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The Weekly Wrap: Times Are A-Changin’

It's Craven week, followed by Greenham weekend, both coming on the back of some interesting Classic trials in Ireland and France. It is, as some people prefer to say in midwinter, the most wonderful time of the year.

There's no doubt, however, that the biggest racing story of the year has already happened. However much she wants to play down the gender card, Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National aboard Minella Times (Ire) (Oscar {Ire}) was huge. In fact, Saturday was a big day on both sides for the world for women recording notable firsts.

Around 12 hours before Blackmore's historic victory at Aintree, Jamie Lee Kah posted her first Sydney Group 1 win on the former French-trained Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), in turn becoming the first woman to ride a winner at the top level for Godolphin.

Kah is not new to success: she followed fellow Group 1-winning jockey Clare Lindop in landing the Adelaide jockeys' championship in her native South Australia. In fact, she won it three times, the first when she was still an apprentice. Between winning her first and third championship, Kah took a short time out of racing , prompted in part by the fatal fall of her friend Caitlin Forrest at Murray Bridge in a race in which Kah was also riding.

On a busman's holiday she stayed with her compatriot Jeremy Gask in the UK and spent some time riding out there and in Newmarket.

Thankfully for the sport, she decided to press on with her riding career. Since early 2019 Kah has based herself in Melbourne, where she landed the first of her five Group 1 wins to date on another import, Harlem (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), in the Australian Cup only weeks after her arrival there. She currently leads the Melbourne jockeys' premiership by a wide margin, her 80 wins putting her 26 clear of second-placed Damian Lane, who in turn is 10 clear of Damien Oliver.

There's no doubt that there is still a dearth of female jockeys but, just as attitudes towards them from trainers and owners are changing, that situation will surely change too. Having come into racing from more of a sport horse background, where from my youth the role models Lucinda Green, Ginny Elliott and Liz Edgar loomed large, I've never quite understood the bias against females jockeys in racing. It always seemed ridiculous and now it is clear to see that it was.

In the last decade we've seen Hayley Turner become the first woman to win a Group 1 outright in Britain (not forgetting Alex Greaves's dead-heat on Ya Malak (GB) in the 1997 Nunthorpe). The recently retired Lizzie Kelly became the first woman to ride a Grade 1 winner over fences in 2015, two months after Michelle Payne became the first to win the Melbourne Cup. In the last year alone, Bryony Frost was the first woman to win the prestigious GI King George VI Chase, Jessica Marcialis was the first to win a Group 1 in France, Hollie Doyle was given a retainership by Arab owner Imad Al Sagar, rode a five-timer at Windsor and was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year. Then there's Rachael, who is now so famous she only needs a first name. Six victories at the Cheltenham Festival saw her become the leading jockey there three weeks ago before her arguably even more important success on Saturday.

Plenty of people have pointed to the fact that she will now have other women and young girls believing they too can be a jockey. That, however, is not the problem. The women have always believed, but not enough men in key positions felt the same. Times are changing, along with attitudes. It can't come soon enough.

Frankel's French Romp

On Friday, it will be ten years since Frankel (GB) stepped out for his first 3-year-old triumph in the Greenham S. ahead of that breathtaking win in the 2000 Guineas. In the intervening decade, his name has rarely been out of the racing news, and that has been particularly true in the past week, notably in France.

Last Monday Big Five (GB) had become Frankel's 100th black-type performer in the northern hemisphere with his easy victory in the listed Prix Right Royal at Chantilly. Then Juddmonte's Wensleydale (GB) dazzled brightly enough in her Saint-Cloud debut for Henri Devin that she became the latest TDN Rising Star.

Another Juddmonte filly, Petricor (GB), was just outdone in the G3 Prix Vanteaux on Sunday but even then it was by another daughter of Frankel, Rumi (Fr), who stepped up notably from her seasonal debut when fourth in the Prix Durban only a week earlier. Hurricane Cloud (Fr), the half-brother to promising young French sire Goken (Fr), provided another winner for Frankel on Sunday's Longchamp card, while O'Reilly (Fr) won on his 3-year-old debut for Jessica Harrington at Leopardstown, where Mehnah (GB), a half-sister to Irish 2000 Guineas winner Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), was beaten a head by Keeper Of Time (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) on just her second start in the G3 Ballylinch Stud 'Priory Belle' 1000 Guineas Trial.

Among Frankel's spate of other winners worldwide, Delaware (GB), who was previously a Group 3 winner for Andre Fabre, notched his first win since joining Chad Brown's stable and he did so in some style, setting a new Aqueduct track record in the listed Danger's Hour S.

Blue Collar Heroes

In the very early skirmishes in the first-season sire championships, Overbury Stud's Ardad (GB) is leading the way as the only stallion with two winners to date. His first came last Tuesday at Bath with Blue Collar Lad (GB), who was bought for just 1,000gns by his trainer Robyn Brisland.

Then on Monday at Windsor, the track where you often find a Richard Hannon hotpot in the early juvenile races, the 150/1 shot Arboy Will (GB) made all the running to outdo that hotpot, Zoltan Star (GB), who incidentally was co-bred by Overbury Stallions with Dukes Stud and is by Ardad's sire Kodiac (GB).

Bred by Anthony Byrne, Arboy Will was unsold at 1,500gns as a foal when offered at Tattersalls, and is out of a dual-winning half-sister to the GII Santa Ana S. winner Madam Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}). He became the first debutant 2-year-old winner for his veteran trainer John Bridger who admitted he is “getting near 80”.

Ardad could be in for a big week as among his six entries this week he has two horses set to make their debut at Newmarket's Craven meeting. One of those, Beautiful Sunshine (GB), was withdrawn from the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale by consignor Robson Aguiar and has instead been sent into training with George Boughey for Amo Racing. Aguiar notably enjoyed success last year with another breeze-up withdrawal, The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), who was trained by Michael Bell to win convincingly on debut at Yarmouth before being sold to Qatar Bloodstock and landing the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.

Blue Collar Lad and Arboy Will were not the only inexpensive winners over the last week. The Marco Botti-trained Atalis Bay (GB) (Cable Bay {GB}) was bought by his Italian owners Scuderia Blueberry for just 800gns as a yearling at the Tattersalls February Sale. The colt has now won four of his seven starts and landed the conditions race at Nottingham off a mark of 97.

However, there's no doubt that the bargain buy of the week was G3 Ballylinch Stud 'Priory Belle' 1000 Guineas Trial winner Keeper Of Time (Ire), who gave Mehmas an important boost as he bids to build on his exciting start to his stud career last year. John Nolan bought the filly for just €3,000 at the Goffs February Sale from the Phelan family's Tullogher House Stud and she became the first group winner for Johnny Feane. The trainer indicated after the race that Nolan has already had offers for Keeper Of Time, who is not entered in the Irish Classic and could be sold to race on in America.

Eagle To Swoop Again?

Gestüt Schlenderhan and partners suffered a cruel blow last week with the death of German champion sire Adlerflug (Ger) at the age of 17 .

A day later his son Martial Eagle (Ger) carried the Ullmann family colours to a stylish victory at Saint-Cloud for trainer Francis Graffard in the Prix Amour Drake. The colt holds entries for the Prix du Jockey Club and Grand Prix de Paris but he may well be aimed to follow the example of another Graffard-trained and Schlenderhan-bred son of Adlerflug, In Swoop (Ire), in the G1 Deutsches Derby, for which Martial Eagle is currently favourite.

In Swoop, who subsequently finished runner-up to Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the Arc, has remained in training and is entered to return to Longchamp on Sunday in the listed Prix Lord Seymour.

Lord Grimthorpe

Another regrettable piece of news in the last week was the announcement that Lord Teddy Grimthorpe will step down from his position as Juddmonte's racing manager in June.

In a tenure of more than two decades, he has overseen the careers of some of the greatest names of the turf in a pivotal liaison role between stud managers and trainers within the sizeable Juddmonte empire.

Moreover, Grimthorpe has been the operation's faultless spokesman throughout the heady years of Frankel (GB) and Enable (GB) in particular, when press and public interest was at its peak. From a journalist's perspective, and doubtless from many others, he will be much missed.

The post The Weekly Wrap: Times Are A-Changin’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Siyouni Comes Of Age

It is only a decade since the most expensive stallion at stud in France was Elusive City at €15,000. Yet to have runners at that stage were Le Havre (Ire) and Kendargent (Fr), who entered stud in 2010, followed by Siyouni (Fr) in 2011 and then Wootton Bassett (GB) the next year. Those are the four names who dominated the French sires’ championship in 2020 and can take a large part of the credit for an increasingly dynamic stallion scene in France.

