HOW could I not look at the family of Leo De Fury? The three-year-old son of Australia (Galileo) is now two-for-two and looks like a stakes horse in the making. The Zhang Yuesheng-owned colt has earned €22,000 from his victories, just €3,000 short of his purchase price at the Goffs Orby Sale two years ago.
Bred by Ben Sangster (pictured), Leo De Fury was sold through Ciaran ‘Flash’ Conroy’s Glenvale Stud to Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland. His price was, incredibly, about one-eighth of the average that year for a yearling son of the exceptionally well-bred dual Derby winner Australia.
Three times runner-up, Leo De Fury’s dam Attire was handled by David Wachman and she stayed in training at four in the hope of landing a coveted winning bracket. That was not to be. Her first offspring, the now unraced four-year-old High Vogue (High Chaparral), cost John Foote Bloodstock 110,000gns, while Leo De Fury’s two-year-old full-sister Lady Dahlia (Australia) made €105,000 at Goffs as a yearling. Attire’s fourth produce is a yearling filly by Zoffany (Dansili).
This is a female family equally at home producing big race winners on the flat and over jumps. Attire’s full-brother Forgotten won a Group 3 as well as the Listed Wolferton Handicap at Royal Ascot on the level, and was victorious at Grade 2 standard over hurdles at Kempton Park. Their siblings Australie and Big Occasion, both by Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer), won the Group 3 Prix de Flore at Saint-Cloud and the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter respectively.
Leo De Fury’s grandam Asnieres (Spend A Buck) won at four – being late developers is a hallmark of many members of the family – and she is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Arcangues (Sagace). This is the immediate family of Group/Grade 1 winners Artiste Royal (Danehill), Aquarelliste (Danehill), Cape Verdi (Caerleon) and Angara (Alzao).
Raffle win for Darley’s Slade Power
SLADE Power was at the peak of his racing prowess at five, that year winning the Group 3 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes, the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes and the Group 1 Darley July Cup.
He was ranked the best older sprinter in Europe in 2014.
His first crop contained 16 juvenile winners and three of these were placed in group or listed races in Ireland, England and France.
However, those achievements have been bettered by a member of his second crop of racing age, the now dual group winner Raffle Prize. This Godolphin homebred has won three of her four starts, the highlights being her successes in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket.
Raffle Prize is the best of the four winners from the Group 3 winner Summer Fete, another stakes-producing daughter of Pivotal (Polar Falcon). The Cheveley Park Stud veteran is the broodmare sire of a growing list of Group 1 winners, some notable examples being Cracksman, Advertise, Rhododendron, Hydrangea and Magical.
David Redvers at Tweenhills Stud must be pleased with his purchase last December of the three-year-old winner Parting Clouds (Street Cry), a half-sister to Raffle Prize, for 100,000gns.
Summer Fete was trained by Bryan Smart and she is one of five winners from Tamarillo (Daylami), bred by Peter Player at Whatton Manor Stud. Her race record, in a sales catalogue, reads ‘won 1 race at 2 years and placed twice; also won 1 race in UAE at 3 and £116,047 and placed’.
What it does not say is that the win in Dubai was the UAE Oaks, before it was granted blacktype.
Micheal’s Golden Ticket win
MICHÉAL Fahy’s Last Golden Ticket obliged at the first time of asking, landing the Don’t Miss Ladies Day At Sligo Races 7th August INH Flat Race, perhaps a tad snuggly. Jamie Codd was in the saddle on the Gordon Elliott-trained winner, so all the omens were right for a debut success.
Michéal is one of the co-breeders of the four-year-old son of Sholokov (Sadler’s Wells), the other being Rathbarry Stud’s Paul Cashman. The pair sent the then foal to the Goffs December Sale in 2015 where he sold to Gerry Hogan for €20,000, Michéal presumably buying out his partner.
Last Golden Ticket is winner number six for his dam Golden Flower, an intriguing German-bred daughter of Highland Chieftain (Kampala).
She won four races on the flat at the age of four, but she was successful five times over jumps in her native land and these included a pair of listed chases.
That was not enough, however, to wow buyers and she sold, as a six-year-old with earnings of over £70,000, for just 1,600gns at Doncaster.
Breeders missed a great opportunity that day as she has gone on to breed a couple of smart chasers, Boychuck (Insan) and Golden Chieftain (Tikkanen). The former won Grade 2 chases at Cheltenham and Newbury and was Grade 1-placed over hurdles and fences. Golden Chieftain won at the Cheltenham Festival, landing the Grade 3 JLT Speciality Chase.
Rathbarry’s Sholokov is one of a select group of stallions to sire Group/Grade 1 winners under both codes. A Group 1 winner at two and runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Derby, his daughter Night Magic won the German Oaks, while his best runner over jumps is the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Don Cossack.
Highlight of the week
RACING and breeding highlight of the week for me is the Group 3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Brownstown Stakes winner Surrounding. Peter Newell can take a bow for this as his daughter of Lilbourne Lad (Acclamation) was notching up her seventh career success and brought her earnings to within a whisker of €250,000. She is the best of the 100 winners by her sire.
This is a family that Peter knows well, for generations indeed, and one with which he has shown great patience. He also raced Surrounding’s half-brother Rummaging (Chineur) who started 59 times, won eight and was runner-up 10 times, earning more than €100,000. By comparison, Surrounding is lightly-raced having started just 22 times!
Surrounding and Rummaging are out of Roundabout Girl (Doubletour) whose only run was to finish 13th of 17 in a Down Royal bumper at the age of six. She was trained by Michael Cunningham and upheld a tradition among her siblings, none of whom ever managed even to be placed. One of her unraced half-sisters Balmy Choice (Balla Cove) is the dam of eight-time winner Settle For Red (Redback) and this year’s winner Merited (Art Connoisseur), a six-year-old trained by Sneezy Foster for her owner/breeder – one Peter Newell.