AMONG the recent stars of the track to win the Michael Brunton Memorial British EBF Novice Stakes over six furlongs at Salisbury, the now leading first-season sire Minzaal stands tall.

Last year, Andrew Balding sent out Five Ways to win, and next time up that colt captured the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes before finishing fourth in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

This time around Balding saddled the debutante Forbidden Fire, a homebred two-year-old daughter of No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) and the Group 1 Juddmonte International heroine Arabian Queen (Dubawi). This is a family that Jeff Smith and his long-time manager David Bowe has cultivated at Littleton Stud. Who could forget that memorable day at York eleven years ago when Arabian Queen at 50/1 tenaciously inflicted a neck defeat on the previously unbeaten Golden Horn.

Prior to the most important win of her career, Arabian Queen had won the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and an Epsom Group 3, and she is the best of seven winning progeny from Smith’s homebred Barshiba (Barathea). I speak about her in the present as Barshiba has as two-year-old son Vulcanist (Too Darn Hot), and so her tally of winners could well increase.

Tough cookie

Barshiba was a tough cookie, and she raced an incredible 35 times, no doubt in the hope of one day graduating to Group 1 level.

She just fell short on that, but her solid record of seven wins and 14 places included two victories in the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks and a placed run in Royal Ascot’s Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes.

Arabian Queen is having a good year in 2026, and it just got better with Forbidden Fire’s win. Having missed the break with Oisin Murphy, she nonetheless had plenty in hand of her seven opponents, all of whom had raced at least twice, and she won by an impressive five and a half lengths.

Balding revealed that all roads lead to the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, though where Forbidden Fire runs next is up for debate.

Seven foals in her first seven years at stud has resulted in seven winners now for Arabian Queen.

Three of her four runners this year alone have won, See The Fire (Sea The Stars) taking the Group 2 Middleton Stakes for the second time, and last time out she finished third to runaway winner Diamond Necklace in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes, a race in which she was previously runner-up. Now a five-year-old, See The Fire would be a deserving Group 1 winner – her season’s ultimate target no doubt.

Derby Italiano

Arabian Queen’s three-year-old son Venetian Prince (St Mark’s Basilica) was sent to Milan to contest the Group 2 Derby Italiano in June, and returned home with the spoils.

While See The Fire and Venetian Prince are stakes winners, two other sons of Arabian Queen have also earned blacktype. They are the multiple group-placed Royal Playwright (Lope De Vega) and listed-placed Arabian Storm (Kingman). With an impressive debut, a desirable pedigree and a top-class handler, Forbidden Fire has all the ingredients to become a top-class performer.

She is one of 29 juvenile winners for No Nay Never this year, and that crop includes Group 2 winners Great Barrier Reef and Man’s Best Friend (two of the top five 2026 juveniles rated by Timeform), Group 3 winner Libertango, and listed winners Avec Toi and Carry The Flag. Six others have been stakes placed.

SHADWELL’S Group 1 Sussex Stakes winner Mohaather, the best runner sired by Showcasing (Oasis Dream), has his third crop of racing age, and that cohort now contains a pair of pattern winners.

While Group 2 Railway Stakes winner Celeron was found to be lame after the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the weekend, and will come back from that, his daughter Sugar Yes Please recorded her second victory in the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes.

The sire’s good weekend saw his Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner Big Mojo gain a confidence-boosting success in the Group 3 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh. These three named horses are among five stakes-winning two-year-olds by Mohaather, while others include the Group 1 Criterium International third Cape Orator, and Group 2 Rockfel Stakes runner-up Serving With Style. Standing at Beech House Stud near Newmarket, Mohaather had a 38% strike rate with his first crop of two-year-olds, with 21 winners.

That number fell to just 10 last year, but he is having a much better season, with a 31% strike rate, and with three of his eight winners earning blacktype. With the yearling sales in the offing, buyers would be well advised to check out his stock if you want winners.

Sugar Yes Please is trained by Eve Johnson Houghton for Sugar Yes Please’s owner/breeder, Marc Middleton-Heath.

The same pairing was responsible for the Group 3 winner’s dam, Alezan (Dawn Approach), and she won three races over seven furlong and a mile, placed nine times, but was sound enough to face the starter on 26 occasions. She provided plenty of fun for her 38,000gns yearling purchase price through Highflyer Bloodstock.

ELITE Racing’s six-year-old mare Tiffany, a daughter of Farhh (Pivotal), was sent to the Tattersalls December Sale last year, but returned home unsold at 1,000,000gns. Many might wonder if she should not have been sold at that figure, but maybe she would make that or more now that she is finally a Group 1 winner. That win came in the Grosser Preis von Berlin. Tiffany has also placed four times at the highest level.

The Elite Racing Club is owed nothing by this family, and they have raced all four Group 1 winners, all mares, in the immediate family. They all descend from Kalinka (Soviet Star) whom they purchased for 23,000gns with Paul Cole as a breezer 30 years ago. She won her second start at two, was beaten a short head at Goodwood next time out, but never got into the first three again, even when given three runs over hurdles!

Kalinka bred the brilliant European champion Soviet Song (Marju), who won five Group 1 races from two to five, as well as the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle winner Penzance (Pennekamp).

She is grandam of Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet heroine Ribbons (Manduro) and Tiffany, and third dam of dual Group 1-winning sprinter Marsha (Acclamation) who sold at the end of her racing career for 6,000,000gns. Could Tiffany appear later this year in either the Sceptre Session at Tattersalls or the Chiquita Session at Goffs?

Few sires have a better percentage of winners to runners than Farhh, and he records an impressive ratio of stakes horses too, all from small crops. This year he has three group winners from 32 runners, and they include the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup winner Fairy Glen. Four of his 13 group winners have won at the highest level, and two of these are now sires. Prix du Moulin de Longchamp winner Tribalist went to stud this year, while King Of Change is a young sire with a great future and has already posted four stakes winners.