Why ‘the worst flooding I’ve seen in my lifetime’ won’t dampen spirits ahead of a big year at Whatton Manor Stud

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On this occasion, James Thomas chats to Whatton Manor Stud's Ed Player about dealing with floods but also lots to look forward to – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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It is not just the racing schedule the weather has wreaked havoc on in recent days. Snow and torrential rain have also made for heavy going at studs across Britain and Ireland, none more so than Whatton Manor in Nottinghamshire. 

Ed Player took to social media earlier in the week to post a video of two spacious paddocks completely submerged under several feet of flood water after a nearby river burst its banks. 

“The flooding we’ve got at the moment is the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime,” says Player, whose father, Peter, founded the family run farm in 1982. 

Fortunately no animals or stud staff were harmed in the making of Player’s social media post, and it speaks to the resilience possessed by the people of the thoroughbred industry that the watery scene is being treated as more of an inconvenience rather than a full-scale crisis. 

“We got all the snow, then had three inches of rain over two days,” he says. “We’ve got a small river down the bottom of the farm that burst its banks, then all the ditches backed up into it. That’s when we realised, ‘Oh God, this is going to happen.’ 

“There were only three fields near the river that had horses in though, so those horses all got moved to different paddocks. We’re lucky that we have around 750 acres and the fields affected are maybe 60 or 70 acres. 

“It’s not ideal because it makes everything a bit of a bloody mess. But the way we run our stud now, we’ve got nice big, airy barns around a lot of the fields, so even if they end up muddy the horses come in at night and have a nice dry stable. And if the weather is too bad we don’t need to let them out that day.”  

While Whatton Manor’s equine residents are plainly none the worse for the inclement conditions, Player says it is the team who are bearing the brunt of the bad weather. He also wonders whether the British prime minister, whose chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a series of controversial changes to inheritance tax rules, fancied mucking in during the cold, wet winter months. 

“It’s unpleasant for the staff working when it’s absolutely tipping it down all day,” he says. “I did think about Keir Starmer, not letting us pass this onto our next generation. I think he should come and do some work experience with us on some of these mornings when you’re spending five hours getting absolutely soaked trying to feed the animals.” 

Although there has been no need to call in the reinforcements, Player says he has not been short on offers of assistance. “Our industry is great and everyone immediately says, ‘Oh God, is everything all right? Can we help?’ I didn’t intend to be dramatic when I posted the video as everything is fine and no animals were ever at risk. 

Ed Player: 'It’s unpleasant for the staff working when it’s absolutely tipping it down all day'Credit: Alisha Meeder

“The horses we moved, there was very little water in the fields when we moved them, it was only afterwards that the river burst its banks. One field in the video is a summer field and the other still actually has horses in it because it’s only the bottom end that’s under water, the top end goes up a hill and is absolutely fine.” 

The quality of Whatton Manor’s land (at least when not submerged by flood water) is evidenced by the stud’s impressive roll of honour. Among the household names raised at the renowned nursery are Moonlight Cloud, Nando Parrado, Starman and State Of Rest, while Silver Knott has looked a top-level winner in waiting with three US Grade 2 successes and two Grade 1 placings in 2024. 

“Water meadows is probably part of the reason we have such good land, and it’s not such a bad thing long term for our summer paddocks to get this influx of water, so long as it dries up by the spring,” says Player. “It’s not receded a lot yet but in a week’s time it will have completely gone if we get a dry spell.” 

And, moreover, the flooded fields certainly haven’t dampened Player’s enthusiasm for the upcoming breeding season. 

“I have to say we have probably our most exciting bunch of mares we’ve ever had and I can’t wait to see the foals coming out of them,” he says. 

The first Whatton Manor resident due to foal later this month is George Strawbridge’s Montare, the Prix Royal-Oak winner and dam of Group 1 scorer Journey, who is carrying to Modern Games. 

