Making her first start for Christophe Clement, the 4-year-old came from out of the clouds to win going away in an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park on Sunday (video). Previously a Belmont maiden special weight winner second out last June, the daughter of GIII Autumn Miss S. heroine Cover Song (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) was fourth in the GIII Saratoga Oaks Invitational S. in August, her final start for Chad Brown.

Contemporary Art is the first foal and one of two winners from two to race for her dam, besides the Quality Road 3-year-old colt Sbagliato. Cover Song's juvenile is a full-sister to that horse, and she foaled an Into Mischief colt on Feb. 8. According to Flay in the TDN's Mating Plans series, Cover Song is set for a return to that Spendthrift stallion.

Spendthrift Farm bought Cover Song for $450,000 out of the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from Taylor Made Sales Agency. She made eight starts in their orange-and-purple checked silks, culminating in a nose victory in the Autumn Miss. Snapped up by the late James Delahooke for Flay to the tune of $1.6 million out of the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2016, the bay would make two more starts before being offered by ELiTE carrying Contemporary Art at the same sale in 2018, where she was a 3.9 million buyback by the chef. The 10-year-old is a half-sister to a pair of triple Group 1 winners by War Front in sire U S Navy Flag and the filly Roly Poly. The winner's second dam is 2011 G1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Misty For Me (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who also triumphed in an additional three top-level races.

Dubawi has already been mentioned in this column a month ago, and as it stands, his winners to runners in American stands at 35 of 70 (50%). His 18 American stakes winners (27.5%), 13 at the graded level, have won 28 stakes between them, 22 of them above listed class. Of his American graded winners, dual Grade I scorer In Italian (GB) also sports a broodmare sire by Danehill in Redoute's Choice (Aus).

Cat's Got The Cream

As mentioned in Monday's Seven Days column by Emma Berry, Crispy Cat (GB) (Ardad {Ire}), bearing the colours of AMO Racing USA, won the five-furlong Texas Glitter S. at Gulfstream Park on Saturday (video), to become the organisation's first American stakes winner.

Overbury Stud's Ardad has given every indication he's a sire going places, and with Crispy Cat's victory, the 9-year-old now has three stakes winners to his credit. Responsible for multiple Group 1 and now-Darley sire Perfect Power (Ire), as well as G3 Sirenia S. heroine Eve Lodge (GB), Ardad has been represented by just two runners Stateside.

Honourable Mention

Wico (Ire) (No Nay Never), the little brother of G1 St. James's Palace S. third Consort (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), graduated going a mile on the all-weather at Turfway Park last week. The $440,000 Keeneland September yearling secured the victory for Andrew Farm, For the People Racing Stable and trainer Wesley Ward. It was the Lynch Bages and Rhinestone Bloodstock-bred's first start over a synthetic surface. His juvenile full-sister, Maghra (Ire), brought $150,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling from X-Men Racing, while there is also a yearling full-brother.

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The former, a son of Dubawi (Ire) who won the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. and the G2 Al Fahidi Fort, is based at Kildangan Stud in Ireland and stands for €15,000. Crack sprinter Perfect Power, by Ardad (Ire), won both the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. at two, and added the G1 Commonwealth Cup to his resume at three. Part of the Dalham Hall Stud roster, the bay's 2023 fee is £15,000.

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Raymond said, “We've hopefully got Tom Marquand booked. William [Haggas] has Jon and Julia Aisbitt's horse [Tiber Flow (Ire) (Caravaggio)] in the race. He may run that, but he might just let Tom off to ride ours.

“Tom is very keen to ride ours and we're 95% certain we've got him.”

Raymond added of the Richard Fahey trainee's most recent effort, “Richard said he'd got a bit sore–not jarred up–just a bit sore.

“Hopefully the weather will break before the weekend, as he could do with softish ground. You never know this time of year. If it came soft, I would be favouring him a lot. Not just because it is Ascot, but because he is fresher than most.

“He is still a 3-year-old, but he is a mature 3-year-old. I've seen him working and he's good and fresh and he's in top shape.”

