HEADING back down to Australia this spring, Churchill (Galileo) posted his tenth stakes-winner in Europe on Sunday when the lightly-raced colt Sprewell stamped himself as a Derby contender with a dominant win in the 10-furlong Group 3 Derby Trial Stakes at Leopardstown.

Trained by Jessica Harrington and ridden by Shane Foley, Sprewell surged clear to win by three lengths on just his fourth start. “Sprewell is a very, very good horse. He wouldn’t excite you at home and I wasn’t sure how he was going but Kate [Harrington] told me he was fine, ready and not to worry,” said Foley.

“He gave me a proper feel; when I gave him a squeeze, he came back underneath me. It was a proper run race and a good one. He’ll be a Derby horse hopefully. He enjoys that soft ground really well. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t go on better ground.”

Derby entries

Bred and raced by Mohamed Khalid Mohamed Abdulrahim, Sprewell has two wins and a placed effort from his four starts, and holds entries for the Epsom, Irish and French Derbies. He is the best of five winners from the Grade 1 winner Lahaleeb, the best runner sired by Redback (Mark Of Esteem). She was purchased for 1,000,000gns in 2019 carrying Sprewell.

Lahaleeb justified connections’ faith in her when she gained a well-deserved Grade 1 success in the E P Taylor Stakes on the turf at Woodbine, beating Rainbow View by nearly two lengths. She was bred by Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick famer and veterinary surgeon Tom Twomey, who bought the dam Flames (Blushing Flame) as an unraced two-year-old from Cheveley Park Stud for 2,200gns.

Flames went on at stud to breed five winners, among them the stakes winning filly Precocious Star (Bold Fact). A non-winning daughter of Flames, Lahaleeb’s own-sister Pink Flames (Redback), bred a Spanish stakes winner in Flanders Flame (Dutch Art).

Canadian success

Lahaleeb took her record to five wins and earnings of over £600,000 with her Canadian success and she had previously been successful as a two-year-old in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes. She was just denied a classic success when outpointed in the final strides by Again in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.

This is a family that has served the Thompson family at Cheveley Park Stud well. Sprewell’s fourth dam Exclusive Virtue (Shadeed) won at two, and her best runner was Virtuous (Exit To Nowhere), placed in the Listed Oaks Trial Stakes at Lingfield but a better broodmare, producing the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes winner Virtual (Pivotal) and the Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner Iceman (Polar Falcon).

Churchill is standing for €30,000 this year at Coolmore, and will stand this coming season in Australia at a fee of A$22,000. Last year he sired a Group 1 winner from each of his first two crops, the outstanding Vadeni winning the Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and Eclipse Stakes, while the juvenile Blue Rose Cen won the Prix Marcel Boussac.

THE 149th running of the $3 million Grade 1 Kentucky Derby attracted an international field, with a couple of Japanese-trained horses.

However, they came up short against an American runner with Venezuelan-born connections.

More than 150,000 racegoers watched as Mage, a three-year-old ridden by Venezuelan-born Javier Castellano and trained by fellow countryman Gustavo Delgado, swooped to success from Two Phil’s and the favourite, Angel Of Empire. The winner is a first crop son of Good Magic (Curlin) who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms for $50,000.

Prepped

Mage was sold twice at public auction, through Runnymede Farm for $235,000 as a yearling at Keeneland, and at Fasig-Tipton as a breezer for $290,000 with Sequel Bloodstock acting as consignor. Victory for Mage was his first in a stakes race, though he was prepped for the race with a close runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. He earned $1.86 million in winning the Derby, boosting his earnings to over $2.1 million, and this was his second victory in four starts.

Following a debut January maiden win, Mage was fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes behind Forte, and second to that rival in the Florida Derby. He is just the third Kentucky Derby winner who had only three prior starts, while himself, Justify, and Apollo in 1882 are the only horses to win the Derby without having raced at two.

Breeder

The winner was bred in Kentucky by Grandview Equine and races for OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds, a micro-shares partnership. They came together after Restrepo and Delgado acquired the colt for more than their budget at the Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale a year ago.

Mage is the best of two winners, the first two runners, out of the Big Brown (Boundary) mare Puca, and that stakes winner and Grade 2 runner-up cost Grandview Equine $475,000, carrying the stakes-placed Gunning (Gun Runner). She was actually sold three lots after the dam of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous was purchased for Godolphin for $3.5 million.

Puca won four times, from two to five, and has a two-year-old full-brother to Mage, who realised $325,000 at Keeneland last September, and a yearling colt by McKinzie (Street Sense). Mage made up for a shortcoming in his own sire’s race record. Good Magic, the champion two-year-old colt of 2017, was second in the Kentucky Derby.

Good Magic, a $1 million yearling buy, was rated the champion at two after he won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. While he came up short in the Kentucky Derby, he did win the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes. He made a dream start at stud and his first crop last season was headed by the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes winner Blazing Sevens.

Now that initial crop numbers two Grade 1 winners, nine stakes winners and 11 stakes horses. It is a sure bet that Good Magic will not be standing for $50,000 next year. Can Mage go on and win the Triple Crown, becoming just the 14th horse to do so? The remaining two legs take place over the next five weeks: the Preakness Stakes on May 20th and the Belmont Stakes on June 10th.

Puca, the dam of Mage, is one of five winners from the stakes-placed, winning two-year-old Boat’s Ghost (Silver Ghost). By some way the best of that quintet was Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt). He won eight races from the age of three until seven, the highlight of his racing career coming with success in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby. Other wins included the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup in a record time, the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes and the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes.