British and Irish juvenile racing

Juvenile form takes shape:

Advertise backs up after the Coventry

The juvenile Group races on the first two days of the July meeting were a reminder of the class and ability transmitted by Oasis Dream.

A sire perhaps not such “in vogue” at the yearling sales over the last couple of seasons, the July Cup hero, who has sired 25 Group 1 winners to date, had the spotlight shone on him at Newmarket.

Advertise did exactly that for his sire Showcasing, a son of Oasis Dream, in the Group 2 July Stakes, the first of the juvenile Group contests at the July meeting.

Runner-up to the leading juvenile Calyx in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, Advertise trained by Martyn Meade for Phoenix Thoroughbreds, was sent off favourite for the 6f contest and he duly obliged.

The result was a significant one for Cheveley Park Stud, who bred Advertise as well as Konchek, 2l behind in second. Stud manager Chris Richardson did admit he might have preferred the result the other way around – Konchek is a son of the farm’s second-season sire Lethal Force.

Cheveley Park bred Advertise out of Furbelow, a winning daughter of Pivotal and a homebred for the farm out of the Mr. Prospector mare Red Tiara.

Furbelow is a full-sister to Red Diadem, who is the second dam of Group 2 Richmond Stakes winner Saayerr. Their dam Red Tiara, another homebred Cheveley Park mare, is out of the multiple Group 3 winner Heart Of Joy, who was placed in both the 1,000 and Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Bred by Juddmonte Farms, Showcasing is the most successful stallion son to date of Oasis Dream. Standing at Whitsbury Manor in Wiltshire, and a three-parts brother to Camacho, sire of this season’s Group 1 Poules d’Essai des Poulains winner Teppal, Showcasing has two stakes winners from this, his fifth crop of two-year-olds.

Showcasing, who stood at £35,000 this spring, is the sire of seven winners from 25 two-year-old runners this year

He is the sire of 12 individual Group winners so far with dual Group 1-winning sprinter Quiet Reflection, a 2.1 million guineas purchase by MV Magnier at the 2017 Tattersalls’ December Mares’ Sale, the best of his progeny so far.

Showcasing, who stood at £35,000 for the 2018 season, is the sire of seven winners from 25 two-year-old runners this year.

Pretty Pollyanna gets her way

Pretty Pollyanna sprung a 20-1 shock in Friday’s Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes for jockey Silvestre de Sousa, trainer Michael Bell and owner-breeder Bill Gredley.

The daughter of Oasis Dream hails from the same family as Gredley’s horse of a lifetime, User Friendly – her second dam is Friendlier, an unraced half-sister to Gredley’s triple Classic heroine and Arc runner-up. By Zafonic, Friendlier is the dam of Grade 3 Robert J Frankel Stakes winner Gender Agenda, a daughter of Holy Roman Emperor, and the Listed-placed Motivator filly Madam Defarge.

Her unraced Shamardal daughter Unex Mona Lisa is the dam of three fillies of racing age, with all three now winners and Pretty Pollyanna the best of them so far.

Offered for sale through Tattersalls October Book 1 last year, she was bought back by Gredley’s Stetchworth and Middle Park Farms for 50,000gns.

Juddmonte Farm’s Oasis Dream stood at what could be considered the excellent value fee of £30,000 in 2018, and Pretty Pollyanna is one of three Group winners for the sire this year. She is the first from his two-year-old crop – conceived off a fee of £75,000 – which has numbered 13 runners and six individual winners so far.

Pretty Pollyanna’s dam sire Shamardal is a growing influence in that role – the Shadwell sire and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Awtaad heading a burgeoning group of horses who boast Shamardal as their broodmare sire.

Quorto: Dubawi’s 101st Group winner

Quorto began a new chapter in the story of Darley’s supersire Dubawi with his victory in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes.

Quorto’s success in the 7f contest gave Dubawi, who stands for a fee of £250,000 at Sheikh Mohammed’s Dalham Hall Stud, his 101st individual Group winner.

Quorto is the first foal out of the Listed Swettenham Stud Fillies’ Trial winner Volume, who finished third to Taghrooda in the Oaks and occupied the same position behind Bracelet in the Irish Oaks of 2014.

Trained by Luca Cumani for her breeder Stuart Stuckey, Volume was purchased by John Ferguson on behalf of Darley for 700,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

Volume is a product of Wildenstein family breeding as she is a Peintre Celebre daughter of Victoire Finale, successful over a mile and purchased for 40,000gns by the Kern Lillingstone Association as a five-year-old at the 2005 Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

She is a half-sister to Vertical Speed by Bering, second in the St Leger, and their dam Victoire Bleu, a daughter of Legend Of France, who won the Group 1 Prix du Cadran for the Wildenstein family.