Seven Days: Half-Mast

The flag at Somerville Lodge in Newmarket is at half-mast. For the inhabitants of that famous stable it is of course a deeply personal gesture as Maureen Haggas and her family mourn the death of her father Lester Piggott. Over the decades they will have become accustomed to the fact that the head of their family was also a racing icon–a man not just whose name is the first jockey a random member of the public can call to mind, but for many longstanding fans of racing the man who is their sporting hero.

So it is that racing mourns with the Piggott family, feeling a loss not so grievously intimate but a more wistful lament at the closing of one of the most celebrated and remarkable chapters of this great sport.

There appears to be a tendency in modern-day parenting towards excessive praise and a reluctance to criticise. Striking the right balance surely can't be easy, but a smattering of tough love never hurt anyone, and is perhaps often a major driver towards success. 

An intriguing interview conducted by Kenneth Harris with Piggott for The Observer in 1970, the year in which the he won the Triple Crown on Nijinsky, reveals in the jockey's own words the most significant mentor of his life: his father, Keith. Though born into racing, the young Lester was clearly never allowed simply to coast along. 

“He never let me know I was any good,” Piggott said of his father, a former jockey and Grand National-winning trainer, and himself the son of multiple champion National Hunt jockey Ernie Piggott.

“He didn't believe in it. A taskmaster. I think it's the best way. I knew he knew his stuff, and I tried to please him because I knew he knew his stuff. I wanted to be good and I was ready to take it from him.”

And while Keith Piggott may never have told his son he was any good, as the years progressed, Lester's legion of adoring fans never let him forget his brilliance. From Piggott's first of nine Derby victories in 1954 at the age of 18 aboard Never Say Die–a horse whose name would come to encapsulate his jockey's approach to riding–it quickly became clear that a prodigious talent galloped among us; one whose legend was only enhanced by his apparent aloofness and stony-faced deportment.

We could all learn plenty from Piggott's response to another of Harris's questions about the requisite attributes for a jockey, especially when the age of social media encourages almost ceaseless commentary of varying veracity and quality.

“That's one thing about not wanting to talk very much,” he said. “I get time to read about racing, and to listen, and to think.”

Harris issued one final question, eliciting a response which was as telling as it was tongue-in-cheek.

He asked of the greatest jockey, “I've noticed, very occasionally, that if you've won a really great race, like the Derby, in fine style, there is a ghost of a smile on your face as you enter the winner's enclosure. What are you thinking about then?

To which Piggott responded, no doubt with that ghost of a smile, “About Dad saying: 'What about the times you didn't win?'”

Racing is often more about losing than winning. Though Lester Piggott's extraordinary career is defined by the latter, we mourn this one significant loss. 

Sombreness Amid The Jubilation

Lester Piggott's death will be marked this weekend at Epsom, when the Derby, the race with which he is most readily associated, will be run in his memory. The jockey's bronze likeness overlooks the unique winner's circle into which he was led following his record nine wins in the Derby, six in the Oaks and another nine in the Coronation Cup.

When Piggott won the Oaks for the first time aboard Carrozza (GB) in 1957, he was led in by the filly's owner, Her Majesty The Queen, who it appears may now be absent from Epsom on Derby day, which has long been marked as one of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations during the long weekend.
A report in the Sunday Times stated that the 96-year-old monarch would be “pacing herself” in a bid to be present at some of the events being staged to mark her 70 years on the throne. The Queen has missed the Derby only four times during her reign, two of those being through the pandemic restrictions of the last two years.

Take That

Thirty years ago Piggott notched his final Classic success aboard the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Rodrigo De Triano in the 2,000 Guineas for his old ally Robert Sangster. He was 56 at the time, a milestone that is closing in for Kevin Manning, who won last year's 2,000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas at the age of 54.

Manning, who recovered extraordinarily quickly from surgery on his shoulder at the end of October in order to be back in time to ride one of those Classic winners, Mac Swiney (Ire), at the Hong Kong International Meeting in mid-December, shows no sign of slowing down. The same can be said for the evergreen Yutaka Take, now 53, who won Sunday's Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) for the sixth time.

