Tag: Acclamation

Lucky Escape For A&N Bloodstock Team After Horse Lorry Catches Fire 

Top breeze-up handlers Antonio Da Silva and Nikki Scallan of A&N Bloodstock had a lucky escape on Friday evening when, the horse box that they were driving on the way home from Dundalk races caught fire with the Jenny Lynch-trained Late Night Talking (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) inside it. 

But for their quick thinking, the couple's Late Night Talking, who had finished third in the mile maiden just a few hours earlier, could have met a horrific end when the vehicle burst into flames on the M50 motorway in Dublin. 

Sharing the terrifying account of what happened, Da Silva said, “First there was smoke and then there was fire. Nikki was driving and she pulled over as quickly as she could and then I jumped into the back of the lorry to get the horse out of there. Nikki tried to take a few things out of the box but there was just fire everywhere.”

It's not every young horse who would stand quiet as a lamb as the horse box they had been standing in just a few minutes previously threatened to explode but Late Night Talking took the nightmare experience in his stride. 

Scallan recalled, “I could get this smell of burning and then, before we knew, it was up in flames. We were between the Ballymun and Finglas turnoff on the M50. We couldn't do anything. We knew it was just going to go boom.”

She added, “It's a good job the horse was quiet, that's all I will say. It just happened so quickly. We were very lucky. Junior, who drives for Thomond O'Mara, happened to be passing and thankfully he had space for the horse in his lorry so we loaded him up and got him home safely, but he had been standing on the side of the road for at least 20 minutes or so. 

“If it had been the filly, Milliethemollie (Ire), who we also have in training with Jenny, it could have been a different story.”

Antonio Da Silva and Nikki Scallan with a Bungle Inthejungle colt who is breeze-up bound | Brian Sheerin

Like Milliethemollie, Late Night Talking was put into training with Lynch, the pair's neighbouring handler on the Maddenstown side of the Curragh, after he failed to sell at the breeze-ups. Milliethemollie has proved the venture to be worthwhile by winning at Dundalk in December while Late Night Talking has shaped with distinct promise in each of his three starts for the trainer. 

That shouldn't come as any great surprise as the A&N team have built up a reputation for selling a lot of winners in just a short space of time. So, what's the secret to their success? Hard work, it would seem.

Scallan said, “First lot goes out at five in the morning here. Sometimes they could go out even earlier. I get up and feed them all at four. Some guys come in and ride out a couple of lots before they go to work and then they come back to us at lunchtime to ride a couple more.”

She added, “We have around 20 breeze-up horses and another 10 in pre-training so 30 all together. We've had some nice horses for Takashi Kodama, the likes of Tosen Wish (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) and Pineapple Island (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), and we have built up a good relationship with Airlie Stud as well. 

“They have sent us one to breeze almost every year and we sold a nice Starspangledbanner (Aus) filly on behalf of Airlie Stud at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale last year for 120,000gns. They're very loyal to us and we sold Lady Beano (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) for them two years ago as well so it's been a good relationship. We have another nice Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt for them this year so hopefully he goes well for them.”

Da Silva, a former jockey in his native Brazil, has spent time working for Michael Halford and Aidan O'Brien. But it was in Mark Dwyer's, where he was based for four years, where he first met Scallan, with the pair deciding to take the plunge and go it alone in 2020. 

He said, “We started with one horse. We made a few bob and decided to get more. You need to keep investing. This is the job I love, breaking in the yearlings and watching them develop, and all of the sales companies have given us a chance to not only sell but to reinvest and buy some more. That's what you need to keep going and hopefully grow. 

“Sometimes I lose count of how many I ride in a day! It is great when the guys come in and we get a team of maybe five or six together in a lot. They all come in on a Sunday. That's our work day. We are glad of the help and everyone in this game, they are like family, you know? We all help each other out.”

Da Silva added, “I was a jockey in Brazil and have a good few wins under my belt. I finished second in a big race on my final ride in Brazil before deciding to come to Ireland where I spent five years working for Mick Halford, five years with Aidan O'Brien and then four years with Mark Dwyer. When I met Nikki, we said we'd try to make it ourselves. The first horse worked and every year we have tried to improve. We have some nice clients as well, for breeze-up horses and pre-training, so that's a big help as well.”

Coulthard (Ire) could be viewed as one of the first horses who first put A&N on the map. Sold for just £27,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale in 2020, the Coulsty (Ire) colt placed in four of his five maiden starts for Michael O'Callaghan in Ireland before winning twice and placing in Grade 3 company for Phil D'Amato in America. 

Scallan brings a different level of expertise to the outfit. A former amateur jockey, she has built up a wealth of knowledge on the sales circuit and also spent time with fellow breeze-up handler Katie McGivern before going to work for Dwyer. 

Speaking about her background, she said, “I used to work for Timmy Hillman at Castledillon Stud and did a lot of sales work as well. I actually used to ride in a few bumpers-the best I ever managed was a second back in the day. Honey Pie was the name of the horse. Philip Fenton actually bet me. It was down at Cork and I think I had Tony Martin behind me that day. That used to be great fun. 

“But it was Katie McGivern who got me into the breeze-ups. I'm from Wexford and, when she got engaged to her husband Tom, she moved her breezers down to Wexford and asked me to be her head girl. I did the breeze-ups with Katie that year and it was the following year that I went to Martin.”

Da Silva is just one of many Brazilians to be making a name for himself on the breeze-up circuit in Ireland. Diego Dias, Robson Aguiar and more have confirmed themselves to be extremely sharp in unearthing top-notch talent at basement prices and Da Silva explained how he takes great pride in his fellow countrymen's success. 

He said, “I am very proud and we all try to help each other out when we can. Just because one guy is training in one place doesn't mean we can't all help each other out. We like to see each other get good results and we all work hard to go forward and be better each year. 

“Everything is different in Brazil. Even the way we break horses in is different. The horses in Brazil were always very sharp and, all of the Brazilian jockeys riding here in Ireland, they all learned how to ride on quarter horses, sprinting horses. You know, you start riding quarter horses at 10 years old in Brazil. You could be 28kg or 30kg on top of a horse that weighs 500kg. Everyone knows a bit of that and then they come here and see how the Irish people take their time with horses.”

Scallan added, “The one thing I would say about the Brazilians is they all have a great clock in their heads. They also have a great eye for an athlete.”

It is Antonio who can be credited for picking out Kingdom Of Riches (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) for just £38,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale in 2022. The horse went on to make 220,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Sale last year, thus delivering the couple's greatest ever result in the ring. 

He recalled, “There was just something about that horse that kept catching my eye. He was a bit tall but he looked like a good horse. I had a guy willing to take half of the horse with me but, when I bought the horse, he said he no longer wanted him. I said, 'that's fine, I'll keep the horse myself.' Nikki and her daughter Megan took a leg and thankfully the horse turned out to be good and made 220,000gns. That made me very proud. 

“Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. A lot of time when I come home from the sales, Nikki says, 'why you buy this, why you buy that!' After two or three weeks, she might say, 'oh, this actually is a nice horse!'”

So where is the next Kingdom Of Riches in the batch of 20 juveniles who have been pencilled into this year's breeze-up sales. The beauty is that nobody knows the answer but there is a certain colt by Bungle Inthejungle (GB) who has been putting his hand up recently to suggest he is a bit better than average. 

Scallan said, “There is a Bungle Inthejungle colt who looks a nice horse and, actually, Vandeek (GB) is in the second dam. We bought him off Kelly Thomas, the breeder of Vandeek, at Doncaster and he doesn't have a bad walk for a Bungle. He does everything so easily and we're thinking of the Craven or Donny with him.”

On the remainder of the breeze-up squad, Da Silva added, “We have a nice Sands Of Mali (Fr) colt. He's a bit on the weak side but he should suit Donny or the Guineas Sale-something like that. There's another nice Acclamation (GB) colt there as well. He's a sharp, strong horse-a proper two-year-old. We also have a nice Havana Grey (GB) filly as well.”

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Value Sires Part IV: It’s All Relative

We're at the top end now when it comes to stallion fees, but there is quite a range to those prices, which for this feature is anything above £/€20,000. There is of course a massive difference, certainly when it comes to value, in a stallion standing at £35,000 and one at £350,000. In fact, we have two at that latter fee, which makes Frankel (GB) and Dubawi (Ire), the champion sires of the last two years in Britain and Ireland, the most expensive stallions in the world.

Those two representatives of Juddmonte and Darley respectively live within a mile of each other as the crow flies over the stud farms encircling Newmarket. Add to that mighty pair the names of Kingman (GB) at £125,000 and Baaeed (GB) at £80,000, and you have four of the top ten European stallions by price all within that square mile of excellence. 

