TRAINER Charlie Fellowes is hoping to celebrate a year of change with his first Group-race House party this season.
Historic Bedford House, where ambitious Fellowes moved to in May last year, saw many a lavish party during the 43 years it was home to suave Luca Cumani.
As well as taking the big step of moving to the new yard, jolly Fellowes has also became a dad and had to deal with racing grinding to a halt just as he was about to take his operation to a new level.
Now he is ready to gallop ahead when the season starts on June 1 and is desperate to herald the new dawn with a first British Group winner.
Fellowes, 34, laughed: “I shouldn’t be advertising this, but one stat that kills me is I’ve yet to train the winner of a Group race in England!
“That is incredibly high up on my list of things to do this year.”
Fellowes had hoped to kick on in his first full season in new surroundings. The Covid-19 pandemic put an end to that.
He said: “I don’t want to sound like I’m getting my violin out and I realise I’m in a much better position than most people, but on a personal and purely selfish level this has all come at an appalling time.
“We’ve moved to a bigger yard with higher overheads and we’re not full yet. The last thing we needed was a massive source of income like prize money taken away.
“Things are tight. However we also know things could be much worse.”
With Fellowes now on bottle duty at home, he has enlisted old mate Mike Marshall of Frankel and Henry Cecil fame to lend a hand.
And welcoming a new addition to the family has been eye-opening. Fellowes said: “For the first six or seven years I was incredibly happy to have a hands-on role. I’m a bit of a control freak like that.
“I didn’t like giving it up, but I knew as we moved to Bedford House — and with a baby coming into the world — I would have to adjust. Mike’s taken a lot of pressure off.
“Bringing up baby Jack in lockdown has been strange. My parents only managed to meet him after two and a half months! That’s bonkers.”
The sleepless nights have given Fellowes plenty of time to concoct plans for stable stars King Ottokar, King Carney and Prince Of Arran.
Hopes are still high for King Ottokar, while the Derby dream is alive with King Carney.
Surely that first Group win on home soil is only a matter of time.
Fellowes said: “King Ottokar is a very talented horse and the plan is to start in the Brigadier Gerard at Haydock.
“But there’s no doubt about it, he is a soft ground horse and especially early on in the season he won’t be risked on ground that isn’t appropriate. We want him fresh for the autumn.
“I do think he’s still very exciting and I still believe he can compete at the top, especially if we get his conditions.
“But we can dream, you’d love to talk about the Arc and races like that, but he obviously has a long way to go before he proves he’s up to that.
“King Carney has a lot of natural speed and a lovely attitude, if he stays he could be a very, very nice prospect.
“We have the option of the Classic Trial at Kempton or the Lingfield Derby Trial.
“The owner has always dreamed of winning the Derby and he grew up in Epsom on Tattenham Corner so that is very much number one.
“And I think Epsom would suit him as he’s a neat and compact horse who would have no problem getting around there.”
Globetrotting Prince Of Arran is reportedly in the form of his life and Fellowes hopes to make it pay at Royal Ascot.
He said: “We’re going to try something a bit different this year. He’s flying at home, absolutely flying.
“I can’t remember seeing him work as well as he has in the last few weeks. The plan is to go to the Sagaro Stakes at Newcastle.
“Then we’ll look at the Gold Cup at Ascot. He didn’t stay in the race a few years back, but I think he may now.
“Ascot is a track he has run well at before so we may have a look at that before reverting to our normal plan of Australia and the big races abroad.”
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