'We’re not always thinking about the monetary value and we’re not worried about who we bump into’ - Littleton Stud out to make a big impact with Classic dream team

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Here, ahead of Guineas weekend, James Thomas speaks to Littleton Stud manager David Bowe about Ghostwriter, See The Fire and so much more – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Only a select few are represented in both of this weekend’s domestic Classics. There are the usual suspects in Coolmore and Godolphin, as you might expect given the scale and investment that goes into their respective operations. 

The Irish firm have red-hot favourite City Of Troy in the 2,000 Guineas and Ylang Ylang in the fillies’ equivalent, while their arch rivals have Notable Speech in the former contest as well as Dance Sequence and Cinderella’s Dream in the 1,000 Guineas. 

Steve Parkin’s Clipper Logistics outfit is also double-handed, with Night Raider engaged on Saturday and Fallen Angel at the head of the market for the 1,000 Guineas. 

The other owner with a runner in each of the season’s opening Classics is Jeff Smith. As a multiple Group 1-winning owner-breeder Smith could hardly be described as an underdog in the purest sense of the word, but considering Littleton Stud is run on nothing like the scale of racing’s international superpowers, his presence in the two Group 1s certainly catches the eye. 

Smith’s purple silks with a light blue chevron and cap will be carried by the unbeaten Ghostwriter in the 2,000 Guineas and the regally bred See The Fire in the 1,000 Guineas. Victory for either, never mind both, would undoubtedly be popular on the Rowley Mile and far beyond. 

Jeff Smith, pictured with Andrew Balding, has two live Classic hopes this weekendCredit: Mark Cranham

“It’s kind of unbelievable,” says Smith’s long-serving stud manager David Bowe. “We’ve got the guts of 30 broodmares and a nice few in training, but to have two Classic contenders, and decent contenders at that, we’re just so, so excited. It’s bonkers, really. It’s what dreams are made of.” 

Smith’s Guineas candidates speak not only to years of dedication and no small amount of skill and investment, but also an approach that is underpinned by the spirit of competition, rather than commercial imperative. This outlook, as well as a liberal sprinkling of equine stars, has helped endear Smith to racing’s fans and participants alike. 

“Jeff has never been afraid to take anything on,” continues Bowe. “By all accounts City Of Troy is unbeatable, and he may well be unbeatable, and good luck to him because he’s a good horse. But we think we have a good horse too. We’re not afraid to go there and Jeff loves a challenge, and that’s what racing is all about. 

“He’s always said that questions are answered on the racecourse so let the horses do the talking. This is what the sport is all about and this is what racing was intended to be; it’s my horse against your horse and may the best horse win. We wish everybody luck, but we want to win and we feel we’re in good shape.” 

It is understandable that Smith feels in good shape given he is going into battle with a filly from a family that has done him one good turn after another. See The Fire is a fifth generation Littleton homebred and the fourth foal out of Arabian Queen, who famously belied odds of 50-1 to defeat Golden Horn in the 2015 running of the Juddmonte International. 

See The Fire (middle): daughter of Arabian Queen was third in the Fillies' Mile to Ylang YlangCredit: Edward Whitaker

“Jeff started his own breeding operation from scratch and all of the progeny are from the foundation mares that he started with,” says Bowe. “Five generations later we’re producing a filly that can run in the Guineas. For an owner-breeder, it can’t get any better than that. 

“To be involved right through from conception to maturity of racing age, and for her to be as good as she is, even up to now, that’s what being an owner-breeder is all about. We’re hugely excited about Ghostwriter too but the fact we’ve bred See The Fire, this is why we do what we do.” 

See The Fire’s fourth dam, Alsiba, was bred at Littleton in 1982, a few years before Smith took ownership of the Hampshire farm. When Alsiba was bred to Smith’s own Dashing Blade she duly produced Dashiba, a dual winner who was beaten just a short head in the Listed Upavon Stakes. In turn, Dashiba bred three black-type horses, the best of whom was See The Fire’s granddam Barshiba, winner of the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks in 2010. 

“We keep the guts of 30 mares and they’re all either black type or sisters to black-type horses,” says Bowe. “Some of them are unraced or didn’t win, but they’re all mares that Jeff’s seen something in that he wants to continue. But with this family it’s a penalty kick, really.” 

The point is underlined by the fact that Arabian Queen not only won a Group 1 during her time on the track but has since bred four winners from as many foals of racing age. 

Arabian Queen: Juddmonte International heroine and dam of four winners, including See The FireCredit: Edward Whitaker

See The Fire made a winning start on the July Course and followed that effort up with a runner-up finish behind Darnation in the May Hill Stakes. She then gained Group 1 black type with a third to the reopposing Ylang Ylang in the Fillies' Mile.

