[an error occurred while processing this directive] Look Here Springs Oaks Surprise
06/06/08

1st 7 Look Here 33/1
2nd 11 Moonstone 25/1
3rd 6 Katiyra 9/2

Trainer Ralph Beckett made a serious attempt to break the world record for handshaking after a superb performance by his filly Look Here who galloped the opposition into the ground in the Judmonte Oaks at Epsom Downs, bringing the Whitsbury handler his first victory in a British Classic.

“It’s the most amazing feeling. When all is said and done, we could go skint now and it wouldn’t matter,” he said.

The trainer did not rush his filly as a two-year old. “We left her alone and left her alone and eventually it got to the point where we had to run her and she hosed up at Salisbury which is only 10 minutes away and that form is rock solid,” he said.

The going that day was soft and the horse Look Here beat was Doctor Fremantle, who goes in tomorrow’s Vodafone Derby with a good chance..

In Look Here’s opener this season, in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield, the filly ran second after meeting trouble. “Things didn’t work out for us there,” said Beckett.

Nor was the preparation for the Juddmonte Oaks trouble-free. “She worked diabolically last week, shockingly, and I said we have to work her again because we can’t go there [to Epsom] off the back of this,” said Beckett.

“Then it rained all week and we were chuffed, but in the end that didn’t matter. Before the race, I’m not saying that I was confident, but I knew that she would run a race,” added the trainer.

For Beckett, who missed out on winning the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 2005 when Penkenna Princess went down by the narrowest of margins, this was an very, very welcome consolation.

Beckett’s delight was matched by the owner Julian Richmond-Watson, a former chair of the Epsom Race Committee and the current senior steward of the Jockey Club . “I’ve always loved the place and if there’s one place I’d want to win a big race, it’s here,” he said.

Seb Sanders, riding his first Oaks winner, said: “I made a hash of it in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield, but it was a trial. I found out a lot about her because of that mistake and I could have sat on her a lot longer today but a horse appeared on her outside and I knew I would get home and she’s got a lovely turn of foot.

“I’ve come here today and no-one has asked me anything about her. It’s been absolutely lovely and deep down I really thought that she would run a massive race today. She gave me a really lovely feel at Lingfield and it was disappointing to get beat there but I learnt a lot about her so it’s benefited us today.”

Trainer John Oxx was more than pleased with Katiyra’s third place finish in the Group One Juddmonte Oaks, but felt that she may have been closer to the winner, Look Here, had she not got “caught in traffic” coming down the hill.

Meanwhile, Aidan O’Brien was also happy with the performance of the second placed Moonstone, one of six runners the Irish handler saddled in the one and a half-mile Classic.

Position	Horse Trainer	Jockey Weight	Starting Price Beaten Distance
1	Look Here R M Beckett	S Sanders 9st 0lbs	33 - 1 Winner
2	Moonstone A P O'Brien	R Hughes 9st 0lbs	25 - 1 3 3/4 lengths
3	Katiyra John M Oxx	M J Kinane 9st 0lbs	9 - 2 2 3/4 lengths
4	Clowance R Charlton	L Dettori 9st 0lbs	11 - 1 2 3/4 lengths
5	Lush Lashes J S Bolger	K J Manning 9st 0lbs	5 - 2 1/2 length
6	Cape Amber P W Chapple-Hyam	J P Spencer 9st 0lbs	16 - 1 1 1/2 length
7	Michita J H M Gosden	J Fortune 9st 0lbs	8 - 1 3 1/2 lengths
8	Savethisdanceforme A P O'Brien	C O'Donoghue 9st 0lbs	33 - 1 1 1/2 length
9	Chinese White D K Weld	P J Smullen 9st 0lbs	5 - 1 2 1/4 lengths
10	Saphira's Fire W R Muir	Martin Dwyer 9st 0lbs	40 - 1 2 1/4 lengths
11	Miracle Seeker C G Cox	A Kirby 9st 0lbs	40 - 1 Neck
12	Sugar Mint B W Hills	M Hills 9st 0lbs	33 - 1 18 lengths
13	Sail A P O'Brien	R L Moore 9st 0lbs	9 - 1 6 lengths
14	Tiffany Diamond A P O'Brien	J A Heffernan 9st 0lbs	25 - 1 1 length
15	Adored A P O'Brien	J Murtagh 9st 0lbs	9 - 1 14 lengths
16	Ice Queen A P O'Brien	D R McCabe 9st 0lbs	100 - 1 1 1/4 length

LOOK HERE (GB) FACTFILE

b f Hernando (FR) - Last Look (Rainbow Quest (USA))

Form: 1-21 Owner: Julian Richmond-Watson
Trainer: Ralph Beckett Jockey: Seb Sanders Breeder: Lawn Stud

