International Thoroughbred November 2024

BROODMARES AND DAM SIRES

Stakes-winning broodmare sires, famous females, and overachieving equine matches

WEATHERBYS STALLION SCENE featuring Japan’s Big Red Farm

THE HIGH MILER

Enduring quality

Dansili - Tantina (Distant View) Proven Value, Proven Profit

Frankel - Suelita (Dutch Art)

The Most Desirable Son Of Frankel

FRANKEL

Galileo - Kind (Danehill) History Maker, Record Breaker

KINGMAN

Invincible Spirit - Zenda (Zamindar) The Classic Sire With Worldwide Appeal

Green Desert - Hope (Dancing Brave) Class Is Permanent

Contact Shane Horan, Henry Bletsoe or Claire Curry +44 (0)1638 731115 | nominations@juddmonte.co.uk www.juddmonte.com

GROUP 1-WINNING 2YO

1st Futurity Trophy Stakes-Gr.1, 1m, Doncaster, by 3½ lengths

1st Champions Juvenile Stakes-Gr.2, 1m, Leopardstown

1st Maiden, 7f, Naas, earning a TDN Rising Star

FOUR-TIME GROUP 1 WINNER AS A 3YO

1st Derby-Gr.1, 1m4f, Epsom, defeating King Of Steel

1st Irish Derby-Gr.1, 1m4f, Curragh

1st Irish Champion Stakes-Gr.1, 1m2f, Leopardstown

1st Breeders’ Cup Turf-Gr.1, 1m4f, Santa Anita

ROYAL ASCOT HERO AS A 4YO

1st Prince Of Wales’s Stakes-Gr.1, 1m2f, Royal Ascot

FASTEST

SECTIONAL SPOTLIGHT

…there remains only one true Derby –the one at Epsom, with others mere imitations – and that is the place to start this week’s column, especially as something remarkable happened in the race... Auguste Rodin ran faster late on than any winner in the modern era, and that is quite something.

Simon Rowlands, Attheraces.com

By Japanese sire sensation DEEP IMPACT. His first two dams RHODODENDRON and HALFWAY TO HEAVEN were both multiple Group 1 winners over a mile while his speedy third dam CASSANDRA GO won the King’s Stand Stakes.

the world over

The highest-rated turf

2yo in North America

NEW CENTURY

1st Summer Stakes Gr.1

1st Stonehenge Stakes Listed

The 2nd highest-rated 2yo colt in the UK

WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE

1st Royal Lodge Stakes Gr.2

The highest-priced colt ever sold at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Yearling Sale

KAMEKO x POTENT EMBRACE

1,000,000gns to Godolphin

ACE IMPACT

WORLD CHAMPION

Jockey Cristian DEMURO

Come

115 Black Types

ACE IMPACT

12 It’s Leo

Our man Powell landed an unfortunate double – after watching Cheltenham from a hospital bed, he was back in the ward for the Arc. But you can’t keep a good man down and Leo reports on the ITBA Next Generation, the broodmare Noyelles and his love for his equine neighbour Awtaad

18 Ted Talks

After the record-breaking Tattersalls October Sale, Ted Voute reckons there will be a reassessment of plans on many British and Irish stud farms

20 Girls Aloud

Cathy Grassick reports on the amazing market seen at Tattersalls, threads which led directly to British Champions Day, as well as the importance of the new vaccine availability in Europe

24 Race iQ

Page Fuller catches up on the action from British Champions Day – and was most impressed with the run from the progressive and exciting filly Kalpana

28 Champion Charyn

It has been all change at the top of the stallions’ table, writes Amy Bennett, with the indomitable Kyprios and the brilliant Charyn both propelling their sires to the top of the board

34 Stock rising

Jocelyn de Moubray reviews a fantastic Arc meeting, and believes that Bluestocking won an above-standard renewal of Europe’s greatest race

42 May Day warning

May Day Ready gave her 62-year-old trainer his first stakes success and now she’s Del Mar bound, McKinzie shoots to the top of this year’s first-season sires’ table with a fantastic Grade 1 double

46 Stallion statistics

Leading European sires, leading broodmare sires and leading sires in Britain and Ireland, from Weatherbys

52 Red hot

In the Weatherbys Stallion Scene

we talk to Hiroskazu Okada of the Japanese-based Big Red Farm –we find a man keen to make a mark on the global stage

60 Czech mate

Adrien Cugnasse meets Czech-born breeder Jiri Travnicek, owner of Haras de Beaufay, which has enjoyed great success this year with Rashabar

68 Leading ladies

Jocelyn de Moubray examines the legacy of four of the 20th century’s greatest foundation mares

76 Star crossed covers Camelot and Dansili, Galileo and Danehill, and Dubawi and Pivotal: the world of bloodstock nicks examined by Ciarán Doran

82 Broodmare stakes-winning sires

Alphabetical list of European and UAE stakes-winning broodmare sires, from Weatherbys

Charyn

Alamy

the team

editor sally duckett

publisher declan rickatson

photography trevor jones design thoroughbred publishing

advertising declan rickatson

00 44 (0)7767 310381

declan.rickatson@btinternet.com

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the photographers

alamy

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laura green alisha meeder courtesy of stud farms courtesy of sale companies frank sorge the printers micropress press

the writers

leo powell

jocelyn de moubray

ciarán doran amy bennett ted voute cathy grassick page fuller the stats weatherbys

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Seeing Blue

Leo Powell had to watch the Arc from a hospital bed, but he was delighted to see Bluestocking’s win give her jockey, the talented Irish pony racing graduate Rossa Ryan, a career-defining victory

IT WAS THE FAMED, and indeed infamous, Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde who wrote the oft-recounted lines, “To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

The words were spoken by Lady Bracknell, a character in his much-lauded The Importance of Being Earnest. The quote played a lot on my mind quite recently, though in a very different context.

Back in March, I had the misfortune to miss my annual pilgrimage to the Cheltenham Festival due to a week’s hospitalisation. Was it carelessness that led to another lengthy stay in hospital, where I had instead to watch the action from ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend on television?

My excursion to Paris each year usually takes on a familiar routine, encompassing racing, naturally, the Arqana Arc Sale, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference, a smart dinner with friends and industry colleagues, and something of the culture of the great French capital. It ranks among the most anticipated of my sojourns abroad each year, and missing it was painful, and especially so as I watched Bluestocking enjoy a famous victory.

What a delight it was to see the young Irish rider Rossa Ryan in the saddle, a pivotal success in his blossoming career. He is yet another graduate of the Irish pony racing scene, a nursery for many greats in the past, and also responsible for another current star, Dylan Browne McMonagle. At some point it would be worth someone’s effort to write a history of that sector.

Missing out on being in Paris for Bluestocking’s victory was all the more galling as she represents one

Missing out on being in Paris for Bluestocking’s victory was all the more galling as she represents one of my most-admired breeding operations, Juddmonte, and she is trained by a man for whom I have the highest respect, Ralph Beckett

of my most-admired breeding operations, Juddmonte Farms, and she is trained by a man for whom I have the highest respect, Ralph Beckett. I know that there is always next year, but it will take a little time for the disappointment of missing this year’s race to abate.

On the plus side, I am now recovered from my bout of pneumonia, and just as well. The coming weeks are wall-to-wall sales, and for the past year I have been reporting on them.

A serious loss of hearing, and a gradual feeling of being unwell, meant that my coverage of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale and the Goffs Orby Sale was less than comfortable to write. That said, the camaraderie of the press room at both venues was welcome.

I approached the commitment to report on sales with a degree of apprehension, if I am to be honest. Prior to my time as a newspaper editor, I worked on the other side of the fence for both Tattersalls Ireland and Goffs, and wondered if I would actually enjoy spending long (and sometimes far too long) days at the sales. The truth is, I do like it, and time spent with press room colleagues is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the role. However, there is one thing that I would like to “change”.

As we watch the price of a particular lot pass a threshold figure, the press room empties and we go to watch the bidding duel unfold. Eager anticipation about the identity of the purchaser is followed by the press corps descending on the purchase docket signatory, attracted likes bees to a flower. Recording devices at the ready, we await the words of wisdom, or enlightenment, from the buyer. Occasionally, we get something unique, a bit of a story, but this is rare.

Most buyers respond with the same patter – the star of the catalogue, from a great nursery, the sire speaks for himself, comes from a deep family, loved him or her from the first time I saw him or her, and more.

Indeed, Anthony Stroud smiled impishly at me in Goffs as he suggested that I should deliver the post-sale comment on his behalf for one of his purchases!

And as the press team at Tattersalls found at the October Book 2 Sale, Tony Fry, after purchasing the colt by Territories from Oaks Farm Stables for 750,000gns on behalf Sumbe, gave his own version with pre-written lines and optional choice tick boxes featuring most of the above cliched phrases!

So here is a challenge. If you find yourself being sought after for a quote at the sales, try to give it a new angle –you could just brighten up a tired pressman’s day.

If you find yourself being sought after for a quote at the sales, try to give it a new angle – you could just brighten up a tired pressman’s day

Anmaat becomes a deserved new Champion

The Shadwell runner Anmaat overcame a huge amount of trouble in running to cause a 40-1 “upset” in the Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes at Ascot. His price reflected the betting market’s lack of belief in his chances, but I was among those who celebrated his win. Why?

I live on a stud farm in a beautiful part of County Kildare, Donadea to be exact, and one of the neighbouring farms is Derrinstown Stud. That Irish flagship of the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s breeding empire is today overseen by his daughter Sheika Hissa and run by Stephen Collins.

This year, Derrinstown is home to two stallions – Minzaal, whose first foals will be offered for sale shortly, and the more established Awtaad, who has just

Rossa Ryan after winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Bluestocking: the jockey is yet another successful graduate of the Irish pony racing scene

2nd – 5th December

completed his seventh season at stud at the scarcely believable fee of €5,000.

Cards on the table now. Awtaad is probably my favourite stallion, and not just because the son of Cape Cross resides next door. He is a gorgeous horse to feast your eyes upon, a favourite of his main handler Cormac McEvoy, and is enjoying a revival of popularity with breeders, and deservedly so.

I was delighted to see that the horse was featured in this magazine’s September issue as part of the Weatherbys Stallion Scene, the table alongside that feature showing tis spring has has been his busiest at stud of late with 128 mares covered.

The group is well named, representing the younger members of the industry, many of whom are already established notwithstanding the contribution they are bound in the years

consisted of 16 mares? A year later, and with just 38 mares covered, it would have been no surprise had Awtaad moved to pastures new.

Thankfully Shadwell stuck with him, and the farm’s loyalty has been duly rewarded. With relatively averagesize books for his first four seasons at stud, and with just eight two-year-olds to represent him, Awtaad’s opportunities have been limited.

His son, his now dual Group 1 winner Anmaat, hugely consistent and only once out of the first three, is an example of the quality Awtaad can sire, given the chance.

Awtaad stood his first four seasons at €15,000, and that is probably the fee he should be at today, reflecting what he has achieved. For now, however, he is surely one of the best value sires in Europe – and still my favourite.

New name in the ITBA Next Generation chair

I have long been a fan of the work of the ITBA Next Generation, a body within the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

Indeed, they won me over soon after their founding by asking yours truly to chair a seminar which attracted an enormous attendance, reflecting the quality and diversity of the panel rather than the magnetism of the presiding, and aging, me!

The group is well named, representing the younger members of the industry, many of whom are already established names, notwithstanding the contribution they are bound to make in the years ahead. The enthusiasm amongst the membership, which costs a pittance at €20, is infectious, and the incoming chair has some big shoes to fill.

Goffs bloodstock team member Conor Wixted has overseen a vibrant year of activities in his role as chair, one of the highlights of which was held very early on in his reign. Some 300 people braved a wintery night to hear leading international pinhookers and breeders, Philip Stauffenberg and Paul McCartan, join with Alice Kavanagh of AK Thoroughbreds and Sycamore Lodge veterinary surgeon Tom O’Brien, to answer questions under the keen eye of compere Jane Mangan.

While he remains on the committee, and will no doubt continue to generously give of his time and advice, Wixted has passed the baton to Ross O’Mahony, himself a bloodstock team member with Tattersalls Ireland.

Ross

O’Mahony of Tattersalls Ireland: has taken on the role of chairing the ITBA

A Dubliner, O’Mahony did not have a family connection or friends involvement with horses, but he did develop a love for racing. He went to University College Dublin and obtained a degree in Equine Studies.

A season at Coolmore America as part of his college placement fuelled his desire to become involved in the industry professionally.

O’Mahony completed the Irish National Stud

Next Generation

Photo courtesy of Tattersalls Ireland

Management Course in 2020, and gained varied experiences before joining Tattersalls Ireland in early 2022.

Now he is in the hot seat of the ITBA Next Generation, alongside another Irish National Stud graduate Luke Bleahen as vice-chair. Together with a power-paced committee, they will no doubt further foster the wonderful networking opportunities that come with membership of this body.

Noyelles has been a star mare for the Nugent family

For many years I shared a working space with Nick Nugent, the senior auctioneer at Goffs and a director of the same company; days that I recall with great affection.

Our shared office was a busy spot processing all entries for the sales, getting catalogues out, carrying out inspections, and doing all the marketing for the company.

At that time we also found some interesting diversification projects for Goffs and, as I write this column, I am looking at a framed acknowledgement from the management of one of Ireland’s greatest-ever songwriters and performers Christy Moore thanking me

I

am looking at a framed acknowledgement from the management of one of Ireland’s greatest-ever songwriters and performers Christy Moore thanking me for my contribution to a successful Irish tour he had

for my contribution to a successful Irish tour he had.

By chance, that three-month tour saw the musician appear as a solo act for 12 nights at Goffs, his longest residency. In fact, such was the speed at which tickets sold out for six nights in November 1994 that the decision was taken to extend his tour to encompass another six-night run in December, after the last bloodstock sale in Ireland had taken place.

Where have three decades gone?

Nick and I worked closely on projects, and even shared joint-ownership of a couple of broodmares.

The last one was bought after a frustrating few sales trying to source some value. Sadly, our purchase of a daughter of Night Shift, who showed early hallmarks of being a successful punt, ended when the young mare, in-foal, died suddenly.

Chastened by the experience, I did not reinvest, but Nick’s luck changed, and he and his wife Alice went on to purchase Noyelles.

This is not a case of what might have been on my part – my record as a breeder of racehorses would not even earn a footnote in history – but memories of that past partnership were stirred when I read that Sir Nicholas and Lady Nugent, to give them their proper

Listed Shinetsu Stakes, was Group 1-placed as a juvenile

Labeling: the colt by Frankel and out of the Nugent-owned mare Noyelles was bought by Big Red Farm (also featured in the Weatherbys Stallion Scene, page 52) at the Dubai Goffs Breeze-Up Sale in 2022. The four-year-old, who recently won the 7f

titles, had bred a black-type winner in Japan out of the aforementioned Noyelles.

Labeling, a four-year-old son of Frankel, was not winning a stakes race out of turn, having been placed in a Group 1 at two.

Nick and his family have long been a part of Irish racing and breeding, as well as the fabric of British racing through involvements with horsebox manufacturing and training grounds. A key turning point in the history of the Lambourn gallops came in the 1930s when the Nugent family took on Mandown gallops and opened them up to other trainers to use. What some will know, but many others may not, is that Alice’s equine connections are no less impressive.

Alice is a sister of Ed Player, and daughter of Peter, who have developed Whatton Manor Stud into one of Britain’s most successful stud farms. Whatton Manor’s reputation has been built over the 42 years since its purchase by Peter, also a renowned administrator who was closely involved with Newmarket racecourse for a time. The stud now stretches to 650 acres and has attracted a clientele that is second to none.

Alice paid €22,000 for the unraced Docksider filly Noyelles at the 2007 Arqana December Sale, but what a family she and Nick were buying into. Labeling is the third stakes winner she has produced, after Lily’s Angel and Zurigha.

Dark Angel’s daughter and Noyelles’ first foal Lily’s Angel did not get the story off to the best start selling as a yearling for just £8,000. However, she won 10 times at up to Group 3 level, and was denied a Group 1 victory by half a length in the Matron Stakes.

The second offspring of Noyelles, Cape Cross’s daughter Zurigha, was fourth in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches.

Zurigha is in the news this year, thanks to her daughter Oversubscribed. Purchased as a yearling for 400,000gns by Mike Ryan, the three-year-old Too Darn Hot filly Oversubscribed is a stakes winner at Belmont and was runner-up in the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga.

When Noyelles was purchased 17 years ago, the pedigree was a good one, but it has since become a great one.

Back then, Noyelles had three stakes-winning half-sisters, all in the fledgling stages of their second careers. Now her siblings and their offspring are responsible for eight Group 1 winners.

