Royal Ascot itself didn’t quite go to plan, with Lucky Kristale running sixth to Kiyoshi in the G3 Albany S., this was her only blot on an otherwise spotless 2-year-old record, with a pair of Group 2 victories, in the Duchess of Cambridge S. at Newmarket and Lowther S. at York, rounding off a rewarding season.
   Margarson adds: “It was frustrating that we couldn’t get to the G1 Cheveley Park S. but she was coughing and was treated with antibiotics. If the race had been a week later we’d have probably got away with it, but as it was we just shut her down straight away. She’s grown and got stronger over the winter and has been cantering for a few weeks now.”
   A formal Classic trial is almost certain to be eschewed in favor of a racecourse gallop at the Craven Meeting for Lucky Kristale, who is bidding to become the fifth runner in either the 2000 or 1000 Guineas for the Margarson stable.
“I’d say she’s my second real contender,” says her trainer, who has also saddled Speedfit Too (Ire), Jay Gee (Ire), Barathea Guest (GB) and Imperial Guest (GB)–all four owned by his late long-term patron John Guest. “There was only one other horse I’ve gone to a Guineas with believing I could actually win it, and that was Barathea Guest. The question mark I never had with him was the trip, but there is a question mark over the trip for Lucky Kristale, and none of us will know until the last furlong whether or not she’ll get home.”
   He adds: “If she doesn’t, we’ll regroup and get her ready for the G1 July Cup. But that’s one of the reasons I don’t want her to have a prep race and get her revved up. I’d like to keep her nice and relaxed and hope that she will get the mile.”
   Whatever Lucky Kristale achieves this season, her exploits in 2013 helped to boost the profile of her relatively small stable, which has increased in horse numbers by 50% over the winter. 
   “We had 20 last year and I’ve been lucky that we’ve gained some new Arab owners. Abdulla Al Masouri has sent us Tamayuz Star (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), who is a decent prospect, and Rabbah have sent four 2-year-olds, which is great,” says Margarson.
   In addition to these new recruits, one of the other potentially exciting juveniles at the yard is the soon-to-be-named Princess Guest (Ire), an Iffraaj half-sister to the ill-fated Imperial Guest and Excellent Guest who cost 150,000gns at Tattersalls last October. Though John Guest died in 2010 at the age of 83, his family has continued to support the stable, and the filly will race in their colors, as will 3-year-old Elusive Guest (Fr) (Elusive City), another expensive purchase at €190,000 in Deauville in 2012.
   “I’m really looking forward to Elusive Guest this year –he’s pretty useful,” enthuses Margarson. “I’d probably be getting very carried away about him if we didn’t have Kristale.”
   Nobody who has seen the hands-on trainer out on his hack every day in all-weather would begrudge him a victory on the big stage, and should his filly prevail on the first weekend of May, it will be very much a family success. Gaye is also out every morning with first lot on her beloved Magical Speedfit (Ire). The 9-year-old gelding provided the family with another memorable day last April when Katie Margarson–at 24 the eldest of the couple’s two daughters–won on him at Wolverhampton. As well as holding an amateur rider’s licence, Katie is also assistant trainer to her father, while her younger sister Rosie, 19, has been a regular feature on Newmarket Heath since she had her first pony, and is also drafted in for all manner of duties at the yard.
   It’s rare to see a member of the Margarson team not smiling, but George admits that it’s not always easy working so closely as a family.
   “I’m not a person who holds back with my opinion, but we try to leave it in the yard,” he grins. “I tell it as it is, and if someone’s done something stupid I’ll let them know, so sometimes nobody talks to me for a week.”
   The occasional explosive outburst from the trainer aside, it’s hard to come away from the small family stable without holding a fervent desire that Lucky Kristale can deliver a much deserved classic victory almost in their backyard. 
   Tales of the Heath is a twice-monthly installment by Newmarket-based writer Emma Berry. Berry lives in one of Newmarket’s oldest yards, Beverley House Stables, former home to the 1903 Triple Crown winner Rock Sand and now to the small string of flat and jumps horses trained by her husband, John. She accompanies the yard’s first lot most mornings on her 11-year-old retired racehorse, Pantomime Prince.