WITH the major British and Irish yearling sales just about to kick into full gear, a similar comment could apply to Dalham Hall Stud’s Harry Angel (Dark Angel). He reminded potential buyers of his ability to sire smart runners with a juvenile stakes double at the weekend. Buyers at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale this week will have nine opportunities to acquire a son or daughter of the champion sprinter.
Harry Angel’s stakes double was achieved in a 40-minute timeframe on Saturday. Angels Lane, a 27,000gns yearling purchase by Henry Candy from her breeders Llety Farm, made it two wins in three starts (beaten a nose on the other occasion in the valuable Super Sprint), in the Listed St Hugh’s Stakes at Newbury, bringing her earnings to £95,000.
This was followed by Alwaysanangel, trained by Joseph O’Brien, taking the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Firville Stakes at Cork. She was bred by Roderic Kavanagh and sold by him as a breezer for 75,000gns to Blandford Bloodstock. She won on her debut and was less than a length behind the winner, Senorita Bonita, when third in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes. This week’s Group 2 Lowther Stakes winner Libertango was just a short head in front of Alwaysanangel.
The stud fee for Harry Angel has halved over the years since he went to stud in 2019, £10,000 this past season, and support for him at stud has fallen in recent years. In 2024 he covered 136 mares, a year later that was down to 95, while Weatherbys report that this year he had 76 mares. The story has been the very opposite in Australia, where this year he stands in Kelvinside for A$88,000 (approximately €55,000).
Australian progeny
This reflects his enormous success down under. His Australian progeny include Group 1 All-Star Mile winner Tom Kitten, Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap hero War Machine, and Group 1 Galaxy winner Private Harry, alongside top performers Stretan Angel (Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed mare who sold in May for A$1.6 million), Arkansaw Kid (dual Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed) and Angel Capital (Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed). In Australia he has sired nearly 70% winners-to-runners, with earnings of more than A$28 million.
His winners-to-runners strike rate in Europe stands at 60%, and he gets no shortage of them. His daughter A Lilac Rolla, who sold for 1,000,000gns, came close to giving him a breakthrough Group 1 winner in the northern hemisphere when she was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and placed in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes. Other notable performers include pattern winners Fair Angellica (three stakes wins), Esquire (Greenham Stakes), Marshman (Group 3 Prix Sigy at two and second in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes) and Al Dasim (Group 3 Turf Sprint Stakes in the UAE).
Fine start
Harry Angel made a fine start at stud and his first crop of runners contained 25 individual winners at a strike rate of 42%. The latter figure increased to 46% with his second crop, and last year half of his juvenile starters won. What does this mean? If trainers and agents are looking for an early type, and maybe some value, they have to take a look at Harry Angel’s yearlings.
It is also worth remembering what Harry Angel achieved on the racecourse. The best three-year-old sprinter in the world in 2017 when he was rated 125, he was one of the top two sprinters as a four-year-old, only 1lb below Battaash, with these two well clear of any others in Europe.
Purchased by Godolphin midway through his racing career, Harry Angel made his second start in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, winning impressively by two and a half lengths. New course records for six furlongs were set on both of his first two runs at three, when he was runner-up to Blue Point in the Group 3 Pavilion Stakes, and for his runaway victory in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes.
At Royal Ascot, Harry Angel was second in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, three-parts of a length behind Caravaggio with Blue Point third, but took his revenge in the Group 1 Darley July Cup. There was another Group 1 success for Harry Angel in the Sprint Cup at Haydock in September, winning very easily by four lengths.
Harry Angel began 2018 with victory in the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes, and ended his racing career with an excellent second in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes.
MULLINGAR veterinary surgeon John Little owns Ennell Lodge Stud, and has enjoyed plenty of success as a breeder.
One of the best he has recently bred is Lady Of Spain (Phoenix Of Spain). She was unbeaten at two in four starts, culminating with a listed race win at Deauville. She had a late start to her three-year-old season last year, winning the Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown from none other than dual Group 1 winner Blue Bolt.
On her only subsequent run, Lady Of Spain suffered her only defeat, failing by less than a length to finish third in the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes. She was sent to the Tattersalls December Sale where she dwarfed her 16,000gns foal value and sold to Katsumi Yoshida for 900,000gns. Thanks to her achievements, her now three-year-old half-brother First Legion (Mehmas) realised €50,000 as a foal, bought by Tally-Ho, and they had a bonanza when selling him for 500,000gns as a two-year-old.
Tally-Ho will offer a yearling filly by Persian Force (Mehmas) in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale (Lot 702), bred by Little who sold her to the O’Callaghans. The omens are good, given the excellent start Persian Force has made at stud, with Group 3 Molecomb Stakes winner Pershaada, Group 3 Anglesey Stakes second Immortal Guard, and Listed First Flier Stakes runner-up What A Girl Wants among his 17 winners to date.
An even more significant factor for the sale prospects of the yearling is that her three-year-old half-sister America Queen (Havana Grey), a €48,000 Goffs foal buy and a €180,000 Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up purchase, won the Listed EBF Flying Fillies’ Stakes at Pontefract by four lengths in the colours of Jaber Abdullah, trained by Richard Hughes. This was a deserved stakes win for the filly who last year was second in the Group 2 Lowther Stakes and missed out on third place by half a length in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes.
The best filly
Described last year by Hughes as “the best filly I’ve had”, and denied a run in the Irish 1000 to the trainer’s dismay, America Queen is the best of six winners to date for her dam Misscomplacent (Compton Place). She raced only at two, started 13 times, finished in the first four on nine of her first 11 runs, and finally managed a thoroughly deserved victory over five furlongs at Wolverhampton on the all-weather.
John Little travelled to the February Sale at Arqana in 2015 and came home with a new addition to his broodmare band, giving €16,000 for Misscomplacent.
If you are looking for winners, this is a go-to family. Misscomplacent has six to date – and hopefully more to come. Her dam three-time winner Miss Rimex (Ezzoud) produced nine, the next was dual winner Blue Guitar (Cure The Blues) who had eight, and her third dam was the stakes-placed Mettle (Pretendre) who left behind seven.
Little welcomed a daughter of Misscomplacent in April, and that first crop filly by the Irish National Stud’s Shouldvebeenaring (Havana Grey) will head to the foal sale at Goffs this November. Given her close relationship to America Queen, and with the hope that her sibling will go on to enjoy a group success, she will be a must-see offering.