Only twice in his 16 starts has the Archie Watson-trained four-year-old ever been out of the first three, but more impressive is that 10 of those runs have ended in victory – in five different countries, and counting. On Saturday, his 2024 debut resulted in a win in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup in Qatar, a local Group 2 staged during the HH The Amir Sword meeting. 

Brave Emperor, owned by the members of the Middleham Park Racing LX syndicate, held off the globally famous colours of Coolmore's Derrick Smith, carried by runner-up Cairo (Quality Road), with an equally renowned set of colours on the third horse, Godolphin's Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

“I've run out of superlatives,” says Middleham Park Racing's Tom Palin of the horse who is a syndicator's dream. “I've described him in every which way I possibly can. Hero, legend, dude. I don't think we've ever quite had a horse like him, and I don't think many trainers or owners could ever dream of having a horse like him. He can go on good to firm or heavy, and he has won over five, six, seven, eight, and nine furlongs.”

This time last year, Brave Emperor recorded his first stakes success on his first foray outside the British Isles when winning the Listed Prix de la Californie at Cagnes-sur-Mer. He then set about clocking up points on the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, winning a qualifying conditions race at Kempton before finishing second in the final leg of the series at Chelmsford in the Cardinal S.

The Run for the Roses was probably sensibly ruled out, but Brave Emperor and Archie Watson's travelling team continued the globetrotting a little closer to home, with victory in the G3 Grosser Preis der Wohnstatte Krefeld next on the horse's agenda, followed by third in the G3 Stockholms Stora Pris. Royal Ascot and his run out the back in the G3 Hampton Court S. was really the only blip in an otherwise exemplary season, and he recovered from that to win four of his five subsequent starts, including the G2 Premio Vittorio di Capua, G3 Prix Daphnis and G3 Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf. Luke Morris has been Brave Emperor's regular partner in all bar three of this starts, and the pair could be off to Hong Kong next for the G1 FWD Champions Mile and a pop at superstar Golden Sixty (Aus).

“He's been invited out there at the end of April and that looks the route that we'll travel with him,” Palin confirms. ” It's a $2.5 million race. I think we probably have to finish about sixth or better to get our declaration fee back. And look, he's very versatile. We know Hong Kong can throw up varying ground states, so you wouldn't be going there terribly worried about whatever the underfoot conditions are. But obviously, it's a race Golden Sixty's made his own.”

He added, “That was a career best there on Saturday, so it feels a sensible race to be going for at this point. And we know he takes traveling very well. Obviously, it'd be a bit different because he's got the quarantine procedures to go through there for five days before and five days allowed on the track, so it'd be a bit longer than what he's used to, but if there's ever a horse you're just going to go, 'Look, he'll travel fine', it's him, isn't it?”

With Brave Emperor set to arrive back in the UK on Wednesday followed by a brief spell at Hillwood Stud, Palin outlines some of the key mile contests in Europe as possible targets after his potential Hong Kong voyage. The Prix d'Ispahan, Lockinge and Queen Anne S. are all under consideration during the first half of the European season. It's a bold call, but this is a horse who clearly thrives on his racing, as his 11 runs from January to November last year showed.

“I think he's just growing up with racing as well,” says Palin. “He's figuring out what the game's about. Obviously, Luke's been on board him for the vast majority of his career now and he feels he's getting faster, he's getting smarter about his racing, which is why I think even the [Prix de la] Foret, back a furlong at some point wouldn't be a bad thing with him. 

“Louis Wicks looks after him every day, he knows him inside out, and he says the horse is just so easy to do at home. That has to help with his consistency. He doesn't over-exert himself on a day-to-day basis.”

Palin insists that Brave Emperor's earnings, which have now exceeded £500,000, pale in comparison to the experience he's providing his loyal band of owners who have enjoyed some exciting foreign trips of their own. It also makes his yearling price tag of £19,000, when bought at Goffs UK by Rodrigo Goncalves and Robson Aguiar, look incredibly reasonable.

“We had 14 people over there in Doha on Saturday and they couldn't have looked after us any better,” he says. “Everybody had a fantastic time, and that's what it's all about, dinners and drinks with not just fellow owners, we've become friends, and all thanks to the wonderful Brave Emperor. That's the great thing about this game, you formulate great friendships. We have a couple of two-year-olds now with Archie and, sure enough, the money Brave Emperor's earned his owners has now paid for their shares in the others. They're rolling the dice again into them.”

