WINNER of the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at two, and placed in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes, Blue Point (Shamardal) improved with age, and beat Battaash in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot at four.

Connections would have been forgiven for retiring him to stud at the end of that season, but thank goodness they didn’t. He was undefeated at five, and won three group-race sprints in Dubai, including the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan. Blue Point again defeated Battaash in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes, before sensationally reappearing four days later to add the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Not surprisingly, Blue Point was well supported at stud and has some 160 juveniles on the ground. Last year 74 of his yearlings that sold averaged €116,000, but his first winner, with just his second runner, was one that failed to sell! Bred by Rabbah Bloodstock, Action Point was retained at 45,000gns, sent to Archie Watson, and knew the game well when land the spoils at Kempton last weekend.

That Action Point should display such precocity is hardly surprising, given that he is out of an unraced daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill). Khaleesi Wind is from a family packed with speed, and Action Point will surely go on to even better things, and could well be the perfect starting point of a championship season for her Kildangan Stud sire.

Excelette

Khaleesi Wind is a full-sister to the listed sprint winner Excelette (Exceed And Excel), and at stud she is the dam of the dual five-furlong listed-winning juvenile Well Done Fox (Acclamation).

Excelette’s group-placed half-brother Rapid Applause (Royal Applause) won four times over five and six furlongs, and their half-sister Najraan (Cadeaux Genereux) bred the 2020 Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes runner-up Devilwala (Kodiac).

The pedigree gets even better in the third remove of Action Point’s family. His great-grandam Mainly Dry (The Brianstan) had nine winners from a dozen runners, and the best of these was Bolshoi (Royal Academy).

Trained by Alan Berry, he beat Lochangel in the Group 2 Temple Stakes as a six-year-old, a month before confirming that form with an even more comprehensive win over the same mare in the then Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes.