‘Hero, Legend, Dude’: Brave Emperor has the World at his Feet

With an increasing number of international stamps in his passport, the multiple Group winner Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation) is fast becoming one of the most admirable horses in training.

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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‘We Can’t Quite Believe Our Luck’: Jamie Osborne on a Memorable 24 Hours in the Gulf

“Some people looked at me like I'd lost my marbles,” admits Jamie Osborne. The trainer is back in rainy Lambourn following a couple of glorious days under the Middle Eastern sun. The potential moment of madness to which he refers came last October when he bid 160,000gns for the then-seven-year-old Emaraaty Ana (GB) (Shamardal). 

The gelding already had 32 runs under his belt and an impressive track record for Kevin Ryan, which included victory in the G2 Gimcrack S., backed up later by his win at five in the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup. He had also won the Listed Rous S. a couple of weeks before heading to the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale, so he was clearly still a competitive animal but one would naturally start to wonder, as he embarked on his eight-year-old campaign, about the general wear and tear that might come with being in training all those seasons. 

That old fighting spirit was still very much in evidence, however, as Emaraaty Ana held on gamely to win Saturday's Dukhan Sprint on Saturday, a local Group 3 in Qatar worth just shy of £180,000 to the winner. His success was a rather large cherry on top of a fine 24 hours for the Osborne stable which began not that far away in Dubai with the second victory this winter at Meydan for another eight-year-old, Ouzo (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}). Both horses were ridden by the trainer's daughter, Saffie, who notched a notable landmark in becoming the first woman to ride a winner at Meydan. 

“We can't quite believe our luck,” says Osborne. “It's nice when plans come off because most of them don't.”

He adds of Emaraaty Ana, “Buying a horse like that, you could potentially make yourself look stupid. I mean, I'm very fortunate that Ian and Claire Barratt have given me a bit of a budget to entertain them with and I felt that, at the money, he made sense as long as we could maintain him. And look, it's easy after the event, but I did say to them that he had the potential to win his purchase price back in Doha in February.”

Job done then, and we could see Emaraaty Ana back at Meydan next month. 

“We're hoping he's going to get an invitation for the Al Quoz,” Osborne says. “Obviously he's going to have to up his game to compete in that, I still think there's a chance that he can improve again.

“Barratt Racing have given me the opportunity to actually spend a bit more money than I've had to spend in the past to give them some fun. Now, how do you spend it? What they're about is going to nice places and competing at a decent level. So if you spend your budget on yearlings, the odds are you'll be disappointed. If you are looking for higher-rated younger horses to go and do these nice international races, well sadly our budget didn't stretch that far.

“In doing this, we have to accept that we've been buying horses that clearly other people feel their best days are behind them. And they are probably right, but hopefully we can maintain them for a year or two to give the Barretts the fun that they would like.”

He continues, “I know some people looked at me like I'd lost my marbles by giving 160,000 for a seven-year-old, but if you think about it, there's so many £160,000 yearlings out there and not many of them are going to end up being rated 110. And, yes, you've got a different journey, you've got a huge amount of hope and excitement with those horses that they could have a successful career, but the reality is most of them don't.

“We're abandoning that hope that we're buying a champion and exchanging it really for a bit of reality. We accept that we're not buying a champion, but we're buying good horses. And as long as we can manage them, and keep them sound, and keep them wanting to do it, then there is some instant fun available with them.”

Osborne admits to having found the Horses-in-Training Sale frustrating last year as he regularly played the role of underbidder, and he points to how the expansion of the racing programme in the Gulf has driven prices up.

“If you just value them as a function of how much prize-money they can win around the world, it makes sense when you see what horses are going to race for in Saudi this weekend, and what they've been racing for in Qatar, what they can race for in Dubai. It's not a surprise that they're expensive,” he says. 

“All the horses that we've got out there have come from very good trainers who have done very well with them: Kevin Ryan, Solid Stone came from Sir Michael Stoute, Ouzo came from Richard Hannon, we've got a nice horse called Sean out there that runs on Friday in the Singspiel Stakes. He came out of Germany, and he's been very well looked after and very well trained, he's seven. 

