THE valuable Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes at Naas has a winner’s purse of almost €150,000, and the race is proving hugely popular since its inception.

The brainchild of Joe Foley, this year he had much to celebrate. A full field of 20 runners went to post, and among them were five runners from Britain. Joe bred the eventual runner-up, Jungle Mare (Bungle Inthejungle), and that Kevin Ryan-trained gelding races in the silks of the Bronte Collection 1, of which Foley is a member.

While many might be disappointed with finishing a half-length second, not so with Foley. Jungle Mate chased home another runner in the Bronte Collection 1 colours, and this was the Hugo Palmer-trained Golden Trick, a 22,000gns yearling purchase by Foley himself. Bred by McCracken Farms, no strangers to breeding a good horse, this colt has, the space of six weeks, gone from running third in a maiden at Ayr to winning at Chester, and doubling up at Naas.

From the third crop of Galileo Gold (Paco Boy), Golden Trick is yet another graduate of the fledgling Tattersalls Somerville Sale, and he is the first foal out of a twice-raced daughter of Oasis Dream, Duplicitous, who went from being a 65,000gns yearling buy to a 6,000gns February Sale graduate of the Newmarket ring. Having made such a positive start at stud, there should be plenty of interest in her second offspring, a yearling filly by King of Change (Farhh).

Duplicitous is from a female line that was nurtured for years at Ballymacoll Stud. She is a daughter of Eleanora Duse (Azamour), and she was a smart racemare. Though she raced for three seasons, she failed to build on the success she enjoyed at three, trained as she was for her owner-breeders by Sir Michael Stoute. Winner of the Group 2 Blandford Stakes, she was also successful in the Listed Lord Weinstock Memorial Ballymacoll Stakes at Newbury.

Third behind Midday and Snow Fairy in the Group 1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks, in addition to her success in a Group 2 races, was likely the impetus behind keeping her in training for a third season, in the hopes of perhaps stepping up to a victory at the highest level. With the closure of Ballymacoll, and the dispersal of all their stock, Eleanora Duse was among the large numbers put through the sale ring, and she sold to Ever Union Shokai in Japan for 300,000gns.

In Japan

The foal she was carrying, Earth Flair (Frankel), won at four in Japan, and he was followed by Satono Rush (Daiwa Major) who has visited the winner’s enclosure three times this year, also as a four-year-old. They are two of the three winners out of Eleanora Duse, the other being Glencora (Gleneagles), and she won three races, again up to the age of four.

Eleanora Duse and her half-sister Scottish Stage (Selkirk) were among the seven winners left by Drama Class (Caerleon). While she was not as successful on the racecourse as her younger sibling, being a listed winner at Newbury, Scottish Stage did come closer to winning a Group 1, finishing four lengths off Alexandrova in the Darley Irish Oaks. She has only had modest success as a broodmare, and she was sold in 2017, as part of the dispersal from Ballymacoll, for 15,000gns.

Galileo Gold, formerly at Tally-Ho Stud where he completed five seasons at stud, relocated to Haras de Bouquetot for 2023. He made an explosive start at stud, and his first crop, now aged four, contained six stakes winners, most notably the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes winner Ebro River. The others were multiple Group 3 winner Oscula and Group 3 winner Goldana, both fillies, and a trio of listed winners. Oscula placed in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at two.

Biggest book

No member of Galileo Gold’s second crop gained a stakes win or placing, though his current juveniles has among their number the Listed Chesham Stakes third, Golden Mind. Co-owned by Tally-Ho Stud and Al Shaqab Racing, Galileo Gold has covered his biggest book of 163 mares to date at Tally-Ho Stud in 2022.

Trained by Hugo Palmer, Galileo Gold proved a sharp juvenile when winning three races, including the Group 2 Qatar Vintage Stakes, while being placed twice in five starts at 2. The chestnut became Al Shaqab Racing’s first ever classic winner, landing the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his seasonal return, defeating the two-time European champion miler Ribchester.

A runner-up in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas, despite unfavourable ground, Galileo Gold bounced back to his best during Royal Ascot to take the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes from The Gurkha, who took revenge on him in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.