As Alan Carasso pointed out in his report of the race won by last year's champion 2-year-old Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), Take has now won his home Derby in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Among his many riding achievements, he was also in the saddle for Deep Impact (Jpn)'s Triple Crown. His most recent major victories outside Japan came on one of that horse's many good sons, A Shin Hikari (Jpn), winner of the 2015 Hong Kong Cup and 2016 Prix d'Ispahan in France.

We may yet see him reappear at Longchamp this season with Do Deuce, as Take said after Sunday's success, “The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe should be a strong option for the owner and will probably be our next target.”

Learning Curve

On just her fourth start, Above The Curve leapt from winning a maiden and finishing runner-up in the Chesire Oaks to winning Sunday's G1 Prix Saint-Alary, sponsored by Coolmore, who bred and own the filly with Westerberg.

She duly became her U.S. Triple Crown-winning sire's 16th group winner from his four crops of racing age and his fifth at Group/Grade 1 level in America, Japan and France. Plenty of credit must also go to Above The Curve's strong female family. Her unraced dam is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Giant's Causeway and You'resothrilling, whose own brood, all by Galileo and including Gleneagles (Ire) and Marvellous (Ire), have played leading roles in recent Classic contests.
For all that Above The Curve has a pedigree and connections fully deserving of her Group 1 status, the race was denied the presence of 1,000 Guineas runner-up Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), whose passage from England to France was hampered by delays at the port of Dover.

It is no secret that the Brexit vote has caused travel disruption and extra expense for moving racing and breeding stock between the nations formerly happily engaging under the eminently practical Tripartite Agreement. These days there are few prosperous voyages to be made between Britain and the other European nations. It's a bit late now, but it's always wise to be careful what you wish for.

Bay Bridge Sparkles

Hayyona (GB) (Multiplex {GB}) must have been a good-looking youngster to command foal and yearling prices of 130,000gns and 145,000gns respectively. She was only a moderate racehorse, running three times for a rating of 60 and ultimately being sold as a maiden to James Wigan of London Thoroughbred Services for 18,000gns as a 3-year-old. Now 12, the mare has already paid back that outlay, chiefly via her son Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}).

Wigan's West Blagdon Stud draft is regularly one of the highlights of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, but Bay Bridge missed his date in the ring when he was withdrawn from that sale. Put into training with Sir Michael Stoute, who also trained the dual Grade I-winning homebred filly Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}) for Wigan, Bay Bridge really came into his own as a 3-year-old and has remained unbeaten in his five starts over the last 14 months.
His imperious first Group win in the Brigadier Gerard S. last Thursday hinted at bigger and better things to come, as does the exemplary record of his trainer with later-maturing middle-distance types.

New Bay has been a lucky stallion for Wigan to date, as he is also the co-owner, with Ben, Lucy and Ollie Sangster, of the Ballylinch Stud sire's Group 1 winner Saffron Beach (Ire). She too missed her intended sale date, this time as a yearling, having been pinhooked by the owners as a foal. So far, Plan B has worked out rather well, with both Saffron Beach and Bay Bridge holding smart entries for Royal Ascot.

Extra Special

It is by now no surprise to see graduates of Lanwades Stud winning major races around the world. So attached was Kirsten Rausing to her late stallion Archipenko that she will no doubt have been delighted to have seen him represented by a sixth Group 1 winner in Saturday's Doomben Cup, even if the celebrated Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), whom she bred, was beaten into third.

The winner, Huetor (Fr), was bred and initially trained in France by Carlos Laffon-Parias, who also trained his half-sister, the G1 Prix de l'Opera winner Villa Marina (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}). He had bought their dam, the Listed winner Briviesca (GB) (Peintre Celebre), as a yearling at Tattersalls for 10,000gns, and subsequently sent her to Bill Mott to add some American black type to that which she had already earned in France.

It is not just the top half of Huetor's pedigree that Rausing will approve of, however, for she has already bred three of Archipenko's Group 1 winners from this female family herself. Huetor's fourth dam Kilavea (Hawaii {SAf}) also features as the sixth dam of the brothers Time Warp (GB) and Glorious Forever (GB), and as the third dam of Madame Chiang (GB). This means that Kilavea's dam, the illustrious Special (Forli {Arg}), features on the top and bottom lines of all four Group 1 winners as she is also the grand-dam of Archipenko.

Kilavea, a half-sister to Nureyev, was bought as a yearling through Richard Galpin by Rausing's compatriot Magnus Berger, and she eventually retired to spend her initial days as a broodmare at Lanwades Stud, visiting Niniski in his first season there. The mare ended up being bought by Sheikh Mohammed for £860,000 when carrying the G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Kiliniski (GB), from whom both Madame Chiang and Huetor descend. Born the year after Kilavea's half-sister Fairy Bridge produced Sadler's Wells, Kiliniski eventually ended up being reoffered for sale as a 14-year-old barren mare at Keeneland's November Sale.

“I rang Joss Collins and asked him to bid on her for me,” Rausing told TDN in 2017. “I said I'd give him $8,000 and he bought her for $2,000. At the time Northern Park had just gone to Gainesway and I didn't want to ship a barren mare so I grossly inbred to Northern Dancer and she had a filly for me. In fact she had four fillies in four years and one was Robe Chinoise (GB), later the dam of Madame Chiang.”

Madame Chiang's daughter Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who was third in the G3 Musidora S., is entered for the Oaks on Friday along with her fellow Lanwades-bred Kawida (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), who is out of an Archipenko half-sister to the aforementioned Zaaki (GB).

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The Weekly Wrap: Trials And Tribulation

Is the Derby picture clearer or murkier after the last week? We probably can't say for sure until after Thursday's Dante S., which may or may not feature Ballydoyle's erstwhile favoured one High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

At the moment, of those currently at 20/1 or shorter in the betting, there's certainly the potential for there to be a good story attached to the winner and, let's face it, the great old race in its first year of Cazoo sponsorship, certainly could do with that.

Who wouldn't love to see the Derby trophy return to Kingsclere 50 years after the great Mill Reef swept from Epsom glory to the Eclipse, the King George & Queen Elizabeth and on to the Arc? Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) hasn't shown himself to be of Mill Reef's calibre yet but he cornered nicely at Chester to land the Vase, seeing out the extended 1m4f well despite his relatively sprint-orientated bottom line. He doesn't look terribly big, but then neither was Mill Reef.

The same can be said for Third Realm (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who sealed a good week for Roger Varian and his owner/breeder Sheikh Mohammed Obaid when freewheeling down the hill at Lingfield to overthrow the Godolphin favourite Adayar (GB) (Frankel {GB}). It was also a good day for Third Realm's dam Reem Three (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}), who is compiling quite the record at stud, with the Lingfield Derby Trial winner becoming her fifth black-type performer. Another of them, Cape Byron (GB) (Shamardal), landed a competitive sprint at Haydock on Saturday at the age of seven, having also won last year's G3 Bengough S. for the Varian team.

While Third Realm looks to be on course for Epsom, the trainer's El Drama (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), bought as a yearling for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid for 425,000gns, is more likely to head to the Prix du Jockey Club following his win in the listed Dee S. at Chester.

Varian also saddled the runner-up in the Lingfield Oaks Trial, Save A Forest (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), for the Gredley family, but his big market mover for the Cazoo Oaks last week was the twice-raced Teona (Ire), who was last seen winning a Newcastle maiden in November. Despite the margin of that victory being nine lengths, the Ali Saeed-owned filly must be tearing up the gallops to have been cut to around 5/1 for Epsom even before she steps out for her formal trial in Wednesday's Tattersalls Musidora S. Not only does she have the Derby winners Sea The Stars (Ire) and Authorized (Ire) as her sire and broodmare sire respectively, Teona comes from a family which has already brought her trainer Group 1 success. Her dam Ambivalent (Ire) won the G1 Pretty Polly S. as well as being third to Cirrus Des Aigles (Fr) in the Coronation Cup at Epsom.