“We're just probably doing things with them that the previous owners and trainers weren't really wanting to do. We've got the same horse, but if you just campaign them differently, you can find almost a new lease of life for them to compete. These are not English Group 1 races. A British Group race I think is the hardest race to win. So while some of these horses are competing in Middle Eastern Group races, they may well not compete in the British ones, but if we look after them and campaign them very much with a return to the Middle East in mind for next year, there's no reason why we can't go overseas.”

Ouzo is owned by The Other Club, a syndicate which comprises Osborne's wife, the artist Katie O'Sullivan, and a group of her friends.

“He's been a bit of a revelation, really, and I'm still unsure why,” Osborne says. “We failed to win with him for two years and he was running very consistently, getting placed in some very good races, and I was very worried about taking him to Dubai off 98, but he's found another leg since we've been out there this year. Maybe the extra little bit of trip has helped.

“There's one thing for certain, he isn't going to win the Hunt Cup now. He plied his trade around that 95 mark for two years, being slightly a victim of his own consistency, and now he's gone and won off 102, so it's fantastic for his owners who have enjoyed him immensely in spite of not winning for a couple of years, and now he's won three on the trot.”

He adds of the ownership group, “They certainly enjoy themselves wherever they go. I'd said to them before his first start, 'If you're only going to come out [to Dubai] once, come for his second start.” So obviously when he won first time, I thought I'd completely messed it up.”

He adds, “We'll get his little bag packed and bring him back here. He's still in the Lincoln off 98 plus a penalty. I wouldn't completely rule that out, but we'll just see how he comes back.”

Osborne's biggest win in Dubai came a decade ago when Toast Of New York won the G2 UAE Derby. He ended that same season by being beating just a nose in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Now 13, the son of Thewayyouare has an active life as a riding horse with the family of  Osborne's right-hand man and fellow former jump jockey Jimmy McCarthy, who is overseeing the trainer's horses in Dubai.

Despite enjoying multiple top-level successes in his own career over jumps, Osborne admits to being a bit of a fair-weather racing man, making the Middle East at this time of the year an appealing prospect beyond just the prize-money on offer.

He says, “One of the downsides of being a jump jockey was that it happened in the winter. I suppose, to a degree, I've driven this concept motivated by my hatred for the British winter, but thankfully I've got owners that enjoy it too.”

Saffie Osborne is doubtless enjoying it too, especially as she had to curtail her season last November when seeking treatment for torn ligaments in her knee. It was still her best year to date, with 70 winners on the board and a first Group success in the Valiant S. aboard Random Harvest (Ire) (War Front). And before you start thinking she's a nepo baby, it's worth reading what her father has to say about her. 

“She's been a liability most of her life but it finally looks like she's turning into an asset,” he says, though even down the phone it's easy to detect the smile on his face. 

“She's had a tough few months. I'm not totally certain that if we hadn't had the nice horses in the Middle East that she would be back yet. But she worked very hard to get back and did what she had to do with her knee, and hopefully it'll keep improving as the year goes on, but she does have damage in there. 

“Obviously, for Katie and me, doing what we're doing with her on board just makes it extra special.”

He continues, “There was a time when she was riding, she rode Alignak at Meydan for us a couple of years ago, and I was happy with her riding the horse, but she was just proficient. Now, I would say, without being biased, which is a difficult thing not to be, I think I would rather have her on the horses than anyone else now, from a professional point of view, and regardless of the pleasure that I get from seeing her riding for us. She's got the hang of it now.

“She's not afraid to get beat on a horse, which sounds stupid, but I think that's a very important thing that a jockey must have. The route she took on Ouzo, that could have ended up as a real hard-luck story, but if she'd come around them, she wasn't going to win. So you've got to be prepared to take that chance and sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't, but she has the confidence to take that calculated risk. And maybe it stems from the fact that as her mother owns it and her father trains it, she knows she's not going to get jocked off. 

