After the race Ryan was absolutely delighted with Cabinet’s performance.  He said that he  had been a little free on the outside early on and as a result  was doing too much in that position, however he said he was thrilled with the way Cabinet responded and felt sure that he would come on from his first run of the season.  He also said that the horse had not particularly relished the slow conditions.  This was a most encouraging start to Cabinet’s season and he looks like a horse who could continue to show improvement.  It will be fascinating to see where Sir Michael decides to run him next time. 

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
Hopefully Cabinet will be the principal flag bearer for the Club throughout the upcoming flat season. This horse really does continue to impress physically. He currently has an official rating of 93 which makes him eligible for some very valuable mile and a quarter handicaps and hopefully he will then progress on up into a Listed or Group horse.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
As you can imagine, this horse has changed out of all recognition from three to four and hopefully he will be running in Heritage handicaps before moving on up into Listed or Group races later in the season. For a large part of last year he still looked weak and it was only really from July onwards that he began to fill to his frame. He is very much liked by Sir Michael and his team and he couldn’t be in better hands being a typical Stoute improver. All being well, he will make his four year old debut sometime in April and, provided he shows all of the improvement that we would expect, then a trip to Royal Ascot must be on the cards! All in all a most exciting prospect for the season ahead.

Official Rating: 93
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Harry Herbert says : This horse looks to be a really exciting prospect as a four year for 2008. He is still developing physically and Sir Michael holds him in high regard.

11/3/08
Metaphoric didn’t quite manage to make the unsaddling enclosure this afternoon but still ran very respectively to finish fifth.  Tom O’Brien was very complimentary about him but just felt that the soft ground found him out.  His jumping was better than at Ascot but still lacked the fluency and confidence that is needed to win races at the Festival.  Anyhow, he certainly did not disgrace himself and we will now look at the various options at Aintree before returning him to the flat.

10/3/08
Metaphoric has been declared to run tomorrow at Cheltenham in The Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Handicap Hurdle. This is the last race on the card at 5.20 p.m. and Tom O’Brien will once again be in the saddle.

Metaphoric schooled on Saturday morning with Tom on board and everyone was thrilled to bits afterwards. He really does appear to have got his confidence now and we are very hopeful that he will be in with a shout tomorrow. There are twenty four declared for the race including Saturday’s impressive Imperial Cup winner Ashkazar heading the weights at 11st 12 lbs. With the ground conditions easing it arguably takes away Metaphoric’s advantage but Tom O’Brien is adamant that the horse handles soft ground very well and his disappointing run at Ascot should solely be put down to a lack of jumping confidence. Anyhow, what a thrill to have a runner at The Festival and one who must have a sensible each way chance!

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
Metaphoric is in tremendous form and it was such a thrill to see him win so well at Warwick last week. This horse really does appear to be thriving both physically and mentally and if he does improve from that last run then he can be extremely competitive in The Fred Winter Juvenile Novices Handicap at Cheltenham on Tuesday 11th March. He has been given a rating of 124 which should set him up nicely for the that race as last year’s winner had a mark of 130. Metaphoric is a much better horse, I believe, on faster ground and hopefully he is likely to encounter this at Cheltenham.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
All being well Metaphoric will run at Ascot on Saturday in The Spargonet Consulting Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle Race although Michael will be keeping a close watch on ground conditions. His first run over Hurdles at Huntingdon showed that this horse is an extremely useful hurdler in the making and it was just a shame that he didn’t quite manage to win – going down by a short head to Art Professor. He has progressed very well since that race and last week I watched him school over a few flights of hurdles. He was rather ring rusty and over-careful to begin with but then really found his stride and literally flew the last four flights. Provided that he shows on his next start that he is capable of competing in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham then that will of course be his primary objective. I have no doubt in my own mind that Metaphoric is considerably better on faster ground and if past years are anything to go by then he is perhaps more likely to find that ground at Cheltenham than most other places. I would also hope that Metaphoric will be running in some good races on the flat during the summer to add to the excitement!

Official Flat Rating: 100
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Harry Herbert says : The horse came out of his gelding very well and Michael is schooling him over hurdles. He is an extremely talented horse but, as you know, he is perhaps not the most straightforward so hopefully the combination of gelding and a flight of hurdles in front of him will help to concentrate his mind! Michael worked for three years as Assistant and Amateur Jockey to Mercy Rimell, Fred’s widow. She trained the great Champion Hurdler Gaye Brief amongst many others and Michael himself twice won races at Cheltenham as an Amateur. In his training career, he has trained three hurdlers, two of which were winners so Metaphoric will certainly be given every chance! AP McCoy has been schooling him and, he ran a great race at Huntingdon in the Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle on Saturday, 24th November finishing a close second. We plan to run him at Ascot on 19th January 2008.

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
This fellow is so typical of his mother, Lyric Fantasy, who was a small, strong, very precocious type. Hawkspur looks as though he too might be early and at the moment he is taking his work very well. It will really be a question of whether he has the speed to make a debut over five furlongs or whether we will need to wait until May when the first six furlong races begin. He is likely to have his first faster piece of work towards the end of March or early April.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
Hawkspur is a cracking little colt who so resembles his dam, Lyric Fantasy, although perhaps he has a shade more length and scope about him than she ever did. Lyric Fantasy herself was owned by my father who asked Richard Hannon to buy him a cheap filly in order to try and win the Weatherby’s Super Sprint – a race that he had put together at Newbury for horses bought for 30,000 Guineas or less. She cost the grand sum of 12,500 Guineas and went on not only to win the Super Sprint but also to become one of the fastest two year olds seen since the War. Although she was only 14 hands 3 inches she broke the five furlong track record at Ascot and became the first two year old to break a minute over the original course. She ended her two year old year by beating older sprinters in the Nunthorpe Stakes. Hawkspur is a very uncomplicated sort at this early stage of his career and he certainly looks as though he is going to be the most precocious of the four two year olds. He has a good temperament and moves well so I would assume that, provided he shows enough speed, he will be ready to roll sometime in May. Let’s hope that he can be the first of his dam’s offspring to compete successfully at the Royal meeting.

Yearling Equine up date  By Harry Herbert as at December 2007
This colt is out of my father’s great filly, Lyric Fantasy, who was known as the “pocket rocket”. She was unbelievably fast and the first two year old to run Ascot’s five furlongs in under a minute. She also beat the older horses in the Nunthorpe Stakes (Gr 1) at York despite being a two year old and only 14.3 hands tall! My father sold her to John Magnier at the end of her two year old career and you will see from her pedigree that despite producing winners, she has so far failed to produce an animal of anything like her calibre. John and I have seen her previous produce and, to be honest, were not particularly taken by them but this Hawk Wing colt has a totally different stamp about him. He has more length and substance than the others and he also has that rather rather cocky air which his mother also had! Richard Hannon, who trained Lyric Fantasy herself, will train him and I hope that he will be precocious enough to be making his debut before Royal Ascot next year.

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
This colt has done fantastically well over the past five weeks and, although not an early type, he is nonetheless a fine stamp of horse who could be strong enough to run sometime in August.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
This colt has changed out of all recognition since the Yearling Parade at Highclere and has settled in really well to his new routine with Michael Bell. After we bought him which was at the Deauville sales in August he did lose a bit of condition and it was only when we put him back into exercise three weeks before the Parade that he began to look stronger. It appears that the more work he does the more he likes it and the better it is for him physically so hopefully he will continue to strengthen and he just could be the type to be making a debut sometime in late July or early August. Being by Anabaa out of a Linamix mare he will probably appreciate good or easier ground conditions but at this stage he moves beautifully and appears to have a very good temperament.

Yearling Equine up date  By Harry Herbert as at December 2007
This colt we bought from the Deauville sale for 120,000 Euro and he too boasts a very good pedigree. He is out of the dual winning and Group placed Linamix mare, Armilina, and he comes from the family of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes winner Kalaglow. This colt was the only horse that John wanted to buy at the Deauville sale and I am thrilled, therefore, that he fell into the Club’s price range. He is extremely athletic and he is very typical of his maternal grandsire, Linamix, being an eye-catching grey with that somewhat wiry look that is so prevalent in Linamix’s progeny. His sire, Anabaa, has been champion sire in France a number of times and although he was a sprinter himself, he has produced horses that stay up to a mile and a half including the Prix du Jockey Club winner, Anabaa Blue. Let’s hope that this striking grey son of Anabaa continues the great run that Michael Bell is having with the Club’s horses!

