Tag: Durance

Durance Heads Arqana At €750,000

Under tight restrictions similar to those experienced in Newmarket over the previous fortnight, Arqana’s Breeding Stock Sale began its four-day run in Deauville on Saturday with a strong international feel to proceedings. Participation at this select session from owners and breeders in America and Japan in particular ensured that trade held up pretty well in extraordinary circumstances as the French lockdown continued. The clearance rate was down slightly, but was a healthy 79%, and the turnover of €18,716,000 dipped 18% on last year, when ten more horses were sold. This time around, the 154 lots to have found a buyer returned an average price of €122,961 (-12%), while the median remained unchanged at €75,000.

German Influence
As highlighted in yesterday’s TDN, the German entry for this year’s sale was strong, particularly through the draft of Ronald Rauscher, and it was Durance (Ger) (Champs Elysees {GB}) who proved the most desirable of the fillies in training, with the 4-year-old Gestut Ebbesloh homebred eliciting the day’s top price of €750,000 from James Delahooke. 

The winner of last year’s G3 Mehl-Mulhens Trophy in her native country for Peter Schiergen, Durance (lot 174) followed that up with victory in the G2 Gran Premio di Milano this season and the half-sister to seven black-type performers is now under American ownership, with Delahooke having been acting on behalf of Bryant Prentice’s Pursuit Of Success LLC.

“She was the one that I really wanted in the sale,” said the agent. “Her family has really produced with sires that I’m ashamed to say I’ve never even heard of. The first dam fills the entire page: that’s rare these days. She herself has an admirable race record. I bought her for a very nice American gentleman who has mares in Kentucky and England. Durance will head to stud and her offspring will go to the sales.”

He added, “The sale is very strong for the right profiles despite so few people around the ring. A lot of people must be bidding from offsite.”

Another of the Rauscher draft, the Group 2 winner Satomi (Ger) (Teofilo), was bought by Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock on behalf of breeder Andreas Putsch for €300,000. Trained. By Markus Klug to win three times and to finish fourth in the G1 Preis der Diana, the 4-year-old (lot 197) is a daughter of German champion juvenile Swordhalf (GB) (Haafhd {GB}).

While G1 Preis Von Europa winner Donjah (Ger) (Teofilo {Ire}) was bought back by her owner Dr Stefan Oschmann of Darius Racing at €720,000, this year’s G2 German 1000 Guineas runner-up No Limit Credit (Ger) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) was knocked down to Jean Deroubaix of the FBA at €480,000. Both fillies were bred by Gestut Karlshof, with the latter (lot 192) having raced in the colours of the Faust family of Gestut Karlshof to win four times, including the G3 Schwarzgold-Rennen.

Deroubaix said of No Limit Credit, “I have bought her for a German client, who hasn’t owned a horse for 20 years. I bought him a horse in the 1980s, Val Des Pres, and then he then moved away due to work commitments, and stopped having horses. Now he is retired and is reinvesting. She will go back into training in Germany.”

Carson Wants Truth
The offspring of Prudenzia (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) have long ruled over Arqana’s August Sale, and one of the great mare’s daughters again played a leading role in December when Truth (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) brought the hammer down at €580,000. Again it was James Delahooke doing the bidding but this time he was acting on behalf of Willie Carson’s Minster Stud.

Now eight, the sister to Group 1 winner Magic Wand (Ire) and half-sister to Classic winner Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) had been sold for €1 million as a yearling and raced in a partnership for Al Shaqab and Coolmore. Her one placed finish for Aidan O’Brien may have been disappointing but she has plenty of black-type earners for relations and she was sold in foal to Siyouni (Fr) as lot 178. Thus, a member of the celebrated family returns to England, where her grandam Platonic (GB) (Zafonic) was bred by the Cumani family’s Fittocks Stud before being bought as a foundation mare for Ecurie des Monceaux by Henri Bozo and Patricia Boutin.

Another of Platonic’s grand-daughters, Psara (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), also brought one of the day’s highest prices when sold to Ghislain Bozo’s Meridian International for €500,000.

The 4-year-old mare (lot 148) is a daughter of the G3 Prix de Lutece winner Pacifique (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and, a winner herself last year, is now in foal to Churchill (Ire). As a yearling she was bought for €250,000 by Monceaux partner Victor Langlais.

“She’s a lovely mare from a very good family,” said Bozo. “She is carrying to Churchill and the mating should suit her. Certain partners have come out and the sale has allowed new partners to come in.”