“But on the other hand, I'm trying to regrow this business at the moment, I don't have enough horses. I would like to grow both sides of the business, both here and a travelling team for the Middle East for next winter, and if I thought her involvement was in any way going to be detrimental to the growth of this business, well I'm afraid nepotism would go out the window. I'm not going to employ her at the expense of the business. 

He adds, “She's extremely driven and I think there's a chance that Saffie can really make it and she's almost certainly going to grow out of me, I hope. In which case, I'll just have to stand in line with everyone else.”

The next big test for Saffie Osborne comes on Friday in Riyadh, where she is one of 14 jockeys to have been called up for the Saudi Cup International Jockeys' Challenge. Ryan Moore is also in the line-up, as is Australia's Damien Oliver, who is making a brief comeback from his recent official retirement. 

With a line that only a father could get away with, Osborne says of his daughter's participation, “That's a big step for a little girl.

“I think if she'd been involved in that competition last year, you'd be living in fear that she's going to be outwitted or out-jockeyed by that class of a rider that she's going to be competing against, but now I don't think that's a concern. I think that rule number one if you're going to be a good jockey is you've got to know how fast you're going and it seems that she's innately got that now. I'll be in Dubai watching with interest.”

 

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Brave Emperor Returns to Action in Qatar

The multiple Group winner Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation) will attempt to conquer another frontier with his first run in Qatar at the weekend.

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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Emperor Maximus Crosses Over in Qatar Derby

Wrapping up Day 29 in Qatar, the final race on the Thursday card brought together a well-matched field of 3-year-old colts that were vying for a black-type prize. After a pair of scratches, out of the remaining 16 runners, Emperor Maximus proved best, but it was not a foregone conclusion that he would be able to make the leap in company after campaigning on-track at lower levels on three prior occasions. Just last week Dec. 22, the colt won a handicap against 13 others by 1 3/4 lengths, but he was clearly going to have to run his best in here.

At the break, it was Upton Park who broke alertly from the outside, angled into the three-path, and set up shop on the lead into the first turn and continued to do so down the backstretch. Nestled along the rail in the third position, Emperor Maximus was content to sit a ground-saving trip, as the rest of the field pursued. The leader went moderately at :51.70 after 500 meters, and looked to extend the ground between as the gelding rounded the final turn.

By the top of the lane, the field began to shake loose as the pace began to quicken, and with less than 500 meters Emperor Maximus was given his cue from the rail. Moving swiftly, the dark bay took aim at his rival, and under firm handling, fully extended himself past the pacesetter to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Upton Park closely held second, and it was Persian Royal was up for third. The winner's dam last produced a gelding by Zanzibari in 2021 with no report issued the year before.

 

Thursday, Al Rayyan, Qatar

QATAR DERBY (Black-Type), US$500,000, Al Rayyan, 12-29, 3yo, 2000mT, 02:01.34, gd.
1–EMPEROR MAXIMUS (FR), 128, c, 3, by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)
          1st Dam: Lapland (Fr), by Linamix (Fr)
          2nd Dam: Landlocked, by Unbridled
          3rd Dam: Land Shark (Fr), by Pitskelly (GB)
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Al Rufaa Racing; B-Thierry Storme,
Haras Des Sablonnets, Thierry Lohest (Fr); T-Gassim Ghazali;
J-Marco Casamento; US$285,000. Lifetime Record: 11-2-3-3.
2–Upton Park (Fr), 128, g, 3, Elm Park (GB)–Sienna Bella (GB),
by Anabaa. (150,000gns yrl '22 TATJUL). O-Mohammed
Abdulhadi S. Al-Hajri; T-Ibrahim Saeed Al Malki; J-Tomas
Lukasek; US$110,000.
3–Persian Royal (GB), 128, g, 3, Al Kazeem (GB)–Poplin (GB), by
Medicean (GB). (450,000gns yrl '22 TATOCT). O-Wathnan
Racing; B-D. J. and Mrs. Deer (GB); T-Alban Elie De Mieulle;
J-Soufiane Saadi; US$55,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, 3/4, 1.

 

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