Lion Of War (GB) (Roaring Lion) has become TDN’s Rising Star after starting against Newcastle on Thursday but David Redvers, who signed on behalf of Qatar Racing for just 7,000gns, has revealed how he is. called on co-coach Mark Johnston in a bid to determine if he would train.
Redvers revealed that he was surprised when Lion Of War knocked him down for just 7,000gns at Book 3 of the Tattersalls October sale, however, he admitted that the pony’s forelegs weren’t must be the prettiest, this could explain some ways the total basement.
But after receiving a seal of approval from Johnston, Redvers believes the Lion Of War is worth pursuing, and he is turning out to be a bargain.
Redvers said, “Obviously he benefited from a previous outing but he clearly surprised Charlie and Cieren. [Fallon, jockey] because of how much he’s jumped from his debut win, that’s amazing. He was bred to have 10 feathers, so to do what he did today at Newcastle it gives us great hope that we can have something. that’s a little bit special. “
Lion Of War looks like a promising dark horse in Newcastle. However, his victory was tinged with sadness, as Qatar Racing team lost Roaring Lion prematurely due to stomach upset in 2019.
“It was well documented how the whole thing was when we lost Roaring Lion. From Sheikh Fahad to the guy taking care of the Roaring Lion, everyone loves the horse for its personality,” said Redvers.
“You can see a lot of him going through in his inventory and you can see a lot of him in Lion Of War with the way he gallops. When he poked his ear out in the last one or two when he dropped down, he looked exactly like his old man. Pretty sad obviously but we’re equally lucky to have raced at least one good run of Roaring Lions and, if it weren’t for this fellow, there would have been one who would repeat what he did or at least get close to it. He looks the best of them by far and it’s phenomenal that it comes from the cheapest.”
Recalling Lion Of War as a yearning, Redvers says it was the pony’s front legs that let most people down. However, Johnston gave him the confidence to buy the horse and now the race bets await.
He said, “It’s actually quite fascinating. From the outside, he is an absolute miller, a 150,000gns horse. But when he walks towards you, his front legs are not very nice.
“I asked Mark Johnston for his opinion on whether he could train it and as you can imagine Mark said he definitely can.
“You could never imagine that we would get him for that money and what’s interesting is that we got permission from the supplier and the opposition.”
Redvers added, “Logically, there’s certainly an element of risk but what’s really fascinating is that Kevin Darley was at Mark’s yesterday and videotaped a horse head-to-head. “We compared the videos to see how he posed and was surprised how straight his legs were. They’re not perfect knees yet, but they’re within acceptable limits.
“They didn’t slow him down. I worked for Mark many moons ago and his words to me were, ‘I’d rather ride a Ferrari with worn-out tires than a Mini Cooper with Pirellis.’ We have trained hundreds of horses over the years, and the common denominator between lame and healthy horses is rarely the shape of their front legs.”
