The Weekly Wrap: Happy Days Are Here Again 

To an extent, when Coolmore wins two of the weekend's premier Classics in Europe and Godolphin wins another, it feels like we are harking back to the glory days around the turn of the century, when the battle of the superpowers was epitomised by those back-to-back duels between Galileo (Ire) and Fantastic Light in the 'King George' and Irish Champion Stakes. Honours even.

And it was honours even at Epsom, with the dazzling victory of Ballydoyle's Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Cazoo Oaks, followed by the satisfying success of Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) for Godolphin in the Cazoo Derby. 

Through those two decades, the dominance of Aidan O'Brien has only grown, and the Ballydoyle trainer now teeters on the brink of becoming the most successful trainer in British Classic history, with his 40 victories equalling the record of John Scott, who won seven runnings of the Oaks between 1836 and 1855 as part of his own Classic haul. 

It is fair to say that the fortunes of Godolphin have waxed and waned since the days of Daylami (Ire), Kayf Tara (GB) and Fantastic Light, but since the appointment of Charlie Appleby as trainer in the aftermath of the sorriest episode in the operation's history, Godolphin's flag has again been flying high.

Following the Derby, in typically modest fashion Appleby immediately pointed to O'Brien's overwhelming record when he was congratulated on providing a second homebred winner of the blue riband for Sheikh Mohammed in the last four years.

The pedigrees of both Masar (Ire) (New Approach {GB}) and Adayar stretch back generations within the Darley/Godolphin operation–to the 1998 purchase of Melikah (Ire), the daughter of Lammtarra and Urban Sea, in the case of Masar, and right back to the very early days of Sheikh Mohammed's foundation of a major breeding empire in Europe to the import of German Oaks winner Anna Paola (Ger) to Britain in 1982. Her 1983 mating with Mill Reef–winner of the Derby 50 years ago——produced Anna Matrushka (GB), who features as Adayar's fourth dam and who has played her part in the establishment of a decent dynasty within the Godolphin ranks. Anna Matrushka's penultimate foal Accessories (GB) (Sinsgpiel {Ire}) was exported to Australia and has helped to spread the family throughout the global operation, with three of her sons–Helmet (Aus), Epaulette (Aus) and Bullbars (Aus)–ending up as Darley stallions. Helmet has subsequently returned to the country of his great grandam Anna Paola and now stands at Gestut Fahrhof.

Beyond his two Derby winners, Appleby was also responsible for the top-rated horse in the world last year in Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), as well as the previous season's European champion 2-year-old, Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal).

You don't really need to cap winning the Derby but just for good measure, some four hours later on the other side of the Atlantic, Appleby was represented by the first two home in the GI Just A Game S., Althiqa (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Summer Romance (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). The fillies were a precursor for an even bigger result in New York for Godolphin when the homebred Essential Quality (Tapit) prevailed in a thrilling stretch battle with Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in the GI Belmont S. 

The champion 2-year-old in America last season following his GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile victory, the Brad Cox-trained Essential Quality has been beaten just once, when fourth in the Kentucky Derby, and he may yet be promoted to third following confirmation of the positive drug test from the B-sample of winner Medina Spirit (Protonico).

For Godolphin, the good days are no longer few and far between. The significant breeding operation behind the racing stables clearly plays its part, but much of the renaissance can be attributed to Appleby, who is not just an accomplished trainer but is also a reliable and helpful spokesman. His popularity as an everyman made good is similar to that of the Derby-winning jockey Adam Kirby, whose Epsom triumph was widely enjoyed, and together they made a beguiling duo in the winner's circle. Both men have got to where they are through their own had work and skill, and they can only be admired for the humility with which they accept their success.

Still Making An Impact

With Frankel's first Derby winner, and Kingman (GB) represented by a third Grade 1 success for Domestic Spending (GB) at Belmont, as well as the G3 Princess Elizabeth S. win of Parent's Prayer (Ire), it was a good weekend for the Juddmonte stallions. The pensioned Zamindar even made his presence felt as damsire of the Derby runner-up Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a son of the Juddmonte-bred Galley (GB), who is a half-sister to the dam of Arc winner Rail Link (GB) (Dansili {GB}).

St Mark's Basilica (Ire) notched a second Classic in the Prix du Jockey Club to the obvious delight of 'super-sub' Ioritz Mendizabal, who was himself winning the race for the second year in a row after standing in for David Egan on Mishriff (Ire) last year. It was also a second winner of the French Derby for Siyouni after Sottsass (Fr) became his first Group 1-winning colt in 2019 and then returned to win the Arc last year. He and St Mark's Basilica are both out of mares by Galileo (Ire) who have previously produced high-calibre individuals in Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) and Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) respectively.

The same star-strewn background was evident in Snowfall, who beat her 'aunt', the third-placed Divinely (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Oaks. Snowfall's grandam, the dual Group 1-winning miler Red Evie (Ire) (Intikhab), has only ever been mated with Galileo, and she produced her tenth foal by the champion and her eighth filly on April 28. Red Evie's best offspring is unquestionably the Breeders' Cup Turf and Arc winner Found (Ire), who has already produced the G2 Vintage S. winner Battleground (War Front) as her first foal. Now Found's year-younger sister Best In The World (Ire) has a record-breaking Oaks winner to her name with her own first foal. 

There will be plenty of anticipation ahead of the debut of Snowfall's full-brother, Newfoundland (Ire), from the penultimate crop of Japan's multiple champion sire Deep Impact (Sunday Silence). The late Shadai kingpin also had the first two home in the GI Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo on Sunday, bringing his tally of top-level winners to 51 when outsider Danon Kingly (Jpn) narrowly denied favourite Gran Alegria (Jpn) from recording her second win in the race. 

Deep Impact has only had 59 runners in Europe, and clearly those that have been bred by European-based outfits will be out of good mares, while those sent over to race here from Japan will have already proved themselves to be classy performers. Even so, his record of 19 stakes winners, including six Group 1 winners, five of which are Classic winners, is pretty damn good.

The six that have won at the top level are split evenly, three being out of mares from the Sadler's Wells line, and three from the Storm Cat line, with the young stallions Saxon Warrior (Jpn) representing the former and Study Of Man (Ire) the latter. It is fervently hoped that in time these two winners of the 2000 Guineas and Prix du Jockey Club in 2018 can continue the success of their sire in Europe.

Watch List

A sireline that has thrived in a stealthily successful way over the years is that of Acclamation (GB), who is now 22 and in his 18th season covering at Rathbarry Stud.

The old boy himself provided one of the most popular results of Derby day when his 8-year-old son Oh This Is Us (Ire) won his 16th race and first at group level when just outpointing 7-year-old Century Dream (Ire) in the G3 Diomed S.

This followed two fantastic results for Acclamation's late son Harbour Watch (Ire) on Friday when first Pyledriver posted a popular win in the G1 Coronation Cup for William Muir and Chris Grassick, backed up later that day in America by the GII Belmont Gold Cup triumph of the Joseph O'Brien-trained Baron Samedi (GB). Both are members of the penultimate of Harbour Watch's five crops conceived at Tweenhills before his retirement from covering in 2018 and death the following year. 

On Nov. 29, 2017, the foals that would become known as Baron Samedi and Pyledriver were sent through the ring at Tattersalls 50 lots apart, both offered by the late Kevin Mercer's Usk Valley Stud. The first was bought by LECH Racing for 3,500gns, while Pyledriver was a 10,000gns buy-back by breeders Roger Devlin and Guy and Hugh Leach.

Mercer, who died not long after the foals were born at his Welsh farm, was the breeder of Baron Samedi and the advisor to Pyledriver's breeders when they retired their first mare to stud. He is much missed, but the two sons of Harbour Watch, in whom Mercer had a strong belief, paid him a great posthumous compliment on Saturday.

Acclamation's son Mehmas (Ire) is rarely far from the breeding headlines these days, and he was another to feature at Epsom via the listed Surrey S. Victor Mehmento (Ire), while another, Dark Angel, notched his eighth Group/Grade 1 winner with Althiqa in America. 

Dark Angel also appeared as the broodmare sire of the admirable Oaks runner-up Mystery Angel (Ire), who is by Rathbarry's rising star Kodi Bear (Ire), and we'll be hearing more about her and her trainer George Boughey in Wednesday's TDN. Furthermore, Dark Angel's son Lethal Force (Ire) is the sire of Mokaatil (GB), winner of the most terrifying race to be run on a British track, the downhill Epsom Dash.

The Tin Man, All Heart

It was not such good news over the weekend for Acclamation's grandson The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}), who was retired after fracturing a leg at exercise eight days before his planned resumption in the listed Cathedral S. at Salisbury.

The 9-year-old won nine of his 31 races for James Fanshawe and Fred Archer Racing, his three Group 1 victories coming at Royal Ascot, British Champions Day and in the Haydock Sprint Cup.

Fortunately, The Tin Man was swiftly and successfully operated on at Newmarket Equine Hospital, where he is currently recovering, and he will now spend his retirement with James and Jacko Fanshawe at Pegasus Stables.

“He's recovering well. James went see him today and I am hoping to see him tomorrow,” said Jacko Fanshawe on Monday. “He'll be in the hospital for about a week and then he will stay with us for good.”

The Fanshawe stable has enjoyed plenty of success with The Tin Man's family over the years. His half-brother Deacon Blues (GB) (Compton Place {GB}) previously won the QIPCO British Champions Sprint when it was still a Group 2 race, and he also notched a hat-trick of Group 3 wins among his seven victories. Another half-sibling, Indian Tygress (GB) (Sepoy {Aus}), won three races in 2018, while currently in the yard is the 3-year-old full-sister to The Tin Man, Persaria (GB), who has been placed twice this season and looks poised to win before too long.

The trainer's wife, who runs the Fred Archer Racing syndicate, added, “The Tin Man was due to run on Sunday. We weren't going to run him in such big races any more but he had been in such good form. He's been such a star and it's a huge relief that the surgery went well. We're looking forward to him coming home.”

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The Weekly Wrap: Time For British Racing To Heed Warnings

If we can view Europe’s largest training centre of Newmarket as a microcosm of the wider racing world, then events in the last week give a pretty concerning snapshot of the future of the sport.

On the positive front, there was a first winner for the town’s newest trainer, Terry Kent, who, at 53, is also one of the longest-serving members of its workforce, having previously been a jockey and worked for trainers Michael Jarvis, Julie Cecil, Saeed Bin Suroor and Roger Varian. Another recent recruit to the training ranks, George Boughey, continued to show his aptitude for the job when Songkran (Ire) (Slade Power {Ire}) completed a hat-trick from just four runs for his stable. We’ll hear more about Boughey in a TDN feature later in the week.

Along with the good news came the sad announcement that Ed Vaughan, an extremely popular member of the racing community in Newmarket and beyond, is to relinquish his licence at the end of the season. This news came barely a week after Vaughan had celebrated the biggest win of his career with Dame Malliot (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in the G2 Princess Of Wales’s S. and just a day after Miss Chess (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), a juvenile half-sister to the G1 Prix de Diane winner Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), had made an extremely promising debut for him at Yarmouth. Then on the day of the announcement Magic J (Scat Daddy) underlined Vaughan’s capabilities by pushing his rating into the 90s with victory in a decent Sandown handicap.

Here we have a trainer with decent horses for major owners deciding that training racehorses is no longer a viable business. Vaughan isn’t the first to have come to this conclusion and he won’t be the last, certainly not in this awful year. But the plight of British racing, and its stakeholders’ apparent inability to hold racecourses to account regarding what many of those providing the show believe to be a fair return, is now desperate enough for the cracks to be showing vividly through the paper.

The National Trainers Federation (NTF) was moved to release its own statement later that day which acknowledged Vaughan’s success in selling horses on to race abroad in Hong Kong and Australia and calling for a reform to the funding of the sport. It read, “It is all the more sad that such a trainer is being forced to relinquish his licence due to the inadequate levels of prize-money in British racing and the resulting economic pressure on his business. While a successful record of capitalising on the value of British-raced horses in the overseas market is admirable, this should not be a prerequisite for running a sustainable training business in the most highly regarded horseracing industry in the world.

