WHAT a purchase Jassim Hamad Al-Atteya made at the December Sale last year, buying the 16-year-old mare Days Of Summer (Bachelor Duke), in foal to Sands Of Mali (Panis), for 12,000gns.
A winner herself at two, Days Of Summer had bred five winners and a placed horse from six runners, and her most recent winner was the Group 2 Lowther Stakes runner-up Time For Sandals (Sands Of Mali). Her purchase price looked like good value.
Now the 12,000gns looks like a steal, as Time For Sandals is now the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner, and she has been placed in a couple of other pattern races. Bred by Ballyhane Stud, where Sands Of Mali stands, Time For Sandals was the second Group 1 winner of the week for young trainer Harry Eustace, and his third Royal Ascot winner since he started training in 2021. Eustace bought Time For Sandals as a yearling at Tattersalls Ireland for €35,000.
It was only last week that I was pointing out how well Sands Of Mali was doing, with Group 3 winner Copacabana Sands winning a Naas Group 3 for Barbara Keller. Now the first crop by the Group 1-winning sprinter includes four stakes winners, and two Royal Ascot winners. Last year Sands Of Mali’s son Ain’t Nobody won the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes, and his daughter Aviation Time ran third in the same contest.
Ballylinch Stud
Days Of Summer was bred by Ballylinch Stud, and comes from a family inextricably linked with the Co Kilkenny farm. She is one of seven winners out of Pharoah’s Delight (Fairy King), a fine speedster who won the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at two, and went on to place in three of Europe’s best sprint races, including the Nunthorpe Stakes and Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp.
At stud, Pharoah’s Delight bred just a single stakes winner, Pharmacist (Machiavellian), and she won just one race, the Listed Rochestown Stakes at Leopardstown. She made her mark at stud with four stakes winners, but one of these soared above the others.
He was Red Rocks (Galileo), winner and placed in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Pharoah’s Delight had a second stakes-performing daughter, Phariseek (Rainbow Quest), and she bred a dual Grade 1 winner, but these wins were over hurdles.
Hisaabaat (Dubawi) was purchased by Shadwell as a yearling with a flat career in mind, but instead he gained fame for victories in Grade 1 juvenile hurdles at Punchestown and Leopardstown, and was second in the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
The good news is that Time For Sandals has a yearling full-sister in the wings, and she will be a most attractive prospect if offered for sale this year.
STARMAN has made a sensational start at stud, with five blacktype runners among a dozen winners already to his name. The unbeaten Lady Iman got him off to a flying start and won a Group 3 on her third start, beating another daughter of Starman in Green Sense. Moonage Daydream was runner-up in the Listed Premio Vittorio Crespi, and then Royal Ascot brought Starman fully centre-stage.
His daughter Flowerhead was runner-up in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes, and any disappointment that she didn’t win was forgotten 48 hours later when Venetian Sun, bred by Tally Ho Stud where Starman resides, won the Group 3 Albany Stakes, a race won in its most recent iterations by Fairy Godmother, Porta Fortuna and Meditate. No wonder connections of Venetian Sun believe she can become a star.
Venetian Sun is now the best of three winners for the French stakes-placed Johara (Iffraaj). Last year that mare’s two-year-old Sir Yoshi (Mehmas) was listed-placed at York. Johara was known to Tally Ho as they purchased her as a foal, giving €35,000 for the filly, but they took a rare hit when reselling her for 22,000gns in a private transaction. Now back in Co Westmeath she is off to a flying start at stud. This female line is adept at getting ultra-smart juveniles. Venetian Sun’s third dam Summertime Legacy (Darshaan) was a Group 3 juvenile winner in France, bred a Group 1 two-year-old winner in Mandean (Manduro), and is grandam of the siblings Earthlight (Shamardal) and Shadow Of Light (Lope De Vega).
AUSTRALIA’S 2025 fee of €10,000 every week looks more and more like the best value around.
This is one-fifth of his starting price of €50,000. Prior to the start of this season, Australia (Galileo) sired five Group or Grade 1 winners, and that number has grown by two this year.
June has been a great month as he sired the Group 1 Derby winner Lambourn, set to attempt a second classic success this weekend, and now Cercene, winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes, has provided the dual Derby winner with a fifth consecutive Royal Ascot winner.
Bred by China Horse Club International, Cercene is another Group 1 graduate of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, costing Joe Murphy’s Crampscastle Bloodstock €50,000. Her two wins and four placings, from seven starts, include a placed run in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas. Cercene has earned 11 times her purchase price.
Cercene is the best offspring of the winning mare Tschierschen (Acclamation), bought by China Horse Club as a yearling for €280,000.
She is a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix Morny second Gallagher (Bahamian Bounty), and the stakes-placed Roodeye (Inchinor).
The latter mare would need a page of her own to celebrate her achievements, being the dam of Group 1 Sussex Stakes winner Mohaather (Showcasing), and grandam of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes hero Accidental Agent (Delegator).
Apologies
My apologies to David and Vimy Aykroyd, as I misspelt their surname when writing about their Derby runner Pride Of Arras, who is due to run at the Curragh on Sunday.
They had compensation for the son of Dubawi’s disappointing run at Epsom when another homebred, Amiloc, remains unbeaten in five starts with a game victory in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes.
What a pity that the three-year-old is a gelding!
Amiloc is a son of Postponed (Dubawi), completing his second season at Yorton Stud, and one of the sire’s three flat stakes winners. He is also sire of Grade 3 bumper and hurdle winner Familiar Dreams.
The Aykroyd husband and wife team raced Amiloc’s dam Colima (Authorized) after purchasing her as a foal from Sir Eric Parker for 170,000gns.
She only ran four times, winning at two and finishing second in a listed Oaks trial.At stud, Colima (Amiloc spelt backwards) is dam of the Australian Group 3 winner Brimham Rocks (Fastnet Rock), second in a Group 1 and winner of almost £600,000), and the listed winner and Group 2 second Chamade (Sepoy).
WILLIAM Kennedy actually keeps his stock in Cashel, but the Nenagh resident is the breeder of Ethical Diamond, the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes winner and the second 2025 winner for Awtaad (Cape Cross).
The five-year-old sold to Harold Kirk and Willie Mullins at the Tattersalls July Sale two years ago for 320,000gns, and has since won a maiden hurdle at Punchestown, finished fourth in the Grade 3 County Hurdle at Cheltenham, and is now a Royal Ascot winner.
Ethical Diamond won in the colours of William’s wife Emma before being sold. He is the first winner for his dam Pearl Diamond (Areion), a winning half-sister to the Group 2 German 2000 Guineas winner Precious Boy (Big Shuffle) who was beaten less than a length by Pressing in a Group 1.
Rockcliffe Stud’s homebred three-year-old filly Never Let Go (No Nay Never) was yet another Royal Ascot success for her Coolmore sire, and she gained a second career success in the Sandringham Stakes. Last year Hugo Merry bought the filly’s dam Tai Hang Dragon (Tamayuz) carrying a colt by Cracksman (Frankel) for 27,000gns.
Successful three times, Tai Hang Dragon is a half-sister to three stakes-winning two-year-olds.
One of these is Pasar Silbano (Elnadim). She won the Listed Curragh Stakes at two, and then a Grade 3 in the USA before selling to Australia where she is the dam of Zousain (Zoustar), a Group 2 winner at two and Group 1-placed on three occasions.
Friday’s concluding Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes went to the three-year-old Havana Grey (Havana Gold) filly Adrestia. This was her third win, but not her first time in the limelight. A £50,000 yearling buy at Goffs UK, she returned to the venue for the breeze-up sale the following year and sold for a whopping £420,000. Her half-brother True Promise (Washington DC) won four times last year, and they are out of In Trutina (Firebreak).