A founding member of Blandford Bloodstock with Tom Goff, Richard Brown is the man responsible for forming Wathnan Racing’s Ascot army, featuring recent high-profile additions Haatem and First Look.

Previously successful at the meeting with Ardad and Perfect Power, Brown was integral to Wathnan’s Royal Ascot double in 2023 (Gregory and Courage Mon Ami), just six weeks after the Emir of Qatar registered as an owner in Britain.

Considering Wathnan’s enviable budget and his existing CV, you might expect it may have all gone to Brown’s head, but the truth is, he is under no illusion as to the privileged position he is in. “I think it’s such an amazing responsibility to be given by somebody to spend some of their hard-earned money, so I’d better make sure that I do the very best job that I can.”

“Unfortunately, most of the time, the horses are no good, because that’s just the reality of our game. But at least if I can look myself in the mirror, or look the client in the eye, and say I have done my best for you, and unfortunately, it hasn’t worked, then you know you can sleep at night.”

In the beginning

Should you doubt Brown’s humility, you need only hear the joy in his voice as he recalls his humble beginnings in the industry. He had no family ties to racing, but shared his father’s love of the sport, nurtured by regular trips to Worcester and Cheltenham.

“Jump racing was really how I got into it,” he explains. “As a young racing fan, my heroes would have been Richard Dunwoody, Norman Williamson, that era of jockey. I had a picture of Norman jumping off Master Oats on my bedroom wall. Now I buy horses off him.”

So how did he become involved in the industry? “I got kicked out of school when I was 16 for a variety of misdemeanours, should we say,” Brown admits. “And I decided that racing was what I wanted to do. So, I went and rode out in a point-to-point yard for a little while, and then I went to work for Reg Hollinshead as a stable lad for about a year.”

Life as a stable lad

It’s on this subject that Brown’s enthusiasm shines through. “I really enjoyed my time there. I was there in what was probably Reg’s last really good year, which was 1996; we had a load of winners and a really good team. Fergal Lynch was vying to be champion apprentice with David Griffiths.

“It was a magical year. I was 17 or 18 years old, riding five or six lots every day, just doing what you do as a stable lad. And it was magic. You know, no responsibilities, and just about enough money at the end of the day to go for a pint in the pub.”

Visiting trainers’ yards is something Brown still loves to do, albeit now in different circumstances. “I love that yard environment. I still get a great buzz, you know, of having a chat with the lads. At the end of the day, that was me 25 years ago; I was the guy either riding or holding the horse. I know how much you can learn from the people that are with the horses every day.”

Informed decisions

His background is evident when I ask Brown what changes he would like to see happen in the racing or bloodstock industries. “Since I was showing yearlings at sales, the numbers have just gone through the roof. I think it’s wrong how late they’re selling on some of the days. Not because of me, I don’t care. But it’s the guys that have got to be there until 10 o’clock at night, and then get up at four o’clock the next morning to lunge.

“I think a lot of the guys making these decisions have never been on the end of the shank, and they haven’t been the guys getting up in the morning doing it. I think if they had, they wouldn’t be allowing it to happen. That’s something I do feel strongly about and believe it’s something within bloodstock we’ve got to address.”

Lucky man

When asked his favourite part of the job, Brown replies, “I love it all. Yesterday, I was at Karl Burke and Richard Fahey’s yards and this morning I’ve been to William Haggas and John Gosden’s, looking at our horses there. You’re dealing with the highest calibre people and the highest calibre horses.

“Every morning, I pinch myself about how lucky I am to be dealing at this end of the market, because it’s very hard. It’s only very few people that get to experience this.”

Brown’s journey from stable lad to bloodstock agent came with some guidance from David Minton, who he met during his time riding in point-to-points. On Minton’s advice, he gained experience in the breeding industry, beginning with jobs at Furnace Mill and Snailwell Stud in the UK, before expanding his horizons at Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky and Windsor Park Stud in New Zealand.

He also attended sales with Minton during this time, and it was through the British Bloodstock Agency that he formed a pivotal friendship with esteemed agent Joss Collins. When the BBA was disbanded, Collins left to establish Blandford Bloodstock with Tom Goff, while Minton set up Highflyer Bloodstock with Anthony Bromley.

“I was in the extremely fortunate position to be offered a job by both,” Brown tells me. “It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to decide in my life. I had ended up being a little bit closer to Joss over the later years of my sort of training period and my passion for the flat had taken over by then. So, I decided I wanted to go with Joss and Tom, and they fortunately gave me a job. The rest, as they say, is history.

“Joss unfortunately died far too early in 2004,” Brown continues. “Tom and I were thrown into the firing line of world bloodstock. It was way too early for me, I was very young. It was sink or swim.”

