Seven Days: Juveniles in the Spotlight

With the leaves on the turn and rugs back on the horses after the hottest summer in many a year, it may feel as though we are coming to the end of the season but by juvenile Group 1 contests in Europe we are really only halfway through.

So far, No Nay Never's sons Little Big Bear (Ire) and Blackbeard (Ire) (No Nay Never), both trained by Aidan O'Brien, have claimed three between them – the Phoenix S., Prix Morny and Middle Park S., while the Joseph O'Brien-trained Al Riffa (Fr) became the first Group 1-winning juvenile colt for Wootton Bassett (GB). Only the two fillies' races have fallen outside the clutches of the O'Brien family, with Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) following her talented big sister Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) to Group 1 glory in the Moyglare Stud S. for Dermot Weld, and Ralph Beckett claiming one for Britain in Saturday's Juddmonte Cheveley Park S., in which Lezoo (GB) became a first top-level winner in the northern hemisphere for Zoustar (Aus).

Through the next month we have the seven Group 1 races for two-year-olds which will perhaps have more of a bearing on next year's Classics. On Saturday, Aidan O'Brien was quick to point to Blackbeard being more about the big sprints next year than the Guineas. However, his stable-mate Little Big Bear, who shares his damsire Bering (GB) with Stradivarius (Ire), has more notable stamina influences on his bottom line, not least his sensational Arc-winning great grand-dam All Along (Fr) (Targowice), which may well help his claims in mile contests and perhaps beyond.

Lezoo owns a properly fast pedigree, while Tahiyra can plainly be considered of enormous Classic potential. Al Riffa is by a sire who won the Marcel Boussac and was perhaps found wanting at the mile but has had no problem producing a champion middle-distance three-year-old in Almanzor (Fr). The fact that Al Riffa is out of a Galileo (Ire) mare clearly bolstered his stamina claims, which are enhanced deeper into his pedigree by his extremely classy third dam My Emma (GB) (Marju {Ire}), winner of the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille and a half-sister to Gold Cup and St Leger winner Classic Cliche.

With regard to next season's Classics, if that isn't wishing our lives away too quickly, the action of the next month will start to drop some proper hints as to which horses we should be dreaming about over the winter. Isa Salman and Abdullah Al Khalifa's homebred G2 Rockfel S. winner Commissioning (GB) (Kingman {GB}) certainly looks like she will be one of them, and the Gosden trainee could yet return to the Rowley Mile a week on Saturday for the G1 Fillies' Mile or head to the Breeders' Cup in a bid to extend her unbeaten run this season before being wrapped up until spring. 

Polly Pott (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) is an intriguing prospect, having progressed from a handicap mark of 68 to win her last four starts, culminating in the G2 May Hill S. at 40/1 for her retiring trainer. More intriguing still is that she will move to the stable of Ben Pauling at the end of the season when Dunlop hands in his licence. Pauling is better known as a National Hunt trainer but, perhaps spurred by the dual-purpose success of the likes of Alan King and Ian Williams, he has now set his sights on training some Flat horses. Having a team which includes Group 2 winner – who may yet be supplemented to give Dunlop one last hurrah in the G1 Fillies' Mile – is not a bad place to start, especially considering the success of late of Polly Pott's family, which includes the Group 1 winners Accidental Agent (GB) and Mohaather (GB).

Lezoo Delivers on Many Fronts

There were lots of smiling faces as Lezoo returned to the winner's enclosure at Newmarket on Saturday. Jamie McCalmont, who with Kelsey Lupo had bought the filly under the Atlas Bloodstock banner for €110,000 at the Arqana Breeze-up Sale, had also signed up Blackbeard as a foal for Coolmore the previous year for 270,000gns at Tattersalls. The agent clearly had at least two reasons to be cheerful, especially on behalf of his clients and Lezoo's owners Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen. For Chan it was the second Group 1-winning two-year-old in consecutive seasons following the Criterium International success of Angel Bleu (Fr), who is also trained by Ralph Beckett.

