GO to one of the most used sites for racing results and look at the name of the winner of the 2017 Listed Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh, or the following year’s Listed Owenstown Stud Stakes at Naas, and it will tell you that the winner was Beauty Amigo.
Don’t remember him? Are you sure? Well, you would be right to feel confused as the horse who won those races was Brother Bear. However, today he is known as Beauty Amigo following his sale and export as a three-year-old to Hong Kong.
Brother Bear was a smart performer for Jessica Harrington, whom he joined after being purchased as a yearling in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by BBA Ireland for 125,000gns. The son of Kodiac (Danehill) was bred by Martin White when the sire’s fee had gone up 33% to €10,000. Those were the days indeed.
By the time the colt appeared in the sale ring from Knockainey Stud, Kodiac’s progeny were selling like hotcakes.
Brother Bear won three times for Mrs Harrington and he was placed a couple of times in blacktype races, running third in the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes.
Hopes must have been high for him when he landed in Hong Kong and joined John Moore. His first seven starts, at Sha Tin and Happy Valley, saw a best finish of fourth once, while he was last on his debut there and nearer last on a few other outings.
His fortune changed this week at Happy Valley when he won a Class 3 handicap and a first prize of £80,000.
Not a bad prize fund, though I am sure it will hardly make a dent in his purchase price as a dual stakes winner.
Winners
He and his half-sister Arctic Ocean (Camelot) are the first two foals and winners from the unraced Hurricane Emma, a daughter of Mr Greeley (Gone West).
Arctic Ocean won twice for Qatar Racing when trained by Sir Michael Stoute, and she recouped a large part of her yearling purchase price (130,000gns) when she sold as a three-year-old last December for 110,000gns.
Yet to race for Hurricane Emma is her third foal, the three-year-old Stand Strong (No Nay Never), and he is trained by Saeed bin Suroor for Godolphin. He cost 400,000gns as a yearling, while his year younger half-brother by Gleneagles (Galileo) was bought by Michael Cleere for a ‘mere’ 50,000gns last year. He is catalogued for the Tattersalls Craven Sale and hopefully will provide a nice return for Cleere’s investment.
Hurricane Emma’s stakes winning half-brother King Hesperus (Kingmambo) won the Listed Rochestown Stakes at Leopardstown as a two-year-old for Ballydoyleand went on to win three years later in Hong Kong.
His dam Victorica (Exbourne) was a minor stakes winner in the USA and a half-sister to Noble Minstrel (The Minstrel), winner of the Listed European Free Handicap in 1987 before being runner-up to Soviet Star in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains – French 2000 Guineas.