THE highlight of Wootton Bassett’s weekend was the victory of his daughter Whirl, runner-up in the Oaks, in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh. It was just one of a number of successes for the stallion who, to put it simply, is on fire. He gets winners at every distance, and is clearly the jewel in Coolmore’s crown at present.

Another inmate at Ballydoyle is the two-year-old filly Beautify, and she went into the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes against, among others, the unbeaten and vastly more experience Lady Iman. A maiden after being placed on her debut, Beautify proved best on the day and won by two lengths. She has a number of very smart entries. She joins Albert Einstein as group-winning juveniles this year by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).

Bred by Coolmore, Beautify is the third winner for Words (Dansili), and that mare won the Group 3 Munster Oaks, one of two victories she had from just three starts. Her previous winners include another stakes winner in Library (Galileo), a listed Oaks trial winner at Naas who ran third in the Group 1 Irish Oaks. The yearling colt out of Words is a full-brother to Beautify.

Getting the classic trip is likely to hold no fears for Beautify, as her grandam Moonstone had the unusual distinction of gaining her sole success in the Group 1 Irish Oaks, after she had been runner-up in the Oaks at Epsom as a maiden. At stud she was quite the success, with all but one of her six winners winning stakes races. They varied greatly in terms of their achievements.

US Army Ranger (Galileo) was second in the Group 1 Derby after winning the Group 3 Chester Vase. Nelson (Frankel) won Group 3 races at two and three in Ireland, placed in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase, and won three times over jumps in Australia. Stubbs (Danehill Dancer) was a listed two-year-old winner in Ireland, while Words’s full-brother Nevis (Dansili) won listed races in England and Australia, including the Lingfield Derby Trial.

Tally-Ho and Moyglare delighted with Suzie

APART from the team at Moyglare Stud, no one will have been as pleased with the victory of Suzie Songs (Starspangledbanner) in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes than the O’Callaghan team at Tally-Ho Stud.

Last year they purchased the unbeaten filly’s half-brother by Minzaal (Mehmas) for €60,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale.

They are the first two foals from the lightly-raced winner Florence Camille (Galileo), and were joined this spring by a colt foal by Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy). This is a family that Moyglare has bet on in a big way, and how pleasing it must be that Suzie Songs has emerged as such a smart runner, no doubt with the hope that she can go on and maybe win the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Eleven years ago, Moyglare’s Fiona Craig bid $2.4 million to acquire the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks winner Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat) for their Maynooth broodmare band. Sadly, she only had three offspring, two fillies and a colt, and all sired by Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). Two of the trio raced in partnership between Moyglare and the Coolmore partners, Florence Camille did not, and the colt showed little in three starts.

However, the other filly, Thoughts Of June (Galileo), won once, but it was in the Listed Cheshire Oaks. Put in foal to No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), Moyglare bid €2 million for her in the ring at Goffs in 2023, presumably buying out their partners. That, to coin an old phrase, is putting your money where your mouth is, in other words backing your belief and judgement.

Suzie Songs is the third blacktype-winning juvenile of 2025 for Starspangledbanner, joining the unbeaten Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad, and the filly Secret Hideaway.

Nice pinhook by Anna and Barry

ANNA Murphy and Barry Kennedy of Rigsdale Stud are enjoying 2025, I guess. In January they were honoured at the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s National Awards, and the warmth of the reception they received on the night told us much about the respect in which they are held.

At the Tattersalls December Sale, they spent 25,000gns on a yearling colt by Harry Angel (Dark Angel), out of the winning Arcano (Oasis Dream) mare Lamyaa, purchased from the Pocock’s Stringston Farm. The price put him among the top five foals sold last year by the stallion, the top two being purchased by Yeomanstown Stud.

Harry Angel has certainly done much better with his runners down under, with three Group 1 winners there, and where his star is very much in the ascendancy. He will stand for the coming season there for the equivalent of about €37,000. This compares with his Dalham Hall fee of £10,000.

When Anna and Barry purchased their colt, born appropriately on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, the pedigree page was a very solid one. The colt’s grandam bred eight winners, all her runners, and between her and one of her daughters they had three group winners. The number of blacktype performers under the colt’s fourth dam, Rossaldene (Mummy’s Pet), stands at five stakes winners, notably the triple Group 1 winner Paco Boy (Desert Style).

Changed

What might have dampened enthusiasm for the colt was that Lamyaa had five previous foals, all of which ran, and she had a dual winner, Kestenna (Pride Of Dubai), and a placed two-year-old, Lush Lips (Ten Sovereigns).

Well, that picture has changed a lot. Omitted from the page was the fact that two of the mare’s other foals had been placed, while an unplaced daughter was set to be represented by her first runner, a filly by Mehmas (Acclamation), who has been placed.

The aforementioned Kestenna is now in the USA and she won twice this year, doubling her tally of wins, but none of this compares to what has happened to Lush Lips.

She ran three times for Donnacha O’Brien, was second on her middle run, and then she headed stateside to join Brendan Walsh. She placed second in both the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs, and the Grade 3 Florida Oaks, and at the weekend she got off the mark in stakes company when her third US win came in the Listed Tepin Stakes, again at Churchill Downs.

Great style

Lush Lips didn’t just win the mile stakes, but she did so in great style, by nearly four lengths. An £82,000 yearling purchase by Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock and partners at Goffs UK, Lush Lips is the tenth blacktype winner for Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never), the champion sprinter who won the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at two and the Group 1 July Cup the following year. He stood his first five seasons at Coolmore.

Whatever sale the Harry Angel colt turns up at, he will be one to see. You are guaranteed a very professionally-produced colt, a smart pedigree page, and hopefully a great profit for the Rigsdale Stud principals.