Roger O'Callaghan was presumably settling in his draft of Orby yearling at Goffs on Saturday but he could have been permitted a little skip of joy through the sales grounds when first Crypto Force (GB) (Time Test {GB}) won the G2 Beresford S. then Lezoo claimed her success. Both were graduates of the Tally-Ho Stud team of breezers this season, with Crypto Force, who was bred by Andrew Tinkler, having gone though four sales in his two and a half years.

Team Tweenhills was of course delighted with Lezoo's breakthrough win for her sire Zoustar, who had been greeted with a degree of scepticism by the European market despite his success in Australia.

“He's doing exactly what he did in Australia,” exclaimed David Redvers at Newmarket. “I couldn't dream that he would do it to the same extent, but he had a champion two-year-old filly in his first crop there [Sunlight] and he could well do the same here. They are not early, precocious two-year-olds. You get the odd one but as a rule they are autumn two-year-olds, and what we saw in Australia was dramatic improvement from two to three, so that is obviously what we are all looking forward to.”

And most importantly of all, it was great to see the people responsible for the existence of Lezoo, Andrew and Jane Black of Chasemore Farm, on the winner's rostrum to receive their prize as the filly's breeder. 

“It's amazing, and if Noble Style hadn't had colic we could have also had the favourite in the very next Group 1 race,” said Andrew Black, speaking to TDN between the Cheveley Park S. and the Middle Park S.

Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who is unbeaten this year in three races including the G2 Gimcrack S., was sold by Chasemore Farm ten days before Lezoo, the pair having featured in Books 1 and 3 of the draft respectively at the Tattersalls October Sale.

While Lezoo is out of the Red Clubs (Ire) mare Roger Sez (Ire), Noble Style also has Red Clubs in his pedigree as the sire of his grand-dam Ceiling Kitty (GB), who died in 2016 after foaling her Chesham Stakes-winning son Arthur Kitt (GB) (Camelot {GB}). Noble Style's dam is the Listed winner Eartha Kitt (GB), a daughter of Pivotal (GB). 

“The tragedy is that we sold Roger Sez,” Black continued. “Theoretically we kept two [Red Clubs] fillies but then one of the two died and I wish I hadn't sold her because I've left myself light, so there is a little bit of regret that I wouldn't normally have.”

He continued, “I believe in Red Clubs and I believe in his pedigree, but I always felt that the mares that I have by him are a little bit neat. So they are interesting genetically, but I want to layer on top of that to get my broodmares. So the Shamardal daughter of Illaunglas, or the Pivotal daughter of Ceiling Kitty, those to me were just a bit more interesting because you've taken Red Clubs, who tended to get them a bit neat, and then you've put a bit more size into them. So to my thinking anyway you're getting something along the lines of a perfect receptacle – nicely genetically balanced with but of that kind of Red Clubs intensity.”

Roger Sez has in fact been through the December Sale twice in the last two years, sold by Chasemore to Rabbah Bloodstock, who then sold her on to Melchior Bloodstock last winter for 28,000gns.

Hail the Handicap Kings

Though it's the time of the year for black-type races left, right and centre, there's always plenty of interest to be derived from the heritage handicaps, and the Cambridgeshire didn't disappoint in that regard. The four-year-old winner Majestic (Ire) provided the biggest result for his late sire Conduit (Ire) to date, as well as for his owner-breeders Nick and Liz Hitchins. 

Unraced until March of this year, having recovered from a fractured pelvis and then being subjected to a wind operation after his debut in a Kempton bumper, Majestic pulled himself together to win on his handicap debut in mid-August off a mark of 79. Having squeaked into the Cambridgeshire on the joint-lowest mark of 86, his bumble-bee silks could be seen weaving their way through the field to land a second major handicap victory for Mick Channon this season after the Lincoln win of Johan (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}) on his first start for the stable in March.

At the Curragh on Sunday the smartly-bred Waterville (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) landed the spoils in the value-boosted €600,000 'Friends of the Curragh' Irish Cesarewitch. Sent off favourite, the half-brother to Irish Oaks winner Sea Of Class (Ire) and the Italian Group 1 winners Final Score (Ire) and Charity Line (Ire), was hardly a surprise victor but it was the manner of his last-gasp neck win over Echoes In Rain (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) that had onlookers heaping praise on jockey Wayne Lordan. With just six starts to his name, the three-year-old Waterville looks to have a bright future in Cup races next season.

Rebel With a Cause

William Buick can do no wrong this year and, after winning the Cheveley Park S. for Ralph Beckett, he headed over to Cologne for Charlie Appleby to snare his second Group 1 win of the weekend in the Preis von Europa aboard Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Following a lacklustre start to the year in Meydan, Godolphin's statuesque four-year-old has really come into his own since returning to Britain, where he won twice as a juvenile. Rebel's Romance is now unbeaten in his four starts since June 25, starting in the Listed Fred Archer Stakes at Newmarket and progressing through the G3 Glorious Stakes and then the Grosser Preis von Berlin, the first of his two consecutive Group 1 wins.

Both stakes races at Cologne on Sunday fell to British trainers, with the Mark and Charlie Johnston-trained juvenile Sirona (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) taking the Listed Winterkonigin-Trial.

The filly is owned by Jayne McGivern, who recently bought Golden Horn (GB) to stand as a dual-purpose sire at Overbury Stud and who also owns some smart National Hunt mares, including the dam of Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}). 

McGivern has joked the she is “going over to the dark side” by rekindling her Flat ownership, and Sirona, who is now two from three in the early stages of her career, looked a smart prospect for next year in her four-length triumph.

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‘You Can’t Afford To Be Risk Averse In This Game And I’m Not That’

   Andrew Black is renowned in the gambling industry, being co-founder of Betfair, one of the biggest exchanges in the world. 

   However, there is much more to the 59-year-old than being the man who revolutionised betting; he is also hugely passionate about breeding and playing cards.

   Black got to the semi-finals of the world Bridge Championships last week and his breeding endeavors at Chasemore Farm continue to go from strength to strength. 

   He will bid for Group 1 glory at Haydock on Saturday when homebred Brad The Brief (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) runs in the Sprint Cup while Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}), sold by Chasemore at Book 1 to Godolphin for 525,000gns last year, is well on his way to becoming a top-notch colt after landing the G2 Gimcrack S this season.

   From breeding potential superstars like Noble Style to discussing his plans for Chasemore and revealing a recent near-death health scare he suffered last Christmas, Black makes for a fascinating interviewee.

Brian Sheerin: It has been a brilliant year for Chasemore Farm and it could get even better with Brad The Brief in the Sprint Cup on Saturday. You must be looking forward to it?

Andrew Black: I am, assuming we run. It's well known at this stage, he likes a cut in the ground, and I think there's rain forecast for Friday night or Saturday morning at Haydock. He wants it soft, good-to-soft would be okay, but as he's got older, the need for soft or heavy ground has reduced a little because his knees are better now than they've ever been before. In his early days, he suffered from immaturity issues and, as time has gone on, that situation has improved. If the going was good, I would expect him to find things a little hot, but if it's on the soft side, I'd expect him to be in the mix.

BS: He's two-from-two this season, including at Group 2 level. It's interesting that he was in the horses-in-training sale last season. Was that ever a realistic destination for him?

AB: I don't think so. It's interesting that Hugo [Palmer] seems to have done better with him than Tom [Dascombe] did. We have paid a good bit of attention to his knees and it seems to be working. Tom didn't want to campaign him at a high level and was always insisting to us that he was a 90-rated handicapper at best and we should aim quite low with him. Hugo has sorted out an issue with his knees this year and he seems to have progressed. He's definitely moved on this year and to see numbers like 120 beside his name, that's pretty exciting. I think he can do more–when conditions come up right, I think he could pull off a Group 1 win. 

BS: Has anything been changed in his training routine to bring about the improvement?

