THE Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Bayside Boy will not run again and retires to Ballylinch Stud where he will stand for the 2023 covering season.

A son of Ballylinch’s Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby winner New Bay (Dubawi), Bayside Boy was raced in partnership by Teme Valley Racing and Ballylinch Stud, and Richard Ryan of Teme Valley commented: “Bayside Boy was exceptional yearling and he has given us some of our best days in racing.

“He was a top-class two-year-old, but it was his brilliant turn of foot that stole the show on Champions Day. Very few horses can accelerate like that in Group 1 races, and his Queen Elizabeth II win was one of the most exciting performances I’ve seen”.

The colt’s trainer Roger Varian is clearly a fan. He said: “Bayside Boy was a strong, mature two-year-old who boasted excellent juvenile form. He won impressively on debut and proved that he was one of the best two-year-olds of his generation with his win in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes before going close in both the Dewhurst and the Futurity Trophy.

“He is an exceptionally good-looking colt and was very sound to train. He possesses a lot of natural speed and his turn of foot in the Queen Elizabeth II showed the public what we always saw at home.”

“We are delighted to welcome Bayside Boy back to his birthplace in Ballylinch. He has all the attributes we look for in a stallion prospect; a top-class two-year-old and a Group 1 winning miler with an exceptional turn of foot. His sire New Bay is one of the very best stallion sons of Dubawi, and his stakes-winning and group-producing dam is from a high-quality family. He was a gorgeous yearling and I’m sure that breeders will be very impressed with both his looks and his action” said John O’Connor, managing director of Ballylinch Stud.

Bayside Boy’s stud fee will be announced shortly and a limited number of shares will be made available to breeders.

What of the good looks and that pedigree which connections speak about? Well, Bayside Boy was sold to Richard Ryan as a yearling for 200,000gns. Ballylinch retained the next produce, his two-year-old half-brother Lord Of Biscay (Lope De Vega). He too is trained by Varian, won well on his debut and has classic engagements next year. He remains a horse to watch in the future. .

A Waldgeist (Galileo) half-sister to Bayside Boy sold at the recent Goffs Orby Sale; she realised €200,000 to Leason Bloodstock. Meanwhile, their dam, Alava (Anabaa), has a filly foal by Lope De Vega (Shamardal), and she has the proud record of six winners from eight runners.

Forest Ranger

Bayside Boy is the second group winner out of his dam. He was preceded by Forest Ranger (Lawman), and that 26,000gns yearling won in excess of £350,000. His six wins included four pattern races, the Group 2 Huxley Stakes at Chester twice and a pair of Group 3 races at Newmarket, the Earl of Sefton Stakes and the Darley Stakes.

Tally-Ho Stud bought Bayside Boy’s stakes-placed, four-time winning half-sister Home Cummins (Rip Van Winkle) for 100,000gns in 2018, and in February they picked up his unplaced half-sister Duchess Rose (Dream Ahead) for 52,000gns and sent her to Starman (Dutch Art). Home Cummins’ yearling filly by Kodiac (Danehill) sold to Sumbe this year for 150,000gns.

This is a prolific winner-producing female line. Alava is the dam of six winners. She herself was the best of eight winners from the stakes-placed Cerita (Wolfhound), her grandam Tanapa (Luthier) was a Group 1-placed dam of 11 winners, while her third dam, the unraced Trelex (Exbury), bred 10 winners.