A familiar face among many racing fans in Australia having travelled Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) on his first trip Down Under for his former boss William Haggas, Harry advertised his talents in 2020 when he oversaw the gelding’s training which ultimately concluded with victories in both the G1 Ranvet S. and G1 Queen Elizabeth S.
Now training in his own right, the Royal Ascot triumph was provided by Latin Lover (Ire) (Starspanngledbanner), who landed the Palace Of Holyroodhouse S. on the penultimate day, providing Harry with the most prestigious victory since he took over the licence from his father James two years ago at Park Lodge Stables in Newmarket, where he and David grew up.
“It was a complete fairytale and to think this would happen this early on, you don’t even begin to think about it in case it never happens,” Harry told TDN AusNZ. “We have had a brilliant season so far and I would have taken how it had gone before the Royal Ascot winner, but it’s going to be hard to top that now.”
Harry Eustace with his parents James and Gay at Royal Ascot
The celebrations in the aftermath were laced with genuine delight, coupled with humble disbelief, as Harry, flanked by the owners, expressed his shock after his first runner at the meeting, ridden by his girlfriend Hayley Turner, defeated Nymphadora (GB) (No Nay Never {USA}) by 0.5l.
'An absolute thrill'
Meanwhile, 10,000 miles away in Australia, David watched on and he told TDN AusNZ that seeing Harry add a Royal Ascot triumph to his CV this early on in his career surpassed any of his own personal achievements as a trainer.
“I can honestly say that watching Harry have a Royal Ascot winner was a bigger thrill than anything I've achieved,” said David. “I always get that feeling in racing that when your friends or your contemporaries, and in this case your family, win races you get as much, if not more, of a thrill than if you win them yourself.
“Having grown up in the UK I know the history of Royal Ascot and I just know how hard it is to win a race at the meeting.
Latin Lover (Ire) winning the Palace Of Holyroodhouse S. at Royal Ascot last month | Image courtesy of Coolmore
“I thought Harry was so measured in his interview afterwards and quite rightly said the number of good horses that didn’t win in that week alone just shows how difficult it is. It was a massive thrill.”
It is no secret that prizemoney levels in the UK are not thriving and David explained how difficult for new trainers it is to get their name out there at the beginning of their careers.
“I would say that every trainer that starts training anywhere, but particularly in Europe, starts with horses that are largely not that good and if they are winning races it’s for a small purse, so you’ve got to stick your neck out and buy some horses in your first year and I'm delighted it's paying off for Harry,” explained David.
The best laid plan
Purchased by Hubie de Burgh Equine for £21,000 (AU$37,000) at the Tattersalls Ireland Sale, Latin Lover went into the handicap having snared the second win of his career only 10 days before and Harry explained he nearly decided to shelve the whole Royal Ascot plan altogether.
“It was funny how it all happened. He had won the week before and it allowed me to make the entry and I still in my mind hadn’t decided if I was going to run him or not, because I always thought that Ascot has to have always been the plan, especially the handicaps, and I felt that running him was more because we could run rather than we should,” explained Harry.
“It was funny how it all happened. He (Latin Lover) had won the week before and it allowed me to make the entry (for Royal Ascot) and I still in my mind hadn’t decided if I was going to run him or not...” - Harry Eustace
“I then started looking for other options of races that would suit. We were looking for a stiff five furlongs on fast ground. On Monday, Mark, one of the owners, called and asked about the entry at Ascot and I said I didn’t think I was going to take it up, because I still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.
“Then, I promise you, in the middle of the night, I woke up and thought: 'I am looking for a stiff five furlongs on fast ground and we are entered in one, why am I not doing this?' So, I called all the owners back the following day and said: ‘Look, ignore everything I just said yesterday, if we get in we’re going.’
“We crept in last of the 28 and at the time that felt like a victory. All the owners were buzzing - it sounds really weird, but after that, the win almost felt like a bonus.”
Exit strategy
In 2021, his first season with a licence, Harry sent out a respectable 14 winners and he described his first year as ‘good, but we didn’t set the world alight - we tipped away.’
However, this season Harry has his team firing on all cylinders and, with a large chunk of the season left, he has nearly eclipsed last year’s tally having so far saddled 13 winners and he is currently firing at an impressive strike-rate of 21 per cent.
“We bought a lot of horses in the first year in the hope they would be better 3-year-olds and it is such a relief that it has turned out to be the case,” said Harry.
“We bought a lot of horses in the first year in the hope they would be better 3-year-olds and it is such a relief that it has turned out to be the case.” - Harry Eustace
The plan had always been to sell Latin Lover as a 3-year-old and he is an exciting entry in the upcoming Tattersalls July Sale, which gets underway in Newmarket on Wednesday.
