SUN Goddess is sure to garner lots of awards for John and Clare Tuthill at Owenstown Stud near Maynooth, but she is no one horse wonder for the famous nursery. Last weekend, the farm bred two other stakes winners, adding to a list as long as your arm.
I recently spent a morning in company with John, and one of my questions to him was whether he produced stock to race or to make a price in the sale ring. His reply was that you hope to make money, but he has a strong focus on producing horses with the ability and soundness to run.
The stakes winners last weekend are two cases in point. The four-year-old Seren Star (Profitable) was sent by William Haggas to Doncaster to contest the Listed Gillies Fillies Stakes, a race won in 2024 by this year’s Group 1 winner Estrange, and last year by group winner Danielle. Having finally won a stakes race, Seren Star is set to be covered in the spring, and she is a even more exciting prospect in your new role.
Prior to this win, earning her first blacktype, Seren Star had run a fantastic race at Royal Ascot to placed third in the Kensington Palace Stakes to her stablemate Alobayyah. A half-sister to the French Group 3 winner Circumvent (Tobougg), Seren Star is one of six winners from Seren Devious (Dr Devious), and three of the others were group or stakes-placed.
Devious Company (Fast Company) was runner-up in a pair of Group 2 races at two, while Tioga Pass (High Chaparral) was unlucky to be beaten in a Group 3 at Goodwood, her chances ruined when she slipped up on the bend and was fortunate to regain her balance and get so close.
Seren Star was a Jeremy Brummitt purchase from Owenstown at the Goffs Orby Sale three years ago for €88,000, and while her racecourse earnings would cover that but not the cost of being in training for three seasons, her value for breeding is significantly enhanced, She is one of 15 stakes winners for Profitable (Invincible Spirit), nine of which are fillies. The last of his Kildangan conceived crops are two-year-olds, and he relocated to Turkey for the 2024 season.
Titanshadow
The Owenstown-bred two-year-old Titanshadow (Bated Breath) will have a place on the stud’s roll of honour, though they no longer have his dam, Manyatta (Iffraaj). She sold to David Brazil last year for €7,000, covered by Mill Stream (Gleneagles), but no offspring has been returned. She was covered this year by Maranoa Charlie (Wootton Bassett).
Last November, when Manyatta was sold, she had five foals, three of racing age and two runners, neither of which had even placed. Selling her was an understandable decision. Now, 12 months later, she has two winners, Tiny Riot (Sottsass) in a three-year-old hurdle, and Titanshadow in Italy. The latter’s four wins include the Listed Premio Divino Amore in Rome, and he was runner-up in another listed contest in Milan. He cost Stefano Botti 18,000gns in Book 3 at Tattersalls. Hopefully there will be more to come as Manyatta’s yearling is a colt by Shaquille (Charm Spirit).
A PAIR of two-year-old winners in France caught my eye as horses to watch for next season. It is common for the biggest trainers in the business to quietly introduce a later developing juvenile in November and December, and these often contain a subsequent stakes or group winner.
Both two-year-olds share a common owner and breeder, Nurlan Bizakov of Sumbe, but they have different trainers. Francis Graffard hs the filly Malika (Siyouni), while Jerome Reynier has care of the colt, Dalen (New Bay). Malikova was so impressive when beating a field of well-bred and connected fillies over seven and a half furlongs at Saint-Cloud on ground conditions more associated with winter National Hunt racing. She won by four and a half lengths and had the fourth more than 10 lengths back.
Malika was purchased by Sumbe in utero when her dam Mirakova (Lope De Vega) was sold at Arqana by the Wertheimer brothers for €850,000. Unraced due to an injury, Mirakova was at the time a half-sister to a listed-placed winner Kovanof (Dubawi), and a daughter of Group 3 winner and Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks placed Terrakova (Galleo). There is a hint in the names as to the rest of the pedigree. Terrakova is a daughter of the simply brilliant Goldikova (Anabaa).
At €850,000, Mirakova’s price was tasty enough, but now look more like a bargain. Kovanof is a five-time winner now, but he has three other blacktype siblings, and this family keeps growing in significance. Mirakova’s full-sister Ceramic (Lope De Vega) won at two last year when she was beaten half a length by Group 1 winner Samangan who starts his stud career in 2027 at the Aga Khan Studs’ Haras de Bonneval.
Ceramic’s worth
More importantly, Terrakova’s daughter and son, the full-siblings Anakova (Dubawi) and Babakool, are group and listed winners respectively. If Mirakova was worth €850,000 three years ago, what can Ceramic bring when she comes up for sale at Arqana in December? Feast your eyes on Lot 206 in their December Sale, and Ceramic is by the damsire of 2026 Group 1 winners Item and Benvenuto Cellino. Will she make double what Mirakova did?
Siyouni is one of Europe’s foremost sources of classic winners and added to his tally in 2026 with the Preis der Diana-German Oaks winner Soreanga. He also reached a landmark of 100 individual stakes winners. Indeed, he had a very rewarding year with his juveniles, among them stakes winners Algebre, Gymbaazy, Vignelli and Zakkan. His 2026 yearlings averaged more than €275,000, and yet his fee for 2027 has been reduced to €110,000.
Dalen was no less impressive when winning a newcomers race at Marseille Boraly, and he had the six runners behind him well strung out when successful over nine furlongs. He is the third winner for his dam Dalkeya (Exceed And Excel), and she cost Nurlan Bizakov a ‘more modest’ €250,000 as a three-year-old, again at Arqana. Sold by the Aga Khan Studs, she raced three times but was well beaten on each occasion.
Outstanding siblings
What Dalkeya had in her favour was a strong female line. Her half-sister Dolniya (Azamour) won the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic and placed at the same level in France and England. Their dam Daltama (Indian Ridge) had two outstanding siblings, Daylami (Doyoun) and Dalakhani (Darshaan). Between them they won no fewer than 11 Group or Grade 1 races around the world.
Ballylinch Stud’s New Bay (Dubawi) is yet another winner of the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby to shine for the Co Kilkenny farm. From a great Juddmonte family that includes Kingman (Invincible Spirit), New Bay has a dozen stakes winners this year, his flagbearer being Bay City Roller who in 2026 alone has amassed more than €2.2 million. Half of New Bay’s stakes winners this season are three-year-olds, while his son Bayside Boy has been riding high among the sires with their first runners.