Although her lineage may scream Classic aptitude, being by Sea The Stars out of a Juddmonte International-winning three-year-old, Bowe says it is the filly’s physique that allowed her to run to such a high level at two. 

“On paper you’d say that she needs a bit of time but looking at her as an individual, untacked, she’s the most balanced, lovely filly,” says Bowe. “Her mother is a very neat and tidy mare as well; Arabian Queen is smaller but she’s just a wonderful specimen. 

“Arabian Queen was fairly forward as a two-year-old and this filly showed the same thing and came to hand very quickly. If she’d been an inch or two taller then maybe we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did last year. Obviously I’m biassed, but speaking as a stockman she’s a magnificent-looking specimen. You couldn’t fault her. She’s a beautiful-looking filly.” 

There could be plenty more to come from this family whatever happens on Sunday, as Arabian Queen also has a two-year-old Lope De Vega colt named Royal Playwright, a yearling son of St Mark's Basilica and she recently delivered a filly by No Nay Never. 

Ghostwriter: "We liked his pedigree, he was a well-grown individual and is by a horse we like a lot in Invincible Spirit"Credit: Edward Whitaker

“Royal Playwright is doing very nicely and is showing up well on the gallops at Andrew Balding’s, so we’re very excited about him,” says Bowe. “Again, he’s not an over-big horse but is generous enough that we can kick on with him at two. He’ll be one for the middle of the season.

“The mare is passing on her looks and making them neat and tidy conformationally. There’s a little bit of finesse, a bit of quality, about all of them. My notes about the No Nay Never filly simply say “quality”. It’s very early to tell when we’re talking about a horse who's only weeks old, but we’ve seen enough foals to give this one an asterisk purely as an individual. 

“We sent Arabian Queen to Coolmore to re-cover her with No Nay Never and she should be there more or less as we speak. We’ll probably go back to Sea The Stars next year to replicate what we’ve got with See The Fire.” 

Unlike See The Fire, Ghostwriter wasn’t bred by Smith but was bought from the 2021 edition of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, where he fetched 100,000gns for his breeders Norelands Bloodstock and the Irish National Stud. 

Explaining how Smith's famous silks came to be carried by Ghostwriter, Bowe says: “Periodically we buy a few foals at the sales and we like to have them for as long as possible and try to mould them into our way. 

Moorside (right): Cheshire Oaks second and dam of 2,000 Guineas contender GhostwriterCredit: Alan Crowhurst

“We liked his pedigree, he was a well-grown individual and is by a horse we like a lot in Invincible Spirit, so he suited our brief. We had to pay 100,000gns for him but I thought he was well worth that given his pedigree. As Invincible Spirit is getting a little bit older I didn’t have to fight too hard to get him.” 

Ghostwriter is the second foal out of the Champs Elysees mare Moorside, whose best effort came when runner-up to Somehow in the 2016 Cheshire Oaks. The Juddmonte homebred has plenty of Classic blood coursing through her pedigree as her dam is a sister to Zafonic, while Oaks heroine Reams Of Verse is a further generation back. 

Clive Cox has spoken in glowing terms about the innate “charisma” that Ghostwriter possesses, although Bowe says the colt did not begin to express himself fully until he was set about his work. 

“He was a beautiful, well-balanced colt as a weanling but, honestly, he was unremarkable in his behaviour,” he says. “He was a lovely horse and very amenable but he was basically just one of the gang. However, come yearling time when we started to get him ready, he was a completely different horse. As soon as we put tack on him he was a different kettle of fish altogether. 

“He was beautiful on the lunge, the most well balanced horse you’ve ever seen, and he came to hand very quickly. Everybody liked him during our yearling parade, where we give our trainers the opportunity to make a shortlist of the horses they like. We try to do the best we can by them and Clive was very interested in him, so we thought they’d be a good match.” 

Owner Jeff Smith (left) leads the celebrations after Ghostwriter's Royal Lodge success Credit: Mark Cranham

The pair proved a very good match indeed as Cox guided Ghostwriter through an unblemished juvenile season. He debuted with an impressive success at the July course, followed up at Ascot, despite jumping a shadow late in the piece, before he showed his liking for the Guineas course and distance by storming to a length-and-a-quarter victory in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes. Ghostwriter didn’t return to the Littleton paddocks for his winter break but is reported to have developed well both physically and mentally. 

