- 2 days ago
David Menuisier says that he is convinced his star mare Tamfana, who is one of the prize lots in the upcoming Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, is as good as ever. Tamfana landed a memorable Group 1 triumph in the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket last year and, ahead of the Sceptre Sessions, her trainer recalled how he realised she was something out of the ordinary from a very early stage in her career.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00Group 1 winner Tamfana has been the flag bearer for the Quantum Leap Racing Syndicate.
00:08I've come here to her base at her trainer David Mounisiers in beautiful West Sussex
00:13to find out a little bit more about one of this highlight lots for the SEPTA sessions.
00:23David, it was fantastic to see Tamfana out this morning.
00:26I mean, she's a lovely strong filly. She looks magnificent and is obviously feeling well.
00:30Yeah, no, she's feeling great. As you could see on the gallows this morning,
00:36she'd be happy to run again actually this month, but we don't have an option for her.
00:42But no, I'm delighted with her. Yeah, she's in really good form.
00:47We discussed her humble beginnings, if you like.
00:50Yes.
00:51How has her development been over the years that you've had her?
00:54When she first arrived, as a yearling, she wasn't the most eye-catching horse.
01:01But she's improved physically very, very swiftly.
01:05But from a week to the next, I remember Quantum Leap having several visits,
01:11but actually at least a couple of visits during the spring.
01:14And from the first to the second visit, they couldn't recognize her.
01:19And you could literally see her putting on weight and developing on a weekly basis,
01:24which is quite rare.
01:26But she's now a pretty adult filly.
01:30I don't think she will change much more.
01:32She's 500 kgs.
01:34And yeah, she's a looker.
01:37She has a nice bum, good girth, really good girth.
01:41And yeah, nice and strong.
01:44And she had that development in the back end of her two-year-old year.
01:47Was it at that stage that you started to get real high hopes for her?
01:51We've always felt that she was a nice filly.
01:54Leticia, who's been looking after the filly for the last two years,
01:58actually told us in March as a two-year-old that she felt the filly was exceptional.
02:04And for one, she was right.
02:06She was right in spades, wasn't she?
02:08Yes.
02:09So she always showed plenty of talent.
02:11But I felt she was just too weak to start before she did.
02:16We started racing quite late.
02:19She had her first race at Voslas.
02:21I think if she had started sooner, she probably would have won the Marcel Boussac
02:26because she came to hand quite quickly in late summer.
02:32And I still don't understand how she got beat first time out at Voslas.
02:38Yeah, it's amazing looking back.
02:40And obviously she then went on to win her Group 3 in France.
02:43Did you go into the winter thinking we've got a classic filly on our hands?
02:48We certainly hope so because she was showing plenty on the gallops.
02:53The way she won her maiden at Kempton and the Group 3 in France was really, really impressive.
03:00And we had the Christmas party that year and I did put my neck on the line and said,
03:06I think she's the best filly I've ever trained.
03:09Obviously they thought I was drunk.
03:12But yeah, I wasn't far off right on that one.
03:16Absolutely.
03:17It must have been agonising in a way though to come so close in the classic.
03:23Honestly, the Guineas, I was extremely confident because she had a really good prep.
03:29She came on a lot for the prep in the impudence.
03:34And the filly that beat her in the impudence was short favourite.
03:38Well, she was quite short in the beating of the Guineas.
03:42And I thought there's no way I can't beat that filly this time round.
03:46Which gave us a really good chance even though she was 66 to 1.
03:50I was really confident.
03:52I'm a diamond she would have won the race if she had had the carol.
03:56And do you think at that stage people were in danger of pigeonholing her?
04:00You know, it was soft ground where she won her Group 3 in France.
04:04Coming into fast ground Guineas, they thought they had a German bred filly kind of in a box there.
04:10And my word, she proved everyone wrong.
04:12Not just there, but throughout the season with how versatile she was.
04:15It was a bit of a gamble to go for the Guineas rather than the Pool d'Essay the following week.
04:20But we just felt the filly was absolutely thriving in training.
04:24So I thought rather than wait another week and be drawn 14 of 14, we might as well give it a go.
04:31It was bittersweet obviously because it makes all the difference.
04:35I actually won the 1000 Guineas.
04:38It would have been fantastic for the owners and myself.
04:43It would have been my first classic in the UK.
04:46But it's still a bit sore when we talk about it, you know, because you never really quite get over those things.
04:55Until you win one I suppose.
04:57Yeah, it's still time.
04:59It opened the door for some ambitious campaigning then because she proved to you that she was a bona fide top drawer horse.
05:09Yeah.
05:10That all came to fruition in the Sun Chariot, of course, which must have been a great relief.
05:14How confident were you through the season that she would get that win?
05:18Look, she always showed a lot of class.
05:21Third in the Dian, fourth in the Grand Prix de Paris, beaten by the best three All Colts of the season, including Sozie.
05:30Going back to her mind, she was absolutely flambant.
05:33I mean, when she won the Atalanta, she was impressive.
05:38So going to the Sun Chariot, we were pretty confident she would win.
05:44But then she had been quite unlucky throughout the season.
05:48It was a massive relief when she took the lead down the dip and went to win.
05:55It was watching the race in slow-mo nearly, you know, when it's sheer elation.
06:02The three-year-old Tamfada holding them all at bay goes clear by two lengths.
06:07This is the new kid on the block.
06:09It is Tamfada who wins the Sun Chariot.
06:12Just talk us through this season for her, because I think people would maybe look at the form figures and think,
06:17well, things haven't quite worked out for her.
06:19But are you confident that she is a filly that could be as good as ever now?
06:23Yeah, I do believe she's as good as ever.
06:26First run of the season was absolutely fantastic.
06:30Running second in the Sandown mile, which is always a strong race.
06:35She actually beat some of the best milers in Europe that day.
06:41In the low hinge, nothing went right.
06:43And she actually sustained a little injury while she got struck into.
06:50So she lost her stride and I felt the ground was a bit too quick that day for her anyway.
06:58So after that, we had such a dry summer.
07:02We decided to give her a break in the summer, bring her back in the autumn to run on good ground.
07:08Well, on what I thought would be good ground and the good ground, softish ground never came until October really.
07:17So we've been kind of forced to go for the opera straight away after five months off, which was a hard thing to do.
07:26And she nearly pulled it off. She was only beaten three quarters of her length, which was a massive run.
07:31And then went to Ascot in the QE2. She ran third in the QE2 last year, which is a massive performance.
07:38I mean, we talk about the Sun Chariot and everything else, but the QE2, you know, being behind Charin and Factor Cheval was a massive performance.
07:47This year, sadly, two furlongs out, I think it's the Aga Khan horse that struck into her, right beside her knee.
07:59And she got an infection following that. So she literally stopped because she lost her action when it happened.
08:07So I know it's easy to come up with excuses, but I know the feeling really well.
08:13Having had her for two years, through a mile four, from good to firm to heavy ground, because she's a real resource.
08:21She doesn't know what defeat means. She'll give her best all the time. And I know that she's as good as ever.
08:30So ideal scenario, David, she goes through the sales ring and makes a lovely sum for her owners.
08:37The new owners send her back to David Mauricie for her five year old career.
08:41What does the campaign look like?
08:43I think I would have a tilt abroad. Australia would be quite high on the map when we see what Via Sistina has managed to do out there.
08:53I think in terms of sheer quality, this filly is a much better horse than Via Sistina.
09:00So I think I would be interested to explore that and probably some races in America as well, on the East Coast.
09:10I think Delma was a bit daunting this season for a filly like her.
09:16But because of the ground, but on the East Coast in the States, I think she would have some lovely pots to win as well.
09:25And of course Europe, because she's, to me, she's still one of the best fillies in Europe, if not the best.
