Six-year-old all-weather handicapper, who represents up-and-coming Newmarket trainer James Owen, won more races than any other horse in Britain last year

The old saw about breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best still holds good, although that last ‘best’ can often get lost in the post before it finally delivers, arriving via a circuitous route at an unexpected destination.

Juddmonte Farms must have had high hopes for Destinado (right), a son of the superlative stallion Lope De Vega out of a half-sister to the remarkable racemare Enable, but they were soon dashed by the colt’s initial lack of spark.

Now, though, three years on, Destinado has fulfilled his destiny through such a roundabout journey, winning more races in Britain and Ireland than any other horse during 2024.

The six-year-old gelding – obviously he’s seven now – won eight races from 28 starts last year, burning the candle at both its ends (Jan 5 to Dec 27).

Although such a busy schedule is normally the province of sprinters Destinado goes longer, shining brightest at around a mile and a half – just the sort of thing Juddmonte’s pedigree experts would have envisaged when they planned the mating. Blood will out, eventually.

Unglamorous settings

Most of his victories were gained at the lowest level on the all-weather (synthetics), hard graft in unglamorous settings such as Southwell and Lingfield, although more lucrative scores in better grade on turf at Musselburgh and Doncaster boosted his bankroll to just over £50,000 for his ten-strong syndicate of owners under the Deva Racing banner.

That’s not a lot of money for eight wins, indicative of the pocket change on offer at the bottom of British racing’s pyramid, but to his people Destinado is worth his weight in gold.

“He put us on the map,” says trainer James Owen, a five-time champion in Arab racing but a new face in the Thoroughbred sphere, last year being his first full campaign from his yard in Newmarket.

“He was my first winner on the Flat, then my first winner on turf, then my first winner on ITV [terrestrial racing broadcaster] at Musselburgh. He’s been a real milestone horse for us, he always tries his hardest, and everyone in the yard loves him.”

Destinado began his career in France at Francis-Henri Graffard’s Chantilly base. Unraced as a juvenile, he made five unsuccessful starts for Graffard before Juddmonte stopped hoping for the best, cut their losses and sent him to the horses-in-training sales, from where he joined the Worcestershire stable of Tony Carroll for a bid of 30,000 guineas.

Something special

Summarily gelded, it took Destinado a further 15 races to break his maiden, and he seemed on track to spend his days drifting ineffectively, anonymously, through the choppy waters of British racing’s lowest tier. That is until – in time-honoured fashion – a visit to the pub proved the catalyst for something special.

“I bought him from his previous owner in the Plough & Harrow in Worcester,” says Ryan Tongue, director of the Deva Racing Group. 

“Not all my evenings in the pub have been so rewarding! He’s been an amazing horse for us, given everyone involved with Deva a lot of pleasure. His owners have followed him around the country and they have absolutely loved the experience.”

The transformation was abrupt and enduring. Destinado won on his debut for Owen off an official rating of 45, about as low as the numbers go, and as 2024 drew to a close he had risen to a handicap mark of 70. This is not what Juddmonte had in mind, but flowers also grow in stony places.

In keeping with his idiosyncratic career path, Destinado has thrived under an unorthodox exercise regime. When a horse runs 28 times in 12 months he looks after his fitness himself – it’s the mental approach that needs attention. Owen has torn up the training manual to keep Destinado sweet and, with the help of the gelding’s groom Teagan Padgett, has found the key to his heart.

“He’s a very happy horse but he does get bored very quickly, so we have to keep him entertained in different ways,” says Owen, who has a Derby outsider in the barn this year in the shape of G1-placed Wimbledon Hawkeye. He also has some high-grade hurdlers headed for the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Own routine

Back to Destinado. “He needs his own routine so he doesn’t train with the other horses,” Owen explains.

“In the whole year I’ve galloped him just seven times. We work on a day-to-day regime with him. We might box him to the beach, we might school him over a few hurdles, maybe we’ll let him lead the yearlings – whatever he wants to do.

“He also gets turned out a lot, and Teagan rides him every day and knows when he’s ready to run again, I leave that part up to her.”

Padgett, 19, took on Destinado when he arrived at the yard and quickly adapted to the gelding’s offbeat rhythms. There is no secret so close as that between a horse and his groom, and Padgett knows the way his mind works; Owen describes Destinado as her ‘pet’.

“He likes to be the boss,” she says, recognising that it’s more a case of Destinado thinking he’s the boss that counts.

“I had him from day one, and he spent most of that first day on his toes, on edge – I was beginning to think he was the difficult sort, but he proved me wrong.

Everyone’s happy

“He really is a character and it’s all about keeping him happy, and then everyone’s happy. Sometimes I take him jumping, over some tyres, over some logs, and then on other days he just wants to go up to the schooling grounds and watch someone else jump. He’s an individual and we treat him like one.”

It might follow that such an enigma would be a specialist’s ride on the racecourse, but Destinado also turns that perceived wisdom on its head.

In the majority of his races in 2024 he had an inexperienced partner – claiming riders Aidan Keeley, Rory Mulligan and champion apprentice Sean Dylan Bowen all won on him – for when it comes down to business, he’s all business, although his habit of making a leisurely getaway from the gate is another indication that he always prefers to do things his way.

Padgett also rode him twice – this must be what they call ‘taking your pet to work day’ – including at top-tier track Sandown Park, and although they weren’t successful the result wasn’t what mattered.

“Oh, it was incredible, I couldn’t have asked for a better spin even though we finished down the field,” she says. “Such a great feeling, and for Christmas my parents gave me a painting of me riding him. He’s just amazing.”

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary Owen describes Destinado as a steady old schoolmaster of a horse, who in retirement might make an ideal lead horse, passing on the varied experiences gained from three yards and 58 career starts (to date) all filtered through the sieve of an eclectic, inquiring mind.

At the moment he’s having a winter break with Padgett, both of them pretending he’s the boss, but he’ll be back in the yard before the snowdrops have faded and ready to tackle another busy year.

“He’s most effective on soft ground or an artificial surface – he doesn’t appreciate quick ground,” says Owen. “Given the right conditions, I think he can improve on his rating and there could be a biggish handicap in him, not Ascot or Goodwood but a nice pot somewhere.

“We’ve had plenty of offers for him and he went to the sales last March just so we could see what sort of value he had. We put a hefty reserve on him and didn’t let him go, and I don’t think the syndicate members would want to see him go anyway.”

Tongue concurs, noting that when Destinado’s racing days are done he’ll probably be gifted to Padgett given their evident delight in each other.

Deva Racing own more accomplished, more conventionally exciting horses – they have Imperial Emperor with Bhupat Seemar in Dubai, pointed towards big Carnival prizes at Meydan, and a half-share with Coolmore in a two-year-old No Nay Never colt trained by Wesley Ward in the US – but Destinado is different, a horse for the heart rather than the head.

“He’s the perfect horse for us,” says Tongue. “He runs a lot, he wins a lot, he gives us all a great deal of entertainment. I wish all our horses were like him.”

This must be what they mean by ‘hoping for the best’. Destinado has come a long way from the noble intentions of his birth, has walked a bumpy road strewn with diversions, has found the place he was looking for all along. 

Now here he is, best overall by number of wins last year, regularly doing his best, always living his best life. Who could hope for anything more?

• Visit the James Owen Racing website and the Deva Racing website

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