Siyouni, who now commands a fee of €140,000 having started his career at €7,000, is the French champion sire and was second overall in Europe to Galileo (Ire). He had to play second fiddle to Galileo in his home country last year and to an extent that could be put down to what a difference an Arc makes. Galileo sired the 2019 Arc winner Waldgeist (GB), while new Coolmore stallion Sottsass (Fr) enjoyed the biggest day of his career in front of an almost empty ParisLongchamp grandstand in October 2020. He made a huge contribution to Siyouni’s overall progeny earnings of just over €4 million—double that of Le Havre—but the Aga Khan Studs stallion had plenty of other winners, 63 in total in France including nine stakes winners and 17 black-type performers in France, with 27 of the latter throughout Europe.

While Sottsass was the stand-out, Siyouni also sired his second winner of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Dream And Do (Fr), who is now in the ownership of Katsumi Yoshida. His reputation farther afield was bolstered by the G1 Dewhurst S. winner St Mark’s Basilica (Ire) and GI EP Taylor S. victrix Etoile (Fr).

The 62 winners for Le Havre were led by a filly trained outside France but by a Frenchman. The G1 Prix de Royallieu and G1 QIPCO British Champion Fillies & Mares S. Winner Wonderful Tonight (Fr) is the stable star for Sussex-based David Menuisier and she was a another feather in the cap of her breeders Sylvain Vidal and Mathieu Alex, who have played a major role in the rejuvenation of the French stallion scene at what was originally known as Haras de la Cauvinière and is now Haras de Montfort et Préaux. Now under the ownership of Nurlan Bizakov, the stud has a further name to grapple with this year in Sumbé, the title which now unites Montfort et Préaux with Bizakov’s original breeding base of Hesmonds Stud in England.

Le Havre, who was tenth overall in the European table, notched 11 black-type winners in Europe last season included the hugely promising Normandy Bridge (Fr), winner of the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon and runner-up to Van Gogh (American Pharoah) in the G1 Criterium International. A tall colt with plenty of scope, he could be one to put his young trainer Stephanie Nigge firmly on the map in 2021.

Kendargent has been one of the great success stories of the French ranks in recent years. The non-stakes winner who started out at a fee of €1,000, he received significant backing from his passionate owner Guy Pariente, whose Haras de Colleville, near Deauville, has blossomed into a breeding operation of some repute.

Now 18, Kendargent is in danger of being upstaged by his son Goken (Fr), who was France’s leading first-season sire of 2020, and Kendargent has also featured as the broodmare sire of several stakes winner by his other Colleville companion, Galiway (GB). His fee peaked at €22,000 and is down to €10,000 for 2021. His leading performer from 63 French winners last season was the globe-trotting Skalleti (Fr), who beat Sottsass when winning the Prix Gontaut-Biron, followed that up by winning the G2 Prix Dollar and was then second to Adeyybb (Ire) in the G1 QIPCO British Champion S.

Wootton Bassett has also been a real success story for French breeding, so much so that he was headhunted by Coolmore last year and is about to serve his first season in Ireland at a fee of €100,000, having stood for as little as €4,000 in this third and fourth seasons. The James Fanshawe-trained Audarya (Fr) followed up her G1 Prix Jean Romanet win with a memorable victory at the Breeders’ Cup, while Wooded (Fr) won the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye before being whisked off to stud himself. There were also close calls for Wootton Bassett’s offspring in the French Classics: his daughters Speak Of The Devil (Fr) and Mageva (Fr) were second and third in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and The Summit (Fr) was runner-up (Ire) in the Poulains.

The winner of that race, Victor Ludorum (Ire), helped his late sire Shamardal to a fifth place in the French sires’ table, his 10 black-type winners including the Aga Khan’s classy Tarnawa (Ire) and Pinatubo (Ire), winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat.

Rajsaman (Fr) is another to have left France and is now at Ireland’s Longford House Stud but he still sires plenty of winners in his native country, with 60 last year, to put him in sixth place.

Completing the top ten were Juddmonte’s Kingman (GB), whose outstanding French representative was Persian King (Ire); Haras du Quesnay’s Anodin (Ire), who sired four stakes winners in 2020 including G3 Prix de Fille de l’Air winner Directa (Fr); Dabirsim (Fr) and the now Japanese-based Makfi (GB).

The aforementioned Goken was not only leading first-season sire in France but also the country’s leading sire of 2-year-olds, with his 15 winners putting him three ahead of Siyouni in the juvenile category.

Leading sires in Germany
That Sadler’s Wells is a major influence is hardly newsflash material. His reach in Germany is predominantly through one of his lesser-heralded sons, the late In The Wings (GB), whose best sire son, arguably, was Singspiel (Ire). The German ranks are headed by two of his other sons, Adlerflug (Ger), who is champion for the first time ahead of Soldier Hollow (GB), the title holder in the previous two years as well as in 2016.

Physically they are chalk and cheese. Adlerflug, a tall, flashy chestnut, is a product of Germany’s oldest stud farm, Gestut Schlenderhan. Meanwhile, the diminutive bay Soldier Hollow, was bred in England by Car Colston Hall Stud and has spent his stud career initially at Gestut Rottgen before moving to Karl-Dieter Ellerbracke’s Gestut Auenquelle in 2012, whence he has been Germany’s busiest and most expensive stallion for a number of years. Incidentally, Soldier Hollow’s owner Helmut von Finck, who has had notable success with his offspring, has commissioned a video to celebrate the stallion’s 20th birthday, which can be found here.

Adlerflug covered 39 mares in 2020 and he really is a stallion who should be taken more seriously outside Germany. For a start, he is bred very similarly to Galileo (Ire): beyond the Sadler’s Wells top line they share a third dam, Anatevka (Ger), with Adlerflug’s grandam Alya (Ger) being a full-sister to Allegretta (GB).

Ranking 20th overall in the European sires’ championship with markedly fewer runners than all the stallions above him, Adlerflug was responsible for the first two home in the G1 Deutsches Derby, Schlenderhan’s In Swoop (Ire), who was subsequently runner-up in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Torquator Tasso (Ger), who went on to win the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin. A rare runner for him in Britain in 2020 was the William Haggas-trained juvenile Alenquer (Fr), an easy winner on debut at Newbury who followed up with second in the listed Ascendant S. and looks a colt to follow in 2021.

Alenquer is out of a mare by former German champion sire and classy sprinter Areion (Ger), a veteran son of Big Shuffe (Ger) who was third in the table in 2020 and, now 25, has spent the last three seasons at Gestut Etzean.

Among the younger stallions to note is Gestut Ohlerweierhof’s Isfahan (Ger), the leading German-based first-season sire in 2020. Like Adlerflug, he is a former winner of the Deutsches Derby, and from his 10 runners in 2020, five were winners, including Isfahani (Ger), who won the G3 Premio Guido Berardelli on debut in the colours of her sire’s owner Stefan Oschmann of Darius Racing. Isfahan should be expected to make a bigger impression with his first 3-year-olds, and the same can be said for Gestut Rottgen’s Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist (Ger), the lone son of Monsun (Ger) remaining at stud in Germany.

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Moment of 2020: In Swoop

In Moment of 2020, the staff of TDN Europe reflect on their favourite moments in racing for the year.

In 2019, both Gestut Schlenderhan and the Deutsches Derby celebrated 150th anniversaries. Schlenderhan, Germany’s oldest Thoroughbred stud farm, has enjoyed much success throughout the world and is the leading owner when it comes to its home Derby. That record was extended this year when In Swoop (Ger) became the 19th winner of the race to be owned and bred by the Von Ullmann family, a result made all the sweeter by the fact that the colt is by Schlenderhan’s 2007 Deutsches Derby winner Adlerflug (Ger), a stallion who remains seriously underrated outside Germany. Furthermore, In Swoop’s Classic credentials were completed by his homebred dam Iota (Ger), who won the G1 Preis der Diana and was one of the early stars for her sire Tiger Hill (Ire). The Danehill stallion moved from Schlenderhan to Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud the year after his first-crop daughter claimed the German Oaks.

While being very much a product of the widely respected German breeding programme, In Swoop is trained in Chantilly by Francis Graffard, and he thus became the first French-trained winner of the historic race. Baron Georg Von Ullmann has long been a supporter of French racing, with some of his major stars in the heyday of the late Schlenderhan stallion Monsun (Ger) including Manduro (Ger), Getaway (Ger) and Shirocco (Ger), all of whom were trained by Andre Fabre.

A compact and striking colt far more reminiscent of his grandsire In The Wings (GB) than his leggier, chestnut father Adlerflug, In Swoop only made his debut in May, winning readily at Lyon-Parilly before returning there to take third in the G2 Prix Greffulhe, his prep for his Classic engagement. His scything run from near last to win the 151st Deutsches Derby on only his third start was clearly the high point of his season, but subsequent runner-up finishes behind Mogul (GB) in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and Sottsass (Fr) in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe entitle him to be considered one of the best of his generation in Europe.

Graffard has already more than proved himself adapt at handling top-class thoroughbreds and he has brought In Swoop along in the gentle manner which allows both the trainer and the team at Gestut Schlenderhan to dream of further international glory in 2021.

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Adlerflug Flies High At Arqana

DEAUVILLE, France—France is one of the few countries in Europe where it is still relatively easy for people to go racing, so a short stroll down the road to Hippodrome La Touques from the Arqana sales complex was a perfect pre-sales outing, with the day’s two black-type races well timed to be observed before action got underway in the ring.

The winner of the G3 Prix des Reservoirs, Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}), not only provided her first-season sire Territories (Ire) with his first group winner but also gave a boost to last year’s Arqana August Sale, where she was bought from Haras de l’Hotellerie for €55,000. She had also been the first winner for Territories on June 10 at Chantilly, when she posted her first of three victories, as well as running third in the G1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend.

Back at Arqana, the trade dropped a notch during the second sessionn of the October Sale, where the day’s takings for 115 horses sold came to €3,046,000. The average was €26,487 and the median was €20,000, both of which are tricky to assess in comparison to last year’s markedly different sales format. A promising marker, which has been a factor at most of the 2020 yearling sales across Europe, was the clearance rate of 82%. Horses are still being traded, albeit at a reduced level in a challenging year.

The market leader for much of the day was Haras de Bourgeauville’s colt by Adlerflug (Ger), the sole offering by the leading German stallion in the catalogue. The Francis Graffard-trained In Swoop (Ger), who became the first French-based winner of the G1 Deutsches Derby and then gave Sottsass (Fr) (SIyouni {Fr}) a run for his money when second in the Arc, showed just what the under-used stallion is capable of, and the session-topping colt was one of nine purchases by Federico Barberini so far at this sale. Offered as lot 248, the half-brother to the Listed Brown Panther S. winner Alveena (GB) (Medicean {GB}) will be trained in England after being bought for €85,000 for an undisclosed client of the Italian agent.

The colt’s dam Aliyfa (Ire) (Spinning World), a half-sister to the G1 Irish St Leger and G1 Prix du Cadran winner Alandi (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was bought by Bourgeauville from the Aga Khan Studs at the 2017 Goffs November Sale for €125,000 when carrying to Siyouni (Fr). The stud sold the resultant filly for €120,000 at the August Sale last year.

Two fillies shared the second spot on the leader board at €75,000, the first to reach that mark being a Wildenstein-bred daughter of Authorized (Ire) (lot 287) out of the lightly-raced Peintre Celebre mare Blue Picture (Ire). The filly’s grandam is the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix de l’Opera winner Bright Sky (Ire) (Wolfhound), and she was bought by Mags O’Toole from the La Motteraye Consignment.

Al Shaqab Racing has been active throughout the October Sale at Arqana and bought the top lot on day one, the €525,000 colt by Siyouni (Fr), as well as signing for one of the more prominent yearlings of Tuesday’s session, with 16 horses bought across the two days.

Lot 333, picked up for €75,000, had extra commercial appeal as a daughter of the record-breaking first-season sire Mehmas (Ire), and she is out of the four-time winner Epatha (Ire) (Highest Honor {Fr}), who was bred by and raced for the late Marquesa de Moratalla and has thus far produced four winners. The filly was bought as a foal last December by Tina Rau for €20,000.

Part 2 of the October Yearling Sale continues in Deauville on Wednesday from 2 p.m.

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