Francis Drake

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Trained by George Boughey at Craven House Stables, Newmarket

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Francis Drake

"It's a no brainer to have 'Frank' with the best young trainer in Newmarket!"

Guineas Horses In Training Sale

Lot: 127

Purchase price - 15,000 gns (£15,750)

Official Rating: 63

Previous Trainer - Simon & Ed Crisford

PV Trainer - George Boughey

Francis Drake was sold as part of the Godolphin consignment at this week’s Guineas Horse In Training sale and throughout the week he had attracted plenty of attention with viewing’s and vetting’s.

He vetted as clean as a whistle and actually had the best report of all the horses we vetted in the sale.

George was keen to train him and has also kept a leg (25%) himself.

We have had two winners and a second in the last 2 weeks with George. Add to that his hugely successful training performance with Oliver Show, improving him from a rating of 81 to his current mark of 99 and it’s a no brainer to have "Frank" with the best young trainer in Newmarket!

"He's a strong travelling horse who looks like he should have the gears to drop back"

3 year old

Age

Wins

£6,577

Prize Money

Physical?

As soon as I saw this horse in the flesh I KNEW my theory about his incorrect campaigning so far was correct and I will cover that in more detail later.

Francis Drake is a well put together, strong & compact type. Overall he was a lovely physical which you would imagine for a Godolphin homebred.

He is by a stallion we love at the moment, BELARDO. Our multiple winner this year Tuco Salamanca is also by this stallion and we’ve noticed some similarities between the two. The reason for Tuco’s defeat at Southwell was because we rushed him in the early stage of this race, after being slow away, to get a prominent position. This didn’t allow him to settle his wind and get him in a rhythm. Francis Drake wears a tongue tie, and while his wind showed a 2A (very good) I feel that his previous front running/prominently ridden tactics are not suitable for him.

How will you improve this horse?

Not only would I expect there to be improvement straight off the bat from the change of hands from the Crisford’s to Boughey’s, but the race planning and tactics which we will implement should help to do this also!

I think he has been ridden completely wrong and also over the wrong trip.

His last 3 runs have been over:

7f / 6f / 7f

His stride data would suggest he wants 5.5/6f on sharper tracks.

Previous form breakdown:

28/03 - Lingfield - 2nd over 7f

After being sent off favourite in the betting, he had the right track but the wrong trip & produced his best performance to date being beaten on the line by a subsequent winner who is likely still well handicapped.

10/04 - Newcastle - 4th over 6f

This time sent off joint second favourite, FD has the right trip, but at the wrong track. Newcastle being a straight & galloping track where the wind plays a fair impact on the results. FD was ridden prominently with no cover into a headwind. Considering these factors would have been against him, in our eyes, he has done well to finish fourth.

26/04 - Doncaster -13/13 over 7f

Again sent off as favourite under completely incorrect conditions and tactics. Doncaster, similar to Newcastle, would be a straight & galloping track, so it was no surprise to see him ‘Weaken over 1f out’ (Racing Post) after already racing prominently for 6f into another strong headwind. He was short of racing room and to me it looked like Jack Mitchell done the right thing and looked after him.

I think he wants to be ridden mid division or possibly further back, just so he can settle and get his wind organised and in a rhythm instead of rushed prominent tactics. We may experiment with some headgear in the future but we will see how things go before committing to that.

We’re very excited to get things going with the well named ‘Francis Drake’ and hope to welcome a bunch of new owners into our newest syndicate.

Owen and the PV Team

UPDATE

19.8.25 - Frank wins at Kempton on his 2nd start for PV!

🏆Francis Drake breaks his maiden🏆
An extremely satisfying evening at Kempton was had on Tuesday after 15,000 Guineas HIT sale purchase Francis Drake won cosily on his second start for us.

A horse that Timeform say is ‘just the type that connections do well with & could look well bought at just 15,000 gns’.

He now has a TF rating of 74.

There is more to come from this horse and he confirmed that he was certainly well treated off his mark.

Another winning HIT sale purchase. ✅