TOM DASCOMBE turned 35 last week and if Max One Two Three can do herself justice in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket today, he has a fair chance of a belated birthday celebration. The filly will be Dascombe’s first Classic runner - first Group runner, in fact - a reflection of the startling progress made by the highly regarded young Lambourn trainer since his first winner barely two years ago.

Victory for the inexpensive but progressive three-year-old against the fancied antepost trio of Infallible, Muthabara and Natagora would also provoke mixed reactions from the bookmakers, not least the sponsors, Stan James.

Max One Two Three is owned by Andrew Black, founder of Betfair, the betting exchange company that has trampled over bookmakers’ traditional turf in the past five years.

Too many trainers have bloomed early and faded fast to presume that Dascombe can push into the top ranks just yet, but a clarity of ambition and a solid education, initially as a conditional jockey with Martin Pipe, then as assistant to Ralph Beckett and at finishing school with Mike de Kock, the leading South African trainer, bodes well for the future, whatever the fate of his stable star this afternoon.

“I know my limits,” he says. “I’m not a clever bloke. I can’t tell you the form of every horse in the race, but I can tell you everything about my horse. I like to be in control, I’d be happy training 80 horses and bringing the best out of each one. I never want to train 150.”

With de Kock, Dascombe handled the British summer campaign of the pioneering South African colt, Victory Moon. At Pipe’s, he learnt the art of winning, anywhere at any time, and learnt, too, that his future lay as a trainer, not a jockey. To his surprise, his father Bill, an accountant who is, in Dascombe’s words, the “most sensible man in the world”, encouraged him to take a chance on a perilous profession and to invest in a few horses neither could afford. His father’s confidence has not been misplaced.

Stable numbers and winners have risen over the past two years since Dascombe sold his house, rented a yard in Lambourn and bought a handful of yearlings for which he had no owners. From eight to 20 to 40 in terms of numbers in the yard; 10, 26 and counting for winners. But it was the type of winner that turned heads: Principal Witness, a five-year-old with pins in one leg and a limp in the other and without a victory in 13 races, won for Dascombe at the third attempt.

“It was a moderate race at Lingfield,” Dascombe recalls. “It was a foul day, the place was empty and me and my brother were dancing around like we’d won the Derby, but it gave me a huge amount of confidence.”

Then came Luis Melendez, bought for £500, who won four races, and the mighty Magic Glade, who won in early January 2007 and was still doing so 16 runs, five more wins and 10 months later. Dascombe, the punters swiftly discovered, had a transparent sense of purpose and the touch of a horse whisperer. Whatever their pedigree, his horses were fit, well-placed and ready to go.

The attitude will be no different this afternoon. Max One Two Three, who will be ridden by Richard Kingscote, had the same juvenile profile as Muthabara but didn’t attract quite the same level of attention in the markets.

Muthabara won her trial in good style at Newbury last month; Max One Two Three, at a healthy looking 33/1, will be making her seasonal debut at Newmarket, but Dascombe is adamant that he would rather win a seller at Folkestone than saddle a runner in a Classic just for the sake of it.

“I’ve got better things to do on a Sunday afternoon,” he says. “She’s a three-year-old filly with a win in a listed race so she deserves to run. I’m confident she’ll run a good race.”
(Source: The Times)