Unit Sixtyfour Profile

Written on 11 June 2020

Unit Sixtyfour was purchased from Tattersalls Ireland's sale at Cheltenham Racecourse in February. He had recently finished second in his most recent point-to-point, showing plenty of promise. We were impressed by his presence at the sale, and thought he could develop into an exciting Jumping prospect. Let's take a look through his pedigree, the form of his races, and ahead to the coming season.

Unit Sixtyfour is out of Dixie Chick, who was very lightly raced in Ireland for the Motherway family. Dixie Chick won her second point-to-point very easily by twenty lengths, having endured a long break after finishing second on debut. She is a half-sister to pointing winners Taylor Swift, Dusky Lamp and Shore Park. Dixie Chick's half-sister Catriona's Mare was placed in point-to-points before breeding two winners, Financial Outcome (who won over fences, as well as point-to-points) and Carrig Dubh, a winner of five points.

The only other horse Dixie Chick has bred who has raced is dual pointing winner Shanacoole, who is by the now-retired top stallion, Oscar. Dixie Chick has also bred a four-year-old called Notalossla, who is unraced. Shanacoole won a maiden point-to-point in January 2019, before following up in a 'winners of one' race the following month for his owner-breeder, Colin Motherway. Colin Motherway also prepared Unit Sixtyfour for his races last season, and rode many winners himself 'between the flags', prior to retiring to concentrate on training.

Unit Sixtyfour is by Sholokhov, whose best son is the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Don Cossack. Trained by Gordon Elliott, Don Cossack won 16 of his 27 races, recording an impressive six wins at Grade 1 level. Sholokhov also bred perhaps the most exciting hurdler around at present - Shishkin, who won the Grade 1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle at this year's Cheltenham Festival. Other well known winners Sholokhov has sired include David Pipe's Grade 3 winner, Dell' Arca, and the Rooneys' Kruzhlinin, who was also a Grade 3 winner 'under Rules', and has also won 14 of his 17 point-to-points! In France, Guillaume Macaire trained Esmondo to win ten of his 17 races over hurdles, including several at Grade 1 level.

Sholokhov stood as a stallion in Germany from 2004 - 2012, hence there are many less well known progeny of his in that country. From 2013 onwards, Sholokhov has stood at Glenview Stud in Ireland for €4,000. Sholokhov was bred by master Irish trainer, Jim Bolger, and raced for Aidan O'Brien during his career on the track. As a two-year-old, he won a maiden at the Curragh, before chasing home talented stablemate Hawk Wing in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes. Sholokhov also finished third to Hawk Wing in the Group 1 National Stakes, before winning Italy's Group 1 Gran Criterium at San Siro in the autumn of his juvenile season.

As a three-year-old, Sholokhov finished second to High Chaparral in the 2002 Irish Derby over 1m4f, before dropping back to 1m2f to chase home old adversary, Hawk Wing, in the Eclipse Stakes. Sholokhov also finished fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes, then failed to stay the extended 1m6f in the St Leger, before dropping back to a mile to finish fourth in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Sholokhov ran once more for new trainer, Michael Jarvis, as a four-year-old, before retiring to stud the following season. Being by the sire of stallions, Sadler's Wells, Sholokhov was always likely to have appeal at stud. He made a distinct impression with his runners in Germany and France before he moved to Ireland to stand at stud, and it is fair to say his success has continued in Britain and Ireland.

Returning to Unit Sixtyfour, he made his debut at Borris House in a geldings' maiden for four year olds on 8 December 2019. Unit Sixtyfour was in need of the experience on this occasion, as he came under pressure with four fences to run, having chased the leaders to that point. Jockey Richie Deegan wisely pulled him up before the second-last fence, ensuring Unit Sixtyfour had an enjoyable first experience of the track.

Unit Sixtyfour reappeared on 2 February at Knockmullen House in testing conditions. With half a mile to run, Unit Sixtyfour was over twenty lengths adrift of the front-running trailblazer Fully Authorised, but his ultra experienced rider, Jamie Codd, did not panic.

Codd sat patiently as the leader begin to tire around the final bend, before moving gradually into third place. Codd was keen to keep Unit Sixtyfour well balanced to ensure he jumped home safely, before he focused on winning the race. After the final fence, where Fully Authorised departed, Codd pushed Unit Sixtyfour as much as he could, but could only get within two lengths of the winner, Walking The Walk. The time of this race suggested conditions were very soft; 6 minutes 51 seconds is a long time for young horses to stay galloping. Only three horses finished in this race, and all three looked tired in the testing conditions.

Returning to the sales, the winner of the Knockmullen House point-to-point, Walking The Walk, was sold for just £38,000 at the same Tattersalls sale at Cheltenham, whereas Unit Sixtyfour was knocked down to Owners Group for £55,000 on the same day. The reason behind this is Unit Sixtyfour looked a much more likely long-term Jumping prospect, possessing more size and scope for improvement. The fact that Unit Sixtyfour was more expensive shows this was a pretty universally-held judgement. Trainer Ben Pauling liked Unit Sixtyfour at the sales, and was pleased when we bought him, and when learning that Unit Sixtyfour would be joining his successful yard.

Ben Pauling has been training since 2013, having spent the previous six seasons assisting Nicky Henderson. Nicky has also mentored successful trainers Charlie Longsdon, Jamie Snowden, Charlie Fellowes, Tom Symonds and his newest recruit to the training ranks, Toby Lawes.

Ben has exceptional facilities at his Cotswolds base. Ben's horses use a six-furlong hill gallop made with shredded carpet as their routine facility. The benefit of this surface is that is never freezes, allowing constant use through any harsh British winter. Ben also has a two-furlong deep sand canter for steady work, as well as both indoor and outdoor schools. The all-weather schooling area is crucial in wet weather, allowing horses to jump both hurdles and fences on an all-weather surface, thus allowing jumping all year round. Ben also has an equine spa, which is a unit horses walk into that fills with cold water to help ease any bruises or strains.

Ben uses top jockeys Daryl Jacob, Nico de Boinville and David Bass, while also employing up-and-coming conditional jockeys Jason Dixon and Luca Morgan. Ben is assisted by Tom David, who rode plenty of point-to-point winners in Wales, before retiring from the saddle to assist Ben.

Unit Sixtyfour is able to run in National Hunt Flat races (bumpers) when he begins training later in the summer, or he could run over hurdles. He is likely to move from EquiPrep (where he is currently turned out full time) to Ben's yard in Bourton-on-the-Water in July to begin full training. Should his training go to plan, we imagine he could be ready to run later in the autumn, once the rain has hopefully arrived and eased the ground. Unit Sixtyfour looked adept on the soft surface he encountered in Ireland, so we imagine Ben will be reluctant to run him on fast ground at this stage.

We hope Unit Sixtyfour keeps filling out through the summer, helped by the good grass and excellent care at EquiPrep, and Ben will be very happy with him when he eventually arrives in his yard. Ben will not have set eyes on him since he went through the ring in February, so we hope he is impressed by his condition. Enjoying a quiet summer after arriving from Ireland (via the sales) has given Unit Sixtyfour plenty of time to settle in and acclimatise to life in Britain; this may sound obvious, but it often takes horses a season to settle in and find their form when they come from either France or Ireland. On this basis, we hope Unit Sixtyfour can hit the ground running and enjoy a successful 2020/2021 season.

Can we take this opportunity to thank you for your support at this trying time, and to wish you and your family our best wishes.