Ghostwriter to fly the flag for Philippart de Foy

Kevin Philippart de Foy is keen to make new recruit Ghostwriter a “high-profile flagbearer” in his role as principal trainer to Amo Racing.

The Belgian handler replaced Raphael Freire in the Freemason Lodge hotseat for Kia Joorabchian’s operation and could have the ideal candidate to help make his mark after the Hardwicke Stakes third was transferred from Clive Cox to the training centre that is the former home of Sir Michael Stoute.

Last seen when rearing over and subsequently being withdrawn from the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket, Philippart de Foy is eager to show patience with the high-class four-old and said: “Ghostwriter is a really exciting horse, Clive has done an excellent job with him and now we just need to carry on that work.

“There will be some exciting winter targets and he is a horse that is probably going to be travelling over the winter and into next year as well.

“The idea for him is to become that high-profile flagbearer for the yard. We’re just going to let him settle in and get used to surroundings and take our time with him.

“He’s a highly-talented horse and we want to do everything right by him and once he tells us he’s ready to run, we’ll get him to the races.”

As well as Ghostwriter, Philippart de Foy has also seen some other high-profile Amo names join him at Freemason Lodge, including Coronation Stakes fourth Cathedral and the unraced two-year-old Partying, who have both been switched from the care of Ralph Beckett.

Cathedral will have her first outing for her new trainer in Sandown’s Atalanta Stakes later this month.

“She’s a filly which will probably go to Sandown for the Atlanta at the end of the month, then we will take it from there,” said Philippart de Foy.

“She showed she is very good over a mile in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and then might not have stayed the extra furlong in France last time when the ground was a bit slow that day.

“We’ll bring her back to a mile on faster conditions and she has arrived in great shape.”

Partying, who is a Frankel filly out of Royal Ascot winner Aljazzi, was the most expensive yearling sold at the prestigious Tattersalls Book One sale last October and brought the hammer down at 4.4million guineas.

She is envisaged to begin her racing career later in the year, when Philippart de Foy hopes she will live up to her name and give connections cause for huge celebration.

“She’s a very exciting filly to be training,” he continued.

“She comes with a big price-tag, but she’s a great-moving filly and has a very good mind.

“We’re not asking too many questions at the moment, but it’s so far so good and she’s a really exciting filly going forward.

“We’ll look to get her on track towards the back end of the year and hopefully she can deliver and prove to be another exciting prospect for Amo.”

On his move across Newmarket to his new home, Philippart de Foy added: “I couldn’t be happier and you can’t complain when you are training out of Freemason Lodge.

“Training for Amo Racing is a real privilege and I’m delighted with how things have started. It’s been a smooth transition and hopefully it’s going to be an exciting couple of months coming up.

“When you start training these are the type of horses you are always targeting training and when I started five years ago I could only dream of training these types, so I’m obviously delighted but I have just got to deliver now.”