“We take a lot of horses back over the winter but we chose to leave him with Clive, who has his own place with magnificent facilities,” says Bowe. “With him being a colt, we didn’t want to risk him coming back and being in close proximity to any fillies. As magnificent a horse as we thought he was as a two-year-old, now he’s this beautiful animal who’s so well put together. We can’t get enough of him.” 

Ghostwriter also has entries in the St James’s Palace Stakes as well as the Derby and the Prix du Jockey Club, and Bowe says the team remain open-minded about what will ultimately prove the colt’s optimum trip. 

“We’ve given him plenty of entries as we’re yet to find out what his ideal trip is,” he says. “He gets a mile on his ear but Clive was only just saying he’s really come together and has more of a turn of foot than he had as a two-year-old. We think this horse could be anything, really, and a lot of questions will be answered on Saturday.” 

Although Smith’s public auction purchases are relatively select, Bowe’s buying missions have also uncovered Alcohol Free, the four-time Group 1 winner who was resold for 5,400,000gns at the 2022 December Mares Sale. However, the stud manager bats away the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that he’ll be due a pay rise if Ghostwriter prevails at Newmarket on Saturday. 

Alcohol Free: yet another top-class performer in the Jeff Smith silksCredit: Edward Whitaker

“The fact that I’ve been lucky enough for Jeff to let me buy the horses without any constraints, really and truly, that's the reason we have these horses,” he says. “He’s always keen to have a nice horse and I’ve been lucky enough that he always lets you get on with the job. He’s a great man and this job has been a pleasure from day one.”

He continues: “Jeff plays the sport the way it was intended. He races his horses, we don’t keep them at home because we’re afraid of the opposition. We’re not always thinking about the monetary value and we’re not worried about who we bump into. City Of Troy and several others have been in the media spotlight, and rightly so, but we’ve gone in under the radar and that makes it a bit more comfortable for us. We know we’ve got two serious horses on our hands.” 

Although Smith is no stranger to owning serious horses, with his colours carried by the likes of Dashing Blade, Lochsong and Persian Punch, a Classic victory has remained elusive. Chief Singer went close when runner-up to El Gran Senor in the 2,000 Guineas 40 years ago, while Norse Dancer ran third behind Refuse To Bend in the same race in 2003. However, Bowe says Smith’s singular approach means that these races are merely part of the journey, rather than the final destination. 

“We’re not a commercial outfit; we just breed to race, retire and breed again,” he says. “We’ve never said, ‘Let’s breed this to this because we want a runner in the 2024 Guineas.’ We breed them all in the hope that each mating we make, whether that’s to a £30,000 stallion or a £300,000 stallion, is the right mating that given year. 

“We send the best to the best as often as we can. We sometimes go off piste and use sires that others wouldn’t use. Maybe the odd person would even raise an eyebrow at some of our matings on occasion. The upshot is, we have a small enough group that we can concentrate on and enjoy, and when their progeny are good it makes up for all the ones that aren’t – and there are plenty of those too. This is Jeff’s passion and he absolutely loves it. To have his own farm, breed his own mares and not be constrained by anything, it’s a lovely situation to be in.” 

It would be similarly lovely to be standing in the Newmarket winner’s spot at some point over the coming weekend. If that’s where Smith ends up, there would be few results more popular. 

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“For us in France, British racing is the reference point. Winning there is one of the most important things in a trainer’s career. I can’t wait to run Ramatuelle in the Guineas. It’s a chance you don’t get all that often.” - Christopher Head looks forward to his first runner in a British Classic.

Pedigree pick

There’s plenty of high-quality action today with meetings at Cheltenham, Goodwood, Newmarket and Punchestown. The last-named features two Grade 1s, while Time Lock and Castle Way are set to lock horns in the Group 2 William Hill Jockey Club Stakes at HQ. 

With the headline meetings pulling focus, a debutant that may fly under the radar a little is Twilight Diamond, who is set to contest the Join Racing TV Now Restricted Maiden Stakes over five furlongs at Musselburgh at 1.40.

The three-year-old son of Twilight Son was bred by James Ortega Bloodstock from the Invincible Spirit mare Zawiyah, meaning the youngster is a full-brother to the high-class sprinter Twilight Calls. 

Trained by Henry Candy for Cheveley Park Stud, Twilight Calls has won three races and, more notably, ran second to runaway winner Nature Strip in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2022. Twilight Diamond cost Jason Kelly Bloodstock £52,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, and that could look like money well spent if he has inherited even a fraction of his sibling’s talent. 

The pedigree could also receive a big enhancement on Sunday as Ramatuelle is among the eyecatching names in Twilight Diamond’s immediate family.

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