Most famously, Noyelles’ half-sister In Clover, a Group 3 winner, is dam of seven stakes winners,

Oversubscribed (Too Darn Hot): the grand-daughter of Noyelles was a stakes winner at Belmont at the Big A and Grade 3-placed at Saratoga Photo: courtesy of NYRA

“Integrity is the foundation on which our sport is built, and protecting integrity is essential for the credibility and popularity of our sport”

including no fewer than four who won at Group 1 level. They are Call The Wind, With You and We Are, and on Arc weekend, they were joined by Friendly Soul.

Frank Clarke the IFHA keynote speaker

I have mentioned elsewhere my disappointment at missing the annual conference of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), and a particular regret was not being there to celebrate the significant Irish elements.

Long time friend Brian Kavanagh, now in charge at The Curragh Racecourse, was for two decades chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland. He spent a considerable period in senior roles with the IFHA, most recently as vice-chair, while he was also chairman of both the European Pattern Committee and the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation. Brian was recognised on the occasion for his lengthy service, which has now come to a close.

Each year, the IFHA invites a keynote speaker, and this year it was Irishman Frank Clarke. A devotee of horseracing from an early age, in his professional life Clarke went on to become the senior figure in the judicial world with his role as Ireland’s chief justice.

Now a director of Ireland’s regulatory body, Clarke spoke about what he believes are the three pillars of racing integrity – up-to-date rules of the sport, sound processes, and the need for independent decision makers.

Clarke’s beliefs were echoed by the IFHA chairman, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges when he said: “Integrity is the foundation on which our sport is built, and protecting integrity is essential for the credibility and popularity of our sport.”

TED TALKS...

TATTERSALLS –

the place where the world’s finest thoroughbreds gather, are presented, admired and then sold to the highest bidder.

The company’s annual October Yearling Sale is a spectacle like no other, a culmination of heritage and history.

This year’s event surpassed any of its forbears and became the highest-grossing Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in history.

The atmosphere on the sale ground the weekend before the sale started was tangible – every consignor excited with the

attendance of so many US buying groups, little did we all know what was about to happen.

Tattersalls had done an amazing job attracting so many interested parties to Park Paddocks, many who had never been to the Newmarket sale before.

As a consignor you often get a feeling as to what might happen, even before the buyers do – the repository was active, even whilst horses were shipping in.

As consignors we keep track of each person who views the horses and, right from the get-go, preliminary numbers where large.

Newsells Park Stud reported a huge number of viewings on a

The spend was spread around numerous vendors; it will have helped set the books right for the foreseeable future “ “

single horse, while we had eight to 10 separate vettings.

The first day saw Amo Racing start its spending spree buying Alpinista’s own-sister from Lanwades Stud and Newsell Park Stud’s Frankel filly out of Aljazzi for a combined price of nearly 7 million guineas.

On an outstanding day of trade Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of Nottingham Forest football club, was with Amo Racing’s Kia Joorabchian in the bidders’ area alongside Amo’s busy bloodstock agent Alex Elliott.

Coolmore and Godolphin stood back and let the Japanese trainer Mitsu Nakauchida take on Amo for the sale’s top lot.

The Frankel filly out of Aljazzi became the second-highest priced yearling sold in European auction history when bought by Amo Racing for 4,400,000gns

Amo Racing huddle in the bidders’ area: left, bloodstock agent Alex Elliott, and, in black, Kia

Just when everyone thought there was a new king of Tattersalls, Sheikh Mohammed came back fighting on Wednesday to bag all the horses on his list leaving Amo with a Day 2 spend of just 2,480,000gns compared with its 11 million guineas outlay on Day 1 and the eight million subsequently spent on Day 3.

Surprisingly, over the whole three days of Book 1, Coolmore was relatively quiet compared to usual; the Irish organisation, on its own or with White Birch, spent 4,295,000gns.

The first three sessions of the October Sale ended up almost 35 per cent up on 2023 and just exceeded the aggregate of the record-breaking sale of 2022, although as we all know that ended up as something of an illusion.

The gross of over 127 million guineas produced an average of 370,000gns and a median of

250,000gns for 345 horses sold.

The smaller book helped to protect the average and the median, and also condensed the run of good horses.

Amo Racing, including its partnerships with Al Shaqab, accounted for sales of almost 23 million guineas, while Godolphin’s total outlay was 22 million – still less than it spent in that odd year of 2022 when its outlay topped the 25 million guineas mark.

I had been to the Goffs Orby Sale the week before, and many people then reported that they thought the Irish market was good, but, in hindsight, it only set the stage for what was to come.

I admit that I did criticise Tattersalls last year as there were not many US buyers around, so it is “hats off” to the company this year – the team got plane loads of US clients to the sale grounds.

But not only did Tattersalls get

the numbers, the sale team also ensured that every heavyweight in

A great problem to have.

As a word of warning, all is not good throughout the industry and I’m not getting too carried away.

This may well be a one-off and that will be our undoing if stallion fees continue their upward trajectory.

However, Racing UK plc is in a good place – Britain has the best stallions in Europe, the best racing in Europe and, this year, the best yearling prices in Europe.

Although we still have poor prize money, it is increasing with Levy support, the GBB bonus, the EBF, the Book 1 bonus and World Pool income. The BHA is doing a great job steering to the future by whatever means it can, and it should be left to do its job.

Joorabchian

Anthony Stroud: bought 65 horses in Book 1-2 either signing for Godolphin or Stroud Coleman

....Girls aloud

THE STRENGTH of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in Newmarket has filled many a column inch in thoroughbred publications over the past couple of weeks – the unprecedented and sudden upswing of spending in the market place a hot topic across the industry.

The incredible strength at the top end of the market has already had a knock-on influence, with records breaking returns moving on to the Arqana October Sale.

It is very positive to see such strength in the sales ring, but very worrying for the smaller breeders and pinhookers who supported earlier sales and did not get to experience the same strength. There is no doubt to me, from a buyer’s perspective, that there were excellent horses purchased for lesser prices earlier in the autumn, and certainly great value to be found.

The one thing that did remain consistent from previous years was the demand for quality stock by proven sires. The top tier of the market was exceptionally strong with buyers preferring to spend higher sums for proven sires and pedigrees, finding the unproven pedigrees and stallions less appealing.

Buyers in middle and lower markets were having to be less risk averse in order to buy the individual they required.

HOT ON THE HEELS of the two weeks of sales came British Champions Day at Ascot, with lots of links back to the action of Tattersalls.

One such was Charyn (Dark Angel), winner of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for trainer Roger Varian and owner Nurlan Bizakov.

He was bred by Guy and Serena O’Callaghan of Grangemore Stud, and the team had an amazing result this year when the colt’s full-sister was bought by Godolphin for 2,900,000gns in Book 1.

Another impressive winner was the filly Kalpana, a daughter of the exciting young Lanwades sire Study Of Man. Her half-sister by Too Darn Hot, a progressive young sire with Darley, was offered by Whatton Manor Stud in Book 2 selling to Shadwell for 425,000gns.

I tried hard to buy this lovely filly on behalf of a client, but, sadly, we didn’t have the budget –in hindsight her price seemed fair enough following the weekend’s update!

I’m sure many people would have liked the opportunity to buy a sibling to one of the other heroes of the day – the impressive performance of Kyprios leaving even had Ryan Moore reaching for superlatives to describe the performance of his mount in the British Champions Long Distance Cup (G2).

He is a more-than-fitting tribute to the memory of his late sire

Cathy Grassick, chairperson of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association

Galileo, as well as to Moyglare Stud’s breeding empire.

After the frenetic activity at Newmarket it was just wonderful to get back home to the farm and see the development of the stock. It’s a busy time of year getting foals and mares ready for the upcoming breeding stock sales and starting to make plans for the breeding season to come.

One of the major concerns of the 2024 breeding season has been EVA and the lack of provision of the vaccine Artevac.

Lack of a suitable vaccine left stallions in Europe at risk for exposure to a disease, which can cause pregnancy loss and infertility.

There has been a huge concerted effort by the ITBA and by EFTBA to have the US live version of the same vaccine known as Arvac made available for use in the European stallion population.

This was not successful in 2023 but, due to the tireless work of ITBA veterinary committee led by Des Leadon, it has been announced that the Irish Department of Agriculture has obtained permission to import Arvac in time for the 2025 breeding season.

While we are still awaiting the terms and conditions for the use of this vaccine, this is nonetheless excellent news for the entire European equine breeding community and highlights the importance of organisations such as the ITBA, TBA and EFTBA and their ability to lobby on behalf of breeders at both national and European levels.

Charyn’s full-sister: sold by Grangemore for 2,900,000gns in Book 1

Emphatic

Mehmas’s

Owen Burrows, Trainer

“We have two very good foals, I’m impressed by them. The colt foal out of Mango Diva is by far the best foal she’s had. He’s a smashing colt!”

“He is a fine, big, strong colt with good bone, we are absolutely delighted with him! We have two quality foals by him now and we sent another mare his way this year.”

First foals receive rave reviews!

“I’m very happy with her, she’s a very strong first foal with great bone; correct and very sharp looking. She’s the spitting image of her sire.”

“Our filly out of Group winning Sparkling Beam is a stunner! She oozes quality and class. Probably the best we’ve foaled down at Stonehall Paddocks thus far.”

Don’t miss his first crop at the foal sales...

Eddie O’Leary on the colt out of Mango Diva

David Cox on the filly out of Loquace

Jimmy Murphy on the colt out of Rugged Up

Micheål Orlandi on the filly out of Sparkling Beam

Fast filly

Page Fuller of Race iQ saw the progressive Study Of Man filly Kalpana put in the fastest final two furlongs on British Champions Day when winning the British Fillies and Mares

QIPCO CHAMPIONS DAY

always provides a thrilling end to the British Flat season, and this year was no different. For the third time in recent years, the inclement weather in the run up to the meeting meant that the races had to be transferred from the round course onto the hurdles track – and judging by how testing the ground was on the straight track, this proved a very good decision.

Our Time Index is not trained on the data from the inside track, so we cannot reliably use this to assess the times.

Instead, to contextualise the going difference across each track, it is interesting to compare the time it took for each of the winners to complete the final two furlongs:

• Kyprios: 26.07s

• Kind Of Blue: 27.24s

• Kalpana: 25.55s

• Charyn: 27.49s

• Anmaat: 25.72s

• Carrytheone: 28.11s

As you can see, all of the horses running on the inside round track, highlighted in bold, finished the final two furlongs of the race over a second faster than any of the races on the straight course.

This backs up what our eye was telling us, and, when we assess the form going forward, it will be worth bearing in mind that the straight track was clearly more testing, despite coming under the same going description on the day.

It also highlights the exceptional

performance by Kalpana in the British Fillies and Mares Stakes.

She had an interesting profile leading up to the race and had excelled for the step up to 1m4f.

She fell short on the first attempt at the distance in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes, unable to make full use of her turn of foot off a strong pace.

Since then, however, Kalpana has been very impressive.

When she won the September Stakes (G2) at Kempton, her final race before Champions Day, she showed an electric turn of foot, hitting 41.49mph and clocking 10.88s through the second-last furlong.

She was the only horse to dip below 11s in that whole race, and that performance put

her at the head of the market for the Fillies and Mares Stakes.

The more rain that fell ahead of Champions Day, however, the more punters got cold feet about her suitability to the more testing going.

Whilst she comes from fairly versatile bloodlines with Dansili as her dam-sire and Deep Impact her grandsire, none of her siblings had shown an affinity with softer ground, and her dam’s wins had all come on the All-Weather. Her sire Study Of Man, however, won the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe on good ground, and the Prix du Jockey Club (G1) on soft, and his daughter seems to have inherited his versatility, too.

She travelled beautifully through the race, keeping tabs on Wingspan who set the tempo in front. Turning into the home straight, her powerful turn of foot put the race to bed, and she completed the final two furlongs in the quickest time of the day.

Kalpana’s progression this season has been unbelievable and she will be very interesting to follow next season.

Her win has left us with two questions though as to what sort of races will suit her next season.

First, if she is going to be aimed at a heavy ground Arc De Triomphe next year, did this race do enough to prove she will handle truly testing conditions? Was the ground even as soft as it seemed?

Second, will she still have an impressive

Kind Of Blue’s Finishing Speed

Percentage of 94.49 per cent is the lowest winning FSP of any Group 1 race this season

turn of foot in a strongly run race on better ground? Did the slower ground ease the tempo of the race and give her the opportunity to quicken off it?

AT THE OTHER END of the spectrum, the testing ground in the British Champion Sprint Stakes produced a slow motion finish with Kind Of Blue hanging on gamely from Swingalong in the closing stages. To put into context how slow this finish was, Kind Of Blue’s Finishing Speed Percentage of 94.49 per cent is the lowest winning FSP of any Group 1 race this season.

Kind Of Blue was unraced before this season, but he has been the model of consistency throughout the year. He just failed at Haydock in the Sprint Cup (G1) in September, and these softer ground conditions seemed to help him land his first race at the top level.

Blue Point, his sire, was an exceptional sprinter over 5f and 6f, but this season has

shown us that his progeny shouldn’t be pigeonholed to those distances.

Kind Of Blue has got a lot of natural speed and was the horse that recorded the second-highest Top Speed of the runners in the Sprint Stakes, hitting 39.13mph in the second furlong.

This early pace is reflected well in our Par Sectionals. They also illustrate how he made use of his early speed enough to keep tabs on Swingalong, who was up with the pace, whilst still retaining enough energy to keep the horses at bay who challenged from behind.

He may not have been the strongest through the final two furlongs in the race, with Montassib and Beauvatier completing these faster than him. However, the distance he had put between himself and those horses with his early pace proved too much for them to claw back. He looks like a really strong runner at this distance, and it wouldn’t be surprising if a step-up to 7f also suited him in time.

Earlier this season in the Royal Ascot review, we highlighted Rosallion’s turn of foot in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, talking about how potent his speed is from his sire Blue Point, combined with the staying ability from his dam-sire New Approach.

Maybe we were being short-sighted by pinning the stamina purely on his dam-sire. By assessing Blue Point as a stallion based

British Champions Sprint sectionals: Kind Of Blue has a lot of natural speed, and the son of Blue Point was able to make use of that talent early on

of the performances of Big Evs, Kind Of Blue and Rosallion this season (successful at Group level over 5f, 6f, and a mile) it shows that he could be more versatile as a stallion, in terms of distance, than we initially expected.

The biggest shock of the day came from Anmaat in the British Champion Stakes, who landed the feature race at odds of 40-1.

Although Calandagan fluffed his lines coming out of the stalls, every horse was in with a chance turning for home, and then at the 2f marker, almost every horse in the field was trying to find a gap.

With space at a premium, jockey Jim Crowley found himself behind a wall of horses with nowhere to go, but, once the gap came, Anmaat sprouted wings.

A lot was said after the race about Calandagan’s start. However, historically he has been a hold-up horse, so, even if he hadn’t missed the start, would he have been closer than the 0.29s, or length and a half, that he found himself behind Anmaat at the end of the first furlong? Probably not.

The sectionals suggest that jockey Stephane Pasquier had his hand forced turning into the straight to hold a position.

Where all of the horses were vying for a position, a gap opened on the inside rail and it encouraged him to get racing too soon.

Crowley on the other hand got squeezed out, and had to bide his time a little longer. As you can see from the sectional graph below, this made the difference in the end.

Calandagan is a true speed horse with a sharp turn of foot for the end of a race. He had to use that too early up the straight, however, and tired in the final furlong with Anmaat storming home to catch him on the line.

Anmaat relished these conditions and, as soon as he got a run and into stride, he quickened all the way to the line.

It is very rare for a horse to post a faster final furlong than their second-last furlong which he achieved and which shows how full of running he was.

Awtaad, Anmaat’s sire, was unraced over a mile. However, between Anmaat and Al Qareem he is proving that his progeny could be just as exciting over these middle distances.

It will be exciting to see how Anmaat progresses next seaso, and, based on how well he saw out 1m2f on soft ground, he should be effective over 1m4f if needed, too.

Glossary

Par Sectionals: These compare a horse’s sectionals against the ‘optimum’ sectional times. They are the Par Sectional fractions for a race for that specific course and distance and based on the sectionals that winning horses have achieved in races achieving the best Time Index scores.

Finishing Speed Percentage (FSP): uses the sectionals to calculate the speed a horse covers over the final furlongs of a race, as a percentage of its overall race speed.

For races up to a mile, the final furlongs are the last two furlongs, for 1m1/2f and above it is the final three furlongs.

*For sectional information we primarily use data from Coursetrack, however for Doncaster, we used data from Total Performance Data

Calandagan: is a “true speed horse” but he used up his speed too early in the straight, tiring in the final furlong so allowing Anmaat to stay on past him

Calandagan Anmaat

British Champion Stakes hero: Anmaat

SEA THE MOON

• Sire of 4 Group 1 Winners

• Sire of 18 Group/Stakes horses in 2024 including Gr.1 winner FANTASTIC MOON, Gr.2 and Gr.3 winner TERM OF ENDEARMENT, dual Gr.3 winner QUEST THE MOON and Gr.3 winners ASSISTENT and SEA THE BOSS

• In 2023 sire of the Gr.1 German Derby winner and the Gr.1 German Oaks winner

Also sire of 10 exciting 2yo winners in 2024 so far...

TERM OF ENDEARMENT

Gr.2 and Gr.3 winner in 2024

SEA THE BOSS Gr.3 winner in 2024

ASSISTENT Gr.3 winner in 2024

FANTASTIC MOON

Gr.1 and Gr.2 winner in 2024

SHANDANA dual winner in France & Gr.3 placed

ASHNAK winner at Chantilly

BONNET debut winner at Deauville

ANNIVERSARY debut winner at Newmarket

TRAD JAZZ debut winner at Kempton

DIGNAM at Tipperary

SECRET OF LOVE at Southwell

TAMAM DESERT at Galway

INSTANT FRAGILE debut winner at Lyon-Parilly

QUEBEC debut winner at Hannover

Champion Charyn

Charyn: stamped his authority on the miling division with a tough-running performance in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Amy Bennett reports on a fantastic British Champions meeting that saw a star miling performance from Charyn, Kalpana take herself to the top table, and the admirable Anmaat pick up his second Group1 success for Shadwell with a neat win in the British Champion Stakes

THIS YEAR’S RACE to be crowned champion sire in Britain and Ireland has been an unexpectedly exciting thread woven tightly through the season.

Dark Angel, Dubawi and Frankel have jockeyed for pole position, before being unexpectedly joined at the head of affairs by the perennial champion Galileo, who is making a late bid for a posthumous 13th title.

It would be a massive disservice to describe Dark Angel as an “underdog”, given that his talent as a sire has long been well known – and his home base of Yeomanstown Stud is hardly a stranger at the top table either. However, such is the lock at the head of the stallion ranks that we must go back to Blushing Groom in 1989 to find a champion sire in Britain and Ireland who stood outside the hallowed grounds of Coolmore, Juddmonte or Darley.

By the end of British Champions Day, Dark Angel had resumed his spot at the top of the table, but with less than £400,000 in hand over Dubawi.

However, with the crown jewels of the Flat season in Britain and Ireland behind them, it would take a mammoth effort for Dubawi, Galileo (in third place after Champions Day) or Frankel (fourth place) to overhaul him.

Should Dark Angel land the spoils, it would be the first time since The Tetrarch claimed the champion sire crown in 1919 that a horse who did not race beyond his juvenile season will be named champion sire.

Given the rather vocal dismay that accompanied Dark Angel’s retirement to stud as a sound two-year-old, it is worth noting that particular fact. Precocious juvenile talent might be a great draw at stud, but it takes an exceptional sire to work his way from a lowly starting stud fee to the top of the sire tree.

Nurlan Bizakov’s Charyn has been an outstanding flag-bearer for Dark Angel this year and he duly signed off his European career – a final appearance in either the US or Japan could still be on the cards – with success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1) on British Champions Day.

His 2l victory marked a third top-level success of the season, and the four-year-old is sure to be a popular draw when he retires to stand at his owner’s Sumbe next year.

The eight-time Group 1 winner Kyprios, who was defeated a neck in the British Champions Day Long Distance Cup (G2) last year, has contributed a vital chunk of cash to Galileo’s champion sire bid this year.

Moyglare Stud’s likeable chestnut duly banked another sizeable cheque at Ascot when taking his unbeaten seasonal record to seven victories on the bounce when defeating Sweet William (Sea The Stars) by two and a quarter lengths at Ascot. His tally for the season stands at four top-level triumphs, and a victory in each of Group 2, Group 3 and Listed company.

Kyprios is the one of eight stakes winners out of the Danehill mare Polished Gem, a daughter of Moyglare’s Classic-winning homebred Trusted Partner (Affirmed).

Polished Gem is also responsible for Kyprios’s full-siblings Search For A Song, twice successful in the Irish St Leger (G1), the Group 3 winner Falcon Eight and Listed winner Amma Grace, as well as the Group 1 winner Free Eagle (High Chaparral) and multiple Group 2 winner Custom Cut (Notnowcato).

Study Of Man

No stud career in the offing

A stud career is not on the cards for one of the stars of British Champions Day with Anmaat lacking the vital accoutrements for a stallion career.

Although successful in last season’s Prix d’Ispahan (G1) at ParisLongchamp, Anmaat was sent off a 40-1 outsider in the 11-strong field for the Champion Stakes (G1).

The six-year-old has certainly not been over-raced, having contested only 15 races over five seasons, and he has certainly shown talent. However, few could have expected him to defeat the star duo of Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Economics (Night Of Thunder), among plenty of other very smart performers in the line-up.

In the event, Owen Burrows’s charge made the most of a messy race, staying on well to triumph by a neck over Calandagan. Bred by Derek Veitch’s Ringfort Stud, the

gelding was snapped up by the Shadwell team as a foal at Tattersalls for 140,000gns.

Entered for the Autumn Horses In Training Sale at the same venue in 2021, after a couple of handicap victories that season, connections nonetheless persisted with him and were rewarded by several Group victories, prior to his brace of top-level triumphs.

A half-brother to the US Grade 3 winner Syntax (Haatef) and the Listed-placed Sir Gin (Moss Vale), he is out of African Moonlight, who failed to trouble the judge in either of her racecourse appearances.

She carries the UAE suffix, hailing from one of the crops produced by Halling during his stints at stud in Dubai in the mid-2000s, and is a full-sister to the dual Curragh Cup (G3) victor Mkuzi. Her most recent yearling, a filly by Palace Pier, changed hands for €30,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale.

Kalpana: kicked clear by William Buick she forged to an impressive victory in the British Champions Fillies and Mares

The

four-year-old

A fine Study

Once again, ignore All-Weather form for well-bred horses at your peril… Juddmonte’s homebred Kalpana became the latest top performer to have started her career that way, winning on her career debut at Wolverhampton for Andrew Balding in January this year.

The filly has since run eight times, winning on five occasions and culminating in success in the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes (G1) by 2l over the impeccably bred Wingspan (Dubawi).

The September Stakes (G3) winner is much the best to date out of the Listed winner Zero Gravity (Dansili), a full-sister to the Group 1 winner and sire Zambezi Sun.

But as well as being yet another feather in the cap of the Juddmonte stud book, Kalpana gave her sire Study Of Man an all-important first success at the highest

level, and from his first crop to boot.

The Lanwades Stud resident, a son of Japanese sire sensation Deep Impact, is sire of 11 Flat stakes performers to date.

His early successes are also a boost to those with potential sires by Deep Impact waiting in the wings – stand up Auguste Rodin – demonstrating that breeders who are willing to look outside the dominant European sire lines, can be duly rewarded.

Her victory also gave Shadwell a quick pedigree update – the team purchased the filly’s yearling Too Darn Hot half-sister at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale from Whatton Manor Stud.

No Blues for owner-breeders

Wathnan Racing’s extravagant spending spree on horses in training has been another huge talking point this season, and the

operation was duly rewarded with another high-profile success as recent recruit Kind Of Blue triumphed in the British Champions Sprint (G1) in the blue, gold and red colours.

A third individual Group 1 winner for his sire, the leading second-crop sire Blue Point, the winner was beaten by a head in both the Haydock Park Sprint Cup (G1) and the Phoenix Sprint Stakes (G3) this season, but duly turned the table to triumph by the same distance over Swingalong (Showcasing).

Trained by James Fanshawe, the winner was bred by Jan and Peter Hopper and Michelle Morris out of the Compton Place mare Blues Sister.

That mare never made it to the races herself, but was afforded her berth at stud as she is a full-sister to Deacon Blues, successful in the British Champions Sprint in 2011, when the race still carried Group 2 status.

The pair are also half-siblings to another winner of the same race – this time at Group 1 level – in the multiple Group 1 winner The Tin Man (Equiano), out of the handicap winner Persario (Bishop Of Cashel).

Champions of tomorrow

Godolphin was crowned champion owner for 2024 on British Champions Day and while the famed blue silks were not carried to victory at Ascot, Sheikh Mohammed’s operation enjoyed some standout results a week earlier at Newmarket’s Future Champions weekend.

Desert Flower got the ball rolling in the Fillies’ Mile (G1), storming home by five and a half lengths.

Now unbeaten in four starts, including in the May Hill Stakes (G2) at Doncaster in September, the filly was a first juvenile Group 1 winner for her sire Night Of Thunder.

A three-parts sister to last year’s Solario Stakes (G3) winner Aaablan (Dubawi), the winner is out of Promising Run (Hard Spun), who won the Rockfel Stakes (G2) and went on to score three times in Group 2 company in Dubai and also bagged a Group 3 success in Turkey.

She is a half-sister to the Group 3-placed Arabian Comet (Dubawi), out of the Brazilian top level heroine Aviacion (Know Heights).

A day later, Godolphin showcased another Classic hopeful in Shadow Of Light (Lope De Vega), who stayed on well to triumph in the Dewhurst Stakes (G1).

The margin of victory was only a neck, markedly less than the 4l he had in hand over Whistlejacket when triumphing in the Middle Park Stakes (G1) two weeks earlier. However, it was an impressive success and he looks a key player for next year.

Another homebred, the colt is a threeparts brother to the Group 1 winner and sire Earthlight (Shamardal), out of Winter’s Moon (New Approach), who was third in the Fillies’ Mile in 2014.

She is a half-sister to the juvenile Group 1 winner Mandaean (Manduro) and the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Wavering (Refuse To Bend), out of the Group 3-winning juvenile Summertime Legacy (Darshaan).

Godolphin also racked up an impressive maiden victory on the Future Champions card with Verse Of Love

Godolphin may not have had the winner of the Autumn Stakes (G3) on the Dewhurst undercard, but the operation’s leading sire Dubawi was responsible for the winner in the Coolmore homebred Delacroix.

He stayed on well to defeat Stanhope Gardens, who hails from the first crop of Dubawi’s son Ghaiyyath, by a neck, with the pair well clear of the third-placed Nightwalker (Frankel).

Already Group 2-placed, Delacroix is

out of the six-time Group 1 winner Tepin (Bernstein), who was snapped up by MV Magnier for $8m at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2017, but died in 2023.

She has enjoyed a posthumous red-letter year on the track in 2024, with her daughter Grateful (Galileo) triumphing in the Prix de Royallieu (G1) at ParisLongchamp.

Godolphin also racked up an impressive maiden victory on the Future Champions card with Verse Of Love.

The homebred Siyouni filly made a taking debut in defeating her stablemate Wild Angel (Too Darn Hot) by 5l in what looked a competitive 7f contest on paper.

She is the first foal out of the Shamardal mare Vercelli, who is a three-parts-sister to the Group 3 winner and Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) runner-up Saint Baudolino (Pivotal) and the multiple Australian Group 1 winner Avilius (Pivotal).

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Stock rising

Bluestocking and Rossa Ryan gave Juddmonte a record-breaking seventh win in Europe’s greatest race, writes Jocelyn de Moubray

Photography by Debbie Burt

AFTER RACING prominently from the start, Juddmonte’s four-year-old Camelot filly Bluestocking quickened decisively in the straight to win the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) by three-quarters of a length from the Wertheimer brothers’ three-yearold Sea The Stars filly Aventure.

This was a record-breaking seventh win in France’s greatest race for Juddmonte, the breeding and racing operation founded by Prince Khalid Abdullah in the late 1970s and maintained by his family today.

Trainer Ralph Beckett becomes the 10th British-based trainer to win the race and one of five together with Guy Harwood, Jeremy Tree, Sir Michael Stoute and John Gosden to have done so for Juddmonte.

Juddmonte has, of course, won countless top races all over the world since Known Fact became the first to carry the green, white and pink colours to Group 1 success in the 1979 Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket.

The Arc is, however, the championship race in which Juddmonte has enjoyed the most success alongside its three Derby wins, two Oaks, two Prix du Jockey-Clubs, two Prix de Dianes, six Breeders’ Cup races, as

well as a Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks.

Juddmonte has won the Arc with its homebreds – Workforce, Rail Link, Enable and Bluestocking – as well as with its purchases Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave.

Bluestocking’s third dam, the His Majesty mare Queen Of Song, was born in 1979, bred by Parrish Hill Farm and trained by Shug McGaughey.

She was a very tough high-class racemare on both Turf and Dirt who retired as a five-year-old after 58 starts, 14 wins and 26 places. She won or placed in graded races at around a mile at three, four and five.

Juddmonte purchased Queen Of Song after she had produced three foals and the farm bred another six from her, all winners without being top horses.

Queen Of Song’s last foal, born when she was 19, was the Distant View filly Aspiring Diva, who was sent to be trained by Criquette Head in France.

She was an ordinary winner successful in races over sprint distances at two and three at Craon and Vichy, but was not good enough to win in Paris.

She was, however, retained as a

Bluestocking (right) wins the Arc de Triomphe, with jockey Rossa Ryan (above) enjoying the moment

broodmare and went mainly to Juddmonte’s own sires visiting Frankel, Rail Link, Oasis Dream and five times to Dansili.

The cross which worked has been the one with Dansili – her fillies by the sire including Daring Diva, the dam of Brooch, Caponata and the second dam of the Kentucky Derby winner Madaloun, and Emulous, who was a Group 1 winner and is the dam of Bluestocking.

If Juddmonte has shown great patience to get as far as Emulous, even more was needed to reach Bluestocking.

Emulous was trained by Dermot Weld and was a winner at two, a Group 3 winner at three and then progressed to win the Group 1 Matron Stakes by 3l as a four-yearold, going on to be placed in the same race

The story is an illustration as to just how different breeding to race is from breeding to sell

the following year.

Emulous’s first four foals were by Frankel, Kingman and she had two by Dubawi – none of whom were high-class winners.

She was then sent to Camelot and Showcasing to produce Bluestocking and the high-class handicapper Qirat.

The story is an illustration as to just how different breeding to race is from breeding to sell.

No commercial operation would have persisted with any of Bluestocking’s first three dams, while it is highly unlikely Bluestocking herself would not have been a star if she had gone to a yearling sale in 2021.

She was then a daughter of a Group 1 winner, but one who had produced two minor winners from four foals of racing age by a sire whose median price for yearling fillies that year was 85,000gns.

Beckett has trained most of Emulous’ progeny, none of whom before Bluestocking had won over further than a mile, and yet he must have seen Bluestocking’s ability to stay early on as she made her first start at three over 1m2f and then went for the 1m4f Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.

As the industry’s racing and breeding objectives have changed, fewer and fewer trainers are allowed to have the time and experience to develop top-class middledistance horses.

This is, of course, the area in which Beckett has excelled over the years – he has won top races with every type of horse over every distance, but his biggest victories include two Oaks, an Irish Derby, the Prix Royal Oak, and now the Vermeille and the Arc itself.

At three, Bluestocking was a little unlucky not to win the Irish Oaks, caught in the final strides by Savethelastdance, and she was beaten only a neck by Poptronic in the Group 1 British Champion Fillies and Mares at Ascot in October.

As a four-year-old she has continued to improve winning four of her six starts. It turns out that she is at her very best when allowed to race prominently on soft ground over 1m4f, and especially so at ParisLongchamp.

It is not a surprise to see the Arc run on soft ground as more often than not this is the case at the beginning of October, but where things really swung in Bluestocking’s favour, and where her young jockey Rossa Ryan was able to grasp the opportunity, was that this year none of his rivals wanted to go in front and set a strong pace.

Juddmonte has been well rewarded for the patience it has shown with Bluestocking’s pedigree

Bluestocking’s final time of 2m31.11s was very close to the time set by Waldgeist and jockey Pierre Charles Boudot in 2019 when they won the Arc in 2m31.99s.

Although both races were run on soft ground – and not the heavy ground Sottsass, Torquator Tasso and Alpinista won on – the two Arcs were very different as in Waldgeist’s year Ghaiyyath set off in front at a furious pace and ran the first 1400m in 1m27.79s.

Beckett has trained most of Emulous’ progeny, none of whom before Bluestocking had won over further than a mile

The field ran the final 600m in 39.4s allowing Waldgeist to come from behind and pass the gallant Enable, who had chased the early leaders from the start, in the final 100m.

This year, Los Angeles ran the first 1400m in 1m31.29s, about 3.5s slower than Ghaiyyath had done, which is the equivalent to about 17 or 18l.

