ITB_February-March 2021 by International Thoroughbred

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2021

£4.95 • ISSUE 102

WORLD'S BEST RACEHORSE RANKINGS

SIXTY: HONG KONG'S NEW BEAUTY Godolphin back on the Kentucky Derby trail with US Eclipse Award winner Essential Quality Haras de la Gousserie looks forward to the French Classics with Sealiway, France's top-rated two-year-old of 2020 Martin Stevens chats to leading Japanese breeders K I Farm and Northern Farm Bloodstock agent Gaurav Rampal is thinking big in India

PRINCE KHALID ABDULLAH

1936-2021

Along the right lines Since 1989, our bloodlines have been a proven source of Group 1 performers and influential sires

Stefanie Fuchs | Mobile: +49 (0) 152 52 04 98 08 | info@gestuet-ammerland.de | www.gestuet-ammerland.de

Waldgeist 2014 ch Galileo - Waldlerche (Monsun)

THE BEST GALILEO SINCE FRANKEL

Covering fee: €17,500

Chesnut | 16.0½ hh (1.64m)

 A World Champion racehorse & winner of 4 Group 1s including the Arc from 9 Group 1 winners  Group 1 winning 2yo beating 4 Group 1 winners  By Galileo from one of the best families in Europe  Supported by leading breeders, covering an incredible book of mares in his first season that included 63 blacktype performers or blacktype producers

“It was Ammerland, that also sent Lope de Vega to Ballylinch – and everything is now in place for Waldgeist to follow in his footsteps.” Chris McGrath

Standing at Ballylinch Stud, Ireland | www.ballylinchstud.com

Triple Gr.1 winner PERSIAN KING

Ne Fee w for : €3 202 0,0 1 00

Other recent winners over the reduced 10½-furlong trip include leading sires SHAMARDAL, LE HAVRE and LOPE DE VEGA!

High class 2YO, World Champion 3YO, ‘Arc’ & Prix Ganay-winning 4YO By SIYOUNI, dam by GALILEO and a half-brother to a seven-time Gr.1 winner

ARIZONA · AUSTRALIA · CALYX · CAMELOT · CHURCHILL · CIRCUS MAXIMUS · FASTNET ROCK · FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND · GALILEO · GLENEAGLES · GUSTAV KLIMT HIGHLAND REEL · HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR · MAGNA GRECIA · MASTERCRAFTSMAN · NO NAY NEVER · ROCK OF GIBRALTAR · SAXON WARRIOR · SIOUX NATION SOTTSASS · STARSPANGLEDBANNER · TEN SOVEREIGNS · THE GURKHA · U S NAVY FLAG · WOOTTON BASSETT

The 62 three-year-olds in the 2020 World’s Best Racehorses are by 47 different sires. Only five active sires in Europe had more than one, and three of those stand at Coolmore!

GALILEO, AUSTRALIA and CAMELOT were all European/World Champion 3YOs themselves, which bodes well for 2019 World Champion 3YO SOTTSASS GALILEO

Shamardal

AUSTRALIA

Adlerflug

Kingman

CAMELOT Into Mischief

2 2

Christy Grassick, David O’Loughlin, Eddie Fitzpatrick, Maurice Moloney, Gerry Aherne, Hermine Bastide, Jason Walsh, Tom Miller, Neil Magee or Mark Byrne. Tel: +353-52-6131298. David Magnier, Tom Gaffney, Joe Hernon, Paddy Fleming or Cathal Murphy. Tel: 353-25-31966/31689. Kevin Buckley (UK Rep.) Tel: +44-7827-795156. E-mail: sales@coolmore.ie Web site: www.coolmore.com

contents february-march 8

First Word

We’re out of Superlatives

RIP Prince Khalid Abdullah

Ted talks

Girls Aloud

RIP Paul Haigh We reprint one of Paul Haigh’s best pieces, his own tribute to Frankel after the horse won the 2012 Juddmonte International We pay our respects to the late Prince and look back over his amazing achievements with his racehorses and with his bloodstock empire Ted Voute has had a month of Brexit admin in order to travel mares to Ireland, but he also sold successfully at the Tattersalls virtual February Sale Cathy Grassick in her role as ITBA vice-president discusses the efforts being made by the organisation to facilitate equine travel between Ireland, the UK and Europe

Sons of Monsun on a charge

Getaway and Maxios enjoyed top level NH success at Sandown and the Dublin Festival, writes Aisling Crowe

Stallion stats

Godolphin back on the Derby trail

Courtesy of Weatherbys

Empire builders

Japan’s leading breeders K I Farm and Northern Farm both enjoyed top level success in 2020. Martin Stevens recalls last year’s racecourse glories on a Zoom call with representatives from both farms

After suffering bad luck in 2020 with Kentucky Derby hopeful Maxfield, Godolphin is back on the Derby trail this year with Essential Quality

Thinking for the future

Looking forward to the 2021 French Classics

The World’s best

Front runners lead the field

Jocelyn de Moubray interviews Pauline Chehboub, manager of Haras de la Gousserie, the owner of the top-rated French juvenile Sealiway

Sixty: Hong Kong’s new Beauty

David Morgan profiles Golden Sixty, Hong Kong’s new superstar, winner of the Hong Kong Mile (G1) in December and the Stewards’ Cup (G1) in January

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WBRR’s tables

Photo of the month

Leading WBRR ratings, the summary and the European 2yo Classifications Bath racecourse in use as a COVID-19 vaccination centre

Aisling Crowe interviews Gaurav Rampal, one of just two bloodstock agents based in India Simon Rowlands reviews the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings and compares assessments to his own figures Alan Porter gives a bloodstock perspective on the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, and sees that, although Ghaiyyath and Authentic are bred differently and raced in different parts of the world, they were similar racehorses

The late Prince Khalid with the late Sir Henry Cecil from PA Images

contents february-march

This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in whole or part without permission of the publisher. The views expressed in International Thoroughbred are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. While every care is taken in the preparation of this magazine, the publishers cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of the content herein, or any consequences arising from them.

the team

the photographers

editor sally duckett publisher declan rickatson photography trevor jones design thoroughbred publishing

thoroughbred photography press association equine creative media courtesy of stud farms tattersalls laura green arqana goffs and goffs uk laragh de burgh

advertising declan rickatson 00 44 (0)7767 310381 declan.rickatson@btinternet.com subscriptions tracey glaysher itsubs@btinternet.com

the printers micropress press

the writers

jocelyn de moubray aisling crowe, sally duckett alan porter, martin stevens david morgan melissa bauer-herzog cathy grassick, ted voute

the stats weatherbys

accounts annie jones itaccounts@ btinternet.com

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paul haigh RIP

Paul Haigh 1945 – January 30, 2021

AUL HAIGH: an eloquent, talented capable writer, a person for whom words just flowed. His writing was true to himself; he revealed his personality, his political persuasions, his humour, his desire to fight for the small man, and was never afraid also to have a pop at someone or an organisation he did not appreciate. He could bring a scene, an emotion, an event so vividly to life with an economy of words that most journalists can only dream of matching. His writing was usually laced with a wry sense of humour or reflective of his political view point… often both. His copy was always typo free, accurate and sent on time. If there were an instance

when he had forgotten a deadline, an emailed nudge would result in beautifully tailored copy arriving within the hour. When he was at the Racing Post he turned out three pieces of comment a week for the daily newspaper, a truly herculean effort appreciated by anyone who has ever tried to write an original thought. Paul was a man of contradictions. He did not go racing in the UK, but he loved travelling abroad to the big international meetings. He fought for the small man, but he loved big time racing. He was generous in his support, and this magazine was a recepient of that help, but he was highly focused on doing the right thing for himself. By the time International Thoroughbred got to know Paul he was firmly in love

“Haigh” by Lawrence Wadey

FIRST MET HAIGH (for some reason we always referred to each other by our surnames) at the Racing Post pre-launch lunch at the Cricketers Club in Marylebone Street in December 1985. From that moment to this we were the best of friends. We gelled. I know not why. In those intervening 35 years I would have read the vast majority of his work and can say without hesitation that no other racing journalist, in my opinion, has made their point better because Haigh always did so with such wonderful wit and such accomplished prose. And some of the issues Haigh tackled head-on were – and still are – the biggest issues in UK racing, not least the relationship between it and the bookmakers in all its many and troublesome facets. And yet he was so very modest about his own talents. He would have penned many a column from my spare room in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, and then in the Coloane district of neighbouring Macau. We would enjoy a post-race escapade and the next afternoon, almost without fail, he would be complaining he was writing shite,

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with international Flat racing; happily admitting that he could not understand the attractions of the NH winter game, did not appreciate the company of The Festival-set of “tweedy” types, those who would arrive in Gloucestershire en masse to watch, in his view, slow horses galloping in mud. To him racing was all about the big time on the Flat: the champions, the stars, the fast ground, the big jockeys, the betting, international racing’s jet set. In the last piece of editorial he wrote for us in the December 2019 edition he happily and easily name dropped a 1980s conversation he had with Kieren Fallon into his copy. At the height of his journalistic powers he loved to get the inside line, create

didn’t have another column in him – EVER! – and was going to quit. I’d then read it and have to spend the next hour convincing him it was truly and wonderfully uproarious and what I and virtually every other journalist, racing or otherwise, would give to be able to write half as well. After he left the Racing Post, rather acrimoniously it has to be said, he worked for the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) from 2007 to 2009 and colleagues from there tell of how blown away they were by the encouragement they received from the maestro. David Morgan, who himself became an outstanding journalist for the HKJC, remembers: “I used to read Paul’s Racing Post columns religiously when I was a lad. “I then once applied for a job at The Post and was set a task to ‘write a column in the style of Paul Haigh’. “He helped me a lot when we worked together during those all-too-short six weeks when I first moved to Hong Kong.” The HKJC’s Roy Li, who helps the new overseas riders when they come into town for the first time, says he is now so glad that on a

paul haigh RIP

contacts with those who were playing at the top, find the story, and get a handle on situations which could not be mentioned in print, something behind the reason for his departure from the Racing Post after working for 23 years for the publication. He also loved the Far East. After departing the Post, an event that he possibly never really recalibrated in his life, he had two years’ working at the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The corporate world of the HKJC was probably not for him, but it did strengthened his love of the Far East and its people. He certainly had an old-school journalist’s approach to life. An overheard conversation on a journey back to Hong Kong’s airport, after a racing trip for the December International meeting in 2016, was spent reminiscing with his generation of friends and journos about some down town bar in some Hong Kong back street deemed a favourite because it stayed open until the financial markets opened. Paul died aged 76. He had started out in racing marking up bookmakers’ boards until he was signed on as a writer for Pacemaker

magazine by editor Michael Harris. He joined the Post at its beginning in 1986 and won specialist columnist of the year for a trade publication in the Magazine Publishing Awards in 1984, a success followed up with the racing journalist of the year award at the HWPA Derby Awards in 1993. He wrote for this magazine from 2009 to 2019, and was due to return to his First Word column again this year He was incredibly proud of his two daughters Catherine and Victoria almost to the point of bewilderment, wondering how could have produced such clever and beautiful girls. Through last year’s arrival of the COVID pandemic he emailed us to say how much he was missing seeing his grandson, whilst recalling the pride of travelling to his daughter’s wedding in America. Paul would certainly had given a smile and would have been amused had he known he was sharing this collection of obituary pages

with Prince Khalid Abdullah. Paul wrote the First Word for International Thoroughbred for 10 years, unstintingly producing for every issue until December 2019. We’ve let Paul have the Last Word with his own piece written after Frankel had won the Juddmonte International at York in August 2012. It still stands alone as a piece of writing today and is Paul’s own tribute to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah.

Paul Haigh on media duties in his beloved Hong Kong in 2009 Photo by Frank Sorge www.galoppfoto.de

trip to the UK in 2019 he made a point of visiting Haigh. Haigh was also the best company. In recent correspondence between a group of us old Racing Post hands, Brough Scott made the very good point that very few great writers are also great company. But Haigh was. He had such a ready humour. Anything you ever did with Haigh, however mundane, was all the better for his presence. He gave everything a piquancy. I remember a dinner at the Studio City casino out here in Macau. A huge Eastern European gambler walked in, straight out of wrestling mania, with an incongruously diminutive Asian lady on his arm. Quick as a flash Haigh quipped: “The next bout is a catchweight contest.” Perhaps above and beyond all this we mustn’t forget that Haigh was also a devoted father to Catherine and Victoria and, recently, a devoted grandfather to Catherine’s son, Leo.

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last word Originally published in International Thoroughbred, September 2012 Written by Paul Haigh after Frankel’s victory in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, August 2012 Photography by the late Trevor Jones, supplied courtesy of www.racingfotos.com

We’re out of Superlatives

ND NOW WHAT DO YOU SAY? How do you describe something like this when you’ve wasted all your superlatives on other stuff which now turns out to have been no better than very, very good? The C4 gang had a shot at it, announcing proudly towards the end of their programme that they’d thought of a new name for him which was “Frankelstein”. Well, it does manage to convey something of his “otherness” perhaps. But it isn’t original, being in fact the rather disrespectful nickname applied by certain US press men during his lifetime to the trainer after whom Frankel is named. And while Frankel the horse may indeed, in the sense the word is used to denote greatness in racing, be a monster, if not The Monster, he’s certainly nothing like the one Dr Frankenstein put together. That one, at least in the Boris Karloff version, had a bolt through its neck, a complexion that looked as though it had been stitched together by a trainee sail maker on work experience, and an alarming tendency to lurch. Frankel on the other hand (could this be just imagination because he’s so close to perfection in almost every other respect?) is about as beautiful a creature as has ever been put on earth. He has the chest of a bull and the elegance of a teenage gymnast. When he came back to the winners’ enclosure after the Juddmonte International his toes were twinkling like Fred Astaire’s. So what do you say about him now he’s shown the theorising was correct and that perhaps he really is even better at middle-distances than at a mile? The Yanks have got a song lyric that seems to fit at least a bit better than the other monster’s head. It starts: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord”. A few words about the race itself before someone starts calling for the nurse with the verbal incontinence pads. Frankel broke quite sluggishly and was settled by Tom Queally near the rear behind a fast pace set by

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Frankel is about as beautiful a creature as has ever been put on earth. He has the chest of a bull and the elegance of a teenage gymnast. When he came back to the winners’ enclosure after the Juddmonte International his toes were twinkling like Fred Astaire’s

two of the Ballydoyle pacemakers, Robin Hood and Windsor Castle, who had headed the great one’s normal lead horse, his half-brother Bullet Train. It was a sensible bid to defeat Frankel’s pace by finding some weakness in his stamina over a distance two and a half furlongs further than he’d ever raced before. It was obvious that they’d failed more than 3f from home, and not just that they’d burnt themselves out, but that their going off fast had stretched the two supposed main threats to the champion almost to the limit of their own resources. Tom Queally brought Frankel to the stands’ rail as the field fanned across the track, and as the leaders faltered, we were treated to the amazing sight of the Breeders’ Cup Turf winner St Nicholas Abbey being driven as hard two furlongs out as though he was in sight of the post, while Frankel went past him on the bridle. Frankel drew away as Frankel does, to win his record-breaking eighth consecutive Group 1 victory by 7l. His aggregate winning distance is now 75l. Godolphin’s Farrh tried hard without ever being able to give any hint that he might interfere with the victory procession, although he did manage to put his nose in front of the spent St. Nicholas Abbey on the line. Fourth, beaten a total 15l, was last year’s International winner and dual Champion Stakes winner, Twice Over, who only a couple of years ago ran a respectable third on his only non-turf outing to the great mare Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. So where does Frankel go from here? Britain’s leading bookmakers, reacting almost hysterically to what they’d seen, immediately announced that if it were decided that Frankel should step up another couple of furlongs for the Arc, they would be prepared to lay him at no better odds than 1/4. What does that say about his immense superiority over the probable Triple Crown winner Camelot, last year’s magnificent Arc winner Danedream, the Eclipse winner Nathaniel and the comeback queen Snow Fairy, not to mention the Japanese champion Orfevre? Some, forgetting perhaps that the Breeders’ Cup

last word

hasn’t lived up to its “World Racing Championships” title for around a decade now, have suggested the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a finale before he goes to stud at what seems certain to be a six-figure fee.

NLESS PRINCE KHALID ABDULLAH wants to pay further tribute to Bobby Frankel however, that surely isn’t going to happen. Frankel’s own trainer might not be up to making the trip, whether or not he’d like to, the surface isn’t suitable and, in any case, the Breeders’ Cup certainly needs Frankel far more than Frankel needs the Breeders’ Cup. By far the most likely last target before stud looks to be the British Champion Stakes at Ascot in midOctober. Let’s hope there are no quagmires to blunt his brilliance, no Acts of God (in the insurance sense) to somehow prevent him from going out on the

With jockey Tom Queally in the winners’ enclosure

triumphal note he should. Something has to be said here about Sir Henry Cecil. Sir Henry’s own story is so extraordinary, his peaks and troughs so spectacular, that, to use the useful cliché, no novelist would dare to invent him. The arrival of this astonishing horse in his care is a gift the religious might regard as divine intervention; and the way he has brought Frankel on from headstrong dazzler to what it now seems certain we are going to look back on as the greatest racehorse of all time is a tremendous argument in favour of the notion that Cecil may not be just the most popular trainer there’s ever been in Britain, but the most talented too. Defying his cancer, Cecil went racing for the first time in two months at York on August 22. At present, he is a shadow of his former physical self, but it is now a longer shadow than even he has ever cast before. Although Sir Henry had to speak in a whisper, it is a whisper that’s louder than any shouting, he said that seeing Frankel made him feel “Twenty years better”. How wonderful it would be if that were true. Like a few tall and languid old men fighting sickness he has a beautiful elegance about him too. There is something strangely apposite as well as touching about the connection between this great man and the horse that is the epitome of perfect health and exuberance. That well-known racing hack John Keats, anticipating Frankel/Cecil no doubt, wrote that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty – that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know”. “Glory, glory hallelujah” as the nice song continues. Their truth goes marching on.

The arrival of this astonishing horse into Sir Henry’s care is a gift the religious might regard as divine intervention

Frankel first, the rest nowhere: the third-placed St Nicholas Abbey just sneaks into shot some 7l behind the winner

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first word prince khalid abdullah

Prince Khalid Abdullah

RINCE KHALID ABDULLAH was a member of the House of Saud, the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. The son of Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman, younger half-brother of the state’s founder King Abdulaziz, he was born in Ta’if in 1936. He was a cousin of the present ruler King Salman. Prince Khalid’s first wife Al Jawhara Bin Abdulaziz is the founder’s daughter; the late Fahd Salman, who owned the 1991 Derby winner Generous, was his son-in-law. Before embarking on a hugely successful business career, Prince Khalid studied history in Riyadh and the US and was also employed in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His main business vehicle was Marawid Holding, a private investment company with extensive dealings in a vast range of commercial activities, including financial services, telecommunications, satellite TV and radio networks, construction, catering and restaurants. In the 1970s and 1980s Marawid was said to be the largest private employer in the Middle East. A study of the commercial activities of members of the House of Saud published in 2001 listed 65 separate entities in which Prince Khalid held an interest. He was the owner of Orbit Communications Company and until February 8, 2009 he served as chairman of the Saudi Chemical Company’s board of directors and as chairman of Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company. By the early 2000s responsibility for running his business had passed, in part, to Prince Khalid’s four sons.

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1936 – January12, 2021 Prince Khalid’s first introduction to racing came on a trip to Longchamp with friends in 1956, but his venture into racehorse ownership did not begin until 1977 when his business interests brought him to London. The first batch of four yearlings bought by Humphrey Cottrill on his behalf in 1977 were sent to his first trainer Jeremy Tree. The following year Abdullah went to a then-record 264,000gns to purchase the highest-priced yearling at Tattersalls Houghton Sale. In 1979, Prince Khalid’s name made it to the winners’ board for the first time, courtesy of the Jeremy Tree-trained Charming Native, who won at Windsor on May 14.

The winners started to flow – a month later Abeer became the Prince’s first Royal Ascot winner (also his first Group winner) in the Queen Mary Stakes. Later that year, Known Fact, a son of In Reality bought at Keeneland in 1978, became the Prince’s first Group 1 winner when successful in the 1979 Middle Park. The following season Known Fact won the 2,000 Guineas after the disqualification of Nureyev. The colt was the first Classic winner in Arab ownership and went on to become the first stallion at stud for the Prince, standing at Wargrave. Known Fact is described on the Juddmonte website as a “founding horse”.

prince khalid abdullah Breeding racehorses and bloodstock became an all-encompassing passion for Prince Khalid. In a rare interview in 2010 he told the Racing Post: “When I was at the sales I realised that it would be easier to buy horses and race them, but I got the feeling that this was not enough, that it would be more fun to do what people like the Aga Khan and Lord Howard de Walden did and build up your own families.” In order to achieve these aims in 1982 Prince Khalid purchased Cayton Park Stud and Pudders Farm at Wargrave in Berkshire, renaming it Juddmonte Farms. The British arm of the Juddmonte operations eventually came to include Estcourt Estate in Gloucestershire, as well as Juddmonte Dullingham, Side Hill Stud and Banstead Manor Stud in Cheveley, near Newmarket in Suffolk, which was purchased in 1987. Rainbow Quest moved from Wargrave to Newmarket and the farm has become the organisation’s headquarters. In recent years it has housed the leading stallions Frankel, Kingman, Oasis Dream and Dansili. Juddmonte also owns Ferrans Stud and New Abbey Stud in Ireland, as well as Juddmonte Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

N 1979, the Prince purchased his first broodmare with the private acquisition of Metair from trainer Bill Wightman. She went on to produce Fine Edge (Sharpen Up), who became the first homebred winner for the farm. She is no longer represented at Juddmonte, but was the great grand-dam of the five-time Group 1-winning sprinter Sole Power. That same month, a three-year-old filly named Slightly Dangerous was purchased following her win in the Fred Darling Stakes (G3). She went onto become one of Juddmonte’s first important foundation mares. In 1985, she produced Warning (Known Fact) and he became a champion two-year-old, the Prince’s first homebred

Group 1 winner (Sussex Stakes), a European champion miler of 1988 and, as a stallion, the leading first-season sire of 1993. He sired four Group 1 winners in total. Slightly Dangerous went on to add two more Group 1 winners to her record – Commander In Chief (Dancing Brave), who was the second Derby winner for Prince Khalid, and Yashmak, as well as the Group 2 winner Dushyantor and Classic-placed Deploy. He is the broodmare sire of Dubawi. From the early 1980s the Prince built up a collection of carefully selected mares, in the early days buying from Robert Sangster. By 2011 these represented, according to Lord Grimthorpe in an interview given to the Financial Times, “one of the greatest broodmare bands in the history of breeding”. Since then, and in a relatively short space of time, Prince Khalid and his Juddmonte empire achieved so much. The years 1982 and 1983 became pivotal for the ongoing fortunes of Juddmonte directly leading to the farm achieving many of its greatest successes. That year Razyana (His Majesty) was purchased as a yearling. She did not win, but went on to become dam of the record-breaking Danehill, who was her first foal. Also in 1982, Prince Khalid acquired Ferrans Stud in County Meath, Ireland, and Belair Stud in Lexington,

Kentucky, as a package from German industrialist Dr Herbert Schnapka. A number of broodmares and a stallion portfolio were part of the deal, including Fleet Girl, the fourth dam of Enable. The following year breeding stock was purchased from the estate of Jock Whitney, a package that included Rockfest (Stage Door Johnny), who was to become the great-grandam of world champion Frankel. In the spring of 1990, Juddmonte enjoyed its first homebred Classic winner when Houseproud won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. All five British Classic races have been won with homebred horses: Quest For Fame, sired by Rainbow Quest, won Juddmonte’s first Epsom Derby in 1990, followed by Commander In Chief (a son of Dancing Brave) in 1993, and the fourthgeneration Juddmonte-bred Workforce,

Main photo, Frankel after his first Group 1 succcess in the 2010 Dewhurst Stakes. Prince Khalid: it has been acknowledged by all who knew him that he was a private and unassuming man

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prince khalid abdullah who broke the course record at Epsom with the victory in 2010. Toulon won the St Leger of 1991 and Zafonic carried off the 2,000 Guineas brilliantly two years later, as did Frankel in 2011. Reams Of Verse won The Oaks in 1997 and Enable in 2017. The Selkirk filly Wince won the 1,000 Guineas in 1999, which gave the full-house of domestic Classic winners. The 1,000 Guineas also won by Special Duty in 2010. Juddmonte also bred Brian Boru, the Coolmore-owned St Leger winner of 2003. Homebreds have also won all five French Classics under the famous Abdullah silks – Sanglamore won the Prix du Jockey Club in 1990 and New Bay in 2015, whilst Houseproud, Zenda and Special Duty took the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in 1990, 2002 and 2010. Jolypha and Nebraska Tornado won the Prix de Diane in 1992 and 2003, American Post took the Poule d’Essai des Poulains in 2004. Raintrap and Sunshack were the winners of the Prix Royal-Oak in 1993 and 1995. Some of Juddmonte’s greatest moments on the racecourse have come in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s premier all-aged middle-distance race.

Rainbow Quest won in 1985 after the disqualification of Sagace and the following year the generation leader Dancing Brave (Lyphard) won in scintillating fashion after his 2,000 Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1986) successes. There was victory for Rail Link in the 2006 renewal, a success repeated by Workforce in 2010 – he is only the sixth horse in history to win both the Derby and the Arc in the same year. The wonderful race mare Enable won in 2017 and 2018. With six wins in the prestigious race, Prince Khalid is the most successful owner in the Arc’s history. Rainbow Quest retired to Wargrave in 1986, moving to Banstead Manor in 1988. He sired nine Classic winners, 20 Group 1 winners, and was a prolific broodmare sire. After that three-year-old season of 1986, Dancing Brave was rated 140 by the International Classifications, the highest rating then given to any horse. The ratings were recalibrated in 2013 and his figure was adjusted to 138 behind none other than Prince Khalid’s unbeaten star performer Frankel, who was rated 140. Dancing Brave did not match Rainbow Quest’s achivement in the breeding shed,

Danehill: a Juddmonte homebred who became a generation-defining stallion. He won the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup for Prince Khalid and was sold for stud duties to Coolmore

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but did produce Commander In Chief and Weymss Bight (Irish Oaks) for the Prince. He is also broodmare sire of Oasis Dream. In Ireland, the list of Juddmonte-bred successes includes Irish Oaks winners Wemyss Bight and Bolas in 1993 and 1994 and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Kingman in 2014 and Siskin last year In the 30 years from 1990, Juddmonte homebreds have won 26 European Classic races, as well as two Classics in the US. Since 2010, Prince Khalid’s homebreds have been most noted for success with the 14-race unbeaten third-generation Juddmonte homebred Frankel, named after the late US trainer Bobby Frankel, and the dual Arc winner Enable. Frankel is regarded by many as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. He is out of the leading Juddmonte mare Kind, a daughter of the Juddmonte-bred and race Danehill. After Frankel’s win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in October 2011, Frankel was given a rating of 143 by Timeform, the highest mark awarded by the organisation in over 40 years and their fourth-highest of all time behind Sea Bird, Brigadier Gerard and Tudor Minstrel.

HE WORLD THOROUGHBRED RACEHORSE RANKINGS Committee ranked Frankel as the best racehorse they have assessed since their ratings were introduced in 1977, by a margin of two points. Frankel was the first horse in 60 years to take championship honours as a two, three and four-year-old. He retired to stud for the 2013 season and is now the sire of 44 Group winners and 12 Group 1 winners. Enable ran 19 times, winning 14 races including 11 at Group 1 level. As a threeyear-old she put together a golden run that included wins in the Cheshire Oaks, the Epsom Oaks, the Irish Oaks, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. She was named 2017’s Cartier Horse of the Year.

prince khalid abdullah After a delayed start to her four-year-old season, she won the Arc again, added the Breeders’ Cup Turf to her laurels and was awarded honours as the Cartier Champion Older Horse of 2018. In 2019, she was again named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Horse at the Cartier Awards, her fourth and fifth Cartier awards, tying the record set by Frankel. Her race wins in 2019 included her second wins in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks. In the 2019 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, Enable was given a rating of 128, placing her in a three-way tie for first place alongside Crystal Ocean and Waldgeist. As a six-year-old she won an unprecedented third King George King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Enable is the farm’s highest-earning homebred, and Juddmonte’s most successful race mare. She is the first European mare to win more than £10 million on the track. Prince Khalid was champion owner in Britain three times and champion owner in both Britain and France in 2003. In 1983 Prince Khalid was made an honorary member of The Jockey Club.

American success

In the US, Flute, trained by Frankel to win the Kentucky Oaks in 2001, became the first American Classic winner for Juddmonte and her Classic win was backed up two years later by Empire Maker, who took the Belmont Stakes (G1). That same year the filly Sightseek (Distant View) began a run of seven Grade 1 victories, Frankel announcing her as the best horse he had ever trained. Juddmonte’s US Eclipse Award champion mares include Ryafan in 1997, Banks Hill in 2001 and Intercontinental in 2005. The last two of these both won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which was also won in 2009 by Midday, a three-time winner of the Nassau Stakes (G1) at Goodwood. In 2018, the homebreds Enable and Expert Eye won the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Breeders’ Cup Mile. Overall, Prince Khalid enjoyed six Breeders’ Cup successes. In 2002, Toussaud (El Gran Senor) was crowned 2002 US Broodmare of the Year. She is one of only four North Americanbased mares to produce four Grade 1 winners – Chester House, Honest Lady

(the dam of First Defence), Chiselling and Empire Maker. Following Frankel’s death, Cigar’s trainer Bill Mott became Abdullah’s US trainer and subsequently Bob Baffert. He trained the $560,000 Keeneland purchase Arrogate to become the all-time leading prize-money earner of $17, 422,600 with his stunning Dubai World Cup win following his lucrative Pegasus Cup triumph in 2017. In North America, Prince Khalid was the recipient of an Eclipse Award as top owner in 1992, 2003, 2016 and 2017, and received five awards as the top breeder: in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2009. Last November, Viadera (Bated Breath) became Prince Khalid’s last Grade 1 winner when taking the Matriarch Stakes. She was her owner’s 100th Grade 1 winner in the US and is from the family of Passage Of Time, Timepiece and Father Time. She was successful by a nose from the Peter Brant-owned Blowout, a daughter of Juddmonte’s sire Dansili, while in third place was Juliet Foxtrot. She is a Juddmonte homebred, is also by Dansili, and is appropriately from the family of one of Juddmonte’s best, Dancing Brave.

Frankel

Expert Eye

Kingman

Photos courtesy of Juddmonte by Bronwen Healy

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prince khalid abdullah

Photo by David Spurden

8 7

1. Banks Hill, Hasili, Heat Haze and Intercontinental 2. Tom Queally (right) on Frankel embraces Ian Mongan on Bullet Train after the Group 1 Qipco Champion Stakes 3. Last year’s Classic hero Siskin wins the Irish 2,000 Guineas 4. Banks Hill and jockey Olivier Peslier with Prince Khalid after winning the Coronation Stakes 5. The six-time Group and Grade 1 winner Midday with her daughter Midterm 6. Dancing Brave after winning the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot 7. Kind, the dam of Frankel, with her 2018 filly Chiasma (Galileo)

Photo by Simon Mockridge

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8. Observatory beating Giant’s Causeway to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Royal Ascot

prince khalid abdullah

Photo by Simon Mockridge

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ted talks

TED TALKS... Lorries boarding the ferry for the new Rosslare to Cherbourg route, which is an18-hour journey

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A month of Brexit admin and virtual sales

HE LATE ARRIVAL OF BREXIT put our industry, and many others, into turmoil ahead of the breeding season in England and Ireland. At Voute Sales we have spent the best part of a month trying to sort our way through the numerous new requirements needed to send mares to Ireland for the breeding season. We were not alone trying to navigate through new legislation, and everyone’s journey has been slightly different. We always do our testing for at the beginning of the year for CEM, EIA and EVA, together with strangles and EHV nasal swabs, which are more regularly needed in Ireland . Our first mistake was the EIA – the test is normally processed at Rossdales, but it needed to be done this year at a government

laboratory, in our case at Weybridge. On a temporary health certificate these are valid for 90 days; if the farm has been in Isolation for the preceding 30 days you may consider a permanent heath certificate, but the EIA blood is only valid 30 days prior to export. Our local transporters Bramham’s had been busy during January obtaining certificates for the lorries and drivers, which on occasions meant driving to Ireland with empty loads for certification. As had been advised by the TBA and the BHA we entrusted the services of a customs agent – Jane at Parkes International worked tirelessly with agents in Ireland (BBA Ireland) to fine tune the VAT and duty side of things. We also received invaluble assistance from our vets Avonvale. The firm is well versed in export papers as the Warwickshire area has

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a prolific show jumping population, which seems to move around even more than thoroughbreds! There were reports of horror stories, especially on the DoverCalais route, where complications arose from COVID-19 testing backlogs through the port and it was a race against time to arrive at French customs between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday – and not at lunchtime – to ensure the least delays at the port clearing paperwork. No organisation had time to prepare and to show how this should be done and, whilst writing, we are still learning. In Ireland, there is a general will to find solutions to problems. As we have boarded mares at Coolmore for the past few seasons we worked with David O’Loughlin, who again tirelessly worked to create a “bond system” out of nothing in order to help the farm’s clients.

Without it and David’s help some of our mares would undoubtedly been unable to go to Ireland – their value would have made travel prohibitive for our cash flow as it would have meant parting with hundreds of thousands of pounds for a VAT quarter, which we simply don’t have in reserve. Many breeders will find it difficult to ship the cheaper mares and part with a few thousand pounds for three months until it has been reclaimed. The Irish National Stud also helped immensely with the VAT implications for mares visiting Invincible Spirit and boarding at the farm. There are more than likely lots more Irish farms doing the same but who haven’t come across my radar, a huge thank you to all. The Cheltenham Festival is the next hurdle and then, of course, the many high-value runners of Aidan

“

... breeders will find it difficult to ship cheaper mares and part with a few thousand pounds for three months until it has been reclaimed

“

O’Brien who are usually shipped across for the British Group 1s and Classics. But that’s another day’s work and maybe the individual racecourses in England can devise a VAT bond for runners at their racecourse, if that’s even possible! The net result of all the aforementioned people enabled us to send our barren maiden and earlyfoalers over the Irish Sea, without any hiccups. The only inevitable delay was slight when clearing customs and port vet inspection. It was, in fact, similar to when horses from the US clear Stanstead or Cambridge, it just adds a couple of additional hours on the journey. There are, though, less boats from Holyhead as one of the ferries has been diverted to the IrelandFrance route, an arduous 18-hour trip. In conclusion, I am sure there will be many tweaks of an everevolving system, but it undoubtedly will see increased costs, many of which will be unrecoverable. This will just go to further put in danger the viability of the small breeder, who is enduring a tough time as it is.

managed to sell the a world recordbreaking Limousin heifer Posh Spice (out of Ginger Spice) for a staggering 250,000gns through the same Tattersalls February Sale week. The desire of Tattersalls to do the right thing for their local community was respectful and bringing the sale to an online format only, without horses or people on the sale ground, was most definitely the right thing. The plan for an additional sale

in March is helpful, and, hopefully, we will all be able to return to Park Paddocks then. As always, the virtual sale was easy to manage and was amazingly resilient. Godolphin embraced the sale and, as an observer, did more than any other to release information as part of buyer’s due diligence. Their videos included trot-ups, which I found very helpful, and the slow motion imagery, so heavily criticised at the New Zealand sales by Paul Moroney, was removed. The “warts and all” approach to publicised information has to be the way forward for online sales. And, in time, we will learn what types of horses sell online and what doesn’t. My own experience was to sell a three-year-old “Ascot” type and we got him sold. I am conscious, however, that it is difficult to sell horses online subject to a blood test and in an environment that has banned Regumate and bisphsonates. Again, these are teething problems, and they will be resolved over time. At a time of rising costs, there is

a saving for the owner as an online sale negates the need to transport to Newmarket, whilst consignors don’t have to employ staff or run the shed row. The value of using a consignor for an online sales scenario is never more important – much of the work is presentation through the Tattersalls site and the online and direct marketing of lots. The value lies with sales experience and knowledge of client base, strengths in online presentation and the fielding of the many enquiries that selling horses stimulates. Again, I commend the inclusion of data analytics on the Tattersalls website, which I am sure will be rolled out to include some more demographics. My catalogued lot attracted 80 views on the video and 30 on the photo. A great start which gave confidence to the audience we were selling to. Work has begun by the Saudi Cup officials to assemble a great day racing in Riyadh this month and the arduous task of assembling the various horsemen to attend, but more of that next month.

A different look to the Tattersalls ring for the February virtual sale: no horses, and no people at Park Paddocks

HE BEGINNING OF February saw the Tattersalls virtual February Sale. I’d like to just credit the relentless efforts and lobbying of government made by Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony and his fellow directors through 2020. It resulted in the company managing to stage so many sales unaffected by dates or attendance, other than with the increased COVID-19 protocols. It was a remarkable feat . Cattle auctions have operated under a “drop and go” system, and the cattle market at Carlisle

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girls aloud

....Girls aloud

HIS PAST MONTH has seen a lot of changes and difficulties for many breeders on both sides of the Irish Sea with the implementation of Brexit. In particular, this has had a major effect on the transportation and importation of horses between Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe. With this in mind, I would like to take this chance to try and show the hard work that is going on behind the scenes, in particular Des Leadon, as well as the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association (ITBA). For over 40 years, our industry has enjoyed free movement of high health status horses between Ireland, the UK and France. This freedom of movement was based on the Tri-Partite Agreement (TPA) between these EU Member States. This was an EU Agreement and so, when the UK voted to leave the EU, this agreement and all the benefits that it brought with it, were lost. The final day of the TPA was December 31, 2020. The UK departure from the single market also meant that all its future trade with the EU was on a completely different and new financial footing. The “last minute” nature of the agreement on trade between the UK and the EU meant that many of the details which should have been agreed in advance of the UK’s departure, were either not fully addressed or not fully resolved. This has led to six weeks of significant uncertainty for our industry at what is a critical time of the year at the beginning of the 2021 breeding season. From the time of the Brexit referendum result in 2016, the ITBA recognised that the potential difficulties we are now encountering could emerge. In 2017, the ITBA in conjunction with EFTBA (European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders Associations), embarked on a campaign which sought to highlight and resolve the difficulties that Brexit presented. A formal delegation went to the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and the EU Veterinary and Trade Departments in 2017. The support of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) was sought to help with lobbying efforts and resulted in the creation of the International Horse Sports Confederation (IHSC), which combined the IFHA with the FEI to form an alliance for the entire equestrian industry. The IHSC then formed a task force to address the issues arising from Brexit and the 2021 Animal Health Laws. The task force includes among its members: Brian Kavanagh (IFHA Vice – Chairman), Simon Cooper (Chair of the International Stud Book Committee) and Des Leadon representing EFTBA and the ITBA. The task force has met every week since it was formed in May 2020 and has had over 20 formal visits and exchanges with the EU and UK. It has produced monthly summary reports of its activities for its parent associations (the FEI, IFHA, EFTBA and the ITBF) and through them, to the national member associations of each organisation. The ITBA has therefore had representation and have been working to resolve this situation at every stage of the process.

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Cathy Grassick, vice-president of the ITBA, explains the work that has been done by the organisation, and its continuing efforts, to ensure problem-free transport between Ireland, the UK and Europe

The equine industry has a value to the European economy of more than €50 billion per annum and is responsible directly and indirectly for the generation of more than 500,000 jobs. These figures are impressive, in any forum, and refute any notion that the horse industry is a minor player on the EU stage when compared to other livestock industries. The Task Force also documented the numbers of horse movements throughout Europe each year with 452,364 movements associated with equine competitions and thousands of thoroughbreds travelling every year for racing, breeding and sales. The majority of thoroughbred movements are for breeding and sales. Our industry has always relied on unique co-operation between countries. After all, this co-operation is what led to the TPA in the first instance. The need to preserve this cooperation, along with the free movement of horses, is not only important for financial reasons but also for the preservation of the breed gene pool and a strong and competitive bloodstock industry. This has been repeatedly highlighted in negotiations to both Michel Barnier of the EU and his UK counterparts, led by David Frost.

LL OF THESE efforts to highlight our concerns and very immediate difficulties led to a scheduled meeting with EU President Ursula van der Leyen, which is due to take place soon. The agenda will include three live topics that have presented themselves since January 1. They are: the lack of uniform approaches to horse movements through ports; foal age related restrictions on the movements of mares with foals at foot; and VAT issues that are interfering with free movement. It is worth noting that the Task Force has had a very significant role in the continued access to the UK landbridge for horse transport to and from Continental Europe and Ireland that was announced two weeks before the EU and UK trade reached the future trade agreement. The Task Force also played a significant part in working to bring about the bipartite agreement between France and Ireland, which mirrors the previous TPA agreement and allows the movement of horses between our two countries without restriction. There are efforts to address VAT issues through the creation of an ATA “Carnet” system, through a system of bonds held in trust by stallion farms and through consideration of discounts to offset the VAT costs. No doubt problems remain, but we must remind ourselves they are being actively raised by the ITBA and all of the other organisations involved. I firmly believe that they can and will be solved. Ours is a resilient and resourceful industry and the message to all of our trading partners must be made loud and clear “Ireland is open for business”.

Shadwell Stallions

2021

NEW for 2021

M OHAATHER

Showcasing - Roodeye (Inchinor)

Won a vintage renewal of the Group 1 Sussex Stakes

Fee:

£20,000 Jan 1 , SLF st

E QTIDAAR

Invincible Spirit - Madany (Acclamation)

By a prolific sire of sires, the source of I Am Invincible and Kingman

Fee:

£5,000 Jan 1 , SLF st

M UHAARAR

Oasis Dream - Tahrir (Linamix)

Sire of Classic contenders BARADAR and MUJBAR

Fee:

£10,000 Jan 1 , SLF st

T ASLEET

Showcasing - Bird Key (Cadeaux Genereux)

#MOHAATHER

OR: 123 | TF: 129

First Foals have made up to 10x his year one fee

Fee:

£5,000 Jan 1 , SLF

Get in touch for the best terms Discover the Shadwell stallions: www.shadwellstud.com | nominations@shadwellstud.co.uk Contact Tom Pennington on +44 (0)7736 019914 | tpennington@shadwellstud.co.uk and Ellen Bishop on +44 (0)7826 205155 | ebishop@shadwellstud.co.uk

Standing at

in 2021

www.irishnationalstud.ie/stallion/decorated-knight

Galileo - Pearling (Storm Cat)

TRIPLE GR.1 WINNER WITH AN EXCEPTIONAL PEDIGREE

BOO

* T&Cs apply, see www.bluediamondstud.co.uk

Decorated Knight x Lady Wingshot She is very well-made, is a filly with a strong hip and a good action, and I have been very impressed with what she has shown me at this early stage. Roger Varian

'I liked the Decorated Knight yearlings that I saw at the sales and I have several at Beckhampton that are catching the eye.' Roger Charlton

202R2N

The early signs are good...

FREE

RETU

TION NA

Here’s the missing piece to finalise your breeding plans... Book a nomination in 2021 FREE Return 2022* K A NOMI 2 0 21

Decorated Knight x Nouriya ‘I have been impressed with Decorated Knight’s yearlings at the sales and am looking forward to training the half-brother to Royal Ascot Gr.2 winner Aljazzi.' John Gosden

Fee: €7,500 1st Oct. Contact: Gary Swift or Patrick Diamond at Irish National Stud • Tel: +353 (0)45 521251

nh news

Sons of Monsun on a charge National Hunt stallion sons of the former German champion dominated on both sides of the Irish Sea over Dublin Racing Festival weekend, writes Aisling Crowe 24

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nh news Sporting John (near side) outbattles Shan Blue to take the Scilly Isle Novices Chase at Sandown. He is the first Grade 1-winning chaser for his sire Getaway, an 18-year-old son of Monsun

OOLMORE RECENTLY ACQUIRED the Group 1 Prix du Moulin winner Vadamos from Tally-Ho Stud for its NH division, and the son of Monsun, whose oldest crop is three, joins a strong line-up of fellow Monsun stallions, including a duo who celebrated landmark achievements in early February. Getaway recorded his first Grade 1 winner over fences with the success of Sporting John in the Scilly Isles Novice Chase at Sandown for Philip Hobbs, Richard Johnson and JP McManus. The five-year-old gelding is the second Grade 1 winner by Getaway, winner of the Deutschland Preis and Grosser Preis von Baden-Baden (both G1), after Verdana Blue, who was successful in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle of 2018. Sporting John was bred in Tipperary by Stephanie Hanly and hails from a hugely successful female line cultivated by the Hanlys at their Grange Hill Stud. His dam Wild Spell is an Oscar three-parts sister to Oscar Whisky, also bred by the Hanlys. He also won the Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices Chase, as well as two renewals of the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle. Wild Spell is also a half-sister to My Baloo, the dam of Grade 2 winner My Kahuna, and Supreme Baloo, who has produced the Grade 2 winner Drumbaloo, both also bred by Stephanie Hanly. My Baloo is also a half-sister to Sky Baloo, who is the second dam of Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Seeyouatmidnight. Grange Hill Stud sold Sporting John as a foal at the 2015 Goffs December NH Sale for €20,000 to Richard Frisby who, in turn, sold him at the Land Rover Sale of 2018. Trained by Matthew Flynn O’Connor to win his four-year-old maiden point-topoint on debut at Borris, he made £160,000 to Kieran McManus at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale of 2019. Wild Spell has produced three winners from three runners so far and has a five-yearold full-sister to Sporting John, who was

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nh news bought by Gerry Hogan at the 2019 Goffs Land Rover Sale, a three-year-old gelding and yearling filly by Elusive Pimpernel. She returned to Getaway in 2020. In 2019, Coolmore also purchased the beautifully-bred Monsun stallion Maxios, a half-brother to Arc winner Bago, to stand at Castle Hyde Stud when his oldest crop was just three years old and contained the Group 1 Preis der Diana winner, Diamanta. About to embark on his second season in Ireland, he displayed impeccable timing with his son Quilixios winning the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival for trainer Gordon Elliott and owner Cheveley Park Stud, a poignant success coming after January’s death of David Thompson. Elliott is also responsible for Maxios’s first-crop Cheltenham Festival winner Aramax, who won last year’s Grade 3 Boodles Juvenile Hurdle in the colours of JP McManus. Elliott believes that Quilixios has the potential to burn brightly over a number of seasons, not just for his juvenile year.

“Quilixos is more than a juvenile, he’ll jump a fence in time and we are very, very lucky with the two juveniles we have this year. “I imagine he will have to go to the Triumph as well, unless he gets a very nice mark in the Fred Winter!” remarked Elliott. On a weekend when the Mullins’ team dominated the Dublin Racing Festival Grade 1 action, Elliott admitted that a lot had rested on the performance of Quilixios, for whom he had other Grade 1 targets in mind previously. “It’s a bit of a relief because he’s the first one we fancied this weekend and if he got beat my head would be on the ground. “In fairness to the horse, he missed everything since Down Royal and my plan was to go to Chepstow for the Grade 1, but that was called off. “Tom Malone bought him for Cheveley Park and it’s our first Grade 1 winner for them since Mr Thompson, who was a great supporter of the yard, passed away.” Quilixios was bred in Germany by Gestüt Farhof where Maxios also began his stallion

career. He has sired eight Flat stakes winners from his time there, including the Group 2 Gran Premio del Jockey Club winner Walderbe, the Australian Group 3 winner Master Of Wine, as well as the Group 1 Prix du Cadran second Alkuin. Maxios’s new Grade 1-winning hurdler is out of Quilita by Lomitas and was sold for €20,000 as a foal at Arqana’s December Sale by Haras d’Ombreville to Yan Durepaire. He made a winning debut over hurdles at Compiegne last March for trainer Francois Nicolle and owner Patrice Détré from whom he was bought by Nicolas Bertran de Balanda and Tom Malone for Cheveley Park Stud. Quilita has produced a three-year-old colt by Kingman, an Exceed And Excel two-yearold filly and a yearling daughter by Charm Spirit. She was bought by Joseph Burke at the 2019 Arqana December Sale for €26,000 from Haras d’Ombreville carrying the Charm Spirit filly and was covered by Make Believe, sire of last year’s Prix du Jockey Club winner Mishriff, in 2020.

Chacun Pour Soi: the son of Policy Maker heads to the Cheltenham Festival at the top of the market for the Queen Mother Champion Chase (G1)

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nh racing French links with Blackrath Stud maintained

The exploits of Chacun Pour Soi, who heads into the Cheltenham Festival as the favourite for the Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase, have propelled Peter Maher’s Blackrath Stud into the spotlight once more. Established in 1949 by Frank and Irish Latham, grandparents of Peter Maher, Blackrath pioneered the importation of French stallions into Ireland for NH breeding. One of the earliest stallions to prove the success of crossing the French sires with stouter Irish mares was Vulgan, who was champion NH sire for 11 years. His most famous offspring is Foinavon, one of three Grand National winners sired by him. He was also dam-sire of Corbiere and West Tip. Vulgan sired the Irish Grand National winners Vulpine and Colebridge and was responsible for Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup winners, including The Dikler. L’Escargot, the first horse after Golden Miller to win both the Gold Cup and Grand National, is another star of the sport who was sired by a Blackrath French-bred stallion in Escart, while Bargello and Le Bavard also made their mark on the breed from Blackrath. Maher, who is a trainer as well as running Blackrath Stud, has emulated his late grandfather’s policy of bringing well-bred stallions to Ireland from France and in 2016 Policy Maker, a son of Sadler’s Wells from a high-class Wildenstein pedigree, moved to Ireland from France where he had won four Group 2 contests and sired high-class racehorses, including the Grade 1 winners Chacun Pour Soi and Roll On. Policy Maker’s oldest Irish-bred crop is just four, and he is one of four stallions at Blackrath Stud. He was joined at the farm by Saddex, another former French-based son of Sadler’s Wells last year. Policy Maker covered 35 mares during his first season in Ireland, 25 mares in 2018, 48 the following year and 28 last year. Chacun Pour Soi is very lightly raced for trainer Willie Mullins and owner Rich Ricci – his success in the Grade 1 Dublin Chase coming in just his

One of the earliest stallions to prove the success of crossing the French sires with stouter Irish mares was Vulgan seventh start for the Closutton yard. He has won six of those contests, including back-toback runnings of the Dublin Chase, as well as the Grade 1 Ryanair Novice Chase at the 2019 Punchestown Festival. Reflecting on the performance, Mullins said: “The end result was much better, I couldn’t figure out if Paul was very confident jumping the fourth last, whether he was biding his time or the horse was taking a blow and just giving him a breather

but the end result was very good.” The nine-year-old was bred by Didier Berland and formerly trained by Emmanuel Clayeux, the initial trainer of Mullins’ dual Gold Cup hero Al Boum Photo. Chacun Pour Soi’s dam Kruscyna won the Grade 3 Prix Bournosienne at Auteuil as a three-year-old, trained by Guillaume Macaire. She has only four recorded foals and the youngest is a four-year-old Lauro filly named Historique Reconce, who is in training with Clayeux. Her eight-year-old Kap Rock daughter Diva Reconce won a bumper on debut for Kim Bailey and produced her first foal last year, a Soldier Of Fortune filly. She returned to the Group 1 winner in 2020. Kruscyna’s first foal is the ten-year-old Saint Des Saints mare Eau Perlee. She has a three-year-old Choeur Du Nord gelding named Choeur Perlee, a two-year-old No Risk At All filly called Sansrisk and Timich, a yearling daughter by Muhtathir.

More Grade 1 success for Saint Des Saints

The doyen of Haras d’Etreham’s NH ranks Saint Des Saints enjoyed another weekend in

Cheveley Park Stud’s Grade 1-winning juvenile hurdler Quilixios (Maxios)

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nh news

Gaillard Du Mesnil became a new Grade 1 winner for sire Saint Des Saints, while Appreciate It added to the stallion’s Grade 1 record as a broodmare sire

the sun as both the sire and broodmare sire of Grade 1 winners. Gaillard Du Mesnil is Saint Des Saints’ newly minted Grade 1 winner following his impressive 5l success for the Al Boum Photo team of Willie Mullins, Paul Townend and Marie and Joe Donnelly in the 2m6f novices’ hurdle that opened the Dublin Racing Festival. “It was the start we were hoping for, and hopefully we will keep it going. He went through the race very easily and was able to go through the gaps when I wanted him to and he had to be tough to go through with it. He did everything you want,” commented a delighted Townend to Katie Walsh afterwards on RTE Racing. The Ballymore Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham next month looks to be the target for the five-year-old steel grey, who was having just his third start for Mullins. He was second on his Irish debut at Punchestown in November and made the breakthrough at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival. “It was a tremendous staying performance,” said the delighted trainer. “I thought he was very keen with Paul and he had to sit further back than I was hoping he might, which left him a lot to do from the railway and he made it up nicely, which shows he has a fair engine.”

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“He went through the race very easily and was able to go through the gaps when I wanted him Gaillard Du Mesnil is an AQPS horse and was bred by Hubert Cerruti’s Ecurie Cerdeval and trained by Isabelle Gallorini for whom he was second in the Grade 2 Prix du Bourbonnais and Grade 3 Prix de l’Avenir, both 1m4f contests restricted to AQPS horses. He was sold at Arqana’s November 2019 Sale to Pierre Boulard on behalf of Willie Mullins for €250,000. He is the second foal out of Athena Du Mesnil, a winning Al Namix half-sister to Calie Du Mesnil, who was Listed-placed over hurdles for Willie Mullins. It is also the family of Soldatino, who won the 2010 Triumph Hurdle for Nicky Henderson. Hardi Du Mesnil, his four-year-old halfbrother by Masterstroke, made €32,000 to Matthieu Palussiere at Osarus’s MaisonsLafitte Sale in 2019 and won on his hurdling

debut at Pau last month. Athena Du Mesnil has a three-year-old colt by Great Pretender named Il Pretend and Jerhena, a Castle Du Berlais yearling filly. Gaillard Du Mesnil’s stable companion Appreciate It won the 2m Grade 1 novice hurdle on the second day of the Dublin Racing Festival, his second Grade 1 of the season and his second successive graded success at the February meeting having won the Grade 2 Goffs bumper at last year’s meeting. The son of Jeremy’s pedigree was covered in the last edition of International Thoroughbred, and he is the sixth individual Grade 1 winner out of a daughter of Saint Des Saints. Connections are to aim him at the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle after his victory over the Gordon Elliott-trained Ballyadam (Fame And Glory) at Leopardstown. “He was very good,” said Mullins. “I thought he put it to bed straight away after the second last, there looked to be a gang of horses queuing up behind him to challenge him but, when he changed gear, it was just a one-horse race with Ballyadam, who just got tired going to the last and fluffed it He has a huge engine. “I’d like him to jump better than he did, I thought he was a little careless down the back and I think he has a better jump in him.”