“The funding model of our sport requires two reforms: an improved return on betting turnover; at 0.6% this is by far the lowest of our international competitors. And a revenue sharing agreement with the media rights holders to ensure a fair distribution of the commercial revenue that is jointly created by horsemen and racecourses.”

Ralph Beckett, who is currently president of the NTF, added his personal thoughts on the situation via his website, on which he stated, “I hope that those who are in a position to do something about it, i.e. the racecourses (who receive £1,000 per runner from media rights) and bookmakers, are proud of what they haven’t achieved.

“Don’t forget Ed made this announcement one week after the biggest success of his 16-year training career. This is a man with no dependants, training successfully for owners who pay their bills on time, who owes no one, and cannot make it pay. He is the proverbial canary in a coalmine.

“One of the things that used to attract people to racing is that no one knew where a good horse would come from. Nowadays, the best horses are in fewer and fewer hands and it is damaging irreparably the sport as a spectacle.”

To further emphasise this point, on Monday morning it transpired that only two stables would be represented through eight potential runners in Saturday’s G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. The fact that Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) are entered guarantees a thrilling contest if both mares stand their ground, and they of course represent the two most powerful stables in Britain and Ireland respectively. But how have we reached a situation where only two stables in the British Isles contain a horse good enough to contest our premier weight-for-age race?

Courses Must Help The Cause
While one does not begrudge the success of the big stables it is hard not to view the growing void between 200-horse yards and smaller outfits, which seem to be ever contracting, as similar to supermarkets and corner shops. Sooner or later the former push the latter out of business. Owners of course have the right to send their horses wherever they wish, and the rise of the ‘super yard’ in turn provides an awful lot more business for pre-training yards, some of which charge a higher daily rate than many small trainers.

But Beckett’s comments about damaging the sport as a spectacle are accurate, and this is why so many people revelled in the July Cup victory of Oxted (GB) (Mayson {GB}) for Roger Teal. It was simply refreshing to be hearing about some different names for a change.

We have come a long way from racing being the ‘Sport of Kings’ to one of greater inclusivity for a wider range of owners through syndicates. Current COVID-19 restrictions are in the process of being eased further to allow a greater number of racegoers to be in attendance, but the utmost priority must be given to ensuring that all owners can attend with a horse if they wish to do so and, taking sensible precautions, be allowed to convene on course with their trainer and jockey.

This year has been testing but racecourse bosses need to take a longer-term view. Prize-money was already poor before the pandemic and, while many will accept a short-term cut in levels while tracks get back up and running, this cannot be sustained. Owners and smaller breeders leaving the sport—which they will if the situation doesn’t improve rapidly—will inevitably lead to smaller race fields and a decline in media rights income for the racecourses.

Calls for unity between the Horsemen’s Group and the RCA are well meaning, and of course the united front presented in order for racing to resume ahead of any other sport in Britain shows what can be done, but this must not come at the continuing detriment to the people whose support is at the root of the industry: the owners.

Red In The Black
Four years apart by birth, Red Evie (Ire) and Snow Fairy (Ire) were the standout performers for their sire Intikhab, who died shortly after his retirement at Derrinstown Stud in 2016. The influence of both mares has been felt this season, with Snow Fairy’s second foal, Virgin Snow (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}), winning a fillies’ handicap before gaining black type when second in the G3 Hoppings S.

Red Evie had a head start on Snow Fairy and has been mated exclusively with Galileo (Ire). The outstanding Found (Ire), winner of the Arc among her three top-level victories, is the highest achiever of Red Evie’s six winners. Found it turn has made a promising start to her own stud career as the dam of this year’s Chesham S. winner Battleground (War Front).

With a proliferation of Galileo mares at its disposal, the Coolmore team has made good use of the American-based War Front to provide a successful blend, and another cross with the very best Japan had to offer, Deep Impact (Jpn), also proved fruitful up until his death last year.

Saxon Warrior (Jpn) is the flagbearer for this particular cross but Sunday’s Curragh maiden winner Snowfall (Jpn) looks like another we’ll be hearing plenty about in future. The 2-year-old filly is the first foal of Found’s sister Best In The World (Ire), and if the mare didn’t quite live up to her portentous name she was certainly more than useful and posted a listed win at two followed by a Group 3 victory at three.

