SHEIKH MOHAMMED, Godolphin

Mischief Magic (Ire), 2020 c. by Exceed And Excel out of Veil Of Silence, by Elusive Quality, Modern Games (Ire), 2019 c. by Dubawi out of Modern Ideals, by New Approach, and Rebel’s Romance (Ire), 2018 g. by Dubawi out of Minidress, by Street Cry

FOR just the second tie in the history of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month competition a breeder has been shortlisted for a monthly award for breeding three individual Group/Grade 1 winners in their sole name in a single month. For the second time it is Sheikh Mohammed.

The 2022 Breeders’ Cup was an amazing one for Godolphin. It was there that Mischief Magic (Juvenile Turf Sprint), Modern Games (Mile) and Rebel’s Romance (Turf) all won, having been foaled, weaned and had their early life at Kildangan Stud.

Mischief Magic is a full-brother to the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes winner Sound Of Silence, and their dam is a daughter of Gossamer, winner of the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile and Irish 1000 Guineas.

Winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last year, this time Modern Games affirmed his position as one of the best racehorses in the world with success, his seventh, in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. This season he also won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas and the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

Rebel’s Romance, along with Modern Games, Space Blues, Yibir and Wuheida, is a fifth Breeders’ Cup winner for Dubawi. The four-year-old is winner of nine of his 12 starts, and his breakthrough at the highest level came this year in Germany where he won the Grosser Preis von Berlin and Preis von Europa.

PAUL SHANAHAN, Lynch Bages & Rhinestone Bloodstock

Meditate (Ire), 2020 f. by No Nay Never out of Pembina, by Dalakhani

THREE Group/Grade 1 winning juveniles in a season is the outstanding feat achieved by No Nay Never after Meditate gave Aidan O’Brien a two-year-old double at the Breeders’ Cup when landing the Grade 1 Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Winner now of five of her seven starts, Meditate’s only defeats were when runner-up to Tahiyra in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and to Lezoo in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes. What an exciting division the three-year-olds fillies of 2023 looks set to be.

Meditate was bred by Lynch-Bages and Rhinestone Bloodstock, and sold to Jamie McCalmont, on behalf of MV Magnier, for €360,000 at Arqana last year. She is the second winner from two runners out of Pembina, a €400,000 purchase by BBA Ireland as a four-year-old at Goffs and one of eight successful offspring from the listed winner Mahalia, a daughter of Danehill.

The eight are led by Group 3 winner and Group 1 runner-up Johnny Barnes, now at stud in France. Pembina’s other stakes winner was the Group 3 heroine Albisola, and she is grandam of this year’s Group 2 winner and last year’s Group 1-placed Purplepay who sold for €2 million at the 2021 Arc Sale.

The most successful of Mahalia’s daughters was the Linamix mare Tonnara, dam of a pair of Group 1 winners in Ectot and the St James’ Palace Stakes winner Most Improved. In fact, six daughters of Mahalia are producers of stakes winners, and half of them have bred more than one.

JOHN MAGNIER, Coolmore

Tuesday, 2019 f by Galileo out of Lillie Langtry, by Danehill Dancer

TUESDAY crowned her classic season with victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She also won the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom and was placed in the English and Irish 1000 Guineas, as well as being runner-up to Alpinista in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.

She is one of three Group 1 winners, all classic heroines, out of the dual Group 1 winner Lillie Langtry, being preceded by her full-sisters Minding and Empress Josephine, the former winning seven times at the highest level. When Tuesday won at Epsom it was three years to the day after she was foaled.

Lillie Langtry, a 70,000gns foal and 230,000gns yearling, was a very smart racemare who won many times her purchase price during a fine racing career. She captured the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and later in the season added the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown.

Minding was a European champion in each of the three seasons she raced. Seven of her nine victories, from 13 starts, were at Group 1 level, and comprised the Moyglare Stud Stakes Dubai Fillies’ Mile, 1000 Guineas, Oaks, Pretty Polly Stakes, Nassau Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. She never finished out of the first three.

Another of Lillie Langtry’s daughters, Kissed By Angels, was a Group 3 winner from just four starts.

Lillie Langtry was bred by Kevin Lynch, father of the bloodstock agent Barry, from the unraced Darshaan mare Hoity Toity, a 15,000gns purchase as a two-year-old. She is also dam of the stakes winners Count Of Limonade and Danilovna.

TREVOR STEWART

Victoria Road, 2020 c. by Saxon Warrior out of Tickled Pink, by Invincible Spirit

SAXON Warrior, a son of Deep Impact, has had a first season with his runners to celebrate, and he looks to be a certainty to become a classic sire. The Group 1 winning two-year-old and classic hero himself grabbed the headlines in November when his Trevor Stewart-bred son Victoria Road won for the fourth time in eight starts, adding the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf to Group 3 and listed wins in France for Aidan O’Brien.

Victoria Road was a bargain buy by MV Magnier, costing just 115,000gns. He has now won £500,000 and is the best of five winners, all her runners, out of the dual Group 3 winning Tickled Pink. That mare is a daughter of the Group 2 (now Group 1) King’s Stand Stakes winner Cassandra Go, and one of her 10 winners.

However, Tickled Pink is not the best runner produced by Cassandra Go, that honour going to Pivotal’s daughter Halfway To Heaven. She won three Group 1 races, namely the Irish 1000 Guineas, Sun Chariot Stakes and Nassau Stakes. Halfway To Heaven is the dam of dual Group 1 winner Rhododendron, and she is now making a splash at stud, her son Auguste Rodin, also by Deep Impact, winning the Group 1 Vertem Futurity.

Halfway To Heaven is also dam of Magical. Seven of the latter’s 12 victories were achieved at Group 1 level, and with earnings of almost €5.5 million she is the third-highest money winner ever by her sire. Meanwhile, another Group 3 winner out of Casandra Go is Theann, and her best offspring is the dual Grade 1 winner Photo Call who once sold for $3 million.