Hucking Hero dispensed with his maiden tag in style at Lingfield today when winning the 1.50 directoryoftheturf.com Maiden Auction Stakes over seven furlongs on the all-weather.
John Best’s son of Iron Mask had shown promise when making the frame in his previous race, and his experience told in today’s contest, only his third career start. Held up behind the leaders by Dane O’Neill, he moved up in the final furlong to take the lead with 150 yards to go, and made a facile display of putting his rivals three lengths behind him.
Hucking Hero, owned by the 2007 Hucking Horses syndicate, is a half-brother to past stable star Kingsgate Bay, and now eligible for handicaps, he looks to have an exciting future ahead of him.
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Hucking Heist lived up to his name today when launching a smash and grab in the 5.10 lingfieldpark.co.uk Maiden Stakes over seven furlongs.
John Best’s son of Desert Style was making his debut under Steve Drowne, and showed his inexperience, racing outpaced and well detached before making a strong run in the final furlong to comfortably deny favourite Laura’s Best by 1 1/4 lengths.
Hucking Heist was named after the infamous 2006 heist in which thieves stole £53m from the Securitas depot in Tonbridge. Money cages from the robbery were found in fields near John Best’s Hucking yard, while a getaway vehicle was abandoned in the car park of the stable’s local pub, the Hook and Hatchet.
This victory adds to the success of the Hucking Horses partnership - all five horses have now won races for their owners.
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Members of John Best’s Hucking Horses syndicates have a new resource for all the latest news and updates on their horses.
The new members’ areas of johnbestracing.com will include newsletters, photographs and exclusive updates on the progress of the two Hucking syndicates, with the May newsletter already in place for members to check out online.
All Hucking Horses members have been sent the secure usernames and passwords needed to gain access to their secure pages, and links can be found at the top of every page of the johnbestracing.com website.
Hucking Horses - named for the village where John Best trains - is an innovative racing syndicate offering partners increased opportunities to go racing with less of the risks of owning a single horse. Four of the five 2006 horses are already winners, and the 2007 syndicate boasts five well-bred horses by sires like Iron Mask, Hawk Wing and Spartacus, with the last named - the two-year-old filly Hucking Harmony - having placed thi
Doctor Who and Torchwood star John Barrowman was at John Best’s racing yard this afternoon to meet Hucking Harkness - a racehorse named for his popular character Captain Jack Harkness.
Film crews from Doctor Who Confidential - BBC3’s behind-the-scenes documentary - and BBC South East were on hand to record the meeting of the two Harknesses, along with photographers from the Kent Messenger and Kent News and Pictures.
John Barrowman met the thoroughbred - a two-year-old chestnut colt - and soon made friends with him before seeing him work on John Best’s picturesque gallops. He is taking a strong interest in Hucking Harkness’ progress, and hopes to be able to see him race when he makes his debut later in the year.
Hucking Harkness is one member of a five-horse syndicate, Hucking Horses (named for the village where John Best trains), and a few shares still remain in this exciting racing partnership.
Find out more about joining Hucking Horses>
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We started at Lingfield on Friday, and again Hotchpotch was disappointing, although he wasn’t beaten too far and probably pretty much ran to his mark, but he is becoming a little frustrating.
We then had three runners in the same race, which is something I hate doing, but unfortunately the race was right for all three horses so they had to take their chance. Brave Jack was drawn one and I was concerned that he may not get early cover and pull too hard, and also there was a big risk of him getting stuck on the rail. That seemed to be pretty much what happened and he got held up in the straight, but ran ok in fourth. Woodygo had a reasonable position but they probably didn’t go fast enough for him. He was staying on in the straight despite getting hampered. We’ll step him up, probably to 1 1/4 miles now, and I’m sure he is a winner waiting to happen.
Hucking Heat was given a great ride from a bad drawn by George Baker, held up last and then brought wide in the s
Hucking Heat scored for trainer John Best and the Hucking Horses syndicate today when taking the 4.15 Pontin’s Holidays Handicap over a mile at Lingfield.
Held up under George Baker, the Desert Sun gelding had only three behind him as the field turned for home, but made up ground in the final furlong to snatch the race in the final fifty yards.
John Best’s other runners in the race - Brave Jack and Woodygo - finished fourth and fifth respectively behind their stablemate.
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There could be supernatural goings-on at John Best's Kentish training yard this spring when an associate of everyone's favourite Time Lord drops by.
A colt by Dr Fong from the 2007 Hucking Horses syndicate is to be named "Hucking Harkness' after the popular character Captain Jack Harkness, hero of the BBC's Doctor Who and Torchwood.
And actor John Barrowman, who plays Captain Jack in both hit series, will be stopping by John Best's yard to meet his namesake.
John Best explains, "We were discussing the Hucking Horses and the Dr Fong colt stood out as a tricky one to name. Somebody mentioned Doctor Who, and from there we reached Captain Jack - and Hucking Harkness was born.
"We got in touch with John Barrowman's connections to see what they thought of us using the name, and they loved the idea immediately"
A familiar face on British television since landing the part of Captain Jack Harkness, John Barrowman has made headlines with high-profile appearances on Dancing
