FLAMING Rib was among the most prolific juveniles of 2021. He won easily at Nottingham in May, chased home Oscula in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, and then ran up a sequence that started at Thirsk in July.

He beat 19 rivals to take a valuable nursery at York in August, defied a high weight to win a Chester nursery by over three lengths and then became his sire’s first stakes winner. The 108-rated Tom Dascombe-trained colt won the Listed Doncaster Stakes by a length on soft and looks an ideal candidate for the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

The 35,000gns Tattersalls Book 2 bargain heads the double-digit tally of winners for Ribchester, who is also off the mark with the southern hemisphere half of his global first crop. The son of Iffraaj (Zafonic) was a Group 2-winner at two and got his Group 1s at three and four, so we can expect to see improvement from those who have shown promise, plus the emergence of plenty of others yet to race.

Ribchester ran 16 times across three seasons, winning six and being placed eight times, including in the 2000 Guineas, and he accumulated over £2.6 million in prize money. He won the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at two and Royal Ascot’s Group 3 Jersey Stakes on his final career start in anything but Group 1 company.

Third in the Sussex Stakes, Ribchester beat Vadamos in the Prix Jacques Le Marois and closed that year with a half-length second to Minding in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He excelled at four.

Having been third to Vivlos in the nine-furlong Dubai Turf at Meydan in March, he trounced Lightning Spear in the Lockinge Stakes, added the Queen Anne Stakes, was odds-on when a neck runner-up to Here Comes When in a soft-ground Sussex Stakes, but bounced back to take the Prix du Moulin, that year at Chantilly.

Ribchester then chased home Persuasive in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was beaten by less than two lengths when fifth to World Approval in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar.

Ribchester is out of a half-sister to the ill-fated Group 1-winner Matterhorn (Raven’s Pass) plus Group 2-winner and new sire Bangkok (Australia), and his third dam is the classic-winning miler Mehthaaf (Nureyev).

That half-sister to sprint champion and blacktype sire Elnadim (Danzig) is out of Elle Seule (Exclusive Native), the Group 2-winning half-sister to top-level scorers Fort Wood (Sadler’s Wells; leading sire), Hamas (Danzig), Northern Aspen (Northern Dancer) and Timber Country (Woodman).

This is also the family of Dubawi’s Timeform 140-rated sire Dubai Millennium (Seeking The Gold). Ribchester’s latest yearlings made up to 350,000gns and he had a £590,000 breeze-up filly in May.

RIBCHESTER (IRE), Bay 2013. Jt Champion 3yr old miler in Europe in 2016. Champion older miler in Europe in 2017. Won six races, £2,639,988, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, 2 to 4 years viz., Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes, Newbury, Gr.1, P. Fresnay le Buffard Jacques Le Marois, Deauville, Gr.1, Qatar Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, Chantilly, Gr.1, Queen Anne Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes, Newbury, Gr.2, Jersey Stakes, Ascot, Gr.3, also placed second in Qatar Sussex Stakes, Goodwood, Gr.1, Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1 (twice), Irish TB Marketing Gimcrack Stakes, York, Gr.2, and third in DP World Dubai Turf, Meydan, Gr.1, Qatar Sussex Stakes, Goodwood, Gr.1, Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.1.

Retired to Stud in 2018, and sire of the winners of 24 races, and £399,808, including FLAMING RIB (IRE)

Stands at: Kildangan Stud, Monasterevin, Co Kildare, W34 HR98, Ireland.

Contact: Eamon Moloney (nominations manager), Anthony O’Donnell, Tom Fogarty

Telephone: +353 (0)45 527600

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Web: www.darleystallions.com

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