“I WOULD love to tell you that there was a great plan behind the purchase, but I am afraid that by December the time and brain power needed to read the sales catalogues before arriving at the sale had long gone.”

With that, Fiona Craig, responsible for public relations, sales and breeding at Moyglare Stud, told me the story behind the acquisition of Amazing Grace. The Christoph Berglar-bred five-year-old sold last December at Arqana for $850,000 from the Ronald Rauscher draft, and was sent to join Christophe Clement in the USA, racing for Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner’s Moyglare Stud in Maynooth.

Last weekend Amazing Grace made a winning debut stateside, annexing the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and she will now be aimed at the major races in New York, the obvious target being to upgrade her from a Group 1-placed, Group 2 winner, to a Grade 1 heroine.

Craig takes up the story again. “The plan was to see what [Group 2 winner and Group/Grade 1 runner-up] Malavath looked like and how much she’d make. Eva had an interest in her through a Swiss connection, and hence the plan for Eva and myself to go to Arqana. I was coming from Newmarket, after Goffs and prior to that Keeneland, and that explains the comment about pre-reading catalogues.

“I arrived in Deauville on the Thursday evening, and was taken aback by how many appealing broodmare prospects there were in the catalogue. So, on Friday morning, I started early and just looked and looked.

Had appeal

“When I finally got to Malavath (Mehmas) who was with the Monceaux consignment, I looked at her, and then realised that Ronald Rauscher’s draft was in the same yard. Amazing Grace had appeal, firstly as a granddaughter of Monsun (Konigsstuhl), and being from a top-quality German pedigree that had produced the likes of [Group 1] Derby winner Adayar (Frankel) in 2021.

“She was a top racemare, rated 110, a dual Group 2 winner and twice Group 1-placed against the colts, and she was absolutely gorgeous. An even bigger plus was the fact that she was an outcross for virtually every leading stallion Moyglare would ever want to use. I just thought what a lovely mare she will make in the future, the pick of any field, and at that point I had not really thought about racing her on. I just thought any stud farm would be proud to own any mare that looked like her.

“Eva arrived later that day, and also Christophe Clement did from New York. I had a list of about 25 lots for Eva to look at on Saturday morning, which we did by lunchtime. We looked at Malavath and Eva liked her. The plan had always been to go the USA with her, as she clearly liked the fast turf and the bends; so it really then was a case of how much. Christophe had vetted her through a top US veterinary surgeon, and on we went.

Amazing Grace

“I had shown Amazing Grace to Eva, and she liked her as I did, but there was not really a plan for her at that point. Whilst talking to Christophe at lunch, he said there was just one more filly to look at. He mentioned her pedigree and race record, and I said ‘Amazing Grace’.

“I told him I had seen her twice, Eva had seen her that morning, and we both thought she was gorgeous but was she suitable for the US as her distance and form seemed more European? He said he thought she was, as she had a great turn of foot and had vetted out as very sound.

“So, Malavath was the plan, and Eva and I discussed value and tactics. I had been at Newmarket, and so had an idea of what she might make. We decided to be bold, set the limit, and drove on.

“Bidding on Amazing Grace was all dependent on what Malavath made. She was Lot 199 and Amazing Grace was Lot 204, so there was not much time between them.

“Eva bought Malavath [for €3,200,000], went for a glass of champagne to celebrate with the happy sellers, and I suddenly realised Amazing Grace was next in the ring. I managed to extract Eva from the group, and we had a very quick chat about price. I gave Eva a figure that I thought was her value as a broodmare. I bid and then she was Eva’s.

Vetted out

“After that we had to decide what to do with her. Because she vetted out so well for US racing, and because Malavath was going to Florida, I think that is really why Amazing Grace went too.

“Firstly, Amazing Grace travelled to Nicolas Clement in Chantilly for a month, while Francis-Henri Graffard very kindly agreed to take Malavath back to her home stable until she was ready to travel. Both shipped via Amsterdam and Chicago to Florida in mid-January, so to say that both were somewhat knackered on arrival would be an understatement,

“They both went to Christophe’s barn in Payson Park, with plenty of sunshine and turnout paddocks. Amazing Grace, as you know, ran and won on April 1st, and Malavath will run later this month. Both fillies love Florida!”

Amazing Grace has been tried at the highest level and not found wanting. Only twice out of the money in 18 starts, she is now a five-time winner, and her placed efforts include being beaten less than a length in a Group 1 by Sammarco when that colt made his first start after winning the Group 1 Deutsches (German) Derby.

Lost nothing

Later in the year, Amazing Grace lost nothing in defeat when she ran third to Rebel’s Romance and Sammarco in the Group 1 Preis von Europa. The winner, next time out, won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf for Godolphin, one of his three successes at the highest level last year. All of this would seem to indicate that a Grade 1 victory in the USA is well within the compass of Amazing Grace.

Amazing Grace is a daughter of Protectionist (Monsun), winner of the Group 1 Melbourne Cup and the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin.

Amazing Grace is from his first crop, she is his best runner, and he is also sire of the Group 3 Bavarian Classic winner Lambo in his second crop. He has had relatively few runners, and two more of his progeny have been stakes-placed.

A full-sister to a winner in 2002, Ad Adastra (Protectionist), Amazing Grace’s first three dams are all stakes winners. Her own dam Amabelle (Danehill Dancer) won a listed race at three, she is out of the stakes winner Antonym (Bahri), while the third dam was Annaba (In The Wings), winner of a pair of Group 2 races in France, beating Poliglote in the Prix du Conseil de Paris, and third in the Group 2 Nassau Stakes behind Last Second.

Deep family

This is a deep family when you move into the fourth remove, all flowing from Amazing Grace’s fourth dam, the unraced Anna Matrushka (Mill Reef). Three of her 11 winners succeeded at group level, but a number of her daughters have now established their own branches of the family. Anna Matrushka is grandam of Group 1 winners Epaulette (Commands) Helmet (Exceed And Excel), and Anna Monda (Monsun), as well as Group 2 winners Pericles (Street Boss), and Bullbars (Elusive Quality), the latter a Group 1 sire.

As mentioned earlier, this is also the family of Adayar, as well as Group 1 two-year-old winner and French champion juvenile, National Defense (Invincible Spirit).