AB: The only thing that has been changed is that, when he came back to Chasemore Farm, we observed that his knees might benefit from being medicated. He's had two separate courses of medication and that's possibly what made the difference as he's moving very well now–he'd always been a bit scratchy. He's a very good-looking horse and is everything that you'd want a sprinter to look like. That little bit more freedom of movement appears to have made the difference. 

BS: You have been quoted as saying, “for me, seeing an animal you bred winning a big race is as good as it gets.” Things have been going pretty well of late, not just with horses running in your own colours, but with Noble Style as well.

AB: This year has been amazing for us. You could consider it a breakthrough year. Not only have we had a lot of success on the track, but a lot of the yearlings that we have going to the yearling sale this year are a lot more interesting; we have some good stuff coming through. Noble Style obviously tops the list. He's quite a fiery character and, as he grows up, I think he's going to improve more. He looks like much more than just a 2-year-old to me. His mother [Eartha Kitt (GB) (Pivotal {GB})] didn't do it until she was three. She could have been even better at four but we retired her early as we lost her mother. She won a listed race on her final start at three but, if we kept her in training as a 4-year-old, we'd have got a lot more out of her. I'm certain of that. I was actually out-voted on that at the time, I wanted to keep her in training but we have got Noble Style out of it so I can't complain. I think he's really special. He could be a proper Group 1 horse. I don't even want to say that out loud and I am touching wood as I say it. 

BS: What's pretty cool about Noble Style is that the family extends all the way back to Baldovina (GB) (Tale Of The Cat), one of the first horses you've owned. It's a family that you have nurtured. 

AB: That's what's really amazing for us. What interested me about Baldovina when I claimed her was, not the black-type on the page, but the fact that there were not many animals in the pedigree full stop. The black-type as a percentage to animals on the page was interesting. Her dam, Baldwina (Fr) (Pistol Bleu {Ire}), was a Group 3 winner, so it was only really Baldovina who had failed. After I claimed Baldovina, her dam went to Japan and produced Jeweler (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}), who won the Japanese 1,000 Guineas, among others. Baldovina amazingly had become a half-sister to a Classic winner after I claimed her for just £17,000. She was one of the first horses I ever bought, so that was a bit of a turn up for the books. We did so well from selling horses out of her that we got her money back many times over. There's always a lot of interest from Japan whenever we go to sell anything from the family. It's an emerging family. We have a lovely Camelot (GB) filly foal, who is a half-sister to Noble Style, and we also have a Frankel (GB) half-sister to him as well. She is now a 3-year-old but unfortunately she could never race but she's a beautiful filly and I think she will produce something for us. 

BS: If we didn't know you and know your backstory, we could say that Baldovina was beginner's luck.

AB: In the case of Baldovina, it was beginner's luck, but she should never have been in that claimer in the first place. She was a daughter of a French Group 3 winner who only had the one foal in the UK before she went off to Japan. Not only that, she finished second in her first two maidens before her form fell off the face of a cliff, which happens. She was by Tale Of The Cat, who I felt was an interesting stallion, given it is that Storm Cat line. You don't see many pedigrees as interesting as that in claimers, certainly not fillies anyway, and I think they made a mistake putting her in there. Maybe they didn't appreciate what they had and I was very happy to claim her and take my chance. I thought I made a mistake for a while, and even put her in the sale and bought her back, as I did with Ceiling Kitty as well, but I think that's because I was under a bit of pressure from other people at the time. I had bloodstock advisers who were wondering what I was doing. I had a fair bit of money and they were wondering why I was messing around claiming horses when I should have been buying expensive well-bred fillies. As it happened, she was the most exciting animal that I had at the time, despite the fact I paid quite large sums of money for some very well-related fillies. None of those left the footprint she did at Chasemore Farm. Not by a long way. We got that one right but made other mistakes. 

BS: You've obviously got good business instincts but it's interesting that you also trusted your gut in racing and breeding despite the fact you had advisers trying to steer you in another direction. 