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nh racing The best yet from Honeysuckle

British breeding and point-to-pointing enjoyed significant success at the Dublin Racing Festival with unbeaten Grade 1 winner Honeysuckle flying the flag for breeding, while the breathtaking Enurgemene showcased the British point-topoint field. Honeysuckle maintained her unbeaten record with an authoritative success in the Grade 1 Irish Champion Hurdle under Rachael Blackmore and for trainer Henry De Bromhead and owner Kenny Alexander. The first ladies of NH racing have struck up a sensational partnership with Blackmore partnering the seven-year-old daughter of Sulamani in all ten of her track outings – the pair has never returned to any place other than the winners’ spot after each race. Her second Irish Champion Hurdle triumph was an incredible display, the mare easily putting 10l between herself and second-placed Abacadabras. It was nine further lengths back to Sharjah, a Grade 1 winner who was 3l second to Epatante in last year’s Cheltenham Champion Hurdle (G1). Speaking afterwards to RTE’s Brian Gleeson, Peter Molony, who bought

“We are all getting a kick out of it, we look after her here at Rathmore in the summer and the lads in the yard love her Honeysuckle for €110,000 at the Goffs Punchestown Sale of 2018 for Alexander, told him that a mouth-watering clash between the two brilliant mares was now on the cards for the opening day of next month’s Cheltenham extravaganza. “I think that was her best performance ever, she went to the front with Rachael before two out, she was travelling so easily, he said, adding: “She’s very special. She is going to get beaten some day and I don’t

Honeysuckle enjoys a well-deserved drink after her scintillating second-year success in the Irish Champion Hurdle. She heads next to the Champion Hurdle – will it be a mares’ duel with Epatante?

know what that is going to feel like, but we’ll enjoy this winning feeling for now. “It’s phenomenal, I do think she probably would have won by further last year if she hadn’t made a little bit of a haimes at the last, but today was definitely her best performance yet,” smiled the Rathmore Stud man, agent and racing advisor. “We are all getting a kick out of it, we look after her here at Rathmore in the summer and the lads in the yard love her, everyone behind it is delighted. “Last year Henry found a race for her in between, but we couldn’t find the right race for her this season which is why she has only run the twice so far this season – and Champion Hurdle here we come now.” Honeysuckle was bred by Dr Geoffrey Guy out of First Royal, a daughter of Lando who was twice Listed-placed over hurdles in Germany. Unfortunately, First Royal died at a young age and produced just one other filly foal, a Shirocco mare named Roc Royal who was bought back by Doug Proctor of The Glanvilles Stud, the Dorset farm where Honeysuckle was born and raised, prior to Honeysuckle’s first Grade 1 triumph in 2019. Roc Royal has a yearling filly by Motivator and was sent to Linda’s Lad in 2020. First Royal has a year-younger fullbrother to Honeysuckle, retained by Guy and Proctor. He has made two starts for Keiran Burke, winning his bumper on debut and finishing second on his first start over hurdles. They are two of the four winners produced by First Royal, who also foaled Colorado Doc (Dr Massini), successful over fences for David Brace, and the point-to-point winner Dunraven Royal (Black Sam Bellamy). Sulamani, sire of Honeysuckle, spent his final seven years at Yorton Farm Stud after starting his career at Darley’s Dalham Hall before transferring to the operation’s French base at Haras du Logis. The son of Hernando won six Group 1 contests, including the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club, which was his only top level success in the colours of his breeders, the Niarchos family. He passed away at the relatively young age of 18 and his final crop turned four this year. Honeysuckle is by far the best of his NH

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nh racing performers, who also include 2016 Grand National winner Rule The World. The 10l triumph of Energumene in the Grade 1 Irish Arkle rivalled Honeysuckle’s for the title of most impressive success of the Dublin Racing Festival and the margin of victory wasn’t the only aspect of the win he had in common with the brilliant mare, as Energumene also spent part of his formative years in the UK. Bred in the west of France by Christophe Dubourg, Energumene was acquired privately and sold at the Tattersalls Ireland 2017 Derby Sale by Moanmore Stables for €50,000 to Tom Lacey. From his and wife Sophie’s Cottage Field Stables in Herefordshire, Energumene was sent out to win his four-year-old maiden on debut in January 2018 at Larkhill point-topoint. He caught the eye of the Mullins-team scouts and made his way to Closutton. His only defeat to date came in his debut for new owner Tony Bloom, who also owned Mullins’ Stayers’ Hurdle winner Penhill, when third in a Navan bumper in November 2019. Mullins, a man not given to hyperbole, could not hide his enthusiasm for Energumene’s scintillating success. “I thought that was a hell of a performance from a novice to jump and gallop, take no quarter from any horse, you couldn’t ask for anything more,” he said. The time backed up the visual impression as the race was run two seconds faster than that recorded by Chacun Pour Soi over course and distance earlier in the afternoon. “Without a doubt he’s a better chaser than a hurdler, he looks every inch a chaser to look at, if you were going to draw a picture of a chaser he’s the horse you’d draw,” enthused Mullins. The manner of his victory was reminiscent of another recent two-mile chaser trained by Mullins, who set pulses quickening with his flying successes, and Energumene is bred on the same cross as Un De Sceaux, whose six Grade 1 victories included the Ryanair Chase. Another AQPS horse, Energumene is by the late Denham Red and out of a daughter of Kaldoun sire April Night - the dual winner Olinight. He was bred by Christophe Dubourg, who trained Olinight for the latter part of her career. Energumene’s victory has set up a

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Energumene

potential clash for the ages with the unbeaten chaser Shishkin in the Arkle at Cheltenham after Nicky Henderson’s son of Sholokhov added the Grade 2 Lightning Novices’ Chase to his success in the Wayward Lad over Christmas. Mullins would rather his star did not have to take on last year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner, who races in the colours of his dual Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo, but, as a racing fan, he acknowledged the magnetic pull of the possible clash. “I’d rather not have to run against Shishkin but it does look like it is going to be a race to look forward to from both sides. Shishkin is a hell of a horse and it’s great that there is one from each side of the Irish Sea going there,” he added.

RIP Pat Buckley 1944-2021 THE GRAND NATIONAL-winning jockey Pat Buckley, has died aged 77. As a 19-year-old Buckley rode Ayala to win the 1963 Grand National for trainer Keith Piggott, father of Lester. Buckley also won back to back renewals of the Whitbread Gold Cup in 1963 and 1964 on Hoodwinked and Dormant, and the 1968 Scottish Grand National on Arcturus. After retiring from riding, Buckley spent ten years helping the Oman Jockey Club establish a racecourse and equestrian facility. He was then asked to help in the creation of a racing industry in Abu Dhabi, and oversaw the country’s first meeting in 1991. He remained a prominent figure in the UAE for the next three decades and played a key part in the first running of the Dubai World Cup in 1996. His brother Seamus Buckley, a former jockey and clerk of the course at Goodwood, remembered his older brother as a fearless rider with a huge passion for the sport. He said to the Racing Post: “Pat was a great brother and he helped me so much to get on my way in the sport. In some ways it was quite daunting given how successful he was and he was such a brave jockey, too. He would ride anything and was one of the proper old school jockeys. “He was very close to his family and loved

Pat Buckley returns after winning the Grand National on Ayala in 1963

nothing more than being with them. He was liked by everyone, I can’t think of ever hearing a bad word being said about him by anyone. “I think what I remember most about him is that he was always there for all of us. He was a good guy, he was fair to everyone, he was a wonderful horseman and he adored racing so much.” Buckley is survived by his wife Sarah and children Helen and Kevin.

BOBBY’S KITTEN

Bay 2011 by Kitten’s Joy – Celestial Woods (by Forestry)

A LEADING EUROPEAN FIRST CROP SIRE IN 2020 • Sire of 12 individual first crop 2yo winners of 18 races including Gr.2 Beresford Stakes runner-up MONAASIB • First stallion son of KITTEN’S JOY in England and Ireland • ONLY 3YO EVER to win the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint • Specialist Miler who could also Sprint

SEA THE MOON

£7,000 Bay 2011 by Sea The Stars – Sanwa (by Monsun)

A LEADING EUROPEAN SIRE IN 2020 • Sire of 25 Black-type horses including Gr.1 winnner ALPINE STAR in 2020 • Ten yearlings sold at the 2020 Tattersalls October Sales Book 1&2 made 480,000 gns, 210,000 gns, 200,000 gns, etc., £22,500

SIR PERCY

averaging £154,975 – over 10 times his 2018 fee

BOOK FULL 2021

Bay 2003 by Mark of Esteem – Percy’s Lass (by Blakeney)

A POTENT MIX OF SPEED & STAMINA • Sire of 49 Black-type horses including 2 Gr.1 winners and 85 individual 2yo winners • Yearlings sold at the 2020 Tattersalls October Sales Book 2 made 150,000 gns (x2), 80,000 gns & 50,000 gns, averaging £112,875 – over 16 times his 2018 fee

STUDY OF MAN

£7,000

Bay 2015 by Deep Impact – Second Happiness (by Storm Cat)

SON AND GRANDSON OF LEGENDS Winner of 3 races at 2 & 3, including the ‘Stallion Making’ Gr.1 French Derby, and £1,033,142. The only son of DEEP IMPACT (Japanese Super Sire & multiple Champion) at stud in England Supported by Europe’s leading breeders in his first season £12,500

FIRST FOALS 2021

info@lanwades.com • www.lanwades.com • Tel: +44 (0)1638 750222 • All nominations on 1st October Special Live Foal terms

LANWADES

The independent option TM

stallion stats Leading NH sires in Britain and Ireland 2020-21: (by prize-money earned to February 9, 2021) Stallion

Breeding

Flemensfirth Stowaway Yeats Shantou Getaway Presenting Oscar Jeremy Beneficial Westerner Mahler Milan Midnight Legend Gold Well Fame And Glory Court Cave King’s Theatre Martaline Kayf Tara Shirocco Kapgarde Doyen Saint des Saints Kalanisi Dubai Destination Arcadio Beat Hollow Scorpion Sulamani Malinas Voix du Nord Nathaniel Saddler Maker Sholokhov Poliglote Born To Sea Authorized Network Black Sam Bellamy Great Pretender Nickname No Risk At All Coastal Path Dylan Thomas Ask Mastercraftsman Maxios Passing Glance

Alleged-Etheldreda (Diesis) Slip Anchor-On Credit (No Pass No Sale) Sadler’s Wells-Lyndonville (Top Ville) Alleged-Shaima (Shareef Dancer) Monsun-Guernica (Unfuwain) Mtoto-D’Azy (Persian Bold) Sadler’s Wells-Snow Day (Reliance II) Danehill Dancer-Glint In Her Eye (Arazi) Top Ville-Youthful (Green Dancer) Danehill-Walensee (Troy) Galileo-Rainbow Goddess (Rainbow Quest) Sadler’s Wells-Kithanga (Darshaan) Night Shift-Myth (Troy) Sadler’s Wells-Floripedes (Top Ville) Montjeu-Gryada (Shirley Heights) Sadler’s Wells-Wemyss Bight (Dancing Brave) Sadler’s Wells-Regal Beauty (Princely Native) Linamix-Coraline (Sadler’s Wells) Sadler’s Wells-Colorspin (High Top) Monsun-So Sedulous (The Minstrel) Garde Royale-Kaprika (Cadoudal) Sadler’s Wells-Moon Cactus (Kris) Cadoudal-Chamisene (Pharly) Doyoun-Kalamba (Green Dancer) Kingmambo-Mysterial (Alleged) Monsun-Assia (Royal Academy) Sadler’s Wells-Wemyss Bight (Dancing Brave) Montjeu-Ardmelody (Law Society) Hernando-Soul Dream (Alleged) Lomitas-Majoritat (Konigsstuhl) Valanour-Dame Edith (Top Ville) Galileo-Magnificient Style (Silver Hawk) Sadler’s Wells-Animatrice (Alleged) Sadler’s Wells-La Meilleure (Lord Gayle) Sadler’s Wells-Alexandrie (Val de L’Orne) Invincible Spirit-Urban Sea (Miswaki) Montjeu-Funsie (Saumarez) Monsun-Note (Reliance II) Sadler’s Wells-Urban Sea (Miswaki) King’s Theatre-Settler (Darshaan) Lost World-Newness (Simply Great) My Risk-Newness (Simply Great) Halling-Coraline (Sadler’s Wells) Danehill-Lagrion (Diesis) Sadler’s Wells-Request (Rainbow Quest) Danehill Dancer-Starlight Dreams (Black Tie Affair) Monsun-Moonlight’s Box (Nureyev) Polar Falcon-Spurned (Robellino)

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To Stud

Rnrs

Runs

1998 216 2001 221 2010 237 1999 142 2011 290 1997 207 1998 187 2008 139 1997 119 2006 160 2009 200 2004 242 1998 130 2006 165 2013 222 2004 153 1997 68 2005 101 2001 153 2007 180 2004 75 2006 109 2003 50 2002 109 2004 55 2008 142 2003 62 2008 164 2005 75 2006 79 2006 19 2013 58 2005 39 2004 75 1998 24 2013 49 2008 60 2002 52 2004 96 2006 46 2009 7 2013 35 2010 26 2008 92 2011 80 2010 63 2014 29 2005 53

629 687 774 463 890 641 565 500 447 516 633 689 431 538 603 555 217 294 384 468 229 336 143 329 189 440 185 536 236 221 71 174 123 219 77 157 186 175 228 132 20 98 67 269 228 176 92 161

Courtesy of Weatherbys Wnrs 69 59 59 46 73 55 41 49 35 44 50 50 38 43 52 38 20 42 25 39 22 20 16 26 16 27 19 27 19 25 6 21 15 21 10 16 19 16 21 16 4 12 10 16 16 14 8 17

Wins 91 87 87 65 89 71 55 67 48 57 63 55 49 71 67 54 27 51 36 51 29 33 22 33 23 36 27 33 28 36 9 30 19 32 13 21 24 20 28 22 5 13 15 21 24 20 13 22

Wnrs/Rnrs% SWnrs SWs 31.94 26.70 24.89 32.39 25.17 26.57 21.93 35.25 29.41 27.50 25.00 20.66 29.23 26.06 23.42 24.84 29.41 41.58 16.34 21.67 29.33 18.35 32.00 23.85 29.09 19.01 30.65 16.46 25.33 31.65 31.58 36.21 38.46 28.00 41.67 32.65 31.67 30.77 21.88 34.78 57.14 34.29 38.46 17.39 20.00 22.22 27.59 32.08

7 8 4 6 1 4 3 5 5 2 3 3 0 5 4 2 4 2 4 2 2 4 2 1 3 1 5 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 3 3 2 0 1 2 2 4 3 1 0 1 1 0

9 1,139,635 9 1,134,321 5 1,002,803 8 891,609 1 827,358 4 808,560 3 769,739 6 731,100 5 729,656 3 683,701 3 674,555 3 654,920 0 628,608 5 588,032 4 584,281 2 523,539 4 470,317 2 469,647 4 466,921 2 450,393 2 433,920 4 405,497 2 382,697 2 374,077 5 349,012 1 348,537 6 347,186 2 346,604 2 337,877 2 293,807 3 289,350 5 287,767 1 280,290 3 277,163 3 274,206 3 268,714 2 259,754 0 252,797 1 249,339 2 243,882 2 241,251 4 233,582 3 223,823 1 219,776 0 219,165 1 193,545 1 190,784 0 189,268

ValuE PhOeniX OF SpaiN The highest rated son of Lope De Vega at stud. Fee: €12,500

decorated knight Irish Champions Stakes winner by Galileo - first 2YO 2021. Fee: €7,500 FREE NOMINATION 2022

NatiOnaL DefeNse Champion 2YO by Invincible Spirit - first 2YOs 2021. Fee: €5,000

EQuiaNO Acclamation’s highest rated son and multiple Group 1 producing sire. Fee: €3,000

Contact: Cathal Beale, Gary Swift +353 (0)86 6031979 or Patrick Diamond +353 (0)85 1299236 Tel: +353 (0)45 521251 www.irishnationalstud.ie

darley america

Godolphin back on the Derby trail

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darley america The Eclipse champion two-year-old Essential Quality takes the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November

Godolphin is on the 2021 Kentucky Derby trail with its Eclipse Award champion two-year-old Essential Quality. Darley America’s president Jimmy Bell looks back at 2020 and forward to 2021 with Melissa Bauer-Herzog

UST LIKE MANY IN THE WORLD, Godolphin’s American branch had a roller-coaster in 2020. The operation started the year with a 2020 Kentucky Derby favourite, but suffered disappointment when that favourite was hurt in June and was forced to miss the rescheduled Kentucky Derby. But the new year has started positively for Godolphin winning two Eclipse Awards and getting back on the Kentucky Derby trail with another early favourite, Essential Quality. Among those triumphs and disappointments, Godolphin also saw its stable of runners place in the top three in 45 stakes races with 17 stakes victories to take home Eclipse champion owner honours. That victory was made even sweeter when its homebred Essential Quality was named Eclipse champion two-year-old, a year after Maxfield missed out on the award after scratching from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile days before the race. “I think it just goes to show how difficult the game is,” said Jimmy Bell, Darley America’s president. “A week before the Breeders’ Cup in Maxfield’s year we couldn’t wait for the opportunity, we thought that was going to be his real showcase. “He and Essential Quality won the same Churchill Downs maiden and they both won Breeders’ Futurity (G1). For one everything went according to plan and we had a champion two-year-old, and the other, he got so close, but it just didn’t happen.” The champion two-year-old title was icing on the cake for the team, but Bell was proud of that the champion owners’ title was acheived with victories from right around the country. Godolphin won stakes races at 11 tracks across seven states stretching

from New York to California and everywhere in between, and was headlined by three Grade 1 successes. “It was spread out all across the country and that’s something we’ve been happy to do, have these horses in different areas, which was very nice to see,” said Bell. “We had some really powerful performances. Fair Maiden had been a little unlucky in a couple of her races and finally got her opportunity and seized it [in the La Brea (G1)] – she and Essential Quality are two really special Grade 1-winning horses. “Then we had a lot of good races in between, a lot of other individuals who stepped up and really made for a pretty full body of work for the year. That was pretty special.” While it’d be easy for the team to sit back and enjoy 2020’s successes, it is already full steam ahead with this year’s

Jimmy Bell

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Lancade

winner 100. German 1.000 Guineas, Gr.2

Classic contenders

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Miss Yoda

winner 162. Henkel-Preis der Diana - German Oaks, Gr. 1

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Sales Dates 2021 Spring Breeze Up Sale – 4th June Premier Yearling Sale – 3rd September October Mixed Sales – 15th and 16th October

darley america Kentucky Derby trail in mind. Essential Quality has come back well from his break and is targeting (at the time of writing) a mid-February Kentucky Derby prep, though it isn’t fully decided where he’ll go. The colt showed last year that he can win from nearly any position, and this adds to Bell’s excitement about his three-year-old season. “I think the key from Essential Quality’s three races is just versatility – that’s a big characteristic to have in his arsenal if he is not dependent on race shape or pace or anything,” he explains. “He’s kind of shown in his races that, through his two-year-old year, he really was the complete package.” That colt is just one of three potential contenders for Triple Crown races for Godolphin, and perhaps the one flying a little under-the-radar is the Lecomte Stakes (G3) runner-up Proxy. He has never finished worse than second in his four career starts, and trainer Michael Stidham has reported that the son of Tapit would get better as he got older and the distances got longer – something that has shown to be true. “He’s not far from having a nearly undefeated record. He got beat a neck

“I think the key from Essential Quality’s three races is just versatility – that’s a big characteristic to have in his arsenal in his first start, won his next two and then stepped up in the Lecomte and was a very good second,” notes Bell. “I thought he showed a lot of tenacity and gameness when he battled the heavy favourite in the Lecomte to be second, they were both closing in on the leader. He’s a sneaky colt who has done nothing but gotten Maxfield: the talented son of Street Sense missed the Derby, but won at the end of the year and is back in training for 2021

better in every race, even though every race has gotten a little more competitive and difficult. I think he is slated for the Risen Star [February 13].” Less than a week before the Eclipse Awards, Prevalence had the social media drums banging with a big win on debut. The colt had given indications at home that he’d be good and pre-race trainer Brendan Walsh was excited about his future. Bell admitted no one expected that the colt would win by a widening eight and a half lengths in a hand ride in one of the toughest Maiden Special Weight races run at Gulfstream Park this season.

HE TEAM IS hoping to run in a mile Allowance race at Gulfstream next time, but Bell conceded the horse may have to step him up to tougher company than that. “His win came in a pretty quick time and it was a pretty quick race overall, so we’ll kind of play that from ear on where we go – but no question that was a ‘wow’ performance,” he says. “I think with him, you’re going to want to find out sooner rather than later what his best distance will be, or if there is a distance limitation. “He is by Medaglia D’Oro out of a Ghostzapper mare. There’s a lot of speed in the family, but some of these good ones just have the mechanics of going very fast, very far and can carry that distance, so the trip remains to be seen. “In a perfect world we’d like to come back in a nice Allowance race going a mile and one sixteenth, but I’m not too sure those races are going to show up so we’re probably going to have to dip our toe in the water, like it or not.” One point of pride for Godolphin is that all three colts – and all its stakes winners last year as well – are homebreds. All but three of those winners from last year are by a Darley stallion, out of a daughter of a Darley stallion daughter or both, bringing the programme full circle. “I think it’s a reflection top to bottom to Sheikh Mohammed,” says Bell of the pedigrees.