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A total of eleven lots will go under the hammer with charity auctioneer Martin Pope at 1:30pm during a live auction and raffle event on the fundraising day. In advance of the day bids can be made up to 5:00pm Saturday, 3 Sept. by emailing rorauction@ror.org.uk. Racing fans can bid for a variety of experiences, including membership of the Kingsclere Racing Club for 2023, and a day to experience Newmarket for eight people, highlighted by lunch and an exclusive visit to Banstead Manor Stud to meet the legendary Frankel donated by Juddmonte.

Also going under the hammer is a race sponsorship package at Stratford racecourse, and two nominations for the 2023 season to stallions standing at Overbuy Stud: Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), a leading first-crop sire in 2021 with the Group 1 winner Perfect Power, and young National Hunt sire Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling), winner of the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic. The nominations are donated by Overbury Stud and Godolphin & Partners, respectively. A full list of the lots can be found here.

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Just how good is Perfect Power (Ardad, @OverburySires)? pic.twitter.com/DaLn6gavNq

— TDN (@theTDN) June 17, 2022

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TBA Stud Employee Award, sponsored by New England Stud
Lisa Brown (The National Stud)
Noel Challinor (Northmore Stud)
Sophie D'Apolito (Chapel Stud)
Roger Davies (Cheveley Park Stud)
David Gardner (New England Stud)
Beverley Woodley (Chasemore Farm)

Langham Cup – Small Breeder of the Year
Corps Commerce
Homecroft Wealth
Mascalls Stud
David Ward
Wretham Stud

TBA Silver Rose Bowl – Flat Breeder of the Year
Cheveley Park Stud
Godolphin
Kirsten Rausing
Shadwell Stud

TBA Silver Salver – Special Merit Award
HM The Queen
Lawn Stud
Lordship Stud
Normandie Stud

H.J. Joel Silver Salver, sponsored by Barton Stud – Flat Broodmare of the Year
Aghareed
Beach Frolic
Reckoning

Filly of Merit Award, sponsored by Goffs UK
Inspiral (Cheveley Park Stud)
Loving Dream (Lordship Stud)
Romantic Time (Wretham Stud)
Vadream (Crispin Estates Ltd)

Industry Merit Award
Chasemore Farm (For support of people and industry initiatives)
Lanwades Stud (For environmental sustainability work – the planting of 200 trees)
James O'Donnell (Leader of the industry's Environmental Sustainability Working Group)

Dominion Bronze
To be announced at the Flat Breeders' Awards Evening

Andrew Devonshire Bronze
To be announced at the Flat Breeders' Awards Evening

Previously announced awards and winners:
British EBF Stallion Special Merit Award: Cable Bay

The Queen's Silver Cup – Leading British-based Flat Breeder (Flat earnings): Godolphin

BBA Silver Cigar Box – Leading British-based Stallion (Flat earnings): Frankel

Barleythorpe Stud Silver Cup – Leading British-based Stallion (Individual Flat winners): Dubawi

Tattersalls Silver Salver – Leading British-based First Season Sire (Flat earnings): Ardad

TBA Trustee Anita Wigan said, “We are looking forward to welcoming guests once again to the beautiful Chippenham Park for what will be an enjoyable evening celebrating with our members and the wider industry. The categories look very competitive this year which is testament to the quality of British bloodstock and the breeders who invest so much time, effort and money into our industry.

“I would like to thank all of the event's supporters, including headline sponsors The Jockey Club and The National Stud, as well as Newsells Park Stud for their kind sponsorship of the welcome reception. We are also grateful to welcome both new and returning partners including Barton Stud, British EBF, Goffs UK, New England Stud and Tattersalls.”

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Other choice offerings include the listed winner Symphony Perfect (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) from Richard Hannon; fellow listed-winning 3-year-old filly Ladies Church (GB) (Churchill {Ire}) from the yard of Johnny Murtagh; and the colts–Andrew Balding's Convivial victor Hoo Ya Mal (GB) (Territories {Ire}), who placed in the G3 Craven S. and holds entries in both the G1 Cazoo Derby and G1 Prix du Jockey Club; and Listed Dee S. runner-up Cresta (Fr) (New Bay {GB}) for Martyn Meade.

