Owner of the Day: Any Excuse for A Holiday: Asgoodassobergets

As the voice of Owners, the ROA are consistently promoting the impact and benefits of ownership whilst working to make ownership more rewarding.

Once again we will be hailing our popular “ROA Owner of the Day” for Royal Ascot, which showcases an owner with a runner at the meeting. 

Today’s (Saturday 18 June) ROA Owner of the Day is Any Excuse For A Holiday, who own Asgoodassobergets, a runner in the Golden Gates Stakes (5.35pm).

It will have been a long wait for a couple of the British yards involved in the 34th race of Royal Ascot 2022, as they are having their first runner of the week.

One of the trainers is Lambourn-based Tom Ward, who has been climbing the ladder since his first runners in 2019 and is represented by the interestingly-named Asgoodassobergets, owned by the equally eye-catching Any Excuse For A Holiday.

Ward says: “The horse’s name is self-explanatory I suppose, but I’ve never really delved into it. There must have been a story behind it I’m sure. It’s a good name and something a bit different. It takes a bit of reading but you get it eventually! He’s called Jim in the yard.”

Asgoodassobergets, or Jim, looks far more than a social runner on the final day of the Royal meeting in the Golden Gates Stakes, given he has won two of his three starts, though much socialising will be undertaken around his appearance.

The chances of any of his owners being all that sober - you get it now, right? - come the last knockings of Saturday night is possibly slim, and very likely zero should the son of Daylami excel in his handicap mission. 

Asked about Any Excuse For A Holiday, Ward says: “They’re a bunch of Australian guys who were keen to come over for Royal Ascot, and they’re pretty much all here, which is great. 

“They’ve been locked down for the last two or three years, as we all have. The name correlates with the fact they can get themselves over here and be able to watch their horse at Royal Ascot.

“There are about 15 I know of, but it’s a big syndicate. The guys have had horses in Ireland as well. Saturday should be fun.”

While the three-year-old will be providing ongoing fun for his owners, the trainer and his team will have only a limited amount of time to make the most of his talents.

Ward explains: “The horse is going to go down to Annabel Neasham’s at the end of the year. She originally bought the horse out of France, sent him to me for this season, and once he has had his campaign here as a three-year-old, he’ll go down there for the spring in Australia.”

Whether Asgoodassobergets, who was bred by Dermot Cantillon out of Haafhd’s daughter Little Alice, goes to Australia as a Royal Ascot winner will be known soon enough. The mile and a quarter handicap he contests is typically competitive, with a maximum field declared and the vast majority of the runners on the up. 

Ward’s colt is one such, having won at Lyon Parilly on his second start in France for previous trainer Edouard Monfort, and then justifying favouritism on the all-weather at Wolverhampton in April over a mile and a half. He won there by half a length under Richard Kingscote.

“There are a lot of unexposed types in the race,” says Ward. “Our horse has been showing all the right signs at home. Although it might have looked fairly hard work, he actually won quite nicely at Wolverhampton, it was easier than it looked. 

“He was still hard on the bridle at the furlong pole, hence why we’re dropping him back to a mile and a quarter, which we think is more his trip.

“After he won at Wolverhampton we thought he should be able to get in a race at Royal Ascot off a mark of 88, near the bottom of one of the handicaps. I had him in the King George V but prefer the mile-and-a-quarter option. It’s always a bit of a risk, not knowing whether for sure you’ll get in, but I thought it was pretty much guaranteed for both races off 88.

“That’s why he has not run since. He’s been working well at home, he had a nice awayday last week and he’s in great shape.”

Royal Ascot week has been warm and dry to date, and while the temperatures are set to remain high on Saturday, it is the one day of the five where there is the potential for a bit of rain, which Ward for one would welcome. 

“The ground is on the quick side but I’m hoping there’s a bit of rain about on Saturday to take a little bit of the sting out of the ground,” he says. 

He continues: “He had some solid form in France and the form has worked out okay from his Wolverhampton run. Hopefully he’s a nice horse going forward. He’s still learning his trade and should give the owners a lot of fun.

“We’ll see how he jumps out and we’ll leave it to Jim [Crowley], he knows his way around. It’s just about being uncomplicated, getting into a rhythm, hopefully there’s a bit of pace on, we’ll ride him for a bit of luck and away we go.”

The Ward stable has had a quiet week all round, having not had a runner since Monday, but June has certainly been kind.

“We’ve had a good month, they’ve all been running well,” says the trainer. “We’ve had three winners and beyond that they’ve all been competitive, so that’s good.”