Palin adds, “I can't take any credit really for any of the placement, it's all been Archie. He's placed him to a tee, superb. And obviously the team who travels him around – Louis has been great.”

Brave Emperor is a member of the first crop of Sioux Nation, Coolmore's son of Scat Daddy who has perhaps been a little overshadowed when it comes to recognition. He was of course in the same graduating year as Havana Grey (GB) and was behind him in both the first- and second-season sires' championships of the last two years. It's nip and tuck between the pair when it comes to comparing stakes performers, however. In 2023, Havana Grey's offspring were headed by the dual Group 1 winner Vandeek (GB), one of his 16 black-type winners overall, compared to 13 for Sioux Nation. But it is Sioux Nation who is ahead when it comes to Group winners, with nine on the board to Havana Grey's seven.

Thanks to the exploits of Brave Emperor, Sioux Nation currently heads the list of European third-crop sires by worldwide earnings at this early point in the year, and he has Matilda Picotte (Ire) flying the flag for him and Ireland in Saturday's G2 1351 Turf Sprint at the Saudi Cup meeting. She is also a Group 2 winner, in the Challenge S. at Newmarket, where she also won the Listed Bosra Sham S. and was third in the 1,000 Guineas. Her stakes wins are completed by the G3 Sceptre S. at Doncaster. 

Last year's G3 Acomb S. winner Indian Run (Ire) is a potential Classic challenger for this season, while in the TDN on Monday Kieran Lalor outlined plans to send Group 3 winner Ocean Jewel (Ire) to race in America for Al Shira'aa Farms.

Of course, Sioux Nation's achievements have not exactly gone under the radar, and his fee in 2024 of €27,500 is more than double his starting point at stud, but it will be interesting to follow his progress, especially if he can come up with horses as tough as Brave Emperor. The sire can't take sole credit for the 10-time winner, however. A first foal, Brave Emperor's 55-rated dam Roman Gal (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) was nothing to write home about as a racehorse but she is a half-sister to the G1 Coronation Cup and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagaradere runner-up Salouen (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), and her granddam Asterita (GB) (Rainbow Quest) won the Lingfield Oaks Trial. Further back again the family includes some prolific black-type earners in champion miler Keltos (Fr) and his half-siblings Krataios (Fr), Loxias (Fr), Iridanos (GB) and Kavafi (Ire). Together the quintet notched 38 wins between them from 97 starts. That hardiness, with more than a dash of talent, is echoing down the line.

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Having won races in Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as picking up prize-money and black type in Sweden, the Middleham Park Racing representative will make his four-year-old debut in Doha in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup at the Amir Sword meeting on Saturday, in a race worth more than £225,000 to the winner.

Trained by Archie Watson, Brave Emperor has now won nine of his 15 starts, including the G2 Premio Vittoria di Capua as well as two Group 3 races in Germany and the G3 Prix Daphnis in Deauville. 

Middleham Park Racing's Tim Palin said, “He's the second top-rated for the race, he definitely deserves his chance and it's fantastic prize-money.

“It's going to be the experience of a lifetime for the half a dozen owners going over. They've tasted success in Milan and Sweden, twice in Germany and in France as well.”

Bred by Caroline Hanly and Sean Ronan from the Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) mare Roman Gal (Ire), Brave Emperor was bought as a yearling at Goffs UK by Robson Aguiar for £19,000. He is one of three Group 2 winners for his sire Sioux Nation and his top scorer by number of wins and prize-money earned in Europe, with a total haul of £321,288. Sioux Nation is also responsible for Helene Feeling (Ire), who has added four wins in Hong Kong to his two in Britain (under the name of Indian Dream) and now has earnings in excess of £1 million.

Palin added of Brave Emperor, “We bought him privately as a two-year-old just before the breeze-ups. He's been an absolute revelation for us and everybody has experienced a fantastic journey with him. Hopefully he'll continue to acquit himself well on Saturday.”

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Confirming the decision to swerve the expensive journey across the Atlantic, Tom Palin of Middleham Park Racing said, “We have weighed it up and the horse's owners discussed the options. He has earned £108,000 but the costs of getting him to America would wipe out all of his earnings, so the decision has been made not to go, especially as there were a few questions marks, like the trip and the dirt.

“However, if an interested party came forward and wanted to partner up in the horse to share the costs and share the fun, we would consider that possibility.”