Breeding rights in young, Group 1 sires Aclaim (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), who sired the 2022 G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas heroine and 'TDN Rising Star' Cachet (Ire), and Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), responsible for dual Group 1 winner Perfect Power (Ire) in his first crop, are offered as well.

Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said, “We are delighted to see the Goffs London Sale so well-supported once more with superb initial entries and more quality yet to come.

“The ability to purchase a horse on the eve of Royal Ascot at an event and location that befits the most prestigious week in Flat racing is what sets this sale apart and we are looking forward to welcoming a huge audience of international buyers seeking a runner for the Royal Meeting as well as international racing prospects, while breeding rights to Group 1 sires bring a new dimension to the sale.”

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Perfect Power, who won the Greenham S. over seven furlongs at Newbury on his seasonal bow, failed to cope with the extra furlong in the Guineas when seventh behind Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

However, Fahey said he believed a return to six furlongs, a distance at which he won two Group 1 races–the Prix Morny at Deauville and the Middle Park at Newmarket–as a juvenile over will reap rewards.

“It looked that way [didn't stay the Guineas trip], so we'll regroup,” Fahey said. “He travelled well through the race but, just when they picked up, he didn't go with them.

“We had to have a go. It's one of those where you regret it when they run that way, but we can't change it and there's still plenty to look forward to hopefully. He's come out of the race grand, no issues.”

Speaking about future targets, Fahey identified the Commonwealth Cup as the main aim, and added: “We've got to look at that. He's showing plenty of speed, so we'll see. If he goes for that he'll go straight to Royal Ascot.

“There's plenty of races for us, races like the Prix Maurice de Gheest. As we get further on into the year there's plenty of Group 1s to be had.”

Also on Saturday, stablemate Umm Kulthum (Ire) (Kodiac {Ire}) made a successful return from 11 months off the track in the Listed Kilvington S. A tilt at the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. at the Royal meeting could be next.

Fahey said: “I was delighted with her. She's the sort of filly that would prefer it if they went flat out in front as she's always coming home, which is always a huge bonus.

“She finishes her races well and seems to go on any ground, so we'll see how she is. The Duke of York might just come a bit quick, but I'd definitely be thinking about Ascot if conditions turned up on the easy side. The Jubilee might be a race she could run well in.”

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First and foremost, of course, the G3 Greenham S. success of Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) was another win for the whole breeze-up sector, reiterating consignors' ability not just to showcase precocity and professionalism, but to lay a foundation for continued development. At the same time, this colt had long ago served the principal agenda of a sale that unabashedly aims to corral stock ready to roll for Royal Ascot.

So while he went on to win Group 1 prizes at Deauville and Newmarket, it was Perfect Power's success in the G2 Norfolk S.—by a satisfying head from Craven alumnus Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire})—that has made the cover of this catalogue. He is, after all, the third winner of that race found here in the past six runnings; and the sixth overall at the royal meeting since 2016.

Perfect Power was brought here by breeders Tally-Ho Stud, who had another stellar sale at Newmarket last week. Having been retained as a Book 2 yearling, at 16,000gns, he was instead sold here to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock for £110,000. For the agent, a lightbulb had come on: he had bought the sire here, also from Tally-Ho, in 2016.

“There were a lot of similarities with his father,” Brown said. “Not just physically but in temperament. It was definitely something Sheikh Rashid [Dalmook Al Maktoum, owner] and I spoke about at length before he decided to pull the trigger.”

Brown is unsurprised by the serial endorsements of breeze-up stock on the track this spring.

“These guys do an extraordinary job,” he said. “They're exceptional judges, exceptional at getting horses to show us what they can do over two furlongs, while also going on. The proof of the pudding is that two of the top four in the 2000 Guineas betting are breeze-up horses. That's hugely to the credit of the guys that prepare these horses.

“I'm actually a big believer that the whole process can make a good horse: the grounding they have, the hoops they have to jump through to get to the point of the hammer coming down, it's a huge test of a young horse. The fact is that you not only have horses that can come out and run early, you've also had Gold Cup winners, and now we're talking about genuine Classic horses.”

Horses acquired at this sale, with Ascot in mind, do tend to be “oven-ready” and go straight into training.

“But we only ever give them a chance to show whether or not they can be an Ascot horse,” Brown said. “If they say they're not ready, you back off immediately. And we will buy horses at the breeze-ups for the summer or back-end, and they'll always get turned out for three weeks.”

In the case of Perfect Power, however, trainer Richard Fahey received an unequivocal response.

“Richard sent me the video, there was what has now become quite a well-known piece of work,” Brown said with a smile. “He'd sent eight or 10 2-year-olds away for a piece of work on the grass and, out of nowhere, this colt came to the front and galloped three lengths clear of the whole bunch. I'm very cynical, I thought rest of them must be useless—but as it turned out, it was obviously pretty unfair on the rest of them to have to gallop with him.”

What's so heartening about the maturing profile of breeze-up stock is that they are plainly progressing in the round. There was a time, as prices started to rise, that many consignors were feeling uncomfortable with the slavish obedience of some investors to their stopwatches. But Brown argues that the European environment remains geared towards a fuller package.

“I'm vehemently against official times,” he stressed. “I think if we went down that route, we'd very quickly find ourselves in an American situation where it would become very hard for us sell a horse to client if it hadn't done one of the top breezes. Perfect Power wasn't in the top 10 times, nor was Ardad. Here everybody gets their own times and disseminates them in their own way. And it works. You can see that in the clearance rates here, compared with America. If we went down the route of official times, I'm absolutely convinced that clearance rates would reduce by probably 25%.

“Remember there are also plenty of guys out there buying good horses that don't use times. Everyone does it in a different way. Yes, we use times—but we use lots of other things as well. And if you asked me what the number one factor is, for me it would still be temperament. And there's no better test of temperament than this.”

Certainly the emergence of Perfect Power has enabled Henry Beeby and Tim Kent, respectively chairman and managing director of Goffs UK, to introduce this catalogue with due pride. “Facts are facts and spin is spin,” they write, before wryly conceding themselves to be “well capable of the latter”. But here, they continue, “Facts need no spin. Whatever you may have heard elsewhere and whatever gimmicks may have been rolled out, the fact is that the Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale's record at the royal meeting is simply second to none.”

No need, plainly, to specify which “gimmicks” they might have in mind. This was transparently an aside directed at the lucrative bonus schemes nowadays enhancing the Craven Sale, including one expressly focused on juvenile races at Ascot.

But just as the whole market prospers from the success of breeze-up graduates on the track, so the extremely strong performance of the Craven Sale sets an auspicious tone for this one. The breeze-up sector, after all, was viciously exposed to the economic tempests of the pandemic and even new tremors in the geopolitical environment do not discourage the hope that consignors may finally be back on something like an even keel.

In 2020 this auction found itself one of the first canaries in the mine for the bloodstock industry. A diminished catalogue was eventually offered alongside one for Arqana in July—hardly an ideal date, for a sale with Royal Ascot as its avowed priority—and actually gave some early hint of the remarkable resilience that emerged from the overall market that year. Sure enough, last year a record £48,590 average outstripped even the £45,750 peak of what had become a sustained bull run, at this sale, in 2019.

Simply keeping the show on the road over the past couple of years often required competing sales companies to co-operate for the greater good of a traumatised industry. So just to be removing the gloves again, with a little friendly jousting, actually feels quite heartening.

“In troubled times, of course we pulled together,” Beeby remarked. “We live in very small world, a very insular world, and of course we're competitive. Some people have said in the past that we shouldn't fight so much, but I don't think we do at all. Yes, we are competitive—but that's what creates such a strong and vibrant market, the fact that we all work so hard, try so hard. And when people have been saying over the past couple of years how well we were getting on with Edmond Mahony [of Tattersalls] and Eric Hoyeau [Arqana], I said, 'We always have: we're roughly the same age, we've been doing exactly the same thing for 30 or 40 years, we understand each other intricately.' As I've always said, I want our sales to go really well—and everyone else's to go… okay! I don't want anybody to get hurt, I just want ours to be the best. And I'm sure everyone else is the same.”

