WHAT have the colts Thunder Moon (won Group 1 National Stakes at two), Al Riffa (won two Group 1 races, including the National Stakes at two), Diego Velazquez (multiple Group 2 winner including at two), and Delacroix (beaten a nose in the Group 1 Futurity at two and recent winner of the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes) got in common?

They have, since 2020, been successful in the seven-furlong maiden at the Curragh that Geryon won on Saturday. Colin Keane was reunited with the Ger Lyons-trained runner, and Geryon was chased home by five juveniles representing all the O’Brien family of trainers, most of which had racecourse experience behind them. Lyons is clearly enthused about the winner’s prospects, and it will be fascinating to watch Geryon’s progress.

Running in the colours of Newtown Anner Stud, and bred by Maurice Regan’s farm, the son of Ballylinch Stud’s Lope De Vega (Shamardal) is out of Oboe (Mizzen Mast), a mare who was purchased through BBA Ireland for 290,000gns from her breeders, Juddmonte Farms. Oboe had a lot of appeal at the time of her sale.

Trained by Pascal Bary, Oboe won on her debut at two over seven and a half furlongs at Deauville, but did not build on that when she made just a single start early the following season. She is by a well-proven sire (he is the broodmare sire of Group 1 winners Prosperous Voyage and Quadrilateral), her full-sister Filimbi (Mizzen Mast) was a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed, and their dam Flute (Seattle Slew) won the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and Grade 1 Alabama Stakes. What was not to like about her? Oboe also has no inbreeding going back five generations.

Oboe’s first foal, Melodiam (No Nay Never), showed nothing in two runs and was sold off cheaply last autumn. What if she turns out to be a half-sister to a smart runner? Well, KV Singh will be hoping she does, as he is the man who bought her for 5,000gns. Singh owns Govind Stud in India, standing the former Shadwell-owned Royal Ascot winner and Group 1 Juddmonte International fourth Mohaafeth (Frankel), whom he acquired with the help of John Weld. Perhaps Melodiam is in foal to Mohaafeth.

Oboe then had three years visiting Lope De Vega, producing the placed three-year-old De Boode, a filly who runs for Newtown Anner and will surely be retained, Geryon, and his yearling full-brother. This year Oboe foaled a filly by Showcasing (Oasis Dream).

Filimbi, a listed winner in France, won the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita and placed four times in Grade 1 company, twice occupying second place. Since the purchase of Oboe, Filimbi has gone on to breed Dragoon Guard (Arrogate), a dual Grade 3 winner who placed in a Grade 1 last year. Should Geryon win at blacktype level, Oboe would become the sixth daughter of Flute to breed such a winner.

Flute’s once-raced daughter Crosswinds (Storm Cat) bred two graded stakes winners, notably the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes winner Weep No More (Mineshaft) who is now in Japan. Entwine (Empire Maker), another daughter of Flute, raced three times to no effect, but she is dam of Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Qabala (Scat Daddy) who placed in the Group 1 1000 Guineas.

Lope De Vega’s 2025 season contains the usual plethora of high-class winners, 11 of his sons and daughters enjoying success at group level, and many more in listed company. Geryon, from the stallion’s 14th crop, is one of nine two-year-old winners Lope De Vega has already this year.

Looking back on his record in this division, the first 13 crops contain, on average, five blacktype two-year-olds in each, and more than half of them won at listed and group level. Could Geryon be another to contribute?

IRISHMAN Robbie Dolan has race-riding in his DNA.

His grandfather Peadar Matthews was a dual classic-winning jockey, his father Bobby rode too and is a key member of the Dermot Weld training establishment, his cousin Jamie Powell is a successful young rider, and other family members have links to racing.

Robbie’s biggest success to date came last November when he won the Group 1 Melbourne Cup, one of the world’s iconic races, and this led to an invitation to ride on one of the teams for last weekend’s Shergar Cup competition at Ascot.

Hollie Doyle captained Great Britain and Ireland, the team also comprising Joanna Mason and Dolan, and they finished six points off the top in third. Robbie, who moved to Australia nearly a decade ago and sprang to prominence as the ‘singing jockey’, broke into a chorus of ‘We Are The Champions’ after guiding the Ian Williams-trained favourite Night Breeze (New Approach) to a popular victory in the Challenge.

I appreciate that £33,000 is not an insignificant amount of money, and that is what Ian Williams spent on the unraced three-year-old gelding Night Breeze at the 2023 Tattersalls Ascot March Sale. Bred and sold by Godolphin, the now five-year-old can be called something of a bargain buy, as his 21 starts up to Saturday (he held an entry on Thursday night again at Windsor) include five wins, and 11 more top-four finishes. He has won more than £140,000.

Buying a sound, honest horse, who perhaps is not a superstar, for a reasonable sum of money is just as enjoyable and rewarding as spending fortunes on a horse who is expected to be a star, even if they turn out to be good. Williams can take a bow for selecting Night Breeze who, in fairness, was bred with becoming a classic winner in mind.

Night Breeze is a son of New Approach (Galileo) out of a winning mare by Cape Cross (Green Desert). That cross has produced plenty of horses rated 100+, but is best-known for the Group 1 Derby winner Masar, and dual Group 2 winner Beautiful Romance, winner of the Middleton Stakes in York and the Zipping Classic Mile in Australia. Placed at the highest level in England, Beautiful Romance was an honourable seventh in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington nine years ago.

KV Singh

In the other article on this page, I made mention of KV Singh. He also plays a role in the story of Night Breeze, as he purchased the gelding’s dam Right Direction (Cape Cross) last November at Goffs for €45,000 on behalf of Chester Stud. She was sold in foal to Ghaiyyath (Dubawi), whose advertised fee that year was €25,000, and her first foal, Night Breeze, was a three-time winner. Now that picture has changed, Night Breeze adding two more victories, her second foal Heavenly Heather (Shamardal) winning some £77,000 at the all-weather championship meeting at Newcastle back in April, and her third, Cardinal Point (Dubawi), has placed twice.

Right Direction only raced for Godolphin at four, won at Doncaster and Newmarket, and she placed on three of her remaining four starts. She is a half-sister to Cross Counter (Teofilo) who won the 2019 Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

Night Breeze’s sire New Approach moved to Jim Bolger’s Redmondstown Stud in 2023 after 14 years at Dalham Hall and stints in Australia. His nine Group 1 winners include two sons who did well for Bolger, Mac Swiney and Dawn Approach.