First Foals Reported For Circus Maximus

  • Three-time Group 1 winner Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})'s first reported foals arrived earlier this season.
  • Fillies by Shy Bride (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}), a half-sister to three group winners including Gold Away (Ire) (Goldneyev) and Danzigaway (Danehill); and Haida Gwai (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), herself out of a stakes winner, were both born at Coolmore Stud on behalf of Barronstown Stud.
  • Another filly, out of Village Gossip (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) from the family of Classic winner Crimplene (Ire) (Lion Cavern), was bred by Chris McCracken, who described her as “a proper good foal”.
  • Dean Harron bred a colt out of the stakes winner Ms Grande Corniche (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).
  • Darkest (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a full-sister to G2 Sandown Mile winner and G1 Lockinge S. runner-up Sovereign Debt (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), produced her first foal, a filly, at Castlehyde Stud.
  • Group 3-placed Alamode (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), from the family of Group 1 winner Alborada (GB) (Alzao), produced a filly for Kirsten Rausing's Lanwades Stud. Lanwades said, “She has good bone, is correct and is generally very nice.”
  • A half-sister to Hurricane Run (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), High Fidelity (Ger) (Peintre Celebre), foaled a filly for Anna Martin.
  • The Niarchos Family's Fountain of Peace (Kris S.), a daughter of blue hen mare Coup de Genie (Mr. Prospector), produced a colt; while Freedonia (GB) (Selkirk), already the dam of Group 1 winner Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), foaled a filly at Coolmore this week. Champion Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) is also carrying to the dual Royal Ascot Group 1 winner.
  • Circus Maximus stands for €12,500 at Coolmore Stud this season.

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‘Maximus’ Brings Duntle Legacy Full Circle

When an ageing emperor has as many sons extending his dominion as Galileo (Ire), the eventual succession is bound to be fiercely contested. The onus, then, is on each of his sons entering stud to establish the credentials that set him apart. In the case of Circus Maximus (Ire), the latest to set up shop as a more accessible alternative alongside his sire at Coolmore, two things stand out straightaway–and so does the link between them.

One is that Circus Maximus, unlike those thorough staying types who have made Galileo such a profound Derby influence, proved a pure miler. The other is that he will always be treasured, by those closest to him, as no less a conduit for the genes of his dam than for those of his breed-shaping sire. Tragically, he was the only foal delivered by Duntle (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), 14 months before her loss at the age of eight in April 2017. And what combines and magnifies these twin dimensions is the fact that both Circus Maximus and his mother achieved the remarkable distinction of winning twice from two visits apiece to Royal Ascot.

Raced almost exclusively at a mile, Duntle was bred by Airlie Stud and still carried the silks of Mrs. Sonia Rogers when winning a Dundalk maiden on her second start, by no less than 18 lengths. At this point she was bought by the Niarchos family's Flaxman Stables, and within a few weeks had won the Listed Sandringham H. at the royal meeting. She followed up in the G3 Desmond S. and appeared to seal her rapid rise when just holding out in a photo for the G1 Matron S., only to have the spoils revoked in a stewards' room controversy. She resumed in seamless fashion, however, in a Group 3 at Leopardstown the following spring, and then won her second Royal Ascot prize in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. She finished off with three more tries at the elite level, twice making the frame.

Being by a son of Danehill, Duntle's mating with Galileo sought a familiar balance. These complementary branches of the Northern Dancer dynasty, through the stamina of Sadler's Wells and the zip of Danzig, have of course been integral to Coolmore's impact on the modern breed. Whether the supposed alchemy axiomatically attributed to this cross actually goes beyond the quality of mares guaranteed for sires of their stature is another story. Regardless, Duntle certainly brought an awful lot more to the equation than merely having Danehill as a grandsire.

For she extended a branch of the famous dynasty that passes to La Troienne (Fr) through her Hall of Fame granddaughter Searching. This was the line pegged down by one of Searching's daughters by Hail To Reason, Priceless Gem, who beat Buckpasser in the 1965 Futurity S. and became the dam of the great Allez France (Sea-Bird {Fr}). These genes were so potent that Noble Bijou, Priceless Gem's son by Vaguely Noble (Ire), though unraced, became a four-time champion sire in New Zealand. Indeed, Priceless Gem achieved a record price for a mare–$395,000–even when Allez France (her second foal) was still but an anonymous weanling.

It was Priceless Gem's 1975 date with Secretariat, in his second year at stud, that produced Lady Winborne, Duntle's third dam. Lady Winborne would contribute to Secretariat's subsequent reputation as a peerless distaff influence: a winner and group-placed on her only two starts in Ireland, she produced half a dozen stakes winners including two at Grade I level, and can be found in the same slot in the pedigree of the flourishing Ashford stallion Munnings as she does in that of Duntle.

Lady Winborne doubtless owed her 1983 covering by Little Current to the fact that the Darby Dan stallion shared his late sire, Sea-Bird, with her half-sister Allez France. The resulting filly Benguela won a couple of races and eventually owed both highlights of her stud career, which took her over the ocean to Airlie Stud, to Lord At War (Arg). Another sturdy distaff brand, Lord At War sired the hardy grass runner Honor in War (GI Woodford Reserve Turf Classic) out of her daughter Catumbella (Diesis {GB}); and a minor winner named Lady Angola out of Benguela herself. Lady Angola's fifth foal was Duntle, a nice addition to Lord Of War's record as a broodmare sire, which is crowned by Pioneerof the Nile (Empire Maker) and Raven's Pass (Elusive Quality).

Bottom line on Circus Maximus, then, is–well, his bottom line. Feel free to pin the success of Circus Maximus on a Galileo-proxy Danehill cross, but clearly there's much else besides to draw breeders to this young stallion.

And nor does it stop with his page. In an era when horses are routinely deemed deserving of a stud career after a single summer of juvenile sprinting, you have to love the way he held his form at the highest level through three seasons. He was beaten a length in Group 1 company at two, and his two Ascot wins–in the G1 St James's Palace S. at three and then in the G1 Queen Anne S. last year–are supported by a body of work that confirms him to be both an authentic miler (a discovery credited to Dettori after Circus Maximus tried his luck in the Derby) while yet a very adaptable one. He won the G1 Prix du Moulin in easy ground, but showed his relish for an emphasis on speed when closing to a neck, after being hampered, on his final start in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. He also whizzed right-handed round Goodwood twice, going down only narrowly in consecutive runnings of the G1 Sussex S.

Unsurprisingly, then, the Niarchos family is putting its shoulder to the wheel as Circus Maximus sets out to recycle pedigree and performance in his new role.

Alan Cooper, the family's racing manager, demurs when accused of undue modesty in describing the acquisition of Duntle as merely “fortuitous”.

“She was a recommendation by Jamie McCalmont,” he says. “Obviously she was very impressive winning her maiden at Dundalk, and she stayed with David Wachman who trained her so well throughout. But very sadly nature took a course nobody wanted: she got a form of laminitis after delivering Circus Maximus, and couldn't be saved. For her only foal to have become such an exceptional racehorse only makes her loss all the more poignant, and makes him all the more special.”

There was always corresponding attention on the orphaned foal. “He had a lot of Duntle in him,” Cooper recalls. “She was a good-sized, very good-looking mare, with strength and depth to her. And Circus Maximus was eye-catching from a very young age, especially for the quality of his walk.”

So there's a very specific and precious legacy at stake in his new career. The Niarchos mares heading his way comprise a suitable blend: some older, proven types of the sort always useful in establishing the merit of a new stallion; and also some young mares of high pedigrees and untapped potential. Even in the first category, however, the families remain very active.

Take Celestial Lagoon (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), for instance. She's now 21, old enough for her listed-winning daughter Maria Gabriella (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) to have herself produced a listed scorer. But among her other stakes performers is Highest Ground (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), so impressive in his first two starts for Sir Michael Stoute that he was made odds-on for the G2 Dante S. last summer, when beaten just a neck. Cooper has high hopes that he will be contributing afresh to the pedigree at four.

“He wasn't suited by soft ground on his only start after York, so he was put away and freshened up and hopefully we can have a good 2021 with him,” he reports. “He definitely strengthened up through the year and hopefully any little niggles are now behind him. There's actually a lot happening in this pedigree, through several of Celestial Lagoon's daughters as well.”

Similarly, another older mare bringing fresh distinction to her appointment with Circus Maximus is the 19-year-old Freedonia (GB) (Selkirk). Already dam of Polybius (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a group-placed listed winner for David Lanigan, she has recently raised the bar with her daughter Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), winner of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac. Albigna has now been retired for a covering by Galileo, so new blossoms can be expected on this branch of the family tree.

One pedigree that needs little elaboration is that of Astroglia (Montjeu {Ire}). She's out of Prix Imprudence winner Glia (A.P. Indy), herself a daughter of Group 1 winner/producer Coup De Genie (Mr. Prospector) and therefore a granddaughter of the foundation mare Coup De Folie (Halo). This is the family that has produced the likes of Maxios (GB) (Monsun {Ger}) and Bago (Fr) (Nashwan), while Astroglia is half-sister to the dam of a multiple Grade I winner for another major breeding empire in Juddmonte's Emollient (Empire Maker).

Astroglia is 11, the same age as Sea Meets Sky (Fr) (Dansili {GB}). “This is another promising mare,” Cooper remarked. “And with another super pedigree. Her mother Sacred Song (Diesis {GB}) was a good racemare [a dual Group winner/G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up for the late Sir Henry Cecil, also dam of multiple group winner Multidimensional (Ire) (Danehill)]. She has a very nice 4-year-old in France, who had one or two issues early on but finished up with a good fourth at listed level, so there should be more to come from him.”

It's certainly a wonderful family going back: in fact, this is the branch of the great Myrtlewood dynasty that takes in the dam of Mr. Prospector. And the selection of Circus Maximus for Eyeshine (GB) (Dubawi {GB}) is another significant vote of confidence. A $1.45-million yearling out of Oaks winner Casual Look (Red Ransom), Eyeshine managed an eight-length win in what proved a fairly light career for John Gosden but is still just eight and her first foal Maloja (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) started favourite for her only start at The Curragh in November.

“The ground was dreadful that day but I know Jessie [Harrington] quite likes her, so there's a bit of excitement there,” Cooper explains. “Eyeshine grew a lot, she became quite a big mare and John was careful with her. She's owned in partnership with Mr. Farish of Lane's End and is expecting a Study Of Man (Ire) colt in early April. Astroglia is also in foal to Study Of Man, while Sea Meets Sky is expecting a Saxon Warrior (Jpn). So these are mares giving plenty of support to our young stallions.”

Plenty of other breeders have also had their imagination caught by Circus Maximus, with many black-type performers or producers heading his way. There will be an all-Royal Ascot match, for instance, with G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}); while Forces Of Darkess (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), beaten a neck at Group 1 level, is a Group 3-winning half-sister to G2 Norfolk S. winner Waterloo Bridge (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). Circus Maximus will also be receiving the dams of both Rip Van Winkle (Ire), a multiple Group 1 winner by his own sire; and Canford Cliffs (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}), another to have won both the St James's Palace S. and Queen Anne S.

Aptly, Airlie Stud will be favouring the horse they bred with Classic Remark (Ire) (Dr Fong), a listed winner out of the Group 2 winner Claxon (GB) (Caerleon) from an excellent Hesmond family. And it speaks well for Circus Maximus that Cooper is himself sending him a mare, a close relative of Group 2 winner Curtain Call (Fr) (Sadler's Wells).

“I'm hoping he will inject some of his speed and resolute character to her foal,” he said. “Circus Maximus was such a tough racehorse, and once Aidan [O'Brien] settled on the mile as his right trip, everything clicked into place. It all came the same to him, left-handed, right-handed, straight. He always showed up, he was always enduring, and nearly pulled off the perfect finish at the Breeders' Cup. The way he held his form is a testament to his constitution and soundness, both mental and physical. Because those were the two most important things about him, as a racehorse. He had a very good nature–and he was a warrior.”

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Noughts and Crosses Behind a Dream Mare

Now I do realise that I am in a minority of one here. But while everyone else seems to perceive some unique alchemy between Galileo (Ire) and Danehill, to me the number of good horses obtained by that cross is pretty much as you should expect when one breed-shaping stallion is mated with the daughters of another. After all, their dams will in turn have been well-bred and/or accomplished runners, simply to have gained access to an elite sire. If we call this “selective breeding”, we are surely flattering ourselves.

That said, it’s easy to acknowledge an elementary logic in combining the trademark influences of their respective sires; in reuniting the crucial division of Northern Dancer’s legacy between Sadler’s Wells stamina and Danzig speed. Seeking the best of both worlds, speed that can be carried Classic distances, is the simplest grail of all. It seldom works out, mind you, and hardly ever to the epoch-making degree we saw in Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), the ultimate template for the cross.

Regardless, there’s no arguing with the dividends achieved by John Magnier and his partners in Coolmore, who found themselves with paddocks full of Danehill mares just as Galileo was on the rise. And the model was eagerly adopted elsewhere.

The cross was back in focus last Saturday, after Ballydoyle’s historic GI FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile clean sweep. The winner, to general astonishment, was Order Of Australia (Ire)–by Galileo’s son Australia (GB) out of a mare from the very last crop of Danehill. And runner-up Circus Maximus (Ire) is by Galileo himself out of a Danehill Dancer (Ire) mare. Third (and fastest) to finish, Lope Y Fernandez (Ire), represented a different sire-line but completed a distaff trifecta for Danehill and his daughters, as a son of Lope De Vega (Ire) out of a Dansili (GB) mare.

All three, unusually for Ballydoyle, were the work of breeders other than Coolmore, entering the stable either through partnership or auction purchase. Lope Y Fernandez, bred by SF Bloodstock, was recruited as a €900,000 Arqana August yearling; while Circus Maximus (Ire) was bred by co-owners Flaxman Stables. But the winner himself attested to the mastery of his supervision in a fashion still more instructive, perhaps, than this unprecedented Breeders’ Cup 1-2-3.

For Order Of Australia is a half-brother to Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World), who won her fourth elite prize in the GI Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita last year. And both were bred by Aidan O’Brien and his wife Annemarie, herself a remarkable horsewoman, from a mare that cost just 14,000gns. (In the case of Iridessa, of course, their accomplishments extended to having also bred and raised the trainer, their son Joseph.)

Senta’s Dream (GB) was presumably added to the O’Briens’ Whisperview Trading broodmare band primarily because, as just noted, she belonged to that final crop of Danehill. (Along with the likes of Peeping Fawn, Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) and Duke Of Marmalade (Ire)… Gosh, the champ really was still in his pomp!)

While necessarily only part-time breeders, horse people as devoted and inspired as the O’Briens could never treat Whisperview as a mere pastime. With their access to so many different stallions “made” by Aidan, their customary professionalism has duly reaped many dividends besides Senta’s Dream. With Annemarie’s late father, the hugely respected Joe Crowley, the O’Briens co-bred Danehill’s record-breaking son Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire); and have since produced such Group 1 winners as Kingbarns (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Beethoven (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) and the Fastnet Rock (Aus) pair Intricately (Ire) and Qualify (Ire). But the way they have realised the potential latent in Senta’s Dream represents a new peak.

The Breeders’ Cup is in the mare’s blood, as she is one of just two foals–and the only daughter–delivered by Starine (Fr) (Mendocino), who preceded Iridessa on the Filly and Mare Turf roll of honour by 17 years. Starine, however, had such a plain pedigree that Bobby Frankel was unable to find an owner when he imported her from France, and ended up racing her in the silks of one R.J. Frankel. He had the last laugh, cashing her in for $1 million to Newsells Park Stud at the Keeneland November Sale straight after the Breeders’ Cup.