AB: I would always respect the advice of others. But, at the same time, if you don't learn any lessons and chance your arm every now and again, what is the point? You've got to go out there and do a few crazy things. If you are afraid of making a fool of yourself, you won't achieve much in this game. I never liked looking stupid. Nobody likes to look stupid. But I won't let that stand in my way and, in cases like this, I didn't. I mean, I claimed Beacon Lady (GB) (Haafhd {GB}) after she came last, and she went on to win eight races for us. You can look pretty stupid when you claim a horse after it finishes last but, again, that one worked out. You've got to be prepared to lose money and to get things wrong from time to time. I don't think you can afford to be risk averse in this game and I'm not that. In fact, I'm probably a bit too far the other way. I'm always happy to chance my arm. 

BS: I know that you said before that you'd like the broodmare band at Chasemore Farm to be around the 25 mark. I also see that you bought Chachamaidee (Ire) for 200,000gns at the July Sale just gone. What is the philosophy going forward?

AB: If anything, I'm increasing my numbers at the moment. My business life is going very well. Outside of horse racing, I am involved in two industries; one is oil and the other is vaccines. Both of those have had a very good run in the past few years. In years to come, I could have more money to spend, so things have panned out well for me. I think I will probably be spending more at the sales and the plan is to steadily upgrade over time. It was always my plan to upgrade anyway. The idea was, after buying the farm, that I needed to go out there and buy a certain number of broodmares. I needed to stock up, get my processes going and get good people working on the stud. The idea of starting with four or five horses and then building my way up to 30 didn't make much sense. I needed to get up to 30 quite quickly and then upgrade them over time. So that was the plan. That has been playing out and, whether we get good mares like Chachamaidee by going out and buying them or if we breed them ourselves, it doesn't matter to me how we get them. We've got a fantastic team here at Chasemore and we've got a couple of really good clients here as well. We like having the boarders here as it keeps us sensible and it's good to have customers. We're seeing a bit of success, which helps us to believe in ourselves a little bit more.

BS: There's also been a change to your approach to racing. You revealed that you were in the process of selling your share in Manor House Stables around the time that Hugo Palmer was announced as Tom Dascombe's replacement there.

AB: Yes, that's correct. By the time Tom left Manor House, I had decided to leave anyway. The reason why I left is not because I had any problems with Manor House, as I am very happy with what's going on there, but it's just a long way away. We decided to be a bit more supportive of Epsom. The problem with Epsom historically is that the facilities were a little bit weak. That's being resolved and Epsom is becoming a better training centre. Money has been spent on the gallops and there is the potential for more to be spent. It feels like Epsom is on the up and we want to support the training centre, which is right beside where we are. The idea of getting out of your bed at seven o'clock in the morning and going to the gallops at Epsom as opposed to getting out of bed at four o'clock to travel to Manor House also appeals as I am getting old and don't have as much energy as I used to have. The four-hour trip to Manor House is not as attractive as it once was. There's a lot of good people in Epsom as well so I think we'll be a little more involved there. I am always going to send one or two horses to Manor House, just because I want to keep that relationship with Michael [Owen], who's a great mate. We've had a lot of fun together and Hugo is training very well from there now so there's no reason not to send horses there. I just won't be sending the numbers that I used to. We'll have horses around in different places and will have some in Newmarket as well. 

BS: But I gather your main interest lies in breeding rather than racing?

AB: Yes, I think so. I have got as much pleasure watching Noble Style winning for Godolphin as if he were mine. I realised that I get an awful amount of pleasure out of watching horses we've bred come out and win. They don't have to run in my colours. The breeding side of things is what has always really interested me. I never interfered too much on the training side of things and always left that up to the trainer to make the decisions. Also, I'm not somebody who particularly likes the limelight in any case. It's not what I am about so, for me, breeding is more interesting. 

BS: And what else excites you on the farm at present?

AB: We have a pretty good draft for Book 1 and Book 2 at Tattersalls this year. It will be interesting to see how that goes. We've got a very nice Siyoini (Fr) foal out of a Red Clubs (Ire) mare. He's really quite powerful. We have a Kingman half-brother to Uncle Bryn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and he looks pretty interesting. All four of my Book 2 animals are interesting and the pedigrees have improved just this year. We have a sister to Lezoo (GB) [Brogan], for example, by Pivotal (GB), and she is a potentially interesting producer. We have a full-brother to Breege (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) who is good-looking and there's a number from the Ceiling Kitty (GB) family as well. But, if I had to pick one as being the most exciting on the farm, I'd say it's the Camelot (GB) out of Eartha Kitt (GB). That's a foal and will never be sold. She could be very nice. 

BS: You've always had a soft spot for Camelot

AB: I have and that's just me as a punter. You see certain horses on the racecourse and grow an affection towards them. I absolutely loved Camelot. I thought he was a fantastic physical specimen and always wanted to produce a nice horse by him so I have favoured him over a lot of stallions, in truth. Camelot and Kingman, I have spent a lot of money on those two stallions. 

BS: Of course, you were a professional punter at one stage in your life. Has the breeding replaced the punting or do you still bet?

AB: I still bet. I've had a bad year betting for whatever reason. I've had some good years but this year has been terrible and I don't know why. I just can't seem to get moving. Can't get going. Every time I think I'm on a run it just peters out. I've lost loads of money gambling this year, it's just been one-way traffic, but I don't bet like I used to. I still bet in reasonable sizes when I bet but I rarely spend a day betting. I probably place four or five bets a week whereas, in the old days, I'd have been betting heavily every day. I think I'm getting old. I find it a little bit boring and can't follow the form like I used to. The time I would have spent studying the form, I now spend studying the matings and looking through pedigrees. The breeding study has replaced the betting study. 

BS: That's twice now that you're after saying that you are getting old.

AB: Well, I had a heart attack last year. It was actually quite a severe heart attack and it happened on Boxing Day. Maybe that's why I feel old. It was a good thing in many respects as I have lost five stone since then and I am doing a bit more exercise now. It has been a good year for me apart from that. I got to the semi-final of the World Bridge Championships last week and knocked out the World Champion in the quarter-finals. That was amazing for me. I take Bridge pretty seriously and play on a team. It's a big thing in my life and I came so close to winning the semi-final. Mentally, I'm in a pretty good place and that showed me that, if I can still compete at the highest level playing Bridge, my brain is still okay. I think I'm in a good place. The heart attack has been a good thing for me. I'm on God knows how many pills now to keep things steady but they're working for me and my blood pressure is low and I'm very calm. I try to stay in that calm place and I spend a lot of time thinking, which is what I most enjoy. Listen, I see myself as getting old but I am perfectly happy with that. I am 59 years of age and the heart attack scared the shit out of me. It was pretty scary to contemplate one's own death so, having failed to lose any weight for a long time, it became a lot easier to make the effort. I got some positive impetus out of that and I just have to build on that now. 

 

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Great Gran To The Rescue At Chasemore

Most young mothers call on their own mothers or even grandmothers for help with childcare but that is rarely the case with Thoroughbred mares. At Chasemore Farm, however, a slightly unusual solution has been found to help a foal rejected by her first-time mother four days after she was born. 

The mare in question is the G3 Prestige S. winner Boomer (GB) (Kingman {GB}), whose maternal role has now been taken on by her grand-dam Veiled Beauty (Royal Academy). The 22-year-old was one of the earliest broodmare purchases by owner/breeder Andrew Black and was retired last year but Veiled Beauty's instincts remain strong and so far she appears to be the perfect stand-in to care for her young great grand-daughter. 

“There's always a story, every year something happens and it's quite often bad, so it's nice to get a silver lining,” Andrew Black told TDN on Thursday.

“We retired Veiled Beauty last year after sterling service for many years and you'd almost say that she is the best mother on the place. I'm always slightly wary of her when she has a foal at foot as she's very protective. She always stands between you and the foal giving you that look. But she has just been the most amazing mother and produced so many healthy animals in her time so she felt like a good choice. She's very well in herself and doesn't really look like a 22-year-old mare.” 

