9 minute read
New sires: £/€15,000-£/12,000
VANDEEK
Havana Grey-Mosa Mine (Exceed And Excel) Cheveley Park Stud
£15,000
An unbeaten two-year-old by the sire sensation Havana Grey, Vandeek topped the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale when sold for 625,000gns to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock by Glending Stables.
It was a third visit to the Tattersalls sales for the second-crop son of Havana Grey who was bred by Maywood Stud and sold by the farm as a foal to Childwickbury Stud for 52,000gns.
Roderick Kavanagh paid 42,000gns for the colt at the December Yearling Sale, and as a two-year-old Vandeek subsequently burned up the Newmarket gallops at the Craven Sale, giving a first glimpse in public of his sensational turn of foot.
He carried that scintillating speed throughout his juvenile season, making a winning debut for Simon and Ed Crisford and KHK Racing over 6f at Nottingham in mid-July.
Vandeek was then a comfortable winner of the Group 2 Richmond Stakes on just his second start and managed to hold off the late challenge of Ramatuelle in the Prix Morny, to win his first Group 1 and become the first top-level winner for his sire in the process.
He topped that win with an impressive, clear-cut victory in the Middle Park Stakes (G1) to end the season as an unbeaten star.
He went from a breeze-up top lot to dual Group 1 winner in six months.
He ran just twice at three, and was third both times, first in the Sandy Lane Stakes (G2) behind Inisherin and Orne and then in the July Cup (G1) to Millstream and Swingalong.
All six of his career starts came over 6f with four wins and two third places.
Havana Grey has now sired 11 Group winners from a total of 22 stakes performers in his first three crops, earning himself a fee increase which was listed as £55,000 in 2024 and has been kept private for this season.
Vandeek is by far the best of the five winners produced by Mosa Mine, a daughter of Exceed And Excel who was placed four times in her racing career.
Her best son is the only black-type performer under his first two dams, but his third dam is Bamieres, the dam of Group 1 Prix Robert Papin and the 6f Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1) winner Balbonella.
She went on to excel as a broodmare as the dam of the July Cup (G1) and Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1) winner and sire Anabaa, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1) winner Always Loyal, who is the second dam of Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies’ Stakes winner Shonan Adela, the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed sire Key Of Luck, and the Listed winner Country Belle.
She is dam of the Gimcrack Stakes (G2) winner and sire Country Reel.
Bamieres is also the dam of Listed Grand Prix de Nantes winner Bamwhite and the winning Balouchina whose descendants include the Listed winner and Group 1-placed Baine, as well as five further Listed race winners.
BUCANERO FUERTE
Wootton Bassett-Frida La Blonde (Elusive City)
Tally-Ho Stud
€12,500
The Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner was a top-class juvenile and one of the very few to defeat the Group 1 winner Porta Fortuna, who finished second to Bucanero Fuerte in the 6f Curragh contest.
Bred by Gestüt Zur Kuste, Bucanero Fuerte was a €165,000 purchase by Robson Aguiar at Arqana’s August Yearling Sale.
Initially pencilled in for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up, he instead was retained and won on the opening day of the season with a 5f victory for trainer Adrian Murray, owner Amo Racing and Giselle de Aguiar at The Curragh.
Not sighted again until Royal Ascot, he finished third to River Tiber in the Coventry Stakes (G2) and then defeated subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Unquestionable in the Group 2 Railway Stakes before his win in the first juvenile Group 1 of the European season.
Stepped up in trip to 7f he then took third behind Henry Longfellow and Stunning Peach in the Group 1 National Stakes, the fifth and final race of a busy season for the colt.
A defeat of Givemethebeatboys in the Group 3 Lacken Stakes opened his three-yearold career, but he missed the summer and returned in Haydock’s Sprint Cup (G1).
He also ran in the Flying Five Stakes (G1) and Champions’ Sprint (G1).
Bucanero Fuerte is a full-brother to the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Wooded, who stands at Haras de Boquetot and will have his second crop of runners this year. Wooded has 12 winners from 40 first-crop runners.
The pair are full-siblings of Beat Le Bon, who was a runner-up in the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes and the Listed Two-YearOld Trophy for trainer Richard Hannon.
Their now three-year-old Dubawi halfsister Battle Rhythm was sold as a yearling at Arqana August Sale for €2.4m to Oliver St Lawrence and is in training with William Haggas and they have a two-year-old Dubawi half-brother.
They are out of Frida La Blonde, a placed Elusive City full-sister to the Listed Prix Cor de Chasse and Prix Servanne winner Fred Lalloupet.
She is also a half-sister to another winner of the Prix Servanne, the Gulch-sired Mont Pote Le Gitan.
Her Deputy Minister half-sister Feld Marechale is the dam of the multiple Listed winner Maximum Aurelius, while her winning Septieme Ciel half-sister Fridoline produced the Listed Prix des Reves d’Or winner Diablotine.
Second dam Firm Friend is a daughter of Affirmed and won the Listed Criterium d’Evry and was second in the Group 2 Premio Regina Elena.
MILL STREAM
Gleneagles-Swirral Edge (Hellvelyn)
Yeomanstown Stud
€12,500
The July Cup winner by Gleneagles joins champion sire Dark Angel at Yeomanstown Stud and is an exciting stallion prospect.
Bred by Redpender Stud, he was a gorgeous yearling and sold for 350,000gns to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Yearling Sale.
Precocious enough to win on debut in July of his two-year-old career for trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam and owner Peter Harris, Mill Stream was then second to the subsequent Gimcrack Stakes (G2) winner on his second start.
He took fourth place to Chaldean in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes on his third and final run at two.
As a three-year-old, he progressed from high-class handicapper to classy sprinter winning the Group 3 Prix de Meautry and Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud, both run over 6f at Deauville.
Mill Stream came into his own at four defeating Shouldvebeenaring in the Group 2 Duke Of York Stakes and finishing a close third to Khaadem in Royal Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (G1).
His Group 1 breakthrough came in the July Cup when he defeated Swingalong, Vandeek, Art Power and Inisherin. Mill Stream also contested the Sprint Cup and Champions’ Stakes.
All five of his career wins were over 6f and he was placed five more times in his 16-race career over three seasons.
The five-year-old is one of four individual Group 1 winners by Gleneagles, who also sired last year’s Deutsches Derby (G1) winner Palladium.
Mill Stream is the younger half-brother to Asymmetric, a son of Showcasing who won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes and was third to Perfect Power in the Group 1 Prix Morny.
They are the first two runners out of Swirral Edge, who has made a red-hot start to her broodmare career.
The daughter of Hellvelyn won at two and three and is a half-sister to the Listed Westow Stakes winner Fashion Queen (Aqlaam), who is the dam of Italian Listed-winning sprinter Noble Title.
Second dam Pizzarra is a Shamardal half-sister to Wunders Dream (Averti), winner of the Flying Childers Stakes (G2) and Molecomb Stakes (G3) and dam of the Listed Boadicea Stakes winner Inyordreams (Teofilo).
Another half-sister is the Group 3 Ridgewood Pearl Stakes winner Grecian Dancer (Dansili), dam of Muffri’ha (Iffraaj), successful in the Group 3 Darley Stakes and third in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta.
Mill Stream’s third dam Pizzicato is a Statoblest half-sister to the Hong Kong pair –the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner Mensa, and the Chipchase Stakes (G3) winner and Hong Kong Sprint (G1) runner-up Firebolt.
It’s a high-class family full of speed, and has been successful with stallions such as Showcasing and he, alongside his sons, as well as sons or grandsons of Teofilo or Dansili, might be a good place to start for breeders considering options.
BIG ROCK
Rock Of Gibraltar-Hardiyna (Sea The Stars)
Haras de Grandcamp
€12,000
Big Rock is the final chance for Rock Of Gibraltar to leave a successful stallion son, and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner is an intriguing new stallion for 2025.
A homebred for Yeguada Centurion, the five-year-old ran twice at two despite not making his debut until the end of November. Placed on both occasions, he had one more run before being transferred to the yard of Christopher Head.
He made a winning debut over a mile at Chantilly for his new trainer and he went on a winning run in black-type company, gaining Listed success in the Prix Maurice Caillault and rising to collect a pair of Group 3 wins in the Prix la Force and the Prix de Guiche.
Big Rock was set the challenge of the Prix du Jockey-Club for his next start and found only Ace Impact too good for him.
That was the first of three consecutive runner-up finishes at the highest level for Big Rock, with the others coming in the Prix Jacques le Marois and the Prix du Moulin.
He triumphed by 6l in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and look destined for stardom at four.
However, he changed trainers once more and failed to win in five starts last year for Maurizio Guarniere with his best result third place in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.
Big Rock is one of 17 global Group 1 winners by Rock Of Gibraltar, and he is the first foal out of his unraced dam Hardiyna, who was bred by the Aga Khan and bought in-foal with Big Rock for €72,000 at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale of 2021.
She has a four-year-old Ten Sovereigns son named Hazarad and a two-year-old Australia filly named Hard Aussie Cen.
Hardiyna is out of the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes winner Harasiya (Pivotal), who was third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and is a half-sister to the Derby and Irish Derby winner Harzand, by Sea The Stars.
The Group 1 winner Emily Upjohn, also by Sea The Stars, is out of Hidden Brief who is also a half-sister to the third dam of Big Rock.
Other Group 1 winners in the family include Seal Of Approval (Authorized) and Hurricane Lane (Frankel).
