EVEN though she failed to win in two starts for her new owners in 2022, Just Beautiful had already justified her purchase price of 625,000gns at the 2021 Tattersalls December Sale.

At the time of her purchase by Paddy Twomey through BBA Ireland, on behalf of Moyglare Stud, she was a Group 3 winner of her most recent start, the Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster. She was a Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) half-sister to the previous year’s Group 2 German 2000 winner Fearless King (Kingman), and her two-year-old half-sister, McKulick (Frankel) was a winner at two in the United States.

Well, last year McKulick went on to win the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and run second in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and their two-year-old half-brother, Lieber Power (Cracksman), won second time out at Kempton. It might have been expected that Just Beautiful would be covered this year, but instead the team at Moyglare, and trainer Paddy Twomey, persisted with a racing programme, and this paid off when Just Beautiful won the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes and almost €80,000.

Three group or graded stakes winners from her first four foals and runners is a great start at stud for Astrelle, a dual winning juvenile daughter of Makfi (Dubawi), and she was denied a pattern race win by just a neck when she was runner-up in the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes. What a bargain she was when bought by Johnny McKeever for €30,000 as a yearling in Italy.

Astrelle has a two-year-old filly by Calyx (Kingman) and a yearling filly by Pinatubo (Shamardal).

Italian family

Not many ‘Italian families’ do as well as they might outside their native land, and most successful female lines there are retained. Astrelle is successfully pushing new boundaries for her family. She is a half-sister to two stakes winner in Italy, notably the Group 2 Premio Ribot winner Porsenna (Dylan Thomas). They are among eight winners for the unraced American-foaled Miss Mariduff (Hussonet).

She is, in turn, a daughter of Sopran Mariduff (Persian Bold), one of the best fillies of her generation in Italy where she was a listed winner and third in the Group 1 Oaks d’Italia. She was sent to the USA, won the Grade 2 Black Helen Handicap, and she is a stakes producer there are the grandam of the Brazilian Group 1 winner Tweet (Midshipman). The next dan, Just Beautiful’s fourth, is the champion Italian juvenile filly, Marina Duff (Caerleon).

Maybe it’s time for a Drumroll

DRUMROLL was runner-up to Paddington in the Listed Tetrarch Stakes on his second career start this year, having earlier landed a maiden. With Paddington progressing to classic success, it was no surprise that Drumroll would go on to win the Group 3 Heider Family Stakes Gallinule Stakes.

Admittedly, the manner of the victory on Sunday was not as one might have wished, but he was correctly awarded the race after he suffered a number of instances of interference. With a little more progression, he could well feature at the finish of the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby in a month’s time.

A son of the Japanese perennial champion sire Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), Drumroll is a full-brother to Saxon Warrior, a Group 1 winner at two and three, and sire of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup winning juvenile last year, Victoria Road. With a potential stallion career in the horizon, and an outstanding pedigree, Ballydoyle will guide Drumroll’s future career with great care.

Saxon Warrior was an unbeaten Group 1 star at two, and a classic winner at three. His impressive debut success over a mile at the Curragh was followed up in similar style in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at Naas, one month before he beat Roaring Lion by a neck in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster. Their first rematch was in the Group 1 2000 Guineas, which Saxon Warrior won in style, his rival only fifth.

Tough battle

The final one was their memorable Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes battle where only a neck separated them at the line. Roaring Lion also won their Group 1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes duel by a neck. Saxon Warrior was three-quarters of a length third to Latrobe in the Group 1 Irish Derby. Sadly, Saxon Warrior damaged a tendon on his final start.

Saxon Warrior’s dam is the classic-placed, juvenile filly champion, and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Maybe (Galileo), and she is out of the sprint stakes winning juvenile Sumora (Danehill), Maybe is an own-sister to the Group 3 winner and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Promise To be True (Galileo), and to Fluff (Galileo), the winning dam of last year’s Group 3 winner, and this year’s Group 2 Dante Stakes-placed Continuous (Heart’s Cry).

Sumora, a three-parts sister to the Group 1 Oaks and Group 1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) heroine and blacktype producer Dancing Rain (Danehill Dancer), who sold for 4,000,000gns a decade ago, is out of an unraced half-sister to Derby hero Dr Devious (Ahonoora) and notable sprinter Archway (Thatching), both sires of Group 1 winners. Two of their siblings produced Group 1 winners, and they were the Irish Oaks winner Even So (Camelot), and Suzuka Phoenix (Sunday Silence) in Japan.

CLIPPER Logistics’ run of recent successes included supplying the first juvenile winner for Too Darn Hot (Dubawi).

The homebred Fallen Angel is the third winner in the first four foals for Agnes Stewart (Lawman), and that €23,000 Goffs yearling purchase by Eddie Lynam carried the Clipper Logistics silks to victory in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at two, and a runner-up placing in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket. One of her three winners is the stakes-placed Divine Jewel (Frankel), and her only other produce of racing age was placed last year at two.

Agnes Stewart and the listed winner Sorrel (Dansili) have rejuvenated a branch of a smart family, with Fallen Angel’s fourth dam, Summer Fashion (Moorestyle), being responsible for a trio of good performers. Her son Definite Article (Indian Ridge) won the Group 1 National Stakes at two and was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Derby, His other victories included the then Group 2 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Definite Article was followed a few years later by the Group 2 Dante Stakes winner Salford Express (Be My Guest), and five years after that along came Salford City (Desert Sun). He won the Group 3 Greenham Stakes for David Elsworth and afterwards was a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1 placed over hurdles.

Juvenile champion

Too Darn Hot was 2018’s juvenile champion, winner of four races that year by an accumulated 15 and a half lengths. His headline wins included his defeat of Phoenix Of Spain (now himself sire of four winners this year in his first crop) in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, and Advertise (off the mark with his first runners in 2023) in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

Raced by the Lloyd-Webbers, Too Darn Hot was runner-up to Telecaster in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, to Phoenix Of Spain in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas and placed behind Circus Maximus in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, before trouncing Space Blues by three lengths in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over seven furlongs. He rounded off his career with defeat of Circus Maximus in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.