With trading horses now a big part of the business, Harry said he specifically targets the sorts of horses at the sales with pedigrees he believes will appeal to emerging markets such as Australia.
“It is well documented that trading horses is a big part of our industry in Europe and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Probably up to a mile go to Hong Kong and then a mile-plus go to Australia. We try to buy a yearling with the exit strategy in mind and then it depends what happens in between from there, but when I go to the yearling sales, overseas interest is definitely in the back of my mind,” said Harry.
Changing profiles
In 2020, Harry and his father James were given the task of overseeing the training of Sir Dragonet (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) before his subsequent G1 Cox Plate victory for his brother David and his training partner Ciaron Maher and Harry said he believes the profile of horses that ultimately end up in Australia has changed over the years.
“Interestingly, I think the profile of horses who end up in Australia is changing; at the beginning it was decent handicappers and I think Ciaron and David and now of course Annabel, have shown that if you spend a bit more and buy a proven Group horse it is actually almost better value.
Sir Dragonet (Ire) winning the 2020 G1 Cox Plate | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
“It is nothing new, but anything that can win a mile, a mile and quarter-plus, from a 3-year-old upwards hits their radars. I had a 3-year-old last year called Ziggy, and he placed in a seven-furlong maiden and I got an enquiry for Australia straight off the bat, even before he got a handicap mark - so they are watching everything.
“To financially compete in this business, I have to think outside the box at the sales and if I can get a bit of value out of buying a middle-distance horse, who is progressive as a 3-year-old, his resale value is actually much higher than those 2-year-olds.
“I understand, this is by no means foolproof obviously, but that is sort of the avenue I am going down at the moment. Dour stayers aren’t going to cut it down in Australia anymore, they need to have a bit of pace, when you start getting up to horses that stay a mile and three-quarters that is probably no longer faster enough for Australia anymore.”
The very best
Australia is undisputedly the dominating force in the sprinting ranks, which was confirmed by Nature Strip’s (Nicconi) freakish win in the G1 King’s Stand S. at Royal Ascot, but there are a few critics of the strength of the middle-distance racing in Australia.
But due to his time in the country, including with Addeybb, Harry knows a thing or two about the middle-distance racing and still believes it is wasted trip for a trainer to send anything other than their top-line horses to have any chance of competing in Weight-For-Age races, such as the G1 Cox Plate.
Harry Eustace and Tom Marquand embrace after Addeybb's (Ire) win in the 2020 G1 Ranvet S. | Image courtesy of Tom Marquand
“I think State Of Rest proved that you have to be a good horse to win those proper Weight-For-Age races in Australia, there is no use going down with one you think is only ‘okay’ in Europe, because you’ll get burned,” he explained.
“State Of Rest winning at Ascot was great, because it showed that you do have to be top-class to win a race like the Cox Plate. I think perhaps because he did all his Group 1-winning away from Europe first, people underestimated him - so him winning the Prince Of Wales’s S. was a brilliant advertisement for Australian middle-distance racing, showing you do have to be a genuine Group 1 animal to win down there.
“It happened with Addeybb, Australia turned out to be making him and it gave William (Haggas) the confidence to run him in the Group 1 Pattern here and after he won the Champion S. he proved to be of that level too.
“You can’t rock up to Australia with your second-rate string in my opinion, you’ve got to turn up with your best, or one of your very best.”
Australian plans?
It has been a memorable year for David and Ciaron, with the training partnership having saddled six elite-level winners in the past 12 months, headed by three-time Group 1-winning colt Hitotsu (Maurice {Jpn}), but despite all the accolades David has achieved he would love to add a race at Royal Ascot to his already glittering CV.
“I do still think, at the moment anyway, that if we were to travel a horse, it still needs to be a sprinter,” said David. “I don’t think we have quite got one right now, but when we do we’ll be there.”
“I do still think, at the moment anyway, that if we were to travel a horse (to Royal Ascot), it still needs to be a sprinter.” - David Eustace
On the other side of the coin, given his strong ties to Australia, it will be no surprise to see Harry targeting plunder Down Under in the future.
“If I had the right one now, without a shadow of a doubt I would factor in Australia for a horse, obviously, for the added reason that my brother is down there, but having taken Addeybb and Young Rascal there and watched a lot other people do it successfully, it is the challenge that appeals to me more anything else, but you also want to showcase racing worldwide,” he explained.
“Australia just does everything incredibly well and I think, quite rightly, they are the envy of most racing jurisdictions, but in particular Europe - so if we can go down and swipe some of their cash that would be great.”
