Month: March 2023

Brazilian Champ, U.S. Grade I Winner Ivar Retired

Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}–May Be Now, by Smart Strike), a dual Group 1 winner in Argentina and later winner of the GI Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, has been retired from racing and will enter stud for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season at Haras Carampangue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The news was announced jointly on Twitter by Stud RDI and Bonne Chance Farm, who campaigned Ivar in partnership.

Perfect in three starts as a late-season juvenile in Argentina, Ivar annexed a Churchill allowance in his second U.S. appearance for Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Paolo Lobo in the spring of 2020 and two starts later defeated Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Shadwell Turf Mile. He went on to finish a close fourth at 7-1 behind Order Of Australia (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in that year's GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

Fourth when first off a five-month layoff in defense of his Turf Mile title in the fall of 2021, Ivar ran home strongly to round out the trifecta behind the impressive Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar and was subsequently runner-up to champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in last year's GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile, to 'TDN Rising Star' Annapolis (War Front) in the Coolmore Turf Mile and closed his career with a second in this year's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf. The Southern Hemisphere 6-year-old retires with a record of 5-3-2 from 15 starts and earnings of $1,551,053.

Ivar's dam, a $60,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, became a Group 2 winner in Brazil before her immediate female family took off. Her year-older half-sister Ann of the Dance (English Channel) won in stakes company and was placed at Grade III level and Al's Gal (English Channel) took out the GI E.P. Taylor S. in 2016. May Be Now was sold for $67,000 in foal to Hard Spun at Keeneland November in 2017. Ivar's late sire was also responsible for Stud RDI and Bonne Chance's 2021 GI Keeneland Turf Mile hero In Love (Brz).

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Wildcard Tops Tattersalls Online March Sale

Moriko De Vassy (Fr) (Cokoriko {Fr}) (lot 26) was knocked down for 85,000gns to dissolve a partnership and top the Tattersalls Online March Sale on Thursday.

The three-time winner and 6-year-old gelding, a full-brother to the Listed Prix Rose de Mai third Lisa De Vassy (Fr) (Cokoriko {Fr}), was picked up by Valentine Bloodstock.

Valentine Bloodstock's Ed Partridge said, “[He] was purchased on behalf of existing owners to form a new partnership. He is a smashing type of horse and his novice hurdle form is very good. Hopefully as he matures and goes back over hurdles he can fulfil the great level of potential he has previously displayed. My mother-in-law Jane Evans also trains the half-brother, black-type earner Moka De Vassy (Fr) (Karaktar {Ire}), who it's planned will run in the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival next week, so Jane is well versed with the family and we hope he will go well after joining the stable.”

Sacre Coeur (Fr) (Montmartre {Fr}) (lot 25 was offered by Jonjo O'Neill's Jackdaws Castle, and she went to Alne Park Stud for 12,500gns. The five-time scorer is a granddaughter of Listed Prix Belle de Nuit heroine Valley Quest (Ire) (Rainbow Quest).

At the close of trade, 13 lots sold for an aggregate of 141,300gns. The average was 10,869gns and the median was 2,800gns.

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“This Is The Hundred-Year Anniversary” – Pensee Du Jour A Significant Winner

The Prix de Diane is the main aim for Thursday's impressive Saint-Cloud winner Pensee Du Jour (Ire), according to Anthony Stroud, who manages the interests of the Camelot (GB) filly's owners, Ballymore Thoroughbreds. 

Carrying the silks of owner-breeder Diane Wildenstein, Pensee Du Jour made all of the running to win the Rose De Mai S. by seven lengths, with Stroud explaining the significance of the victory shortly afterwards. 

He said of the 'TDN Rising Star', “Funnily enough, they [the Wildenstein family] started out in racing back in 1923 so this is the hundred-year anniversary-it's a very significant year.”

The significance does not end there. Pensee Du Jour hails from a deep family that has been nurtured for generations by the Wildensteins. The homebred is from the family of the outstanding Peintre Celebre, who carried Daniel Wildenstein's colours to a host of big-race successes, including victory in the 1997 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

Group 1 targets now await Pensee Du Jour, who made it two wins from as many outings on Thursday, and will warm up for a tilt at the Prix de Diane by running in the G3 Prix Penelope back at Saint-Cloud next month. 

Stroud said, “She is potentially very good–a nice filly. Hopefully, depending on how she comes out of this race, she will run in the G3 Prix Penelope in three weeks. The ultimate aim is the Prix de Diane.”