Starine was all that salvaged her sire from oblivion. A son of Theatrical (Ire), Mendocino did win a small stakes race in France for owner-breeder Allen Paulson but his eligibility for stud presumably rested on the fact that his dam was by Caro (Ire) out of a half-sister to Exclusive Native. As a result, the mating that produced Starine did yield one conspicuous feature in a 3×3 presence for Caro, whose son Kaldoun (Fr) had sired her dam. But by the time Starine won at Arlington Park, her sire had mustered 61 foals across eight crops and just half a dozen other winners. Nor was there the least distinction in the past two or three generations of Starine’s maternal family.

Yet by the time the yearling Senta’s Dream was sent to Deauville in August, the death of both her illustrious parents had made her appear worth retaining at €300,000. After failing to make the track, however, her first foals made little impact either in the ring or at the races and she was culled as a 9-year-old for 14,000gns, the docket signed by BBA Ireland, at the Tattersalls December Sale of 2013.

Her new owners were quick to turn around her fortunes. Even the Equiano (Fr) filly she was carrying at the time was processed as a yearling for €92,000. (Now six, Tisa River (Ire) resurfaces as lot 1680 in the forthcoming Tattersalls December Sale.) And while Senta’s Dream appears to have missed the following year, her 2015 assignment with Ruler Of The World would give that luckless stallion–who suffered an untimely injury during his first covering season–the outstanding achievement to date, in Iridessa, of a career he is now pursuing in France.

Her next foal was Order Of Australia. He has clearly been well regarded all along, tried in the G1 Irish Derby and G1 Prix du Jockey Club when still a maiden. But the inspiration that he was not getting home, and should be dropped to a turning mile, would have eluded most of us after subsequent wins at 10 and 12 furlongs.

He was given his debut at the backend, remember, over a mile in heavy ground at Naas. But he travelled with high energy in a very different environment last Saturday and, while plainly well served by a jockey in electric form, looks absolutely entitled to consolidate his reinvention next year.

This feels like a key moment in the career of his young sire, whose Group 1 breakthrough had come just a few weeks previously when Galileo Chrome (Ire)–himself out of a Dansili mare–met the gruelling demands of the G1 St Leger. That Australia should impart that kind of stamina was unsurprising, as a Derby winner famously by a Derby winner out of Oaks winner Ouija Board (GB) (Cape Cross) (Ire); and, indeed, his only previous crop had produced the Leger runner-up in Sir Ron Priestley (GB).

But let’s not forget that Australia was beaten under a length by Night Of Thunder (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the G1 2000 Guineas. Or that he outpaced The Grey Gatsby (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) over 10 furlongs on fast ground in the G1 Juddmonte International. As a 2-year-old, moreover, he had thrashed subsequent Group 1 winner Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) by six lengths at Leopardstown.

Sure enough, two of Australia’s first juveniles were denied Group 1 prizes only by a neck apiece: Broome (Ire) in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, and Sydney Opera House (Ire) in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. The latter race obviously represents an extreme test for a youngster, but at least Australia was quickly proving that he could produce an eligible Classic type at an accessible fee. Broome, indeed, failed by just half a length to emulate his sire and grandsire at Epsom, having taken the Ballysax-Derrinstown route often reserved at Ballydoyle for the “anointed” colt of the crop.

With the maturing of his stock, Australia has advanced annually within his intake: fourth in the prizemoney table with his first juveniles; third last year; and looking booked for second this time round, with a class-high five Group 1 performers, plus a tally of seven Group winners shared only by Kingman.

Despite having managed more or less to “lie up” with Kingman and No Nay Never–whose precocious achievements have sent their fees through the roof–Australia had been eased from an opening €50,000 to €27,500 for 2020. As such, especially in the current environment, a fee of €25,000 for 2021 represents a pretty solid “hold”.

Whatever the future holds for Australia, the fact is that Senta’s Dream has consecutively given two stallions their outstanding achiever to date. So perhaps the most exciting aspect of her story is the stunning debut of her latest juvenile, whose sire Camelot (GB) had been getting on very nicely without her. Santa Barbara (Ire), again registered in the regular Coolmore surnames plus Mrs. A.M. O’Brien, looked some prospect when outclassing 17 maidens at The Curragh in September.