He added, “We're still touching wood, because these things can go wrong, but the signs are extremely positive at a relatively early stage and we think this is going to be a solid union.”

Veiled Beauty raced just once for her breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah before being sold on but, as is so often the case with Juddmonte mares, she has formed a useful dynasty at Chasemore Farm, notably through her Grade II-placed and treble-winning daughter Wall Of Sound (GB) (Singspiel {Ie}), who is in turn the dam of Boomer and the Listed-placed multiple winner Uncle Bryn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Over the last weekend Boomer delivered her first foal by Lope De Vega (Ire) and initially appeared to be taking to motherhood well.

Black said, “It was a bit alarming as it was four days in when she rejected her. We've never had a rejection of any sort. We know that it happens but usually when it happens it happens quite quickly. It's quite unusual to be a perfect mother for four days and then reject the foal. It's impossible to know why but we are looking for signs of mastitis or something like that that could be hurting the mare, but there's nothing obvious.”

Having posted a photograph on Twitter on Wednesday of the filly foal with a teddy bear in her stable for company, Black then delivered a heartwarming update 24 hours later showing the filly bounding around a paddock alongside her great grand-dam. He plans for Boomer to be covered by another son of Shamardal, the champion juvenile Pinatubo (Ire), this season.

“It's kind of a nice outcross for a mare by Kingman out of a Singspiel mare. I'm very interested to see how Pinatubo works out and I hope he does work out because he is a nice animal to have in the UK if he's a good sire. So often you see that a stallion doesn't necessarily produce to himself and his pedigree doesn't scream 2-year-old at me at all, so I'm not necessarily expecting him to be a sire of 2-year-olds. I tend to believe the pedigree rather than the animal in terms of what they are going to produce but I am very excited about Pinatubo and it's nice to have Lope Y Fernandez in the country too as another option from the Shamardal line.”

Black naturally has a fondness for the Veiled Beauty family having had the mare in his broodmare band for 13 years.

He said, “She wasn't much good herself and her first foal didn't do much but her second foal was [Group 3 winner] The Cheka (GB). I bought her after The Cheka's 2-year-old year. We still have Wall Of Sound and a lot of members of that family, and it has become really our number one family, with Boomer being a Group 3 winner, and Uncle Bryn.”

Wall Of Sound is currently in foal to Sea The Moon (Ger), thus carrying a three-parts-sibling to Uncle Bryn, and is then set to return to Kingman.

Black added, “We thought Sea The Moon was a very good proxy for Sea The Stars. We like him and this he is a very good value stallion. We have a nice [2-year-old] Le Havre (Ire) filly from her who had a few issues so we kept her, but we have dealt with the issues and I think she could be a very exciting horse. She is as good as anything her mother has ever produced.”

 

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Manor House Stables Partners With NAF

Michael Owen and Andrew Black's Manor House Stables has partnered with equine nutrition and care product supplier NAF as an official yard sponsor.

“As a former elite sportsman, I am fully aware of the fine margins that can be the difference between success and failure,” said Owen. “In the same way that footballers need to get the right nutritional balance between fuel and hydration for optimum performance, it's important that horses get the right balance too. This is why I am delighted to welcome NAF onboard as a main sponsor at Manor House Stables. With over 30 years' experience, they are leaders in their field and I look forward to a successful partnership both on and off the track.”

Sammy Martin, NAF Racing Manager, added “I am thrilled that we are in the position of being able to announce an official partnership with Manor House Stables. They are focused on ensuring that each and every horse receives the five-star care and support that they require from the day that they arrive on the yard as a youngster all the way through to their first visit to a racecourse and beyond. The hands on approach adopted by both ourselves and the entire team at the yard will of course be critical to the success of the partnership and we are truly excited to follow the progress of all of the horses whilst being available to share our knowledge and help the horses deliver every time.”

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