A WEEK after Velozee gave her sire his first juvenile stakes winner of 2026, with a win in the Listed First Flier Stakes at the Curragh, Coolmore’s Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) captured headlines on three occasions last weekend.
A daughter of his topped the Arqana Breeze-Up Sale on Saturday when making €1.1 million to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. The juvenile was consigned by Glending Stables, Roderic Kavanagh’s operation which sold Sioux Nation’s Group 2 Rockfel Stakes winner for €1 million at the sale last year. This year’s sale-topper was a 98,000gns yearling purchase.
Anthony Stroud said: “We’ve bought some good horses from Glending, including Vandeek and Zanthos. This filly did a very good breeze, she went very well, and I’m very happy to get her.” Cormac O’Flynn, a partner in Glending Stables, added: “We’re over the moon, it’s a fantastic result. We bought her in Book 3 and she reminded us a lot of Zanthos back then, that was definitely a big factor. We actually put her in the same stable as Zanthos just for a bit of luck, and thankfully it worked out! If she works out as good on the track we’ll all be delighted.”
City Of Memphis
This was followed by the four-year-old City Of Memphis becoming the latest group winner for Sioux Nation with a victory in the Group 3 Al Shira’aa Racing Mutamakina Stakes at Leopardstown. The Paddy Twomey-trained filly was making it three wins from four starts, having won a Cork maiden last May and running fifth in the Irish 1000 Guineas. She was back at Gowran Park last month for a win.
Twomey said: “She’s a very good filly. We haven’t raced her much and I’m hoping we’ll make up for lost time this year. She’s in the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes on Guineas weekend and I think the mile will be no problem.” City Of Memphis was bred by the Decorative Syndicate.
With the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale being held this week, City Of Memphis was a timely advertisement for it. She was purchased from Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm by Twomey and Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock at the 2024 sale. Her price of €370,000 made her the second most expensive filly ever sold at the Tattersalls Ireland Breeze Up Sale, and she looks a Group 1 prospect.
Seven winners
City Of Memphis is the best of seven winners from her Danehill Dancer (Danehill) dam Decorative, and that mare won two of her four starts. Winners abound in this family, as Decorative was one of nine from the unraced Source Of Life (Fasliyev). City Of Memphis’s third dam also bred nine winners, two of them Group 3 winners, and is grandam of four-time Group 1 winner Luxembourg (Camelot).
Also on Sunday, the five-year-old Sioux Life added another blacktype victory to her name at San Siro. A winner of the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio and Group 3 Premio Verziere Memorial Aldo Cirla at three, Sioux Life was victorious with the minimum of fuss, doing so by an easy five lengths. She was bred by Allevamento Le Gi Srl Societa’ Agricola.
“CAN’T believe that happened. James J Braddock is named after a boxer, was ridden by a boxer in DBM [Dylan Browne McMonagle] and scrapped like one today. All credit to @JosephOBrien2 for buying him so well, letting an eejit like me buy into him and doing such a brilliant job training him. What a game.”
Okay. First, let me take exception with Kevin Blake’s posting on the social media X. He is no eejit, and he knows it. There are few busier people in the business, and few who are shrewder. His good luck, as he might portray it, is based on groundwork and an extensive knowledge, and the role played by luck is just a small part of the equation.
James J Braddock (Zarak) raced in Blake’s own colours at two, and after being beaten half a length on his Navan debut in early October, the colt was out again a little over three weeks later and ran out a six-length winner over a mile at the Curragh. The victory caught plenty of attention, and when James J Braddock reappeared last month at Leopardstown, he was part-owned by Blake. .
Fifth on that occasion, he made amends on Sunday when beating the favourite, and Epsom Derby hope, Pierre Bonnard by a short-head in the Group 3 Cashel Place Hotel Derby Trial. This race was won in the past two years by Delacroix and Los Angeles. While plans were to aim James J Braddock at the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot – formerly known and still referred to as the Ascot Derby – connections will surely think long and hard about Epsom now.
Anita Wigan
Bred by Anita Wigan, James J Braddock is the first foal of Burkina Faso (Mukhadram). She was also bred by Wigan, sold as a foal for 40,000gns, and after winning in France at three, and her pedigree improving, was bought back at an Arqana online sale for €185,000 carrying her first foal.
However, there was no immediate reward, and that Zarak (Dubawi) colt sold for 20,000gns as a foal, reappearing as a yearling from Glidawn Stud in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale and doubling in value. You can be sure that whatever it cost the new owners to get involved, it was for a good deal more again! Remember, Blake is no eejit!!
Aziz Kheir – better known as Ozzie – is one of Australian racing’s most successful owners. A former sportsman, one of his first successes was with Marmelo, a lightly-raced European stayer purchased specifically for a Melbourne Cup tilt. He finished a heartbreaking second to Cross Counter in 2018. From 2018 to 2021, Kheir’s syndicates hit a golden streak, with such as Incentivise, Verry Elleegant and Hitotsu. Winning the 2021 Melbourne Cup with Verry Elleegant was the ultimate high, especially with Incentivise running second.
In the years since, Kheir has become one of the most prolific and successful owners in the country, with a roll call of stars that also includes Group 1 winner Jimmysstar and the recent dual Australian Cup winner Light Infantry Man. Maybe a European Group 1 win with James J Braddock is next.
Zarak
James J Braddock is group race winner number 24 for Zarak, back covering at Haras de Bonneval after a break. Already sire of three Group 1 winners, that number is set to grow substantially. On the dam side, the Leopardstown winner is out of a half-sister to Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Angel Power (Lope De Vega), and last year’s listed winner and Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary third Flaming Stone (Kingman). They are among five winners from Burning Rules (Aussie Rules).
Burning Rules cost the Wigans 85,000gns in the same year that her half-brother Blue De Vega (Lope De Vega) was third in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas. Two years after securing her for West Blagdon, Burning Rules’ half-sister Bionic Woman (Lope De Vega) sold as a yearling for 800,000gns and was stakes-placed. Another notable runner to emerge from the family since was Sober (Camelot), a dual Group 2-winning stayer in France.