Interview: Anne Cowley hoping for Lennox victory with Tip Two Win

Geoffrey Riddle and Nick Lightfoot spoke to Anne Cowley, Tip Two Win's owner, ahead of the Qatar Lennox Stakes at Goodwood on Tuesday. Watch and read her thoughts below and get the latest from rival connections.

Anne Cowley, Tip Two Win’s owner, is a woman who gets what she wants.

Hailing from the same rough parish of west Glasgow as Sir Alex Ferguson, she was mortified when the former Manchester United manager had already named a horse after their shared district of Govan.

Most people would fear accosting one of the most successful managers of all time, but not our Anne.

“I went up to him and said, ‘you’ve taken the name Am Fraam Govan, haven’t you?”, she says, eyes glinting with a hint of mischievousness. “He laughed. I knew it was him. So I went back and named a horse I’m Fae Govan Tae.”

Cowley’s pragmatism may well stem from her upbringing south of the Clyde, but her ability to do the right thing with money led to a career as a financial director.

Her husband, Fred, was a Chartered Electrical Engineer who was diagnosed with dementia in 2002 and two years later his condition worsened to such an extent that he could no longer go in to the office.

Cowley later assumed the CEO chair and ran their group of engineering companies. Although she went to the big racing days with her husband, going to racecourses with him in a wheelchair turned out to be a convenient way to spend quality time with him in the autumn of his life. Fred Cowley died five years ago, and Anne has sold their businesses and built up her racing interests to 13 horses in Europe and America.

Tip Two Win, trained by Roger Teal, is clearly her best horse, having won two valuable prizes in Doha, Qatar, during the winter and at 50-1 he belied his odds by finishing second in the 2000 Guineas behind Saxon Warrior in May.

That performance, however, was not enough to persuade her to part with the £70,000 Sussex Stakes supplementary fee to take on Royal Ascot conquerors Without Parole and Gustav Klimt on Wednesday in a St James’s Palace Stakes rematch. Instead, it is the Group Two Lennox Stakes for which he is a 4-1 favourite.

Talk to Cowley about the decision-making process and it is easy to hear her unconventional business brain whirring.

“I am race-by-race person,” she says, matter-of-factly.

“When I was in business I didn’t even have a budget plan. I had to put up £70,000 to put him in the Sussex Stakes. That money is his money that he has won. He’s won over £300,000, so £70,000 is peanuts. It’s his money. It’s not mine, but I do see it (the lack of Lennox Stakes entry) as bad planning!

“It is a legitimate business bet to put up £70,000 to possibly win a portion of the million pound prize-momey, if we thought he is good enough.

“I don’t look at the betting markets as an indicator. I look at the prestige for the horse. What does a win in a Sussex Stakes mean for him? Does he have a chance of winning? Yes. What does that mean for Roger, and what jockey is on him? Whatever. It’s not the money. I don’t want to sound facetious, I don’t need the money.”

Speak to Teal, and it is the son of Dark Angel’s lack of maturity that has swayed the trainer. Four three-year-olds have won the Lennox Stakes in the past decade, though, whereas 11 of the past 18 winners of the Sussex Stakes have come from the Classic crop.

Presumably, taking on Without Parole and Expert Eye was the more significant factor.

“It’s not going to be easy for him being the only baby in the race,” Teal said.

“That’s probably the main reason we decided to run him over seven furlongs rather than taking on older horses over a mile (in Wednesday’s Sussex Stakes).

“He’s in good shape and having run well in the Guineas and at Ascot, it would be great if he could have his day in the sunshine.”

If Cowley has 13 horses, then it is unclear whether she wants a bigger operation but behind the scenes there are foundations in place to go large.

She has a business parter based in America in Jay Grandfield, and it appears she is building up a string on the other side of the Atlantic, where she feels the prize-money is better.

She already has a filly foal by US Triple Crown winner American Phaorah and another one on its way. She has a yearling by St James’s Palace Stakes winner Mastercraftsman, one by French 2,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner The Gurkha from her mare, Freddie’s Girl, who will visit Dark Angel to produce a full sibling to Tip Two Win once more.

It was Adam Kirby who advised Cowley to breed from Freddie’s Girl, a low-grade all-weather performer by the US Grade One winner More Than Ready. Her bloodstock decisions are steered by Seamus Durack, the former jockey and now trainer, who also rode for her. How she came to have Teal training for her, was almost by happenstance.

“I knew Roger for about ten years,” she recalls.

“I have a birthday party every few years and charter a yacht for about 200 people and I take them away on a cruise for about a week or 11 days. We’re going to the Greek Islands next time. We’ve been to Croatia, French Riviera.

“I thought it would be nice to ask Roger and his wife, Sue.

“I don’t know why, but it never entered my mind to give him a horse. I never thought of him like that. Anyway we were on the cruise and and I happened to hear him talking to a friend of mine. And he said that he had known me for years but I that I had never given him a horse. It had never clicked.

"But then I had Tip Two Win and I called him up and asked him if he could have him. He didn’t answer me at first, and I thought I’d done something wrong. But then he said yes. And it has gone from there.

“I’m pretty good at sussing people out. Yes. I know when people are bullshitting me. I mean, I have been in business for too many years. You get a gut feeling. You have intuition. I have probably made loads of wrong decisions in my life, but it hasn’t affected my life.

“The most important thing to me is Roger. It is to help him and his team. I’ve been there. I’ve made it. They need to make it now. They are the future, I’m old. I want people to see how good Roger is. I think he’s very good. If I didn’t think Roger was any good I wouldn’t have a horse with him.

“In horse racing, I really don’t know what I want. That’s the truth. I really don’t know. I get excited. It is worth the excitement? You’re gutted and frequently ask yourself, ‘why am I in this?' I don’t know. I’m just plodding along.”

Win or lose on Tuesday, Anne Cowley is doing more than just plodding along.

What connections say - Qatar Lennox Stakes:

Roger Teal, trainer - Tip Two Win:

“Everything is good. He’s going into the race in great form and we’re looking forward to it.

“They’ve had a bit of rain, which will take the sting out of the ground. Hopefully it will dry out a bit but hopefully it should be perfect.”

Rupert Pritchard-Gordon, racing manager - Karar:

“Karar was also entered by Francis (Graffard, trainer) in the Prix Maurice de Gheest, but we feel the horse is probably at his best racing over seven furlongs around a bend on a round track.

“He has twice been placed over seven furlongs on a round track in the Prix de la Foret and is a bit of a seven-furlong specialist.

“The first day at Goodwood should be a sound, even surface with fresh ground which will suit him.

“Karar is a summer horse. As of Tuesday, this is where his campaign gets serious.”

Watch EVERY race from the Qatar Goodwood Festival on TV, Tablet and Mobile ONLY on Racing UK. To find out more and our range of benefits go to Racinguk.com/join.