WHAT impeccable timing. Just days after it was announced that the multiple Group 2 winner Diego Velazquez (Frankel) was sold, with the intention to retire him to the National Stud at Newmarket in 2026, the four-year-old made his Group 1 breakthrough with victory in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville, sponsored for the first time by the Aga Khan Studs.

Now racing in the name of Sam Sangster, in colours made famous the world over by winners owned by his father Robert, Diego Velazquez was making headlines even before he raced. Bred by Denis Brosnan’s Epona Bloodstock at Croom House Stud in Co Limerick, the son of Frankel (Galileo) was one of three yearlings to bring 2,000,000gns or more in Book 1 at the 2022 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Two of the three are now geldings. Topping the sale was Kalidasa, winner on his three-year-old debut at Wolverhampton but beaten in his four starts since. His 2,800,000gns yearling valuation crashed to 400,000 UAE dirhams (about €93,000) when he was sold in April. Second best at the 2022 sale was Diego Velazquez who realised 2,400,000gns to M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, while El Cordobes traded at 2,000,000gns, and he recently landed the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga.

Two out of three ain’t bad, as the song says, but in terms of any future impact the win for Diego Velazquez is the most significant. Sam Sangster is the front man for a high-profile syndicate who bought the colt with the specific aim of standing him at stud, but they now have a much more exciting stallion prospect on their hands.

Worthy contender

The massive sale price achieved by Diego Velazquez as a yearling tells you plenty about his physique and conformation. He might have been one of the less fancied runners on Sunday, but his form up until then made him a worthy contender. As a two-year-old he won the first two of his three starts, and on Irish Champions Weekend was triumphant in the Group 2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown.

At three he was thrown in at the deep end for his first start of the season, and this was the only other time that Christophe Soumillon, Sunday’s winning rider, was given the leg up. Diego Velazquez was fourth to Metropolitan, just a length behind the winner in a blanket finish, in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, and after two disappointing outings he regained winning ways and landed two pattern races at Leopardstown, culminating with the Group 2 Solonaway Stakes.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien has patently had great belief in Diego Velazquez, and after the colt’s first intended start this year was abandoned when he became upset in the stalls, he made his seasonal bow in the opening race of Royal Ascot 2025, the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes. However, after he dwelt at the start, his race was effectively over. A month later he returned to the winners’ enclosure in the Group 2 Minstrel Stakes, and then it was off on his successful trip to Deauville.

Standard

The quality of the field for Sunday’s Group 1 feature was well up to standard, and immediately in Diego Velazquez’s wake was last year’s Group 1 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner Notable Speech. Dancing Gemini, beaten half a length or less in the Group 1 French 2000 Guineas and this year’s Lockinge Stakes was third, while the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes winner in June, Docklands, finished fourth.

Frankel is just one short of having his 40th Group or Grade 1 winner after Diego Velazquez reached that benchmark. This Jacques Le Marois winner is Frankel’s first stakes winner out of an Acclamation (Royal Applause) mare.

She is Sweepstake, winner of the Listed National Stakes at Sandown at two and of a stakes race in the USA at three, and she was purchased at the age of six for $280,000 by Epona Bloodstock. She was carrying Horseshoe Bay (Arch), who almost immediately rewarded Brosnan’s investment when selling for 250,000gns as a yearling.

Prior to her purchase by Brosnan, Sweepstake, who was trained in England by Richard Hannon, sold as a foal to Larry Stratton for 22,000gns, and then Michael Downey turned a profit when reselling her for €65,000 at the Goffs Million, signed for by Ross Doyle.

An interesting offering next week at Doncaster will be Taroka Stud’s yearling colt by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) out of Sorteo (Invincible Spirit), as the dam is a half-sister to Diego Velazquez. The catalogue states that Sweepstake is responsible for 11 foals, 11 runners and seven winners. Well, now she is dam of a twelfth progeny, a colt born this year by St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni), Coolmore’s rising star among those sire’s with their first runners this year. He is Sweepstake’s first offspring since Sunday’s Group 1 winner.

Galileo grandsons

Diego Velazquez is now the second Group 1 winner and third Group 1 performer for Sweepstake, and like the other two they are all grandsons of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). Broome (Australia) is the other Group 1 winner, and he achieved that feat in the Grand Prix de Paris, one of his nine career wins that netted connections more than €2.5 million, making him the biggest earner for his sire. Broome now stands at stud in Turkey, and it is worth saying that while he won just once at the highest level, he was runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf, Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at two.

Broome’s full-brother Point Lonsdale (Australia), who is now standing in South Africa, won four times at two, including the Group 2 Futurity Stakes, Group 3 Tyros Stakes and Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, and was second in the Group 1 National Stakes. He later added three more successes, and placed efforts include the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris and Group 1 Coronation Cup.

Sweepstake

It must feel like winning the lottery for Denis Brosnan with the offspring of Sweepstake. Sadly, it does not appear that he has any daughter of the mare, but there is consolation in that she has been such a great producer of quality stock, most of which shone in the sale ring. While Diego Velazquez is the headline act, others have brought 575,000gns (Point Lonsdale), €500,000, and 475,000gns. As it happens, Broome was one of the least expensive offspring of Sweepstake, selling at the Tattersalls December Sale to M.V. Magnier for 150,000gns.

Next year will be an exciting one for the National Stud in Newmarket, headed by Irish woman Anna Kerr, with a new Group 1-winning miler to promote. There could be more to come when plans are revealed for Diego Velazquez’s rest of season targets. For now, he has all the credentials to be a hugely popular addition to the stallion ranks, being a Group 1 winner by Frankel, a close relation to a Group 1 winner, and from a stakes-winning juvenile daughter of the broodmare sire of the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar.