Belinda Strudwick, Ballygallon Stud Limited

Exultant (Ire), 2014 g. by Teofilo out of Contrary, by Mark Of Esteem

RACED in Ireland as Irishcorrespondent, Exultant landed his fourth Group 1 win in Hong Kong when he added the FWD Queen Elizabeth II Cup to previous successes in the Standard Chartered Champions and Chater Cup, the Citi Hong Kong Gold Cup and the Longines Hong Kong Vase. His earnings have increased to more than €7.5 million.

In 2017 he was trained by Michael Halford for Belinda Strudwick who bred the son of Teofilo at her Ballygallon Stud. He made quite an impression winning his first two starts, before finishing third to Churchill in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh. Bloodstock agent John McCormack acquired the colt to race in Hong Kong.

Exultant is the fourth foal and winner for his dam Contrary who won at two in France. She is out of the unraced Crystal Gaze and that mare made news when she sold at the inaugural Goffs London Sale in 2014. She was offered with her colt foal by Frankel, and was back in foal to him. MV Magnier bid £1,150,000 (or about €1.4 million) to buy her.

At the time she was the dam of Spirit Quartz, a Group 2 winner who was beaten a nose in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. Another son of the mare, Caspian Prince, had won the Investec Dash at Epsom on Derby day, but he went on to win 11 more races, 19 in all, including the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh.

Paul (above) and Billy McEnery

Big Time Baby (Ire), 2014 g. by Dandy Man out of Royal Majestic, by Tobougg

IRELAND came within three-parts of a length of a second Group 1 on the Sha Tin Champions Day card when Big Time Baby was runner-up in the Chairman’s Sprint Prize. This effort raised his earnings, from eight victories and nine placings, to more than €1.4 million.

He is one of two stakes winners from a mare who was purchased by Paul and Billy McEnery for a mere €4,000 as a three-year-old at Goffs.

Royal Majestic had won twice the previous year as a two-year-old when trained by Mick Channon, and she was sold by Rabbah Bloodstock in foal to Kheleyf. The colt she was carrying sold as a foal for €17,000 and won at two, and she has continued to pay her way with some interest.

Big Time Baby was her second produce and he cost Tally-Ho Stud €33,000 as a foal. This £45,000 yearling joined Tom Dascombe and won three of his five starts at two, the final leg coming in the Listed Roses Stakes at York which prompted his sale to Hong Kong.

Foal number three proved to be another stakes winner, this time the Group 3 Italian heroine Charline Royale, by Zebedee. She won seven races and has been multiple stakes-placed.

Royal Majestic’s fourth produce, Kuwaitiya (Camacho) was a profitable yearling when selling for €44,000. Now all eyes are on the two-year-old Royal Mehmas (Mehmas), from the first crop of his sire and another profitable sale for the McEnerys, realising €57,000 as a foal.

Aidan Sexton

Life Less Ordinary (Ire), 2012 g. by Thewayyouare out of Don’t Cross Tina, by Cape Cross

FAILING to sell as either a foal or a yearling in the sale ring, being retained on the latter occasion for just €5,000, Life Less Ordinary went on to win four times in England before being sold for 100,000gns to continue his racing career in Australia. He won for the fifth time there when he landed the Group 3 JRA Plate at Randwick for the second time, and he has also been a winner at Group 2 level. His best effort when tested at Group 1 level was to run second in the Doomben Cup. He is the second of three foals out of a mare who won over nine furlongs at four and two of her offspring are winners.

Don’t Cross Tina is one of five winners from the two-year-old winner El Tina, and that daughter of Unfuwain is a half-sister to the multiple Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed Hard Drivin’. Their dam is the stakes-placed Mashair, a Diesis daughter of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and Grade 1 Matron Stakes winner Lucky Lucky Lucky. One of the best juveniles of her year, five of Lucky Lucky Lucky’s six victories were in graded stakes in the USA and she was placed five times at Grade 1 level.

Lucky Lucky Lucky is the best of eight winners from Just One More Time, and another was the smart colt Fast Forward, an 11-time multiple stakes winner who was runner-up in the Grade 1 American Derby at Arlington Park.

John Magnier Ideal Syndicate

Inverloch (Ire), 2014 g. by Fastnet Rock out of Ideal, by Galileo

A WINNER in France before he went down under to continue his racing career, Inverloch recently posted his biggest win in the Group 3 Easter Cup at Caulfield. Previously he was a listed winner at the same track. He has now won seven races and his earnings are nudging towards £200,000.

Inverloch’s dam Ideal was purchased as a yearling by John Magnier for 240,000gns and she was born a year before her best known sibling Camelot. That colt, a son of Montjeu, realised 525,000gns and went on to earn more than £1.9 million with victories in the Derby at Epsom and its equivalent at the Curragh, the 2000 Guineas and the Racing Post Trophy at two. He came close to a Triple Crown, finishing runner-up in the St Leger at Doncaster.

Inverloch is a half-brother to last year’s group-placed juvenile Harpocrates, a son of Invincible Spirit, and their grandam Tarfah, by Kingmambo, was a Group 3 winning daughter of a stakes-winning Danehill mare, Fickle.

Bringing a son of Fastnet Rock to Australia to race is something of a no-brainer. The champion three-year-old colt there in 2004-05, he has shown his ability as a world-class stallion in both hemispheres. He is the sire of 39 Group 1 winners globally.

Those that we would be most familiar with in this part of the world include One Master, Merchant Navy, Zhukova, Fascinating Rock, Intricately, Rivet, Diamondsandrubies, Qualify and Laganore.