Prince Among Agents

RACING POST, 16 June 98, BY TOM GOFF, NEWMARKET CORRESPONDENT
 

Neat, walks well and very racey. No, not a description of Naomi Campbell, but the words scribbled in Charlie Gordon-Watson's 1996 Tattersalls October Sales catalogue alongside lot 352, a bay colt by Green Desert out of Flying Fairy.

The yearling was purchased by Gordon-Watson for Edward St. George's Lucayan Stud for 62,000gns. He was named Desert Prince and last month, when winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas, he became the twelfth individual Group 1 winner and the sixth Classic winner the 38 year old has bought for his ever-growing band of satisfied clients.

"At the sales Desert Prince stood out because he was a great athletic horse," recalls Gordon-Watson. "He had a good pedigree with Fairy Footsteps and Light Cavalry in there on the dam's side. On pedigree I thought he had a chance of producing the goods.

  "David Loder and I knew Desert Prince was going to make more than St. George was prepared to pay. We managed to track him down in London, where he was having lunch. We told him the horse was definitely worth having. He gave us the OK and he's the most expensive horse St. George has ever bought.

"David said last year that he thought Desert Prince could be one of the best horses he's ever trained and he's been proved right. The Irish Guineas did go perfectly for him but you need luck in Classics.

Gordon-Watson has been buying yearlings for St. George for four years now and the success rate has been phenomenal. St. George gives him a budget and lets Charlie get on with it. In the first year the yearlings had to average 30,000gns. "We've got him up a bit more now, " says Charlie. "Out of the first crop I bought for him we had Bahamian Knight who cost $45,000 and won the Italian Derby and about £300,000 in prize money and Lucayan Prince who cost $55,000 and won the Jersey at Ascot. The next year we had Bahamian Bounty. I thought he was going to go under the hammer for 40,000gns so I went in and snapped him up for 45,000gns and just thought I would sort it all out later. Within about a minute David Loder tapped me on the shoulder and said: "I'll have that." He won the Prix Morny, was sold to Godolphin and then won the Middle Park. That's how lucky St. George is. Since then we've had Desert Prince, Lucayan Indian and Daring Derek.

So what is the Gordon-Watson formula for success? The obvious answer is that he has a very good eye for picking out a classy individual. But, as he is quick to point out, anyone can buy the perfect horse. "I don't have unlimited amounts to spend," he says "You have to balance pedigree, faults and value to find a happy medium. They're going to have to have the odd little thing wrong with them. They've got to be athletic and, when I'm buying for David Loder, look as though they're going to make two-year-olds.

Gordon-Watson also works for Lord Lloyd-Webber's Watership Down Stud, advising on the purchase of yearlings and mares as well as reporting on all the stock once a month.

His newest client is Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, for whom he bought Queensland Star for 17,000 gns at the Tattersalls October Sales last year. " I went to see him last September when United played Chelsea. He gave us a budget and I suggested he should buy 60 per cent of two horses so that if anything went wrong with one, then he'd still be OK. I liked Queensland Star. He looked as thought he would develop into something. He's won two races from three starts and it's been a dream situation.

Looking to the future, Gordon-Watson laments Loder's departure to train for Godolphin in France. "For me David going is a disaster. I'm disappointed, as it's the loss of a great trainer who I've had fantastic results with and it was a system that worked. But hopefully, one door closes and another one opens.

"I'm a terrible worrier about everything, though I wouldn't work so well if I wasn't on edge sometimes. I've got myself to a level now that I need a good horse every year. Last year I had Compton Place and this year there's been Desert Prince. A big winner is an enormous relief and, of course, I enjoy it. But if I don't keep the success-rate going then people might start to write me off.