HATS – or should that be top hats? – off to the Ascot Authority who honoured and entertained breeders of winners at the Royal Ascot meeting recently. They hosted, for the second time, a lunch at Ascot racecourse on the eve of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and also among the guests were representatives of breeding organisations in Ireland and Britain.

There was a special welcome for a couple who travelled from the USA for lunch, Dr Daniel Kessler and his wife Cathy Cordes. They were honoured following the victory of Con Te Partiro (Scat Daddy), their homebred three-year-old who won the Listed Sandringham Handicap for trainer Wesley Ward.

GODOLPHIN

Liam O’Rourke represented the Godolphin team who were responsible for three winners at the meeting as breeders, Sound And Silence (Exceed And Excel), Benbatl (Dubawi) and the Irish-bred Permian (Teofilo), while Kevin Buckley flew the Coolmore flag and collected Garrard Silver Salvers for Winter (Galileo) and the impeccably-bred September, a daughter of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) and Peeping Fawn (Danehill).

Irish guests included Mike O’Brien, co-breeder with Andrew Thompson, of the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes winner Ribchester (Iffraaj), John Halley who celebrated the Norfolk Stakes win of Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy), fellow veterinary surgeon Jim Mulcahy and his son Geoff who bred the Coventry Stakes winner Rajasinghe (Choisir), and Padraic O’Neill of Knocklong House Stud whose Bless Him (Sea The Stars) landed the Brittania Stakes.

Special congratulations are owed to Padraic O’Neill who had the added pleasure of enjoying a victory on the day for the Knocklong House-bred On Her Toes in the listed fillies’ race. This €155,000 Goffs Orby Sale graduate races in the colours of Cheveley Park Stud and is the second stakes winner for her Averti (Warning) dam Dancing Jest. The other is the listed winner and group-placed Jane’s Memory (Captain Rio). Dancing Jest is a half-sister to the Group 2 Duke Of York stakes winner The Kiddykid (Danetime).

SUCCESS

British breeders enjoying the day who had success at the meeting were Elizabeth Grundy for Group 1 winner The Tin Man (Equiano), Willie and Elaine Carson of Minster Stud for Snoano (Nayef), Mark Dixon, co-breeder with Mount Coote Stud, for the Ascot Stakes success of Thomas Hobson (Halling), and Chris and Nicky Harper of Whitsbury Manor Stud after Heartache (Kyllachy) won the Queen Mary Stakes.

The guests were hosted by Ascot’s Johnny Weatherby, Sir Francis Brooke, Guy Davison, Harry Morley and Nick Smith and were addressed and congratulated by Ascot’s chief executive Guy Henderson. Shane O’Dwyer of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association was among the guests, as were Josh Christian (Breeders’ Cup), Claire Sheppard (TBA) and Kerry Murphy (EBF).

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news