It's not all about Newmarket, of course, with the Aga Khan Studs standing the most expensive stallion in France, Siyouni (Fr), at €200,000, the same fee commanded by their Sea The Stars (Ire) in Ireland, where he matches Wootton Bassett (GB), who heads the Coolmore roster. The lucky ones among us were those who jumped aboard the Siyouni and Wootton Bassett supporters' buses when those two stallions started out at €7,000 and €6,000 respectively. In bloodstock, as in life, there's a lot to be said for those who have carved out their own lofty niches from humble origins. 

Of course, with this level of sire power, one needs a mare of equally high standing, whether on the racecourse or as a producer or both. Many of the resulting offspring are retained to race by major owner-breeders, and those that do make it to the sales ring can be expected to fetch the level of return that could make even these high fees look good value. It's all relative. 

Dependable

At a more reachable level for many breeders comes this dependable trio – two we can most certainly call stalwarts and one who stamped his presence on the business with his first few crops. 

We discussed Yeomanstown Stud's Dark Angel (Ire) in greater depth in TDN last August. For 2024, he remains at €60,000, which was his fee for the preceding three seasons and down from three years at €85,000 between 2018 and 2020. Admittedly, his yearling sales average, which was in six figures for seven straight seasons, has dipped a little in the last few years and to a certain degree he is perhaps a victim of his own success, with various sons and other younger stallions of a similar profile encroaching on this popular sprinter/miler territory. But he had 77 yearlings sold at an average of £88,637 in 2023 which isn't bad going and, now 19, he was also third in the general sires' table behind Frankel and Dubawi.

From one O'Callaghan family farm to another, we switch to Tally-Ho Stud. At 23, Kodiac (GB) is into veteran territory but he is also at his lowest fee for nine years at €35,000. You pretty much know what you're going to get with him because he's been there, done that, siring plenty of fast colts and fillies and regularly providing the highest number of winners in a season. He hasn't lost his touch, as demonstrated last year by his Group 1-winning son and now stable-mate Good Guess (GB) and the G2 Lowther S. winner Relief Rally (Ire).

Before Good Guess gets a shot at the title, the most credible threat to Kodiac's crown within the Tally-Ho empire comes from Mehmas (Ire), who tore up the first-season sire record books in 2020 and has continued to build on that great start. His European results are backed up by some notable success in America, which should put his sales stock, whether as yearlings or horses in training, on the radar of a wider range of buyers, and at €50,000 in 2024, his fee has come down from last year's high of €60,000. 

His two-year-olds of this year were conceived in his first book after that break-out season of 2020, so we can expect the level of of his mates that year to have risen in line with his fee. That is not always a guarantee of increased success but I wouldn't want to bet against Mehmas continuing to be one of the most exciting younger sires in the European ranks. His equable temperament, and that of many of his offspring, appears to be what sets him apart.

Versatile

If you're looking for a stallion with the potential to get you a Classic winner at a mid-level price then the names of Teofilo (Ire) at €30,000, Sea The Moon (Ger) at £32,500, and Galiway (GB) at €30,000 should all be considered.

It would be wrong to compartmentalise Teofilo as a staying stallion, though he is very good at that, as his Melbourne Cup-winning sons Without A Fight (Ire), Twilight Payment (Ire) and Cross Counter (GB) show, not to mention the Ascot Gold Cup winner Subjectivist (GB). But there is much more in Teofilo's playbook than that, and he remains a hugely dependable sire across the distances, and of fillies too, from the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Pleascach (Ire) to Irish St Leger winner Voleuse De Coeurs (Ire). If you also factor in some of his achievements as a broodmare sire – Coroebus (Ire), Mac Swiney (Ire), Cachet (Ire) and Dreamloper (Ire) are among the Group 1 winners in that category – and a case can be made for Teofilo being an elite sire at a much more affordable fee than some in that category. 

Sea The Moon has defied the level of commercial acceptability usually granted to winners of the Deutsches Derby and throughout his career to date has posted very consistent sales returns via his yearlings. His fee has remained sensible – starting at £15,000 for the first six seasons, and then rising steadily to £22,500, then £25,000 and to his current high of £32,500. No doubt helped by the fact that he tends to get very good-looking stock, Sea The Moon has a following in both hemispheres despite never having left Lanwades since retiring to stud, and he coasts into 2024 having sired the winners of the equivalents of the Derby and the Oaks in his native Germany, where he is the champion sire.

Climbing up the ranks in France is Galiway, whose two Group 1 winners are the full-brothers Sealiway (Fr), who was also busy last year at Haras de Beaumont, and Classic prospect Sunway (Fr). We can perhaps expect Galiway to make as much of an impact at the Cheltenham Festival as he may do at Chantilly or Epsom, and that has increased his appeal to the National Hunt crowd, with another of his sons, Kenway (Fr), having recently joined Coolagown Stud in Ireland. 

But it is the Flat with which we are chiefly concerned here, and Galiway's French yearling results last year – six sold at Arqana in August for an average of €131,667 and 23 in October for a €44,761 average, all from his 2021 fee of €12,000 fee – make him a stallion worthy of closer attention. Since 2021, his price has increased to €30,000.

The Next Step

This year is a critical one for the two young stallions who made the biggest impression with their first-crop runners in 2023. Understandably, both Blue Point (Ire) and Too Darn Hot (GB) have been given fee increases, the former from €35,000 to €60,000 and the latter from £40,000 to £65,000. Getting a mare in to either of these Darley stallions might have been the toughest first challenge for the many breeders who wanted to use them at their higher fees. There is plenty of sales-ring and some racecourse evidence to back up those decisions, and a Group 1-winning three-year-old, preferably a Classic winner, will be required to keep these reputations soaring.

A year ahead of them is Coolmore's Sioux Nation, whose juveniles of this year were conceived at his lowest fee of €10,000. He is now at €27,500 thanks to the exploits of the hugely likeable Brave Emperor (Ire) and Matilda Picotte (Ire) among his 10 Group winners from his two crops of runners to race. Sioux Nation was third in the second-season sires' table last year behind Ace Impact's sire Cracksman (GB) and Havana Grey (GB), and while the latter had the highest number of black-type winners (11), Sioux Nation was represented by the most Group winners of this intake (7). He is definitely a horse to watch, even though his fee has increased by €10,000 in the last year.

Everything to Prove

I'm going to pitch in two names here who are teetering on the brink of triumph or disaster. That's not actually true, of course, but such is the knee-jerk reaction to the early results of stallions by industry people who really should know better, that some horses can be commercially 'dead' before we have even had a proper chance to see what they can do. If mass desertion by breeders follows then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that the stallion will fail, sometimes through no actual fault of his own, other than the fact that he is unlikely to get you a Brocklesby winner. 

Anyway, as I climb down off my soapbox for the umpteenth time with the fading hope that folks will just wait'n'see awhile, I will put forward Ghaiyyath (Ire) at €25,000 and Hello Youmzain (Fr) at €22,500 as two of the more interesting names among those with first runners in 2024. 

A dual Group 1-winning son of Kodiac, Hello Youmzain's yearlings were in demand in Deauville last year and he must be odds-on to be France's leading first-season sire this year. He covered 140 mares in his first season at Haras d'Etreham at his opening fee of €25,000.

Ghaiyyath's fee has also been trimmed slightly from his starting point of €30,000. Not all sons of Dubawi are created equal, of course, and there is now no shortage of them at stud, but Night Of Thunder (Ire), bred on the same cross as the 130-rated Ghaiyyath, and Too Darn Hot, bred on a similar cross, have set the bar high. 

Both Hello Youmzain and Ghaiyyath became Group winners themselves for the first time in the second half of their juvenile seasons. If their offspring can follow suit, it is easy to imagine that both stallions could be more expensive by this time next year.

TDN Value Podium

Bronze: Acclamation (GB), Rathbarry Stud, €25,000

If we are spruiking Dark Angel and Mehmas in this piece, then we must have their sire on the podium. At 25, Acclamation is still going strong and is an increasingly significant influence. As last year's G1 Hong Kong Cup and G1 Cox Plate winner Romantic Warrior (Ire) showed, he is far from just a one-trick pony, though he is obviously best known as a sire of sprinters, with the brilliant Marsha (Ire) among them. Al Shaqab's Orne (Ire), who was bred at home by Rathbarry, has Classic claims ahead of this season, and with Acclamation's fee sliding down from his career-high of €40,000 in 2018 and 2019, he's very much still one to keep on your side. 

Silver: Pinatubo (Ire), Dalham Hall Stud, £35,000

Perhaps boosted by the success of his fellow son of Shamardal, Blue Point, last year, Pinatubo seems to be many people's idea of this season's leading freshman in waiting. If you had the chance to see him last week during Darley's open days, then it would be hard to disagree, as he has swagger and substance in spades. 

His yearling average of almost £154,000 for 41 sold tells of his commercial popularity to date. It's up to him now, and up his sleeve he has the fact that he is from the same family as Invincible Spirit and Kodiac. 

Pinatubo has remained at £35,000 throughout his stud career and that could look very reasonable if his stock live up to expectations this year. 

Gold: Sottsass (Fr), Coolmore, €25,000

We hear a lot about 'stallion-making races' and I'm not sure I believe in the concept, but all we need to know about Sottsass is that he won the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – two races that most owners would give their eyeteeth to win – not to mention the G1 Prix Ganay and G2 Prix Niel. He was also third in the Arc as a three-year-old behind the older horses Waldgeist (GB) and Enable (GB).

Sottsass is from one of the current 'it' families, with his half-siblings including the stellar Sistercharlie (Ire) and My Sister Nat (Fr), while full-brother Shin Emperor (Fr) looks a Grade 1, or even Classic, winner in the making in Japan this year.

He is the first cab off the rank when it comes to Coolmore's sons of Siyouni (Fr). In general, his first yearlings looked athletic and together, and they may raise a few eyebrows by coming to hand sooner than expected. More importantly, however, they should go on, and as we know, it's best to rely on a Classic winner to get you a Classic winner.

 

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The Soaring Success of Dark Angel

It was fitting that Dark Angel's 100th stakes winner should have come in the Dick Hern S. at Haydock, a milestone which the ultra-reliable Yeomanstown Stud-based stallion reached thanks to the victory of the St. Albans Bloodstock home-bred filly Heredia (GB).

Dick Hern, who sent out 16 British Classic winners including three winners of the Derby as well as his best horse Brigadier Gerard (GB), would have thoroughly approved of Dark Angel. Hern was an archetypal 'old-school' trainer who excelled with every type of horse. Late in his career he prepared two consecutive Horses of the Year (in 1989 and '90). One, Nashwan, successively won the 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse S. and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.; the other, Dayjur, was Europe's utterly dominant sprinter. Brigadier Gerard was a champion at two, three and four, from six furlongs to twelve.

Hern gave his charges a solid preparation at two and expected them to last for a few more years after that. Two of his best stayers, Little Wolf (GB) and Longboat (GB), won the Ascot Gold Cup over two and a half miles as five-year-olds, but each had shown very smart form at two, with Little Wolf winning over six furlongs at Hern's local course, Newbury. Little Wolf's high-class elder half-brother Smuggler (GB) had won from six furlongs to two miles. In short, the archetypal Hern horse was tough, started work early in life and thrived on that work over an extended period. One rather suspects that Hern would have loved the progeny of Dark Angel, a stallion whose sons and daughters in general come to hand quickly, hold their form for years, and are notably tough, sound, genuine and consistent.

The irony about Dark Angel's stock being so strongly associated with durability is that he himself did not have the chance to demonstrate whether he could have held his form over several seasons. He raced only as a two-year-old and his career lasted for precisely six months and two days during the spring, summer and autumn of 2007. During that time he raced nine times, showing himself to be a hardy, sound and enthusiastic racehorse. It is easy to believe that he could have put together a great sprinting career had he been asked to do so.

Trained by Barry Hills, an old-school conditioner in the Dick Hern mould, Dark Angel made his debut at Newmarket's Craven Meeting in the spring of 2007 and then ran at most of the traditionally prestigious meetings of the season: Chester, Royal Ascot, Newmarket's July Meeting, York's Ebor Meeting, Doncaster's St Leger Meeting. He then won the G2 Mill Reef S. at Newbury and contested both of Newmarket's juvenile autumn highlights, winning the G1 Middle Park S. before finishing unplaced behind subsequent Derby winner New Approach in the G1 Dewhurst S. It was a proper, old-fashioned two-year-old campaign from which he emerged with honour fully intact, the winner of four races.

A Changing Tide in the Stallion Market

Nowadays it is no longer unusual for a high-class two-year-old to be retired straightaway to stud. Dark Angel was only racing 16 years ago, but that was a different era. However, times were just beginning to change. 

Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) (Danehill) had been a top-class and super-tough two-year-old for Aidan O'Brien in 2006 and began 2007 appealing as a likely 2,000 Guineas winner. However, when it became clear that Coolmore Stud's star recruit, the 2006 2,000 Guineas winner George Washington (Ire) (Danehill), was infertile, suddenly there was a three-figure book of high-class mares looking for a suitable horse (preferably a fast son of Danehill) who could cover them. The solution was to take Holy Roman Emperor out of training and give him the job. Consequently Holy Roman Emperor started covering mares at Coolmore in March 2007, officially aged three but in reality not yet 36 months old.

Perhaps emboldened by this, Gay O'Callaghan put in an offer for Dark Angel in the final weeks of 2007, an offer so good that his connections felt that they could not refuse it.