Following some lacklustre performances by Ballydoyle representatives in various trials, normal order was restored somewhat at Leopardstown on Sunday, where Aidan O'Brien claimed a record 14th victory in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial. Following the route utilised for his first two Derby winners, the trainer opted for the Ballysax S./Derrinstown trial double for Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) and, emulating his sire Galileo (Ire) in victory, the dark brown colt shot into clear Derby favouritism as quickly as he accelerated away from his rivals off the home turn at Leopardstown. 

He has every right to be at the head of the market following that imperious display but it's worth remembering that O'Brien's three Derby winners in the last four years have been sent of at odds of 40/1, 13/2 and 25/1, and on each occasion he has had at least six runners in the race. There is, then, arguably a case to be made for Urban Sea's female-line descendant Sir Lamorak (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who could be seen at York on Thursday. 

There's almost no getting away from Urban Sea when it comes to the Classics, and fans of inbreeding to superior mares will appreciate the appearance of Galileo and his fellow Derby winner and half-brother Sea The Stars in the pedigree of the facile winner of the Newmarket S., Mohaafeth (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), making him inbred 3×3 to the bluest of blue hens. He would also be a poignant, posthumous winner for Sheikh Hamdan.

Thrilling Continuity

One mare quickly propelling herself into that rarefied territory with the help of Urban Sea's son Galileo is You'resothrilling (Storm Cat). The sister to Giant's Causeway was not Urban Sea's equal on the racecourse but she was no slouch, winning the G2 Cherry Hinton S. and G3 Swordlestown Stud Sprint S. as a juvenile. On Sunday, she extended the record of her black-type-winning offspring to seven from seven when Joan Of Arc (Ire) became the latest in the G3 Irish 1,000 Guineas Trial and is now likely to attempt to emulate her sister Marvellous (Ire) by winning the Irish 1000 Guineas. 

The 16-year-old You'resothrilling has been mated exclusively with Galileo, but if it ain't broke there's no point trying to fix it. Gleneagles (Ire) followed the mare's first foal, Happily, to become a Classic winner, winning the English and Irish versions of the 2000 Guineas as well as the G1 St James's Palace S. He too has enjoyed a good run of late via his offspring and currently boasts a 33% strike-rate of winners to runners.

Late developer Insinuendo (Ire) landed the G3 Blue Wind S. for Willie McCreery on  only her third start on Saturday, while 3-year-old Eaglefield (Ire) made two quick back-to-back appearances at Gowran Park on Wednesday followed by Leopardstown on Sunday, where he held on for the win for the in-form Jim Bolger stable. So far in May, Gleneagles has also been represented by the listed winner Too Soon To Panic (Ire) as well as the smart G2 Prix Greffulhe winner Baby Rider (Fr). 

Classic Sires

In the year that Dawn Approach (Ire) moved back to stand at the stud where he was born, he is another former 2000 Guineas winner enjoying something of a purple patch. Of course his own Guineas winner Poetic Flare (Ire) has been the highlight and was one of seven winners from just 12 runners in Britain for the stallion in the last fortnight. During that same period in Ireland, he has added the listed winner Lunar Space (Ire) to his record, along with 3-year-old maiden winner Texas Moon (Ire) and juvenile scorer Strapped (Ire).

The 2014 Derby winner Australia (GB) has been enjoying a similarly good run. Mare Australis (Ire), Broome (Ire) and Sir Ron Priestley (GB) combined for a group-race treble on the first weekend of May, while Freedom Of Speech (Ire) was another winning 2-year-old from the Bolger stable last week. 

Sir Ron Priestley is set to make a swift return at York on Friday and is currently favourite for the G2 Yorkshire Cup. A burly horse who is nevertheless light on his feet, he runs in the trailblazing fashion so typical of those from the Mark Johnston stable and it would be no surprise to see him post some bold opposition to Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), not to mention his own half-brother Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}), in the top staying races this season.