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darley america “I think that he takes great pride in the stallion roster that he has put together and we obviously support our stallions quite a bit and we’re seeing that beginning to come through in so many ways. “To see Prevalence by Medaglia D’Oro, and Maxfield by Street Sense, and you’ve got Bernardini there as a broodmare sire as well. It really begins to show the impact, the longevity and the influence that Sheikh Mohammed has had on the breed.” It isn’t only the Godolphin runners the Darley stallions have influenced – in late January four of the stallions had threeyear-olds in the top 20 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. Even more notable for the stallion roster is that two young sires, Nyquist and Frosted, both have horses from their first crop as likely contenders for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.

ET ANOTHER FEATHER in the Darley cap is that champion freshman sire Nyquist is also the sire of last year’s champion two-yearold filly Vequist. Nyquist is following in the footsteps of his own champion freshman sire Uncle Mo. “The two stallions having Derby and Oaks contenders is everything because it’s such a competitive area, the stallion market,” explains Bell. “It is imperative for your longevity because the industry wants something right now, right now, right now! “Everyone wants to see that two-year-old form, those two-year-old winners, to see a horse who looks like it wants to go two turns. “Oh, by the way we’d love to see something on the Oaks board and Derby trail, too! “So these young stallions are delivering in the most difficult way to deliver – having winners at the top level. That’s where a lot of focus is, a lot of coverage is, and when you look up and see those things they do stand out.” Bell credits both the Darley America nominations team and the breeders for helping the roster make such a big impact on the Kentucky Derby trail.

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Nyquist: the 2020 champion freshman sire’s leading daughter Vequist is targeting the Kentucky Oaks

He also said they’ve tried to keep the stallions at the right price point for success, both commercially and on the track. “It’s very tough, we all know how hard it is to get any kind of commercially successful sire, but we’ve got a lot of stallions at the right price points and they are well supported,” says Bell of the roster. “I think our nominations team does a fantastic job relationship-wise, they have a lot of back and forth and conferences with breeders, and we have breeders on our team as well. “All these things go in to having the success. It’s not quite 1 + 1, there are a lot of additional factors, but certainly having great support both internally and externally makes a difference.” Seeing one of their stallions sire a Kentucky Derby winner would be satisfying, but the ultimate goal is to add a Kentucky Derby victory to the Godolphin resume. As Bell points out Sheikh Mohammed’s worldwide operation has won nearly every other big race so to add a Kentucky Derby victory would be significant. “We’ll be patient and see what does and what doesn’t unfold as we’re all well aware things change quickly, but they can change

for the good as well,” he reflects. “We want to continue on the path we’re on, and the good news is we’ve got some very nice newly turned three-year-olds, who are all looking ass though they want to compete at the highest level around two turns, the more of the Classic type of breeding that Sheikh Mohammed enjoys. We’ll just kind of see how things unfold. “In January, it’s nice to be having this conversation but it’s a long way [until the Derby] in reality.” The focus in the US over the next several months will be on the Triple Crown but for Godolphin and Darley, that’s just one piece of the puzzle they’ll be putting together as they try to go for their second straight Eclipse Award. The 2020 Kentucky Derby favourite Maxfield is back on the track and has already shown he’ll be an interesting horse for the older horse division, alongside Godolphin’s 2020 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) winner Mystic Guide, while Fair Maiden looks to be one of the top older female contenders. As long as all goes to plan – something always difficult to predict in horseracing – it should be another Eclipse-worthy year for the Darley America all around the country.

haras de la gousserie

Looking forward to the 2021 French Classics Jocelyn de Moubray interviews Pauline Chehboub of Haras de la Gousserie, the owner of the top-rated French juvenile Sealiway, 41 horses in training for 2021 and with a new stallion at the farm this spring

HE GREEN AND YELLOW COLOURS of the Haras de la Gousserie have become familiar to everybody who follows French racing. The racing and breeding operation of the Chehboub brothers Kamel and Bouzid has grown into one of the most significant operations in the country with around 41 horses in training and, in recent years, a growing number of high-class performers. At the beginning of a new season their string includes two of France’s most likely Classic winners – Sealiway, France’s champion two year-colt and the winner of last autumn’s Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardère on Arc weekend, and the filly Rougir. She was also a Group winner and finished third in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp on Arc day. The Chehboub family has made some excellent decisions to put themselves in this position – they have enjoyed some luck too – but, aside from their own choices, the rise of Haras de la Gousserie is a reflection of the way French racing has changed in recent years. A sport which for a long time revolved around Paris and its training centres has evolved into a national sport with excellence and high-class horses all over the country, while a new generation of French owners have built important stables and enjoyed plenty of success at the highest level.

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The year 2020 was, among many other things, the year in which Marseille became one of the centres of the French racing business. Among the top ten trainers in France by wins three – Frederic Rossi, Christophe Escuder and Jerome Reynier – are based at the Calas training centre (of the others only two, Andre Fabré and Francis Graffard, are in Chantilly). Two of the top ten owners, Jean Claude Seroul and the Haras de la Gousserie, have the majority of their horses based at the centre. There has been racing in Marseille for more than 150 years and Marseille Borely, along with Marseille Pont de Vivaux, one of the city’s two tracks, was completely rebuilt only 20 years ago. However, until recently racing in Marseille was seen as very provincial and of little interest to those not directly involved, particularly when viewed from Longchamp or Chantilly. The training centre is situated about 20 miles from the city on the way to Aixen-Provence and was first established in the 1970s, but there has been significant investment in the stables and the training tracks and this, together with new trainers and owners prepared to invest, has seen its profile transformed. The Chehboub brothers grew up in Marseille without any direct involvement

Sealiway heading out to work at Keeneland when in the US for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last year. He finished the year as the top-rated French-trained two-year-old of 2020

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haras de la gousserie with the racing world. Kamel Chehboub’s daughter Pauline, who is the family’s racing manager, takes up the story. “My father knows how to do things on his own,” she explains. “He has achieved many things setting out on his own. He is the one who has a feeling for horses and he picks the yearlings we buy. “He asks the agents and trainers we work with for advice and conformation, but he is the one who makes the selection. He used to go to the races, then some of his friends began to have horses so he took a share, then half of one. “One of the first he bought on his own was a filly called Lavayssiere.” Chehboub was, she says, far too young at the time to remember the details of how he chose Lavayssiere, but she turned out to have been an inspired choice. The daughter of Sicyos ran 58 times on the Flat and over hurdles from two to five for seven wins and 28 places. She was only an average performer with a rating in the high 70s, but she was tough and sound and became an outstanding foundation broodmare launching the Chehboub family’s breeding operation.

Sealiway finished fifth of 14 at Keeneland in a race that did not go his way. The

Chehboubs have a 2021 French Classic campaign in mind for the son of Galiway

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“The plan for Sealiway is to run in the Prix Fontainebleau in mid-April, then the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) and the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) Lavayssiere produced nine colts and one filly, the colts included five black-type horses – Master’s Spirit, Salsalava, Salsalavie, Spirit Of The King and Spirit One, a top two-year-old in France in 2006 and the winner of the Grade 1 Arlington Million in 2008. “Spirit One was trained by Philippe Demercastel in Chantilly,” remembers Chehboub, “and was a top twoyear-old. It took time to work him out and he was beaten on his first two starts, but he was at his best when allowed to go on in front at his own pace. “He won three in a row very easily, including a Listed and a Group 3 and was then only beaten a head by

Mount Nelson in the Group 1 Criterium International. “He was unlucky as he just lacked experience having never been challenged before.” Spirit One failed to win as a three-yearold, despite running well in defeat in top races but at four he regained winning ways. “There were several offers for Spirit One from the US from people, who wanted to run in the Arlington Million,” Chehboub remembers. “My father has always loved American racing and he decided not to sell but to run in Chicago himself.” Spirit One made all the running and held on to beat Archipenko and Mount Nelson giving the Chehboub family its first win at the top level.

EALIWAY, a son of Galiway owned in partnership with his breeder Guy Pariente and trained by Frederic Rossi at the Calas training centre, became the second Group 1 winner for the Chehboubs when making all the running to win the Prix Jean Luc Lagardère by 8l. Sealiway was bought as a yearling for €62,000, the top price for his sire at the time. “Sealiway is in great form,” Chehboub confirms, “and we are impatient to see him on the track again! “The plan is to run in the Prix Fontainebleau at ParisLongchamp in mid-April and then the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) and the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1). His trainer Michaël Rossi is convinced he will stay the Jockey-Club trip.” Sealiway is in many ways a similar type to Spirit One, and he has looked at his best when allowed to go in front and make his own running. “In France we tend to expect all horses to be held up and come with a late run,” Chehboub continues, “and it took us a bit of time to work out Sealiway. “We always held him in high regard and from early on he was better than the other two-year-olds in training.” After the Arc weekend, Sealiway went to Keeneland to run in the Breeders’ Cup, and thought the race did not go his way, he still

haras de la gousserie finished a respectable fifth. “We don’t regret going on to Keeneland, even if we might have done things differently. He lost the race before the first bend by which point he had already been interfered with and was at the rear of the field. “He was on such good form when he returned to Marseille that we said it was a pity there no more races for him to run in. He has put on weight and strength and the last time our vet examined him he failed to find any faults!” The Haras de la Gousserie owns Sealiway’s full-brother Seagali in partnership with Pariente and he is also in training with Frederic Rossi. The younger brother is already showing promise, even if at this early stage he appears to be less precocious. Rougir, the Chehboub family’s top filly, is a daughter of Territories, who was bought as a yearling at Arqana for €55,000 and is trained by Cedric Rossi, the nephew of trainer Frederic, who is also based in Marseille. Rougir made a winning debut at

“Rougir is a super filly... she has an exceptional turn of foot and just needed to learn to relax during her races Chantilly in June defeating some wellregarded rivals from top stables and then made an even bigger impression when overcoming trouble in running to get up close home and win at Saint-Cloud. A couple of disappointing runs followed, but she returned in the autumn to finish

Success days: family Chehboub poses in the winners’ spot after Sealiway’s Lagardère win

third in the Group 1 at ParisLongchamp and win her Group 3 at Deauville later in October. “She is a super filly,” Chehboub confirms. “She is being aimed at the Prix de la Grotte (G3) and then the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1). Rougir has an exceptional turn of foot and just needed to learn to relax during her races and was far too tense when she was well-beaten in a Group 3 in Deauville in August. The Chehboub’s have a third good threeyear-old prospect in the Kendargent colt Smile Makers, a son of the Group 1 winner Pearly Shells who, at €80,000, was one of the top prices at the 2019 Osarus September Sale. Still a maiden, Smile Makers’ three runs last year included a second place in a Listed race at Marseille. “He has a great temperament,” Chehboub notes. “We are very happy with him and he should be running at Cagnes, once he has won his race we will see how he develops.”

ARAS DE LA GOUSSERIE will have 40 horses in training this season once all of their two-year-olds are in place. Half of these are with Frederic Rossi and the majority based at the Calas training centre. “We used to have a lot of horses in Chantilly,” Chehboub explains, “but in the end it is a large part of our fun to be able to go and see them work in the mornings. “Everybody has now seen it is possible to win the best races from Marseille, which is the result of the investments made in the facilities. There are some excellent young trainers, such as Cedric Rossi and Jerome Reynier among others, based there now. “Frederic Rossi now has around 140 horses and some 60 two-year-olds. We have, however, sent two to Francis Graffard in Chantilly for the first time this year.” As everybody knows the prize-money and premiums that can be earned by the owners and breeders of French-bred horses is the best in Europe. The Chehboub family’s success is a good illustration. Over the last two seasons the Haras de la Gousserie’s horses have won 53

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haras de la gousserie races and just over €2 million in prize-money and owner’s premiums together with a further €300,000 in breeder’s premiums. “We are,” Chehboub underlines, “careful with our costs and we don’t buy at the top of the yearling market but in France there are good returns if you win races.” The family bought 17 yearlings at Arqana in 2020 for an average price of €35,000. The most expensive was Sealiway’s brother at €115,000. They also bought an Almanzor filly and an Attendu colt for €70,000 and €72,000, as well as others for as little as €4,000 and €5,000. The Chehboub’s have also enjoyed success buying horses in training, notably Stunning Spirit, who was purchased through Paul Nataf from George Strawbridge at the 2019 Arqana Arc Sale for only €65,000. He went on to win in Doha and an August Group 3 in Deauville. The son of Invincible Spirit starts his stallion career at Haras de Hoguenet this year. “He is a son of Invincible Spirit from a great American family,” says Chehboub. “He was such a tough horse – he ran 29 times for eight wins and 15 places and his win in a Group 3 in Deauville on his last start was about his best.”

“Everybody has now seen it is possible to win the best races from Marseille, the result of the investments made in the facilities The Chehboub family will be supporting him and their other sire Master’s Spirit, a Mastercraftsman half-brother to One Spirit who stands at the Haras de Corlay, with some of 30 mares who are based at the Haras de la Gousserie.

“My family bought the Haras de la Gousserie after One Spirit’s win at Arlington as they wished to support him as a stallion,” Chehboub recalls. “It is in the Mayenne region between Le Mans and Rennes and is surrounded by trotting farms, which are traditionally based in the area. “Master’s Spirit is more of a sentimental choice as we feel One Spirit was just beginning to make a mark as a sire when he died as a 12-year-old. Perhaps Master’s Spirit will be luckier than his half-brother, and in any event it will be fun to race his progeny!” Given the scope and success of the Haras de la Gousserie’s operation it is not surprising that managing the horses now takes up a significant proportion of Pauline Chehboub’s time. When she was younger Chehboub was a keen show jumper and competed at a national level, but is now happy to focus on the racing instead. “There is a lot of paperwork to be done and things to follow, it was not for instance straight-forward to send Sealiway to Kentucky during COVID, and neither my father nor Monsieur Rossi have great English,” she laughs. “However, I love it and the whole family enjoys our horses together.”

Stunning Spirit won the ITM Cup in Doha last year. Now at stud, he is by Invincible Spirit and out of a Dynaformer full-sister to Group 1 winner Rainbow View

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golden sixty

Sixty is HK’s new Beauty 48

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golden sixty

David Morgan profiles Golden Sixty, Hong Kong’s new super star, the winner of 15 races, including the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile in December and the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup in January

Golden Sixty (above and right) winner of the Hong Kong Mile at December’s Longines International Races at Sha Tin

ONG KONG has enjoyed a golden age on the track since Silent Witness lifted a city floored by the 2003 SARS epidemic: bona fide champions Sacred Kingdom, Viva Pataca, Vengeance Of Rain, Ambitious Dragon, Able Friend, Designs On Rome and Beauty Generation led a support cast of top-class talents that included the likes of Bullish Luck, Aerovelocity, Military Attack, Werther, Gold-Fun, Lucky Nine, Amber Sky, Rich Tapestry and plenty more besides. This era of excellence coincided with booming turnover, which rocketed from about HK$60 billion in 2006 to HK$124.8 billion in 2019, as the production line of genuine Group 1 gallopers boosted Hong Kong racing’s international profile. That kind of depth is missing at present, with the last couple of “Classic” crops failing to unearth more than one or two elite runners. It was especially evident at the pandemic-affected Longines Hong Kong International Races: the Hong Kong Mile (G1) was the last roll of the dice for the diminished champion Beauty Generation, the Hong Kong Sprint (G1) had the weakest collection of home-produced Group 1 sprinters in recent memory, Mogul brushed off champion stayer Exultant in perhaps the poorest of Hong Kong Vases (G1), and, in the crown jewel, the Hong Kong Cup (G1), the invaders simply slammed the sub-standard local runners. But, saving the day for his hometown,

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golden sixty Golden Sixty’s 2l success in the Hong Kong Mile was emphatic. The worthy veteran Southern Legend could not answer his questioning acceleration, nor could Japan’s victor from the previous year Admire Mars, while Ballydoyle’s Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner Order Of Australia was shrugged aside, as was the once imperious Beauty Generation. The superior performance of Sha Tin’s latest hero – fluid, powerful, swift – was no surprise to those who had watched him ascend Hong Kong’s rigorous handicap grades: from a Class 4 debut success through 15 starts and 14 wins to Group 1 glory. His ever-present jockey Vincent Ho expected nothing less. “I was pretty confident,” the rider says of the Francis Lui-trained five-year-old. “Once I jumped on him, I was even more

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“There’s something really special about horses like this, I’ve never been on another horse that can give you that sort of feeling...

confident. There’s something really special about horses like this, I’ve never been on another horse that can give you that sort of feeling – when you sit on him in the parade ring and you already know he’s ready to race and he wants to race. It definitely wasn’t an easy task, but he’s still young compared to horses like Beauty Generation and he’s got the ability.” The John Moore-trained milers Beauty Generation and Able Friend set the quantifiable benchmark in Hong Kong, sharing the circuit’s all-time highest international rating of 127. Ho believes Golden Sixty could at least match that exalted pair. “Oh, definitely,” he asserts, “I’ve never ridden those other horses, but I think he’s perhaps even on a level above, from what I feel: I think he’s definitely one of them at

golden sixty least, if not better. He could go on to be one of Hong Kong’s all-time greats, for sure.”

A star’s make-up

Golden Sixty took his first breath in Australia, but the gelding’s pedigree is a tantalising mix of top drawer North American bloodlines with proven European quality. His sire Medaglia D’Oro needs little introduction: a multiple Grade 1 winner Stateside, the stallion’s progeny includes Rachel Alexandra and Songbird, as well as the conspicuous talent, Talismanic. Golden Sixty’s dam Gaudeamus – a $60,000 Keeneland September purchase – won the Group 2 Debutante Stakes in Ireland for Jim Bolger before her relocation to the southern hemisphere. She shares

her second dam, the E. P. Taylor-bred Konafa, with the likes of Bosra Sham, Hector Protector and Shanghai. The New Zealand operations Riversley Park and Enigma Farm together purchased Golden Sixty at the 2017 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale for A$120,000. The long view was always Hong Kong and the brown youngster with the distinctive white snip was prepared for the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale. There Lui posted a clinching bid of NZ$300,000 and put him into training in the country with Graham Richardson. Three barrier trials later, Golden Sixty was shipped to Sha Tin to race in the gold-capped white and blue-spotted silks of Stanley Chan. “His gallop and breeze-up was impressive,” recalls the 61-year-old Lui. The handler is enjoying late-career success

beyond anything he has experienced before, having stepped out of the shadows in 2017 with Lucky Bubbles’ Chairman’s Sprint Prize (G1) win. Golden Sixty’s achievements are a cut above that as only the second horse to have won all three races in the Hong Kong Classic Series, including the biggest of all domestic races, the BMW Hong Kong Derby (G1) last March. “This horse is a gift, a dream horse,” Lui adds. But the emerging champion has his foibles. After last season’s Hong Kong Classic Cup – the Classic Series’ middle leg – the victor backed away from the unsaddling area, ears flat, neck stretched, prompting Ho to instruct the groom to lead his mount away without the standard post-race pose beneath the victory arch. “I think he was still immature,” Ho says.

