Tag: Bradsell

‘The Best Thing on the Planet’: Who Are We To Disagree?

ASCOT, UK–Some of us get slower as we get older. Bradsell (GB) is getting faster. So much so that, instead of treading the more obvious three-year-old sprinter route to the Commonwealth Cup, trainer Archie Watson talked the colt's owner Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa into supplementing him for the King's Stand S., and what an inspired move that turned out to be.

It takes a good horse to win at Royal Ascot once, but a proper horse to return triumphant, dropped back in trip to the minimum and with a little to prove as his comeback from the injury that curtailed his juvenile season gathered momentum.

Watson will have dreaded the sound of stewards' klaxon not long after Bradsell passed the post in front after he drifted a little towards the runner-up and last season's crack sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr). The trainer had the 2021 Commonwealth Cup all but snatched from his clutches when Dragon Symbol (GB) bumped Campanelle (Ire) in running and was demoted to second. Tension was writ large on Watson's face as he awaited the outcome of a prolonged stewards' enquiry, already in the winner's circle but reluctant to say too much in interviews being conducted as if he had won. Just half an hour earlier, Watson, his stable jockey Hollie Doyle, and Shaikh Nasser had had to settle for second with Army Ethos (GB) in the Coventry, a great run in itself for the Shalaa (Ire) colt who had made just one previous winning start. 

Finally able to relax when it was confirmed that Bradsell had given him his third Royal Ascot victory and, more importantly, a second Group 1, he said, “I know we're seen as a big yard, but for a yard like us to be winning a Group 1 here is the best thing on the planet. There was dread when that bing-bong happened, especially having just been chinned in the Coventry.”

When Watson spoke to TDN last week, he was effusive in his praise of bloodstock agent Tom Biggs, the youngest member of the Blandford Bloodstock team with whom he has formed a strong partnership. Biggs, who appears far too self-effacing for his chosen profession, was another one blowing his cheeks out with relief as the trainer went to collect his trophy.

“We don't have huge budgets, we work hard at the sales and these days don't come along very often. He's just a very fast horse,” he said.

Biggs and Watson bought Bradsell, who became the first Group 1 winner for his Shadwell sire Tasleet (GB), from last year's Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale from Mark Grant for £47,000. He then changed hands privately following his nine-length debut success to make his first start in the Victorious Racing colours in the Coventry S. One run later a mid-race stumble in the Phoenix S. and subsequent leg fracture put paid to the rest of his juvenile campaign.

“It was quite a nasty injury but his temperament is so fantastic,” Biggs added. “When he breezed I loved his action and the way he got his head down and he got better the further he went. He's just a great horse to be involved with.”

Bradsell was bred by Deborah O'Brien, who has moved up two generations in the sire-line for this year's mating for his dam Russian Punch (GB) (Archipenko). The mare is now in foal to Oasis Dream (GB).

Bradsell's successor in the Coventry roll of honour, River Tiber (Ire), was a member of the final French crop of Wootton Bassett (GB) conceived at €40,000 before he joined the Coolmore ranks. It is hard to imagine that there are not bigger and better things to come from this stallion given the line-up of mares he has covered since moving to Coolmore, where his fee has jumped to €100,000 then €150,000. As an extra vote of confidence in Wootton Bassett, MV Magnier and Peter Brant paid 480,000gns last year for the subsequent Coventry winner at Tattersalls October Book 1. His breeder Ger Morrin of Pier House Stud would have been celebrating then, but this is where it's really at, and Morrin was all smiles as he accepted congratulations from the Coolmore camp and many others alongside the winner's circle.

“Fabulous,” he said. “He was always a fabulous-looking horse. He nearly died as a foal and thankfully we were able to save him. These are great people and he was good-looking yearling so they came and bought him.”

Morrin added that River Tiber's dam Transcendence (Ire) (Arcano {Ire}) is now back in foal to Wootton Bassett. 