Japan Calling
All three Yoshida brothers of Japan’s leading racing family were represented during Arqana’s opening session. 

Spinning Memories (Ire) (Arcano {Ire}) has been a highly consistent campaigner for Pan Sutong and  Pascal Bary since her impressive maiden win on debut in Ireland and subsequent purchase from Andy Oliver’s stable. Her tally of two Group 3 and three listed wins over the last two seasons vouch for her talent and, though her first two dams were unraced, she traces back to another talented and consistent race mare, the dual Grade 1 winner Memories Of Silver (Silver Hawk), who has in turn also proved to be a classy producer.

Now five, Spinning Memories (lot 134) has thus earned her place among the illustrious broodmare band of Teruya Yoshida, who bought her online for €500,000. She will be joined on the flight to Japan by Mageva (Fr), the 3-year-old daughter of Wootton Bassett (GB) who was trained by Fabrice Chappet to take third in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and was picked up for €430,000, also by the Shadai Farm principal.

Katsumi Yoshida had already bought the winner of that French Classic, Dream And Do (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), in a private deal earlier this season to join his own equally impressive collection of broodmares at Northern Farm, and he was also a prominent buyer in Deauville. Through Emmanuel de Seroux of Narvick International, Yoshida went to €400,000 for the wildcard entry Petite Folie (GB), the Australia (GB) half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}).

“She has been bought for breeding purposes and she will join Northern Farm,” said de Seroux. “There is a very strong chance that she will head to Japan in the new year to be covered.”

Petite Folie, who ran just once for her breeder Diane Wildenstein’s Ballymore Thoroughbred Ltd, was sold as lot 150 through La Motteraye Consignment and she continues the European spending spree for Katsumi Yoshida, also bought five mares at Tattersalls last week for 1.6 million gns.

Haruya Yoshida also made his presence felt with the purchase of another wild card (lot 170) in the recent G3 Prix Fille de l’Air winner Directa (Fr). The half-sister to German listed winner Mc Queen (Fr) (Silver Frost {Ire}) was bought for €470,000 through Satoshi Kobayashi and will join the breeder’s Oiwake Farm in Hokkaido.

Kobayashi said of the 3-year-old, “The filly has been bought as a breeding prospect and she won’t race again. She may be covered by a European stallion before she travels to Japan.”

Another mare on the way to Japan from Arqana is Considerate (GB), a Dansili (GB) half-sister to Enable (GB), who was bought by Keisuke Onishi of JS Company for €65,000. The 10-year-old mare (lot 32) was sold by Haras d’Etreham in foal to Enable’s sire Nathaniel (Ire). She also has a colt foal by the Newsells Park Stud stallion on the ground among her four offspring to date.

Euclidia Joins Select Local Team
Owner Jean-Louis Bouchard is turning his success on the track into a boutique breeding operation and, acting though agent Gerard Larrieu, went to €525,000 to buy the listed winner Euclidia (Fr) (Maxios {GB}) from the Wertheimer consignment (lot 172).

“Jean-Louis Bouchard has just started a little farm here near Deauville,” Larrieu explained. “He doesn’t want to have many mares, just eight or ten maximum, and he wants to improve the quality of his broodmare band. This is a lovely Wertheimer family and they cover their mares with top sires.”

The 3-year-old Euclidia is a half-sister to G3 Prix d’Aumale winner Soustraction (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Matematica (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) from a deep Wertheimer family which includes the Arc heroine Solemia (Fr) (Poliglote {GB}) and Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

From Trotting to Galloping
Malevra (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) was one of the young in-foal mares to sell well on Saturday, and she will remain in France to become the foundation mare for an unnamed breeder from the world of trotting. 

Offered as lot 90 by Haras d’Etreham, the 4-year-old is in foal for the first time to that stud’s former stallion Wootton Bassett (GB). A half-sister to listed winner and Group 3-placed Moonlife (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Malevra gained her own black type last season when runner-up in the G3 Prix de Royaumont on the back of two wins at Deauville and Lyon-Parilly.

Bloodstock agent Frederic Sauque signed the ticket on behalf of his client from and said, “I have bought her for a new investor and she will be his first Thoroughbred mare. We liked both her conformation and her form on the track, and she is carrying a foal by a good stallion.”

American Engagement
Along with the day’s top lot, two well-credentialed 3-year-old fillies piqued the interest of Americans, one to remain in training and one to join the broodmare band at Gainesway Farm.