Follow The Bear

Kodi Bear (Ire) was a smart miler in his day for Clive Cox and owner Olive Shaw and, now at Rathbarry Stud, he is starting to look a good value option for breeders at his current fee of €6,000. During a particularly fruitful spell he has been responsible for the listed-winning fillies Measure Of Magic (Ire) and Mystery Angel (Ire), while Sienna Bonnie (Ire) and Go Bears Go (Ire) have both been impressive winners from his second crop of juveniles in the past week. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the son of Kodiac (GB) has had some success when crossed with mares by his Rathbarry stud mate Acclamation (GB), and two of his three stakes winners to date are out of mares by Acclamation's sire Royal Applause (GB) and son Dark Angel (Ire). 

That Dark Angel cross features in Mystery Angel, who heads to Wednesday's G3 Musidora S., and in A Pint Of Bear (Ire), who won for the third time on Monday. 

It was also a notable weekend on the international stage for Germany's leading sire Soldier Hollow (GB). A rare foray to Britain for a German runner ended in victory for the Andreas Wohler-trained Axana (Ger) in the G3 Chartwell Fillies' S. at Lingfield. That same day, another daughter of Soldier Hollow, the 3-year-old Reine d'Amour, took the listed Henkel-Stutepreis at Dusseldorf, while on Sunday the veteran son of In The Wings (GB) featured as the broodmare sire of G1 NHK Mile winner Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) in Japan. The 3-year-old colt is out of Gestut Wittenkindshof's G1 Preis der Diana winner Serienholde (Ger) and was bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm. He joins recent stakes winners Waldkonig (GB) and Wirko (Ger) in being a son of Kingman from a German family replete with class and stamina.

Lanwades Goes Global

Lanwades Stud suffered the loss of Leroidesanimaux (Brz) and Archipenko in 2016 and 2017, but the lingering influence of both stallions has been felt recently, particularly in Australia.

On May 1, Wyclif (GB) (Archipenko) won the listed Port Adelaide Cup and that was followed by a stakes double for Leroidesanimaux down under when Le Don De Vie (GB) won the listed Warrnambool Cup on Thursday and Zaaki claimed the G2 Hollinsdale S. at the Gold Coast on Saturday. All three were bred at Lanwades by Kirsten Rausing. 

The breeder has, however, enjoyed black-type success closer to home and in her own colours on consecutive weekends. The G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) got her season off on a positive footing by winning the listed Daisy Warwick Fillies' S. at Goodwood, but she was trumped in some style on Saturday when Albaflora (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}) stormed to a seven-length victory in the listed Buckhounds S. The greys are descendants respectively of the Group 1-winning Alzao full-sisters Albanova (GB) and Alborada (GB).

Albaflora was not the only winner for the family and Rausing on Saturday as her 3-year-old Ralph Beckett stable-mate Aleas (GB) (Archipenko) posted his third consecutive win at Haydock in just four starts, and by a similarly impressive margin. 

We Must Do Better

The TDN team in New Jersey will keep us abreast of the saga of the latest failed drug test for a Bob Baffert runner. That it was Medina Spirit (Protonico) in America's biggest race of all, and a result which had provided a first major success for a significant new owner to the sport, not to mention the thrill of a lifetime for the horse's small breeder, only makes this story even sorrier.

Racing is in trouble all around the world, and every trainer, owner and breeder is beholden to maintain the highest standards of welfare at whatever level of the sport at which they participate, even if that means resting a horse rather than reaching for the corticosteroids to perform permitted veterinary procedures. In fact, especially so. 

Without the horses, racing is nothing. If we continue to allow situations which appear to show horses being abused in the name of our entertainment, then we will have nothing, and that is all that we deserve. 

Clutching at straws in the maelstrom of this latest bad-news incident for racing, the one positive aspect is the loyalty shown by Medina Spirit's owner Amr Zedan to the trainer in the aftermath of Sunday's revelations. He ended his verbal show of support for Baffert with the phlegmatic line, “This, too, shall pass.”

It not only shows a temperament which looks ideally suited to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune which racing can often throw at its participants, but a sense of loyalty which is all too often missing in the sport. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be misplaced.

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