Bought for £19,000 as a yearling at Goffs UK, the Archie Watson-trained gelding has already taken his syndicate of owners on quite a ride, winning five of his eight starts. These include the Listed Prix de la Californie in Cagnes-sur-Mer and the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby' Conditions S. at Kempton, earning 20 points. He followed up that victory by finishing runner-up to Godolphin's Bold Act (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in Chelmsford City's Cardinal Conditions S. on Saturday evening, accruing another 12 points.

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While the Godolphin colt earned 30 points in this final leg of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, his trainer Charlie Appleby confirmed to TDN that Bold Act will not be aimed at the American Classic on May 6, heading instead towards a Derby trial at home.

“We're delighted he's won but in all honesty he's not a horse we've had on the radar for the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “It's a great race, and for the points initiative, it's fantastic, but for ourselves it wasn't something we were looking at moving on to.

Appleby added, “He's a nice horse and we'll look to step him up in trip and look at the Feilden or the Dante for him. Full marks to Chelmsford for being able to produce a race like that to provide a springboard to go on to the Kentucky Derby.”

Kentucky could still be on the cards for runner-up Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation), however. The Archie Watson-trained gelding already had 20 qualifying points to his name following his win in the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby' Conditions S. at Kempton last month and he is now on 32, having been beaten just half a length by Bold Act

Tom Palin of the Middleham Park Racing syndicate which owns the five-time winner confirmed after the race, “We are strongly considering the Kentucky Derby.”

He continued, “He's a dude of a horse and he ran his heart out once again. I think if he'd had a dream passage up the inside he'd probably have got the job done again tonight. We'll have a good chat on Monday with the team. It's their decision if they want to spend the prize-money to go across [to America], but I see no reason not to have a grown-up conversation about it.”

What a finish!

Bold Act maintains his winning streak after landing Woodford Reserve Cardinal Conditions Stakesff on The Road To The Kentucky Derby under Harry Davies for trainer Charlie Appleby @WoodfordReserve @godolphin pic.twitter.com/BvAjBOOFV8

— Chelmsford City Racecourse (@ChelmsfordCRC) April 1, 2023

On Friday, Archie Watson said of a potential Kentucky Derby bid for Brave Emperor, “How many times do you get the opportunity to have a runner in a race like that? Personally, I feel he would probably suit the Preakness more, but he's done nothing wrong. On pedigree you'd probably say that it would be worth giving the dirt a try, and also on the way he runs, because he does tend to grind it out. That style of running should suit the dirt, but I guess there are a lot of unknowns, like going up two furlongs for the Derby.

“He's as tough as nails and we definitely haven't got to the bottom of him. He responds well and is tough in a battle.”

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Launched in 2019 by the enterprising team at the Essex track, which continues to punch well about its weight on the prize-money front, the Cardinal's three winners to date (there was no race in 2020 during the pandemic) have not taken up the challenge for Churchill Downs. This year, however, two of the 11 declared runners have already earned points elsewhere, and a win on Saturday, which is worth 30 points, would have both sets of connections seriously considering a trip to Kentucky in early May.

Leading the charge in this regard is Middleham Park Racing's Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation), who has already given his syndicate of owners much cause for cheer by winning five of his seven starts to date, including the Listed Prix de la Californie at Cagnes-sur-Mer followed by Kempton Park's 'Road to the Kentucky Derby' Conditions S. on March 15, for which he earned 20 points for the American Classic. The Aidan O'Brien-trained Cairo (Ire) (Quality Road) accrued the same number of points for winning Dundalk's Listed Patton S. and was subsequently tenth in the G2 UAE Derby on Saturday. 

“It's been a bit of a whirlwind,” Middleham Park Racing's Tom Palin told TDN. “It only really came on our radar since he got his head in front at Kempton. I must admit it was never really something we had thought about, or a careful piece of race placement to try to target him at the Kentucky Derby. But when he won at Kempton we realised that he picked up 20 points and we were made aware that he was joint-top of the European series with Cairo, and then Cairo didn't pick up an extra points at the weekend.”

Middleham Park Racing also fields the George Scott-trained four-time winner Coco Jack (Ire) (Wings Of Eagles {Fr}), who was previously fifth to Brave Emperor at Kempton, while Charlie Appleby is represented by the treble winner and 101-rated Bold Act (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}). James Tate's unbeaten Iconic Moment (Ire) (Harry Angel {Ire}), recent winner of the Listed Spring Cup at Lingfield and a dual scorer at Chelmsford, looks likely to start favourite. 

