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Racehorse Profile
This is a great opportunity to be involved in a very talented, winning 2YO filly who could go on to be virtually anything in 2024 as a 3YO.
Ollie trained Keldeo’s half-brother 'Blitzle', a leading light in his yard until a sudden injury meant he had to retire. Blitzle won twice in his opening season and looked set for a high-profile racing career until it was cut short by a non-genetic injury. Lily is Blitzle's half-sister and is by the young sire Land Force. Land Force is by No Nay Never, the grand-sire of Blitzle, so there are solid pedigree lines that echo her half-brother's.
In April 2023 Keldeo suffered a kick to her nose during a workout on the Malton gallops. After a successful operation, her racing debut had to wait until July. After showing up well for much of her opening run at Catterick over five furlongs, she then went to Beverley in a Class 5 Novice over the same distance and ran out an easy three-length winner. She showed great finishing speed that day and to prove it was no fluke, she then finished a good third back at the same venue when giving weight to her quality opponents.
The form of that third race does look to be quite decent, with the first two home hailing from the William Haggas and Kevin Ryan stables. Keldeo is currently rated in the 70’s, although trainer Ollie Pears is hopeful she will continue on an upward trajectory.
Ollie told us, "She wasn't a cheap horse, but then I always thought she had the looks and pedigree of an even more expensive racehorse. I was delighted with her three-length win at Beverley, she really improved for her first outing and again for her third. Giving weight to good horses is always tough, but she proved she is a really decent sort.’
Despite being almost completely black at present, Keldeo will slowly turn grey as the months go by. She has flecks of grey in her already, and these will slowly become more numerous as she matures. Given she is a grey sprinter, we’ve already got our eye on the ‘Grey’s Race’ at Newmarket in August. It is open to greys only aged 3YO and above and is worth £25k (£14k to the winner). It is run over six furlongs, which may be the distance Keldeo is running over by next August.
Ollie went on to say "Keldeo’s breeding is all on the sprint side. I thought a lot of Blitzle, and I’m hoping Keldeo will fulfill the promise she has already shown."
This filly's breeding backs up Ollie's view. Bred along similar lines to Blitzle, with a fantastic pedigree on the dam side. Lily's mother won twice and she was a sister of Group Three winner Salford Secret. The second dam's offspring reads like a who's who of top-grade racehorses: Dylan Thomas, Homecoming Queen, and Queen's Logic all achieving super-star status.
"If you have trouble selling shares in this filly there is something wrong!" stated Ollie Pears
"She has a top-quality pedigree and has already won a Novice impressively. Land has done well as a new sire, with a handful of really decent sorts. But even if the pedigree doesn't impress potential shareholders, her looks should do the rest. She's a really good-looking sort, even after the operation left her with stitch marks over her nose."
He added, ‘The one thing about this filly is that she keeps improving. Every race has seen her achieve more than was expected. Even her run at Beverley, which saw her finish third, was a really strong effort as the first two home were from big yards and the race time was one of the best of the day.’
Keldeo is a very exciting racehorse who potentially has the ability to contest quality handicaps and possibly even Listed races. Because she keeps improving, a winter of growing and maturing could see her perfectly placed to work her way up the ratings from March 2024 onwards. We are hoping she can win again and prove she can be a threat in quality 3YO only handicaps early in the season, and then 3YO+ handicaps as the season develops.
Form & Race Plans
The race plans for this filly will be determined by her level of ability shown at home and on the course in 2024. She will certainly be racing over sprint distances, although Ollie has intimated that he expects to try her over six furlongs when the time is right.
Off her current rating of 74, the standard route for a horse of this type will be to contest 0-80 and 0-85 nursery/standard handicaps. However, if as we hope, she keeps improving, she may be good enough to tackle Listed, conditions races or even step into pattern races (high value, prestige races).
We have seen her win on ‘Good to Soft’ ground, and run well on a ‘Good to Firm’ surface. It would appear that Keldeo is more than capable of handling all ground types, but we would expect Ollie to avoid the extremes of ‘Firm’ or ‘Heavy’. She has yet to race on an artificial surface, but Ollie has a Tapeta surface at his home gallops and he reports that she is more than capable on the All-Weather.
Your online Racehorse Manager will provide full details of all developments in terms of the filly's progress and race planning as the months roll by.
Keldeo 2024 Guarantee
We expect to get 3-7 runs and sometimes more from all our 3YO horses per share period, however, you should expect periods of no racing as a result of recuperation from injury or training setbacks. This share period starts properly at the start of the turf season on April 1st 2024 and runs through the turf season until November 1st 2024, however, we will be reporting on the filly before the share period starts (from January 2024) should we have anything of importance to share with shareholders.
During the season the horse may be rested or have time away from the track to recover and it is quite normal for a flat horse to have periods of 3-6 weeks of rest between races.
We provide guarantees with all our racehorses: If this filly has a season-ending injury and has not already RACED TWICE during the share period, we will replace her with an alternative horse for the remainder of the season. Replacement horses may not be of the same quality, are provided with no further guarantees and no alternative choice can be provided. Prizemoney cannot be paid on any replacements, but all other benefits such as yard visits and race day badges are available.
As a shareholder you must understand that we cannot guarantee your horse's performance, a specific volume of runs (beyond our minimum guarantee if injured) or that runs will be evenly spaced throughout the share period. This is the chance you take when owning any racehorse and participating in this ownership experience. If you will be disappointed with only 2-3 runs from your racehorse during the season, then please DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THIS OR ANY OTHER RACEHORSE, as you could be disappointed. We believe in being crystal clear with our shareholders - any participation in racehorse ownership is a risk, and we are unable to make any refunds because of share periods which finish early due to injury or retirement - as training and livery fees for the horse still remain whether they are racing or not and part of your lease payment covers their build-up to the season.
These risks are the chance all shareholders take, as we do ourselves when participating in the ownership of racehorses.