This modest early pace suited Bluestocking, who settled easily behind the leader, while two of her main rivals, Sosie and Shin Emperor, were pulling in behind her, using up their energy and fighting with their jockeys.

The final 600m of Bluestocking’s Arc were run in 35.27s, some 20l faster than Waldgeist’s.

In the circumstances, particularly with the rain loosening the ground so those waiting behind had to cope with mud flying in their faces, it is not a surprise that no horse was able to come from behind and challenge Bluestocking, Aventure and Los Angeles, who had all been close to the lead from the start.

Bluestocking ran the final 400m seven per cent faster than her race average and, although Aventure put in a gallant effort, the Christophe Ferland-trained filly never looked like threatening her rival’s lead.

Surprisingly, the race time and way it was run, was almost exactly the same as the Vermeille in September when they had run the first 1400m in 1m31.11s and the 2400m in 2m31.53s.

Of the other runners in the Arc the huge disappointment was the Jockey-Club winner Look De Vega, who was never going well

at any stage, while the four-year-old Camelot colt Sevenna’s Knight ran a remarkable race to come from last place to finish fifth, particularly as he was badly bumped by Shin Emperor when leaving the stalls.

My own opinion is that this was a high-class renewal.

Bluestocking is better on soft ground when racing prominently, compared with her excellent second to Goliath in the King George at Ascot when she was held up in a race run at a furious pace on firm ground.

Aventure is clearly the best middledistance three-year-old trained in France and one of the best in Europe – in truly run races over 1m4f only Bluestocking has been able to challenge her.

Los Angeles has improved throughout the season and showed at Leopardstown over 1m2f that he had the potential to improve further in the Arc, he might have gone closer still if his stable has run a pacemaker.

Girls

on top

Females were also prominent among the many other top races run over the weekend. The three who deserve particular mention are the Prix de la Forêt winner Ramatuelle and the Francis Graffard-trained two-yearold fillies Vertical Blue and Zarigana, who come close to dead-heating in the Prix Marcel Boussac.

The Christopher Head-trained three-yearold Justify filly Ramatuelle has a faultless record to date of nine runs for four wins and five places, including a third place in an outstandingly good 1,000 Guineas.

She went into the Forêt, her first race over less than a mile since April and after a three-and-a-half-month break, looking to have progressed physically. She went on to put up the performance of her career to beat the older gelding Kinross by 3l.

The 1400m track at Longchamp is known as the “toboggan” as its starts with a sharp downhill run and so finishing times are

No reason to open the Arc up to geldings

Goliath

Would Goliath and Calandagan have run well in the Arc?

Yes, of course they would have done, but this is no reason at all to open the race up to geldings in the future.

Both colts were gelded because the operation made them easier to train.

If you open up a race as valuable and prestigious as the Arc to geldings there is high risk they will come to dominate the race which would, of course, destroy both its prestige and the spectacle it presents.

The Arc is more often than not a wonderful race because it attracts the best middle-distance Turf horses in the world and because there is a fine balance among its winners and contenders between colts and fillies, three-year-olds and older horses, as well as those trained in France and those coming from England, Ireland, Germany and Japan.

To upset this balance and encourage owners and trainers to aim geldings for the race would be a disaster for French racing as the race, and the weekend around it, is an essential showcase for the best of French racing and breeding.

If there is a current bias in the Arc it is that it favours fillies and mares, but this is only because commercial considerations make it more likely fillies and mares will be given the chance to compete as four, five or six-year-olds; an opportuntity that the connections of which Treve, Found, Enable and Bluestocking have taken.

Anyone considering allowing geldings to run should be aware as they would be geldings aged five, six or even older, who would take up the available places in what would no longer be Europe’s best middledistance race.

always slow compared with the race average, but Ramatuelle had the speed to follow the leaders before racing past them in the straight.

If she stays in training in Europe at four she surely has the class to win Group 1s over 6f.

The Prix Marcel Boussac was supposed to a “demonstration” for the Aga Khan’s Siyouni filly Zarigana, and, although she was beaten a short head by Vertical Speed, in many ways it still was.

Jockey Mickael Barzalona, newly retained by her owner, may have been a little overconfident and he gave the filly plenty of ground to make up in what was a slowly run race, but more than anything he seemed determined not to give her too hard a race.

Vertical Blue is perhaps the proof that with middle-distance mares Mehmas may produce horses who stay further than a mile

Zarigana did quicken to take the lead, but only while changing her legs and looking around her, surprised, perhaps, by the noise coming from the packed grandstands.

Gemini Stud’s daughter of Mehmas took advantage of the hesitation and came back to put her nose in front on the line.

Vertical Blue has not been out of the first two in five starts and had looked like a potential top filly when twice coming from last place and an impossible position to be second in good races.

She already stays further than most of her sire’s progeny and Vertical Blue is perhaps the proof that with middle-distance mares Mehmas may produce horses who stay further than a mile.

Vertical Blue’s dam the Sea The Stars mare Krunch won over 2100m, but she did put up good performances over as far as 3000m.

Mehmas only raced at two and never beyond 1400m but his second dam Lunda was a half-sister to top-class middle-distance horses Luso and Warrsan.

Above, Ramateulle takes the Forêt for a career-best victory, and, below, it is heads up and heads down in the Marcel Boussac – Zarigana (nearside) just nodded out of it by Vertical Blue in the centre

AL SHAQAB STALLIONS 2025

AL HAKEEM

NEW IN 2025

1ST 3 YEAR-OLDS 1ST 3 YEAR-OLDS 1ST FOALS

Sea the Stars & Olga Prekrasa (Kingmambo)

AT STUD

Choisir & Acidanthera (Alzao)

No Nay Never & Hestia (High Chaparral)

Zoffany & Small Sacrifice (Sadler’s Wells)

Siyouni & Jadhaba (Galileo)

Holy Roman Emperor & Romantic Venture (Indian Ridge)

Wootton Bassett & Frida La Blonde (Elusive City)

Mehmas & Diaminda (Diamond Green)

DUBAWI LEGEND

#BecomePartOfTheLegend

GR.1 TWO-YEAR-OLD BY DUBAWI

A speedy, well bred son of Dubawi.

BRUCE RAYMOND

Second highest rated 2yo of his generation

2nd Gr.1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes to European Champion 2yo

Native Trail. Group winning sprinter as a 3yo.

A higher rated 2yo than

his contemporaries

Better than Night Of Thunder, Modern Games, Ghaiyyath, Naval Crown, Space Blues, Zarak, New Bay, etc.

Dubawi Legend Far Above King Of Change

Space Traveller Galileo Chrome

I pulled him out and he went whoosh...

Won/placed in 10 Stakes races inc:

1st Gr.2 Boomerang Stakes, 1m

1st Gr.3 Jersey Stakes, 7f

1st L Ganton Stakes, 1m

2nd Gr.1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile, 1m

2nd Gr.1 Woodbine Mile, 1m

3rd Gr.1 Pegasus World Cup, 1m1f

2yo Group performer over 6f

DANNY TUDHOPE

May Day warning

May Day Ready became the first stakes winner for her 62-year-old trainer Joseph Lee and the Tapit filly is taking on the big guns in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf, writes Melissa Bauer-Herzog

FOR TRAINER JOSEPH LEE, a moment 62 years in the making gave him the biggest moment of his career thus far thanks to juvenile filly May Day Ready (Tapit) in early October.

Sent to Lee to train after KatieRich Farms went to $325,000 to buy the filly at April’s Ocala Spring Sale, who is out of the British Group 3 winner Nemoralia (More Than Ready), May Day Ready hasn’t taken a wrong step.

Lee took out his training license in 2020 after many years as an assistant, and the 62-year-old, who has only five horses in his barn, has been on the ride of a lifetime this autumn thanks to the filly.

After she broke her maiden at Saratoga in August, Lee then targeted the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies in search of his first ever stakes victory. The filly didn’t let him down, winning by nearly 2l with Frankie Dettori aboard to earn her own all-important first stakes win.

“I loved her,” Lee, a former assistant to such training greats as D. Wayne Lukas and Kiaran McLaughlin, said. “I’ve loved her since probably her fourth or so public work. I’ve been around some nice ones, and I just thought she was special.”

With one milestone down, another soon in in view for Lee – a graded stakes success.

Lee found a perfect race at Keeneland so, after a quick trip back to her trainer’s base at

Belmont Park to prepare, she headed south.

While the race at Kentucky Downs had posed some questions due to the track’s unique configuration, in the Jessamine Stakes (G2) May Day Ready faced her toughest field to date.

A $350,000 purse and Win and You’re In berth for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) meant the Jessamine (G2) attracted a field of 11 fillies looking for a trip to Del Mar. Despite her strong race record, May Day Ready was not sent off as the favorite and she had to battle for the win, but she finished a nose in front and booked her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup.

“What a superb job Joe has done,” Dettori said post-race. “Even if she would have got

beaten today in the photograph, I would still have loved to ride her in the Fillies’ Turf at Del Mar. But now we don’t have to worry about it, because she’s in and we are going. A crowbar couldn’t get me off!”

On the same card, trainer Will Walden picked up his first Keeneland graded stakes win when successful in the Bourbon Stakes (G2) with Minaret Station (Instilled Regard) just a few months after the pair won their first graded stakes race.

The colt had finished third on debut at Ellis Park before an easier match up in Indiana. That provided him with his maiden victory and gave connections the confidence to target the stakes race at Keeneland.

In a competitive race, bettors sent Minaret

Station off with the second-highest odds in the 12-horse field, but it turned out those who decided to support him made the right choice. Settled at the rear of the field early on, Minaret Station made a big run in the stretch to win by a length and a half, and putting himself on track to become Walden’s first Breeders’ Cup starter.

Walden will be the second generation of his family to have a horse at the Breeders’ Cup meet as a trainer. His father Elliott Walden – currently the President/CEO and Racing Manager of WinStar Farm – trained six Breeders’ Cup starters during his time as a trainer, but was never able to visit the winners’ circle.

Although newer trainers took out the

juvenile Turf races at Keeneland, its juvenile Dirt races proved to be a playground for Godolphin.

Leading all North American breeders and owners as of October 16, the farm’s representatives visited the stakes winners’ circle at Keeneland twice in 24 hours thanks to Immersive (Nyquist) and East Avenue (Medaglia d’Oro).

Trained by Brad Cox, the Godolphin homebred Immersive was already a leading contender for an Eclipse Award after her win in the Spinaway Stakes (G1), and she went on to strengthen her spot as one of the top fillies in the country with her success in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1).

It was an easy second Grade 1 win for the

Scottish Lassie: the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes winner is by freshman sire McKinzie

filly with Immersive stalking the leader early before taking over in the stretch. She crossed the line over a length to the fore and remains undefeated in three starts.

The Brendan Walsh-trained East Avenue, another Godolphin homebred and born just a few weeks before Immersive, was making his stakes debut in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1). The colt had romped home on his debut a little over a month previously with an 8l victory, giving his connections the confidence to step up to stakes level.

East Avenue jumped straight to the lead and never looked back, outclassing the tough 11-horse field.

It was a master class performance with East Avenue winning by over 5l to give Walsh and Godolphin their second combined win in the race after Maxfield’s (Street Sense) victory in 2019. Godolphin also won the race in 2020 with the Coxtrained Essential Quality (Tapit) – all three being homebreds for the operation.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of very good horses the last two years, especially with Godolphin, and he seemed like he was right up there,” said Walsh after the win, adding: “I think he’s a special horse.”

If there was a stallion whose October had breeders calling his farm’s office, it was Gainesway’s freshman sire McKinzie (Street Sense).

The stallion registered a milestone first Group 1 winner at Saratoga, but it was the first weekend in October that has proved to be his biggest weekend yet.

Making his first start since winning the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, Chancer McPatrick spent the first part of Champagne Stakes (G1) at the back of the pack – a position he is quickly adopting as a usual racing position.

But, after a sweeping move in the turn, the colt went on to win by nearly 3l to become his sire’s second Grade 1 winner.

That first winner for the sire had checked multiple boxes of her own with her win in the Frizette Stakes (G1).

I’ve loved her since probably her fourth or so public work. I’ve been around some nice ones, and I just thought she was special

Scottish Lassie ran a race the complete opposite of Chancer McPatrick – stalking the leader early, Scottish Lassie took over at the top of the lane and easily extended her margin to 9l at the wire.

She is the first-ever graded stakes winner for trainer Jorge Abreu, who took out his license in 2016.

since he left Chad [Brown]. He’s never won a graded stakes. He’s such a good person and he’s an incredible horseman.”

Though she’s his first graded stakes winner, Scottish Lassie won’t be the trainer’s first Breeders’ Cup runner – he saddled Stellar Agent (More Than Ready) in 2018 who went on to finish third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) before his filly Jody’s Pride (American Pharoah) – also owned by Weston’s Parkland Thoroughbreds – took second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).

McKinzie’s two-year-olds made quite the impression in all four juvenile Grade 1 races run during the first weekend of October.

Quickick finished second to Immersive in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1) a day before his two Grade 1 winners, while McKinzie Street finished a good third in the American

Immersive by Nyquist and out of the Bernardini mare Gap Year

Leading European Flat Sires 2024 (by prize-money earned to October 21, 2024)

Courtesy of Weatherbys

T he d y nast ies

Success is succession. And these are Dubawi and Shamardal’s truest successors...*

Night Of Thunder

Better f irst-crop percentages than even Dubawi. Economics leads his breed-back crop and 2024 has also brought his first €1m yearling.

Blue Point

Faster to 50 winners than any stallion ever. His first crop includes the season’s best three-year-old miler and two best three-year-old sprinters.

Too Darn Hot

No stallion has ever had more Group wins from his first two crops of juveniles. Best so far: Classic heroine Fallen Angel and superstar Australian colt Broadsiding.

Leading European Flat Broodmare Sires

Leading British and Irish Flat Sires 2024 (by prize-money earned to October 21, 2024)

Courtesy of Weatherbys

Conception publicitaire : Agence G

Photographies Z. Lupa, Scoopdyga & Marc Ruehl

hot RED

JAPAN is such a dominant force in the international racing field with success enjoyed by the nation’s runners on the world’s biggest racing days and in its biggest races on both Turf and Dirt.

The country boasts generation-defining names on both its previous and current stallion roster such as Sunday Silence, Deep Impact, Lord Kanaloa, King Kamehameha, stallions who have been resident at the biggest Japanese farms of the Yoshida family, Shadai and Northern Farms.

enlarged and added to the property.

“I took over the farm when my father died,” says Okada, during his visit to Newmarket for the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“We have around 550 hectares in total, with the main Big Red Farm, a number of smaller breeding establishments, as well as four training centres each with an uphill gallop. The first training centre was developed in 1988 and Hokota Training Centre was added in 2007.

Exciting times at Japan’s Big Red Farm with Benbatl nearing the end of his first shuttle season in Australia and his first Japanese-bred yearlings going into training

However, despite the dominance of those monoliths, the Japanese stallion roster numbers over 250 sires and many more farms than just the two pendulums of that axis, farms with equally long histories and keen to explore and develop opportunities.

Big Red Farm, now run by Hirokazu Okada, has been in the Okada family for 50 years. Okada’s great grandfather became involved in breeding racehorses, and it was his grandson, Hirokazu’s father Shigeyuki, who started the farm in 1974. In 1976, the name Big Red was adopted, Okada Snr taking the nickname given to the US superstar racehorse Man O’War.

Through the 1980s and onward into this century Shigeyuki, who passed away three years ago, further developed and greatly

“There are 130 mares on the farm and their associated youngstock, as well as six stallions.”

Okada is responsible for deciding on the stallions to introduce to the farm. Each stallion is syndicated to 50 to 70 shares, with Big Red Farm generally retaining about a third. The remaining are taken by Cosmo View Farm, which is run by Okada’s brother Yoshihiro Okada, Okada Stud, run by their uncle Makio Okada, as well as 20 other shareholders, including other large stud farm interests in Japan.

That current sextet of stallions are a mix of home-produced stock – horses who ran solely in Japan, fairly typical representatives of Japanese racing having reached the top of their game at three and four and generally revealed their best form over 1m2f –

Photo: Weekly Gallop

Big Red’s homebred Koganeno Sora (12): winner of the Hokkaido Shimbun Hai Queen Stakes (G3)

Main picture: Big Red Farm in Hokkaido, Japan has four training centres as well as the main stud farm and smaller breeding establishments Far left: Hirokazu Okada at Tattersalls this autumn

Photo: courtesy of Big Red Farm and Tattersalls / Laura Green

STALLION SCENE

as well as the global runner and international performer and headline act Benbatl, who has first yearlings this year, and the older USbred, Dubai World Cup winner Roses In May.

