PRINCESS ZAHRA AGA KHAN, Aga Khan Studs

Calandagan (Ire), 2021 g. by Gleneagles out of Calayana, by Sinndar

THIS is a nomination for a farm that has been a previous winner of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year award, the Aga Khan Studs. Now under the stewardship of Princess Zahra Aga Khan, the stud has been enjoying unprecedented success in the past two years.

Last year Daryz’s Arc victory was a highlight, as was Calandagan’s achievement in recording four Group 1 wins, in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion stakes, both at Ascot, and the Japan Cup. He has twice been successful at the highest level in four starts this year, capturing the Dubai Sheema Classic, and another Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. He also ran second in his attempt to land a second King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Calandagan has finished in the first three on all but one of his 18 lifetimes starts, winning 10 and placing second six times. His last 12 runs have all been at Group 1 level, and his winnings are now just short of €11 million. He is a model of consistency, by some margin the biggest earner for his sire, and the best of his six top-level winners. Calandagan’s dam Calayana put in her best performance to run second in the Group 3 Prix Minerve at Deauville. She has four winners with her first four foals.

ANNE MARIE & BRENDAN HAYES, C-Squared Investments

Blue Bolt (Ire), 2022 f. by Blue Point out of Mayhem, by Whipper

HAVING missed out on a June nomination as breeders of Royal Ascot’s Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes winner Ten Bob Tony when they had Knocktoran Stud, Brendan and Anne Marie Hayes have a deserved shot at the July award thanks to Blue Bolt’s defeat of Precise in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket. Apart from her debut run, this progressive four-year-old has won six of her next eight starts, and been runner-up twice.

Blue Bolt was a €400,000 Arqana yearling purchase by Juddmonte from the Ballylinch Stud draft, signed by SackvilleDonald. She is out of the pattern winner Mayhem. Blue Bolt’s fifth dam was the appropriately-named Truly Special, and her first foal Solo De Lune bred two Group 1 winners. One of these was Cerulean Sky, and she won the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary. Like other daughters of Solo De Lune, Cerulean Sky has established a very successful branch of this family.

Her son Honolulu won the Group 2 Doncaster Cup and placed in the Group 1 St Leger, while two of her grandsons were Group 1-placed, Memphis Tennessee in the Irish Derby, and Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein winner Royal Bench was second in the Hong Kong Mile. He is a full-brother to Blue Bolt’s dam Mayhem.

The latter has been a star in the sale ring and on the track. Her progeny has grossed more than €2.5 million.

CHRISTOPHER TSUI, Sunderland Holding Inc

Johanna Walsh (Ire), 2023 f. by Sea The Stars out of Miss Aiglonne, by Dawn Approach

THE Tsui family has made a huge contribution to Irish breeding in so many facets. They bred a host of good horses from their Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea, most famously Galileo and his half-brother Sea The Stars. They raced the latter, one of the best racehorses of the last half a century, and stand him at Gilltown Stud.

The family has also bred numerous good winners, and like the other two flat nominees this month, they have won the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Flat Breeder of the Year title. Their latest racing star, the Group 1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks winner Johanna Walsh, is the 26th top-flight winner for Sea The Stars.

Johanna Walsh, a €460,000 Goffs yearling purchase by bloodstock agent Andrew Cary for owner Wells Watson, was narrowly beaten in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, but made amends with an emphatic victory in the classic. This was just her second win in five starts, and she has never been out of the money.

Miss Aiglonne sold to Sunderland Holding for €260,000, in foal to Siyouni. Since then she has been a constant companion for Sea The Stars. Her first four foals are winners.

RAY GREHAN, Whitefriar Stud

Putapoundinthejar (Ire), 2020 g. by Walk In The Park out of Blue Eyed Lucy, by Strategic Prince

DEREK O’Connor was in the saddle when Putapoundinthejar appeared for the first time in the Listed Kevin McManus Bookmaker Champion INH Flat Race, and he made a promising start when running second to Shuttle Diplomacy who had won on his only previous start.

Homebred by Galwayman Ray Grehan at his Whitefriar Stud, the Grade 3 Guinness Galway Hurdle winner has not been spared, and has run 20 times, mixing it between the flat (he won a 12-furlong handicap at Bellewstown on April) and over hurdles, and his win in the west was his fourth over the smaller obstacles. Trainer Tony Martin’s handling of Putapoundinthejar clearly shows that this race was a target for the gelding. He is the 40th group or graded winner for his sire, and his 62nd to win a blacktype race.

Ray Grehan raced Putapoundinthejar’s half-sister Young Lucy, a daughter of Lauro, and she won a bumper and a hurdle race at Cork, more than two years apart, for Tony Martin. She died last year at the age of six. Putapoundinthejar’s dam foaled a full-sister to the Galway Hurdle winner in 2025.

Blue Eyed Lucy raced six times over hurdles, but never looked likely to trouble the judge. That said, she has seven winning siblings, and among these is a pair of Willie Mullins-trained blacktype earners.