Palin continued, “Obviously we need to see what happens on Saturday. It looks a very competitive race, and I even think our other horse, Coco Jack, could come in and upset the applecart. George is very bullish about him. It's a super-competitive race but if he picks up enough points to secure his berth, that's when the syndicate will have to have a bit of a grown-up chat. There would still be the small matter of about $30,000 to run and more than that to get him across there and back. But as the saying goes, 'you've got to be in it to win it', and that's exactly what we did last Monday, we put him in there. Everybody has heard of the Kentucky Derby, everybody wants to run for the roses, so if you've got a secure berth it's certainly something one should be having a serious conversation about.”

BRAVE EMPEROR is on the European Road to the #KyDerby! pic.twitter.com/5BoUL4FO9z

— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) March 15, 2023

A stellar 2022 season saw another of the Middleham Park Racing syndicates win the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye with The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), who was subsequently sold for 1.2 million gns to Katsumi Yoshida. She has remained in training for the leading Japanese owner and has been switched from Richard Fahey's stable to that of Roger Varian.

Eddie's Boy (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) was another to carry the silks with aplomb, winning the valuable Weatherbys Super Sprint and the G3 Prix Eclipse, and finishing second in the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte. He was sold at the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale for 320,000gns to continue his career in Qatar. The Middleham Park Racing model clearly raises the possibility of Brave Emperor being fully or part-sold should he earn a start at Churchill Downs. 

“Absolutely,” Palin agreed. “The decision is ultimately up to the people in the syndicate. It's not what we want to do, it's what the owners want to do. But they also want to fund their racing for the next four or five years so in some ways the ideal scenario for everybody would be if we were to partner up with somebody, perhaps an American client who wanted a runner in Kentucky Derby and was interested in taking half. 

“Getting him there would wipe out all of the prize-money he has earned so far, and that represents several years' racing for the owners. But it really is very special stuff to be able to talk about it. We were at the Cheltenham Festival after Red Risk had run there and we just finishing up in the bar when Brave Emperor won at Kempton. It was a bit surreal, thinking we were standing there at Cheltenham and suddenly we had the possibility of the Kentucky Derby.”

He added, “He's been fantastic and what's really quite special is that the vast majority of the owners who are involved in Brave Emperor were involved in Eddie's Boy as well. So they are having a real time of it at the moment, they're living the dream.”

Archie Watson, who trains Brave Emperor, a gelded grandson of Scat Daddy, said, “How many times do you get the opportunity to have a runner in a race like that? Personally, I feel he would probably suit the Preakness more, but he's done nothing wrong. On pedigree you'd probably say that it would be worth giving the dirt a try, and also on the way he runs, because he does tend to grind it out. That style of running should suit the dirt, but I guess there are a lot of unknowns, like going up two furlongs for the Derby.

“He's as tough as nails and we definitely haven't got to the bottom of him. He responds well and is tough in a battle.”

He added, “I know he's a Listed winner already but I'd say Saturday will be his hardest test yet. With the Godolphin horse coming in and another horse who has won his last three that we haven't met yet, it looks a strong race. I haven't seen the betting but I'd be hopeful he'll confirm his form with the others, for all that it might be close.”

It was a bit surreal, thinking we were standing there at Cheltenham and suddenly we had the possibility of the Kentucky Derby

Among Brave Emperor's rivals, and with six Kentucky Derby points to his credit following his third-place finish behind Cairo in the Patton S., is the Charles Fipke homebred Stormy Entry (Point Of Entry). Having made his debut when second at Dundalk on December 16, he has subsequently won twice there under the tutelage of the man best known as a breeze-up maestro, Willie Browne.

“Mr Fipke is a sportsman, and he likes his racing, so he wants to give it a go,” said Browne, who also trained the Listed Star Appeal S. winner Spirit Gal (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) for the same owner-breeder last season.

“The handicapper would suggest that we have little chance but he's a nice horse and I'm sure that even though he does look like one of the lesser ones in the field he'll probably give a good account of himself. A truly-run race would suit him, he's in good form, and he travelled over well [Thursday morning], so we're going to give it a go.”

Stormy Entry is also luring leading jockey Seamie Heffernan across the Irish Sea on Saturday.

Browne added, “Having Seamie is a plus for us as he knows the horse and he likes him, so why not?

“I think he has improved and the style of racing in Chelmsford in particular–they seem to go a good gallop–would suit him, but that said this does look tough and we probably haven't the best draw. Mr Fipke loves his horses and he bred this horse. Needless to say, if something did happen, he's be on his way to Kentucky in a hurry. It's ambitious, but you never know.”

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