The Tabor colours carried by River Tiber were soon back in action aboard Paddington (GB), who made it a memorable day for the group of Coolmore owners by handing out a comprehensive defeat to Juddmonte's Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the battle of the Guineas winners in the St James's Palace S. Relatively rarely for these two superpowers of the breeding world, neither colt is a homebred. 

For Aidan O'Brien, Paddington's victory was particularly significant as it took him past Sir Michael Stoute as the most successful trainer at Royal Ascot with 83 wins to his credit, nine of which have come in the St James's Palace S.

While Ryan Moore, with three winners on the day, stole the limelight from the retiring (eventually) Frankie Dettori, the leading owner-breeder honours unquestionably went to Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum. His Triple Time (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) got the meeting off to a great start with victory in the Queen Anne S. for Kevin Ryan and Neil Callan, and a double was completed in the Wolferton with the Roger Varian-trained Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal).

The importance of a royal champion to British horseracing cannot be understated and it can only be hoped that the sport now has two. We have grown accustomed over many decades to the welcome message in the front of the racecard being in the name of 'Elizabeth R'. This year, for the first time, a joint message was signed 'Charles R' and 'Camilla R'. 

Significantly, the new King and Queen led the royal procession for the first day of the meeting and will do so throughout. Joining them in the carriages, perhaps symbolically, was Ralph Beckett, their first trainer back in 2008 of a homebred filly bred in the January after they married. Fittingly, she was a daughter of King's Best, named Royal Superlative (GB). The colours of the royal couple have changed now to those distinguished purple and red silks made famous in the modern era by the runners of Queen Elizabeth II. 

This year's royal welcome message was concluded by acknowledging the owners, breeders and trainers who make this meeting possible. The King and Queen said, “It is a huge and rare achievement to have a runner at Royal Ascot and we very much hope that you all enjoy the experience.”

Judging by the scenes of revelry around the bandstand and in the car parks post-racing, a good day was had by many. One down, four to go. 

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Watson: ‘Ascot’s Been Pretty Big in the Storyline of my Career’

Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) was the juvenile star of the opening day of Royal Ascot last year and the G2 Coventry S. winner has been supplemented to return next week in the G1 King's Stand S. for Archie Watson.

“I guess Ascot's been pretty big in the storyline of my career,” admits the Lambourn trainer, who also won't be short of two-year-old runners at the royal meeting in an attempt add to a record which includes the Windsor Castle S.

“Soldier's Call (GB) was obviously our first big winner. I know it was a Listed win, but it was a Royal Ascot winner. And the fact he then went on and won a Flying Childers and was very good in those Group 1 sprints, being only narrowly beaten in the Abbaye and then the following year he found Battaash (Ire) a few times, but he was a very good horse and he put us on the map for sure.

“Ascot has really been very important in the few years I've been training because we've had a Coventry winner, a British Champions Sprint winner and then obviously the whole Dragon Symbol debacle as well, winning a Commonwealth Cup and then not winning a Commonwealth Cup.”

Glen Shiel (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) was the first Group 1 winner for Watson and for his stable jockey Hollie Doyle on Champions Day in 2020, two years after Soldier's Call had brought his trainer to wider prominence at Royal Ascot. Though Watson is still only in his seventh full season with a licence, the cyclical nature of the business means that his stable now contains a number of youngsters by the Ballyhane Stud stallion, who currently leads the European first-season sires' table with 12 winners.

“Soldier's was such a dude of a horse to train,” he recalls. “It was in my second season training that we got sent that first batch of Clipper Logistics horses, and Soldier's was one of them. That was massive for us. 

“He had such a lovely character and I'm just glad that he is really taking off as a stallion. We've got eight by him and we've won with three of the four that we've run. He's going great guns and it's really great to see, for Steve Parkin and Joe Foley and everybody involved in the horse.”

Watson has nine juvenile winners on the board already for the year, with a selection of those being primed for next week. These include Army Ethos (GB) (Shalaa {Ire}), who will aim to give the stable a second Coventry success in the same colours as Bradsell, for Victorious Racing and Fawzi Nass. 

