June, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

High Definition To Wait For The Irish Derby

Aidan O'Brien has announced that last year's G2 Beresford S. winner High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will miss Saturday's G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom for which he was the winter ante-post favourite and wait for the G1 Irish Derby at The Curragh June 26. Confirming that TDN Rising Star Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) will be the stable's sole representative in the blue riband, the Ballydoyle handler said during racing at The Curragh, “Nothing is written in stone until ten o'clock in the morning, but it looks like the two horses are going to be split. It looks like Bolshoi Ballet is going to Epsom and it looks like High Definition is coming straight here. Bolshoi would be our only runner at Epsom–that's what the lads are thinking to give the two of them a chance at a Derby. St Mark's Basilica and Van Gogh are going to France. Kyprios is going to Ascot for the Queen's Vase and Sir Lamorak might go for the King Edward. We were lucky to get the run into High Definition at York and we think he's a very good horse. A little more time won't do him any harm. It was just to give the two of them a chance until they have to meet. The Curragh Derby is a very important race, as the Epsom Derby is also. I'm very happy with both horses. If we didn't get the run into High Definition then there was no decision to make, as if he didn't run in York then he definitely wouldn't go to Epsom.”

With Frankie Dettori no longer required by Ballydoyle, the 50-year-old who was widely expected to be on High Definition instead gets the call-up for TDN Rising Star John Leeper (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Cristina Patino's May 15 Listed Fairway S. winner was due to be ridden by Adam Kirby, but the owner-breeder was intent on snaring the jockey who steered Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) to glory in the 2012 G1 Irish Champion S. “Frankie was the first choice and was approached quite a while ago, but he has been riding a lot for Aidan in England and that was going to happen until the bolt out of the blue from Ballydoyle this afternoon,” trainer Ed Dunlop explained to the Racing Post. “There are no negatives with Frankie riding in the Derby and the horse's work is all done now. He's done everything we've wanted him to do so far and, touch wood, everything is going well going into the race. The news today came a bit out of the blue, but once Mrs Patino heard she was very keen and instructed us to see if Frankie was available.”

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Off-Turf Pennine Ridge Downgraded

The GII Pennine Ridge S. at Belmont was downgraded to a Grade III event after coming off the turf last Saturday, according to a TOBA release. The American Graded Stakes Committee reviewed the result and determined that the original Grade II status would not be reinstated.

It is the policy of the American Graded Stakes Committee that a race that is scheduled for the turf course, but is moved to the dirt track after the closing of nominations because the turf course is unsuitable for racing, is automatically downgraded one level for that running only. The Committee will, however, review the running of any race that is automatically downgraded as a result of this policy and may reinstate its former status.

Friday's Penn Oaks and Sunday's Paradise Creek S., which were also rained off the turf, will both be recorded as run, as non-listed black-type events.

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Last Call For Breezers At Goresbridge In Newmarket

NEWMARKET, UK—A little later than scheduled, the European 2-year-old sales season will conclude on Thursday with the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up, which has returned to Newmarket for a second year owing to ongoing Covid travel restrictions.

What was already a bumper catalogue for a one-day sale of more than 200 horses has been beefed up still by the inclusion of 16 wild cards that have been rerouted from other recent sales for a variety of reasons. They include horses with some pretty starry pedigrees, so be prepared for some of the major action to take place late in the day.

Indeed the last three catalogued all have plenty to recommend them on paper. Lot 241 from Mayfield Stables is the American Pharoah colt out of the Irish champion 2-year-old filly Damson (Ire) (Entrepreneur), who has already produced a smart juvenile in the form of G2 Flying Childers S winner Requinto (Ire) (Dansili {GB}).

He will be followed by a son of Kingman (GB), offered by Kilbrew Stables and sold for 300,000gns when he was offered in the same ring as a foal. Lot 242's dam Patsy Boyne (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is a three-parts sister to High Chaparral (Ire) and recent updates to an already lovely page have come in the form of the G1 Prix de Diane victory for Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), whose dam Chenchikova (Ire) is High Chaparral's full-sister.

Both of the above were withdrawn from last week's Arqana Breeze-up Sale at Doncaster, the latter with a stone bruise, but the final lot through the ring on Friday, 243, was bought back at £150,000. The son of Dark Angel (Ire) is the second foal of the Irish 1000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and is consigned by Star Bloodstock.

Among those in the original line-up for the Goresbridge sale, Folistown Farm's Dandy Man (Ire) colt (lot 51) could be in line for an update come Friday as he is a half-brother to the dam of Mystery Angel (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), who was supplemented for the Oaks earlier this week by her trainer George Boughey.

Plenty of this season's leading freshman sires are represented, including Galileo Gold (Ire), who sired his first stakes winner, Ebro River (Ire), last Thursday. That colt was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, which stands Galileo Gold, and offers one of his juveniles for sale at the breeze (lot 44), as well as four by his fellow freshman Cotai Glory (GB) and four by leading second-season sire Mehmas (Ire), himself a former breeze-up graduate.

Hyde Park Stud features early with lot 4, an Invincible Spirit (Ire) first foal of the Frankel (GB) mare Elphin (GB). The colt's dam hails from the Juddmonte family that includes Mandaloun (Into Mischief) who could yet be named as this year's winner of the Kentucky Derby following confirmation on Wednesday that the B-sample taken from Medina Spirit (Protonico) has also tested positive for the prohibited corticosteroid betamethasone.

Ardglas Stables has a draft of five juveniles for the final sale of the year, including the sole breezer by Claiborne Farm's Blame in the catalogue. Offered as lot 162, she is a half-sister to the American listed winner Touch Magic (Lion Heart) and five other winners, and is from a family which includes GI Hopeful S winner Sky Mesa.

Mary Reynolds, who runs Ardglas Stables with Ambrose O'Mullane, noted that she was pleased by the level of activity on the sales grounds at Park Paddocks over the last few days.

“I'm getting a good vibe about the sale and we've been very busy,” she said. “We've an Oasis Dream (GB), an Aclaim (Ire) colt, and fillies by Acclamation (GB) and Blame, and they have all been very busy. We couldn't have been happier with the job they've done on the ground for the breeze this morning. We know Newmarket inside out by now.”

Reynolds added, “We've more expense added to it by travelling them over from Ireland, which wasn't easy with the way things are, but the simple fact is that the sale has moved to the UK because nobody can travel to Ireland.

“I'm sure ITM and Tattersalls Ireland are all doing their bit in trying to bring people in for the sale. We've had a long winter, myself and Ambrose, we did all of the horses ourselves with no help, so it will be great to have a little break after this before we get going again with the yearlings.”

The catalogue also features 11 fillies who are eligible for the Great British Bonus Scheme, which celebrated its first anniversary this week and has thus far paid out just shy of £2.5 million in bonuses for Flat and National Hunt fillies and mares.

One of the scheme's multiple winners this season is the George Boughey-trained Beautiful Sunshine (GB), a daughter of the prolific first-season sire Ardad (Ire) who was withdrawn from the Tattersalls Craven Sale. Her two wins have netted £40,000, the majority of which is paid to her owner Amo Racing. Bred by Jocelyn Targett, Beautiful Sunshine is now on course for a step into stakes company at Royal Ascot.

The Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale gets underway in Newmarket at 10.30am.

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Bloodlines: Country Grammer Piles On Laurels For Deep Juddmonte Family

This year has been a good one for the family of the mare Nijinsky Star, a half-sister to stakes winner Six Crowns (by Secretariat) who became the dam of champion Chief's Crown (Danzig). Nijinsky Star herself became the dam of three stakes winners who all produced stakes winners themselves.

In addition, her unraced daughter Willstar (Nureyev) also produced a pair of stakes winners, (Etoile Montante and Uno Duo), and this branch of the family has been making hay in 2021. In addition to the graded stakes winners Bonny South (Munnings) and Obligatory (Curlin), Country Grammer (Tonalist) added further laurels to this set of the family by becoming its first G1 winner since Etoile Montante.

That Miswaki filly won the G1 Prix de la Foret, as well as taking seconds in the Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix Maurice de Gheest, and Matriarch. Speed was her forte, but Country Grammer has shone over more extended trips, and his best effort to date came in the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 31.

This branch of the Miss Carmie family through champion Chris Evert (Swoon's Son) has been developed by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms from the Nijinsky mare mentioned above, Nijinsky Star. Juddmonte purchased her for $700,000 at the Keeneland November sale out of the consignment of Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services (John Stuart), agent for Carl Rosen.

Entrepreneur and sportsman Rosen had purchased Chris Evert as a yearling, named her for the tennis star who had branded a line of sportswear through his clothing business, and bred both Six Crowns and Chief's Crown, among others.

Juddmonte bred the subsequent generations of mares leading to Country Grammer, including his second dam Prima Centauri (Distant View), a half-sister to Etoile Montante who had been unplaced in two starts in France. That put Prima Centauri among those who were surplus to needs for Juddmonte, and the mare subsequently sold for $270,000 at the 2005 Keeneland November sale to Dixiana Farm, carrying a foal by Forestry (Storm Cat). Prima Centauri's best racer was the Marju gelding Bodes Galaxy, who ran second in the G2 Richmond Stakes and third in the G2 Gimcrack as a 2-year-old.

The mare's later Forestry filly of 2008 was Arabian Song, a winner at three. She is the dam of Country Grammer and his half-sister Joyful Cadence (Runhappy), who is a winner this year and was third in the G3 Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in May.

Bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Stables, Arabian Song had sold for $40,000 to Rabbah Bloodstock at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, won a maiden claiming race ($40,000) at three, and subsequently changed hands privately prior to foaling Country Grammer, who was bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce.

A May 11 foal, the 4-year-old Country Grammer is from the first crop by Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist (Tapit) and is his sire's first Grade 1 winner. The breeders sold the bay colt as a yearling for $60,000 at the Keeneland September sale, and he resold as a 2-year-old in training to Bradley Thoroughbreds, agent for Paul Pompa, for $450,000 out of the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2019 OBS April sale.

Country Grammer raced for Pompa, winning the G3 Peter Pan last season, but after his death in 2020, Pompa's Thoroughbreds were dispersed by his estate. At the 2021 Keeneland January sale, Country Grammer sold for $110,000 to WinStar Farm, was sent to trainer Bob Baffert, and made his first start of the year in the G2 Californian, finishing second.

The Hollywood Gold Cup was the colt's second start of the year, and he won by a head over the Brazilian-bred Royal Ship (Midshipman), who had won the Californian on April 17 by a neck from Country Grammer.

One of a half-dozen stakes winners to date by Tonalist, who won four G1 races and earned $3.6 million, Country Grammer appears to be the best athlete from this branch of his famous family for a couple of generations and is the best racer to date for his young sire, who stands at Lane's End Farm outside Versailles, Ky.

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