Full throttle

The pair decided to dive head-first. “We basically said we’d go to every sale in the northern hemisphere for five years, we wouldn’t take a holiday, and see where it got us. We worked very, very hard, and had some very good clients, most of which are still with us, and the ones that aren’t probably passed away. We just went hell for leather and we got very lucky.”

I’m keen to know what Brown learnt from his mentor Joss Collins, the man responsible for buying Nureyev. “Joss always said to be at the sale first, leave the sale last, and eventually you’ll get noticed. And so, I made sure to do that, I would go all day and wouldn’t stop. Often you’d look at a thousand horses in a sale, if you’re in Keeneland or during October sales. You might buy one or two, if you were lucky, but I always loved looking at horses.

“Then you build your picture and look back at your notes. Joss was absolutely religious, because I used to do it for him at the end of a weekend. I would go through the race results, find the good horses, and go back to look at our yearling notes. And that’s how you learn. And that’s exactly what I do now.

“Every single good horse that’s been through a sale, I want to look at it. If I liked it, great. I didn’t like it. Why didn’t I like it? How can you improve? I would say that was the big takeaway from Joss.”

Breeze–up times

Brown adopted a similar approach when it came to the breeze-up sales, he explains. “I’d spent a lot of time working the breeze-up sales in America, and that’s where I really got my understanding of time, and of which bit of time is important. I sat there for five years, barely buying a horse. I just watched the sales and then followed the results and learned it that way. Then I brought it back here.”

Brown’s method is backed by his purchases of Ardad, Dream Ahead, Perfect Power, and several leading contenders next week. But ever fascinated by bargain buys, I’m most interested in how he sourced Dream Ahead for £36,000.

“Well, what most people didn’t like was the fact that he was hopping lame after the breeze! He failed pretty much every vet there, and rightly so – he was very lame. We actually x-rayed his shin on the morning of the sale to make sure there wasn’t a fracture there.

“I was able to take a punt because David Simcock and I were always dealing with limited budgets. We had to buy a horse with a wonky leg, or that was lame or something, because we couldn’t afford anything else.”

That said, he had plenty going for him, Brown continues. “He did a very, very impressive breeze, visually, and he did do a good time. This was in the days of waving handkerchiefs and using stop watches. A certain young trainer, Archie Watson, was the man waving the handkerchief that day, or maybe he was the man with the stopwatch. It was all pretty inaccurate stuff, but on our rough workings, he had done a decent time.

“Dream Ahead was the horse that really got it all started. He was a 128-rated two-year-old. If I’m buying for another 100 years, I shouldn’t think I’ll buy another two-year-old horse rated 128. He was a phenomenal two-year-old, and then obviously trained on. He was a great horse, especially to have early in your career.”

Desert Crown

On that note, I ask if Brown has a favourite horse from his career so far. “It’s probably like asking somebody their favourite child,” he says. “But I would have a very special affinity with Desert Crown, because for me, the greatest race on the flat has always been the Derby. I never dreamt that I’d buy a Derby winner, or even be in a position to buy for somebody like Saeed Suhail, who would give you the trust and the budget to enable you to compete in those spheres.”

“I don’t believe, and I know Michael Stoute would say the same, that we didn’t get to see how good that horse was. The sad thing is he’s not here, living in a field, but also that he never really got to show how good he was.

“This game is brutal,” Brown admits. “It tames lions. You can’t ever think you’re good because you’re not. You just try to be as good as you can and do the best job you can for your clients. I am absolutely obsessed by the horses I buy winning and doing well for my clients.

“I’ve got a very good team around me. All of them, I believe, are very grounded, because it’s an impossible game to get right.”

It’s not all about Wathnan! Richard Brown discusses his other Royal Ascot fancies

I think Swingalong will go very well in the Jubilee. She’s a nice filly.

Real Dream, a gelding of Saeed Suhail’s, will run in the mile-and-a-half handicap; I think he’ll go very well.

Saeed Suhail also has a colt with Michael Stoute called Never So Brave, who I think will have a fairly big chance.

Twafeeg is a filly I’m very sweet on and would be one of my better chances, I think. The Albany looks like a very hot race. Aidan’s obviously got a good filly, as has Charlie Appleby, but this filly really impressed me when she won on debut.

I bought her at Tattersalls Book 3 for Sheikh Hamed, and it’s actually quite a good story, because she’s by Far Above, who I bought for his brother Sheikh Rashid. So, it’s all a big family affair. She’s a filly that already holds a bit of a special place in all of our hearts at an early stage of her career. I think she could run a very big race in what looks like a very hot Albany.