Dermot Weld has joined the roster of trainers supported by the Aga Khan in order for his owning and breeding operation to diversify in Ireland.
Both two-year-olds and yearlings will be sent to Weld, who will be one of three Irish trainers for the owner alongside John Oxx and Michael Halford.
The Aga Khan also has three French trainers – Alain de Royer Dupre, Mikel Delzangles and Jean-Claude Rouget – and there will be no retained jockey in Ireland for 2014, with riders employed by individual trainers. Declan McDonogh has been the appointed rider for the Aga this season.
Pat Downes, manager of Aga Khan Studs in Ireland, said in a statement: “We are really looking forward to having horses in training with Dermot Weld. “This has been a difficult year for the organisation in Ireland, as John Oxx’s yard has been suffering from a virus.
"This has highlighted the need for us to spread our horses over a greater number of trainers to avoid this situation reoccurring. This policy has worked for us in France, so we felt it was worth implementing it in Ireland also."
Ruled out tilt
Weld has effectively ruled out a tilt at the Racing Post Trophy with Free Eagle, the ante-post favourite for next year's Epsom Derby.
The High Chaparral colt made a superb start to his career in a Leopardstown maiden earlier this month, with the subsequent victories of the respective second and fourth, Orchestra and Kingfisher, giving weight to the theory it was a particularly strong event.
The Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on October 26th had been mooted as a possible target, but the ICON Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Trial at Leopardstown on Saturday week is likely to be his final start of the year. “He’s a very nice colt, he’s still only won a maiden. He’s hopefully progressive and he’s a horse that physically has to develop a lot,” Weld told At The Races. “I could see maybe just one more start this year. It’s quite possible (he will run at Leopardstown), because he’s not a horse I want to go on late into the autumn.
James Doyle has been announced as the retained rider for Prince Khalid Abdullah's UK-trained horses, Juddmonte Farms said in a statement.
Doyle’s star has been in the ascendancy over the last couple of seasons, winning the Dubai Duty Free in the Abdullah silks on the Roger Charlton-trained Cityscape last year.
A statement from Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms read: “Juddmonte Farms is pleased to announce that James Doyle will be retained to ride Prince Khalid bin Abdullah’s UK-trained horses. This will be effective from September 1st.”