No Galileo over Danehill here, obviously, with Camelot representing the Montjeu (Ire) branch of the Sadler’s Wells hegemony. (Actually Camelot instead introduces extra Danehill, as sire of his second dam.) Sometimes it really does seem as though we’re all simply seeking a proxy for Sadler’s Wells-Danzig. In the case of Australia himself, for instance, Galileo combines with the alternative route to Danzig, Ouija Board being by a son of Green Desert.

And the thing is that stretching a nick this far dismisses, for no intelligible reason, a ton of other good stuff in the vicinity. In the case of Santa Barbara, for instance, a lot of “Special” stuff. Camelot’s damsire Kingmambo was out of Nureyev’s peerless daughter Miesque; Mendocino was by Nureyev’s son Theatrical; and Nureyev’s mother Special also produced the dam of Sadler’s Wells.

Before her acquisition by the O’Briens, Senta’s Dream was tried with a son of Sadler’s Wells, High Chaparral (Ire), and a son of Montjeu, Motivator (GB), with dismal results. The simpler the breeding “formula”, the more it resembles a “system”, the more wary we should be. The only rule is that there are no rules. (Think Mendocino.)

In planning matings, I feel we should really only seek balance, in terms of type; and depth, in terms of pedigree. When people talk about nicks between entire sire-lines, often branded by patriarchs who have meanwhile receded into a third or fourth generation, I never understand why they feel able to discard so many other genetic strands with an equal footprint.

True, a wider reading of this cross soon takes us to the same kind of place anyway. Galileo and Danehill are both grandsons of Northern Dancer but Danehill brings that extra shot of Natalma into the equation, Northern Dancer’s dam also being granddam of Danehill’s mother Razyana. And Razyana is out of Buckpasser mare, just like Galileo’s damsire Miswaki.

In fact, if you think about it, there’s an awful lot of broodmare power behind this cross: a lot of stallions whose dams also produced other top-class horses. Danehill’s damsire His Majesty, for instance, was a sibling to Graustark and Bowl Of Flowers; Urban Sea gave us Sea The Stars as well as Galileo; and Sadler’s Wells, as just noted, was out of Nureyev’s half-sister.

In the end, we’re all trying to get to the middle of the same maze. You can use electric shears, if you like; or navigate from the stars. There are always umpteen factors in play. But perhaps none is more important than how a horse is raised, broken and trained. And, in the case of Senta’s Dream, to that extent you’re talking about a daily accretion of genius.

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Sussex Taking Shape as Classic Colts Face Elders

Juddmonte’s undefeated G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas hero Siskin (First Defence) and G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas Kameko (Kitten’s Joy), who represents Qatar Racing, lead the nine-strong G1 Qatar Sussex S. field at the latest entry stage on Thursday morning.

The duo are joined by fellow sophomores: MG1SP G2 Coventry S. winner Arizona (Ire) (No Nay Never), Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Vatican City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and G3 Tattersalls S. hero and MG1Sp Wichita (Ire) (No Nay Never), all from Ballydoyle. Aidan O’Brien also sends 4-year-olds MG1SW Circus Maximus (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who won the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot and GSW Lancaster House (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Marcus Tregoning fields MGSW Mohaather (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) who leads the entries with a Racing Post Rating of 123. San Donato (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire})), runner-up to Mohaather in the G2 Summer Mile S. at Ascot earlier this month, will also take part. The lightly raced Roger Varian trainee won a 1200-metre listed event at Doncaster in the fall of 2018 and emerged from a 197-day break to complete the trifecta behind MG1SW Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in the G1 French 2000 Guineas in May of 2019. The Summer Mile was his first appearance since and he appears poised to run well in this return to Group 1 company.

“Yes, absolutely,” said Varian, of San Donato on the idea of facing Mohaather again. “I think Goodwood will suit San Donato, and we’re looking forward to it. He’s come out of that Ascot Summer Mile bouncing, and I would anticipate in a nice bit of improvement–because that was his first run for 16 or 17 months. He’s an exciting horse for the rest of the year and beyond, I hope.”

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