'Our expectations are nearly raised every day' - Devon breeders heading to Carlisle with surprise filly

When three farming friends headed to Exeter Livestock Centre four years ago, they were looking for a different type of animal to usual.

Mickey Ludwell, Mark Walters and Robbie Johns ended up buying something even more different than their intention when they found Favourite Girl and her young foal at a short-notice sale of thoroughbreds, organised by Kivells to dissolve a partnership at a Yorkshire farm that had entered administration. The mare was a useful sprinter in her day, reaching a peak Racing Post Rating of 103 with six wins and a close second in the Redcar Two-Year-Old Trophy.

The daughter of Refuse To Bend had not achieved much as a broodmare to that point, but not only has that fateful foal, Devon Envoy, provided the group that call themselves the Horniwinks Syndicate with three victories, her next one has been even better, with Adaay In Devon now chasing a hat-trick of Great British Bonuses in Wednesday’s British EBF Fillies' Restricted Novice Stakes at Carlisle.

Ludwell takes up the story.

"It all started from my mate Robbie, or Johnsy as we call him, he always had a dream of having a racehorse and I said we'd go in together," he says.

"They were selling the yearlings first, we missed it, forgot all about it, so he said we’d go down and buy a mare in foal. We really wanted a jumper, a Kayf Tara or something like that as Exeter and Newton Abbot are our local tracks. I’d watched a bit of Flat racing but none of the others had really got into it.

"Anyway we had a look around, they were penned up with straw and it was a baking hot day. We bid for one, didn’t get her, then Favourite Girl came in, Robbie said, 'What do you think?' We said, 'Carry on', and we bought her for 1,200gns."

Devon Envoy got his new owners off to a good start, with this easy win at Salisbury one of three he picked up

The surprises were only just beginning when they investigated her two-month-old foal.

"We believed him to be by Cannock Chase but he wasn’t; when we’d had him tested we found he was by Peace Envoy," continues Ludwell. "Weatherbys were brilliant about it, we registered him and went on to race him. He had a funny shoulder action if you watch his races, we’d call him a leg flinger.

"He couldn’t do bends at all, he went to an all-weather round track and did nothing there. But he didn’t let us down and he’s retired now."

Ludwell has knowledge of breeding cattle, so when it came to choosing who Favourite Girl would be covered by, he took the lead.

"I rang Ed Harper at Whitsbury Manor," he explains. "He was so helpful. He was familiar with the mare and said he’d nearly tried to buy her when she came out of training for Tim Easterby many years ago. We could only really afford to put her with Adaay, so we did. 

"Ed said if we were going to breed a sprinter, breed a sprinter to a sprinter, and she’s done quite well for us."

They have stuck to the theme and now have a March-born filly foal by Sergei Prokofiev and then sent Favourite Girl to Due Diligence.

"This foal is stronger than the one we’ve got, she's really beautiful," says Ludwell.

Smart sprinter Favourite Girl (maroon and blue), seen in winning action at Haydock in 2008Credit: John Grossick

The syndicate hail from around a village almost on the border with Cornwall. They have a wide skillset between them and, along with a few others, have all played their part in different stages with the mare and foals before handing over to trainer Rod Millman. 

There are the dairy farmers Ludwell, wife Angie and his sister Janet Clarke – who incidentally bred Some Toy, one of the best hunter chasers among a vintage era in the mid-90s. Johns, his partner Sarah, and Walters and his wife Jean are in sheep farming, while Kevin and Jo Nancekivell also farmed but former footballer Kevin is better known as a first-team coach at Plymouth Argyle.

"Rod’s helped us massively and was the brains behind a lot of it, we were just chucking money at the job really," says Ludwell.

"I’ve never heard a bad word about him. When Adaay In Devon was strong enough, Rod picked her up, and she went to Martin Jones to be broken.

"Rod thought we had a nice filly and that we’d have a bit of fun this year, which we have."

Most of the syndicate have managed to make it to see Adaay In Devon race, although they have had to set off a day early to make it to Cumbria, where she has stiff penalties to carry for her August wins at Windsor and Goodwood.

It is heartwarming that Favourite Girl is thriving again, having faced an uncertain future. Ludwell modestly adds that there was no great science behind them having picked her out.

"Robbie said she had a kind eye," he says. "He and my sister are fairly good horse people and he said she looked like a pretty outfit, as we’d say in Devon.

"I think we did well to buy her, given we went to buy a mare so we could breed a hurdler or a chaser really. She was a proper horse at one time, and she’s a lovely, kind horse now."

This half-brother and sister are the only racehorses the group have ever owned and, quite literally, anything Adaay In Devon achieves from here is a bonus.

"Robbie said to Rod Millman, 'I just want you to get me in the paddock'," Ludwell recalls with amusement. "With this horse, our expectations are nearly raised every day.

"It’s only a bit of fun for us. We’re genuine hard-working people - we couldn’t afford to buy a horse for £150,000 or whatever. We’ve done it on the cheap."

Read this next:

Shadwell in for top lot at Keeneland to tune of $2.3 million