Golden Sixty took his Hong Kong winning record to 15 from 16 starts in January’s Group 1 Stewards’ Cup

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golden sixty “He tended to kick a bit last season; he was quite cranky after winning but this season he’s fine. He’s not grumpy like that anymore – maybe the summer break helped him mature and relax.” Lui adds: “He’s easy to train but you have to be careful inside his box, that’s his own place. He will bite or kick, but actually he will show you that you have to be careful, he will warn you.” Golden Sixty was exemplary in the Hong Kong Mile. When Ho moved his mount wide around the final turn it was done with a silky slickness that did not falter through a sprint to the line; he ran the final 400m in a sharp 22.05s. “He has a really good action that other horses don’t have,” says Ho. “The way he changes legs, it’s like changing gears on a sports car, it’s just instant and it’s so smooth. He’s got that and not many horses do – few have the athleticism he has.”

Flying the flag

The Hong Kong Derby (G1) is the one race every Hong Kong participant wants to win and in 2020 the enterprising Blake Shinn had a shock victory all but nailed as the field swung off the final turn. The rider had looped 289-1 shot Playa Del Puente from last to first with half a mile to run and flipped a muddling race on its head. Golden Sixty, a $1.70 “good thing” that day, was eight horses wide into the home run, with 6l to find. “When the front horse ran away off a slow pace, I had to be worried,” admits Lui as he recalls that bright spring afternoon. Ho, on the other hand, was unruffled. The rider allowed Golden Sixty to find his balance before picking up his stick, then asked for a sprint. If a crowd had been present, as in pre-COVID times, it would have been mesmerised: still 3l down with a furlong to go; 100m left and a length to find; then a neck in front when it mattered. It was a jaw-dropping effort, blitzing the final 400m in 21.83s for a race record time of 2m 00.15s. Hong Kong’s Derby – restricted to four-year-olds due to Hong Kong’s need to import horses – is its keystone race; every owner covets it and the big players scour the

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“The way he changes legs, it’s like changing gears on a sports car, it’s just instant and it’s so smooth globe with cheque books open for a likely candidate. It is the race that drives the annual regeneration of the two-track circuit’s 1,300 horses. While this season’s four-year-olds jostle through the Classic Mile, Classic Cup and Derby to be the next great hope, Golden Sixty is slated to run a near-parallel programme – he took January’s mile Group 1 Stewards’ Cup by a head from Southern Legend again. There is an anticipated return to 1m2f in February’s Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1), and it will be the first time since that incredible Hong Kong Derby performance that he has run over the longer trip. “I’m happy for him to go back to 2000m

in February. He handled the longer distance in the Derby and ran a good time,” says Ho. Concern about how good any racehorse might be is unimportant for a community dealing with the aftermath of widespread protests, the passing of the freedom-stealing National Security Law and the mass arrests of pro-democracy figures, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic: Golden Sixty is not Silent Witness. But life continues in its altered state, and the Hong Kong Jockey Club needs a worldclass standard-bearer to maintain interest and drive a product which last season saw commingling from overseas pools increase by 25.3 per cent on the previous season. Successes in the Stewards’ Cup and Gold Cup would match the rare feat of the similarly brilliant Ambitious Dragon, the most versatile of all recent Hong Kong champions. It would also set up the fascinating question of whether Golden Sixty will take in the Champions Mile or the QEII Cup on Champions Day in April? The hope in Hong Kong has to be that, by then, the current promising crop of four-year-olds will have passed through the crucible of the Classic Series with enough aplomb to challenge the champion-elect and restore depth to the pool. And, just maybe, the fans will be back on course too, with Golden Sixty offering a city in need a little something to cheer for.

Golden Sixty, the son of Medaglia D’Oro, came home a head ahead of Southern Legend (centre) in the mile Stewards’ Cup and is due to step back up to 1m2f in the Hong Kong Gold Cup in February

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japanese bloodstock Danon Smash under Ryan Moore wins last December’s Hong Kong Sprint, emulating his sire Lord Kanaloa (inset, below)

Empire builders

Japan’s K I Farm and Northern Farm both enjoyed fabulous seasons in 2020. Martin Stevens, via Zoom, recounts the year’s racing with Tomoyuki Nakamura of K I Farm and Shingo Hashimoto of Northern Farm

NE OF THE MOST powerful racing and breeding operations in Japan outside of the Yoshida empire is the Nakamura family’s K I

Farm. The name should be familiar to fans of the sport and members of the bloodstock industry in the western hemisphere as they are the notable breeders of world champion sprinter and young sire Lord Kanaloa and former Japanese highweight two-year-old Danon Premium, who ran third to Addeybb in the Ranvet Stakes (G1) last year. K I Farm is also a regular buyer of elite broodmare prospects at sales in Europe and North America, and among its purchases this past winter were the Grade 1 Clement L Hirsch Stakes heroine Ollie’s Candy for

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$1.65 million at Keeneland and Photo Call’s three-parts sister Swan River for 130,000gns at Tattersalls. December also brought the crowning glory of the Nakamura family’s involvement in the sport so far – the homebred Danon Smash emulated his sire Lord Kanoloa by winning in the Hong Kong Sprint (G1). Lord Kanaloa, who won the Sha Tin event twice among six top-level triumphs, was raced by K I Farm’s Tomoyuki Nakamura under the Lord Horse Club banner, whereas Danon Smash is one of many high-class horses who bear the “Danon” insignia and carry the colours of Masahiro Noda’s Danox Co Ltd. “K I Farm opened in 1987, and at that point there were only five broodmares in the operation,” says Tomoyuki Nakamura, who is often seen at the sales in Europe

and America. “We now have around 70 broodmares, as well as 60 yearlings in pre-training and 110 two-year-olds and older horses in training.” Lord Kanaloa was the result of K I Farm sending its winning mare Lady Blossom, a daughter of Storm Cat and Beldame and Gazelle Stakes scorer Saratoga Dew, to Kingmambo’s champion son King Kamehameha in his third season standing at the Shadai Stallion Station. The mating was a no-brainer, according to Nakamura. “King Kamehameha was one of the top stallions in Japan at the time, and our philosophy is always to breed the best to the best; it’s as simple as that,” he says. Lady Blossom, another campaigned by the Lord Horse Club, produced six winners in total, also including the Listed-placed Lord

japanese bloodstock Balius, and she is now an honoured retiree at K I Farm. “She has a strong personality and has always been the leader among her group of mares in the paddocks,” says Nakamura. “She had to be the best and in charge when she was grazing and her progeny perhaps inherited that trait.” He recalls Lord Kanaloa as a young horse: “He was very easy to deal with and had no issues. He was small in physique but very strong and muscular.” Lord Kanaloa put those physical gifts to good use on the track, not least when hammering one of Europe’s best sprinters Sole Power by 5l to take his second Hong Kong Sprint in his racing swansong. Lord Kanaloa is following his sire King Kamehameha by excelling in the breeding shed. Danon Smash, a six-year-old from his first crop, is one of five Grade 1 winners for him, a group headed by Almond Eye, who has nine elite victories to her name, including a second Japan Cup (G1) achieved in November. It is not hard to see why the stallion is excelling in his second career, as he was such a superb athlete in the first; but, all the same, Nakamura offers a little extra insight. “First and foremost, I think he is just excellent at passing down speed,” he says. “But another thing is that his offspring are generally gentle and easy to handle.” K I Farm is in the envious position of owning around half the breeding rights to Lord Kanaloa, whose 2021 fee of ¥15 million – around £106,000 or €119,000 – makes him the most expensive resident of the Shadai Stallion Station. Danon Smash’s dam Spinning Wildcat visited Lord Kanaloa in his first season at stud in 2014, after she was exported from the US and gave birth to the Tapit filly she was carrying when bought at the preceding winter’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $600,000. Spinning Wildcat, a four-year-old at the time of her purchase, is a winning daughter of Hard Spun and the multiple Grade 1-winning Kris S mare Hollywood Wildcat, also dam of the high-class pair War Chant and Ivan Denisovich. Incidentally, Danon Smash can claim

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japanese bloodstock that one of his paternal great-granddams (Saratoga Dew) and his maternal granddam (Hollywood Wildcat) were champion threeyear-old fillies in the US. Nakamura confirms it was Spinning Wildcat’s dazzling pedigree that encouraged him to add her to K I’s broodmare band. “Yes, the reason was that solid pedigree,” he says. “She is out of a truly great mare in Hollywood Wildcat and her half-brother War Chant also sired several high-ranking horses.

“Danon Smash

is just like his father – he was always a healthy and hearty foal

“There was all that, and then when I inspected her she looked as though she had the physique to become a wonderful broodmare, so I bought her!” Danon Smash has vindicated the purchase in no uncertain terms. His Hong Kong Sprint success may have been his first at Grade 1 level, but he had already collected a brace of Grade 2s and four Grade 3s, and twice finished placed in the Sprinters Stakes. “Danon Smash is just like his father – he

Northern Farm 2020: Annus Mirabilis KATSUMI YOSHIDA’s Northern Farm is one of the world’s foremost breeding operations; a regular purchaser of the most in-demand broodmares available on any continent with access to some of the best global stallions at its fingertips. But even when taking all that into account, the extent of its success in 2020 was breathtaking. In fact, it’s difficult to know where to start describing it all. There was Gran Alegria, the outstanding five-year-old who won the Yasuda Kinen (G1), the Sprinters Stakes (G1) and the Mile Championship (G1); she is by the late multiple champion sire Deep Impact out of dual Grade 1-winning miler Tapitsfly, bought by Yoshida for $1.85 million at Keeneland in 2012. Another admirable older mare bred by Northern Farm and campaigned by the affiliated Sunday Racing Co is Lucky Lilac, by Orfevre out of privately purchased Ashland Stakes winner Lilacs And Lace. She took her Grade 1 haul to four by winning the Osaka Hai (G1) and Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) last year.

Fierement – Sunday Racing Co’s son of Deep Impact and Premio Lydia Tesio heroine Lune D’Or, a €750,000 Arqana December acquisition in 2010 – gained his second success in the Tenno Sho (Spring) (G1) and has now been retired to stud. There were even prestigious Grade 1 victories for Northern Farmbred siblings within the space of weeks as Chrono Genesis, a 6l winner of the Takarazuka Kinen (G1) earlier in the season, landed the Arima Kinen for Sunday Racing Co just a fortnight after her year-older half-sister Normcore had taken the Hong Kong Cup (G1) in the colours of Seiichi Iketani. Chrono Genesis, by Arc hero Bago, and Normcore, a daughter of world champion Harbinger, are out of Kurofune’s winning daughter Chronologist. It was not all about the older horses either, as the Northern Farm/Sunday Racing Co axis won the Asahi Hai Futurity (G1), one of Japan’s leading two-year-old contests, with Grenadier Guards, a Frankel colt out of Wavell Avenue, a Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) winner sold privately to Japan. Northern Farm is also the proud breeder of the awesome Almond Eye who won the Victoria Mile (G1), the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (G1) and her second Japan Cup (G1) in 2020. The Silk Racing-owned daughter of Lord Kanaloa was retired at the end of the year as the winner of 11 of her 15 starts, nine at the highest level, and with more than £13 million in prize-money earnings. To cap it all, Northern Farm also bred the first three home in several of Japan’s most competitive Grade 1 events in the past 12 months. In the Tenno Sho (Autumn) it was thanks to Almond Eye, Fierement and Chrono Genesis; and in the Yasuda Kinen it was down to Gran Alegria beating Almond Eye and Indy Champ. In the Mile Championship it was the Northern Farm graduates Gran Alegria, Indy Champ and Admira Mars responsible for the

Lucky Lilac and Mirco Demuro after winning the Grade 1 Osaka Hai. It was a Northern Farm-bred one-two with Chrono Genesis in second

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japanese bloodstock was always a healthy and hearty foal, and he has developed into a very robust and durable horse,” says Nakamura. “It was extraordinary that Danon Smash won the Hong Kong Sprint because it was always our goal to win the race again with one of Lord Kanaloa’s progeny. “It’s the whole reason I bought Spinning Wildcat and bred her to Lord Kanaloa. It was an ambitious target but we’ve achieved it!” Spinning Wildcat also has a three-year-old

filly, two-year-old filly and yearling colt by Lord Kanaloa, and was covered by Heart’s Cry last year. She keeps exalted company at K I Farm, as her paddock mates include the aforementioned Ollie’s Candy and Swan River as well as Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot (bought for $2m at Fasig-Tipton in 2019), Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup heroine La Coronel (cost $1.5m at Fasig-Tipton in 2018), Breeders’

Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Belmont Oaks winner Catch A Glimpse (a $3m buy at Fasig-Tipton in 2017) and dual Woodbine Grade 2 scorer Lexie Lou (cost $1m at Keeneland in 2016). It’s safe to say that with K I Farm continuing to invest in such quality bloodlines, Lord Kanaloa and his son Danon Smash won’t be the last of the stud’s graduates we see excelling on the international racing scene.

Almond Eye wins her second Japan Cup. The Northern Farm-bred daughter of Lord Kanaloa has now been retired to stud. She is the highestearning Japanese horse ever having picked up the equivalent of £13.6m from 15 races with nine Group and Grade 1 victories

tricast; and in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup Lucky Lilac beat Salacia and Loves Only You completing a clean sweep. And get this: Northern Farm bred the first five home in the Arima Kinen – Chrono Genesis, Salacia, Fierement, Lucky Lilac and World Premiere. Phew! The stud might be accustomed to high achievement but 2020 was something else altogether. “Indeed, we were fortunate to be very successful last year,” says spokesperson Shingo Hashimoto with some understatement. He reports that Northern Farm owns more than 900 mares. “And we expect that number to grow even more,” he adds ominously. If there was one bittersweet note to Northern Farm’s outstanding success last year it was that so many of its celebrated alumni are by, or related to, Shadai Stallion Station’s exceptional sires Deep Impact and King Kamehameha – both of whom were bred by the operation but died before their time in 2019. “It was indeed very sad that we lost Deep Impact as well as

King Kamehameha, since we produced both horses and they were the best two stallions over the past years,” says Hashimoto. “Deep Impact was certainly a legendary horse in Japanese history and will remain as such for sure. “But we are also very excited with the young stallions as well. Epiphaneia, for example, has produced a Triple Tiara winner in Daring Tact from his first crop.” Epiphaneia, a Northern Farm-bred son of Symboli Kris S and half-brother to champions Leontes and Saturnalia, has been widely touted as Almond Eye’s first port of call now that she has retired to the paddocks for Silk Racing. “And don’t forget Duramente and Maurice were ranked second and third behind Deep Impact in the leading two-year-old sires’ lists with their first crops in 2020,” adds Hashimoto. Pixie Knight, a Northern Farm-bred son of Maurice, carried Silk Racing’s colours to victory in the Grade 3 Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen at Chukyo in early January to give the stud an auspicious start to 2021.

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gaurav rampal

Thinking for the future Last year Indian bloodstock agent Gaurav Rampal hit the headlines in his home country as a micro-share owner of Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic. Rampal explains to Aisling Crowe how he’d like to see similar syndicate ownership in India, how he thinks Indian racing should develop and how he is also putting his MBA to good use Photo courtesy of Tattersalls 60

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gaurav rampal Rampal travels to Europe every November to source breeding stock for the major stud farms in India

UTHENTIC’S TRIUMPH in the 2020 Kentucky Derby was the victory that went around the world; sparking celebrations from Churchill Downs to Kildare to Pune and plenty of places in between for the 5,314 people who owned the micro-shares in the son of Into Mischief through MyRacehorse. Gaurav Rampal, a bloodstock agent of 15 years standing, was one of those whose tiny investment yielded enormous joy, cheering on the colt to Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic glory, despite difficulties of time and technology. His involvement in Authentic ignited interest in his home country with an article on the front page of The Times of India. In a country where cricket dominates the sporting discourse like no other, it was a rare foray into the mainstream headlines for a horseracing story. The experience of Authentic was so positive that Rampal has invested in 14 twoyear-olds through the micro-sharing vehicle. “Success needs to be rewarded,” he smiles, from his home in Pune, sitting below images of Sea The Stars. “They are doing a great job. The detail and the documentation you are provided with, the level of transparency is phenomenal.” It has also given him even more of an insight into how a tiny morsel of success can be transformed into a banquet on which so many more could feast. “I could only have dreamed of owning a Kentucky Derby winner but I had a share in one! It happened!” he exclaims. “Imagine if it wasn’t a COVID year, these 5,314 people would have been at Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup and you can imagine what that would have been like. “It shows how popular the sport could get. The press coverage in India was insane. It was the best investment for me ever. It was good for awareness of the sport in India, we don’t usually receive mainstream media coverage. It’s been a while since even the winner of the Indian Derby was on the front page of The Times.” For Rampal, there are two keys factors to

securing the future of Indian horseracing; investment in media and marketing and developing syndication as a way of attracting more people into ownership. “A lot of effort and investment needs to go into marketing the sport, there needs to be huge investment in education. We need to introduce people to horses at a young age, so we need to have racing academies that teach horsemanship. “We need to make people aware of the sport, to encourage them to get involved, to even go riding and that needs to brought to the majority of the population, it needs to be brought into the cities. We need to get youngsters hooked by horses and then racing. By making information more freely available and making horse ownership more accessible and cheaper the sport can develop,” he says. The racing and bloodstock industries in India are concentrated in four main areas – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab and Delhi – and there are seven tracks. The season runs from November to October, but some tracks are unable to host racing in the heat of the summer months. Every centre has its Classics, the regional Classics, but the mother of all Classics are the Indian ones held in Mumbai. The Indian Derby is for four-year-olds and is usually run on the first Saturday of February, but has been pushed back this year due to COVID and will be on the March 28. All the regional Classics are run for threeyear-olds, and the juvenile races don’t start till the end of October so there is very little two-year-old racing in the country. The issues of funding and prize-money are so common to many racing jurisdictions

“A lot of

effort and investment needs to go into marketing the sport

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gaurav rampal around the globe, and India is no different. Rampal offers a bluntly honest assessment of the problems facing the industry in the country. “It’s not healthy, we were looking at heading towards a correction anyway, but COVID has made it happen more quickly. We are experiencing a major problem with taxation; racing is the only sport you can legally bet on and betting is taxed very heavily, there is very little support from the government. We need to reinvent and monetise our assets to be more viable financially, with this tax structure the future looks bleak,” he confides. “All the race clubs and the Turf Authority need to come together to reinvent the sport, to keep lobbying the government to make them aware that it is a sport that supports a lot of livelihoods and ancillary industries. “We need those points made more forcefully to the government and since we are a very small minority involved in this sport, we don’t get the necessary attention from the government.” Rampal embarked on his career 15 years ago. After two years working at the Poonawalla Stud Farm he had a year spent in banking and although he was then utilising his MBA in Finance and Marketing he was miserable, yearning to be back with horses

Rampal acts as a bloodstock consultant to a number of Indian studs. He visits each farm every two or three weeks to advise on stock and give some business input

and disliking the moments stuck behind a desk. So he became just the third bloodstock agent working in India, and now there are just two, with the emigration of one of that original duo. India’s major races and Classics are restricted to horses born in the country and only breeding stock can be imported from abroad so Rampal travels to Europe for the Goffs November Sale and the Tattersalls December Sale to purchase in-foal mares, who are transported to India before they foal so their offspring are eligible to race.

The Indian Derby is to be run this year on March 28 rather than on its usual late February date

Kevin Needham of BBA Shipping, along with James Underwood, Ted Voute and Anthony Stroud earn Rampal’s gratitude and praise for the help and guidance they provided him with when he was first starting out. The teams at Goffs and Tattersalls have also provided him with assistance and support in what can be a lonely role. India has a small broodmare band of around 2,800 divided amongst 25 or so stud farms and producing approximately 1,200 foals a year. There are 80 active stallions at stud in India, according to the online database of the Indian Stud Book and the vast majority raced in Europe. An important element of Rampal’s work is sourcing new sires for the farms he numbers amongst his clients. Europe is by far the most important source of stallions for the Indian bloodstock industry. “Arod is my most recent stallion import, I bought him from Sheikh Fahad and he is a very nice son of Teofilo,” he explains. “He was a beast of a racehorse who won the Group 2 Summer Mile and was placed in Australia’s Derby and in the Lockinge and Sussex Stakes, he stands at Sans Craintes and his first foals are being born now.” A close relation of the horse whose artistic representation adorns his wall is another of Rampal’s recent imports to stud in India. The Group 3 Meld Stakes winner Moonlight Magic,who was trained by Jim Bolger for Godolphin, stands at Equus Stud. He is a son of Cape Cross and his second dam is Urban Sea so he’s a three-parts brother to Sea The Stars. He is a half-

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gaurav rampal brother to the Arc third Masterstroke, and his three-parts sister Khawlah is the dam of Godolphin’s homebred Derby hero Masar. Ampere, a son of Sea The Stars’ older halfbrother Galileo, is another stallion whom Rampal has bought for Indian clients. He was trained by André Fabre to win the Group 2 Prix Hocquart and to finish second in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris for Andreas Putsch’s Haras de Saint Pair. With so few stud farms, stallion choices are often dictated by the breeding goals of Rampal’s clients, who are buying the stallion.

F THEY WANT to win the Derby they will ask him to find a stallion capable of siring Derby winners for them, and that is the ultimate aim of many of his clients. That’s not to say that sprinters and milers are not imported, indeed Rampal has enjoyed success with one such stallion, Surfrider. “I bought a son of Dansili who raced in France named Surfrider, who won the Group 3 Prix Djebel and was second to Goldikova in the Forêt,” he recalls. “They sent him to race in Belmont Park and I bought him from there. He was a proper 6f or 7f horse and stands at a boutique farm in India where he has done exceptionally well; last year he sired Trouvaille, the best three-year-old in the country who won the Pune Derby and 2,000 Guineas.” A rare purchasing expedition to Australia also turned up trumps for Rampal, buying Kingda Ka, who had finished second in the Group 1 Rosehill Guineas for Gai Waterhouse. He also stands at Nanoli, as does Cougar Mountain, a Group-winning son of Fastnet Rock out of a Nureyev half-sister to Zafonic, whom Rampal bought out of Ballydoyle. “Even though Kingda Ka was a sprintermiler himself he has produced Classic winners. The current leading four-year-old in India is a horse called Lagarde, who has won three Classics in a row and is by Kingda Ka. It was a big experiment for us to go and buy a horse from Australia but it has worked out well.” Dreamfield, a son of Oasis Dream out

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“We have a

culture of private sales here, you go to the studs, view the horses and do deals

of Izzi Top, is another Rampal recruit to the Italian stallion ranks and he stands at Dashmesh Stud. Those years spent studying for his MBA have also been put to use by Rampal, who also operates in a managerial consultant role for his clients. “I consult for stud farms on their entire business management, and I visit these farms every two to three weeks to provide input on the business front and inspect the stock, to check their progress. “This is an important part of my business in India now and I end up selling a lot of those horses for my clients. We have a culture of private sales here, you go to the

Trouvaille wins the Pune Derby. He is the best three-year-old in India, and is by the Dansili stallion Surfrider, bought by Rampal in the US

studs, view the horses and do deals. “The studs also run their own private auctions and I’m an auctioneer as well! But the speed of auctioneering is a bit slower here,” he laughs. Derby winners, whether in Kentucky or Mumbai, are anything but slow, and Rampal’s involvement in both along with an authentic passion for the sport and for breeding ignited by riding lessons at boarding, have brought him to the front page of the Times of India and places he could only have dreamed.

Rampal finds time in his busy schedule and in non-COVID years to make a trip to Royal Ascot

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simon says...

The world’s best Simon Rowlands casts his eye over the World Best Racehorse Rankings and compares the assessments to his own calculations

HE IDEA THAT RATINGS ARE “just a matter of opinion”, as gets trotted out regularly by those who have never bothered to rate horses themselves, has a limited amount of mileage to it. The reality is that handicappers have triedand-tested approaches to assigning figures to performances, and to individual horses, and the scope for disagreement is usually only a couple of pounds either way, not a couple of stones as some would have you imagine. As a result, any critique of the Longinesbacked World’s Best Racehorse Rankings – the annual assessment of the leading horses around the globe by various countries’ official handicappers – may come across as a modern-day equivalent of gauging how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The latest WBRRs were unveiled towards the end of January, as is usual now behind closed doors, and contained few surprises. Doubtless, some will argue that Ghaiyyath

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The top-rated horse on the WBRRs for 2020 is the Dubawi colt Ghaiyyath, seen here winning the Eclipse Stakes (G1) at Sandown

simon says... (Dubawi) should not have been top-rated, on 130, but I am not one of them. The Godolphin-owned five-year-old won four out of five races in 2020, with the WBRRs identifying his Juddmonte International Stakes win at York as his best effort of all, but also having his Coronation Cup win at Newmarket ahead of any other effort of the year on 127. My own figures have Ghaiyyath top on 129, courtesy of that emphatic York win over Magical (Galileo) (122 with both me and WBRRs), Lord North (Dubawi) (121 with me and 123 with WBRRs) and a non-staying Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) (121 and 122). What is a pound or two between friends?! There is little to quibble about regarding the 126 rating of the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic (Into Mischief) (I have him on 125), whom the WBRRs have a clear second and therefore the best three-year-old of 2020, nor with the majority of the seven who figure jointly on 125, among them the British-trained trio of Addeybb (Pivotal), Palace Pier (Kingman) and Stradivarius (Sea The Stars). However, I would take issue with the assessment of the French-trained Persian King (Kingman) on 125. That figure assumes his Prix du Moulin defeat of Pinatubo (Shamardal) (122 WBRRs, 121 with me) and Circus Maximus (Galileo) (120 both) should be taken at face value when even a cursory inspection Simon says that Derby winners are usually easy to rate, but last year’s winner Serpentine has proved a difficult horse to assess

“At past WBRRs

unveilings, the panel has claimed that they consider times and sectionals in their assessments, but it is crystal clear they do not do this in a consistent and formalised manner

of the sectionals show that the fastfinishing runner-up had been significantly disadvantaged. Persian King is more like a 120-rated horse on his other form – which is what I have him rated – and includes his 2l defeat of Stormy Antarctic (not good enough to make the WBRRs list this year) in a weak Prix d’Ispahan at Chantilly and a third to Sottsass (Siyouni) (123 WBRRs, 125 with me) and In Swoop (122, 124) in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over a longer distance at ParisLongchamp. My biggest disagreement with the WBRRs in the opposite direction among the leading horses concerns the US filly Gamine (Into Mischief) (122 WBRRs, 126 with me), who ran a couple of astonishing times when winning the Acorn Stakes (G1) at Belmont and the Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga by wide margins, even before she accounted for Serengeti Empress by over 6l in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. At past WBRRs unveilings, the panel has claimed that they consider times and sectionals in their assessments, but it is crystal clear they do not do this in a consistent and formalised manner. One performance about which there is more than usual scope for “opinion” is that Derby win by Serpentine (Galileo) at Epsom. Derby winners are usually quite easy to assess, but what to make of one who got clear mid-race to win by a wide margin, but was beaten twice under contrasting circumstances after? The WBRRs have Serpentine on 120 and I

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simon says... have him on 117, but either or both of us could be quite some way out! One thing that the WBRRs do help to shine light on is the ebb and flow of racing in different jurisdictions, at least as gauged by the ratings of the leading horses. Seven countries have provided the vast majority of the 115-plus-rated horses over time, and did so for 216 of the 252 (a reduced number, probably in part due to the disruption of COVID-19) in 2020. Their percentage share within that cohort is shown in the table below. The US has always had the highest percentage of representatives, justifiably so, with Australia and Britain, joined since 2014, by Japan for second, third and fourth spots. Ireland had a good year in 2020, including with raiders abroad, while the slump in elite racing in France may be seen starkly from those figures in the last three years. Where the latter was the fourth-best country in the world by such a measure a decade ago it has dropped to seventh, and is in danger of being passed by South Africa. One final observation is that I suspect those figures for Australia are now a little high. There is a negligible difference between my ratings and the WBRRs for the major racing nations on average, with the exception of Australia, which I have 1.7 lower. The performances of European and exEuropean raiders Down Under in 2020, which included high-level wins for such as Addeybb and Twilight Payment, suggest the ratings there may need to be dropped slightly.

St Mark’s Basilica tops the two-year-olds, but Simon reckons maybe the spot should have gone to Sealiway. (And isn’t it time, he asks, that juvenile ratings were made across all the major racing nations?) THE EUROPEAN 2YO CLASSIFICATIONS were unveiled with a bit less fanfare the day after the WBRRs and also contained few surprises. St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni) gained top spot on 120 by virtue of his win in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, and was the seventh successive winner of that race to be awarded that honour. However, that rating makes him the lowest such since Belardo (119) in 2014 and fully eight points behind Pinatubo 12 months earlier. While the official assessment of the Dewhurst looks justified, it can certainly be argued that Sealiway (Galiway) – the toprated French juvenile on 116 – should be higher than St Mark’s Basilica (I have them on 121 and 120 respectively). Sealiway’s 8l victory over 111-rated Nando Parrado in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère at Longchamp on Arc Day came in a faster time than six-year-old One Master’s win in the Group 1 Prix de la Forêt later on. Sealiway’s subsequent defeat at the Breeders’ Cup came under very different conditions. The Breeders’ Cup and juvenile racing in the US remain the elephant in the room where these classifications are concerned. The best juveniles in the US in 2020 were

The best juvenile in the US, Fire At Will

probably better than the same in Europe – I have Breeders’ Cup winner Declaration Of War colt Fire At Will (122) and Breeders’ Cup beaten favourite Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) (125) ahead of St Mark’s Basilica – but, unlike older horses from outside Europe, they have not been rated. It really should not be beyond the relevant authorities to assess leading two-year-old form in all the major racing nations, and the failure to do so continues to make the Classifications more parochial than they need to be.

Percentage of representatives in WBRRs compared between top seven countries over last 11 years Country 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

2017 2018 2019 2020 10-year %

Australia 15.9 18.1 19.8 15.4 15.5 19.2 France 12.2 9.8 8.1 8.8 9.3 7.7 Great Britain 18.3 16.7 14.3 17.3 19.8 15.4 Hong Kong 7.1 5.6 8.1 8.8 8.9 10.0 Ireland 6.1 6.3 7.8 10.8 5.4 8.1 Japan 9.8 12.5 12.0 13.1 16.7 15.8 USA 30.5 31.0 29.8 25.8 24.4 23.8

19.4 18.4 16.6 18.5 17.7 8.1 6.1 5.5 6.0 8.3 16.9 19.1 17.4 16.7 17.2 7.7 9.0 7.9 6.9 8.0 7.7 9.0 7.9 11.1 7.9 15.1 11.6 17.4 16.7 13.9 25.0 26.7 27.3 24.1 27.0

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ZOFFANY’S only son at stud Rated 121 by Timeform

FIRST YEARLINGS 2021

Champion 3yo sprinter in Ireland

By ZOFFANY - who sired more than 140 winners in 2020, 37 of them 2yos including Group 1 winner Thunder Moon, one of his 26 black type horses that season. First 7 foals to sell realised prices of 58,000gns, 35,000gns etc. Use a British Stallion for a chance to WIN £20,000 in the Great British Bonus Scheme For full details of the Great British Bonus Scheme visit www.greatbritishbonus.co.uk

Filly born 20/1/21 out of homebred Inquizitive who is a half-sister to Bold Bidder the dam of Gr.3 winner Lullaby Moon and from the family of Mind Games.

Filly born 20/1/21 out of River Song who is dam of Gr.3 & Listed winner Queen Jo Jo and from the family of Gypsy Spirit.

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Yearling €180,000

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Mare 37,000gns

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Dam of Listed placed Force It

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bloodstock WBRR review

Front runners

leading the field

HEN GHAIYYATH – a record-breaking €1,000,000 Goffs November weanling – took the Autumn Stakes (G3) on the third of three juvenile starts, Godolphin must have felt confident that they had a star in the making. It’s no surprise that events confirmed that hope, but it’s unlikely that his connections thought that it would take more than two and a half years for that early promise to be truly realised. There was nothing wrong with the form that Ghaiyyath showed at three, but that form came on his sole appearance with victory in the Prix du Prince d’Orange (G3) by 3l over the useful Sacred Life. As a four-year-old in 2019 he was more active making four starts spread over eight months. He kicked off his season in April easing home a length and a half clear in the Prix Harcourt (G2) after opening up by more than 5l at halfway. Three weeks later in the Prix Ganay (G1), he was made to look one-paced as Waldgeist and Study Of Man pounced on him in the straight. Away for just over four months, he reemerged with a sensational performance. Trying 1m2f for the first time in the Grosser Preis von Baden (G1), he galloped home 14l clear of the subsequent Group 1 winner Donjah. He attempted similar front-running tactics in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1), but was found out by the very soft ground. Wintering in Dubai, Ghaiyyath opened his 2020 campaign running the opposition off their feet in the 1m2f Dubai Millennium Stakes (G3). Back in England

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Alan Porter reviews the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, and finds that, despite the top two horses Ghaiyyaith and Authentic racing in different parts of the world, they were similar performers for the Coronation Cup (G1), Ghaiyyath’s cruising speed proved far too much for the opposition. Returned to 1m2f, Ghaiyyath had little trouble taking the Eclipse Stakes (G1) from a ring-rusty Enable. The race that put the seal on Ghaiyyath’s rating was the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1). Once again his cruising speed took the sting out of his rivals well before the finish, leaving him 3l clear of Magical, with Lord North, Kameko and Rose Of Kildare further back. He couldn’t reproduce that form in his final outing in the Irish Champion Stakes (G1), when harried throughout by Magical, who extracted revenge by three-quarters of a length. To place Ghaiyyath’s year into an historical context, he’s ranked as a very good horse just a little shy of the threshold to greatness.

His rating of 130 has been surpassed in the last decade by Frankel (136 and 140, the latter the highest figure of all-time), Arrogate (134, twice) and American Pharoah (134), and is equal with Cracksman and Winx (joint-leaders in 2018 although that doesn’t take into account Winx’s sex allowance), the mares Treve and Black Caviar (joint-leaders in 2013) and Just A Way. He is above the 128 of Crystal Ocean, Waldgeist and Enable. As indicated by his purchase price as a foal, Ghaiyyath is as well-bred a horse as one could imagine – he’s by one of the great sires of the era and out of a Classic-winning daughter of the other. He stands as the highest-rated of the 195 stakes winners, 44 Group or Grade 1 by Dubawi. Given the line’s predominance in North America, it’s interesting that the Europeanbased Dubawi holds a position as the world’s leading Mr. Prospector-line stallion. He descends from that horse through Seeking The Gold – who lacks a top commercial representative in North America – and the tragically short-lived Dubai Millennium. Ghaiyyath’s dam Nightime has the singular distinction of her victory in the 2006 Irish 1,000 Guineas (G1) being the first Classic score for a son or daughter of Galileo. She’s produced another real standout in the Fastnet Rock mare Zhukova, leading European older mare at intermediate distances on the classifications in 2016, and conqueror of colts in the Man O’ War Stakes (G1) in the US. It’s an extremely international family as the second dam, the Irish Listed winner Caumshinaun, is also grand-dam of Ondina, successful in a Listed race in Australia, and

bloodstock WBRR review King Of Koji, who took the Meguro Kinen (G2) in Australia. The Dubawi/Galileo cross – an inevitable one given the prominence of the two principals – has produced 43 starters and seven black-type winners, Ghaiyyath being preceded at the highest level by Night Of Thunder, with Dartmouth and Secret Advisor joining them at Group-winning level. The cross is interesting for giving Seeking The Gold and Miswaki, both by Mr. Prospector out of Buckpasser mares, in the third and fourth generations. In Night Of Thunder, Ghaiyyath has a promising template for his career as a stallion and the continuation of Dubawi’s sire line. The first two major sons of Dubawi to stud, Makfi and Poet’s Voice, would have to be judged disappointing overall, although Mafki did get the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) winner Make Believe, sire of the

“Ghaiyyath’s front-running style speaks volumes for his cardio-vascular, metabolic and biomechanical efficiency 2020 Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) winner Mishriff in his first crop, as well as the winners of an Australian and a New Zealand Oaks (both G1).

Poet’s Voice sired the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) victor Poet’s Word, who himself topped the Long category on the World Rankings. Night Of Thunder, however, was a pleasant surprise with his first crop in 2019 and maintained his momentum in 2020, while another Dubawi son New Bay made a very promising start with his first twoyear-olds last year. Dubawi’s two-year-old champion Too Darn Hot is about to start his second season at stud. Ghaiyyath will retire as a six-year-old, but it needs to be underlined that he was forward enough to win a Group race as a two-year-old. We’d also note that Ghaiyyath’s frontrunning style speaks volumes for his cardiovascular, metabolic and biomechanical efficiency, something not necessarily guaranteed in performers who can produce a sharper finish of a slow pace. With second, third and fourth dams by

Ghaiyyaith’s win ahead of Lord North, Kameko and Magical in the Juddmonte International was the performance that secured him leading WBRR honours

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bloodstock WBRR review Indian Ridge, Bluebird and Thatching, the pedigree is not exactly short of speedy influences.

Sire power

The two principals in Ghaiyyath’s pedigree, Dubawi and Galileo were the joint-third and second best-represented horses by runners on the WBRRs with five and six horses respectively, but this term, at least, they were left trailing by the late Deep Impact, who was responsible for no less that 11 individuals. Dubawi, Galileo and Deep Impact all went to stud with high expectations and received quality mates from the start of their careers, but the same can’t be said for Into Mischief, who is sire of both Authentic (top three-yearold, and top Dirt runner) and Gamine (top three-year-old filly, top sprint female and top female Dirt runner). Into Mischief, a now 16-year-old son of Harlan’s Holiday, was from the first crop of his sire.

