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Steel success
It was a rain-sodden British Champions Day, but the racing, King Of Steel and Frankie Dettori ignited the crowd, writes Amy Bennett
BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY 2023 was billed beforehand as Frankie Dettori’s swan-song, his final appearance at the racecourse with which his name is inextricably linked. The announcement that Dettori will not be retiring after all may have taken away some of the pre-event hype, but it did perhaps return the focus more fittingly to its equine participants – although the cheers still rang long and loud when Dettori booted home a pair of winners.
Storm Babet made a valiant bid to steal the headlines but the meeting went ahead, albeit on soft ground and with three of the races run on the inner hurdles course. Given the deluge of pre-race rain, it was amazing that the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) and Juddmonte International (G1) victor Mostahdaf was the only high-profile nonrunner on the day.
Did the ground affect the results? More than likely given the number of double digit-priced winners. But should that detract from any one of the day’s Group 1 winners. Absolutely not.
From a bloodstock perspective, it is noteworthy that all bar one of the day’s Group winners were sired by stallions outside of the top ten sires in Europe by prize-money, heading into the day.
Yeomanstown Stud’s Dark Angel, lying in eighth place among the leading sires in Europe heading into British Champions Day, was the only one to buck the trend.
His son Art Power was one of the outsiders of the field, having failed to land a top-flight sprint contest on his 14 previous attempts at the level.
However, 15 times proved the charm, as Tim Easterby’s charge made almost all, fighting back when collared by the favourite, Kinross (Kingman), in the final furlong to triumph by a neck.
The six-year-old had five previous Group successes, all in Ireland. Bred by Owenstown Stud, he was a €110,000 graduate of the Goffs Orby Sale for King Power Racing.
He is out of the dual Listed winner Evening Time (Keltos), who has also produced the Group 3 winner Penny Pepper (Fast Company) and Listed scorer Morning Frost (Duke Of Marmalade).
Lying just outside of the top 10 sires in Europe by prize-money prior to British Champions Day was Wootton Bassett and it was fitting that he was represented by the winner of the day’s showpiece, King Of Steel. In triumphing in the Champion Stakes (G1), the three-year-old gained a deserved top-level triumph for his connections, Amo Racing and trainer Roger Varian.
Returning to the scene of his King Edward VII Stakes victory in June, the Derby runner-up did not look the likely winner even a furlong out, but powered home to score by three-quarters of a length from Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock), and the stayingon Horizon Dore (Dabarsim). Had this definitely been Dettori’s sign-off to Ascot, the script could not have been more apt with the multiple champion jockey at this strongest to assist home King Of Steel.
The Keeneland graduate is out of the Verglas mare Eldacar, a soft ground winner in France at up to 3000m. King Of Steel is the last reported foal of the mare, but she has a pair of daughters, one of whom, the winner Macadamia, is a full-sister to King Of Steel. It was a race of races for Laundry Cottage Stud – the farm breeder of King Of Steel’s sire Wootton Bassett as well as Via Sistina. The Coolmore powerhouse might not have celebrated any Ballydoyle winners on British Champions Day, but another Group 1 success for Wootton Bassett will have been cause for cheer.
And if the sire is the stud’s future, there was also a poignant nod to the past with the success of Big Rock in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (G1).
The colt’s victory was a fitting tribute to his late sire Rock Of Gibraltar, coming just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of the death of the top miler.
A homebred for Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals’s Yeguada Centurion, the colt blasted out of the stalls and made every post a winning one scoring by 6l from Facteur Cheval (Ribchester), who pipped the outstanding Tahiyra (Siyouni) for second.
The remainder of the field, including the top pair Paddington and Nashwa and the 2,000 Guineas (G1) victor Chaldean, were strung out behind like washing.
For Big Rock, it was a ninth race of a season which began in January at Chantilly, and has included a pair of Group 3 victories as well as runner-up spots in the Prix du Jockey Club (G1), the Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) and the Prix du Moulin.
Yeguada Centurion paid just €72,000 for the colt’s dam Hardiyna (Sea The Stars), carrying Big Rock, at the 2019 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale.
As the dam sire and name suggest, the mare was culled from the Aga Khan Studs' draft.
The unraced Hardiyna, now seven, is out of the Group 1-placed Silver Flash Stakes (G3) winner Harasiya (Pivotal), herself a half-sister to Harzand (Sea The Stars). The mare has since produced the Ten Sovereigns colt Hazard and produced a filly by Australia this year.
The British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (G1) also threw up a fantastic result for an owner-breeder, albeit on a much smaller scale.
David and Yvonne Blunt have been represented by just three runners this year, but that scarcely seems to matter when one of them is Poptronic.
The mare holds an entry during the Sceptre Session of the Tattersalls December Mares’ Sale, and it will be interesting to see if the Blunts take up that option.
The daughter of Nathaniel landed the Lancashire Oaks (G2) in July and the Hoppings Stakes (G3) last year, but this was by far her biggest triumph – the four-yearold made virtually all to hold off the fast-finishing Bluestocking (Camelot).
Big Rock: picked up a well-deserved first Group 1 victory after good placed efforts this season, at present he stays in training as a four-year-old
The Blunts, who have a broodmare band of three, bred Poptronic out of the minor winner Alpine Dream (Dream Ahead), purchased for 40,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2013.
