Ardad | Horse Racing Free Tips

Seven Days: The Price Of Progress

Even at this early stage of the season, we can be forgiven for mentally fast-forwarding to the first weekend of June at Epsom. It is after all the best weekend of the year, featuring the best race of the year.

There are plans afoot in Newmarket – plans being mooted by the Jockey Club, no less – to dig up one of the best turf gallops on the Heath to install a new all-weather racecourse and training facility. At a time when there's concern as to having enough horses to fill races in the over-stuffed fixture lift–one which is already heavily reliant on all-weather fixtures–it seems a rather tone deaf approach from an operation whose raison d'être is supposedly the preservation of horseracing and all its glorious heritage.

Since attending a presentation of the Jockey Club's plans in Newmarket last week, and while watching our small string of horses skip over that perfect turf gallop in question on a beautiful spring morning a few days later, my thoughts have turned to how to oppose this idea. Lying in front of a bulldozer may be taking it a bit too far but considering the vast expanse of the Heath avoided being wrecked during World War II to provide food while the island was under siege, it would be a great sadness to see a chunk of it lost all these years later, even if it is for a racing-related scheme.

I feel the same chest-tightening dismay whenever I read a column suggesting that the Derby should be shortened in distance. Why? Having horses run a mile and a half is no hardship. In fact, it's a mere sprint compared to the four-mile heats of yore. It is of course progress that has brought us to the current Classic distances but we must beware any further limiting of the programme in the name of so-called progress. Where will it end? It seems reasonable to assume that it ends with the loss of one of the most absorbing elements of racing in this part of the world, which is the diverse nature of the Flat tests, for sprinters through to stayers and everything in between.

That should remain reflected in the range of stallions available to breeders, as it currently is. While being fully cognisant of the reasons behind commercial breeders' desire to breed for the market in which they wish to participate, a look at the range of yearlings buyers in Europe in recent years offer plenty of cause for hope that not everyone is looking for an early, fast horse. Add to that the fact that of the world's 22 top-rated races last year, only one was a sprint (Australia's TJ Smith S.) and one more was run at a mile (Ascot's Queen Elizabeth S.). The remainder were 10- to 12-furlong races, and breeding horses capable of getting that sort of trip should surely therefore continue to be the primary aim.

The rise of Galileo (Ire) as a supersire has, up to a point, helped to prop up the Derby in recent years, and as his influence wanes, in the first generation at least, it is heartening to see other Derby winners coming to the fore. In fact, the current top three in the betting for this year – Luxembourg (Ire), Reach For The Moon (GB) and Point Lonsdale (Ire) – are sons of the Derby winners Camelot (GB), Sea The Stars (Ire) and Australia (GB) respectively. Reason enough, surely, to give due credence to the horses good enough to pass the unique test of this special race when they end up at stud.

The Ascent Of Piz Badile

Bar some notes from recent stable visits, most of this year's Classic contenders remain firmly under wraps and in barracks. One to have shown his hand over the weekend is Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}), who rallied tenaciously to hold off Buckaroo (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in a battle between the O'Brien brothers to win the G3 Ballysax S. The race has been won 11 times by their father Aidan with such great names as Galileo himself, High Chaparral (Ire), Yeats (Ire), and Fame And Glory (GB).

Joseph O'Brien landed the 2017 running of the Balllysax with future Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), but this year it was Donnacha's turn, with the Niarchos family's regally-bred Piz Badile, who became the first stakes winner for his sire Ulysses, a son of two Epsom stars in Galileo and the Oaks winner Light Shift (Kingmambo).

We looked at this family recently in a feature on Ulysses and his close relation Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who has his first juvenile runners this season. Piz Badile, who takes his name from a mountain in the Swiss Alps, has a double dose of these illustrious genes, being inbred to Lingerie (GB), by another Derby winner in Shirley Heights (GB), and whose G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup-winning daughter Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector) in turn produced Piz Badile's dam, the Listed winner and Group 2-placed That Which Is Not (Elusive Quality).

Enable's Family To The Fore

Andre Fabre could have an embarrassment of riches in the 3-year-old fillies' division this year with the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Sea The Sky (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), and the promising Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) among his Classic hopes. This group also extends to Agave (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), one of three winners for the trainer at Saint-Cloud on Saturday when extending her unbeaten run to three in the G3 Prix Penelope.

Like Raclette, Agave is a Juddmonte homebred, emanating from a family which has brought the operation much success in recent seasons via its most celebrated member, Enable (GB). Agave's dam Contribution (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) is Enable's half-sister and broke her maiden over 1m7f at Maisons-Laffitte as a 3-year-old as well as finishing third in the G2 Prix de Pomone.

With such stamina hints on her page, and having already won the Listed Prix Rose de Mai over 2,000m last month, it was no surprise to hear that Agave may go straight to the G1 Prix Saint-Alary at the end of May. A nomination for the Oaks, which closes on Tuesday, would also not be out of place.

Both group races on Saint-Cloud's Saturday card fell to the offspring of Dubawi, with the extremely likeable The Revenant (GB) adding yet another win to his tally, which now stands at 12 from his 19 starts, as well as five placed finishes.

There could hardly be a more consistent horse in training, particularly when he gets his favoured soft ground. The 7-year-old's victory in the G3 Prix Edmond Blanc was his sixth group win, that sextet including the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. of 2020.

Sly And The Family Rock

It is 16 years since Pam Sly notched the biggest success of her career when saddling Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) to win the 1000 Guineas. The Classic heroine, who was retained as a broodmare, has been a stalwart for the Sly family and continues to give the stable plenty of cause for cheer.

Sly has had just two runners on the turf this season, and not only are they both winners, but Dark Spec (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Astral Beau (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) scored with 40 minutes of each other at Leicester on Friday and are a son and grand-daughter of Speciosa respectively.

Dark Spec, now seven, must have tried the patience of his trainer, who bred and races him in partnership with her son Michael and Dr Tom Davies. Having made four starts as a 2-year-old, he was then off the track for almost four years until resuming last summer. Persistence has paid off, and he won at Pontefract on his final start of last season and again on his resumption at Leicester off a mark of 77. While he was sent off favourite on Friday, his 3-year-old 'niece' Astral Beau was one of the outsiders of the field at 50/1 for her debut in the seven-furlong novice event, but posted a professional performance to hint at plenty more to come. Her dam Asteroidea (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was Speciosa's third foal and won over a mile and a half.

With the stable in such form, it is worth keeping an eye on the progress of Eileendover (GB) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), another of Speciosa's grand-daughters who is a Listed bumper winner and has also won over 1m6f on the Flat. The late-maturing 5-year-old is entered in Wednesday's Listed Further Flight S. and though she will face only four rivals, one of them is Alan King's dual Group 1 winner Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}).

Juveniles On The March

Trainer Michael O'Callaghan already has Royal Ascot ambitions for his first 2-year-old winner of the season, Crispy Cat (GB), who became the first runner from the second crop of Ardad (Ire). The Overbury Stud sire was himself a winner at the Royal meeting and provided last year's G2 Norfolk S. (and subsequent dual Group 1 winner) Perfect Power (Ire).

Crispy Cat was the subject of one of the feelgood stories of last year's yearling sales, having been bought for 7,500gns by policeman Leon Carrick and nurse Michelle Gibbons while they were lying in bed watching the the foal sales online during the pandemic. The couple brought him back to Newmarket 10 months later when Ardad's first runners had made a decent impression and the colt was resold for £105,000 to Amo Racing. Proceeds from the sale have been used to fund midwifery training for Gibbons.

The question which will loom large through the next few months is which of the freshman sires will follow Ardad's example with some sharp first-crop winners. Several Coolmore sires are already in the hunt, with Sioux Nation having been represented by the winner of the first juvenile contest of the Irish turf season in Ocean Quest (Ire), one of his three runners to date.

On Sunday at Le Lion d'Angers, Saxon Warrior (Jpn) followed suit with his first runner and winner, the smartly bred Ser Sed (Ire), who is out of a Frankel (GB) half-sister to Lope De Vega (Ire).

US Navy Flag was unlucky not to join his stud-mates in having a winner on the board when the Clive Cox-trained Kaasib (Ire) found trouble in running at Windsor on Monday but kept on gamely to take second. That same afternoon, Redcar's juvenile race went the way of Star Of Lady M (GB), from the first crop of Whitsbury Manor Stud resident Havana Grey (GB) and trained by David O'Meara.

Lemaire Takes Pride To Kentucky

“If I could choose one race, I would choose, of course, the Kentucky Derby because it's such an iconic race and the atmosphere is incredible, and the race itself with 20 runners is very unusual in America,” Christophe Lemaire told the website Japan Forward in April 2021.
Twelve months later, and the French-born multiple champion jockey in Japan appears to be on the cusp of being granted this wish. Lemaire has been given the nod to partner the G2 UAE Derby winner Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach The Crown {Jpn}) in the 'Run for the Roses' on May 7, replacing Australian hoop Damian Lane, who was in the saddle for the colt's win at Meydan.
Lemaire did not go empty-handed on Dubai World Cup night, however, as he partnered Stay Foolish (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) to victory in the G2 Dubai Gold Cup, having a month earlier ridden four winners on the Saudi Cup card.
With Lemaire having already won Classics in France, Britain and Japan, not to mention landing Australia's Melbourne Cup with Dunaden (Fr), the logical next challenge for the five-time Japanese champion is to conquer America.

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Observations On The Stallion Scene

It is a question that has long fixated the bloodstock industry: which stallion can be caught as he rises to the top?

As we know, those good stallions can be hard to find. Opportunity is naturally a key element to early success, but a stallion still needs to make the most of the chances afforded to him and for every one that lives up to expectations, there will be also be plenty who flop. As often said, horses are a great leveller and with that in mind, there is also the heartwarming aspect that a stallion, if good enough, can literally emerge from anywhere. Wootton Bassett (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}), for all he retired to a leading French farm in Haras d'Etreham, is a case in point having made his name off small early crops. And those with the foresight to latch on as he embarked on his rapid rise have been handsomely rewarded since.

Right now, there appears to be a similar momentum behind Rathasker Stud's Coulsty (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). Priced at only €4,000, he covered over 100 mares last season off the back of a bright start with his first 2-year-olds and has again caught the attention of a number of shrewd breeders this year following a season in 2021 highlighted by the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup heroine Shantisara (Ire). Coulsty doesn't have many 2-year-olds or yearlings on the ground, but he will be interesting to watch come 2024 when that first big crop hits the track.

More immediately, there are several stallions for whom the stars are aligning for a big year. For the 2019 season, No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) and Siyouni (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) hit a fee of €100,000 for the first time. Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was also raised to £75,000, but such was the depth and volume of his book that he may as well have been standing for six figures.

Today, each of these stallions can be classed as elite and are priced as such, with those 2019 figures firmly in the rear-view mirror as they ascend the fee ladder. Each was represented by an outstanding performer in 2021–Kingman as the sire of Palace Pier (GB), No Nay Never as the sire of Alcohol Free (Ire), and Siyouni as the sire of St Mark's Basilica (Ire)–and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that further Group 1 successes are likely to be forthcoming over the next few months. Instead, the question is how much further these stallions might rise now they have the firepower from their 2019 books to aid them.

No Nay Never was handed a particularly significant fee increase that year, rising from €25,000 to €100,000 as the champion first-crop sire of 2018. By that stage, the industry was well attuned to the strengths of Scat Daddy (Johannesburg), notably as an excellent source of juvenile talent. No Nay Never, as an exceptionally fast Group 1-winning son, offered hope of a legitimate Irish-based heir and when his first crop of 2-year-olds yielded G1 Middle Park S. winner Ten Sovereigns (Ire) as well as the high-class speedster Land Force (Ire), he duly became one of the hottest young sires in Europe.

His subsequent crops conceived from 2016 to 2018, when he was priced between €17,500 and €25,000, are also responsible for 17 stakes winners including Alcohol Free and last season's Group-winning 2-year-olds Zain Claudette (Ire) and Armor (GB).

However, with approximately 130 2-year-olds bred off €100,000 to run for him this season, 2022 could well mark another turning point in his career.

His yearlings returned an average of almost 200,000gns last autumn, led by a half-sister to Grade I winner Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) bought by Al Shira'aa Farms for 925,000gns and a sister to G2 Coventry S. winner Arizona (Ire) bought by Cheveley Park Stud for 825,000gns.

The pair provides a snapshot of the quality of his 2019 book, which overall contained 50 stakes winners and another 18 Group 1 producers. Naturally, many of them are in top hands, and given the line's propensity to come to hand early, he should be quick to make an impact this season.

As for Kingman, he has no fewer than 194 2-year-olds to run for him bred off a fee of £75,000. As a brilliant miler from one of Juddmonte's finest families, Kingman has obviously never lacked for opportunity. But such support was rewarded immediately as one classy first-crop juvenile after another emerged during that 2018 season, ranging from Calyx (GB), winner of the G2 Coventry S., to Persian King (Ire), who ended his juvenile season by defeating Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Autumn S.

Come the end of the season and it was blatantly obvious that the majority of Kingman's better progeny–of which there were plenty–had inherited his turn of foot. It is that attribute and ability to act on quick ground that has also come to stand him in good stead in the U.S., where he has been represented by the graded stakes winners Domestic Spending (GB), Public Sector (GB), Serve The King (GB) and Technical Analysis (Ire), the latter arguably his best filly to date.

Kingman has obviously consolidated his place as one of Europe's elite stallions since then, notably as the sire of Palace Pier from his second crop and the top Japanese miler Schnell Meister (Ger) out of his third. But a fifth crop that contains the progeny of 24 Group or Grade 1 winners, including the Classic winners Finsceal Beo (Ire), Ghanaati, Great Heavens (GB), Nightime (Ire), Sariska (GB) and Sky Lantern (Ire), alongside 20 Group or Grade 1 producers suggests the likelihood of a serious further uptick in riches to come.

The secret has been out on Siyouni for several years now and, indeed, 2021 was the year in which the Aga Khan's flagship stallion landed his second French champion sires' title. It is worth remembering that the bulk of his success has been achieved off fees ranging from €7,000 to €30,000, while St Mark's Basilica was the product of a seventh crop bred off €45,000. So what might he achieve now he has his first €100,000 crop running for him?

The next chapter of the Siyouni story is also being written with heavy investment being made in his sons at stud, in particular Coolmore as the home of both St Mark's Basilica and Sottsass (Fr). However, he is already becoming a broodmare sire of note, as illustrated by last year's Group 1-placed pair Times Square (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) and Dr Zempf (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

Ballylinch Stud's Lope De Vega (Ire) (Shamardal) also has his most expensive crop of 2-year-olds on the ground, bred in this instance off a fee of €80,000. By 2019, the horse had undergone five consecutive years of fee increases as he became ever more successful, and today is one of the most popular stallions in Europe at €125,000. A 2-year-old crop that includes the progeny of 83 stakes winners, as well as yearlings that sold for up to 725,000gns, lends confidence to the idea that he will remain on a firm upward trajectory.

New Bay Maintaining Momentum…

These are stallions, however, who are now priced at a level out of reach for many breeders. Instead, the art for plenty of investors, especially those who are more commercially minded, lies in catching such horses as they rise from a lower level.

Breeders have understandably decided that New Bay (GB) is one such horse. As reported in TDN earlier in the year by Emma Berry, New Bay was the first stallion at Ballylinch Stud to fill for this season, despite a fee increase of 87.5% to €37,500. A Prix du Jockey Club winner by Dubawi (Ire) from the family of Kingman and Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert), New Bay possessed a number of enticing attributes when he retired to stud alongside the backing of a powerful ownership group. As such, the deck was stacked in his favour and he is delivering, with G1 Sun Chariot S. winner Saffron Beach (Ire) and the exciting Bay Bridge (GB) leading the way among his first crop, and G2 Champagne S. scorer Bayside Boy (Ire) and wide-margin German Group 3 winner Sea Bay (Ger) among his second. Each of the above is in training for 2022, thereby laying the foundations for a potentially big season to come.

Another popular Irish-based horse with first 4-year-olds, Rathbarry Stud's Kodi Bear (Ire), has also been quick to attract supporters at his new fee of €15,000, up from €6,000. One of a growing number of successful sire sons by Kodiac (GB), he has gained a reputation for throwing tough, sound stock, thereby making him a popular option with trainers. It helps that a number also possess a measure of class: think last season's Group 2-winning juvenile Go Bears Go (Ire) and G1 Oaks runner-up Mystery Angel (Ire). The sire of ten stakes horses overall in two medium-sized crops of racing age to date, it doesn't take too much imagination to envisage him sailing further up the ladder sooner rather than later.

Dubawi's Sons All The Rage…

Dubawi's legacy has arguably never been in a stronger position given that in addition to the likes of Night Of Thunder (Ire) and New Bay, his band of sons at stud also include the hugely popular pair Time Test (GB) and Zarak (Fr).

Both Group 1 performers with exceptional pedigrees, in particular Zarak as a son of Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar), they were nevertheless both priced affordably when they retired to stud in 2018.

At €12,000, Zarak was the more expensive of the pair. He was popular as well, with his first crop containing 86 foals, of which 23 are so far winners. A pair of Listed winners head the group but crucially, it also includes another two Group 1 performers in Times Square (Fr) and Purplepay (Fr). For a horse that only ran once at two himself (when successful at Deauville), it's a start that marks him down as another success story for the Aga Khan's Haras de Bonneval in Normandy.

The National Stud, meanwhile, installed Time Test at a fee of £8,500, off which they were able to attract a good base of early support. So far, he has responded with 11 first-crop winners although they include no fewer than five stakes horses led by the Group 3 scorers Romantic Time (GB) and Rocchigiani (GB). Another representative, Sunset Shiraz (Ire), was third in the G1 Moyglare Stud S.

All of which has made Time Test hot property, with yearlings selling for up to 400,000gns and his book having reportedly filled fast for 2022. He will have to arguably do more than continue that momentum to satisfy the market hype, but he has plenty to go to war with and remains sensibly priced at £15,000, a figure that gives breeders a chance.

While much of the market chatter continues to centre upon Time Test, it would be foolish to disregard the National Stud's other second-crop stallion Aclaim (Ire). The Group 1-winning son of Acclamation (GB) ran only once at two, when successful at Kempton, before going on to thrive at three and four years. Yet he managed to sire 27 2-year-old winners in his first crop last year, among them the tough Group-placed filly Cachet (Ire); only Cotai Glory (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and Profitable (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) sired more.

Tally-Ho Stud's Cotai Glory leads the way among that crop in terms of 2-year-old winners (35) and black-type performers (8) and has enjoyed a productive winter with his progeny on the all-weather to suggest that they are still progressing into their 3-year-old year.

Yet two of the real talking points from last season emerged out of the success of Ardad (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Galileo Gold (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}), both of whom were quick to sire first-crop Group 1 winners. Neither has ever stood for a fortune–Ardad stood his first season at Overbury Stud for £6,500 while Galileo Gold was priced by Tally-Ho Stud at €15,000-so they can be credited as doing smaller breeders a good turn.

The question now is whether they can maintain that momentum. It doesn't help that both have smaller crops of 2-year-olds running for them this year (Ardad has 43 and Galileo Gold has 64). However, it will be disappointing if Ardad isn't far from the action, given that he has G1 Prix Morny and Middle Park S. hero Perfect Power (Ire) to represent him alongside G3 winner Eve Lodge (GB) and a number of promising minor winners.

As for Galileo Gold, G1 Phoenix S. winner Ebro River (Ire) tops a list of eight first-crop black-type performers that also includes the tough Group 3 winner Oscula (Ire) and Maglev (Ire), who could assume high order within the Californian turf division judging by his recent success in the Baffle S. at Santa Anita. With all that in mind, Galileo Gold looks an interesting play at €7,000 this season.

For a horse with 20 first-crop winners to his credit, a fee of £10,000 for Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) also looks potentially good value. Don't forget that here is a horse who didn't break his own maiden until May of his 3-year-old season and after capturing the G3 Gordon S., flourished at four when successful in the G1 Eclipse S. and G1 Juddmonte International. He has been extremely well supported at stud by the Niarchos family, who have been rewarded so far as the breeder of G3 Eyrefield S. runner-up Piz Badile and Yarmouth debut winner Aeonian (Ire), and Cheveley Park Stud, who feature as the breeders of no fewer than 11 of his winners to date in addition to the Listed-placed maiden Gwan So (GB).

Everything points to the stock of Ulysses, a beautifully-bred horse, progressing well at three.

French Hopes…

Recent weeks, meanwhile, have been kind to Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), notably as the sire of a pair of impressive Chantilly maiden winners in Point Of Fact (GB) and Lassaut (Fr). A champion on the track, the Haras d'Etreham resident is another who has been extremely well supported at stud, and having sired nine 2-year-old winners in 2021, including the Group 3-placed Queen Trezy, recent results have placed him on a stronger footing going forward. As it is, he is going well in New Zealand where his first runners include recent G1 Sistema S. runner-up Dynastic and G2-placed Andalus.

Finally, it is is hard not to be taken by the early results fired in by Haras de Bouquetot's Zelzal (Fr). A quicker son of Sea The Stars (Ire) who captured the 2016 Prix Jean Prat, Zelzal is bred on the same Kingmambo cross as his sire's fellow Group 1 winners Baeed (GB) and Cloth Of Stars (Ire), and is doing his bit to enhance his legacy as an influential sire of sires on the Flat at a time when a number of his better sons are standing within the jumps sphere.

With 57 3-year-olds bred off €8,000, Zelzal doesn't possess the firepower of some of his contemporaries. However, his first crop already includes three stakes-winning fillies in Zelda (Fr), a Listed winner at two, alongside Dolce Zel (Fr) and Ouraika (Fr), between them winners of the GIII Florida Oaks and GIII Sweet Life S. in the US this year.

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Goffs UK Breeze-Up Catalogue Online

Goffs UK has sold six Royal Ascot winners in the past six years at its Breeze-Up Sale, and the firm released the catalogue for its latest edition of that sale with 186 juveniles set to go under the hammer on Apr. 21. The breeze will take place at Doncaster on Apr. 19 from noon, with an inspection day on Apr. 20.

Perfect Power (Ire), whose own sire Ardad (Ire) was also a Goffs UK Breeze-Up graduate, proved the star of last year's sale. A £110,000 purchase by Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum through Blandford Bloodstock from breeder Tally-Ho Stud, Perfect Power won the G2 Norfolk S.-three of the last six winners of that race have come from this sale-and the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. for trainer Richard Fahey. Other black-type winning 2-year-olds to emerge from last year's sale included the joint top lot Twilight Jet (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}), winner of the G3 Cornwallis S., and the unbeaten G3 Horris Hill S. winner Light Infantry (Fr) (Fast Company {Ire}).

The highlights of this year's catalogue include a full-brother to last year's G2 Queen Mary S. winner Quick Suzy (Ire), from the second crop of the promising young sire Profitable (Ire) (lot 99). Profitable's sire Invincible Spirit (Ire) is represented by a colt out of the G3 Firth Of Clyde S. winner and stakes producer Golden Legacy (Ire) (Rossini) (lot 7) from Ardad's breeder Tally-Ho Stud, which also offers a Kodiac (GB) half-sister to the precocious sprinting filly The Mackem Bullet (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}) (lot 182). Other standouts on paper include a Caravaggio filly out of the G3 Fred Darling S. winner Muthabara (Ire) (Red Ransom) (lot 49); a No Nay Never colt out of Classic winner Yesterday (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) (lot 127); a Night Of Thunder (Ire) half-brother to the multiple listed-winning Battalion (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}) and to the dam of G2 Balanchine S. winner and Group 1-placed Aloha Star (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) (ld HYPERLINK “https://www.goffsuk.com/sales-results/sales/breeze-up-sale-2022/128” lot 128); a Zoustar (Aus) filly out of multiple Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Ainippe (Ire) (Captain Rio {GB}) (lot 130); and a Kingman (GB) colt out of the global Group 1 winner and stakes producer Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away {Ire}) (lot 133). American-breds catalogued include a colt from the first crop of American champion Accelerate who is a half-brother to California Chrome (lot 36).

Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent said, “This sale has enjoyed another huge 12 months with quality success after another big race win to continue its outstanding record. To start with, its Royal Ascot record is, simply put, second to none. For an annual auction of less than 200 horses to produce, since 2016, a G1 Prince Of Wales's S. winner, a Listed Windsor Castle S. winner, a G1 Commonwealth Cup winner and three of the last six G2 Norfolk S. winners, is a truly remarkable achievement and testament to the quality of the breezers presented by our loyal band of consignors.

“Furthermore, last season we saw the latest star to emerge in Perfect Power, who extended the sale's Royal Ascot record to six winners in six years, before going on to claim two Group 1 races and take his place among the very best graduates this sale has produced in its 40-plus year history. Combine all that with the record figures we achieved in April last year, this sale is very much on an upward trajectory and that has not been lost on our ever-professional vendors who have sent us another top-class line-up of 2-year-olds. So, our message for this year is very simple: whatever claims you may have heard elsewhere and whatever gimmicks may be rolled out, if you are looking for a Royal Ascot winner at the European Breeze-Up Sales in 2022, Doncaster is the place to find them.”

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Powerful Start A Boost For Ardad

It could be said that there's a stallion to suit all types of breeder at Overbury Stud, and the farm that was for so long synonymous with Britain's perennial leading National Hunt sire Kayf Tara (GB) now has a budding star of a very different type.

Ardad (Ire) finished 2021 as the leading first-season sire in Britain and was second overall to Cotai Glory (GB), who stands at Tally-Ho Stud, where Ardad was himself bred and where his sire Kodiac (GB) has long been king of the hill.

Now eight, Ardad has so far pretty much done what could have been expected of him. On the track he was fast and early, with the high point of his racing career being his victory in the G2 Flying Childers S. From what we have seen of his progeny so far, they appear to be following suit: so much so that when the first bunch of runners from Ardad's first crop turned into a number of early winners, his book for last year suddenly leapt by around an extra 100 mares.

If rock bands suffer from that 'difficult second album' syndrome, it's fair to say that the stallion equivalent is the difficult third book. Or fourth. In Ardad's case, however, those winners coming so early in the season meant that breeders were still able to take the opportunity of the final month of the covering season instead of waiting until this year either to renew their support or to use Ardad for the first time. But a graph plotting his covering numbers in his short stud career to date would clearly highlight the precarious nature of the stallion business. From 132 mares in his first season of 2018, Ardad then dipped to 70 in 2019 before slumping to 26 and then shooting back up to 156 last year. This year he will cover approximately 175 mares.

Casting his mind back to last spring, Overbury Stud's Simon Sweeting says, “We had 60-odd mares booked before the racing season started and we actually had got through a lot of those mares and then [his offspring] started winning. He had that four or five quick bursts of winners and the mares started coming in. We booked another hundred and he got through those, got them covered well through the second half of the season. So we are confident that he will be able to cover plenty of mares, but also equally determined not to over-face him and to try to keep the quality of the mares as high as we possibly can. And we're very fortunate that he is being sent some really super mares.”

He adds, “My figure is 175. It may be a little bit more, it won't be 200 though. I'm absolutely determined that we won't do that.”

