AT the close of business on Thursday, Frankel’s six Group 1 runners at Royal Ascot this year had all finished in the top three of their respective races.

He sired his third Group 1 winner of the week when Courage Mon Ami gave the Emir of Qatar his second success of the week, landing the spoils in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup.

After the race, Shane Horan, Juddmonte’s nominations manager at Banstead Manor Stud, said: “The week has been phenomenal. The timing couldn’t be more important because it’s on the international stage. You’ve got very important owners and breeders from an industry point of view coming from America, Australia and Japan.

“The northern hemisphere season is over, and we’re now very much focused on the southern hemisphere. There are a lot of Australians around, so this won’t go unnoticed. Frankel keeps surprising us with what he can do.”

Frankie Dettori was winning his ninth Gold Cup, and it was the perfect swansong on what is his final year in the saddle. Courage Mon Ami is the 31st Group 1 winner for Frankel (Galileo), and this victory came in what was the four-year-old gelding’s first start in a blacktype race.

He is now undefeated in four outings, and becomes the third stakes winner for his dam, the winning Lemon Drop Kid (Kingmambo) mare, Crimson Ribbon. The others are the Australian listed winner Astronomos (New Approach), and the listed winner and group-placed Crimson Rosette (Teofilo).

Foaled in 2019, and bred by Anthony Oppenheimer at his Hascombe and Valiant Stud, Courage Mon Ami is from the same crop as another of Frankel’s winners this week, Triple Time, Irish classic winners Homeless Songs and Westover, triple Group 1 winner Inspiral, US and Canadian Grade 1 winners McKulick and Wild Beauty, dual Group 1 winner Nashwa, and the French Group 1 winner Onesto. What a vintage year that was.

Crimson Ribbon’s full-brother Bronze Cannon (Lemon Drop Kid) was another family member to win at Royal Ascot, success coming in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes, and their own-sister Valiant Girl (Lemon Drop Kid) won at Grade 3 level in the USA. The Royal Ascot connection was also reinforced by the fact that yet another sibling to Crimson Ribbon, Across the Stars (Sea The Stars), won the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes seven years ago.

The stakes-placed Victoria Cross (Mark Of Esteem) was responsible for both of those Royal Ascot Group 2 winners, and she had some interesting siblings. Her half-brother Prize Giving (Most Welcome) won the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester but bettered that with victory in the Grade 2 San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita. Another was Pridwell (Sadler’s Wells) who never won on the flat but was an ultra-smart hurdler, successful many times at Grade 2 level and placed in the Grade 1 Champion Hurdle.

One of Victoria Cross’ half-sisters, Roberts Pride (Roberto), did not win, but she made up for that omission when producing the high-class mare Alpride (Alzao), a leading performer in Italy who went on to land a pair of Grade 1 wins in the USA.

An interesting stallion prospect

COULD Valiant Force be a potential stallion prospect for Tally-Ho Stud in due course?

The son of Malibu Moon (A.P. Indy) is quite obviously highly regarded by connections, and was runner-up on his debut in a listed race at the Curragh. On just his third outing, he became the longest-priced winner of the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes on Thursday when breaking his maiden in spectacular fashion,

Bred by Spendthrift Farm in partnership, Valiant Force sold as a foal for $75,000, and washed his face as a yearling when snapped up by Robson Aguiar and Roger O’Callaghan for $100,000.

He is the first foal of the unraced Vigui’s Heart (Quality Road), a half-sister to the Grade 3-placed, 11-time winner Joyful Heart (Kitten’s Joy). Their dam is the Canadian stakes winner Blue Heart (Exchange Rate), one of a pair of such winners out of Flawless Diamond (Saint Ballado).

The foundation sire for B Waynes Hughes’ Spendthrift Farm, Malibu Moon was a minor winner from just two starts who went on to become a significant stallion success. He died just two years ago at the age of 21, and started his career at stud for $3,000, moving quite quickly to Castletown Lyons, before moving again to Spendthrift where he spent the majority of his life. Ten years ago, his son Orb won the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, and his 21 crops contain 17 Grade 1 winners, all on dirt. Could Valiant Force be an exception?

Warm Heart

The second Group 2 on Thursday’s card was the Ribblesdale Stakes, and Aidan O’Brien saddled the winner for ‘just’ the fourth time. Warm Heart became the first winner at this year’s meeting for Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), and this three-year-old was already a listed winner at Newbury.

Sea Siren (Fastnet Rock) was a three-time Group 1 winner in Australia before she made her way to Royal Ascot to race in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes. She then changed trainers, leaving John O’Shea and joining Aidan O’Brien. She was off the track for more than a year, but won a listed race at Fairyhouse and placed in a pair of Group 3 races, all her starts from Ballydoyle.

One of four stakes winners out of the unraced Express A Smile (Success Express), Sea Siren is a half-sister to the Group 2 New Zealand winner Lady Dehere (Dehere). The latter mare has bred three stakes winners, and is grandam of last year’s Group 1 Robert Sangster Stakes winner Ruthless Dame (Tavistock).

Shane’s joy

Well done Shane Molan. The Co Limerick breeder, based at Riversfield Stud, has celebrated three Group 1 successes in Hong Kong thanks for Waikuku (Harbour Watch), and the gelding won some £4.4 million out there. Now the dam of that multimillionaire, London Plane (Danehill Dancer), has a second group-winning offspring, as her three-year-old Waipiro (Australia) landed the odds in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes. The race has been a launching pad for a number of subsequent Group 1 winners. Can Waipiro be another?

King Charles keeps up the winning thread

BACK in July last year I penned the following.

“A final mention of Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) this week. Keep an eye out for a two-year-old called Desert Hero as the season progresses. Already touted as a Derby hopeful for 2023, he is owned and was bred by Queen Elizabeth, and he was raised under the watchful eye of the Royal Studs’ manager, Irishman David Somers. He is the first foal of the unraced Desert Breeze (Dubawi), and she is an own-sister to the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes winner and Group 1-placed Dartmouth (Dubawi).”

Well, he didn’t quite live up to the Derby billing, though he won twice as a juvenile and was placed in the Group 3 Solario Stakes. After a pipe-opener in May, he turned out on Thursday to give King Charles and Queen Camilla their first winner, as owners, at Royal Ascot, taking the King George V Stakes.

Sea The Stars continues to rule the roost at Gilltown Stud, his home since retiring to stud in 2010. Desert Breeze, whose second produce is a yearling colt by Fastnet Rock (Danehill), was purchased by John Ferguson for 1,400,000gns in 2007, carrying her first foal. She had raced just five times, winning a Group 3 at Naas and a listed race at Gowran Park. In addition to Dartmouth, she is also dam of dual Group 2 winner Manatee (Monsun) and Gaterie (Dubai Destination), a listed winner and dam of the stakes winner Warren Point (Dubawi).

Docklands

Don’t be surprised if Docklands goes on to become a group winner. This progressive sort is following in the hoofprints of Teleprompter and Fly To The Stars, winners of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and Lockinge Stakes respectively, by landing the Britannia Handicap. He has now won more than £80,000, and is a great advertisement for his sire, Mickley Stud’s Massaat (Teofilo). The stud bred the three-year-old colt, and he is from the first crop of the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes winner.

Richard Kent spent 9,000gns 16 years ago to purchase the unraced Icky Woo (Mark Of Esteem), and she has now given the Mickley Stud owner five winners, including the US Grade 3 winner Ickymasho (Multiplex), and the Australian listed winner Harbour View (Le Havre). It is odds-on that Docklands will be the next.

Siyouni hit the headlines on Tuesday with Paddington’s great victory, and he sired another winner when the stakes-placed Witch Hunter (Siyouni) won the concluding Buckingham Palace Stakes on Thursday.

Bred by Petra Bloodstock, the four-year-old was pinhooked from a yearling to a breezer by Mick and Sarah Murphy’s Longways Stables.