A G1 winner on the Flat, Lambourn trainer is now eyeing G1 success over jumps at the Cheltenham Festival with Stag Horn.
GB: Since sending out his first runners back in 2016, Archie Watson has seen his career go from strength-to-strength on the Flat, having tasted victory at both Royal Ascot and at G1 level.
But having grown up as a National Hunt fan, the Lambourn-based trainer is now looking forward to taking on the best of the British and Irish at the home of jump racing with Stag Horn, who is unbeaten in two star
ts since making the transition from the Flat to hurdles.
The five-year-old is a gelded son of Derby winner Golden Horn and is now set for a crack at the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, a G1 highlight on the Cheltenham Gold Cup support card on Friday March 18.
‘I grew up being a jump-racing fan’
“I grew up being a fan of jump racing so it is amazing to have a runner at the festival,” explains Watson, 32.
“We are really looking forward to having a runner there on the big occasion,” he adds. “Cheltenham is great just like Royal Ascot is on the Flat – but we wouldn’t be running him at Cheltenham if we didn’t think he had a chance.”
Watson broke through at G1 level on the Flat when Glen Shiel landed the Qipco British Champions Sprint under Hollie Doyle at Ascot in October 2020.
The same rider was in the saddle last week when he achieved his richest prize-money success with Outbox in the $1m HH The Amir Trophy in Qatar – a month after Stag Horn, who is owned by Ben and Martyn Arbib, cemented his Cheltenham claims under Nick Schofield with a G2 success at Warwick.
Watson says: “For us on the Flat it is winning a G1, winning at Royal Ascot and winning at the Breeders’ Cup that are the most important ones, but if you could have a festival winner it would be right up there.
“We are under no illusions how hard the job will be but you have to say that he goes there with a chance. It is very exciting for the owners and everyone in the yard to have a horse that is hopefully going to Cheltenham with a viable chance, which is good. I think a lot of trainers would be happy with a horse like this going into a race like the Albert Bartlett.”
A five-time winner on the Flat, Stag Horn made his first start over hurdles fewer than three months ago. “It was probably last summer that the idea of hurdling came about,” says Watson.
“It became apparent at Pontefract the previous October that he wanted a trip. He ran in the Queen Alexandra at Royal Ascot which really suited him and he finished fourth.
“Looking at the programme book there wasn’t too many races I thought he would be competitive in, bar the Phil Bull Trophy back at Pontefract. Speaking to his owners they were very happy to give it a go over hurdles to see if he could be a high-class animal over an obstacle and so far it has been amazing really.”
Helping Stag Horn on his way to taking his tentative first steps into his new discipline was Henrietta Knight, the former trainer responsible for jumps legend Best Mate, whom she saddled to win three Cheltenham Gold Cups.
“We sent him down to Henrietta Knight’s and she did all the preliminary jumping with him,” explains Watson. “She loved him and he took to it very naturally, which isn’t particularly usual for a Flat horse going hurdling. He schooled very well there and he has done since coming back to us.
‘We were confident he could win a novice hurdle’
“Going into Hereford we were confident with his jumping and on his Flat rating we were confident he could win a novice hurdle.”
Watson credits Knight with sparking his initial interest in the winter code. “The Best Mate and Edredon Bleu era is what got me going with jump racing,” he says. “I used to live around here and go to Henrietta Knight’s. I would have been 13 or 14 at the time. I was very much a jump racing fan in those days.”
Despite pitching Stag Horn into Grade 2 company in the Ballymore Leamington Novices’ Hurdle at Warwick on Jan 15, Watson was impressed with what he saw.
He says: “Although I’ve said his jumping has been good he did make a couple of novicey errors which meant he didn’t win as well as he should have done at Hereford but he really tidied that up at Warwick.
‘He did everything we asked of him’
“He did everything that we asked of him and Nick [Scholfield], who will ride him at Cheltenham, was amazed how well he jumped that day and I thought that he won very well.
“He was very green in the straight still looking around plenty and I’m sure he will come on again for that. He is able to sustain a similar type of gallop that he does on the Flat over these extended trips over hurdles. He jumps that well that I wouldn’t be afraid to be jumping a fence next season.”
Watson is confident that a first attempt over three miles can help unlock further improvement. “I’ve always felt he wants three miles so hopefully he will take another step forwards again upped in trip in the Albert Bartlett,” he says. “If he jumps as well as we know he can I hope he can put a bit of pressure on the others.
“We have purposely left him fresh, and as he has only had two runs this winter I would say both Cheltenham and Aintree will be on the agenda and I hope he would be very competitive in those sorts of races.
“Anything good or softer I would be delighted with. He has always gone through heavy ground like a jet-ski so I won’t mind if the heavens open.
“The occasion will be fine for him as he has run at Royal Ascot and it is probably fairly unusual for a novice running at the festival to have had 20 odd runs. In terms of all of that, he should handle it fine.”
Although it will be Watson’s name that appears in the racecard he believes much of the credit in getting Stag Horn to Cheltenham belongs to his partner Brodie Hampson, who he will tie the knot with on June 19.
“The jumpers go out in a different string and do different exercises to the Flat horses and Brodie manages that,” he says. “Stag Horn has been with those horses before his last win on the flat at Pontefract in October.
“Brodie works very hard at it and is very detail-oriented and I don’t get involved at all bar stable management and advising here and there.
“Brodie sorts out all the exercise and does a very good job. It is great and she enjoys it and she is very good at and it will be an exciting day for her.”
‘I get more pressure from a favourite in a maiden’
Plenty of eyes from within the racing world will be interested how Stag Horn performs at Cheltenham, along with the thousands in the packed grandstands. However, Watson insists he is quite relaxed about the entire occasion. “I’ve always been relaxed about these bigger meetings as we don’t train the horses any different going into them,” he says.
“I’m also very conscious how hard it is to win these races so I don’t get my hopes up. We keep their routine the same. For me it is making sure he goes there fresh well and happy.
“I get more pressure from a favourite in a maiden that should be winning than running a horse in a Group or Grade 1 who could win but I don’t expect to as it is a top-level race and I would be naturally pessimistic.”
With his Flat team starting to step up their preparations ahead of 2022 Flat season Watson hopes that this year’s festival foray with Stag Horn can be the start of something he can look forward to on a more regular basis in the future. “I love having a few jumpers around and that is the way we would probably like to do it,” he says.
“These horses though are hard to come by and that is why we are lucky to have Stag Horn. If he turned up in a sale, every jumps trainer in Britain and Ireland would want to have him so we are lucky he is a homegrown that has taken to hurdling.”
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