It has been noted on a number of occasions by those who have been associated with Ardad's stock that they are gifted with an agreeable temperament which allows them to switch on when work is required and quickly switch off again once it's over. His dual Group 1-winning son Perfect Power (Ire) appears to be an almost textbook example of this if photos of him flat out asleep in racecourse stables ahead of major assignments are anything to go by. Sweeting notes that it is a trait common to their sire.

“He's one of those that can be relaxed one moment, cover a mare and be relaxed straight away after,” he says. “So he hasn't been a moment's problem with us in doing anything really. He's got great libido, but a horse can have great libido and still be fairly easy to handle.”

He continues, “He was always the same. To look at, he was exactly what you expected, apart from the fact that he's got this fabulous stride and it is passed on to his foals too.”

A quartet of sons of Kodiac had retired to stud the year before Ardad, with Prince Of Lir (Ire), Kodi Bear (Ire) and Coulsty (Ire) all standing in Ireland and Adaay (Ire) standing principally in England before being relocated to Italy. Another six of his sons have joined the ranks since 2019, with Ubettabelieveit (Ire) being the only new recruit in England at Mickley Stud.

Sweeting says, “A few years ago, you'd look at the list of stallions available in Britain and there just wasn't a proven sire below £15,000. In that bracket, if you are sending a mare to give her a first go, to a horse that's got a very good chance of throwing you a winner, you don't want to spend £25,000.

“They just were not about but now there's Time Test, there's Ardad, Havana Gold, and Havana Grey might turn into that sort of horse. So there is a lot more for a UK-based breeder to choose from rather than having to go to Ireland for that inexpensive, but decent quality horse. They were either here unproven or way out of most people's price range.”

Ardad himself started out at £6,500, a fee that remained in place for three seasons until it was dropped to £4,000 in 2021. For this season his price has gone up, but at £12,500 it is not an eye-watering rise.

“There's got to be something left for the breeder,” says Sweeting when asked if he was tempted to give Ardad a heftier hike. “And also I know from bitter experience that if people pay a lot of money for a horse who then has a couple of disappointing years, they will never forgive that stallion, however things turn out down the line. I don't want to have to pull his price back down again. And I always want people to think that he's been a fair price. We want our customers coming back in four or five years' time and that's really had a strong effect on how we set it. Yes, it could have been £15,000–I don't think it sensibly could have been much more than that–but I think with the balance of the quality of mares that we have and the numbers, we've got it just about right, with hopefully the chance of breeders still being able to make some money.”

Certainly the returns for Ardad's stock have risen in line with his profile, and a lot of the early buzz can be attributed to a number of breeze-up pinhookers taking a chance on his first yearlings and being well rewarded when selling them the following year. His yearling averages rose from 15,327gns in 2020 for 49 sold to 53,133gns last year for 30 of the 31 to have passed through the ring, while foal averages climbed from 9,696gns to 14,400gns to the 2021 high of 32,636gns.

Continuing to deliver horses of the quality of Classic prospect Perfect Power also won't hurt him, and though there may rightly be a question mark over the ability of Ardad's offspring seeing out the mile, Perfect Power is out of Sagely (Ire) (Frozen Power {Ire}), herself a winner over 10 furlongs, while granddam Saga Celebre (Fr) is not only the daughter of an Arc winner in Peintre Celebre but a half-sister to another, Sagamix (Fr), who also stood for a time at Overbury. Another of Saga Celebre's half-siblings is Shastye (Ire) (Danehill), the dam of Japan (GB) and Mogul (GB).

The number of foot soldiers for Ardad, who was also represented last year by the Group 3-winning filly Eve Lodge, will of course dip in the coming seasons, with his current crop of yearlings numbering just 18.

“Most of the trainers that have got the Ardads that have just turned three, they were saying at the end of last year, 'actually I think this horse is going to train on', and they wouldn't be saying that if they didn't have good reason for it,” says Sweeting.

“So, yes, he's got two smaller crops to come, but luckily not a third. If he hadn't had his first winners until the middle of May, which he could have done and still have been a very good stallion, he would've only covered 65 mares last year.”

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