Other names to note include the Group 3-winning Araminta (in foal to Too Darn Hot); Westover’s half-sister Jalapa (in foal to Sea The Stars); Group 3 scorer Monica Sheriff (in foal to Zarak); dual Listed winner Nymphadora (in foal to Blue Point); the Group 1-placed Rawdaa (in foal to Lope De Vega); Starman’s Group 3-placed half-sister Sunday Star (in foal to Frankel); and the Firth of Clyde winner and Cheveley Park Stakes third Umm Kulthum (in foal to Havana Grey), to name but a few. 

Araminta (Trevor Whelan) wins the Height Of Fashion Stakes - she is in foal to Too Darn HotCredit: Edward Whitaker

“It’s an extremely exciting bunch of mares,” says Player. “But this is why we do the job, and I always find this a very exciting time of year. It’s great when all the babies start coming along, so long as they’re all healthy.”

Another high-profile name is Zero Gravity, the 35,000gns broodmare buy whose profile went on a steep upward trajectory after her daughter Kalpana won last year’s Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes in impressive fashion. 

The half-sister to Zambezi Sun came under the hammer again during the Sceptre Sessions at Tattersalls last month, but returned home to Whatton Manor when the bidding stalled at 575,000gns. Needless to say, Player is relishing the rest of the journey with Zero Gravity, particularly with an exciting cover lined up for later this year. 

“She’s in foal to Chaldean and we believe she’s carrying a filly, so to have a half-sister to Kalpana would be great,” he says. “She’s going to go to Night Of Thunder this year. He’s an exceptional stallion; he’s already done very, very well but I still think the best is to come. We think make and shape will suit Zero Gravity, and she deserves this sort of cover. 

“She’s done extremely well with stallions who might not have been as popular at the time, although I think Study Of Man [Kalpana’s sire] is obviously a very good sire. We think we’ve given her a good chance with Chaldean and now we think she deserves a really good chance with Night Of Thunder. If Kalpana does go on and win a couple of Group 1s this year, having a Night Of Thunder colt or filly out of Zero Gravity will be a lovely position to be in.” 

Kalpana is set to remain in training with Andrew Balding at four, and the Juddmonte homebred looks like giving the team at Whatton Manor plenty to get excited about over the coming 12 months. 

“Plans can change but we’d heard she would be aimed at the Pretty Polly, the King George, the Yorkshire Oaks, then the Arc, they’re the four main targets,” says Player. 

“She’s still favourite for the Arc as we speak. It’s a long way away and a lot of good horses will come out between now and then, but she’s got every right to be mentioned in the same breath as a race of that magnitude. If she could make it there in good form, that would be amazing. 

Kalpana: just about the most exciting horse in trainingCredit: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

“Hopefully she can just win another Group 1 though, that’s what we’re hoping at the moment. Everything else is a bonus.”  

And Kalpana is not the only name that has Player counting down to the turf season. Both this year and next.

“It’s not that long before the Flat season starts and the dream continues,” he says. “I bought a foal at Arqana, a filly by Saxon Warrior who was picked up very cheaply. We’ve decided we’re going to race her, and I can’t tell you how excited we are about that already – and she’s only just become a yearling! 

“That’s what the game is about though, you have to be a dreamer and believe that you’re going to have some superstars coming off the place. Because otherwise, what’s the point?” 

There was no shortage of highlights in 2024 as horses bred, raised or sold by Whatton Manor won a whole host of black-type contests, including the aforementioned Silver Knott, Bosra Sham Stakes winner It Ain’t Two, unbeaten Prix Petite Etoile scorer Lady Of Spain, Galtres Stakes winner Scenic and John Musker Stakes victress Sound Angela. 

“We always aspire to have more though and we’re never complacent after a good year on the track because it’s a bit like a restaurant, you’re only as good as your last meal,” reflects Player. 

“We hoped we’d have more last year and we didn’t have a Group 1 winner, even though we had endless Group 2 and Group 3 winners. But we have an exciting bunch of horses that we sold as yearlings last year and some nice two-year-olds from last year that are now three, so hopefully there’s some stars among them and lots to look forward to.” 

Although both would be right at home in Whatton Manor’s paddocks at present, here’s hoping all their swans don’t turn out to be geese. 

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