09:32Well, Niall Eamon, what a phenomenal success story Tanfana has been for the Syndicate.
09:40Eamon, just tell us a little bit about the kind of history and background of Quantum Leap Racing.
09:45Yes, we started in 2017, modestly, with two horses. One turned out to be very good, one turned out to be very bad.
09:54But the very good ones held to Hong Kong.
09:57Started the model first really, because it allowed us to replenish the pot by five the following year and progress from there.
10:03I mean, every single year we've had a good horse from modest numbers.
10:06We bought five every year since then, ten this year, so we're expanding a little bit.
10:11We've expanded slowly and organically, so it's always been by referral, so people in the Syndicate introducing friends, family and others.
10:18So it's had a nice atmosphere about it. Everybody's become friends and got to know new friends and stuff like that.
10:24So it works on every level, on a sporting level and on a social level.
10:28And it's not a surprise that it has taken the step up this season on the back of Tanfana's campaign, Niall.
10:34I mean, what an amazing kind of filly to have sourced from humble beginnings, really.
10:39Yeah, completely. And credit sourcing her goes to Jeremy Brummett, who's purchased all of our yearlings since 2017.
10:47Tanfana's kind of taken us to new heights in the wider scheme of things, brought us to the public consciousness that bit more.
10:56I mean, this year we managed to buy ten yearlings and all of those are already fully sold out.
11:01So I think that shows just how significant Tanfana was both for her owners, but also the Syndicate as a whole,
11:09and giving us that platform to grow and hopefully do what we're doing on a larger scale moving forward.
11:15How difficult a decision was it now to bring this filly to sale?
11:19I think for us, normally we would sell every horse at the end of their three year old season, unless they've shown us a reason not to.
11:28So the model is, unless they're going to be a group one horse, which is the goal, we set out as yearlings to find group one winners.
11:36We've done it in this case. So we kept her for another season into her four year old year to enjoy her.
11:41Because if we're not doing that, then what are we doing it for? If you finally find your group one horse and you can't enjoy them while they're racing,
11:48then what's the point in buying the yearling in the first place?
11:50What's the group like involved in Tanfana and how much have they enjoyed that journey?
11:55We've got people that are barristers, teachers, IT professionals, publicans, you know, you name it.
12:03Anyone out of the Canberwick Green, if you get that reference, then, you know, we've got people in all sorts of professions.
12:09Will there be a big team at Tattersall's in December? What will that, what will that day be like for you guys?
12:14Well, I would imagine that will be a big day out. I mean, it's almost as exciting as a race, isn't it? Almost.
12:20Almost. Talk us through that, her winning. Speak to us afterwards, we might be saying more.
12:25Talk us through what it's like to win a group one with an operation like this, because as I said, she did have humble beginnings
12:32and she advertised her talents early on. So you knew you had a good filly, but to take that next level up, what was that like?
12:38It was relief. We were all very confident that she was going to win it. And during the race, for me, there wasn't a moment's worry.
12:50It was the last two furlongs were just excitement because we could see she was going to go and do it.
12:55Nobody was forced afterwards.
12:57There were some scenes on the concourse of the Newmarket Grandstand once she crossed the line.
13:07A lot of owners going absolutely nuts. But I think that was just relief. She deserved that group one.
13:13She'd knocked on the door all season. She'd placed in two classics. We'd raced her over every trip against Colts, against Fillies.
13:22We hadn't cracked it. And finally, towards the end of the year, we'd done something right.
13:26We'd put her in the right race. And she went and rewarded everyone.
13:30And it was great for the filly herself as well to be able to do that and just show everyone how good she is.
13:37Let's hope for similar scenes at Tattersall's in December and hoarse voices the following morning as well.
13:43Best of luck with her.
13:44I don't know about Tune at the sales. Some people do it, don't they?
13:49Good luck, guys.
13:50Thanks very much.
13:51Cheers.
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