That said, nothing ever stays quite the same for these restlessly ambitious rivals. This time round, Goffs has already staged a breeze-up sale, meeting the exotic challenge of hosting an auction in Dubai during World Cup week.

“That was wonderful,” Beeby said. “It was a huge learning curve, both for ourselves and the vendors. Going forward, a particular type of horse will be required. But it was a massive success. The vendors were wonderful, stepping into the unknown; and the Dubai Racing Club were fantastic. To use the vulgar phrase, they put their money where their mouth is, flying the horses out, and they were just so proactive and encouraging.”

A less welcome break from business as usual came in a fatal injury suffered during Tuesday's breeze session. However innocuous the tasks assigned to a Thoroughbred, there will always be some perennial element of hazard at the gallop.

“It was just one of those terribly unfortunate things, a freak accident,” Beeby said. “But we had everything in place, just as if it was raceday, and I've heard a lot of praise today for the speed and professionalism of the teams that had to deal with what was a deeply upsetting situation for everybody.”

There were poignant moments later on for Beeby himself, in presiding in the sale ring over a celebration of his late father Harry, formerly managing director and chairman of DBS and president of Goffs UK. The family having observed its private grief in November, this was an apt opportunity to honour the memory of the much-loved figure who had, besides many other accomplishments, been pivotal to the inauguration of this market.

“Yes, he was the one who pioneered breeze-ups in Europe in 1977,” Beeby reflected before taking to the rostrum. “If he hadn't done it, none of this would have happened. He wasn't just my father: he was also my teacher and mentor, my inspiration. He was my hero. He was everything I wanted to be. He allowed me to be that, but also to be my own person. And that was very important.

“At 60 he decided, of his own volition, that the time had come for him step back and for me to take a step forward. And the great thing was that still he was young and vibrant enough to be this absolutely reassuring presence, while also strong enough to give me my head and say, 'Kick on, I'm with you.' We worked together 35 years, two very strong personalities, but we hardly ever had a cross word.

“In the hundreds of letters and emails and messages we received, the one word that recurred most was 'gentleman.' That's not just somebody who opens doors to ladies and doffs his cap. It's somebody who acts with decency and integrity. It means someone who treats people the right way. There are a lot of people in this industry who've been kind enough to say they would never have made it but for him. In fact, there's a breeze-up consignor who calls his home 'the house that Harry built'. And he brought a great sense of joy. Everybody loved seeing Harry. He had a welcome for everybody, and looked after big men and the little man in the exact same way.”

It's not just on the racetrack, then, that this environment is producing a model for everyone to emulate.

The sale, in a single session, opens at 10 a.m.

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“He's come out of Newbury remarkably well,” Perfect Power's trainer Richard Fahey told www.sportinglife.com. “He had a light canter this morning and just in himself he's bouncing. He's tightened up.

“I did feel there was improvement in him going into the Greenham. The last thing I wanted to do was have him 100%. It was a trial and I used it as a trial to see if there was a possibility of having a crack at the Guineas.

“It's just put him right. His demeanour is right, he came off the gallop having a jig-jog and a squeal which is where you want these racehorses to be. You want them to be happy and at the moment he's in a good place.

“As a trainer, when you have a dual Group 1-winning 2-year-old the question is have they trained on? That was the big question for me–is he just a wonder 2-year-old or is he going to mature into a better horse and I think it was one of his best performances–if not his best–at Newbury, knowing in the back of my mind it would put him right.

“It put him spot on for the Guineas. We can keep him ticking over and one blow-out and we're there. We're going to have a go at the Guineas. I've spoken to the team, I've spoken to Sheikh Rashid and we've nothing to lose by having a go.”

Perfect Power showcased his talent with a gritty win in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot and added the G1 Prix Morny at Deauville in August, two starts on. He made it consecutive Group 1s with a half-length score in the G1 Middle Park S. over the Rowley Mile at the end of September and came off a 203-day break to take the Greenham. It was his first start beyond six furlongs.

He added, “He wasn't stopping in the Greenham, he galloped all the way through the line and took some pulling up. I think he'll be a better horse on Guineas day.

“I'm very excited about him. We know he handles the course, goes on any ground and is becoming a legend.”

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