Snowfall wasn’t the only good winner over the weekend to represent the Deep Impact-Galileo cross as Harajuku (Ire) earned herself a TDN Rising Star for her debut success at Chantilly. The Andre Fabre trainee represents the Niarchos family, who were among the first European breeders to patronise Deep Impact and were rewarded for this with the G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man (Ire).

Harajuku is herself from a family which has also been in the news this year as her dam Phaenomena (Ire) is a full-sister to Nightime (Ire), the dam of Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Furthermore, Harajuku’s 4-year-old half-brother King Of Koji (Jpn), by another Shadai resident, Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), won the G2 Meguro Kinen in Tokyo in May. Their 3-year-old sibling Mystical Land (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) is also with Fabre and is entered for a Dieppe maiden on Wednesday.

Don’t Stop Believing
Ubettabelieveit (Ire) had originally been entered for the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale by pinhookers Roger Marley and John Cullinan of Church Farm and Horse Park Stud, who bought the Kodiac (GB) colt for 50,000gns from breeder Ringfort Stud at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale. But in a delayed season the youngster was one of a number of horses sold privately and he notched his first win on his second start on the track adjacent to the Goffs UK sales complex the day before the sale eventually took place. He then stepped up a level to win the listed National S. at Sandown last week, with another colt withdrawn from the breeze-ups, Mcmanaman (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), taking third.

Trained by Nigel Tinkler, Ubettabelieveit continued a fine season for Derek and Gay Veitch’s Ringfort Stud, which has recently been represented in the winner’s enclosure as co-breeders with Paul Hancock of the Cheveley Park Stud-owned Indie Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). The same breeding combination was also responsible for fellow Newmarket July meeting winner, the 2-year-old Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), while Ringfort alone bred Mayfair Spirit (Ire) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), who won his sixth race on June 28.

Juvenile winner Rebel At Dawn (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) is another winning Ringfort graduate, as is last year’s dual Group 2 winner Threat (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}), who holds an entry for next week’s G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Glorious Goodwood.

Eagles Has Landed
Steve Parkin’s Clipper Logistics has become a major force in the owners’ ranks and has been represented by 41 runners already this season in Britain. Over the weekend a pair of Group 3 races came Parkin’s way via Eagles By Day (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Queen Jo Jo (GB) (Gregorian (Ire}), whom he owns in partnership with Roger Peel.

Eagles By Day, the first son of Vanessa Hutch’s excellent staying mare Missunited (Ire) (Golan {Ire}), has a somewhat different profile to the earlier, faster type of horse with which one usually associates Parkin’s all-grey silks. His victory in the John Smith’s Silver Cup on his first start for David O’Meara should see him go on to bigger and better things, perhaps even back at Parkin’s local track, York, where he is being aimed at either the Ebor or the Lonsdale Cup.

Queen Jo Jo was the first group winner for the hugely likeable Gregorian, who raced 25 times in his four seasons in training with John Gosden and is now back at his breeder Maurice Burns’s Rathasker Stud.

Joe Foley and Federico Barberini, who regularly work in tandem at the sales on Parkin’s behalf, bought the group-winning duo and it was to Foley’s Ballyhane Stud that one of the most exciting runners in the Clipper Logistics silks, Soldier’s Call (GB), was retired at the end of last year.

The young sprinter has been well supported in his first season and he will do a good job if he can match the popularity of his stud mate Dandy Man (Ire), who is enjoying another good season. The unbeaten dual group winner Dandalla (Ire) is his flagbearer to date, and on Sunday Dandy Man was responsible for the valuable Weatherbys Super Sprint heroine Happy Romance (Ire), who was the first winner for new owners The McMurray Family. Her trainer Richard Hannon is already eyeing another lucrative pot which will entail a trip to Ireland for the new €320,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stud S. The race also carries a bonus of €50,000 if the winner is by a Ballyhane stallion. Joe Foley had better start emptying his piggy bank.

 

 

 

 

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