Tag: Bathrat Leon

Bathrat Leon Takes Turf Sprint For Japan As Casa Creed Misses Out Again

Had the distance for the G3 1351 Turf Sprint Presented By STC been set just a few metres longer, Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) may well have been recording his second victory in the race for Bill Mott on Saturday, but it was the front-running Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) who clung on from the fast-finishing runner-up to open the floodgates for the Japanese raiders on Saudi Cup night.

Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who would go on to win the Saudi Cup with Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), Bathrat Leon was extremely brave under Ryusei Sakai in relegating Casa Creed to the runner-up spot for the second year in a row.

Successful in the G2 Godolphin Mile on dirt at the Dubai World Cup meeting last year, connections of Bathrat Leon suggested that the versatile 5-year-old would aim for a repeat success at Meydan next month.

Yahagi said, “Even as a trainer, I don't have the right answer if he is a turf horse or a dirt horse. I thought Bathrat Leon would suit the turf here and the distance. I think his best is seven furlongs, this is six-and-a-half furlongs.

“The jockey and I had the same opinion to go from the front. They get on very well. We won today, we have to have a discussion with the owner. He handles turf pretty well, but at the moment I would say we can look at the Godolphin Mile.”

It was a second major triumph in the last six days for the 25-year-old Sakai, who guided Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid) to victory in the G1 February S. at Tokyo last Sunday.

He said, “I am very grateful to the owner and my boss Mr. Yahagi and the connections who gave me the chance to ride here. My horse had the best run, he had a great trip.”

Last year's winner Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) broke slowly and never recovered while Luis Saez, the rider of Casa Creed, was left ruing what might have been on the second.

He said, “He broke from there pretty well and I was in a good position. I thought we were going to get up to win but every time the winning horse just kept going and going and it was too late when we passed him. That's racing but I saw the line and I knew I was not in front in time. He tried pretty hard, it's just the winner was tough to catch. I thought we were going to get him.”

Prior to Saturday's winning effort, the 5-year-old ran fourth in the G2 Hanshin Cup on Christmas Eve.

 

Pedigree Notes

Kizuna is the sire of top-level winners Songline and Akai Ito (Jpn) among his 20 stakes winners. Although it is fairly early days yet for New Approach as a broodmare sire, his best are American champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), and fellow top-tier winners Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal) and Mustang Valley (NZ) (Vanbrugh {Aus}).

One of three foals and the only winner out of the unplaced Bathrat Amal (Jpn) (New Approach {Ire}), Bathrat Leon is followed by the 3-year-old filly Letter My Heart (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}). Two-time Group/Grade 1 winner Serious Attitude (Ire) (Mtoto {GB}) is a half-sister to Bathrat Amal, and she is the dam of triple group winner and G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) second Stiffelio (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}).

Saturday, King Abdulaziz (Riyadh), Saudi Arabia
1351 TURF SPRINT PRESENTED BY STC-G3, $1,500,000, King Abdulaziz, 2-25, 4yo/up, 1351mT, 1:17.48, gd.
1–BATHRAT LEON (JPN), 126, h, 5, by Kizuna (Jpn)
1st Dam: Bathrat Amal (Jpn), by New Approach (Ire)
2nd Dam: Zameyla (Ire), by Cape Cross (Ire)
3rd Dam: Angelic Sounds (Ire), by The Noble Player
O-Hiroo Race Co., Ltd.; B-Mishima Bokujo; T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Ryusei Sakai; $900,000. Lifetime Record: GSW-Jpn & UAE, 19-5-0-3, $2,600,990. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
2–Casa Creed, 126, h, 7, Jimmy Creed–Achalaya, by Bellamy  Road. ($15,000 Ylg '17 OBSJAN; $105,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-LRE Racing LLC & JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Silver Springs Stud, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Luis Saez; $300,000.
3–Raaed (Ire), 126, g, 6, Dark Angel (Ire)–Ambassadrice (GB), by Oasis Dream (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE. 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (£90,000 Ylg '18 GOFAUG; 55,000gns HRA '20 TATOCT). O-Sharaf Mohammed S. Al Hariri; B-J. Hanly, A. Stroud & T. Stewart (Ire); T-Bedan Alsubaie; J-Ricardo Ferreira; $150,000.
Margins: HD, 1 3/4, NK. Odds: 8.00, 5.00, 22.00.
Also Ran: Happy Romance (Ire), Resistencia (Jpn), Lusail (Ire), Rozgar (Ire), Garrus (Ire), Lauda Sion (Jpn), Songline (Jpn), Pogo (Ire). VIDEO.

 

 

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Tattersalls Braced For Good Trade As International Travel Returns

NEWMARKET, UK–Newmarket's 'July week' has always been the perfect blend of parties and parades, on the racecourse and stallion farms. But at the centre of all this fun, there is plenty of serious business to be done at Tattersalls, which hosts its three-day mixed July Sale from Wednesday. 

A sizeable delegation of Australians has already arrived in town, now free from the travel curbs of Covid, and it is a safe bet that they will be joined by breeders, trainers and agents of myriad nationalities at Park Paddocks over the next few days.

Arqana kicked off the summer mixed auction fare last week with some pretty explosive results in Deauville, which featured the rarity of a current Classic winner as a last-minute entrant to the sale. The German 1,000 Guineas winner Txope (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) duly topped the sale at €1.2 million when sold to Yulong Investments, the outfit headed by Yuesheng Zhang, who has been a significant supporter of thoroughbred auctions the world over in recent years. 

