DO you know who won the Group 3 Niigata Nisai Stakes in Japan last weekend? Well, I bet Jim Bolger does. The winner was the two-year-old colt Realize Sirius, and the grey is from the first crop sired by Poetic Flare (Dawn Approach), Bolger’s 2021 winner of the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

According to the JBIS website, the classic winner has 38 two-year-olds and just 20 yearlings. Poetic Flare’s 10 first crop runners have produced two winners and six placed horses. Bred by Shadai Farm, Realize Sirius is unbeaten in two starts, and is a graduate of the 2024 JRHA Yearling Sale where he sold for the equivalent of about €250,000. Poetic Flare has suffered from dwindling support at stud, but this good start at stud might reignite interest in him.

A smart two-year-old, Poetic Flare was at his best at three, and in addition to his pair of top-flight victories, he ran second three times in Group 1 races, the Irish 2000 Guineas (beaten a short head by Mac Swiney), Sussex Stakes (to Alcohol Free) and Prix Jacques Le Marois (denied a neck by Palace Pier), while he finished his racing career when less than a length behind St Mark’s Basilica and Tarnawa in an engrossing Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.

Realize Sirius is the second winner and fourth foal out of the Stay Gold (Sunday Silence) mare Red Mirabel, placed on her only run at two, a winner at three, but who never again even placed in 11 other starts up to the age of five. Her three-year-old son Landshut (Bricks And Mortar) won this year, and she has a yearling colt by Benbatl (Dubawi). Red Mirabel is one of eight winners out of Danseuse D’Etoile (Highest Honor). She only won once, but by virtue of running second in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at two, beaten a head by Sulk, was rated the second-best two-year-old filly in France. She never raced to that level again.

The best runner from Danseuse D’Etoile was Lelouch (Zenno Rob Roy), a Group 2 winner in Tokyo. She also bred a pair of stakes-placed winners. The only Group 1 winner in four generations of this family appears under the fourth dam, the Grade 1 Canadian winner and multiple British Group 2 scorer Sheikhzayedroad (Dubawi).

Kodi Bear’s Gimcrack winner is well-timed

WITH the yearling sales season now well underway, anyone going to auction with a son or daughter of Rathbarry Stud’s Kodi Bear (Kodiac) will have welcomed the success of his son Lifeplan in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York. The victory was a landmark first stakes winner for a mare by Awtaad (Cape Cross).

Bred by Joann Lyons, better known as Joey, Lifeplan was one of six yearlings by the sire to sell last year for €100,000 or more. Three were colts and three were fillies, and their sales came on the back of Leovanni’s victory in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot. Kodi Bear is noted for his smart juveniles, and he himself was one, beating Muhaarar in the seven-furlong Listed Winkfield Stakes at Ascot before finishing second in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

At three, Kodi Bear won three of his five starts, the Group 2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood and Group 3 and listed contests, and he was fourth in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat. Every one of his six crops of racing age has produced stakes winners, and they number 12 in total. Half of these achieved this feat at two.

Lifeplan was sold by his breeder as a foal to Paul Harley for €85,000, and was from the first crop sired by Kodi Bear after he saw his fee rocket from €6,000 to €15,000. It has remained at the latter price for four seasons now, and future years will see stock by him from better mares. Harley was acting for Eoghan Grogan of Killourney Mor Farm who resold Lifeplan as a yearling to his trainer for €165,000.

Lifeplan’s dam A Taad Moody didn’t manage to win, but she placed in a listed race from four starts, only finishing out of the money once. A Taad Moody’s second produce is a colt foal by Gleneagles (Galileo), and she is due next spring to Big Evs (Blue Point). Noted for selling as foals, Joey Lyons will consign the Gleneagles colt at Goffs in November.

Princess Mood

Joey’s dad Paraic paid €10,000 for A Taad Moody’s dam Princess Mood (Muhtarram) as a four-year-old at Goffs 23 years ago. She had been placed twice in Germany, but her female family blossomed since and has gone on to produce three-time Group 1 winner Pastorius (Soldier Hollow) and the classic-placed, Group 2 winner Arcadio (Monsun). While that has been happening, Princess Mood was turning herself into a winner-producing machine.

Incredibly, Princess Mood’s 15 foals included just two fillies, neither of which were sold. A Taad Moody was born five years after the unraced Miss Moody (Frozen Power), and the latter has now bred a couple of winners. Princess Mood rewarded the Lyons family well in the sale ring, and with her runners. A dozen of her progeny raced, 10 won, and five earned blacktype.

I WELL remember standing near the auctioneer’s rostrum at the Goffs London Sale a decade ago, when Majestic Queen (Kheleyf) came up for sale.

John Ferguson paid what was easily the best price recorded on the day, giving £825,000 for the Tracey Collins-trained five-year-old owned by Thomas Rogers. This was some way better than the €18,000 she cost as a yearling, sold to Brian Grassick Bloodstock.

Majestic Queen was then a five-time winner, taking her winnings to £138,135 when her victories included the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes at Leopardstown and the Group 3 Betfred Chartwell Stakes at Lingfield Park. She remained in training with Collins and made three further starts in the colours of Godolphin. She came close to winning first time out, finishing runner-up for the second time in the Group 3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Brownstown Stakes. Prior to her sale she was third in the Group 2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes.

If her new owners were in any way disappointed not to enjoy further success with Majestic Queen as a racemare, they can have no complaints about her record at stud. Her first five foals are winners, two at stakes level, and her two-year-old daughter My Highness (Ghaiyyath) looks very smart indeed. Beaten a nose on her debut by the subsequent unbeaten Group 3 winner Green Spirit, My Highness has improved with every run, and her three wins since now include the Group 2 Prix du Calvados.

The good news is that Godolphin has a yearling full-sister to My Highness, while Majestic Queen’s other stakes winner is Maria Amalia, a daughter of Ghaiyyath’s sire Dubawi (Dubai Millennium). My Highness is from the second crop by Kildangan Stud’s Ghaiyyath, and the first comprises four stakes winners, headed by dual listed winner Opera Ballo, and the Group 3 winner Mandanaba who was placed in this year’s Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas.