GUESTS at the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year dinner last week were given a tip by yours truly. It was based on the fact that William and Emma Kennedy were unable to attend the dinner, as they had a runner at Roscommon. They were represented by William’s brother Gerard.
The runner at Roscommon was not any ordinary one. The four-year-old Bosphorus Rose (Golden Horn) was running in the Listed Lenebane Stakes, on just her second start in Emma’s colours since she joined Paddy Twomey this season. She was third in the Group 3 Munster Oaks on her seasonal debut. The filly was purchased by the couple, under Stanley Lodge, for 150,000gns in December, having won four races and been placed in a listed race.
Bred by Blue Diamond Stud in Newmarket, Bosphorus Rose was in training with Sir Mark Prescott, and he looked to have gotten the best out of her with some small blacktype. She has a good female line, and her sale price looked like she sold well. I am not sure if it was William and Emma’s idea, or one put to them, but the decision to race on with her has been well rewarded, and they have a more valuable mare to go to stud with in time. She may well be still improving on the racing front.
Bosphorus Rose is the better of two winners for May Rose, a daughter of Lawman (Invincible Spirit), but that winning mare has a few interesting youngsters to race for her. Her two-year-old filly is Bsharri (Zarak), and she has a filly foal who is a full-sister. In between she produced a yearling colt by Pinatubo (Shamardal).
Smart run
The other winning offspring of May Rose is the three-year-old May Angel (Dark Angel) who is with John and Thady Gosden. He races for Blue Diamond Stud owner Imad Alsagar, won at two last year and after a couple of placed runs this season, put in a smart run in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap at Royal Ascot, finishing fourth or 20 in his group. He looks sure to add to his win total.
May Rose is the only daughter of Rose De France (Diktat). Placed a number of times in France, Rose De France had an almost perfect record at stud, seven of her eights foals making it to the racecourse and all of them winning. Her most successful offspring was Sea Wolf (Amadeus Wolf). His 12 career wins were mostly gained in Australia where he twice won at Group 2 level, and he ran third in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick.
From a pedigree perspective, it is most noteworthy that the two other stakes winners out of Rose Of France were sons of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), making them closely related to May Rose, and the more readily recognised of the pair was Cable Bay. He won the Group 2 Challenge Stakes, and at two ran second to War Command in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.
Cherokee Rose
Group 1 winning form comes to the fore under the third dam of Bosphorus Rose. This was Cherokee Rose (Dancing Brave), and two of her five successes were at the highest level. In England she won the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup, and added the Prix Maurice de Gheest in France. She has six winning offspring. Two of her grandsons, half-brothers, won at the top table.
The better of the two was Mastery (Sulamani). He won a pair of classic races, the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster and the Group 2 Derby Italiano, while his most valuable victory was in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase. Meanwhile, Cherokee Rose’s granddaughter Tulips (Pivotal), a listed winner, bred Grade 1 Natalma Stakes winner Wild Beauty (Frankel), and is grandam of five-time Group/Grade 1 winner Notable Speech (Dubawi).
OVERBURY Stud has been home to the champion Golden Horn (Cape Cross) since the 2023 season. He completed seven years at Dalham Hall starting out at £60,000, a fee that fell to £10,000 for his final season in Newmarket. He was sold in the immediate aftermath of the 2022 season.
The fall reflected Golden Horn’s disappointing start at stud, and a fall from grace among breeders and sale buyers. Jayne McGivern of Dash Grange Stud purchased him to stand at Overbury, from Darley and Anthony Oppenheimer, and his fee on the last three of his four seasons has been £10,000. He had started to show a real talent for his first National Hunt stock when McGivern bought him to stand, principally aiming him at that sector.
However, discerning flat breeders continue to value Golden Horn’s worth, thanks to the likes of Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Trawlerman, dual Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed Santorini Star, Group 2 Queen’s Vase winner and Group 1-placed Gregory, Group 2 winner and French and Hong Kong Group 1-placed Botanik, and the Group 2 Derby Italiano winner Goldenas.
Impressive impact
Golden Horn has made an equally impressive impact under National Hunt rules, with a pair of Grade 1 Cheltenham winners in Golden Ace (Champion Hurdle) and Poniros (Triumph Hurdle). From a flat point of view, he has sired 31 stakes winners and 58 blacktype performers. He could well go on to make a big impression as a broodmare sire, given his own pedigree and performances.
His most recent big race success over jumps came two weekends ago when the Irish-bred seven-year-old mare Gold Charm won the Grade 2 Theodora A Randolph Stakes, a race over fences, at Colonial Downs. She has been a model of consistency since her purchase for 21,000gns at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale in 2022 by bloodstock agent J.D. Moore and trainer Cyril Murphy.
In the USA she has won seven of her 12 starts, and been in the first four on all but one of her other runs there. She has earned more than $350,000, and has been yet another fine advertisement for the keen eye of Moore. In 10 starts in England, she had only placed third on two occasions! Gold Charm has residual value as a broodmare prospect, but now that she has six blacktype wins to her credit, she is worth a pretty penny
Smart juvenile
Gold Charm is one of 11 winners for her dam Deveron (Cozzene). That mare was a smart juvenile who placed third to Rumplestiltskin in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.
Her tally of winners is likely to grow, her three-year-old son having placed a few times, and she has a two-year-old colt by Masar in the wings.
Those winners include two other stakes winners, Lamar (Cape Cross) and Haddaf (Dawn Approach), while one of her non-winning daughters, the placed Royal Welcome (Kingman), has bred a Group 2-placed stakes winner in New Zealand.
Deveron’s siblings are headed by her full-brother Windward Islands (Cozzene), and he won the Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes at Woodbine twice.
Golden Horn covered 183 and 182 mares respectively in 2024 and 2025, and his popularity continues to grow. He was well bought by McGivern, and is a sire who we will hear a great deal more about on the flat and over jumps.