'It's very rewarding when this sort of thing happens' - Peckham's perseverance pays off with Royal Ascot winner

George Peckham, a man who is now largely in the background as a pre-trainer for many of Newmarket’s big yards, could be traced much more directly to a Royal Ascot winner on Wednesday.

Less than two months ago Leovanni was part of the string at Yellowstone Park Stables and Peckham’s operation was one of the beneficiaries of Wathnan Racing’s largesse when she was purchased by bloodstock agent Richard Brown at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale.

The £190,000 she achieved was a huge result for a Kodi Bear filly who had been picked up from breeder Kilmoney Cottage Stud late on at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Leovanni is now unbeaten in two for Karl Burke, blasting down the far side of the track to take command of the Queen Mary Stakes.

"Incredible, considering we only do two or three each year, to have a filly like her," said Peckham, who was surrounded by well-wishers.

"There are a lot of people involved. I wasn’t massively involved in the buying bit of it but a couple of guys there pointed her out to us and we were lucky enough to get her the Saturday morning in Book 3 for 20 grand. 

George Peckham has a small team of breeze-up horses alongside a pre-training businessCredit: Laura Green

"She’s done everything great all the way through. Diego Lima, a Brazilian guy who works for me, rode her at home all the time and did a great job with her. It’s been a big team effort, it’s brilliant to come here on the biggest stage and do it."

Peckham, a former assistant to Ed Dunlop, was a trainer for five years himself but changed his angle in 2019 when his main backer, Fawzi Nass, underwent a reshuffle.

Ideally he wants his 50 or so boxes to be filled with paying guests but the breeze-up business has been a side-hustle run with wife Emma and the help of a few friends.

Peckham, who does not intend to expand further in the sector, admitted that it is a very different experience to preparing runners for a race.

"You’ve got 20 seconds on a certain day, you can’t say the ground’s gone and we’ll wait until next week or whatever," he said.

"It’s a lot of pressure but it’s a lot of fun and very rewarding when this sort of thing happens. The last couple of years haven’t been great, we’ve lost out, but that’s the way it is. You’ve just got to regroup and come again."

Leovanni was a third individual Group winner for Rathbarry Stud’s sire Kodi Bear, whose Go Bears Go was beaten a head in the 2021 Norfolk Stakes by Perfect Power and has had a useful sprinting career.

One of two breezers Peckham took to Doncaster – Nala Star having finished an encouraging second on her recent debut at Lingfield – Leovanni has Moyglare’s fabled broodmare Talking Picture as her fourth dam. The filly’s mother, Kassandra, is a half-sister to dual seven-furlong Listed winner Majestic Myles and a Dandy Man full-sister of Parbold, who was second to War Command in the 2013 Coventry Stakes.

Brown, an advisor of Wathnan Racing who has been involved in heavy recruitment for the Emir of Qatar’s squad, outlined the impression Leovanni had made at the sales.

"She wasn’t blisteringly fast but she did do a decent time," Brown said. "We thought at the time she was maybe the best filly in the sale and it might turn out she was."

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