“He's a very talented horse,” says Watson. “I do really think that he can be a proper stakes horse in six-furlong sprints this year. 

“We're going to run two in the Queen Mary, a Zoustar (Aus) filly called Out Of The Stars (GB) for Qatar Racing. She's out of a mare called Out Of The Flames (GB), who was third in the Queen Mary. She's a homebred. She won at Kempton and she's very talented. 

“She goes to the Queen Mary along with the Mehmas (Ire) filly called Ba'Hoa (GB), who won at Newcastle for the Cool Silk Partnership.”

For the Windsor Castle, Watson will be saddling Action Point (Ire), who was the first winner for another freshman sire, Blue Point (Ire).

“He's a very nice horse,” says the trainer. “He won on debut and then was second in the Royal Ascot two-year-old trial. He's come on plenty since then, physically.

“We had a Soldier's Call winner called Reveiller (Ire) at Salisbury a couple of weekends go. He won impressively, he came from the breeze-ups, and he's going to go to the Norfolk, all being well.”

Watson also fields Lightning Leo (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) in the Chesham S. for Lone Star Investments. “He won the first seven-furlong race of the year at Yarmouth, which was a very strong field,” he says.

“I'm not going in there with one like Bradsell who'd won his maiden by 10 lengths last year. But I think we're going with some nice horses. It does look on paper that a few of the races are very strong this year, but it probably does every year, doesn't it?”

He continues, “Bradsell is probably our main hope. I took him out of the Commonwealth. He's run two very solid races, third in both his runs this year, but he's really sharpened up and has looked like a five-furlong horse. It's very sporting of Sheikh Nasser to roll the dice and supplement him for the King's Stand, and then he will hopefully have a campaign over five furlongs for the rest of the season.”

 

While Watson has been successful with juveniles runners from the start, and in 2019 alone trained 76 two-year-old winners, he says that it is not something he specifically set out to do. 

“I don't like to be defined by it, and we've had plenty of jumps winners and good staying winners,” he says. “I wouldn't want to be emphasising that it's just speedy horses, but it's obviously something that we've done well with.

“This year we've had a good start with the two-year-olds because they're a quality group of horses, and I think that's the main thing. We had a quieter couple of years but we always manage to find a good one. Bradsell last year, and obviously Eddie's Boy (GB), and Nazanin (GB) won a Group 3 the one year, Mighty Gurkha won a Group 3 the year before that.”

Watson adds, “But I think this year the quality is definitely up. We've been very fortunate to have been sent a nice bunch of horses and Tom Biggs has done his job well buying a nice group of horses for me. He works very, very hard. Whilst I'm obviously there and making decisions with him, it does take 99% of the work out of my hands in terms of the sales.”

While he can lean on Biggs, of the Blandford Bloodstock team, Watson takes sole responsibility for the placing his horses. 

” I was assistant to William Haggas and he always did the placing and entering himself. And that's something that I've always been adamant that I should do, and I do enjoy it. But obviously when you've got large numbers of horses and large numbers of race meetings, it takes up a lot of time figuring out where to run them all.”

Archie Watson with his wife Brodie Hampson, Hollie Doyle and Glen Shiel

 

Watson takes pride in the upward trajectory of the career of Hollie Doyle, whom he says has been “massive for the yard”.

He continues, “She'd ridden out her claim and wasn't really getting the rides at Richard Hannon's because they've got nice apprentices coming through every year, so I said, 'Come and ride out for us.' 

“We just always got on very well, and when Eddie [Greatrex] got injured, Hollie took over, riding a lot more, and it's just gone from strength to strength. She's a great rider. She understands exactly how I like the horses ridden and I think the one thing about her is that she's very consistent and she very rarely makes mistakes. 

“For me, she's a top-five jockey and it's just a massive bonus for a yard like ours, that's only been training seven years, to have a top-tier jockey in the country riding for us day in, day out. We had our 200th winner together the other day.”

Doyle is not the only talented female jockey in the Watson yard. Straight after last year's Royal Ascot the trainer married amateur rider Brodie Hampson, who rides under both codes but has a particular affinity with National Hunt racing. 

“I've always had an interest in it but Brodie loves it,” says Watson, whose success over jumps includes the G2 Leamington Novices' Hurdle winner Stag Horn (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}). 

“Brodie trains the jumps portion of the string and she does a great job. It's something we enjoy and it's great. Originally it was just a few handicappers that Brodie rode herself, but then Simon Turner said, 'Let's buy a couple of point-to-pointers', and we've been very lucky so far. I think we'll have a team of eight or 10 jumpers next year.”

In the meantime, however, the tweeds have been cast aside for top hats and tails next week at Ascot.

“We've always been fortunate enough to have a good team to take,” Watson says. “I try not to send horses that are just there as social runners. I'd say we'll have 15 or so runners this year and I hope that they've all got a squeak in some way, for sure.”

 

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Brown On The Search For Next Perfect Power At Goffs UK

Top bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done his bit to alleviate any stresses vendors may have been feeling on the eve of the Doncaster Breeze Up Sale by explaining that he will be using a raft of metrics other than just times in an effort to find the next Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) at this year's sale. 

Monday's breeze took place on testing ground, with some two-year-olds handling it better than most, which will all be taken into account by the buying bench, according to Blandford Bloodstock's ace scout. 

As if to remind the strike-rate Blandford Bloodstock has enjoyed at this sale in recent years, posters of previous purchases Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), last year's Coventry S. hero, and the multiple Group 1-winning sprinter Perfect Power, hang proud either side of the rostrum. 

Describing what that sight meant to the team of international bloodstock agents upon arriving at the sale ground, Brown said, “It was epic. We left Newmarket at five o'clock on Sunday morning for the practice breeze and, when we walked into the ring, it was very cool to see Bradsell and Perfect Power either side of the rostrum. They are two really good horses who have come out of this ring. This place has been very lucky for us in the past. I watched Perfect Power's breeze over the weekend just to refresh the memory for what we are looking for so fingers crossed we can find another one.”

Perfect Power | Scoop Dyga

He added on the conditions, “It's very soft ground. I actually thought that times came into it less than ever at the Craven Sale. The fastest horses in the breeze are very often not the best horses to come out of the sale. There are so many different things that go into the melting pot.

“The great thing about the breeze-up sales is that lots of people use different methods to buy horses out of these sales. There are so many purchasers using different methods that it provides a great spread to the buying bench and that bore out last week. There were plenty of horses who did very little in terms of time at the Craven and they still made plenty of money.”

In searching for the next star, Brown explained that the Blandford team marries up many strands of information and evidence before playing on certain horses. 

He said, “If you went to the breeze-up sales and just went by the timesheet and bought the fastest horses, you really would spend a lot of money and do very badly. 

“Time is a factor but there are a lot of other factors to it as well–the style of the breeze, the horse's action and its attitude. The horse's attitude is something we place a huge amount of emphasis on as the whole process is a massive test.”

He added, “On top of all that, you've still got to like the horse physically. There are plenty of horses who breeze well and, if I don't like the look of them, I won't buy them. I'm not just going to buy an ugly horse who does a fast time. 

“But it usually adds up. When a horse breezes well, moves well and shows some speed at some point in the breeze, you usually look at the horse and say, 'yea, I get it.'”

Brown, who was crowned Bloodstock Agent Of The Year for the second year running in 2022, bought four horses at last week's Craven Sale at Tattersalls from 65,000gns to 350,000gns and a total spend of just under 1 million gns. 

He labelled himself as pleasantly surprised by the buoyancy of the first domestic breeze-up sale of the year, especially in terms of the clearance rate, and predicted the top end to remain strong this week at Goffs UK.

Brown said, “I have some clients who want colts, some people looking for fillies only, others looking to get going–in terms of that they are looking for sharp two-year-olds–and I also have orders for back-end horses as well. I wouldn't say the brief changes from sale to sale, because different types can come from any sale, and actually, Light Infantry (Fr) (Fast Company {Ire}), who came from this sale and got as close to Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) as anything in the Jacques le Marois, can do something big up here this year before going back to Australia. He wasn't in any way a whizz bang horse and, in actual fact, is getting better with every run.

“Obviously Donny has set its stall out to be a good source of two-year-olds and we expect to see those but that doesn't mean that if a nice big and backward horse comes up there, that we don't have orders for those types as well.”

He added, “The top is very strong and I imagine that will continue to be the same. I actually thought that the clearance rates were better than I was expecting them to be at the Craven and that the market was pretty buoyant. I bought four horses but got beaten on more than that in the middle market and at the top end as well.”

One consignor facing into the Goffs UK Breeze Up Sale off the back of a productive Craven Sale is Cormac Farrell. Consigning under the banner of C.F. Bloodstock for the first year, Farrell sold three horses for just over 500,000gns at Tattersalls and is hoping to keep the momentum going this week. 

“The Craven was amazing,” Farrell started. “They were all very professional and it was a great sale. I have to say, the results were down to a team effort and everyone plays a role. Rory Cleary is a huge help to us, in fairness. He's a top-class judge and a great horseman. Rory broke most of our horses and rode them all work so it wouldn't have been possible without him.”

Farrell's Footstepsinthesand (GB) colt [lot 80] clocked particularly well given the conditions and makes up a three-pronged draft for the Curragh handler who has also achieved some notable success selling point-to-point horses. 

He said, “The Footstepsinthesand colt cost 20,000gns here at the Premier Yearling Sale and, from day one, he has been very straightforward. We were expecting him to breeze well so we are delighted. Visually, it looked very good and I have since heard that it is up there with some of the fastest times. Regardless of the time, though, I have no doubt that he is going to go on and be a good horse. Hopefully we have a good sale and get them all sold and to good homes. That's important because you need to get a name for selling nice horses.”

The sale kicks off at 10am on Tuesday where 191 horses will go under the hammer at a sale that has produced seven Royal Ascot winners in as many years. 

 

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Seven Days: Bahrain’s Burgeoning Success

It has been another banner week for the breeze-up sector, not to mention the burgeoning Bahraini participation in European racing. 

Following Classic victories for Cachet (Ire), Native Trail (GB) and Eldar Eldarov (GB), more graduates of the two-year-old sales scene lifted one of last weekend's major races in Britain, the G2 Mill Reef Stakes, and also the G3 Stockholm Cup. 

Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was imperious in the Mill Reef, and was the standout in a magnificent seven winners on Saturday for Roger Varian, which also included landing a Group 3 with Mitbaahy (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}) and the Listed Doonside Cup with Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal).

Varian had also featured prominently the previous weekend, claiming his second St Leger with Eldar Eldarov, who, like Sakheer, is owned by Bahrain's Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who races under the banner of KHK Racing, a name which only appeared on the British racing scene in 2020. This season KHK Racing has had 12 individual runners from six different stables.

Through trainer Fawzi Nass and bloodstock agent Oliver St Lawrence this is an outfit that has been making quite a splash at the sales in recent years, its purchases including the 2020 Arqana Select Sale topper Pure Dignity (GB), the Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to Sottsass (Fr), who is raced in partnership by Shaikh Khalid and his brother Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa. She has raced just once, winning well on debut at Newmarket, and is entered on Wednesday at Kempton.

St Lawrence said, “This is only the second crop of three-year-olds for KHK Racing in Britain, so to have a Classic winner and then a very promising two-year-old is very exciting.

“It's also very important for racing, and all the shaikhs that are involved in Bahrain are really enjoying it.”

Bred by Drumlin Bloodstock, Sakheer, who was bought as a foal by Camas Park Stud, was sold at Arqana 18 months later by one of the original breeze-up men, Willie Browne of Mocklershill. St Lawrence signed for him at €550,000 a year after picking up Eldar Eldarov at the same sale for £480,000 from Norman Williamson.

