LITTLETON Stud’s Jeff Smith is one of the most respected owners in racing, a very successful owner-breeder, and a man for whom the word loyalty was probably invented. Three years ago he was honoured with the Cartier and Daily Telegraph Award of Merit, and deservedly so.

Without a background in racing or bloodstock, Smith developed a passion for racing that led to his becoming immersed in it, thanks to being a very successful businessman. It was 50 years ago, on October 7th 1976, that his first horse, the two-year-old Rush Bond, won a 19-runner seller at York. The colt was trained by Barry Hills, and sold afterwards for 2,800gns.

Five years after, Smith had his first important win as an owner when the Ron Sheather-trained Saher took the Lincoln. He bought Park Lodge Stables in Newmarket for Sheather, later to be his racing manager, to train in. When Chief Singer was syndicated as a stallion, Smith offered Sheather the yard as a gift. Chief Singer won the 1983 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot by four lengths on his first start. The following season he was runner-up in the Guineas before winning the St James’s Palace, July Cup and Sussex Stakes.

Smith bought Littleton Stud in the early 1980s, and today Irishman David Bowe is the manager, a role he has held for almost a quarter of a century. The Ian Balding-trained Dashing Blade became Smith’s first homebred Group 1 winner when he won the National Stakes at the Curragh, and followed up with wins in the Dewhurst Stakes and the Gran Premio d’Italia. Peckitts Well did exceptionally well for him as a broodmare, producing two Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes winners, Lochsong and Lochangel.

Lochsong, also trained by Balding, was said to be almost impossible to train as a young filly, but at the end of her three-year-old season she raced three times, winning twice. She would race until the age of six, won two editions of the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye, and was voted Cartier Horse of the Year in 1993. At two, Lochangel was one of Frankie Dettori’s Magnificent Seven at Ascot, and two years later won her Nunthorpe.

Deep connection

Smith had a deep connection with the Cartier Awards before he won one for himself, as he owned and bred one of the most popular horses to race in Britain, and the subject of a book. A giant of an individual who raced 63 times, Persian Punch won the Group 2 Goodwood Cup at the ages of eight and 10. Regrettably, he never won a Group 1, was beaten a head in the Gold Cup and placed in two Melbourne Cups, yet twice was voted the Cartier Stayer winner.

In a Channel 4 Racing interview, Smith said: “You can look out there and nobody on the planet knows whether it’s the Derby winner, the Oaks winner, or the Guineas winner, or whatever winner, or just a field of losers. That’s the attraction.

“Some are better looking than others, but what’s inside? Has one of them got Persian Punch’s heart? Has another got Lochsong’s character? Or is one of them just purely and simply a champion like Chief Singer? You only find out on the racetrack, which is the way it was always intended.”

We cannot forget Alcohol Free, a €40,000 foal purchase by David Bowe at Goffs who went on to be a multiple Group 1 winner, selling at the age of four for 5,400,000gns. That said, most of Smith’s best wins have been with homebreds. This leads me nicely to Arabian Queen (Dubawi), who inflicted one of just two defeats on Golden Horn when she denied him by a neck in the 2015 Group 1 Juddmonte International, trained by David Elsworth.

Long association

Arabian Queen is from a female line that has a long association with Smith and Littleton Stud. Her dam Barshiba (Barathea) raced for five seasons, started 35 times, and won seven. She was a Royal Ascot winner, twice landed the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks, and was just shy of Group 1 class. She has been a solid producer at stud, her eighth and final foal being the unraced two-year-old Vulcanist (Too Darn Hot). The other seven are winners, and Arabian Queen stands tall among them. She was ‘lightly raced’, running 17 times over three seasons.

Arabian Queen has matched the achievement of her own dam, being responsible for seven winners with her first seven foals. However, five of them are blacktype horses, and three are stakes winners. All have been or are being trained by Andrew Balding.

Incredibly, four of Arabian Queen’s sons and daughters ran in a five-day period last week, with nine-time winner Spirit Mixer (Frankel) being the only one not to win or place. Her two-year-old daughter Forbidden Fire (No Nay Naver) remains unbeaten after her determined triumph in the Listed Flying Scotsman Stakes at Doncaster. Meanwhile, this year’s Group 2 Derby Italiano winner Venetian Prince (St Mark’s Basilica) bounced back from a disappointing Royal Ascot run to finish second in the Group 3 Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor.

Finally, the five-year-old See The Fire (Sea The Stars) looked to have finally found a deserved Group or Grade 1 victory in sight when she travelled to Canada for the E.P. Taylor Stakes, only to be denied a neck. Last year she was beaten a short neck in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, while Opera Singer beat her by a neck in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at three. So agonisingly close.