Bay City Roller Finished for the Season after Champagne Heroics

09/17/2024 12:58 PM

Every day is a school day if you follow TDN. Thankfully, master of all subjects Emma Berry delivered yesterday's lesson on the Bay City Rollers–apparently one of the most popular bands of the 1970s–in her excellent Seven Days column, allowing me to stay in my lane with today's news that the unbeaten two-year-old colt of the same name is unlikely to run again this year after his comfortable victory in Saturday's G2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster.

That is according to trainer George Scott, who already has his sights set on the big tests next spring with Bay City Roller (Ire), the son of New Bay (GB) who showed the benefit of the education he gained in his first two wins at Sandown and Chelmsford when finding plenty to beat Monumental (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) by half a length on Town Moor.

Bought for €320,000 at Book 1 of the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale, it seems that Bay City Roller has always been the teacher's pet where Scott is concerned, with the Newmarket trainer barely able to contain his enthusiasm for what the future might hold with Victorious Racing's latest hot prospect.

“Bay City Roller is really the horse that we've been hoping would come along for a long time,” Scott summed up on his way to Yarmouth on Tuesday. “We spent a lot of money on him at the sales, which brought some pressure with it. Then Shaikh Nasser bought him after his first start, so that put a little bit of pressure on as well.

“He went into the race [at Doncaster] with two hard-knocking victories under his belt, which I really felt would put him in good stead in that situation. And he's really impressed me at home, all the way through. He's just got an amazing mind and an amazing constitution. Honestly, I very much expected him to be involved at the business end of the race and it was a relief to see him fulfill everything that I thought he might become.”

Of the plan to draw stumps for the season, Scott added, “He's come out of the race well, but I do feel like he's really done enough this year. He's had three pretty hard races and he has his whole future ahead of him. He's got a later-maturing pedigree and giving him this prolonged period of time between now and next spring could just make the difference ahead of a busy three-year-old campaign.”

It might be a case of Bye Bye Baby until 2025 for Bay City Roller, but his return to action is likely to prove worth the wait if Scott's assertion that this horse could be the best he's trained is anything to go by.

“I certainly do think he has that potential, I really do,” confirmed the trainer who enjoyed early big-race success with the G2 Mill Reef Stakes winner and G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest runner-up James Garfield (Ire), while more recently he saddled Isle Of Jura (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) to win the G2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.

Isle Of Jura is said to be recovering well from the setback which has sidelined him since that landmark victory, though he won't be seen on a racecourse again until next spring, with Scott already considering the G2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket as a potential stepping stone to a Hardwicke defence.

That rules out another Far East foray this winter for Isle Of Jura, who preceded his Royal Ascot triumph by winning Bahrain's Triple Crown earlier in the year, but Scott is by no means short of ammunition as he weighs up his international options either side of the new year. Bahrain can certainly expect another strong raiding party from Eve Lodge Stables.

“We really enjoy our time in Bahrain and get so well looked after,” Scott began, before giving the details of what is shaping up to be a classy team bound for the Kingdom in the coming months. “We're keen to support their season again and we've probably got between five and 10 possible horses to go out there. We're still making some plans, but I think the likes of Phantom Flight, City House, Watch My Tracer and Rocket Rodney would be on the team at this stage, with a few other possibles.”

Another horse set to be on his travels again is the six-year-old Prydwen (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who completed a “very special weekend” for the team when winning Sunday's G3 Deutsches St. Leger at Dortmund.

“I have to admit I absolutely loved that,” Scott said of that success. “I probably got as much of a kick out of that as almost anything else we've done since I started training.

“The horse looked like he was finding it quite hard work running against the pool of horses he was in England, so we had to think outside the box. We'd never been to Germany before and there was a lot of planning that went into it. The horse went there after being so impressive in Ireland a few weeks before and I thought it was another really good performance from him. It meant a lot to win a race of that stature–it was hugely satisfying.

“I think he'll go to Dubai,” he added of future plans. “There's quite a good programme for stayers in Dubai and then, if everything goes to plan, I'd hope he might go to Saudi for the Red Sea Turf Handicap.

“It's great fun travelling horses and you always learn something from it. The staff enjoy it and the owners enjoy it, so we're always open-minded to those trips.”

In addition to the staff and the owners, Scott was keen to pay tribute to the role played by Callum Shepherd, both at Dortmund on Sunday and in general as a jockey who is fast becoming an integral part of the team.

“I think Callum is an outstanding rider and the way he conducted himself on the trip to Germany showed how much work goes into making him what he is,” said Scott. “He'd watched every German St. Leger possible and he walked the track and had a very clear idea of where he wanted to be. He gave the horse an unbelievable ride and he was the difference. There's no question about that.

“What really impresses me is that when we run in big races–big races for us both because we're on the same trajectory–he's just so cool and relaxed in the paddock. It doesn't matter if it's at Lingfield on a Tuesday or we're running in the Hardwicke, he's exactly the same. That's a huge asset to him, that he doesn't feel the pressure of the big days.”

Both trainer and jockey have become increasingly familiar faces on the big days this year, having also teamed up to win the G3 Palace House Stakes with Seven Questions (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and, of course, the Champagne Stakes with Bay City Roller.

For Scott it's certainly been the best season of a training career which began the best part of a decade ago. For context, his total prize-money won in Britain of £825,536 is already more than double what he earned in all of 2023, while his tally of 34 winners leaves him just three shy of the personal best he achieved in 2022.

“Things have really gone well,” said the man with around 65-70 horses in his care, a number he expects to stay more or less the same in 2025. “It's been a little bit surreal at times. We've had 10 stakes winners and won over a million in prize-money worldwide this year, which is a credit to everyone connected to the yard.

“Hopefully, this could be a stepping stone to the next level. We've already bought some really nice yearlings and we're very much hoping that we can keep increasing the quality and continue to be represented in these better races.”

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