IT is not unusual, especially in the United States, for a yearling to sell for a lot of money, only for the vendor, usually a breeder, to retain an interest in the animal for racing purposes.
Presumably, this is what happened in the case of the recent Dundalk listed winner Andab. Bred by Trevor Stewart, the colt sold in Book 1 of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 290,000gns to Al Shaqab Racing, but now races from Joseph O’Brien’s yard for a partnership of the purchaser and the breeder. It is not a surprise either, as the son of Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) is from a family that has provided Stewart with many memorable racing and sales moments.
The story traces back to Stewart’s acquisition almost three decades ago of Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge) from her breeder, John McKay at Cleaboy Stud, for 82,000gns. Stewart enlisted the assistance of Joss Collins of the BBA.
While he did try to sell her as a yearling, at 200,000gns Stewart retained her and put her in training with Geoff Wragg. What Cassandra Go achieved, firstly on the track and later at stud, is the stuff of dreams. She died at the age of 25 four years ago at Ballyhimikin Stud.
Royal Ascot
Cassandra Go was a Group 1 winner in all but name, her six wins headlined by victory in the Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, now the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes. She progressed with age, and gained her finest wins at five, her victories at Ascot and in the Group 2 Temple Stakes at Sandown. She put up her best effort in defeat, concluding her racing career by finishing runner-up to Mozart in the Group 1 July Cup. This, however, was nothing compared to what she achieved at stud.
Cassandra Go’s legacy at stud is that she bred 11 winners, including a classic heroine, and every other year the family seems to find a new star. The most recent stakes winner is Andab, and his triumph in the Listed Star Appeal Stakes was overdue. He has been consistent since running away with a maiden at the Curragh on his debut in May. Next time out he was a length and a half off Albert Einstein in the Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes, with Power Blue dividing them, and then fourth to Gstaad at Royal Ascot.
Andab bounced back after a trip to Goodwood to chase home Rayif in the Group 3 The Aga Khan Studs Prix Francois Boutin at Deauville, and now has a listed victory under his belt. He is the sixth winner for his dam Tickled Pink (Invincible Spirit), the second stakes winner, and his own-brother is the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road (Saxon Warrior). They are among 18 stakes winners for their sire. Victoria Road was a bargain purchase by M.V. Magnier at 115,000gns.
Henry Cecil
One of the last winners trained by Henry Cecil, Tickled Pink (Invincible Spirit) won Group 3 races for him and for then for his widow.
Tickled Pink is not the best runner produced by Cassandra Go, that honour going to Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal). She won three Group 1 races, namely the Irish 1000 Guineas, Sun Chariot Stakes and Nassau Stakes, and is dam of dual Group 1 winner Rhododendron (Galileo), whose best son is Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact).
Halfway To Heaven is also dam of Magical (Galileo). Seven of her 12 victories were achieved at Group 1 level, and she has earnings of almost €5.5 million. Another Group 3 winner out of Casandra Go is Theann (Rock Of Gibraltar), and her best offspring is the dual Grade 1 winner Photo Call (Galileo), once sold for $3 million.
IT is scarcely believable that Ipanema Queen and some of her relatives sold so cheaply last year. Hyde Park Stud’s John Bourke bought the dual stakes-winning two-year-old for €4,500 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale, and she hails from the second crop of Ballyhane Stud’s Sands Of Mali (Panis).
With her daughter realising so little, and her second foal’s three wins in Serbia worth a measly €1,600, it is little wonder that Ipanema Queen’s dam No More Thrills (Dutch Art) was sold at Goffs shortly afterwards for €4,000 to an Italian buyer. She was covered by Space Traveller (Bated Breath) and had once been a 160,000gns yearling.
A few days before No More Thrills sold, her filly foal by Dandy Man (Mozart) was purchased by Kevin McAuliffe’s Fernham Farm for €9,000. That transaction had a happy outcome, as the filly cost MC Bloodstock a richly-profitable £70,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, and will doubtless reappear again in a breeze-up sale.
Ipanema Queen’s second win in four starts came in the Listed Mitsubishi Electric Irish EBF Curragh Stakes at the Curragh, going one better than her runner-up finish in the Listed Arqana Irish EBF Marwell Stakes at Naas. She recently got back to winning ways at Dundalk and recorded her third success in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Legacy Stakes.
Latterly owned by Stonestreet Stables and Amo Racing, Ipanema Queen is one of five stakes winners for her Ballyhane Stud sire, the other four all coming from his initial crop.
They include Group 1 Commonwealth Cup winner Time For Sandals, Group 3 and listed winner Copacabana Sands, and another Royal Ascot winner in Ain’t Nobody who took the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes.
With the first foal out of No More Thrills not being named, her first three runners are now winners. Briery Boy (Soldier’s Call) has become a three-time winner abroad, while three-year-old son Ancient State (Dandy Man) is another to win in 2025, and he has done so twice. No More Thrills herself won twice over seven furlongs before being picked up by Ballyhane Stud for €30,000 at the end of her second season racing.
Juvenile winner
No More Thrills is a daughter of juvenile winner The Thrill Is Gone (Bahamian Bounty) who placed a few times in listed races, notably runner-up to Zebedee in the Listed Dragon Stakes at Sandown at two.
The Thrill Is Gone has been represented by four winners and she, in turn, is out of Licence To Thrill (Wolfhound) who won twice over the minimum trip at three. She went on to have a perfect record at stud, all nine of her foals winning, and seven earning blacktype. The two that failed to do so went on breed blacktype horses.
Leading the list of winners for Licence To Thrill is Muarrab (Oasis Dream), a 280,000gns Shadwell yearling buy. He earned £1.25 million with 14 victories, the best of which was in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen on World Cup night.
Muarrab was born a year before Bungle Inthejungle (Exceed And Excel) who was a smart juvenile, winning the Group 3 Molecomb and Cornwallis Stakes, and chasing Sir Prancealot home in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes. The Rathasker stallion is having a good year, his son Jm Jungle winning the Group 2 King George Stakes, his juvenile daughter Revival Power (a full-sister to a Group 1 winner) taking the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes, while Jungle Peace is a Grade 3 winner in the USA.