FIVE years ago Profitable won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, and just under two hours later Ardad was successful when he landed the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes.
This year both horses are represented by their first runners, and both were making waves at Royal Ascot again, siring Group 2 winners from those initial crops. Darley’s Profitable stands at Kildangan Stud where he is completing his fourth season at €10,000, the first drop in price since he went to stud at €12,000. He has 130 two-year-olds to race for him.
Ardad has over 90 juveniles and stands at the Sweeting’s Overbury Stud where his fee was £4,000 this season. This too was a reduction, the first since he went to stud at £6,500. You will not see fees like this again, given the explosive start Ardad has made with his number of winners already well into double figures and climbing.
Not only did Ardad sire the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes winner Perfect Power, but another of his sons, Vintage Clarets, ran third in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes. A son of Kodiac (Danehill), Ardad was best at two and he went on after Ascot to beat The Last Lion in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes.
Breeze-up double
Perfect Power was bred by Tally-Ho Stud from the dual winner Sagely, a daughter of Frozen Power (Oasis Dream). She was purchased by the Co Westmeath stud for 42,000gns and then the O’Callaghans sent her to Ardad. They were bound to support the stallion given that they had bred and breezed him, selling him for £170,000 to Blandford Bloodstock.
Having failed to sell Sagely’s resulting colt, Perfect Power, as a yearling for 16,000gns, they breezed him and were rewarded when he made £110,000 at this year’s Goffs UK sale. Guess what? He too was purchased by Blandford Bloodstock.
Sagely has a yearling three-parts sister to Perfect Power, a daughter of Ardad’s sire Kodiac, and a colt foal by Galileo Gold (Paco Boy). Everyone in Mullingar will now be hoping better is to come for Perfect Power – perhaps a tilt at the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Ardad’s sire Kodiac is a three-parts brother to Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), both stallions out of the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks winner Rafha (Kris). Invincible Spirit’s son Profitable sired the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes winner Queen Suzy, and it will not be long until his tally of juvenile winners hits double figures.
Online sales
Quick Suzy was purchased last year for €20,000 at the Goffs Autumn Online Sale. Having won a maiden at the Curragh, she sold to her present owners and was runner-up in a group race at Naas. Back to five furlongs she is now a Royal Ascot winner. Bred in partnership by the Hyland’s Oghill House Stud, Quick Suzy beat Twilight Gleaming, and she too is by a son of Invincible Spirit, the sire’s stud companion at the Irish National Stud, National Defense.
Great news for the Hyland family is that they have a yearling full-brother to Quick Suzy at their Monasterevin farm, and her dam Snooze (Marju), a winner in Italy, is back in foal to Profitable. On the ground this year is Snooze’s colt foal by Belardo (Lope De Vega).
Gold strike
Tweenhills Stud has been promoting the fact that Havana Gold, their Group 1 Prix Jean Prat winning son of Teofilo (Galileo), has his biggest and best crop of juveniles this year.
That crop’s double-figure number of successful runners includes the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes winner Chipotle, the better of two winners from the young Makfi (Dubawi) mare Lightsome.
Chipotle was bred by Theakston Stud who bought his dam privately for 8,000gns at the 2017 Tattersalls February Sale. Lightsome is a half-sister to six winners and out of a winning half-sister to Attraction (Efisio), the five-time Group 1 winner and dual champion filly.
BANSTEAD Manor Stud had the perfect start to Royal Ascot 2021, Palace Pier returning to the venue to add the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes to last year’s triumph in the St James’s Palace Stakes.
This was the son of Kingman’s fourth win at the highest level, as he also annexed the Lockinge Stakes and the Prix Jacques Le Marois. He has now won eight of his nine starts.
Palace Pier was bred by the Warren’s Highclere Stud and Floors Farming. The latter was the breeding operation of the late Duke of Roxburghe who died in 2019. Palace Pier is one of four Group 1 winning sons of Kingman (Invincible Spirit) who stands at Banstead Manor Stud for £150,000. Kingman’s colours were also only lowered once, and he was successful in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Palace Pier was purchased for 600,000gns in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2018. He is the second winner for the unraced Beach Frolic (Nayef). John Warren bought Palace Pier’s third dam Miss D’Ouilly (Bikala) in 2000 for 50,000gns and the Duke of Roxburghe owned a third of her.
The foal she was carrying was Palace Pier’s grandam Night Frolic (Night Shift). She won and her five winners include the Group 2 Dante Stakes winner Bonfire (Manduro) and Joviality (Cape Cross), winner of the Group 2 Windsor Forest Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Frankel’s treble
Kingman’s stud companion Frankel (Galileo) was not going to be overlooked this week. He had a pair of winners on the opening day, the David and Trish Brown-bred Juan Elcano in the Listed Wolferton Handicap, and Imad Al Sagar’s homebred Amtiyaz in the concluding Copper Horse Stakes, while his best win of the week was when the three-year-old Mohaafeth recorded a victory in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes.
Bred by Normandie Stud, Mohaafeth was foaled in Ireland as his dam French Dressing (Sea The Stars) was visiting Dark Angel. Unbeaten in two starts for Normandie Stud, French Dressing gained her second success in a listed race at York. Her first two foals are winners and she joins her siblings Dalvina (Grand Lodge) and Soft Centre (Zafonic) as stakes winners who have bred a stakes winner. Soft Centre is the dam of Sultanina (New Approach) and her three wins, all gained at the age of four, included the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.
IT has been a good week for Dark Angel, the standout stallion in the Yeomanstown Stud roster. His two-year-old son Berkshire Shadow won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, before Indie Angel and Real World visited the winners’ enclosure a day later.
Berkshire Shadow is one that got away for his breeder Cheveley Park Stud. They sold him last year in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 40,000gns, in a sale that averaged 220,000gns and had a median of 130,000gns. Andrew Balding was the man with an eye for a bargain.
Cheveley Park paid 600,000gns for Berkshire Shadow’s winning dam, Angel Vision (Oasis Dream). The Coventry Stakes winner is her second offspring. What made Angel Vision so valuable? Well, she was part of the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal at that Tattersalls December Sale in 2017.
Angel Vision is one of seven winners from Islington (Sadler’s Wells). None of that mare’s offspring earned blacktype, though she herself was a superior runner, winning the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks twice and the Group 1 Nassau Stakes, also adding the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Indie Angel recorded her fifth win in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes, having previously earned blacktype through a listed win at Lingfield Park. If Berkshire Shadow was the one that got away for Cheveley Park Stud, Indie Angel was an expensive, and inspired, purchase.
Ringfort Stud
Bred by Derek and Gay Veitch’s Ringfort Stud, along with Paul Hancock, Indie Angel sold for 600,000gns as a foal. She now carries the Cheveley Park livery. Her dam Indigo Lady (Sir Percy) won for Derek and Paul when trained by Willie McCreery, pulling off a 66/1 win in the Listed TRM Silver Stakes at the Curragh, in foal at the time to Camelot (Montjeu). That offspring, Expensive Liaison, sold for 155,000gns as a yearling and is a winner.
The Godolphin homebred Real World (Dark Angel) won the Royal Hunt Cup, and he is the second big race winner in 2021 for his dam Nafura (Dubawi), a dual juvenile winner and half-sister to Group 1 winners Librettist (Danzig) and Dubai Destination (Kingmambo). Nafura’s three-year-old daughter Dubai Fountain (Teofilo) won the Listed Cheshire Oaks this year.
POETIC Flare’s win in this week’s Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes has now established the son of Dawn Approach (New Approach) as the best miler in Europe among the classic crop. His pedigree was fully explored in this column after his 2000 Guineas win, and he was narrowly denied a second classic success by his stablemate Mac Swiney in the Irish equivalent.
While Irish-trained winners were at a premium during the first three days of Royal Ascot, Love’s comeback victory in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes was one of the highlights. She is now a Group 1 winner every season she has raced, and this was her fifth at that level.
The Coolmore-bred Love (Galileo) won the Moyglare Stud Stakes at two, was undefeated last year when adding the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks, and has now made a winning start to 2021. She is by some distance the best runner in her family, though her dam Pikaboo (Pivotal) is certainly by the right broodmare sire.
Despite the efforts of John Gosden, Pikaboo could only manage to finish fourth once in five starts. David Redvers gave 20,000gns for her and her first three foals all won. The third was Lucky Kristale (Lucky Story) who won the Group 2 Connolly’s Red Mills Lowther Stakes and Duchess of Cambridge Stakes.
Annual liaison
With the emergence of Lucky Kristale, Pikaboo found herself in the ownership of John Magnier and an annual liaison with Galileo (Sadler’s Wells). In three successive years she produced Group 3 Munster Oaks winner Flattering, Group 3 Stanerra Stakes winner Peach Tree, and, most recently, Love, the winner of almost €1.3 million.
Cheveley Park Stud’s Mayson, yet another son of the Irish National Stud’s Invincible Spirit, sired the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes winner Oxted who last year won the Group 1 July Cup. The five-year-old gelding is not only his sire’s outstanding runner, but a standout in a pedigree that could otherwise best be described as average.
TWO sons of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) were centre stage on Thursday. Teofilo’s son Subjectivist was a comprehensive winner of the Group 1 Gold Cup, while the three-year-old Loving Dream became the fifth Group 2 winner for Gleneagles when she captured the Ribblesdale Stakes.
Subjectivist is one of 21 Group 1 winners for Kildangan Stud’s Teofilo whose fee this year was €30,000. Teofilo was bred, owned and trained by Jim Bolger.
Mark Johnston trains Subjectivist who is from a female line developed by Bolger. Johnston purchased Subjectivist for 62,000gns as a yearling from Barry and Susan Hearn’s Mascalls Stud. A year earlier Johnston paid 70,000gns for Subjectivist’s half-brother Sir Ron Priestly (Australia).
Sir Ron Priestly’s biggest success was in this year’s Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes, and he is due to run today in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes. He was runner-up in the Group 1 St Leger. Subjectivist was winning at Group 1 level for the second time this week; last year he won the Prix Royal Oak.
Subjectivist is out of Reckoning, a daughter of Danehill Dancer (Danehill). She was a winner at two before going on to place in listed company. She was acquired by Mascalls for 160,000gns. Three of her first four foals are now winners, her fourth being the three-year-old Alba Rose (Muhaarar) who was third in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes last year.
Loving Dream thrilled her owners and breeders Trevor and Libby Harris when she became the first homebred Royal Ascot winner for their Lordship Stud. Making just her fifth start, this was her first blacktype earned.
Loving Dream is a daughter of listed winner Kissable (Danehill Dancer) who was third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. She was purchased by Kern/Lillingston for 180,000gns at the 2013 Tattersalls December Sale.
Broodmare band
Adding Kissable to the Lordship Stud broodmare band has paid off handsomely as she is the dam of four winners from four runners to date, including the Santa Anita Stakes winner and Grade 1 American Oaks third Amandine (Shamardal).
Kissable hails from a great Juddmonte family. Her dam, the unbeaten listed winner Kitty O’Shea (Sadler’s Wells), is a full-sister to Group 1 St Leger and Racing Post Trophy winner Brian Boru, and to Soviet Moon, the dam of Group 1 Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Workforce (King’s Best).
Kissable has a two-year-old filly Five Stars and a colt foal, both by Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), and a yearling colt by Camelot (Montjeu).
OVER the first three days of Royal Ascot, Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) was responsible for one winner. The 400,000gns yearling purchase Kemari, a three-year-old gelding bred by the Cumani’s Fittocks Stud, was making his third start when he won the 14-furlong Group 2 Queen’s Vase.
Kemari is the first foal of the Group 3 St Simon Stakes winner Koora, a daughter of the influential broodmare sire Pivotal (Polar Falcon). Koora’s dam Kithanga (Darshaan) also won the St Simon Stakes and was placed in the Group 1 Irish St Leger. A prolific producer at stud, Kithanga is the dam of the Group 1 St Leger winner Milan (Sadler’s Wells), and she is grandam of another classic winner in Karpino (Cape Cross), successful in the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen-German 2000 Guineas.
Dubawi’s influence on the royal meeting extended to three other winners. On Wednesday the four-year-old Lola Showgirl, bred by Noel Finegan, captured the concluding Kensington Palace Stakes, and she is a daughter of Dubawi’s classic-winning son Night Of Thunder. Lola Showgirl is one of three winners from Exempt (Exceed And Excel), a half-sister to Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Three Degrees (Singspiel).
In a neat piece of synergy, Kildangan Stud’s Night Of Thunder also sired the winner of the final race on Thursday, another four-year-old daughter, Highfield Princess, taking the Buckingham Palace Stakes. She is one of five winners from the winning Danehill (Danzig) mare Pure Illusion, and the best of the rest is the Group 2 July Stakes winning juvenile Cardsharp (Lonhro) who was placed in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes. Highfield Princess races for her breeder, Trainers House Enterprises Ltd.
New Bay
Both of Night Of Thunder’s winners were from his first crop, and Perotto, winner of the 29-runner Britannia Stakes, is from the first crop of Dubawi’s French Derby winning son New Bay who stands at Ballylinch Stud. This was a fourth win for the consistent three-year-old who was snapped up for 28,000gns by Marcus Tregoning as a yearling.
Perotto, bred by the China Horse Club, is from a very current family. His winning dam Tschierschen (Acclamation) is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Roodeye (Inchinor), dam of last year’s top miler Mohaather (Showcasing), the Group 1 Sussex Stakes winner. Roodeye is grandam of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes winner Accidental Agent (Delegator).
WHILE Juddmonte sires were to the fore this week at Royal Ascot, their silks visited the winners’ enclosure once over the first three days. This was thanks to Surefire, a three-year-old son of Coolmore’s Fastnet Rock (Danehill), who landed the King George V Stakes.
The winner is one of seven successful offspring from the listed scorer Modesta (Sadler’s Wells), and previous winners include the Grade 3 winning filly Button Down (Oasis Dream) who was sold five years ago for $850,000, and the listed winner Platitude (Dansili).
Modesta is one of eight stakes winners from the unraced Modena (Roberto). The best of these were Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes winner Elmaamul (Diesis), and the Oaks winner Reams Of Verse (Nureyev). Their stakes-placed half-sister Midsummer (Kingmambo) bred the brilliant Midday (Oasis Dream).
The two and a half mile Ascot Stakes was won by a French-bred seven-year-old son of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway). Reshoun is one of three winners from his winning dam Radiyya (Sinndar), and won in the colours of his breeder, H.H. the Aga Khan, in France before selling at three for €75,000.
Reshoun has not yet earned any blacktype, something both his winning siblings, Rayapour (Mastercraftsman) and Rashkani (Pivotal), did. Their dam is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Rajsaman (Linamix), and to the dual stakes winner Rossana (Linamix) who bred the Group 1 winning juvenile and classic-placed Rosanara (Sinndar).