Benbatl is a son of the champion Dubawi and he has been unlocking opportunities for Big Red; the 10-year-old, who won races as wide-ranging as the Group 1 Dubai Turf, the Group 1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis, the Group 1 Ladbrokes Stakes in Australia, as well as the Group 2 Joel Stakes in Newmarket, is currently coming to the end of a first stint of shuttle duties from Big Red to Woodside Park Stud in Victoria, Australia.

“He is the first horse I have shuttled and, yes, it was a big decision to make,” admits Okada. “We had tried to shuttle our new stallion Danon The Kid, but interest was low as he was more of a middle-distance performer, while Benbatl was a miler with form in the country – he has been well received in the Australian market.”

He adds: “Sons of Dubawi are very popular in the southern hemisphere, headlined by Too Darn Hot who has done so very well there, and that encouraged Woodside to want to get involved.”

As was announced in July by Darley, Too Darn Hot, who has the Group 1 winner Broadsiding in Australia and was the leading first-season sire for the 2023-24 season, did

Benbatl was a fantastic racehorse, sound and consistent, and a globe trotter who performed at the highest level

not undertake the shuttle journey this year.

It meant that through this covering season the sire sons in Australia by Darley’s patriarch have been limited to the young Darley sire Ghaiyyath, Akeed Mofeed, Wilful Default and Benbatl.

Of Big Red’s son of Dubawi, Okada enthuses: “Benbatl was a fantastic racehorse, sound and consistent, a globe trotter who performed at the highest level.

“We have his first yearlings, we have started to break them in and I am very happy with how things are going at present, he looks to be stamping his stock.”

The stallion stood at a fee of ¥2.5 million (around €15,300) this spring, and Okada says: “He offers something a little different for the Japanese breeders, and is an outcross for the many Sunday Silence mares. Darley Japan has some breeding rights and sent him some mares, and, in total, Benbatl covered around 100 mares in year one, around the same for this season.

“Each year we have sent him around 35 of our own mares, and we will have around 28

yearlings going in to training this year.”

Okada adds: “I don’t think his progeny will be early juvenile sorts, but that fits well for the Japanese racing programme as we are not so focused on two-year-old racing.”

Danon The Kid, who was bred by Northern Farm, was a two-year-old champion, winner of the 1m2f Group 1 Hopeful Stakes as a juvenile and the 1m1f Tokyo Sports Hai (G3). He also picked up four top level placings, including in the Hong Kong Cup. He retired to Big Red for this spring and stood at ¥500,000.

“He is by Just A Way, who was one of the best racehorses in the world and the first Japanese horse to reach the world rankings,” says Okada, adding: “Danon The Kid is out of the French Group 3 winner Epic Love – she is by Dansili, who is such a good broodmare sire. She is also dam of Miki Brillant, who also a top juvenile in Japan and the pair’s great grand-dam Alcando was a winner of the Beverly D Stakes (G1).

“Danon The Kid was well received by Japanese breeders and is a taller horse

Win Bright: has had two-year-old winners in his first crop

Gold Ship: the sire of the Grade 1 Yushin Himba winner Uberleben

than Benbatl at 168cm. He has a good temperament, and he took very well to his new job this spring.”

Win Bright (Stay Gold) retired to Big Red as the winner of the Hong Kong Cup (G1), the Queen Elizabeth Cup (G1) as well as four Grade 2 and Grade 3 races mainly over 1m2f.

He was a Japanese champion older horse and his first runners have hit the track this season. As we write, 39 of his two-yearolds have already made it to the on the racecourse from an initial crop of 66 and with a handful successful. He stood at a fee of ¥1.2 million this spring.

“He has already had three winners from his first crop and we are delighted with how well he is coming along,” reports Okada.

The 15-year-old Gold Ship, also a son of Stay Gold and who retired to Big Red for the 2016 season, won six times in Japan at Grade 1 level.He boasts an excellent 95 per cent runners to foals, 59 per cent winners to runners and eight black-type winners.

They are headed up by the homebred Uberleben, who won the Yushin Himba [Japanese Oaks] in 2021 to give the farm its first Classic winner.

She continued to run at the highest level until 2023 and achieved earnings of around £1,600,000.

Of Gold Ship,who stands at ¥2.5 million Okada says, “He is doing very well, he gets lots of winners. Uberleben has certainly increased his profile and he attracted mares on the back of those performances.”

The roster is rounded off by some older residents – the 16-year-old Danon Ballade, a son of Deep Impact from the family of Singspiel, the 2000-born, and the US-bred Dubai World Cup and Whitney Handicap (G1) winner Roses In May, who achieves an impressive 72 per cent winners-to-foals and whose progeny are headed up by the Grade 1-placed, Big Red Farm homebred Dream Valentino.

The cheapest stallion on the Big Red roster is the 18-year-old Joe Cappuccino. The son of Manhattan Café, and grandson of Sunday Silence, stands at the affordable price of ¥300,000.

With the strong prize-money in Japan and such a healthy industry at all levels, so well supported by the JRA, Okada recognises that there are plenty

“If you like Dubawi, then you will love Benbatl”

MARK DODEMAIDE OF WOODSIDE PARK STUD

can not hide his admiration for the son of Dubawi, who is just completing his first shuttle season at the Australian farm.

“A horse who was rated 125 and inside the global top ten horses worldwide, there is no doubt that he is a serious individual,” he says.

“I know Hiro at Big Red Farm could not get Benbatl’s Dubai Turf Group1 win out of his mind when the horse beat up on the good Japanese horses such as Vivlos, Deirdre and Real Steel in that race.

“Benbatl was a real globe trotter and from just the two starts he had in Australia he won the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes in less than half a second outside the track record, and ran second to Winx in the Cox Plate, which was certainly no disgrace.

“He also led all the way to win his Group 1 in Munich, and was dominant in his two Joel Stakes (G2) over a mile. First up beating King Of Comedy and Zaaki easily, and then in the second he put in the second-fastest mile recorded at Newmarket.

“He was a high-class miler who had the determination to stretch to 2000m.

“On seeing Benbatl it just hit me between the eyes, and I just thought, ‘If you like Dubawi you will love Benbatl’.

“He is a touch taller and more than a touch longer than his sire, he has a similar head, a wide joule, deep girth, nice short cannons, and good healthy feet. He definitely is his father’s son.

“It was only the other day I heard jockey Oisin Murphy report that he felt Benbatl ‘was the bestbalanced horse he has ever ridden’.

“When going through the list of stallions in Australia there are only two stallions who are multiple Group 1 winners, by a multiple Group 1 winner, out of a multiple Group 1winner – Benbatl and Too Darn Hot, and the latter was not here this year.

“In fact it has been a bit of a homecoming for his pedigree with his fourth dam being the champion New Zealand mare La Mer.

“From the moment he stepped foot at Woodside he has been such a professional and has taken everything in his stride.”

Benbatl: the son of Dubawi is coming to the end of his debut shuttle stint in Australia

of opportunities for stallions at all the levels; the “cheaper” sires can more than hold their own on the Big Red roster.

But don’t expect to see too many offspring by Big Red stallions listed in the annual JRHA Select Sale catalogue; instead of offering on the open market, Okada prefers to retain the stock and syndicate them for racing.

“We syndicate about 50 yearlings each year and run them ourselves,and that way we keep in control of the stock,” he explains. “There are a lot of Japanese people who want to be involved in horseracing now – we run the Ruffian Turfman Club with around 100 shares available in each horse and over 130 horses for the syndicate.”

It is big business and, while Okada admits that running the syndicates is an intensive operation, the farm is more than up to the task – a glance at the Ruffian Turfman Club website (with the use of google translate) shows the depth of information and level of communication given for every horse,

ranging from daily training updates to vet reports, as well as regular photos.

Every detail regarding running plans, alongside the latest news, as well as new horses available for investors, are listed.

Okada’s own young family follow the anime game Una Musume (as featured in our February 2024 edition), and Okada appreciates the need to ensure that racing continues to be an integral part of popular culture so retaining its appeal to the younger generation, who will be the owners and syndicate members of the future.

“In the late 20th century we had video games and racing comics, and those people, who read and watched, are now racehorse owners,” he says aware that the farm’s own business model requires a continual flow of keen racing fans with a desire to step up to syndicate ownership.

Okada, one of the panellists at the recent Asian Racing Conference, embraces the exchange of ideas, the furthering of international knowledge and understanding.

He is an enthusiastic stallion manager and is keen to see the farm’s stallions progress to

the international stage embraced the shuttle stallion market, as well as the lucrative Japanese syndication business.

Big Red and its associated divisions is a sizeable entity, but within the supersize world of Japanese breeding it is perhaps more high-street department store with a growing international department than mega franchise.

Big Red’s outward view is perhaps epitomised with the entry for the Corazon Beat, a homebred owned by the Ruffian Turfman Club and a Grade 2 juvenile winner, in Australia’s Golden Eagle Stakes, alongside that debut venture in to the world of shuttle stallions for Benbatl –such a relevant approach for a sire who made his name as a racehorse right across the globe.

The latest generation of the Okada family to take the reins at Big Red is making the most of the opportunity; the farm is more than holding its own within bloodstock commerce in Japan and has every chance of creating a legacy, much like its namesake, on the global industry.

The 15-year-old Gold Ship exercising at Big Red Inset: Danon The Kid

Lope De Vega – Queen Of Carthage (Cape Cross)

Right: Colt ex Alkhawarah consigned by Kilmoney Cottage Stud. Purchased for €225,000 by Maxi Joorabchian for George Scott

Top left: Filly ex Dame Hester, consigned by Ballyvolane Stud. Purchased for €120,000 by Highflyer Bloodstock for Joseph O’Brien

Bottom left: Filly ex Supreme Seductress, consigned by Railton Sales. Purchased for €80,000 by Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock for Richard Hannon

Stradivarius Speed-Soundness-Sireline

“I really can’t fault her at this early stage. She has been incredibly active from day one, with a big personality to match her great stride.”

EMMA BERRY

Breeder (TDN)

Contact the team today

Joe Bradley 07706 262046 | Joe.Bradley@nationalstud.co.uk

Our Stradivarius filly is very precocious looking and full of character. She has a great walk to her and we are very excited by her.”

 GREG PARSONS Upperwood Farm Stud

Jamie Jackson 07794 459108 | Jamie. Jackson@nationalstud.co.uk

“

My Stradivarius colt is one of the nicest foals I have bred. He has size, bone and a gorgeous action coupled with a lovely attitude.”

KIM BARTLETT Millfields

We are delighted with our filly foal by Stradivarius. She has a striking resemblance to her sire, possessing plenty of quality and athleticism at such an early stage. She is the nicest foal the mare has produced.”

BECKY SMITH

Wretham Stud

CZECH mate

ONE OF THE SUCCESS STORIES of this year’s European Flat season has been that of the Holy Roman Emperor colt Rashabar, winner of the Coventry Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot, and subsequently twice second in Group 1s.

Although the colt is trained for Manton Thoroughbreds at the stables of the same name in the UK by Brian Meehan, those two

top level performances for Rashabar came in France in the Prix Morny and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (G1), the nation of the colt’s birth.

Despite the horse’s IRE suffix, he was bred at Haras de Beaufay by the owner Czechborn breeder Jiří Trávníček.

It has been a year of great success for Trávníček – as a breeder has he been able to enjoy watching Rashabar compete at the top level in European two-year-old Flat races, as well as sell the colt’s half-sister successfully

It has been a top summer for Haras de Beaufay and Czech owner Jiří Trávníčk

By Adrien Cugnasse

Photography by Debbie Burt and courtesy of Haras de Beaufay

at the Arqana August Sale, as an owner-breeder Trávníček’s Great Pretender eight-year-old gelding Godfrey dead-heated in the Czech Republic’s own race that stops a nation, the Velká Pardubicka. It was the fourth time that Trávníček’s colours have been carried to success in the unique race. It has certainly been an exciting year for Trávníček and Haras de Beaufry and there could be much more to come –Sam Sangster, who runs Manton Thoroughbreds and who bought the colt

at the Arqana August Sale in 2023 for €120,000, said before the Lagardère: “Whatever happens, we see him as a colt for the Guineas.”.

Future, Classic campaign or not, the horse is already the best produced so far by a Czech breeder.

But he probably won’t be the last.

Trávníček is leading a quiet movement as more and more owners and breeders from the Czech Republic and Central Europe are investing on a significant scale

in the French horseracing and bloodstock industries, seeking better prize-money and more lucrative opportunities than there is available at home.

Investing in the horses

Trávníček made his own fortune through his company Pegas Nonwovens, which specialises in the production of non-woven textiles.

In 2011, Trávníček cashed in and sold the

Left, bottom: Jiří Trávníček, breeder of Rashabar and owner-breeder of Pardubicka winner Godfrey Left: second placed Rashabar eyeballing the eventual winner Camille Pissarro in the Lagardere Above: with jockey Sean Levey, and, below, winning the Coventry Stakes with Billy Loughnane

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company to a British investment fund; the transaction made him one of the richest men in the Czech Republic.

Despite selling the business, he has not decided to take life easy and, like many

highly successful people, he is a busy man, and is perpetually active.

Yet he is far from the image of the flamboyant racehorse owner and stud owner, and on a visit to his farm in Normandy

or his state-of-the-art training centre DS Pegaz in Czechia, you are likely to find him fixing a fence or driving a tractor.

A staunch defender of Czech horseracing – it is thanks to him and a handful of like minded people that racing in the country has survived – Trávníček has built DS Pegaz, the most impressive private training center in continental Europe and without equal in France or Germany.

After a good two-hour drive from Prague, the first thing that strikes the visitor on arriving at DS Pegaz is the number of training tracks available.

Around a central golf course, the private trainer who occupies the premises has a wide variety of options for his horses and his string can canter and gallop on a 1,600m circular grass track, a 1,400m straight Turf track, a 1,600m sand track, a 1,600m woodchip track, or a 800m grass track with a slope and track of the same length and slope.

All the stables are spacious and functional, and all are equipped with indoor showers. A large indoor arena allows young horses to be trained and jumped, and all horses all go to the horsewalker every day or could be

The Czech Republic: a nation of European equine travellers

THROUGH THE COMMUNIST ERA different approaches regarding the operation of the sport of horseracing and the bloodstock were taken in Eastern European countries – some just decided on an outright ban on the sport, while others, such as the Czech Republic, recognising the need for leisure activities, brought the sport, as well as the breeding industry, under state control with individuals no longer able to own racehorses.

Immediately after the fall of communism in the late 1980s, it became difficult to maintain the industry in all the former Soviet republics, but, fortunately, many of those involved in the sport mobilised to continue their activities as best they could.

Some, able to take full advantage of the following economic boom, became very wealthy and are carrying racing forward today.

On joining the European Union in 2004, Czech trainers and owners quickly made the most of the new opportunities to race their horses abroad. With tracks in Germany easily accessible trainers were able to travel in the search of better prize-money to compensate for the low levels at home – a Czech maiden race being worth around just €2,500. Czech trainers then started to venture even further afield to Italy and France, while many horse people went to work in stables in Europe or Britain returning home with greater equine knowledge. Training fees in Czechia are still very low, just around €500 per

month, so a journey of around 12 hours to France or Italy with the opportunity to win a provincial maiden in France worth around €11,000, makes a lot of sense.

Czech horses are now on the road, and they win around three million euros in prize-money abroad each year with dozens of horses trained in the country racing in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and throughout central Europe.

Sadly, the breeding industry has continued its decline with only around 300 foals born – it makes more sense for Czech trainers and owners to source at sales in France and Ireland in order to ensure they have horses with the ability to compete in Europe.

Initially, horses were picked up with modest budgets, but talented individuals have still been sourced including Nagano Gold (Sixties Icon), who was purchased for 3,500gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2014 by Vaclav Luka and went on to finish second in the Hardwicke Stakes (G2), while Subway Dancer, a €3,000-purchase at the Arqana Autumn Sale by Chris Richner Bloodstock, finished third in the Champion Stakes (G1).

Winter is long in Czechia and horses get a real break, that allied with the low cost of training, means that Czech owners can perhaps be a little more patient than many others elsewhere.

And sometimes that pays off.

Godfrey (left): deadheating in the Velka Pardubicka to give owner Trávníček a fourth win in the race

haras de beaufay

exercised in the aquatic walker.

The highlight is the equine pool, which allows the horses to swim safely for several tens of meters.

Vsiting owners have not been forgotten either, and DS Pegaz has a reception comparable to that of a hotel.

However, while everything exudes quality nothing is not ostentatious, and this relative sobriety is reflective of Trávníček’s own personality.

Trávníček may be a captain of industry, but he is an approachable and direct man, and is without “artificial” sophistication.

