Equinties - Langer Dan retired

Author

BGP Capital
March 28, 2025

Equinties

Gm Equinauts

THE FLAT STARTS TOMORROW.

We have a habit of picking the Brocklesby winner and in 2023 we landed the winner in DODDIES IMPACT and 20/1 VADREAM in the Cammidge!

It’s safe to say we love the meeting.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

LANGER DAN

CONSTITUTION HILL, GALOPIN DES CHAMPS, and LANGER DAN. Ask any casual racing observer who knows what horse racing is but wouldn’t watch it every week, and these three horses are probably the ones they might name first.

The first two are for obvious reasons, but the final name is almost for ‘meme’ reasons, and well, a decision was made on the horse yesterday - LANGER DAN has been retired.


It’s not often that a two-time Coral Cup winner gets celebrated and talked about so much, but the rigamarole of his entire career has been a story in itself.

He first truly ‘burst’ onto the scene when he bolted up in the Imperial Cup in March 2021 when Dan Skelton fully had the intention of going back to Cheltenham for the £100,000 bonus.

Speaking with people in the Skelton yard, they thought he was as close to a certainty as a Cheltenham Festival handicapper could be, and well, take out the eventual winner from that race and we’d be talking about him as a mightily impressive nine-length winner of the Martin Pipe. He ran into one that day. This phrase gets banded about racing quite a lot, but when he happened to get beaten by GALOPIN DES CHAMPS off a mark of 142, the phrase was justified!


Having been brought down in the Martin Pipe one year later, he won at the Aintree Grand National Festival, and then Skelton set his sights on the 2023 Coral Cup.
He was beaten by 54.25 lengths in total across three runs on the way to the Coral Cup where he edged out AN EPIC SONG for success. However, this type of plotting was nothing compared to what happened the following year.

Having started the season on a mark of 147, a case of “ulcers” and the fact he was a ‘better horse in the spring’ saw him crash out of four races before the start of February. He was beaten 49 lengths in a Pertemps Qualifier, he pulled up over two miles at Sandown, he was beaten 27 lengths at Doncaster, and he was finally beaten 31 lengths in the Lanzarote.

All of this allowed him to rock up to the 2024 Coral Cup off the previous year’s winning mark, 141, and win doing cartwheels. The fourth, LUCKY PLACE, went on to win two Grade 2 races and the fifth, FRANCISCAN ROCK, improved 9lbs subsequently.

As if he couldn’t be any more of a ‘well-handicapped’ horse, he came a short head away from winning the prestigious Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle on his next start before finishing the season with a runners-up medal in the Grade 2 Elite Hurdle.

This season has been different. When punters thought big bad DAn was at it again, the truth is he simply hasn’t been right. Skelton tried to tell every one but no one believed him. The boy who cried wolf springs to mind her, but in a sad ‘I told you so moment’, Dan announced his retirement owed to a heart condition.

You simply have to love LANGER DAN for what he is, a bloody good horse.

Happy retirement, LANGER DAN. Above all, you’ve provided us with some good laughs and some stories to tell.

And even in retirement, the LANGER DAN memes are still banging:

INTERESTING DEBUTANTE

We, among many, don’t pay too much attention to Dundalk because, well, it’s usually a nightmare. Sometimes nice horses run at the track for experience, but much of racing that occurs at the track is competitive, low-level handicaps — sorry, Dundalk fans.

However, there is an interesting debutante in the five-furlong €25,000 maiden for Ger Lyons, and because the news was a bit light yesterday, we’re going to talk a bit about her.

The horse is LADY IMAN in the 19.00, and why is she interesting? She is the first runner by STARMAN, the Group 1 July Cup Stakes winner, to hit the track.


She has a nice pedigree on her dam’s side as well. Her MEHMAS half-sister, WEST ACRE, is in training with George Scott and won two races as a juvenile before winning a Group 2 and Group 3 in Meydan this year.

SUCCESSION, her SHOWCASING half-brother, also won as a juvenile at Bath in May 2023 and the dam, LADY ARIA, was an Amo Racing-owned daughter of KODIAC who placed in a Group 3 as a juvenile and is from a decent enough family herself. She was since bought by Tally-Ho Stud for 160,000gns.

Interestingly, LADY IMAN was initially sold by Tally-Ho Stud for £185,000, but according to Tony O’Callaghan of Tally-Ho Stud, “when she went down to lunge after she was sold, they said she made a noise”. Therefore, O’Callaghan now owns her, and he recently spoke to Thoroughbred Daily News.

He said: “The vibes are very good. She passed all the scopes before the sale but, lo and behold when she went down to lunge after she was sold, they said she made a noise. That's the story. If they didn't want to take her, they didn't want to take her. We didn't want to take any less and we weren't too bothered to be quite honest with you.