On the forthcoming return of a lovely broodmare prospect, St Lawrence said, “The intention is for Pure Dignity to run on Wednesday and if all goes well, Roger will try to find a black-type race for her later in the season. Then we will put her away, and she will race on next year, all being well. 

“I think both Shaikh Nasser and Shaikh Khalid are very keen to try to build up a quality broodmare band which will obviously take a bit of time.”

Shaikh Khalifa, who also races horses individually as Victorious Racing, has enjoyed success this year at Britain's flagship meeting, Royal Ascot, where Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), yet another breezer, won the G2 Coventry Stakes for Archie Watson. He also owns the Listed winner and Group 3 runner-up Rocket Rodney (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}).

St Lawrence added, “It has been a dream season and I am lucky enough to be buying these expensive horses, With that comes a lot of weight of trying to produce some good ones, but I think so far we are fulfilling that remit, though this season will be a tough one to follow.”

Those charged with running racing in Bahrain have signalled their intent to increase the domestic racing programme, with the G3 Bahrain International Trophy steadily gaining more traction, and the second Bahrain Turf Series set to kick off just after that in early December. On the back of recent results it is not hard to imagine that we will see increased Bahraini participation in British racing, too.

Easy to Please

In Scandinavia, the Lodge Park Stud-bred Hard One To Please (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) has been making merry this season. The winner of the Swedish and Norwegian Derbys in July and August, he stepped into Pattern company to land Sunday's G3 Stockholm Cup in the hands of Pat Cosgrave for trainer Annike Bye Hansen. 

An £8,000 Goffs Sportsman's yearling-turned-80,000gns breezer, Hard One To Please was bought by Walter Buick at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale. It could be a big week for the family as his half-sister Dandy Alys (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), who was recently runner-up in the G3 Sweet Solera Stakes, is entered for Friday's G2 Rockfel Stakes. Their dam, the nine-year-old New Approach (Ire) mare Alyssum (Ire), has a Camacho (GB) yearling filly in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale.

Move Over Hollie and Tom

Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand are rightly feted, both individually and as racing's unofficial golden couple, but two other young jockeys, Saffie Osborne and David Egan, who also happen to be a couple, stole the limelight in the last week.

On Thursday, the second Racing League drew to a close in Britain, with a sensational 6,539/1 treble from Saffie Osborne, who duly lifted the £20,000 prize as the leading rider of the series. The 20-year-old jockey's most enjoyable moment of that evening would surely have been her victory on 40/1 shot Raising Sand (GB) for her father Jamie. The 10-year-old son of Oasis Dream (GB) has been a stalwart of the Osborne stable and his eighth win came two years after his last victory.

Osborne's recent run of success has propelled her into the top 50 riders in the country, the only other female on that list along with Doyle, who is second behind William Buick.

For David Egan, 22, it has been an up-and-down year. He lost his retainer with Prince AA Faisal in July, having previously ridden the owner-breeder's Mishriff (Ire) to victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup, G1 Dubai Sheena Classic, and G1 Juddmonte International. Taking the news of that reversal with admirable equanimity, Egan kept his head down, kept riding, and for his boss Roger Varian has been at the heart of a real purple patch for the stable, winning his first Classic on Eldar Eldarov and notching four wins at Newbury on Saturday, including in all three group races, two of which were for Varian and one for Hughie Morrison on Stay Alert (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}).

Angel Shouldn't Be Kept in the Dark

It is hardly a news flash to say that Dark Angel (Ire) is an excellent stallion but Yeomanstown Stud's 17-year-old somehow seems to be a little overlooked. He shouldn't be, for he is currently riding high in the European sires' table in fourth position behind Dubawi (Ire), Frankel (GB), and Sea The Stars (Ire). That leading trio can perhaps be percieved more as 'Classic' sires, but Dark Angel has also been among the Classic winners this season via his daughter Mangoustine (Fr), winner of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, in which she narrowly beat the 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet.