Asked why Pensee Du Jour did not run as a 2-year-old, he replied, “She is a big filly and was a bit backward last year. As well as that, the ground was quite hard last summer, so we just took our time with her. 

“She couldn't have won any easier today–we just wish the races were a bit faster for her and that there was more pace in the race. Otherwise, she wouldn't have to make her own running.”

Diane Wildenstein was in attendance at Saint-Cloud to witness Pensee Du Jour make light work of her rivals and confirm herself a top-notch prospect.

Stroud continued, “The filly hasn't done it yet, she still has to go and do it, but everyone works so hard–the people at the stud and in the racing stables–to produce good racehorses. “Everyone who is into breeding and racing racehorses, that's what their aim is, and that's what we are in this game to do.”

He added, “It's a combination of an awful lot of hard work from an awful amount of people. She couldn't have done more than she's done and we'll find out a bit more on the next step.”

 

 

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Dubawi’s The Revenant Registers Listed Prix Altipan Hat-Trick

Al Asayl France's homebred 2020 G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. hero The Revenant (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}–Hazel Lavery {Ire}, by Excellent Art {GB}), returning off an Oct. 15 seventh when making his fourth start in the Ascot benchmark last time, registered a hat-trick in Saint-Cloud's Listed Prix Altipan with a comfortable win in Thursday's latest edition of the one-mile test. It was the 8-year-old gelding's sixth success in eight outings over the track's course and distance. Settling into a smooth rhythm racing at the tail of the eight-runner field into the straight, the 3-5 favourite made relentless progress saving ground along the far-side rail to launch his challenge with 300 metres remaining and was pushed out to defeat Anthorus (Fr) (Territories {Ire}) by 1 1/4 lengths in snug fashion.

“He is such a special horse for us and by winning this race for the third time shows us that he can still compete at a high level at the age of eight,” commented Francis Graffard. “That's what I wanted to find out with this first start, to see if he still possessed his fighting spirit, because he had a hard race last time out at Ascot. The race unfolded perfectly for him. He settled into a great rhythm, it was a ground-saving trip on the inside and he idled once in front because he knows the job. I didn't work him too hard at home and he will come on for the run. The program is straightforward and it should be the [G3 Prix] Edmond Blanc and then the [G2 Prix du] Muguet. However, he will not run if the going is not soft enough. He needs that ground, more than ever, and didn't really get it last year.”

The Revenant, a half-brother to the hitherto untried 3-year-old filly Andraste (GB) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), is the second of five foals and lone winner produced by G3 St Simon S. victrix Hazel Lavery (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}), herself a half-sister to MGSP Czech champion Leo Gali (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The April-foaled chestnut's third dam Rapid Repeat (Ire) (Exactly Sharp) is kin to four black-type performers headed by G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial-winning sire Artema (Ire) (Common Grounds {GB}).

Thursday, Saint-Cloud, France
PRIX ALTIPAN-Listed, €52,000, Saint-Cloud, 3-9, 4yo/up, 8fT, 1:45.53, vsf.
1–THE REVENANT (GB), 126, g, 8, Dubawi (Ire)–Hazel Lavery (Ire) (GSW-Eng, $246,630), by Excellent Art (GB).
O-Al Asayl France; B-Al Asayl Bloodstock Ltd (GB); T-Francis-Henri Graffard; J-Tony Piccone. €26,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Eng, MGSW & G1SP-Fr, GSW-Ger, 23-13-4-3, €1,371,520.
2–Anthorus (Fr), 126, c, 4, Territories (Ire)–Anna Platini (GB), by Dubawi (Ire). O/T-Henri-Alex Pantall; B-Henri-Alex Pantall & Mme Yvette Pantall (FR). €10,400. €10,400.
3–Titanium (Fr), 126, g, 4, Zarak (Fr)–Kyurem (Ire), by Verglas (Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE. (€50,000 Ylg '20 ARQSEP). O-Ecurie 4L, Comte Guillaume de Saint-Seine, Alessandro Botti, Giuseppe Botti, Ecurie Vitale, Scuderia Visconti di Modrone & Giovanni Neri; B-Haras de la Perelle (FR); T-Alessandro & Giuseppe Botti. €7,800.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 0.60, 8.30, 10.00.
Also Ran: Bennetot (Ire), Monarchic (Ire), Best Lightning (Fr), Siam Paragon (Fr), Jacinda (GB). Scratched: Loliwood (Fr). Video, sponsored by TVG.

 

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