The son of Acclamation (GB) proved popular at a first-season fee of €10,000, although this had come down to €7,000 by the time that he began to have runners in the spring of 2011. Once his offspring had started racing, though, it soon became clear that he was at least as good a stallion as he had been a racehorse and that he would never cover for a four-figure sum again. In Great Britain and Ireland he was represented by 27 individual winners of 44 races during 2011, headed by his first stakes winner Lily's Angel (Ire), successful in the Empress S. at Newmarket after changing hands for only £8,000 as a yearling.

Lethal Force (Ire), who cost €8,500 as a yearling, should also be mentioned in dispatches in any review of Dark Angel's first juveniles as he finished a close fourth of the 23 runners in the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot. That admirable grey, though, didn't fully come into his own until his four-year-old season in 2013, when he completed the great summertime six-furlong double of the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot and the G1 July Cup at Newmarket. Lily's Angel too did even better at four than she had done at two, her wins in 2013 including the G3 Chartwell Fillies' S. over seven furlongs at Lingfield.

Just this quick snapshot of the stars of Dark Angel's first runners tells the tale of what was to come: a torrent of horses who came to hand early and then thrived on their racing, continuing to improve as they got older. Just how durable they really could be, though, obviously took several years to be established, but in the spring of 2017 it became crystal-clear.

Two of Dark Angel's first-crop two-year-old winners in 2011 were Sovereign Debt (Ire) and Gabrial (Ire). The former won a maiden race at Doncaster in June and a nursery at Ascot in July; the latter scored on debut at the Chester May Meeting before following up in the Two-Year-Old Trophy at Beverley and then, like Lethal Force, running in the Coventry S. at Royal Ascot. They were clearly both precocious two-year-old sprinters; but, as it turned out, that was only the start. Six years later, in the spring of 2017 at the age of eight, Sovereign Debt was in the form of his life. He won the £150,000 All-Weather Championships Mile Conditions Stakes at Lingfield in March; the G2 Sandown Mile in April; and the G3 Diomed S. at Epsom's Derby Meeting in the first week of June. At both Sandown and Epsom, the runner-up was Gabrial. The latter finished second in the Diomed S. again the following year aged nine, with Sovereign Debt recording his 15th and final victory (on his 62nd start) as a nine-year-old in June 2018 when taking a listed race, the Ganton S., over a mile at York.

Attracting Outside Interest

As horses such as these began to show the full extent of Dark Angel's merit as a stallion, his fee began to climb and he found himself covering ever more impressive books of mares. In August 2015 it was announced that Sheikh Mohammed had bought a block of shares in the horse to ensure that he was guaranteed plentiful access to the stallion. Dark Angel had stood for €27,500 that spring but his progeny were winning good races so regularly (at the time that this deal was announced, he had already been represented by 13 individual stakes winners that year alone) that his fee would rise to €60,000 in 2016 (before reaching €80,000 in 2018).

It is not always the case that seemingly better opportunities bring even better results, but in Dark Angel's case that is what has happened. His roll of honour is now gilt-edged. His 14 Group/Grade 1 winners on the Flat are headed by a sprinting great: the mighty gelding Battaash, who in the five seasons 2016 to 2020 inclusive won 13 of his 23 starts (starting with a five-furlong two-year-old maiden race at Bath in May 2016 and ending with his second successive G1 Nunthorpe S.) including 12 stakes races, showing himself to be arguably Europe's fastest horse at ages three, four, five and six.

Aside from Battaash, Harry Angel (Ire) and Mecca's Angel (Ire) stand out among Dark Angel's fastest offspring. The brilliance of Mecca's Angel, a member of Dark Angel's third crop, was particularly impressive bearing in mind that she was conceived at a fee of €7,000 and then changed hands for 16,000gns as a yearling. These two speedsters won 10 Group races between them. Harry Angel's finest hours came when he won both the G1 July Cup and the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup (by four lengths) in 2017; while Mecca's Angel is best remembered for matching Battaash's feat of winning the G1 Nunthorpe S. twice.

The aforementioned Lethal Force and this year's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S. hero Khaadem (Ire) are other top-class sprinters sired by Dark Angel. Khaadem is currently in the form of his life at the age of seven, having continued to progress since winning at Newmarket and Doncaster as a two-year-old in 2018 and then kicking off his three-year-old campaign in 2019 by beating subsequent G1 King's Stand S. and G1 July Cup hero Oxted (GB) in the Carnarvon S. at Newbury.

Dark Angel's best milers have included the US Grade I winners Raging Bull (Fr) and Althiqa (GB); the recently-retired Top Ranked (Ire) who thrived after being exported to Australia where won the G1 Epsom H. at Randwick in October 2022; and Persuasive (Ire) who won her first five races before finally signing off as an autumn four-year-old by beating Ribchester (Ire) and Churchill (Ire) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II at Ascot in October 2017.

The one way in which the stock of Dark Angel differ from the profile of horses trained by Major Dick Hern is that, while Hern trained plenty of stayers, Dark Angel's stock almost exclusively excel as sprinters or milers. There is always the exception which proves the rule, of course, and in Dark Angel's case that exception was his second-crop son Guitar Pete (Ire), who raced 55 times between May 2013 and March 2021.  After starting out on the Flat, Guitar Pete thrived over jumps, his wins including the G1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle over two miles at Leopardstown in February 2014 and the G3 Caspian Caviar Gold Cup Steeplechase over two miles and five furlongs at Cheltenham in December 2017. He might be untypical of Dark Angel's stock as regards the distances and type of race at which he excelled, but as a grey horse who is as tough as old boots he is very much his father's son.

The Flourishing of a Sprint Line

Dark Angel retired to stud on his racing record rather than his pedigree, which at the time that he was sold as a yearling in 2006 at Doncaster's St Leger Yearling Sale for 61,000gns was seen as a page likely to produce the smart sprinter which his muscular physique suggested he should be, but probably not a stallion. In retrospect, of course, it is now tautologous that he has a stallion's pedigree (because he is a stallion). The most obvious aspect which makes it a stallion's pedigree is that he is a member of the first crop of the Royal Applause (GB) horse Acclamation (GB), who was a very good sprinter himself (most notably winning the 2003 G2 Diadem S. at Ascot, which is now the G1 British Champions' Sprint S.) and has turned out to be a far more influential sire than could have been reasonably expected at the outset.

Acclamation was not an obvious candidate to become a notable sire of sires, but that is exactly what he has become, with two of his sons, Dark Angel and Mehmas (Ire), having ended 2022 in the top 20 in the General Sires' Table for Great Britain and Ireland. Furthermore, another son, Aclaim (Ire), sired the 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet (Ire), while Harbour Watch (Ire) was represented by King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. hero Pyledriver (GB).

Dark Angel himself is now part of the furniture in the uppermost tiers of the General Sires' Table. He is currently sitting in fourth place in the 2023 table behind Frankel (GB), Siyouni (Fr) and Sea The Stars (Ire). Last year he finished fifth behind Dubawi (Ire), Frankel, Sea The Stars and Galileo (Ire). If he were to finish this season where he currently lies, his 'form figures' for the General Sires' Table in the nine years 2015 to 2023 inclusive would be 442763554, figures which represent an extremely high degree of sustained excellence.

Looking ahead, Dark Angel is still aged only 18 and should be among Europe's most successful sires for years to come. Among his sons to retire to stud, things are looking promising. Lethal Force was the first to get Dark Angel going as a sire of sires, retiring to Cheveley Park Stud as a five-year-old in 2014 and producing some fast horses including Golden Horde (Ire) who was twice Group 1-placed as a two-year-old in 2019 before winning the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in 2020.

In August alone, his son Guitaifan (Ire) has been represented by GI Beverly D S. heroine Fev Rover (Ire), while another, Heeraat (Ire), enjoyed a particular successful Goodwood, with Aberama Gold (GB) winning the Stewards' Cup (on his 60th start) and White Lavender (Ire) finishing second to the great sprinting mare Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in the race which Battaash won four years in a row, the G2 King George S. Furthermore, Harry Angel is shaping up as a useful young sprinting sire in both Europe and Australia, where he was one of only two first-season sires, along with Justify, to be represented by three individual stakes winners during the 2022/'23 season.

The other marker which adds depth to a stallion's career is his success as a broodmare sire. In this sphere, Dark Angel's influence is also becoming noteworthy, particularly through the exploits of one of the rising stars of the stallion ranks, Havana Grey (GB), who sired his first Group 1 winner last Sunday and is himself out of the Dark Angel mare Blanc De Chine (GB).

 

The post The Soaring Success of Dark Angel appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Stallion News: Kevin Blake And Jack Cantillon Buy Smart Sprinter Bouttemont

Kevin Blake and Jack Cantillon have secured French sprinter Bouttemont (Ire), who they are targeting at a rare Group 1 double in the Flying Five and Prix de l'Abbaye, before standing the highly-rated son of Acclamation (GB) in Ireland. 

