Month: September 2022

Desert Crown’s Dam to Tattersalls December Sale 

Desert Berry (GB) (Green Desert), the dam of this year's Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), is the latest high-profile addition to the Sceptre Sessions at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

The 13-year-old mare will be offered for sale carrying a full-sibling to Desert Crown by her owner Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud. The Derby winner was himself bought at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 280,000gns, and his yearling half-brother from the first crop of Lanwades sire Study Of Man (Ire) will be offered as lot 435 during Book 1 this year.

“Desert Berry has been an absolute star for us,” said Robinson. “Having studied thoroughbred bloodlines all my life, breeding a Derby winner is an absolute pinnacle and I am immensely proud to have bred Desert Crown. Desert Berry is a superb individual with an impeccable breeding record and I have retained two of her daughters in whom I have great confidence.”

Along with the Derby winner, Desert Berry is also dam of the Group 3 winner Archie McKellar (GB) (Archipenko), who was renamed Flying Thunder when exported to Hong Kong. The mare has also produced another three multiple winners by Archipenko, including the six-time scorer Rose Berry (GB), who is also now in foal to Nathaniel. 

A winner herself over a mile, Desert Berry is out of a Distant View half-sister to the top Juddmonte mare Binche (GB), whose offspring include the Group 1 winners Byword (GB) and Proviso (GB), and Group 2 winner Finche (GB).

“It is rare for the dam of a Derby winner to be offered for sale, and even rarer in the year of the Derby triumph,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. “Desert Crown is an outstanding Derby winner and Desert Berry will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of our inaugural Sceptre Sessions. It is a pleasure and a privilege to offer such an exceptional broodmare on behalf of Gary Robinson, and the depth and international appeal of her pedigree make her an enticing prospect for breeders from throughout the world.”

The Tattersalls December Mare Sale begins its four-day run on Monday, 28 November.

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Muhaarar’s Polly Pott In May Hill Upset

There was a surprise in store in Thursday's G2 Cazoo May Hill S. at Doncaster as The Megsons' 21,000gns Book 2 bargain Polly Pott (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) registered a 40-1 success for the soon-to-be-retired Harry Dunlop. In an outcome almost scripted by the racing gods, the winner of nurseries at Nottingham and Salisbury last month burst some bubbles as she swooped from rear under Danny Tudhope. Taking the measure of Novakai (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) from the furlong pole, the bay readily asserted to upstage that rival by 1 1/2 lengths, with another outsider Perfect Prophet (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) outrunning her odds of 50-1 in third, three lengths away. The 5-4 favourite Dance In The Grass (GB) (Cracksman {GB}) was only seventh.

 

Dunlop, who is the most notable of those recently announcing their departure from the training ranks, has enjoyed a purple patch since his shock announcement with the useful filly Adaay In Asia (GB) (Adaay {Ire}) winning at the Goodwood and Ebor festivals and at the Shergar Cup. “What this filly has is she's tough and hardy,” the son of the late legend John said. “It's surreal really. I've only got 12 horses and they're running well. We're lucky enough to have horses like this and it's very hard when you haven't got them, but you've got to enjoy them when you do get one. She cost 21,000 guineas and you're taking on these smartly-bred fillies that cost half a million. I think Ben Pauling is going to train her next year. Wherever she goes, I think she'll be a tough cookie and will probably stay a mile and a half I would think.”

Starting her career masquerading as a sprinter, Polly Pott was beaten into seventh on debut at Newbury May 31 and fourth at Lingfield June 13 before taking a Bath maiden over five furlongs and 160 yards on ground officially described as firm at the venue famed for its lack of a watering system July 12. Upped almost three furlongs for her first nursery at Nottingham Aug. 4, the bay made light work of the contrasting examination before coming back 15 days later to double up at Salisbury. Relishing the easier surface here, she could be called the winner some way out with no hint of fluke.

“She has got better and better, but I didn't expect that,” Dunlop added. “She's rated 75, this is a group two and she's won four on the bounce now, so it's fantastic. We've got to run her in a group one now, I suppose. Maybe the Fillies' Mile, why not? I'm really pleased for all my team at home. Obviously in my personal circumstances it's a great sending off and I think someone is looking down–it's quite emotional.”

The winner's dam Must Be Me (GB) (Trade Fair {GB}), whose daughter of Showcasing (GB) was a prescient £60,000 purchase by Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock at last month's Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, hails from a classy family with her dam being the listed-placed Roodeye (GB) (Inchinor {GB}). Among the progeny of Roodeye, who is a half to the G1 Prix Morny runner-up Gallagher (GB) (Bahamian Bounty {GB}), is Showcasing's star miler Mohaather (GB), Shadwell's hero of the G1 Sussex S., G2 Summer Mile and G3 Greenham S.

Roodeye also produced Prize Exhibit (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who captured the GII Monrovia S. and GII San Clemente H. and was third in the GI Del Mar Oaks before throwing Ballydoyle's 2.8million gns Book 1 sensation History (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who took this year's G3 Cornelscourt S. Roodeye's daughter Roodle (GB) (Xaar {GB}) staked her own claim to fame when producing the G1 Queen Anne S. hero Accidental Agent (GB) (Delegator {GB}) and the Listed Hyde S. scorer Madame Tantzy (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}).

Thursday, Doncaster, Britain
CAZOO MAY HILL S.-G2, £120,000, Doncaster, 9-8, 2yo, f, 8fT, 1:38.34, g/s.
1–POLLY POTT (GB), 128, f, 2, by Muhaarar (GB)
     1st Dam: Must Be Me (GB), by Trade Fair (GB)
     2nd Dam: Roodeye (GB), by Inchinor (GB)
     3rd Dam: Roo (GB), by Rudimentary
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. (21,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-The Megsons; B-Biddestone Stud Ltd (GB); T-Harry Dunlop; J-Danny Tudhope. £68,052. Lifetime Record: 6-4-0-0, $93,662. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Novakai (GB), 128, f, 2, Lope De Vega (Ire)–Elasia (GB), by Nathaniel (Ire).
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O/B-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum (GB); T-Karl Burke. £25,800.
3–Perfect Prophet (GB), 128, f, 2, Nathaniel (Ire)–Perfect Lady (GB), by Excelebration (Ire).
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (20,000gns RNA Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Mildmay Racing & Aura (Gas) Holdings Ltd; B-Mildmay Bloodstock & Mr D H Caslon (GB); T-Ed Walker. £12,912.
Margins: 1HF, 3, 1HF. Odds: 40.00, 4.50, 50.00.
Also Ran: Cell Sa Beela (GB), Ferrari Queen (Ire), Mottisfont (Ire), Dance In The Grass (GB), Frankness (GB). Scratched: Crystallium (GB), Dubai Jemila (GB). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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The Passing of My Mentor, James Delahooke

When I opened today's Thoroughbred Daily News and saw James on the front page, I assumed it would be a follow-up to Bobby Flay's glowing words about James's talents in the paper last week. It took me a few moments for the actual headline to sink in.

For me, James's death marks the passing of my most influential bloodstock mentor. From the time I first started at his Adstock Manor Stud in 1990, James became a father-figure-like fountain of equine knowledge to me. When I moved into a cottage at Adstock, another occupant working the yearling sales prep (David Redvers) commented that it was a pity for me to come to such a place as Adstock only to work with hunters and point-to-pointers. At the time, I didn't quite understand what he meant. However, luck turned out to be on my side because as soon as the December sales were over, James was around every day, either riding out, or on the ground directing gallops, and for two winters I found myself with unparalleled access to arguably the finest judge of a horse in modern racing. He and his right-hand man, George Cook, really gave me the foundation I needed to understand and assess horses. I remember one of my first questions for him was to ask why he'd bought a horse out of Keeneland September specifically to become a hunter-chaser. His reply was simply: “look at him. Really look at him. Take him in.” The horse turned out to be a talented performer over fences. Naturally.

James also gave me the privilege of so many good days fox hunting with the Bicester and Waddon Chase and seemed to particularly enjoy it when I teamed up with the tearaway hunter-chaser King Neon, co-owned and bred by him and George. A tricky horse to control, at times I ended up riding very close to the Field Masters. One, Ian McKie, was understanding and even encouraging, being an amateur jockey himself. However another Field Master, who was never the bravest across country, once gave me a terrible dressing-down for coming within a length of him over an open ditch. James thought it highly amusing and told me “Don't worry about it. Serves him right. Next time tell him he shouldn't dither about in front of fences!” Well, quite. Though, at just 18, I didn't have the guts to talk back to the man!

James was that thing which is so rare in racing these days. A grass-roots stockman and horseman. Someone who understood that the land and the horses are inseparable. As time moved on and racing morphed into The Thoroughbred Industry, we shared our disdain for the new wave of slick bullshitters in the game who amazingly manage to grab the ears of new owners and manipulate them for short-term gain. During an e-mail exchange a few years ago, we agreed that Slick Drivel would be a great, and apt, name for a racehorse!

I loved and shared his wicked sense of humour, and Sunday lunches in the kitchen at Adstock were always entertaining and the highlight of my working week.

Much to my amazement, he never forgot me and years after my time at Adstock, he sought me out to run an expanding private farm in Ireland. That venture might have been short-lived for both of us but was a valuable experience for me. When I then turned down a job he found for me in England in order to go out to Turkey, he thought I was barking mad, but when I explained to him that I needed to get away from the money-grabbing commercial juggernaut that racing and breeding had become and go out to help upgrade standards in a country where it was still a sport where owner-breeders dominated and took pleasure in seeing their horses run without worrying about sales value, he understood perfectly. From time to time, he lamented the way things had changed and how unfortunately, we can't put the genie back in the bottle. He was right about that one too, even if we should try to put it back in.

In latter years we often met at mare sales and usually had an amusing dinner together. One particular evening at Cardigan Street we launched into a vibrant, irreverent discussion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We got right into it, much to the consternation of two other guests, who were unsure whether we were being serious or satirical. The reality was we veered between the two constantly. It was such a fun night, topped off with a good dollop of mockery of a certain pompous racing figure, which always made James giggle!

The last time we spoke was back in February when his friend George Cook died. Makes it all the more shocking that James is now gone so soon afterwards, although I am glad that at least he went whilst out on a grouse moor, doing something he loved.

I will miss him. So will many others.

Eric Ward grew up in Ireland and spent nearly 30 years in stud farming all over the world including a decade with Coolmore. He managed studs in Ireland, China and Turkey. Now based in Gaillac, France he assists his winemaker wife, writes novels and is also a volunteer fire-fighter/first responder.

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Fasig-Tipton Promotes Seitz and Ferraro

Anna Seitz and Evan Ferraro, both long associated with Fasig-Tipton, have been promoted within the company and will assume new roles. Seitz, most recently the Client Development and Public Relations Manager, has been promoted to Director of Client Relations. Ferraro, who most recently served as Recruiting and Marketing Manager and was previously a Sales and Recruiting Associate, has been promoted to the Director of Marketing.

“Anna and Evan are both exceptional members of the Fasig-Tipton organization,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “Not only are they very talented individuals with tremendous skills, but they also have a great passion and commitment to the Thoroughbred industry. It is a privilege to work with them and I look forward to seeing them grow and succeed as they take on increased responsibilities with our company.”

Seitz first joined Fasig-Tipton as a Marketing Assistant and Client Coordinator. Her new responsibilities will be to develop and manage relationships with new and existing buyers and sellers. She will continue to play a significant role in horse recruitment and oversee Fasig-Tipton's sponsorship and hospitality sectors.

Ferraro originally joined Fasig-Tipton as an intern in 2008. He will oversee the company's marketing program, as well as continue his roles in horse recruitment, client management, and as a selected sales inspector.

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