“But you always hate when this kind of thing happens because we would have bet bottom dollar that she was perfect. Anyway, we have her now and we didn't even think about breezing her either. We said we'd put her into training and that's it - I think things are going to work out in our favour.

“The vibes were good on her when we had her here and they are still good. We dropped her up to Ger [Lyons, trainer] six weeks ago and he seems pretty happy with her. The vibes are good but the vibes are also good about four or five of them in the race so we're looking forward to Friday.”

So, having looked to sell her, O’Callaghan now has this exiting filly under his name and in training with Ger Lyons. With an improving pedigree and a fresh sire, she could be one to watch going forward.

The money is shouting for her but you couldn’t back with much confidence given a possible wind issue! We imagine the vet who failed her wind test might be having a sweat right now because there will be questions from Dan Creighton who bought the horse if she goes and bolts in. It would be sod’s law if she goes and bolts in by 10 lengths and they one they eventually bought runs like a hairy dog.

Ger might not leave tonight empty handed if she cant breathe. WOODSHAW WHISPER in the 20.00 looks good. The WOOTTON BASSETT colt made a promising debut when green but finishing well. The market say he does!

REPRESENTING NEWMARKET

Finally, there’s going to be some early American representation for Newmarket as CHOISYA is going for Grade 1 glory in the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland on April 12th.

It’s funny, the NIGHT OF THUNDER mare has always been a fine horse for connections over here but nothing too good. She was running off marks in the 80s and 90s for much of 2023, and she was beaten in a few Listed races in 2024.

After a break, she went over to Meydan for two Group 2 races and took them both home, running two separate career-bests in each race.

She just loves the sun on her back.

After this quick international trip, the Crisfords brought her back to Newmarket and are set to send her overseas to America for a Grade 1 task.

Simon Crisford said: “Choisya has come back from Dubai in fine form and the plan is to make the next step with her and go for the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland on April 12. It’s left-handed and on turf and should suit her very well.”
She’s a hardy old type who will go on quick ground. Best of luck to them.

RISK ON

We have a good comp bet for the bumper below and the other two we like today are:

17.20 QUEEN OF STEEL

Fergal running her quickly without a penalty in the worlds worst race. This is a good bet at 6/4.

15.45 CALL OFF THE DOGS

Probably needs to find a bit and rely on the horses at the head of the market to run poorly but this lad LOVES the track and would have been targeted for this race. We think 22/1 is a juicy price for an ew swing, four places paid.

WE HAVE PAID THOUSANDS IN WINNING COMPETITION BETS THIS MONTH, SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO ENTER TODAYS BUMPER COMPETITION!

BUMPER

One good winner from two of the previews yesterday, today we dissect a monster bumper at Wetherby feat our Mad Max!

STARMOUNT reps Pauling who landed us a winner yesterday. This lad as been smashed off the boards. We wonder whether this is because the market wanted to take on Maxwell… how dare it! Could also be the pedigree, he has a monster dam side and is a half to STAGE STAR.

MONDOUI’BOY is Maxwell’s 140k new recruit who debuted in a Sandown bog. He looked good that day and that form is top here. The ground will be very different today, so can he handle a quicker surface? We think so, his dam side suggests good ground is fine for him. His sire is getting good bumpers winners. Hell of a drift out from 2/1 to 100/30, now third fave - maybe he’s going to be pulled? If he lines up then the market is just plain disrespecting Maxwell!

WANDERING EGO has had two runs for Olly Murphy and the market is taking him on, giving him away at a dirty ew price.

Monster seems to be the word of the day in this preview but it’s warranted as NED HILL was a monster purchase for Fergal O’Brien at 170k! His physical appearance must look better than his page because it isn’t great but they really dug deep for him. He’s getting slightly clipped, 10’s into 7’s but really needs to leave his debut behind. We imagine at the price, Fergal will look after him and take his time so whether than means he’s up for today or not, we don’t know.

PARLIAMO should be better on good ground and his pedigree is absolutely littered with bumper winners. He only fetched 25k two years ago at the sales but his page is monster and 33/1 is ridiculous. He’s either not trying or the market has him priced completely wrong.

The others can’t win this deep bumper.

Verdict: The sell off on Maxwell’s MONDOUI’BOY suggests he might get pulled but if he does line up then he is the one to beat, without a doubt. If Pauling’s is anything like the half brother STAGE STAR then he’s he right fave. We’ll go speccy today and play PARLIAMO top 5.

COMPETITION BET: £100 on PARLIOMO top 5 at 2/1 for someone to win should he oblige.