Trávníček manages his horseracing investments carefully with well-considered budgets and deadlines, and one of his greatest pleasures is to follow the daily training of his horses.

Trávníček is considered by many of his peers to be a true horseman, and he often chooses his purchases himself or with works closely with bloodstock agent Tomáš Janda.

From Pardubice to the heart of Normandy

Gregory might have been Trávníček’s Velka Pardubicka winner this year, but the man from DS Pegaz has won the race three times before thanks to a formidable AQPS-bred French mare. Fittingly, she has been immortalised at DS Pegaz with her own statue, produced by the foundry that made Royal Ascot’s Frankel.

“I bought Orphée des Blins for crosscountry races, a discipline in which she had already had results in France,” reports Trávníček. “She then became a legend of racing in Czechia by winning the Velka Pardubicka three times.”

Orphée des Blins (Lute Antique) was bought in training, but Godfrey was raised at his owner’s Normandy stud farm, Haras de Beaufay.

Trávníček has a dozen mares at his Normandy farm, plus a few boarded for clients. The oldest generation on the farm are just four-year-olds, but already six Flat black-type performers, including two Group winners, have been produced.

At this year’s Arqana August Sale, Haras de Beaufay consigned three yearlings –the half-sister to Rashabar, who was sold for €600,000 to Oliver St Lawrence,

a Galiway colt purchased by Godolphin for €400,000, and a Camelot filly sold to MV Magnier for €370,000.

Breeding in France

Trávníček purchased Haras de Beaufay in 2017, immediately set about destroying the existing buildings to rebuild from scratch.

“Racing has been my great passion for four decades,” he says. “I decided to invest in France. For three years, I had spent a lot of time finding the right place to set up my project. With my daughter, we toured France and got to know Normandy by heart!

“My first goal was to buy a bare plot of land, on good breeding ground, and build a completely new infrastructure, but this ultimately proved impossible.

“In France, it is easier to buy a stud farm or a farm with existing buildings. In the end, there were two or three possible places left. I eliminated one of them because it was close to a site that was to be home to wind turbines. Finally, after careful study, our choice fell on the Haras de Beaufay.”

The ambitious man had substantial goals from the outset.

“Our aim is to offer exceptional conditions for horses, and the existing buildings did not meet this level. The land has had several years of rest and we took the opportunity to upgrade all the paddocks,” he reports.

“Our guiding principle will be excellence. My entire career in industry and business has been carried out with this constant. Today, to exist, you have to focus on quality.”

Broodmares have been sourced in France, Ireland and England, and although the production costs are higher in France than Czech Trávníček appreciates the need to invest for quality and take advantage of all that France has to offer the breeder.

“Everything has a price and I know the French system well,” he adds. “By launching such a project, the first for a Czech investor, I am thinking about the future for my family –my daughter is very much involved.

“Czechs have raced horses mainly in Italy, but also in Austria, Germany and neighbouring countries such as Slovakia or Poland, but it is less interesting to race there.

“France has therefore gradually become a goal for us, both on the Flat and over jumps.”

Although Trávníček enjoys racing in France, his love for the sport in his home country has not diminished

“There is very little breeding in Czech now, however the passion is there and prizemoney is often are funded by the owners themselves, in order to support the racing.

“The majority of owners have just two or three horses, and it is their devotion and their work that allows Czech racing to remain in better health than in many East European countries.

Rasahbar’s half-sister fetched €600,000, sold by Beaufay to Oliver St Lawrence at Arqana August

Right: Colt ex Company Jeed consigned by Sherbourne Lodge. Purchased for €63,000 by James Troller for Charlie Fellowes Top left: Colt ex Jardin H’iver consigned by Ballyphilip Stud. Purchased for €52,500 by Ollie St. Lawrence for Richard Fahey Bottom left: Colt ex Exempt consigned by Ashbrooke Stud. Purchased for €40,000 by Horton Racing for James Horton

UNBEATEN 2YO

Won Gr.2 Gran Criterium

Won LR Grosser Preis der Sparkasse

Bred by Roland Lerner

UNBEATEN 2YO

Won Gr.2 Premio Dormello

Won LR Premio Repubbliche Marinare

Bred by Allevamento Le Gi

Won Gr.3 Prix Sigy Won LR Prix Saraca 4th Gr.1 Prix Jean Prat 107 Bred by Nawara Stud

DREAMS Won Gr.3 Prix Penelope Bred by H Merry, J Allison & J Morera

Leading ladies

Jocelyn de Moubray, who is sceptical about the concept of “female” families, selects four of the most influential broodmares of the 20th and 21st century

THE VERY IDEA OF FEMALE FAMILIES and foundation mares being the central explanation for success at the highest level of racing and breeding used to strike me as completely absurd.

My objections were, first off, mathematical. Any broodmare will, given average fertility for herself and her descendants, have more than a 1,000 of these within five generations and once you get beyond the eighth or ninth generation their descendents will include a high proportion of all thoroughbreds currently alive.

It is, if you look on one of the websites where these tools are available, difficult to find a top horse in Europe today who doesn’t have Selene, Lord Derby’s champion two-year-old of 1921, in its pedigree and most will have the Aga Khan’s talented Mumtaz Mahal, the champion two-year-old of 1923, as well.

The numbers by this stage are so huge it can only be an ex-priori argument rather than something of predictive value.

It is also a self-defeating proposition as how can what is important be the female family a horse comes from when more or less nearly all thoroughbreds come from the same ones?

Just as a new family must start somewhere or somehow, so must the old ones come to an end.

It is, some would say, no surprise, for

instance, to see Wootton Bassett become a top stallion.

He may have been just a £46,000 Doncaster yearling, but his fourth dam, the Princequillo mare Key Bridge, was one of the foundation mares of Paul Mellon’s broodmare band, was a broodmare of the year in 1980 and dam of Key To The Mint.

Wootton Bassett’s eighth dam Risky, born in 1924, was one of the foundation mares of Claiborne Farm and produced Risque, the two-year-old champion of 1930.

Foundation mares and female families seemed to be to be one of those comforting myths people cling to in order to give a semblance of order to what would otherwise be only a series of random events, complicated and difficult to explain.

But perhaps my strongest objection at the time was that this myth was particularly important in Britain where racing and society as a whole had, until very recently, been dominated by aristocratic families for whom such reasoning was, of course, an entirely self-evident truth.

In the US, then the undisputed centre of the thoroughbred world, the prevailing story was a different one and excellent racemares were sought after as broodmares whether or not they came from established families, and were by prominent stallions.

This seemed to be a more logical model where what counted more than anything else was athletic ability rather than any sort of aristocratic descendance.

Let’s start at the top... Anatevka

There is, on the other hand, no doubt that some broodmares or female families have had a remarkable and long term influence on the development of the thoroughbred.

The best example is, of course, Allegretta or it might make more sense to begin with her dam Anatevka, a daughter of Espresso who was born at Gestüt Schlenderhan in 1969.

Schlenderhan is the oldest European stud, which is still competing regularly at the highest level. The first Classic winner to carry its colours was in 1883 and there have been 90 others since the most recent being the 2020 Deutsches Derby winner and Coolmore jumping stallion In Swoop.

Remarkably, the leading owner of European Classic winners is still Raza Dormello-Oligiata of the Tesio and Incisa partnership, followed perhaps more predictably, by the Magnier and Tabor group, and then the Aga Khan Studs.

The others high on the list still active and competing successfully include Godolphin/ Sheikh Mohammed, Prince Khalid Abdullah/Juddmonte and Gestüt Röttgen for whom Erle won a 30th Classic in this year’s Preis der Diana.

The Niarchos family comes next with 23 Classic victories. It is only a matter of time before the Magnier-Tabor group surpasses Dormello Oligiata as it is currently just six Classic wins behind.

It also sets a new all-time record being still a relative newcomer with a first Classic triumph coming as recently as 1995.

There are some who doubt whether the Classic races should still be a benchmark for racing excellence, but unlike any of the possible replacements, the number of Classic races has not changed for more than a century, or if it has, they have been diminished rather than greatly expanded –a Classic race open to older horses is no longer a Classic.

To return to Anatevka and Schlenderhan, even at the time she was born, the family had been at Schlenderhan for a long time as her sixth dam Arabis born in 1915 was bred on the farm.

Anatevka, whose third dam was the champion Asterbluete, had five daughters three of whom were by Lombard, a multiple

Group 1 winner and St Leger winner in Germany for Schlenderhan, who started his stud career in England in 1974.

Schlenderhan kept two of the Lombard fillies out of Anatevka – Alya, who was second in the Preis der Diana (G1) and is the grand-dam of the Deutsches Derby (G1) winner and top stallion Adlerflug, and the disappointing Arionette.

Allegretta, Anatevka’s third daugher of Lombard, raced in England winning two of her nine starts and finishing second in the Listed Zetland Stakes at two and the

Lingfield Oaks Trial at three – there she was beaten by the top filly Leap Lively with another top filly Condessa behind in third. Sold to the US, Allegretta reappeared at the Keeneland November Sale in 1984 in-foal for the first time as a six-year-old to Irish Castle. She was bought by French breeder Michel Henoschberg for his Marystead Farm. Henoschberg had to be patient as his purchase did not turn to gold immediately. Her first four foals by stallions Irish Castle, Plugged Nickle, Shadeed and Irish River were all very ordinary.

The Gestüt Schlenderhan-bred Allegretta (right): second to Leap Lively in the Lingfield Oaks Trial

Her fifth foal was the Miswaki filly who was named Urban Sea, and then Allegretta went on to produce the 2,000 Guineas winner King’ Best, as well as the dam of Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) winner Anabaa Blue and the German 2,000 Guineas winner Tertullian.

The Miswaki filly was sent back to Haras d’Etreham in Normandy and was sold at the Deauville August Sale for 280.000FF, the equivalent of around €80,000 today, to Jean Lesbordes.

Urban Sea may not have been quite as good as some of the great French-trained

Urban Sea was consistently underrated as a racehorse – she was trained by an unfashionable trainer, she was below average height and she looked even smaller when led up by her trainer’s very tall son Clement Lesbordes

mares such as Dahlia or Triptych, but she was tough and consistent and competed at a high level from two to five.

Remarkably her 24 runs included restricted sales races at both two and three, the German 1,000 Guineas, the Prix de Diane, the Prix Vermeille, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but also races in Canada, at Santa Anita, Tokyo and Hong Kong as well as at Ascot and Epsom.

Urban Sea was consistently underrated –she was trained by an unfashionable trainer, she was below average height and she looked even smaller when led up by her trainer’s very tall son Clement Lesbordes.

She was at her peak at four when she won the Arc narrowly from White Muzzle, Opera House and Intrepidity on heavy ground. On her last start the following year she finished fourth behind Apple Tree in the

Coronation Cup (G1) at Epsom.

Her owners the Tsui family did not have to wait long to see her quality as a broodmare.

Her second foal Melikah was sold as a yearling at Deauville for the equivalent of €2.4 million and was placed in the English and Irish Oaks, her third foal was Galileo and her tenth Sea The Stars. Other direct descendants of Urban Sea include the Classic winners Bracelet and Masar, while the Irish Derby winner Los Angeles is a direct descendant of Allegretta.

Schlenderhan’s Anatevka who was born in 1969 died in 1992 and is the third dam of Galileo, the best European Classic stallion of all time, and also of Sea The Stars and Adlerflug, two of the best middle-distances sires of the 21st century.

This may make Anatevka the most

Allegretta’s daughter Urban Sea (above) and, below, winning a slowly-run Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe from White Muzzle and Opera House in 1993

Sales Dates 2025

Winter Flat & National Hunt Sale

28 - 29 January

Breeze Up Sale

22 - 23 May

May Point-to-Point & Horses In Training Sale

29 May

Derby Sale**

25 - 26 June

Derby Sale Part II**

27 June

July Store Sale**

23 - 24 July

September Yearling Sale*

23 - 24 September

September Yearling Sale

Part II*

25 September

November National Hunt Sale

7 - 12 November

Sapphire Sale*

13 November

*featuring the €250,000 Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes

**featuring the €100,000 Tattersalls Ireland George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper

All dates subject to alteration

significant European broodmare of the 20th century, but there are a handful of others who have had a similar influence.

Bahamian: her name will be seen in pedigrees for generations to come

So consider Bahamian bred in 1985 by the Jennings family’s Stonethorn Stud and sold privately to Prince Khalid Abdullah.

Bahamian was by Mill Reef out of the Busted mare Sorbus, who had finished second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger as well as the Yorkshire Oaks. She also passed the post first ahead of Fair Salina in the Irish Oaks but was disqualified and placed second.

Trained by Jeremy Tree, Bahamian was not as good but she did win the Lingfield Oaks Trial (L) and finished placed in the Prix de Pomone (G2) and Park Hill Stakes (G2).

The best of her own progeny was the Irish Oaks winner Weymss Bight, but she is the second dam of Oasis Dream and third dam of both Kingman and New Bay, three very significant sires who will be present in pedigrees for decades to come.

Helen Street: dam of Street Cry, second dam of Shamardal and third dam of Victor Ludorum

The 1985 Irish Oaks winner Helen Street is another who will be prominent for years to come.

A daughter of Troy and a Riverman mare, she was trained by Dick Hern for Lord Weinstock and was sold privately to Sheikh Mohammed.

Helen Street was not an immediate success as a mare but her ninth foal was Street Cry, the Dubai World Cup (G1) winner and major international stallion.

Helen Street is also the second dam of Shamardal, while Haras d’Etreham’s new stallion, the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) winner Victor Ludorum, is inbred 3x3 to Helen Street being a son of Shamardal and a grand-daughter of Helen Street.

Lord Weinstock and his father-in-law

Sir Michael Sobell were important breeders at Ballymacoll Stud in Ireland for decades and Helen Street came from the fifth generation of homebreds descended from

Lord Weinstock and his father-in-law Sir Michael Sobell were important breeders at Ballymacoll Stud in Ireland for decades and Helen Street came from the fifth generation of homebreds

the Nearco mare Sunny Cove, who was born in 1957.

Helen Street’s dam the Riverman mare Waterway won the Prix Calvados (G3) at two in 1978 and was placed in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1), while Helen Street, a daughter of Lord Weinstock’s own Derby winner Troy, was better still.

She also won the Calvados at two in 1984 and then, after finishing behind the champion Oh So Sharp a few times, she won the Irish Oaks (G1).

Let’s jump forward to the 1990s: Sacarina

The mares discussed to date were all born at least 40 years ago – if we move forward a decade there are some born in the 1990s who may yet achieve a similar influence.

Sacarina is an exception in this listing as she was unraced and bought very cheaply.

Although she came from the first crop of the Jockey-Club and Irish Derby winner

Old Vic, she was the tenth foal of her dam Brave Lass, who had only produced a couple of Group 3-placed horses despite having been sent to the top European stallions as part of Jim Joel’s broodmare band.

Sacarina was sold to Bruno Faust of Gestüt Karlshof by a client of the Haras du Logis in France.

Faust sent her to the then cheap German stallion Monsun and her first foal was the Deutsches Derby winner Samum.

Sacarina returned a total of eight times to Monsun and produced another Derby winner Schiaparelli, a Diana winner Salve Regina, as well as Sanwa, the dam of Derby winner and stallion Sea The Moon, and Sahel, who us the second dam of this year’s Grand Prix de Paris (G1) winner Sosie.

Aside from Sosie, Sacarina’s family has been represented this year by the Group 1 performers Spanish Eyes, who finished second in the Diana, and Straight,

Bahamian: was bred by the Jennings family at Stonethorn Stud

Photo: Juddmonte

Wurftabe with foal Waldspecht at Gestüt Ravensberg: he did not run, but his dam is an ancestress of 17 black-type winners and two champions

who was second in the Preis von Europa, as well as German’s leading two-year-old filly, the unbeaten Group winner Santagada.

Faust created a remarkably successful stud farm, which has consistently produced Group and stakes horses for over 30 years.

One can imagine he took a risk on Sacarina not because her dam had once belonged to Jim Joel, but because she came from a German family and her second dam Bravour had won the German 1,000 Guineas and finished third in the Diana in 1966.

Wurftaube family succeeded against the odds Wurftaube, a daughter of Acatenango and Wurftbahn, was bred and raced by the Delius family’s Gestüt Ravensberg.

She was a fifth-generation homebred as her fifth dam Windstille was placed in the Diana in 1952 in Ravensberg’s colours.

Wurftaube won seven of her ten starts including the 1996 German St Leger and finished second to the Clive Brittain-trained Luso in her only attempt in a Group 1 over 1m4f at Dusseldorf in the July of her

four-year-old career.

Wurftaube’s own progeny included the Deutsches Derby winner Waldpark as well as Waldjagd, the dam of this year’s juvenile Misunderstood, a Group 3 winner and who finished third in the Lagardère.

So are there some magic female thoroughbred families whose members consistently outperform

any reasonable expectations?

A force of nature or management?

She is also the second dam of St Leger winner Masked Marvel, third dam o f the leading stayer Al Nayyir and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Waldgeist and fourth dam of another top stayer – the dual purpose and Melbourne Cup challenger Vauban.

Ravensberg is only a small breeder these days producing one or two foals a year, but the Wurftaube family was given a chance to grow by Andreas Jacobs, who bought her Mark Of Esteem daughter Waldmark and took her to his Newsells Park Stud. Waldmark’s Monsun daughter Waldlerche is the dam of Waldgeist.

Are there some magic female thoroughbred families whose members consistently outperform any reasonable expectations?

Perhaps, of those mentioned here, the one which seems closest to this category is the Wurftaube’s ‘W’ family – some of the mares have produced top class horses yet had few credentials to do so and much of the family was not in the hands of one very successful stud farm for a prolonged period.

One thing which is self-evidently true is that the best breeders and their stud farms are far more successful than the average, and when these farms are maintained at the top level for decades they can leave a legacy which continues for many years afterwards.

Photo: Frank Sorge

STUDY OF MAN

Juddmonte homebred 3yo KALPANA wins the

Gr.1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot.

Sire of a Group 1 winner from his first crop in 2024

Some great statistics from only 2 crops to race...

5 Black-Type winners 11 Black-Type Horses

Gr.1 and Gr.3 winner at 3

Leading Second Crop Northern Hemisphere Sire in 2024

9.72% Group Horses to Runners

BIRTHE

Gr.2 and Listed winner at 3

Gr.2 winner at 2

Leading Second Crop European Sire in 2024

13.89% Black-Type Horses to Runners

Ahead of Audible (USA), Yoshida (JPN), Too Darn Hot, Blue Point, Calyx, Ten Sovereigns, etc.

Also sire of 8 exciting 2yo winners so far in 2024 including REVOIR, ALMERIC, ALLA STELLA, MANY MEN, etc.

Yearling colts sold so far in 2024 have made 260,000gns, 220,000gns, 210,000gns, etc and at Tattersalls Book 2 averaged £143,193 (€171,832)

The independent option TM

KALPANA

DEEPONE

Star crossed covers ✰ ✰

The first part of the Camelot Irish Derby weekend Group 1 double: Bluestocking winning the Pretty Polly

Stakes

THE IRISH DERBY weekend in June represented something of a seminal moment for Camelot – Group 1 winners had tended not to be too plentiful for sires not named Galileo or Dubawi so to have two top level winners in consecutive days (Bluestocking who won the Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) and Los Angeles, winner of the Irish Derby and) at The Curragh represented something of a breakthrough for Montjeu’s most successful Flat stallion son.

The result in the Arc with the pair coming home in front and in third was an even more impressive feat. And what made that even more notable was the fact that both of Camelot’s Group 1 winners were out

Just how successful is the Camelot and Dansili cross?

Evidently, Camelot x Dansili has been a successful cross, but to what extent?

In order to gauge success, we must first set a benchmark and what better benchmark to use than Galileo x Danehill. This cross is perhaps best known for producing Frankel, but it has also yielded champions such as Teofilo, Highland Reel, Kyprios, Japan, Intello, Noble Mission, Mogul, and Tapestry. So, for as much success as Camelot x Dansili has had, and while Camelot is by no means an old sire, the success of this cross pales in comparison to that of Galileo x Danehill.

Of course, the two outcrosses themselves are hardly total strangers to each other – Galileo and Montjeu were both sons of Sadler’s Wells, and Dansili was one of Danehill’s stand-out sons at stud so in effect, both Camelot x Dansili and Galileo x Danehill are an extension of Sadler’s Wells x Danehill.

That Galileo has achieved so much with Danehill mares is in no way surprising to anyone with a passing interest in bloodstock, so Galileo’s success with Danehill-line mares should not come as a shocking revelation either.

Galileo and Danehill-line mares Galile’s matings with Danehill Dancer mares produced Minding, Tuesday, Jan Brueghel, The Gurkha, and Circus Maximus, whilst Cliffs Of Moher and Magic Wand are products of the Galileo x Dansili cross.

In addition, Galileo produced champions

of Dansili mares. And those two dams aren’t too shabbily-bred either with Bluestocking being out of a Matron Stakes (G1) winner in Emulous and Los Angeles hailing from the family of Allegretta [read Jocelyn de Moubray’s Leading Ladies, page 68].

The Camelot and Dansili cross has seen more success in 2024 than just Bluestocking and Los Angeles – Pensée Du Jour took the Prix Corrida (G2) at Longchamp back in May.

Ciarán Doran takes a look at the pedigrees of other talented horses and tries to work out if the cross is better than the standard and if compared to crosses of other elite sires, and then for some reasons as to why these outcrosses work.

when crossed with the daughters of other Danehill-line stallions such as Fastnet Rock (Warm Heart), Desert King (Kew Gardens), Mozart (Magician), Exceed And Excel (Anthony Van Dyck), Holy Roman Emperor (Shale), Anabaa (Capri), and Choisir (Winter).

Of course, if the Galileo x Danehill outcross can be successfully extended to Galileo paired with Danehill-line mares, the original outcross could in theory be extended to sons and grandsons of Galileo mated with Danehill (and Danehill-line) mares.

The 2020 Group 1 winners Order Of Australia and Galileo Chrome were the end-products of Australia being crossed with Danehill and Dansili mares respectively, whilst Frankel’s 2023 Oaks heroine Soul Sister was out of a Dansili mare.

Given she was by Frankel, Soul Sister was therefore 3x3 inbred to Danehill; this was not the first time a Group 1 winner in the 2020s had been the product of such a cross, with 2021 Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist hailing from the Teofilo x Danehill Dancer cross.

Poetic Flare was another example of a Galileo-line stallion (Dawn Approach) being mated with a Danehill-line mare (Rock Of Gibraltar) as were Blue Rose Cen (Churchill x Jeremy) and the new stallion Vandeek (Havana Grey x Exceed And Excel), showcasing just how malleable the Galileo x Danehill outcross has been.

And what’s more, the success of the Galileo x Danehill outcross can also be extended to other strands of the Sadler’s

Wells’ sire-line – High Chaparral crossed with Kyprios’s dam Polished Gem (Danehill) yielded Free Eagle, whilst another Danehill mare in Senta’s Dream produced the Camelot half-sister to Order Of Australia in the shape of Santa Barbara.

Similar to Bluestocking and Los Angeles, Luxembourg (Camelot) was also out of a Danehill-line mare in Danehill Dancer’s Attire, while Chicquita was the result of Montjeu being mated with a Dansili mare.

Other examples of a Sadler’s Wells-line stallion being crossed with a Danehill-line mare include Treve (Motivator x Anabaa), In Swoop (Adlerflug x Tiger Hill), and Kameko (Kitten’s Joy x Rock Of Gibraltar); if one were to push the outcross boat even further, we could even include Trading Leather who is a Teofilo x Sinndar cross was therefore out of a Danzig-line mare.

Crosses with other elite sires

One could contend that Galileo x Danehill was always destined for success as an outcross given both were elite sires so one would also be naturally inclined to think that Galileo and Galileo-line stallions crossed with daughters of other elite sires would yield top-class results.

For example, Frankel x Dubawi has been responsible for Adayar, Mostahdaf, and Homeless Songs, whilst Teofilo x Dubawi has produced the 2023 Melbourne Cup winner, Without A Fight.

Additionally, the Galileo x Pivotal cross has borne Magical, Rhododendron, Love, Hydrangea, and Hermosa, while Cracksman

and Nashwa were the fruits of Frankel x Pivotal matings.

Stravinsky was a son of Nureyev (as was Pivotal’s sire Polar Falcon), and the combination of Galileo and a Stravinsky mare gave birth to Rip Van Winkle, the first great son of Galileo.

For as much as Galileo and Galileo-line stallions have had success with mares descended from Danehill, Dubawi, and Pivotal, the same is also true for stallions from the three sire-lines just mentioned and Galileo-line mares.

Nightime, Galileo’s first Group 1 winner, combined with Dubawi to produce Ghaiyyath, while Night Of Thunder and Henry Longfellow also hail from the same outcross.

On a similar theme, Dubawi has mated successfully with mares by New Approach (Modern Games) and Teofilo (Ezeliya and Coroebus) and if we extend the outcross further to Sadler’s Wells-line mares, Dubawi allied with a Singspiel and Barathea mare has yielded Too Darn Hot and Arabian Queen respectively.

Dubawi and Pivotal

The reverse of the Galileo x Pivotal cross has seen success, too, with Siyouni, a son of

Pivotal, siring St Mark’s Basilica and Sottsass out of mares by Galileo, as well as the highly promising Zarigana, who is out of a Frankel mare.

For good measure, Farhh has sired a Prix du Moulin (G1) winner in Tribalist out of a Nathaniel mare. As for Sadler’s Wellsline mares, Immortal Verse was the product of a Pivotal x Sadler’s Wells cross, whilst Paddington was by Siyouni and out of a Montjeu mare.

And in reverse: Danehill x Galileo

Unsurprisingly, the reversal of the Galileo x Danehill cross has delivered Group 1 glory in various forms – Galileo mares have been responsible for Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) and Barney Roy (Excelebration), while New Approach mares are the dams of both Mawj (Exceed And Excel) and Live In The Dream (Prince Of Lir).

Keeping it in the family

Extending the crosses to Galileo’s relations on both sides of his pedigree, Sea The Stars is the dam-sire of Big Rock (Rock Of Gibraltar), while Sadler’s Wells himself is the dam-sire of Danehill’s Peeping Fawn and as well as Dansili’s The Fugue and Flintshire.

Fairy Godmother, who is by Night Of Thunder and out of a Scintilating, a

Exceed And Excel and a Singspiel mare combined to produce Helmet, while other sons of Sadler’s Wells in Montjeu and Entrepreneur were the respective damsires of Danehill Dancer’s Legatissimo and Mastercraftsman’s The Grey Gatsby.

It would be somewhat remiss of me though not to mention for that as much success as Galileo and Galileo-line stallions have had with daughters from the sire-lines of Danehill, Pivotal, and Dubawi, the lines of the three stallions just mentioned have also combined to form Group 1-winning outcrosses.

Economics and Fairy Godmother have been two of Night Of Thunder’s stand-outs in what has been a banner year for him, but notably, both horses are out of Nureyev-line mares – Economics’s dam was by Peintre Celebre, whereas Fairy Godmother’s dam was by Siyouni.

Night Of Thunder’s first real flagbearer Highfield Princess was out of a Danehill mare, showing how Dubawi-line stallions can mesh well with dam-sires from non-Galileo sire-lines.

The aforementioned Siyouni shared some similarities with Highfield Princess on the distaff side of his pedigree, with his cross being the result of a Nureyev-line stallion in Pivotal meshing with a Danehill mare.

Above: Vandeek: a great grandson of Teofilo and out of the Exceed And Excel (Danehill) mare Mosa Mine

Right:

daughter of Siyouni (Pivotal)

So why do thee crosses outperform? Is it down to a mix of quality stamina and speed?

Next comes the challenging part: disentangling why these outcross have worked in the past and continue to work in the present day.

One possible reason why is that a significant number of the crosses listed involve the mating of quality speed and quality stamina.

For instance, Sadler’s Wells was predominantly a middle-distance sire as were his sons Galileo and Montjeu, while some of the main sires carrying on their lines in Frankel, Camelot, Teofilo, Australia, and Nathaniel are cut from similar cloth in terms of the preferred trip of their progeny.

In comparison, Danehill was a sprinter and, for as much as he did sire an Ascot Gold Cup winner (and an Arc runner-up) in Westerner, the imparting of quality speed on his stock was Danehill’s main calling card.

And a quick perusal of his sons would tell you that the speedy nature of the Danehill sire-line lives on with the likes of Kodiac, Danehill Dancer, and Choisir all finding success as sprint sires.

This should hardly come as much of a surprise given Danehill was a son of Danzig, himself the sire of Dayjur, Green Desert, Chief’s Crown, and Anabaa.

Pivotal and Dubawi are similar, too –the maximum distance Dubawi won over was a mile and he has sired four 2,000 Guineas winners to date, whilst Pivotal was a Nunthorpe winner.

If putting this together one cannot dismiss the marriage of quality speed to quality stamina as a driver in the success of certain stand-out crosses.

Perhaps more significantly though, the importance of a horse’s female family may be the single-biggest reason why some crosses work better than others.

Taking the Galileo x Danehill cross as an example, both would have been champion sire in the UK and Ireland and, for that reason, both would have covered stellar books of mares.

Some of the best mares in the game would have been sent to Danehill and then their daughters would then have been covered by Galileo; while Galileo and Danehill were exceptional sires, any horse that was a direct

result of the Galileo x Danehill outcross would have had to have hailed from an elite family.

That said, some of the extensions of the Galileo x Danehill cross would have involved sires who, whilst by and large good stallions, could not be considered bona fide “elite” stallions and therefore would not be in receipt of elite books.

That the success of a stand-out cross could be replicated with extension after extension pours some cold water on the notion that the quality of the female family determines all.

Rather, the quality of the female family may be the most important factor, but for all its importance, it is a necessary condition for success rather than a sufficient one.

The depth of the female family must also be complemented by a sire and dam-sire outcross which blends stamina with speed

in such a way that the resulting foals inherits the best of both worlds rather than being left sitting between two stools.

Debates on how much information can be gleaned from crosses have raged on for a long time now and will likely continue to do.

Regardless, whilst sire-broodmare sire combos may not quite represent the be-all and end-all of breeding, it would be foolish in the extreme to discount their importance.

For as much as certain sires (and broodmare sires) have a habit of finding ways to stick around in modern-day pedigrees, certain outcrosses through modern extensions and iterations may prove to last much longer than generally anticipated.

Galileo x Danehill may both be dead but Galileo-line stallions matched with Danehillline mares may endure for some time yet.

Speed influence: Danehill winning the 6f Cork and Orrery Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1989

Broodmare stakes sires 2024

From Weatherbys

Broodmare sires of stakes winners in Europe and UAE in 2024

Acclamation

Birdman (Free Eagle)

Bolthole (Free Eagle)

Caviar Heights (Sea The Stars)

Diego Velazquez (Frankel)..........................

Point Lonsdale (Australia)

San Donato (Lope de Vega)

(Teofilo)

(Amaron)

Areion

Armira (Muhaarar)

Candid Smile (Ten Sovereigns)

Narmada (Adlerflug)

Santagada (Soldier Hollow)

Zunder (Lord of England) ...............................

Shabab

(Dubawi)

La Samana (Goken)

(Gleneagles)

(Galileo)

(Exceed And

Twirling Ghost (Twirling Candy) ........... L

Camelot

Rashabar (Holy Roman Emperor) 2

Cape Cross

Almaqam (Lope de Vega) ............................... L

Grosvenor Square (Galileo) 3

Haatem (Phoenix of Spain) ........................ 3 3

Kaneshya (Hunter’s Light) L

Casamento

Sea The Boss (Sea The Moon) ....................... 3

Castledale

Kabirkhan (California Chrome) 1

Charm Spirit

Havana Ball (Havana Grey) L

Choisir

Beenham (Havana Grey) ................................. 3

Cityscape

Luther (Frankel) L

Clodovil

Nibras Passion (Iffraaj) ..................................... L

Compton Place

Diligent Harry (Due Diligence) L

(Zarak) ...............................................

Curlin

Mendelssohn Bay (Mendelssohn) .............. 3

Dabirsim

Maigret (Counterattack) 3

Dalakhani

(Frankel) ...............................................

(Zoffany)

(Le Havre) ..............................

(Shamardal)

Dandy Man

Darlinghurst (Dark Angel) ..........................

Leovanni (Kodi Bear)

(Galileo) ...............................................

(Galileo)

(Ulysses) ................................................ 3

Danehill Dancer

Celestial Orbit (No Nay Never) L

Diamond Rain (Shamardal) ........................... L

Hanalia (Sea The Stars) 2 L

Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot) ........................... 2 3

Jan Brueghel (Galileo) 1 3

Legend of Time (Sea The Stars) .................... L

Lily Hart (Galileo) L

Luxembourg (Camelot) ................................... 1

Subsequent (Galileo) L Trustyourinstinct (Churchill) ......................... 3

Dansili

Admiral de Vega (Lope de Vega) L Bluestocking (Camelot)

Cherry Blossom (No Nay Never) L Daramethos (Sea The Stars) ..........................

Double Major (Daiwa Major)

(Study of Man)............................

Los Angeles (Camelot)

(Night of Thunder)

Danehill’s infuence as a broodmare sire is nearing its conclusion (he died in 2003), but his three stakes winners this year are all Group race winners and include the amazing eight-time Group 1 winner Kyprios. Two of this year’s winners are by Galileo and one by Ulysses, who is a son of Galileo – the strength of that nick not losing its power despite the years

Englemere (Goken) L

Diktat

Three Havanas (Havana Grey) ...................... 3

Zerostress (Areion) L

Doyen

Sacaya (The Grey Gatsby)............................... L

Dragon Pulse

Battle Cry (No Nay Never) 3

Dream Ahead

Romantic Style (Night of Thunder)............. 3

Dubai Destination

Arabian Crown (Dubawi) 3

Niagaro (Adlerflug) ........................................... L

Sunchart (Teofilo) L

Warren Point (Dubawi) 3

Dubawi

Bold Act (New Approach)............................... 2

Cinderella’s Dream (Shamardal) L

English Rose (Frankel) ...................................... 2

Hooking (Lope de Vega) L L

Jabaara (Exceed And Excel) ........................L L

Left Sea (Frankel) L

Lordano (Adlerflug) ...................................... 2 2

Magical Hope (Frankel) L

Maniatic (Intello) ................................................ L

Map of Stars (Sea The Stars) L

Meydaan (Frankel)............................................. L

Military Order (Frankel) 3

Arizona Blaze (left) and the four-year-old Shouldvebeenaring are 2024’s Group 3 winners out of Fastnet Rock mares. Both are by Whitsbury Manor Stud’s resident stallions

Mont de Soleil (Siyouni) L

Naval Power (Teofilo) ....................................... 2

See The Fire (Sea The Stars) 3 Shartash (Invincible Spirit) ............................. L

Stroxx Carlras (Footstepsinthesand) L Time Lock (Frankel) ........................................... 3

Duke of Marmalade

Galashiels (Australia) L

Mr Darcy (Fa Ul Sciur) ....................................... L Quantanamera (Lope de Vega) 2 Queen of The Pride (Roaring Lion) ......... 2 3

Quetame (Saxon Warrior)

Dunkerque

Woodchuck (Birchwood) ................................

Dutch Art

Bright Stripes (Starspangledbanner)

Cool Hoof Luke (Advertise)

Givemethebeatboys (Bungle Inthejungle) 3

Great Generation (Holy Roman Emperor) 3

See You Around (Siyouni) ...............................

(Ulysses)

(Dandy Man)

Eltish

Elusive City

Fuerte (Wootton Bassett) 3 Cowardofthecounty (Kodi Bear).................. 3

(Zarak)

Elusive Quality

Colour Up (Mehmas) ........................................

Lady With The Lamp (King of Change)

Magic (Exceed And Excel)

(Sioux Nation)

Valley (Shamardal)

REGISTER YOUR STALLION BY 15th

Register your stallion to the European Breeders’ Fund and all of his 2025 foal crop will automatically be eligible for EBF races throughout Europe. International stallions (outside of Europe) can be registered for just 50% of the advertised fee.

The Lion In Winter is by Sea The Stars and out of What A Home (Lope De Vega). The colt missed his end-of-season Group 1 assignment at Newmarket, but he is an exciting prospect for 2025, with Lope De Vega a highly promising broodmare sire

Green Impact (Wootton Bassett)

Greenfinch (Justify) L

Gregarina (De Treville) 3

Hidden Law (Dubawi) 3

Madero (Lope de Vega) L

Maranoa Charlie (Wootton Bassett)........... 3

Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Muhaarar) 3 L

Middle Earth (Roaring Lion) .......................... 3

Nakheel (Dubawi) 2

Noble Dynasty (Dubawi) ................................

Pemba Bay (Blue Point) L

Portland (Dubawi) .............................................

Sigh No More (Starspangledbanner).........

Spiritual (Invincible Spirit)

Stay Alert (Fastnet Rock) .................................

The Waco Kid (Mehmas)

Treasure Isle (No Nay Never)

Vagalame (Lope de Vega)

(Muhaarar)

(Planteur)

(Markaz)

(Awtaad)

(Seahenge)

(Expert

(Zarak)

(Adlerflug)

(Mehmas)

Watch

Darling (Too Darn Hot) ...........................

Henrythenavigator

Straight (Zarak) ................................................... 2

Hernando

Lazio (Make Believe) 2 L

High Chaparral

Angel Guidance (Mastercraftsman) L L

California Spangle (Starspangledbanner)1

Estrosa (Sioux Nation) L L L L

Flag’s Up (War Command) ......................... 3 L

Look de Vega (Lope de Vega) 1

Holy Roman Emperor

Al Qudra (No Nay Never) ................................ L

Brave Emperor (Sioux Nation) 3

Kerdos (Profitable)............................................. 2

One Look (Gleneagles) L Porta Fortuna (Caravaggio) ....................1

Kaldounevees

Rose Jaipur (Doctor Dino) L

Kallisto

(Zarak) .........................................

Mr Hollywood (Iquitos) L Vauban (Galiway) ............................................... 2

I Am Invincible

Asfoora (Flying Artie) 1

Iffraaj

Adelaise (Lawman)............................................ L

Al Mubhir (Frankel) L

Arabian Dusk (Havana Grey) ......................... 2

Bright Thunder (Night of Thunder) L

Intellect (Intello) L

Miss Lamai (Mehmas) L

Not Afraid (Night of Thunder) L

Inchinor

Friendly Soul (Kingman) ...................... 1 2 3 L

Indian Ridge Caos Calmo (Affaire Solitaire) L

Intello Coktail (Chachnak) ............................................

(Profitable) 2

Invincible Spirit

Fast Spirit (Make Believe) L

High Spirited (Belardo) .................................... L Leading Spirit (Exceed And Excel) 3

Mgheera (Zoustar) ............................................ L

Notable Speech (Dubawi) 1 1

Partir (Zarak) L

Sajir (Make Believe) 3

Shareholder (Not This Time) 2

Sound Angela (Muhaarar).............................. L

Starlust (Zoustar) L

Topanga (Siyouni) ............................................. L

Une Perle (Mount Nelson) 3

Yaroogh (Dubawi) ............................................. L

Ishiguru

Crystal Black (Teofilo) 3

Jukebox Jury

Fantastic Moon (Sea The Moon) .............. 1 2

Partnun (The Grey Gatsby) L

Assistent (Sea The Moon) ........................... 3 L

Sirona (Soldier Hollow) L

Kandahar Run

Bellano (Zelzal) ................................................... L

Kendargent

Arnis Master (Tai Chi) 3

Betty Clover (Time Test) .................................. L Wootton Verni (Wootton Bassett) 3

Kheleyf

Marine Wave (Harry Angel) L

King’s Best

Borna (Saxon Warrior) 2

My Eternal Love (Cotai Glory) L

Quddwah (Kingman) ................................... 2 L

Shadizi (Siyouni) L

Kingmambo

Evade (Wootton Bassett) ................................ L

Royal Rhyme (Lope de Vega) 3

Kingman

Korisa (Kodiac) ................................................ 3 L

Kingsalsa

King Gold (Anodin) 3

Kitten’s Joy

Al Musmak (Night of Thunder)..................... L

Cuban Tiger (Havana Grey) L

Norwalk Havoc (Showcasing)....................... L

Waldora (Waldgeist) L

Kodiac

American Sonja (Tasleet) 3

Believing (Mehmas) ...................................... 2 L

Charyn (Dark Angel) 1 1 1 2 L

My Mate Alfie (Dark Angel)..................... 3 L L

Poet Master (Lope de Vega) 2

Powerful Glory (Cotai

Lava Stream (Too Darn Hot) ..........................

Zarakem (Zarak)

Mawatheeq

Mutasarref (Dark Angel)........................3

Maxios

Diya (Dubawi)

Medaglia d’Oro

Mountain Song (Sea The Stars) ....................

Nine Tenths (Kodiac)

Medicean

Elizabeth Jane (Dubawi) .................................

You Got To Me (Nathaniel)

Meshaheer

Fort Payne (Rio de La Plata)

Monsun

Atzeco (Fastnet Rock).......................................

Diamond Crown (Cracksman)

Downtown (Areion) ..........................................

Mosaique (Dubawi)

Mythico (Adlerflug)...........................................

Nastaria (Outstrip)

Ottery (Dubawi) .................................................

Shagara (Zarak)

Montjeu

Coltrane (Mastercraftsman)

Dubai Honour (Pride of Dubai)

Geography (Holy Roman Emperor)

Novus (Dandy Man)

Term of Endearment (Sea The Moon)

The Euphrates (Frankel)

More Than Ready

Agualeto (Recoletos)

Atlast (Farhh)

Motivator

Doha (Sea The Stars)

Empress of Beauty (Le Havre) .......................

Ottoman Fleet (Sea The Stars) 3

Princess Badee (Al Wukair)

Strassia (Kendargent)

Wimbledon Hawkeye (yellow): is out of a Sea The Stars mare, the stallion making a mark as a broodmare sire

Orpen

Jasna’s Secret (Galiway) ................................... L Pretty Crystal (Dubawi) 3

Pastoral Pursuits

Moss Tucker (Excelebration) L

Peintre Celebre Economics (Night of Thunder) ..............1 2

Nina’s Lob (Lope de Vega) L

Pivotal

Camille Pissarro (Wootton Bassett) ............ 1

Countess of Tyrone (Australia)

(New

(Galileo

(Nathaniel)

(Invincible

(Galileo)

(Waldgeist)

(Kingman)

(Harzand)

Lingua Franca (Study of Man)....................... L

Merrily (No Nay Never) 3

Tawang (Zelzal)................................................... L

Sevres Rose

Mqse de Sevigne (Siyouni) 1 1 1 L

Shamardal

Al Aasy (Sea The Stars) ................................. 3 3

Aomori City (Oasis Dream) 2

Ayada (Areion) .................................................... L

Boiling Point (Too Darn Hot) L

Devoted Queen (Kingman) ........................... L

Facteur Cheval (Ribchester) 1

Field of Gold (Kingman) .................................. 3

Goliath (Adlerflug) 1 2 3

Mysterious Night (Dark Angel) 2

Prydwen (Camelot) 3

Silver Lady (Sea The Stars) 2

Sosie (Sea The Stars) 1 2

Star of Mystery (Kodiac) 2

Symbol of Strength (Kodiac) ......................... 3

Whispering Dream (Invincible Spirit) L Wild Goddess (Camelot) ................................. L

Shaweel

Lancieri (Le Vie Infinite) ................................... L

Shinko Forest

Aesop’s Fables (No Nay Never) L

Shirocco

Mistral Star (Frankel)......................................... L

Noir (Mastercraftsman) L

Sweet William (Sea The Stars) ...................

Showcasing

Ain’t Nobody (Sands of Mali) L Lake Victoria (Frankel) 1

Silver Frost Best of Lips (The Gurkha)

Daylight (Earthlight) .........................................

Nonna Vanda (James Garfield) L

Singspiel

Absurde (Fastnet Rock) ................................... L

Aphelios (Kodiac) L

Aventure (Sea The Stars) ............................. 2 3

Choisya (Night of Thunder) L

Sinndar

Calandagan (Gleneagles) ........................2 3 3

Sir Prancealot

Celandine (Kingman) 2 L

Siyouni

Fairy Godmother (Night of Thunder) 3 3

Tiego The First (Blue Point) L Trafalgar Square (Kendargent) L

Slade Power Bulnes (Galileo Gold)........................................ L

So You Think

Puchkine (Starspangledbanner) 1

Society Rock

Enchanting Empress (Sergei Prokofiev) ... L

Soldier Hollow

Koffi Kick (Zarak) L

Montanus (Amaron) ......................................... L

Sammarco (Camelot) L

Wilko (Mastercraftsman)................................. 3

Words of Peace (Palace Prince) L

Soldier of Fortune

Ami de Vega (Lope de Vega) L

Sternkoenig

Wintertraum (Lord of England) L

Street Cry Isle of Jura (New Approach) ...................... 2 L

Measured Time (Frankel) 1

New Century (Kameko) ................................... L

Outbox (Frankel) 2

Rebel’s Romance (Dubawi) ........................ 1 1

Skellet (Kingman) L

Star of Lady M (Havana Grey) ....................... L

Street Sense

Little Arabella (Karakontie) L

Village Voice (Zarak) ......................................... L

Sunday Break Territorywar (Territories) L

Swiss Spirit

Elite Status (Havana Grey) 3 L

Soldier’s Heart (Havana Grey) ....................... L

Tagula

Sparks

photo finish: happy consignors

A BLOODSTOCK SALE in which all the participants walk away happy? Such a thing has never been? Well it hadn’t been until the recent record-breaking Tattersalls October Sale 2024 – even the Book 2 and Book 3 end time each day after 8.30pm only had the press desk moaning.

The raging market was essentially caused by the disruptive influence of football agent Kia Joorabchian, who seems to be taking his bloodstock investments into a new multimillion spending sphere, Amo Racing’s man pumping over 22 million guineas into the market, alongside the continued determination of the Godolphin team to buy, to a large degree unhindered by market trends, as well as the depth of trade produced by the American invasion, horsemen with money

to spend and an enthusiasm to collect Turf and European-bred yearlings.

Equally importantly many principals were on the sale ground for Book 1 – the attractions of Newmarket continuing to draw Sheikh Mohammed to sale day, while Joorabchian was at Park Paddocks into the second week of trade.

The importance of leaders of an organisation being on site for purchasing decisions can not be over-estimated; in a flourishing market, when equine valuations are constantly being reassessed, the benefits of this on-hand involvement can not be overplayed and is an important driver of the market, anyway.

The seep-down effect also did its thing into Book 2 and Book 3 and

Moubray

so many consignors, large and small, could not believe the prices that they were continually seeing being registered on the bids’ board.

It was such a refreshing change when speaking to many selling horses over the Tattersalls’ two weeks, both those with large-scale consignments to those offering just one or two at Park Paddocks, to hear the thrill and enthusiasm in voices as they spoke almost in awe as to what they had just witnessed with a gathering realisation that there can be a life with horses in a significantly profitable way. Many grown men and women were reduced to tears – for once the maths adding up to produce a big fat plus sign.

Like children at Christmas, all said that they wished the week was never going to come to an end.

Even stallions pinned at the wrong end of the commercial spectrum entered a new world with progeny in demand, cue a Book 2 price for a colt by Territories by some margin the highest-priced yearling by the sire ever sold in the sale ring.

The stallion’s sale was subsequently announced by Darley, the son of Invincible Spirit purchased for Poonawalla Farms by stallion buyer Ajay Anne, previously featured in our Weatherbys Stallion Scene.

Yearlings by Ardad and the Time Test made a welcome resurgence, the sires filling the top two spots by aggregate in Book 3 –this crop of yearlings out of mares covered after both sires made decent starts on the racecourse with their first two-year-olds.

Photo: courtesy of Tattersalls, by Alisha Meeder

UBETTABELIEVEIT

KODIAC – LADY LISHANDRA (MUJADIL)

By KODIAC

- World Record Holder for 2-y-o winners

Now well regarded as a leading Sire of Sires

UBETTABELIEVEIT – winner of three races and £116,503 all over 5f including: EBF Novice Stakes Doncaster, LR National S. Sandown, Gr.2 Flying Childers S. Doncaster. Also 3rd Gr.2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, all at 2

First crop yearlings sold for 70,000gns, 62,000gns, £66,000, 60,000gns, etc.

2YO winners incl. QUEUE DOS, HOT TO DOT, PIRANHA RAMA (2 wins), etc. FIRST 2YOS 2025

TEOFILO - MADANY (ACCLAMATION)

Brother to Gr.1 Commonwealth Cup winner EQTIDAAR Gr.1 placed at 2, 3 and 4, Gr.2 winner over 7f

Black type horses include DOCKLANDS (Royal Ascot winner, Gr.1 placed in 2024 to Charyn), QUEUES LIKELY (Gr.3 winner, Gr.2 placed) COCO JAMBOO (Gr.3 winner), MASCAPONE and MAS RAPIDO (both Stakes placed), etc.

Fit for a king…

“There is a general correlation between racing class and production class in mares, for which reason the better the books of mares a stallion receives, the better his chances of success. Racing class is summarised in a statistic known as the CPI (Class Production Index), which is produced by the US Jockey Club. The analysis shows that Baaeed’s first two books of mares have the highest-average CPI of any European stallion since Frankel.

Standing at Beech House Stud, UK

The calibre of mares Baaeed has covered is exceptional for a stallion at his stage in his career. Add to this his racecourse performances and stallion profile, he qualifies as one of the most exciting stallion prospects of the last 30 years.”

Bill Oppenheim

Contact Will Wright: +44 (0)7787 422901 | nominations@shadwellstud.co.uk