Frankel colt Logician new Leger favourite
Seven years after Frankel's (by Galileo) memorable Juddmonte International Stakes victory, his son Logician put up an eye-catching performance when taking the Group 2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes in style just over half an hour before the 2019 edition of the Group 1 feature.
The John Gosden-trained grey also carries the famous Juddmonte colours, he is unbeaten in four starts – all this year – and is now the ante-post favourite for next month's Group 1 William Hill St Leger Stakes at Doncaster.
The grey is a full-brother to the 98-rated multiple handicap scorer Collide but, more notably, is a half-brother to Suffused (by Champs Elysees). Stakes-placed in England when trained by Roger Charlton, she excelled across the Atlantic, winning Grade 3s at Gulfstream Park and Saratoga – at up to 12 furlongs – and beaten by just a nose when runner-up in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.
Logician is also a half-brother to the stakes-placed Battlement (by Dansili) whose first foal, a Kingman (by Invincible Spirit) filly, arrived in mid-February, just over two weeks before Suffused had her first-born, a Kingman colt.
They are all out of the stakes-placed Scuffle (by Daylami) and so represent one of Juddmonte's famous families.
The mare is a half-sister to the Group 1 star and blacktype-siring Overbury Stud stallion Cityscape (by Selkirk) and to the Group 1-placed, Group 2-winning sprinter Bated Breath (by Dansili), a Banstead Manor Stud resident who has also been having a successful year.
Logician's grandam is Tantina (by Distant View), the multiple stakes daughter of US Grade 2 scorer Didina (by Nashwan), whereas fourth dam Didicoy (by Danzig) was a Group 3-placed half-sister to Group 1 star and successful stallion Xaar (by Zafonic).
This makes Logician yet another high-profile representative of the Best In Show (by Traffic Judge) family, his sixth dam and a matriarch from whom many notable stallions and racehorses around the world have descended.
It will be fascinating to find out just how good this young colt will be at his peak, and the manner in which he beat Constantinople and Norway by one and three-quarter lengths and seven lengths on Wednesday suggests that neither the St Leger trip nor the step up to Group 1 level will inconvenience him.
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War's son wins Acomb Stakes
Juddmonte International Stakes winner Declaration Of War (by War Front) spent a single season at Coolmore Stud before moving to their Kentucky division, Ashford Stud, and the young classic stallion struck in the opening pattern race of the 2019 Ebor Festival at York.
The sire of last year's Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) scorer Olmedo – a colt who also won the Group 3 Prix Gontaut-Biron at Deauville recently – is responsible for the Richard Fahey-trained juvenile Valdermoro.
Third on his debut at Haydock and an easy winner at Doncaster a month later, the 50,000gns Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale graduate stayed on well to get the better of the Aidan O'Brien-trained Harpocrates to take the Group 3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes by a neck.
He was bred by the partnership of Cesa Farm, Labertino Farm and Racing Corp, was originally snapped up for $52,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale – bought there by Margaret O'Toole – and holds an array of big-race entries that you would expect to see for a potential Group 1 contender.
The mid-March-born bay is a half-brother to a couple of US mile winners and his dam, Snooki (by Empire Maker), is an unraced half-sister to Coup De Coeur (by Exchange Rate), a stakes winner around that same trip.
Grandam Bois D' Amour (by Woodman) was also unraced, but as the third dam is Lovlier Linda (by Vigors) – who won 10 of her 24 starts including the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap – the mare is a half-sister to a string of talented runners.
Old Trieste (by A.P. Indy) was a multiple Grade 2 scorer and successful stallion, Perigee Moon (by Hennessy) won the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes when trained by Aidan O'Brien, and the full-sisters Stormica (by Storm Cat) and Penny's Fortune won listed races.
Valdermoro has run only over seven furlongs so far but is bred to be an effective miler at three, one who could stay an extra furlong or two.
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Bungle filly wins the Lowther
Rathasker Stud stallion Bungle Inthejungle (by Exceed And Excel) came up with the Group 1-placed pattern scorer Rumble Inthejungle in his first crop and his second is currently headed by Living In The Past, winner of the Group 2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes at York on Thursday.
The Karl Burke-trained juvenile, who was bred by Newlands House Stud and Mrs Ann-Marie Burns, is a €65,000 graduate of the Goffs Sportsmans Yearling Sale and picked up her first piece of blacktype when third to Under The Stars in last month's Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot.
She is the second foal of Ayr Missile (by Cadeaux Genereux), is a half-sister to the dual five-furlong winner Yogi's Girl (by Harbour Watch), and her dam is a half-sister to Outer Space (by Acclamation), a seven-time scorer who chased home Hot Streak in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes as a two-year-old.
It is no surprise that the filly has shown talent over six furlongs.
However, if you go back farther on the page then you will find a variety of blacktype winners who excelled over longer trips, including 12-furlong Group 3 winner Moment In Time (by Tiger Hill) – who is a half-sister to the filly's grandam Venoge (by Green Desert) – high-class stayer Opinion Poll (by Halling), and the top-class miler Markofdistinction (by Known Fact).
Group 1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes entrant Living In The Past may be a contender for next year's Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, but it's not impossible that she'll stay seven furlongs or a mile.