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
In early February she was looking rather weak and wintry and she also had suffered from a dose of ring worm. Seeing her last week, it was honestly like looking at a different filly and although still very woolly coated she does look much better in her skin and she has a much better shape to her generally. Florist is not bred to be early and I would anticipate that it will take most of her two year old year to strengthen and develop before she is up to making a debut. Like most fillies she will need plenty of sunshine and warm weather before she really blossoms and it may be that we take her back here to Highclere and give her a holiday in May.

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
This is a lovely filly and I thought that she showed herself off particularly well at the RARC Yearling Parade. John and I loved her from the first moment we saw her, as she was one of those fillies who seemed very alert and willing. She appears to have an extremely good temperament and she moves well up Warren Hill although she has recently suffered a bout of ringworm which, apart from looking rather unsightly, has also meant that she looks a little more wintry in her coat than some of the others. Florist is eligible for the new Tattersalls Fillies Million and, provided that she is good enough, then this is a race that she will most definitely be aimed at. Her pedigree has an interesting blend of speed and stamina and I would expect her to be running initially over seven furlongs before stepping up to a mile plus as a three year old. Hopefully, therefore, she will be precocious enough to be making her debut sometime in August.

Yearling Equine up date  By Harry Herbert as at December 2007
This filly cost only 42,000Gns and she really is an absolute corker. Her sire, Beat Hollow, was a multiple Group One winning son of Sadler’s Wells who, despite a small book of mares, has produced a number of Stakes performers and he now looks sets to really make his mark as a stallion. This filly is a half sister to the Group Three winner, Vigata, and her dam Welsh Dawn was a half sister to the Group 3 winner Ordinance as well as the Listed winners Dawna and White Shadow. This filly is tremendously athletic with plenty of size and scope but I hope that she will be precocious enough to run in the new Tattersalls Fillies’ £1 million race if good enough. I am delighted that Jeremy Noseda is joining the RARC training roster and he will be taking care of this filly once she has been broken along with the others over the next few weeks.

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE
Harry Herbert Racing Club manager writes as at 1st march 2008:
This is a very eye-catching filly on the move. She has a really strong shoulder and powerful set of quarters on her but, being critical, rather lacks middle which is probably just the way she is made. At this stage it is difficult to predict when she might be strong enough to run but I would imagine that it will be sometime in June or early July.

Stable visit dates are as follows:
18th April – Hannon visit
29th April – Newmarket
1st July – Newmarket
18th July Hannon

JANUARY 2008 UPDATE
When John and I first saw Capitelli at the Tattersalls Book 1 Sale we were immediately attracted by her balance and movement. Perhaps she wasn’t the most obvious filly from a physical stand point as she looked a little bit in two pieces, due to the growth phase that she was going through at the time. However we simply couldn’t cross her off the list and every time that we went back to see her she strode on with a real purpose. This filly has the most amazing pedigree because her dam, Dear Girl, is a daughter of the great broodmare Alidiva who has produced the classic winner Sleepytime as well as the Sussex Stakes winner Ali-Royal, together with the Premio Roma (Gr.1) winner Taipan. There really is no better pedigree in the Book and I am delighted to report that Capitelli has gone from strength to strength physically since going into training with Richard Hannon. Progeny of Cape Cross tend to need a bit of time to develop but this filly looks as though she might well turn into a summer two year old and at this stage of her career she really is finding it all very easy.

Yearling Equine up date  By Harry Herbert as at December 2007
This filly is a really racy individual and we believe that she represented fantastic value in such a strong marketplace. Cape Cross himself is one of the leading sires standing at stud in Britain today and is the sire of the brilliant race-mare Ouija Board as well as numerous other Group One performers. This filly boasts a spectacular pedigree being out of a half sister to the Group One winners Taipan, Ali-Royal and the 1000 Guineas winner Sleepytime. She is also eligible for the two new races that Tattersalls are running next year which each have a prize money value of £1 million!