Bouttemont will see out his career with current trainer Yann Barberot and will race in the colours of Syndicates.Racing, the successful ownership group which is headed by Cantillon. 

A number of packages that include racing and breeding rights are available in the Group 3 winner with Blake describing the opportunity to invest in Bouttemont as a rare one for prospective investors.

The well-known racing pundit and breeder told TDN Europe, “We're doing things a little bit different in that people can get into Bouttemont for the remainder of his racing career and also secure breeding rights. This is a new partnership between Jack and myself and I really believe that Bouttemont is quite a compelling horse. He has the form, the profile, the looks and the pedigree. You'd like to think he'd be an appealing horse at that level.

“I think it's quite a unique thing that, anyone who gets involved in the horse at this stage, they get to rock up to the Irish Champions Festival in a few weeks' time and then on to Longchamp with a share in a Group 1 runner on Arc day. You don't usually get an opportunity to do this sort of thing without spending an awful lot of money so it's a pretty interesting opportunity.”

Bouttemont landed the Group 3 Barriere Prix de Meautry at Deauville a year ago. He posted an impressive speed figure when landing a listed contest at Chantilly over the minimum trip back in June and Blake says he is confident that the five-year-old has more to offer over five furlongs. 

He explained, “Bouttemont ran to an RPR of 116 when he won the Prix Hampton at Chantilly and that's the performance that I'd be focussing in on because an RPR of 116 would have been good enough to win or finish second in any of the past five Flying Fives or Prix de l'Abbayes. The ability to be good and competitive in those races is there when he gets his conditions.”

Blake added, “Nearly every person we've bounced the idea of the horse to can see the case and have shown a lot of enthusiasm. In most cases, people wouldn't have been familiar with the horse but, when you explain what you're thinking and provide them with the information, they can see it and are quite excited by it. Again, it's the uniqueness of being able to get in on a racing and breeding level which is appealing to a lot of people.”

Bouttemont may represent Blake's first endeavour into standing a stallion but this won't be Cantillon's first rodeo. Far Above (Ire), who stands at Micheál Orlandi's Starfield Stud in County Westmeath, was sourced by Cantillon and covered 142 mares in his first season at stud.

Commenting on his latest stallion acquisition, Cantillon said, “I don't think people should get confused about the fact they could achieve two things that they might otherwise never achieve in their lifetime here. When you pick up the TDN over the next few weeks and months, you will read announcements about horses retiring to stud. This isn't a stallion retiring announcement. This is a stallion prospect being reimagined. 

“What really excites me about this is that, not only do people have the opportunity to own a breeding right in one of the highest-rated sons of Acclamation, but they also have the upside of racing. People can accomplish the lifelong goal of owning a stallion and ultimate life goal of owning a Group 1 runner with a live chance as well.”

He added, “Dealing in cold hard facts, this horse gave a performance in the Prix Hampton which places him on a career higher-rating RPR than Mehmas and Dark Angel, achieved a top speed of 72 kilometers per hour in that race and almost broke the track record. He's an exceptionally-quick horse.

“I have always gotten on very well with Kevin and we have combined what we are good at here; identifying value and being a champion of the breeder, which involves new ways for breeders to get involved in our great game. Hopefully we have unearthed the next great stallion son of Acclamation and, who knows, he could be the last son of Acclamation who ever retires to stud. Even if he doesn't get his ground in his remaining Group 1 dates, he already has the proven credentials of the type of horse that thrives at stud in Ireland.”

Acclamation has already come up trumps with stallion sons Mehmas (Ire), Dark Angel (Ire) and more emerging as leading stallions having embarked on their careers at stud at modest fees initially. 

The prowess of Acclamation as a sire of sires was illustrated by Blake in last month's TDN Europe and the research for that article is said to have convinced him to bring Bouttemont to stud in Ireland.

Blake said, “The origin story is that I was doing a piece on sires of sires for TDN Europe and Acclamation came out with the big double red circle around his name. This purchase was the product of a lot of groundwork as Jack and I have been working on partnering on a stallion for the last number of years. It took time to find the right one but Bouttemont jumped off the page.”

He added, “This part of the world is full of breeders that have had great experiences with Acclamation and his sons Dark Angel and Mehmas. We couldn't be more excited to help bring what might be the last new stallion son of Acclamation back home to Ireland and offer him to breeders at an accessible level.”

The post Stallion News: Kevin Blake And Jack Cantillon Buy Smart Sprinter Bouttemont appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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