OPEN CHAMPION2019 bay gelding by POSTPONED ex Nargys (Lawman)(Trainer: Alan King, Barbary Castle Stables, nr Wroughton, Wiltshire)
We bought OPEN CHAMPION, a very good-looking gelding by Postponed, at the Goffs Horses in Training sale at Doncaster. It was the very same sale at which we bought our star hurdler and Cesarewitch winner, BUZZ, in 2019.
OPEN CHAMPION came with a very strong recommendation from his Newmarket trainer, our good friend Roger Varian, as a horse with considerable promise who would jump hurdles and win again on the flat next season. We have sent him to the top dual-purpose trainer Alan King, where he will start his hurdling campaign. Alan has had enormous success over the jumps and on the flat at all the Big Festival meetings; Cheltenham, Aintree, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, Newmarket & York. Alan was responsible for training our winning Black Type mare Tante Sissi.OPEN CHAMPION’s sire, Postponed, was the Champion middle-distance horse in Europe in 2016, having won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Judmonte International and Coronation Cup. In 2022, OPEN CHAMPION was an above-average middle-distance performer on the flat. He has only run five times so we are very sure he is open to plenty of improvement. Alan King said: “OPEN CHAMPION has the size for hurdling and is bigger than Katchit who won the Champion Hurdle for me; he looks an exciting prospect for hurdling and on the flat. I think you bought him well as he would have been a lot more money at the Horses in Training Sale the following week at Tattersalls”.
We look forward to seeing OPEN CHAMPION begin his hurdling career in 2023. He is 1 of 3 horses in the Thurloe for Royal Marsden Cancer Charity II Syndicate where 15% of winnings will be going to the Charity.