Look Here
Look Here was bred at her owner’s Lawn Stud in Northamptonshire. She is by the 1993 Prix du Jockey Club winner Hernando out of Last Look. All of Last Look’s seven foals have won. Look Here was victorious on her only outing as a juvenile in a mile maiden at Salisbury on October 3. Sent off a 16/1 shot under Kerrin McEvoy, she stayed on strongly in the final furlong to brush aside the 1/3 favourite and Derby contender Doctor Fremantle by two and a half lengths. Having raced on good to soft ground when securing that debut success, Look Here was faced with good to firm going on her seasonal return in the Listed Oaks Trial at Lingfield on May 10. Ridden by Seb Sanders, the filly raced at the back of the field in the extended 11-furlong contest. Having made a forward move approaching the turn, she failed to negotiate it smoothly and dropped to the rear before staying on to take second, three quarters of a length behind Miracle Seeker. She clearly learnt from that experience, as she showed tremendous improvement on her next start to land the Juddmonte Oaks by an impressive eight three and three quarter lengths from Moonstone to record a memorable 33/1 success, the biggest shock in the Classic since Jet Ski Lady’s 50/1 success in 1991. Along with Frieze (1952), Look Here is the second highest-priced winner of the Juddmonte Oaks since the second world war.
Race Record: Starts: 3; Wins 2; 2nd: 1; 3rd: -; Win & Place Prize Money: £222,336.82

Julian Richmond-Watson
Julian Richmond-Watson was born on December 6, 1947 and is the son of Sonny Richmond-Watson, a Northamptonshire landowner and former deputy senior steward. He was elected to the Jockey Club in 1993, became a Steward in 2000 and Senior Steward in 2003. He has been chairman of Nottingham Racecourse and the Epsom Race Committee, and was a director of United Racecourses as well as a racecourse steward at Warwick, Newmarket and Nottingham. In 2000 he was appointed as chairman of the then British Horseracing Board’s Race Planning Committee. Richmond-Watson has owned racehorses since 1970 - currently his string are shared between Ralph Beckett, Amanda Perrett and James Fanshawe - and he owns Lawn Stud in Potterspury, Northamptonshire. He owned last year’s Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial victor Kayah, who finished ninth at Epsom Downs but this year he gained by far his greatest ever success when Look Here was the hugely-impressive winner of the Juddmonte Oaks today.
Juddmonte Oaks Wins: 2008 LOOK HERE

Ralph Beckett
Born June 24, 1971, Ralph Beckett is a cousin of Prince Khalid Abdulla’s racing manager Lord Grimthorpe. Formerly assistant to Peter Walwyn, he began training at his old boss’ Windsor House Stables, Lambourn, in November, 1999, and moved to his present base, David Elsworth’s former stables at Whitsbury Manor Stables, Hampshire, in January, 2006. Beckett previously worked for the likes of Martin Pipe, Arthur Moore, Jimmy Fitzgerald, David Loder, Australian trainer Colin Hayes and Tom Skiffington in the US. He came close to Classic victory in 2005 when Penkenna Princess was beaten a short-head in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. The filly had already won the Listed Oh So Sharp Stakes and Group Three Fred Darling Stakes. Richmond-Watson’s father sent Beckett the last horse he had in training but sadly passed away before the filly won at Beverley. He gained an emotional first Classic victory when Look Here, owned by Julian Richmond Watson, won the Juddmonte Oaks at Epsom Downs in 2008.

Juddmonte Oaks Record (since 1984): 2007-9 Kayah; 2008-1 LOOK HERE

Seb Sanders
Born September 25, 1971, Sanders began his racing life as an apprentice at Bryan McMahon’s yard near Tamworth. That was one of his local stables as he is a Midlander by origin and remains a keen supporter of Birmingham City. His first success came when Band On The Run won at Pontefract in July, 1990, and has never really looked back since becoming champion apprentice in 1995. He moved on from McMahon’s to a successful link-up with Reg Akehurst when that trainer was winning many big handicaps from his Epsom base and has since developed very successful associations with Peter Makin and Sir Mark Prescott, who has retained his services as stable jockey since 2004. His biggest wins have come via Compton Place, who won the Group One Darley July Cup at Newmarket in 1997 at 50/1, Bachelor Duke, winner of the 2004 Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Prescott-trained Confidential Lady who won the 2006 Prix de Diane Hermes (French Oaks). His first English Classic success came on Look Here in the 2008 Juddmonte Oaks. He has become a regular in the top half dozen in the jockeys’ championship in recent seasons, having ridden a century of winners in each of the last six years and last year shared the title with Jamie Spencer after the duo tied on 190 winners each. Sanders and his wife Leona, whom he first met racing at York and persisted in asking out until she finally submitted, live near Bury St Edmunds. Mrs Sanders is fluent in seven languages and worked as a stewardess for Japan Airlines until she retired in 2001. She competed in the showing ring in her younger days and they have enjoyed success in the point-to-point field with The Graduate.

Juddmonte Oaks Record (since 1984): 2005-7 Cassydora; 2007-9 Kayah; 2008-1 LOOK HERE