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South Africa’s newest lady trainers, the Vaal–based Ashley Fortune, was one of the top 10 buyers at Bloodstock South Africa’s National Yearling Sale, with her sale topper being San Quintin, which she purchased for SAR400,000.
Famously, Ashley’s first winner was at Gr.3 level, when Let It Rain took the Gold Bowl under stepson Aldo Domeyer in 2018. She is the wife of former SA Champion Andrew Fortune and has been associated with horse racing from an early age.
In a tete-a-tete with The Impact, Ashley talks about her purchases, the COVID19 situation and much more.
Q: Could you tell us more about the horses you bought at the recent sales and your plans for them?
A: Of course, let me tell you about each horse individually:
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Q: What do we look for when you buy horses?
A: The horse should have a bit of scope. The body type has to be fairly correct and the dam line has to be strong. I believe they should have a lot of Black Types and have champions in the pedigree. My husband, Andrew has been in racing for a long time. So he knows a lot of the family-lines and can predict what their potential on the track is likely to be. We work as a team when selecting horses to buy.
Q: As a trainer, do you aim for a mixed portfolio?
A: Ideally, one needs to have a mixed portfolio of different horses running at different distances. We're really lucky as trainers. We've got a couple of our owners that have actually bought us more Classic type horses and are prepared to wait. These are more staying category and they (the owners) understand that the horses are not going to race early. This takes the pressure off for both of us as well as the horse. In other cases, owners know they want fast horses to have some fun early. We buy and prepare horses accordingly. So we don't have to fill those gaps in the stable because the owners have already filled them in for us.
Q: How did you get into racing, personally?
A: My husband, Andrew, was a jockey and he's got tons and tons of experience. I was an assistant trainer in Zimbabwe to Noelene Peech. Its where I met my husband Andrew, who was chasing the championships. I moved to South Africa with him and worked with Joey Ramsden for 18 months. So I was always part of a yard from an early age. I then stopped for a while because of my family commitments. Once Andrew stopped racing, I realised that I missed the racing more than he did. So I said to him that I would like to go into training. He said that we should start looking for owners. So that's how we started.
We had six horses in the yard by the end of the first month and from there we grew incredibly quickly. Everyone wants to be a part of Andrew’s world.
He is very good with the owners and getting people involved in racing. At the same time if you bring a horse to us and it's looking like it's not going to be what we expected or hope. We're not going to string you along for the next six months just because you pay your bills. We, you know would rather say let's cut our losses and look to re-invest somewhere else. We want to build a good, solid relationship based on trust.
Q: What were the life-lessons you learned from the COVID19 outbreak?
A: During this period, we found out who was real and who wasn't. As you know, we had a two-month break from racing but we have got some pretty loyal owners and their response was great. They continued to pay their bills. At the same time, we had to make a few cutbacks. However, I managed to maintain most of my staff. We have learned what's important and what’s not.
Q: And finally, where do you aspire to achieve over the next ten years?
A: I would love to have an international runner. We would love to have fun, taking the horse to Dubai or Hong Kong. Also, we haven't got a Grade One trophy in the cabinet either. So I hope for a few of those and just to keep being able to buy the quality we do, if not a slightly higher quality of horse by the next ten years. I definitely want an international runner to represent South Africa in a different country.