Greys always stand out. And so do front-runners. So grey speedster Duca Di Como was always likely to draw the eye. Then he started winning. A lot.
Trained in Norway by Cathrine Erichsen, he has won multiple blacktype races and proved himself one of the best horses in Scandinavia over several seasons. But his story begins in Ireland, where he was sired, bred, and bought. We spoke to Cathrine Erichsen to learn more about this exceptional horse.
Tell us the story behind DUCA DI COMO.
A friend of mine had told me about him before the Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale and I was trying to find an owner for him.
It seemed like I wasn’t going to, so I gave a call to an owner who rarely answers, but he picked up that day. He said he wasn’t interested, but he was having lunch with some friends who gave me a certain amount to spend and one hour later we had bought him through the agent Peter Doyle.
The group had actually been having lunch at Lake Como in Italy that day when I called, so that’s where he got his name. He’s a very easy horse to train and very tough. Not the biggest, but not afraid of anything.
He has all the qualities I look for in horse, big nostrils, powerful hindquarters, and when I first breezed him I could see he had a lot of ability.
We decided not to run him at two, but he came straight out in April at three with an impressive win and went on to win the Norwegian 2,000 Guineas.
He has been even better this year and very impressive in winning two Listed races. He is different class to his competition here in Scandinavia at the moment, so if it weren’t for the pandemic we’d definitely have tried him abroad.
What is the appeal of breeze-up horses?
I’ve been very successful with breeze-up horses. The ones I have bought have turned out really well. I had another one also bought by Peter Doyle called Easy Road who won a lot of races including a nice handicap at Doncaster and a Listed race at Ascot.
Another horse I train Seaside Song was also a breeze-up horse from Goresbridge and she is one of the top fillies in Scandinavia.
Some breeze-up horses are sometimes trained quite hard to get to the breeze-up so you have to keep that in mind as a trainer, but I am very positive about breeze-up sales in general.
Tell us more about your background.
I started when I was pretty young in 1995. I never planned to be a racehorse trainer, especially not in Norway where the sport is so small. So it started as a hobby and just riding out for a trainer to make some money.
Then the trainer decided he wanted to quit. I ended up taking on the stable and had 14 horses to start. 10 of them were jumpers.
I was only about 22 at that time, but I kept on going and trying to get some good owners to buy good horses. I won my first big race in my second year as a trainer, which was the Norwegian Criterium.
From there we just kept going, with good owners and a good team. There is only one racetrack here in Norway and in winter we have to train on the snow, which is actually great for the horses as it cools their legs constantly.
We also don’t have many bleeders in Scandinavia, which I think is due to the climate.
We have won almost all the big races in Scandinavia, including four Derbies, the Stockholm Cup, the Scandinavian Open Championship, and many other blacktype races.
What are your hopes for 2020?
It’s of course been difficult this year due to the lockdown, even if we have been able to keep racing for the most part in Scandinavia.
Norway is opening more and more now at least and trainers and jockeys are allowed to travel across the borders to do our jobs.
With regard to sales, it can be a bit delicate to speak to owners as everyone is waiting to see what will happen.
My aim is always to try and be champion trainer some day, even if I need a few more horses to be able to compete with the top trainers here in Norway and Scandinavia.
Other than that we always try to keep on learning and keep on improving. I’ve spent nearly all my life in this sport, but am still learning new things every day.
The Tattersalls Ireland-Goresbridge Breeze-Up 2020 will be held in Newmarket, UK.
The breeze will be held on Wednesday 22 July at 9am (10am CET) and the sale will take place on Friday 24 July at 10.30am (11.30am CET).
The catalogue is available here: https://bit.ly/2BbqhYU
And online buying will be available here: https://bit.ly/2Bh79ZB
The online system is very simple to use. Buyers simply need to register and then place bids using a computer, tablet, or phone. All the information on online buying is available at the link above.