The son of Acclamation (GB) was among the major winners on three continents on Saturday. In Canada, Dark Angel's two-year-old son, the Godolphin homebred Mysterious Night (Ire), strolled to victory in the G1 Summer Stakes to become his sire's twelfth Group/Grade 1 winner. This followed Mysterious Night's triumph in last month's G3 Prix Francois Boutin and was one of three graded stakes winners for Charlie Appleby in North America on Saturday, along with Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). 

Another of his juveniles, Barefoot Angel, bred by Guy O'Callaghan, landed the G3 Firth of Clyde Fillies' Stakes at Ayr, while earlier that day in Australia, the six-year-old Top Ranked (Ire), a former Group 3 winner for James Tate in Britain, had claimed his first southern hemisphere stakes win in the G3 Bill Ritchie Handicap for Annabel Neasham and Australian Bloodstock. 

Bravo, Mon Ami

Cracksman (GB) is making a pleasing start to his stud career with ten winners already on the board from his 26 runners to date, including the Listed winner Dance In The Grass (GB). It will also be worth following the progress of another son of Frankel (GB) bearing Anthony Oppenheimer's colours who made the most eye-catching start to his racing career last week. 

Courage Mon Ami (GB), out of a full-sister to Group 2 winner Bronze Cannon (GB) (Lemon Drop Kid), was well adrift of the main pack in the early stages when making his debut at Kempton on Friday, but that slow start gradually turned into a steaming finish as the three-year-old passed all his rivals with a ground-eating stride that saw him win eased down by five lengths. Certainly one for the notebook.

Tijuana's Record Enhanced by Tunnes

It would seem that the fairytale of the small breeder Paul Vandeberg still has a few chapters to be written. Vandeberg's lone broodmare Tijuana (Ger) (Toylsome {GB}) is already the dam of Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), and her three-year-old son Tunnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}) has now added the G3 Deutsches St Leger to his victory last season in the G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen. 

The latter had seen him made winter favourite for the Deutsches Derby, but a setback ruled him out of a spring campaign. Trainer Peter Schiergen indicated on Sunday that the colt will now be aimed at the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern in early November, the race in which his elder brother was second two years ago after winning the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin. Before that, Tunnes could head to Longchamp for the G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris, a fortnight after Torquator Tasso will attempt to defend his Arc crown.

Meanwhile, Vandeberg is sitting pretty with a yearling full-brother to Torquator Tasso and a weanling full-brother to Tunnes at home.

The Americans are Coming

Lope De Vega's excellent run, which has seen him recently notch his 100th stakes winner, was extended on Sunday across the pond with the victory of Faith In Humanity (Fr) in the G3 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont at the Big A (so named for the races held at Aqueduct while Belmont Park undergoes development work).

Faith In Humanity, bred in partnership by Ecurie des Monceaux and Lordship Stud, is yet another European-bought stakes winner for Klaravich Stables to add to the list which includes the Grade 1 winners McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Digital Age (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

Word has it that American buyers will be out in force for the Orby and October Sales, and who can blame them? With a seeming reluctance from American breeders to use turf sires based in the US, and the exchange rate for the dollar against euros and sterling currently extremely favourable, the best place to shop for horses for an expanding turf programme is in Europe. 

Farewell to Her Majesty

As this column was being written, the solemnities of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II had brought much of Britain to a near standstill. 

On Sunday in Newmarket during the Henry Cecil Open Weekend, the public gallops which preceded a morning of stable tours were led by two of the Queen's horses, Educator (GB) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Saga (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), ridden respectively by Michael Hills and Rab Havlin wearing the royal silks in tribute.

A number of the Queen's racehorse trainers were observed among the congregation at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the service of committal. For many involved in racing, the last we saw of the Queen in public was at Ascot last October for Champions Day when she presented the trophy for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was herself awarded with a commemorative medal to mark her induction in the British Horseracing Hall of Fame. Her Majesty's fellow inductee Lester Piggott was also at Ascot to be honoured that day. Now, in a mournful time for the sport, both are gone, but neither will ever be forgotten.

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