Zhang's first visit to the July Sale in 2016 resulted in the purchase of Harlech (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) for 60,000gns, and that proved to be a shrewd investment as she is now the dam of Australian Group 1 winner Hungry Heart (Aus) (Frankel {GB}), who was foaled the following year after the mare was covered at Banstead Manor Stud to southern hemisphere time before being exported to Australia. 

“From the moment the catalogue came out it became clear that there was a fair amount of interest from all sorts of overseas markets, which is always encouraging,” said Tattersalls' marketing director Jimmy George.

“Domestic buyers have been pretty prominent and active in the last few years as well, so that will hopefully lead to a good, solid sale.

“Mr Zhang's team is in town and hopefully they will find what they are looking for. He's been very successful buying at Tattersalls so far, and he bought the Ribblesdale winner Magical Lagoon (Ire) here at the October Yearling Sale as well, so it's very good to see him here back in person after he was unable to travel for the last couple of years.”

Just as Txope was a late entry at Arqana, Tattersalls fields a number of wild-card additions to the catalogue, including the G3 Prix Six Perfections winner See The Rose (Ire), a daughter of the accomplished broodmare sire Kendargent (Fr) and a full-sister to Listed winner Xaarino (Fr). The 4-year-old will be offered as lot 271A by the Castlebridge Consignment, which has 105 horses to sell this week.

Godolphin, too, has a sizeable draft of 70, which includes the former German champion race mare Antara (Ger) (Platini {Ger}), whose winning offspring include the Group 3 winner Algiers (Ire) (Shamardal). She is offered as lot 126 with a March 28 cover to Darley's first-season sire Palace Pier (GB).

The Godolphin draft not only contained Hungry Heart's dam in 2016 but in that same draft was Bathrat Amal (Jpn) (New Approach {Jpn}), who became the dam of this year's G2 Godolphin Mile winner Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}). The mare was sold for just 8,000gns to breeder Mishima Bokujo and her aforementioned high-flying first foal is currently in Newmarket along with his trainer Yoshito Yahagi ahead of a shot at the G1 Sussex S. later this month at Goodwood. 

Another bargain buy from last year's sale, as referenced by Brian Sheerin in Monday's TDN, was Knight Salute (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), who was bought by trainer Milton Harris for 14,000gns and went on to be one of the stars of the 2021/22 National Hunt season with six hurdles victories to his credit, including the G1 Jewson Anniversary Four-Year-Old Hurdle at Aintree. 

George continued, “It's a sale with a proven track record for producing group performers on the Flat, graded winners over jumps and also dams of Group 1 winners throughout the world. It's a bit of an old cliche but it really is a sale where there's something for everyone. It punches above its weight and this year we have a hefty contingent of potential buyers coming from Australia, and plenty of interest from the Gulf and North America as well. Everything is in place for good, solid trade.”

Wednesday's all-day session gets underway at 9.30am, while pre- and post-racing sessions begin at 9.30am and 5pm respectively on Thursday and Friday. 

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Frankel’s Grenadier Guards Looks to Bounce Back in NHK Mile Cup

Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.'s Grenadier Guards (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), a son of GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington), will look to return to winning ways as one of the top couple of betting choices in Sunday's G1 NHK Mile Cup at Toyko Racecourse.

The bay colt graduated at third asking over 1400 metres at Hanshin last November, then belied odds of 16-1 to upset future G1 Satsuki Sho third Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity going this distance in mid-December. He has one run under his belt this year, a runner-up effort to pacesetting Rooks Nest (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) in the G3 Falcon S. at the metric seven furlongs Mar. 20 for which he may have had a bit of an excuse.

“It was rough ground in the Falcon S. and I had the feeling he was very tensed,” trainer Mitsumasa Nakauchida commented. “That surely affected the finish, but he did give it his all. That race sharpened him up and he's much improved from last year.

Rooks Nest had the benefit of race fitness over Grenadier Guards in the Falcon, having finished second to Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) from well off the speed in the G3 Shinzan Kinen at Chukyo Jan. 10. A return to patient tactics could be in the offing given what is expected to be a cracking pace.

Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) will be well-backed to become his successful young sire's second winner at group level in Japan (Elizabeth Tower {GB}, G2 Tulip Sho). A debut winner going 1500 metres at Sapporo last September, this first foal out of 2016 G1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) showed a devastating turn of foot when taking out a one-mile conditions test at Nakayama in December. The bay was a latest on-pace second in the G2 Yayoi Sho (2000mT) Mar. 7, the form of which was franked when the victorious Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}) filled the second spot in the Satsuki Sho.

Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), third in the Shinzan Kinen, has won his last two in wire-to-wire fashion, a Hanshin conditions Mar. 13 ahead of a five-length success in the Apr. 10 G2 New Zealand Trophy in which the runner-up Time to Heaven (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) raced brutally wide throughout.

Rickenbacker (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) required six tries to break his maiden, but was held up at a crucial stage of the Apr. 17 G3 Arlington Cup and charged home once into the clear to finish a very good second to Ho O Amazon (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) at odds of 42-1. A similar price is expected Sunday, but he could appeal to each-way bettors.

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