A multiple Grade 1 winner up to a 1m1f Harlan’s Holiday was turning into a very good stallion prior to his death at the age of 15. He was a son of the even shorter-lived Harlan, who was a 7f Grade 1 winner by Storm Cat out of a Halo mare. Into Mischief’s dam Leslie’s Lady was only a minor stakes scorer, but did run speed figures equal with winners of far more prestigious stakes. Although it wasn’t apparent when Into Mischief retired to stud, Leslie’s Lady has turned out to be a remarkable broodmare. Her 2010 filly foal Beholder was a fourtime Eclipse Award winner, and also leader or joint-leader in her distance category for three straight years on the WBRRs. Mendelssohn, Leslie’s Lady’s 2015 colt by Scat Daddy, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at two, at three was a runaway victor in the UAE Derby (G2) and was multiple Grade 1 placed on Dirt. He’s now a very popular young sire in the US, and is represented by his first crop yearlings in 2021.

Leslie’s Lady’s current three-year-old, America’s Joy, a filly by American Pharoah, realized an astonishing $8,200,000 as a yearling. Into Mischief proved a fast and precocious individual, a 8f Grade 1 winner at two and a Grade 1 runner-up as a three-year-old in the Malibu Stakes (G1). Retired as one of the first of the horses in the Spendthrift Farm “Share the Upside” programme in which breeders’ could convert multiple season purchases into lifetime breeding rights, Into Mischief began his career at a fee of $12,500, which is typical for horses in this price-range. His fee was dropped in successive years to $10,000, $8,500 and then $7,500. Into Mischief’s first four seasons yielded crop sizes of 45, 31, 39 and 39. Things changed dramatically when Into Mischief’s first crop reached the racecourse. There were four black-type winners in that generation, including Goldencents, who went on to go back-to-back in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and has since sired a pair

Authentic: tore his way through his three-year-old year with three Grade 1 wins and confirmed that his sire Into Mischief could get Classic types in the US

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MASSAAT

TEOFILO - MADANY (ACCLAMATION) Fee: £4,000 1st Oct S.L.F

FIRST CROP S A YE RLING 2021

By Teofilo, sire of 6 Gr.1 winners in 2020 Brother to Gr.1 Commonwealth Cup winner EQTIDAAR and exciting Gr.3 Winning 2YO MUJBAR, from the immediate family of PRECIEUSE, etc. Gr.1 placed at 2, 3 and 4 • Gr.2 winner over 7f Timeform rated 122

ALMANAARA

NEW

SHAMARDAL - MIDNIGHT ANGEL (MACHIAVELLIAN) Fee: £3,500 1st Oct S.L.F

FOR 2021

By world class stallion and sire of sires SHAMARDAL Half brother to DARK ANGEL Won 4 races from 3 to 7 years, 5-7.5f, £137,904, and was placed four times Top Blood at excellent value Standing at MICKLEY STUD Enquiries: Richard Kent T: 079 73 315722 • E: mickleystud@btconnect.com • www.mickleystud.co.uk Or Clare Lloyd Tel: 07875 673260 email: karinga@btinternet.com

bloodstock WBRR review of millionaires in his own first crop. Since then it’s been nothing but onward and upward for Into Mischief. He was leading sire of two-year-olds in 2018, leading sire overall and leading sire of two-year-olds in 2019 and 2020’s leading sire overall – with record progeny earnings of more than $20 million. He has been getting ever better quality mares and now books of over 200. In 2021 he is the most expensive stallion in the US at a fee of $225,000, and it would be no surprise he retains a lock on the stallion title for several more seasons. Initially, Into Mischief made his name as a sire of fast two-year-olds and sprinter/ milers, but it’s worth remembering that his Grade 1 win came over eight and a half furlongs. In 2018 his son Audible took a major Kentucky Derby (G1) prep, the Florida Derby (G1), then ran third in the Derby itself. Confirmation of Into Mischief as a

“Authentic returned in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) against one of the stronger fields seen for the race, and gave an exhilarating front-running display

Joint leading sprinter Bivouac (blue) rated 125

potential Classic sire came as Authentic worked his way to the top of the three-year-old division with victories in the Sham Stakes (G3), San Felipe Stakes (G2) and Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1). In the Kentucky Derby – run last year in September, not May – Authentic met the top three-year-old Tiz The Law (from the first crop of Constitution, a Tapit son, who has proved something of a surprise success) and went wire-to-wire to score by over 1l. In the Preakness Stakes (G1) Authentic was narrowly upset by the three-year-old

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filly Swiss Skydiver, who herself had been surprisingly beaten by Shedaresthedevil in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). On WBRRs Swiss Skydiver was rated 122, the third-best three-year-old filly behind Gamine and Love, with Shedaresthedevil on 120. Swiss Skydiver and Shedaresthedevil are both from the first crop of the More Than Ready horse Daredevil, who became the only stallion to sire a winner of the Preakness and Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Daredevil took a sloppy renewal of the Champagne Stakes (G1) at two, but failed to win in three subsequent starts. In his fourth season in the US, Daredevil only saw 21 mares, and so found himself in Turkey for 2020. His success started something of a chase to repatriate him, and as a result he will stand for 2021 as the property of the Turkish Jockey Club, but at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky where his fee will be $25,000. Authentic returned in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) against one of the stronger fields seen for this race, and gave an exhilarating front-running display to break the 1m2f track-record established by American Pharoah in the same race in 2014. The runner-up Improbable (City Zip, a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Carson City) was coming off a sequence of three straight Grade 1 victories, and ended up on a rating of 123, making him top older Dirt male and second best older over a mile. Ghaiyyath and Authentic both produced their best performances over 1m2f, and both are dedicated front runners. This tends to aid their ratings as this often to leads to wider margins at the finish of a race than those achieved by a “sit and kick” horse, however talented. Ghaiyyath’s efforts, particularly over the 1m2f, had the stamp of a horse who was triumphing by virtue of stamina being able to maintain a higher percentage of his maximum pace, whereas Authentic, a speedier sort – he won over 5f on his only start at two – rationed out his speed in a “catch-me-if-you-can” style. That’s typical of the modern US Classic horse, a fast, long-striding (which was particularly in evidence in Authentic’s Breeders’ Cup) horse that runs on, or near the pace and carries its speed.

bloodstock WBRR review Authentic was certainly bred for speed – he’s by Into Mischief and out of Flawless, by the sprinter Mr. Greeley. He is best-known in Europe as sire of Finsceal Beo, who completed and English/Irish 1,000 Guineas (G1) double, Saoirse Abu, successful in the Phoenix Stakes (G1) and Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) at two, and Crusader, who took the Middle Park Stakes (G1).

Joint leading sprinter Classique Legend after winning the valuable The Everest, a race in which he beat Bivouac by two and a half lengths

Sprinters and stayers rated 125

Just a point below Authentic on 125 comes a group that contains the leaders of several divisions, as well as the second top older horse Addeybb (Pivotal), who took the Dooneside Cup and Champion Stakes (G1) on his last two starts. The 125 mark brought together the leaders of different divisions, featuring the joint-top sprinters Bivouac and Classique Legend, the top extreme distance horse Stradivarius, as well as the top milers, one three-yearold and one four-year-old, Palace Pier and Persian King. As so often the top sprinters, Bivouac and Classique Legend are Australian-bred and trained. Bivouac, who won the VRC Newmarket Handicap (G1) and VRC Sprint Classic (G1) from eight starts, made a considerable jump from his 2019 rating of 118. Still an entire Bivouac is by veteran speed sire Exceed and Excel. His dam Dazzler is by More Than Ready and out of Camarilla, the second top mare on the Australian two-yearold classification and also dam of Exceed and Excel’s Australian champion three-year-old filly Guelph. The third dam Camarena was a Danehill daughter (making Bivouac 2x4 to Danehill), who defeated colts in the Queenland Derby (G1) and was a sister to Watchful. Her Elusive Quality son Sepoy won the Golden Slipper (G1) and was champion in Australia at two and three. The female line has been in New Zealand and Australia since the late 1800s. The family also produced Canny Lad, a champion two-year-old and Golden Slipper (G1) winner in 1990, a significant sire, and a threequarters to Bivouac’s fourth dam. Since then it’s the grafting on of European/North American strains,

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bloodstock WBRR review particularly Danehill and Elusive Quality, who rather interestingly are linked by pedigree in that Danehill is a Northern Dancer/His Majesty cross, while Elusive Quality is out of a mare by Hero’s Honor, by Northern Dancer out of a mare by Graustark (a brother to His Majesty). Classique Legend is a 2015 gelding, who didn’t win his first black-type race until taking the Listed June Stakes in mid-2020. He progressed fast to add the ATC Shorts Handicap (G2) and when beating Bivouac in The Everest. It isn’t a graded stakes due to its conditions, but carries a A$15,000,000 purse. Oddly enough, Classique Legend’s pedigree is strangely interwoven with Bivouac’s. His dam the Encosta De Lago mare Pinocchio has produced the Grade 2 winner Aethero to Bivouac’s relative Sebring. Classique Legend’s sire, the late Not A Single Doubt, wasn’t a top-class racehorse, but he developed into an outstanding sire. His own sire, the multiple champion Australian sire Redoute’s Choice is by Danehill, and is out of a mare by Canny Lad, so connected to the sire line and female line of Bivouac. Stradivarius, a six-year-old in 2020, was ranked for a fourth straight year and was at the head of the Extended category for the third consecutive year. His rating has risen every year from 118 to 120, to 122 and then to 125. Paradoxically, this highest rating came after a year that in some ways was less successful than the previous three. He won only two of six starts, but one of those was a 10l tally in the Ascot Gold Cup (G1), his third consecutive victory in that race and his fourth at Royal Ascot, and the other was a record-breaking fourth win in the Goodwood Cup (G1). As for his defeats, the first was when third to Ghaiyyath over 1m4f on his seasonal debut, the second came when defeated by a short-neck by Anthony Van Dyck in the Prix Foy (G2). He wasn’t able to do better than seventh in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1), and after that effort in deep doing, it was no surprising that he showed little when asked to run on testing ground again just 13 days later in the

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British Champions Long Distance Cup (G2). Stradivarius remains in training to attempt a fourth Ascot Gold Cup (G1) victory, and then one suspects it will be time for a stud career. It will be interesting to see what opportunities he gets there – as a son of Sea The Stars from a very good Wildenstein family he has the pedigree to get Flat runners, if he gets the opportunity. His biggest rival this year might be the British Champions Long Distance Cup (G2) winner Trueshan, second-best on 118 in the Extended category. By strange coincidence, as with Bivouac and Classique Legend, there is a strong pedigree connection between the two top-rated horses in the category. Stradivarius is a Danzig-line horse whose fourth dam is Plencia, and that description also exactly fits Planteur, the sire of Trueshan.

The Kingman three Kingman enjoyed a strong year thanks, in particular, to Palace Pier (above), Persian King (below) and Domestic Spending in the US

The Danzig line is also the source for Palace Pier and Persian King, the leading threeyear-old and leading older horse in the Intermediate category. This duo are from the second and first crop of Kingman, a stallion likely to be a major influence in the years to come. A four-time Group 1 winner who won seven of his eight starts, his sole defeat came behind Night Of Thunder in the 2,000 Guineas (G1) when his normally lethal finishing burst was deployed too early. Kingman certainly has the pedigree – he is by Invincible Spirit out of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1) heroine Zenda. Kingman’s start at stud suggests that he may well threaten Frankel as “King of the Hill” at Juddmonte. So far, he has 15 stakes winners, five group/graded, in his first crop, and 13, eight group/graded, in his second crop. In addition to Persian King and Palace Pier he also has Domestic Spending, who took the Hollywood Derby (G1) last year. Looking at the pedigrees of Kingman’s high-ranking duo Persian King, who just happens to come from the same Plencia family as Stradivarius and Planteur, the sire of Trueshan, he has an intriguing pedigree pattern. Invincible Spirit is by a son of Danzig out of a mare by Kris, and Persian

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bloodstock WBRR review King’s broodmare sire Dylan Thomas is by a son of Danzig out of a mare by Diesis, the brother to Kris. A rather similar pattern, Kingman over a mare by Danehill Dancer, has come up with Group winner Chachnak and the black-type scorer Twist ‘n’ Shake, and the cross with Danehill mares has been good in general. Palace Pier is out of a mare by Nayef, and is a reverse Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer cross to Kingman himself, and there are eight stakes winners for Kingman out of Mr. Prospector line mares, including Domestic Spending who is out of a Street Cry mare.

Almond Eye the top female

On 124, the top female, and leading distaff performer in the Intermediate and Long categories, Almond Eye seems to have been damned with faint praise. Although she is divisional leader, her

“Lord Kanaloa has made a tremendous start with 24 stakes winners to date, and 10 apiece in each of his first two crops

rating – the same as her allocation in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – hardly seems to flatter her after a year in which four starts saw her take the Victoria Mile (G1) – when she ran the 1600m in a remarkable 1:30.6s – take second in the 1600m Yasuda Kinen (G1), win the Autumn Tenno Sho-Emperor’s Cup (G1) over 2000m in 1:57.8, and take her second Japan Cup (G1) covering the 2400m in 2:23s. In the Japan Cup, she had over a length and a neck to spare over three-yearolds Contrail and Daring Tact. That duo were previously undefeated winners of the Japanese Triple Crown and Filly Triple Crown. Almond Eye, a five-year-old of 2020, is from the first crop of Lord Kanaloa, rated the world’s top sprinter in 2013. He is the product of a sire and dam who were imported from the US in utero. He’s by the late King Kamehameha, a former leading sire in Japan and a son of Kingmambo out of the Irish-bred Last Tycoon mare Manfath.

Hong Kong, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, New Zealand and Czechoslovakia all represented at the top of the WBRRs LOOKING FURTHER afield, we can note that Hong Kong’s Golden Sixty is another rated 124, just a point shy of being top in the Intermediate category. Now a winner of 12 straight races, Golden Sixty was foaled in Australia, but has an international pedigree as he comes from a shuttle crop by Medaglia D’Oro, and he’s out of Gaudemus, a US-bred daughter of Distorted Humor, who took the Debutante Stakes (G2) in Ireland at two. South Africa had a leading duo in Do It Again on 121 and Hawwaam on 120. Do It Again is by the Juddmonte International (G1) winner Twice Over, a son of Observatory, by the Mr. Prospector horse Distant View. His dam Sweet Virginia is a Group winner and multiple Group producer by the Sadler’s Wells horse, Casey Tibbs. Hawwaam is by the five-time South African champion sire Silvana (Lomitas). He’s out of Halfway To Heaven, a Group winner by Jet Master (by Rakeen, a Northern Dancer half-brother to Rahy and Singspiel), who has produced two other Grade 1 winners. Seven Argentine-trained performers made the rankings the top being Tetaze, 117 in the Intermediate category. He is by Equal Stripes (a son of Candy Stripes from the Blushing Groom line) out of a mare by Danehill’s relative Orpen.

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Brazil’s Pimper’s Paradise is rated 116 in both Intermediate and Long categories. He’s by Put It Back (by Honour and Glory, from the Relaunch branch of the In Reality line, which goes back to Man O’ War) out of a mare by Royal Academy. Uruguay’s Ajuste Fiscal appears on 115 in the Long category. He is by Dynaformer (Roberto) son Ioya Bigtime, out of a mare by Storm Surge (Storm Cat). Even Czechoslovakia had a representative – Nagano Gold (115). He is a British-bred son of Sixties Icon and is out of a Monsun mare who was beaten just a neck in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) and ran third to Anthony Van Dyke and Stradivarius in the Prix Foy (G2). Top of four German representatives was Torquator Tasso (117 in the Long category). He’s by Adlerflug (In The Wings) out of a Toylsome (Cadeaux Genereux) mare, and his fourth dam Allegretta (dam of Urban Sea) is a sister to the grand-dam of Adlerflug. Top of six New Zealand horses was Te Akau Shark (118, Medium category), who took the Waikato Sprint (G1) in his native country and the Chipping Norton Stakes (G1) in Australia. He’s by Galileo’s son Rip Van Winkle out of a mare by the Canadian Champion Turf horse, Chief Bearhart (Chief’s Crown).

bloodstock WBRR review

Daring Tact (119) by Epiphaneia, is the first Grade 1 winner inbred to Sunday Silence

His dam Lady Blossom is by Storm Cat and out of the US champion three-year-old filly Saratoga. In direct female line the family goes back to a sister to Secretariat. Lord Kanaloa has made a tremendous start with 24 stakes winners to date, and 10 apiece in each of his first two crops. He was very effective at up to a mile, but his offspring have met with high-level success over a very wide range of distances. His progress has been helped by the fact that he’s crossed well with Sunday Silence line mares with nine of 15 of his graded winners on that cross, including Almond Eye, who is out of a mare by Sunday Silence.

Daring Tact is from the first full crop of her sire, the promising Epiphaneia. Epiphaneia gained his own Classic triumph in the Kikuka Sho, and the following year won the Japan Cup (G1). On the WBRRs he was rated the joint-leading threeyear-old male in the Extended Distance category, and the following year headed the Long category. Epiphaneia is by two-time Japan Horse of the Year and successful sire Symboli Kris S., a US-foaled son of Kris S. (Roberto) and out of Cesario (by the Sunday Silence horse, Special Week), who took both the Yushin Himba-Japanese Oaks, and American Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1). Daring Tact’s second dam is by Sunday Silence, which gives her the honour of being the first Grade 1 winner inbred to that seminal influence. Epiphaneia has two other graded winners with that pattern one of whom, Aristotles, was joint-leading (with Galileo Chrome) three-year-old in the Extended category.

Contrail: the five-time Group 1 winner could be the heir to his late sire, the amazing Deep Impact

Contrail and Daring Tact star for Japan

Contrail (rated equal with Almond Eye 124) and Daring Tact (119) are clearly also superior performers. Contrail, the fourth-rated three-year-old, was also champion of his crop at two. He is out of an Unbridled’s Song daughter of Folklore, the champion two-year-old filly of 2005 in the US, and he might well turn out to be the heir to his late all-conquering sire, Deep Impact.

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world best racehorses Leading World Best Racehorses 2020: to horses rated 118 Rating Distance Surface

Horse

DofB

Sex

130

Ghaiyyath (IRE)

2015

127

Ghaiyyath (IRE)

126

Authentic (USA)

2017

Into Mischief

Flawless

Mr Greeley

Spendthrift Farm LLC, Myracehorse Stable et al USA

125

Addeybb (IRE)

2014

Pivotal

Bush Cat

Kingmambo

Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum

125

Bivouac (AUS)

2016

Exceed And Excel

Dazzler

ITB_February-March 2021

Articles inside

The world’s best

Front runners

Thinking for the future

Empire builders

Sixty is HK’s new Beauty

Looking forward to the 2021 French Classics

Godolphin back on the Derby trail

Sons of Monsun on a charge

Prince Khalid Abdullah

Originally published in International Thoroughbred, September 2012

Paul Haigh