Now a half-sister to this year’s Italian Listed juvenile winner Royal Grey (Havana Grey) the mare has also produced a winner by Brazen Beau, and has a yearling filly by New Bay and a filly foal by Zoustar.
For Poptronic’s sire Nathaniel it was an eighth individual Group 1 winner, six of whom are female.
The day began with another perfectly scripted winner as Dettori donned the Godolphin blue, in which he has enjoyed so much success, to partner home the Gosden-trained Trawlerman, the colt outbattling Kyprios (Galileo) in the British Champions Long Distance Cup (G2).
The five-year-old is by Dettori’s Derby (G1) victor Golden Horn, now plying his trade at Overbury Stud, rather than Dalham Hall Stud, but maintaining a fine clip of winners.
Trawlerman is his sire’s third Group 2 winner of the season following the Queen’s Vase victor Gregory and the Derby Italiano hero Goldenas.
Successful in last year’s Ebor, the gelding was third in this race 12 months ago, and shrugged off two defeats in the Middle East this spring and a break to return with a 13l triumph in a Salisbury conditions contest.
He followed that up with an 18l success in September’s Listed Jockey Club Rose Bowl. He is out of the Deutsches St Leger (G3) runner-up Tidespring (Monsun), herself out of the Prix Vermeille (G1) heroine Sweet Stream, a daughter of Sheikh Mohammed’s top-flight runner Shantou.
Troy dominates on Future day
IF BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY is to crown the champions of the season, then Future Champions Day is all about what is to come. Over the course of two days on the Rowley Mile, plenty of winners advertised their credentials for next year.
Ballydoyle scooped both the Group 1 prizes with City Of Troy looking particularly exciting.
Not exactly noted for his faint praise, it was no great surprise to once again hear Aidan O’Brien anointing one of his charges as perhaps the best he has trained. However, in the case of City Of Troy, it could actually be true.
The son of Justify made all to win the Dewhurst (G1) in truly impressive style, retaining his unbeaten record of three.
When he won the July Stakes (G2) he became only his sire’s second winner in Britain, but with Justify slated to stand for $200,000 next year – double his 2023 fee – the well-bred winners will continue to flow for the US Triple Crown winner.
A day earlier, O’Brien had saddled Ylang Ylang (Frankel) to win the Fillies’ Mile (G1) with the daughter of Frankel bouncing back from her last-place finish in the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1), and third in the Rockfel Stakes (G2) on her previous start. The filly, who also looked an outstanding prospect for next year, gave her trainer a record-equalling sixth win in the race, but stands out from his previous winners for not being a Coolmore homebred.
While Coolmore is not exactly lacking in sons of Galileo, so far there is no son of Frankel on the roster. When the time comes for Ylang Ylang to make her way to the paddocks, she will bring a slightly different flavour to her matings, being out of a Shamardal mare.
Bred by Newsells Park Stud and Merry Fox Stud, she was purchased by MV Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm for 1,500,000gns in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
The filly is out of Shambolic, who finished fourth in the Fillies’ Mile (G1), and was purchased by Hadden Bloodstock for 800,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares’ Sale in 2019.
She is a half-sister to the dual Hong Kong Group 1 winner Viva Pataca (Marju), as well as the dual US Grade 1 winner Laughing (Dansili), from a family that has produced top-flight winners around the globe.
The Future Champions meeting also saw a hat-trick of eye-catching juveniles for Dubawi, starting with Dance Sequence in the Oh So Sharp Stakes (G3).
The daughter of Tearless (Street Cry) stayed on well to win by a neck, giving her dam a first Group success, following the Listed success of three-parts sister Romantic Song (Shamardal).
A day later, Ancient Wisdom cruised home to land the Autumn Stakes (G3) by nearly 4l. Bred by Ecurie des Monceaux and partners, the colt was purchased for €2,000,000 at the 2022 Arqana August Yearling Sale. Also Listed-placed at Ascot in July, the colt is out of the Prix Minerve (G3) heroine Golden Valentine (Dalakhani), a full-sister to the Group 3 winner Goldwaki, out of a Group 3-winning half-sister to the outstanding Goldikova.
Two hours later, Arabian Crown added to his sire’s juvenile haul with success in the Zetland Stakes (G3), triumphing by five and a half lengths from Gasper De Lemos (Justify).
Already successful in the Listed Stonehenge Stakes in August, the colt was bred by G B Partnership and was snapped up by the Godolphin team for €600,000 at the Arqana August Yearling Sale. Out of the German Listed winner Dubai Rose (Dubai Destination), also a Classic winner in the loosest sense having landed the ungraded Swiss Derby, he is a half-brother to the high-class mare The Juliet Rose (Monsun) and the Listed-placed Pocketfullofdreams (Invincible Spirit).
Dubawi, who also has the exciting National Stakes (G1) victor Henry Longfellow in the Coolmore camp, was represented by one more winner on the day, the 4l Darley Stakes (G3) winner Highland Avenue and, a day earlier, his son Night Of Thunder was responsible for an eye-catching maiden winner in Glimpsed, a daughter of Lawn Stud’s Look So (Efisio).