Conte De Fee (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has already earned black type through her victory in the listed Prix Occitaine this summer. Bought as a yearling by Tina Rau for 100,000gns for owner Alexis Adamian, the grand-daughter of Irish Oaks winner Petrushka (GB) (Unfuwain) was sold on by her trainer Nicolas Clement for €410,000 to Newmarket-based agents Mark McStay and Jamie Piggott.

“I bought her with Jamie Piggott on behalf of Medallion Racing and a client of Jamie’s in America,” explained McStay of Avenue Bloodstock. “She’ll go to the United States. Medallion is Taylor Made’s racing arm and both Jamie and I felt she was a lovely filly. She’s been really well trained by Nicolas Clement and she looks like to be progressing the right way.”

Piggott added, “I’ve had a lot of luck at this sale over the years and you only need to look at the recent success of French-bred horses in America to see what fillies like this can do over there.”

Also heading across the Atlantic is the unraced but well-bred Lasy W (War Front) (lot 144), who was bought online for €320,000 by Alex Solis acting on behalf of Gainesway’s Antony Beck and Andrew Rosen.

“It’s a great American family,” said Solis. “It’s very rare to have a Grade I winner who is out of a Grade I winner and there are so many current stakes horses on the page. We’re excited about that; she’s a beautiful War Front filly. I had some people look at her over there for me and the report was out that she was very, very good-looking.”

This particular brach of the family ended up in the care of the Wertheimer brothers after they bought Lasy W’s dam Zaftig (Gone West) for $1.4 million at Fasig-Tipton in November 2011. The mare’s most accomplished runner to date is the GII Louisiana Derby runner-up Spinoff (Hard Spun), and she is also the dam of listed-placed Rugbyman (Tapit).

Solis added, “Antony Beck and Andrew Rosen bought her together and the plan will be to breed her to Tapit next year. The mare [Zaftig] has a yearling colt by Tapit right now and Rugbyman is a Tapit and he’s a nice horse, so we figured that made a lot of sense for us.”

Double Handed
The demand for the stock offered by the Wertheimer brothers continued with Right Hand (GB), a Lope De Vega (Ire) half-sister to G1 Prix Vermeille winner Left Hand (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was bought by  Victor Langlais for €370,000. The 3-year-old (lot 168) was acquired on behalf of a partnership that will include Henri Bozo and Bertrand Le Metayer, and we will doubtless hear more of her in the Arqana ring in years to come as she will reside at Ecurie des Monceaux, the perennial leading consignor at the August Yearling Sale. 

Langlais also bought lot 154, Light Dream (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}), the three-part-sister to G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Plumania (Fr) (Anabaa), from the Wertheimer draft and said, “I bought her for a partnership. Henri Bozo and I are both among those involved. The idea is to find good mares and to then sell their yearlings at the sales. She comes from a great family and is from a very good breeding operation.”

The Arqana Breeding Stock Sale continues on Sunday at 10am local time.

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Rauscher Bringing German Horsepower To Deauville

One wouldn’t get many pages into this year’s Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale catalogue before noticing a sizeable German presence, and one of the standout drafts making the trek from France’s neighboring country is that of Ronald Rauscher, who offers 11 mares this weekend. Seven of those go through the ring during Saturday’s select session, including two 2020 pattern race winners.

An increase in the presence of German fillies at Arqana in recent years has coincided with a growing number of German owners running their horses in France, and Rauscher noted the popularity of German fillies globally as well.

“German-breds have done quite well in the States lately, and in Japan,” he said. “The Yoshida family has been a great collector of German race fillies in the past and I’ve sold a good few to them over the last few years, so we’ll be hoping Japanese participation takes place.”

One of the highlight lots of Rauscher’s draft-and the sale as a whole-is likely to be the 4-year-old filly Durance (Ger) (Champs Elysees {GB}) (lot 174). Campaigned as a homebred by Gestut Ebbesloh with trainer Peter Schiergen, Durance won the G3 Mehl Mulhens Trophy last year going 2200 metres and was third in the G1 Preis der Diana and second in the GI E.P. Taylor S. She was second in the G2 Grosser Preis der Badischen Wirtschaft in May this year before winning the G2 Gran Premio di Milano in Italy. Rauscher noted, too, there were excuses for her last of 12 finish in the G1 Prix de l’Opera last time.

“Durance ran second in the E.P. Taylor last year and ran a very good race,” he said. “This year she was slightly unlucky and didn’t get the most enterprising rides from the stable jockey at the time. She could have fared a little better, then she wasn’t right when she ran in the Opera. She had an infection with a temperature three weeks beforehand and everyone thought she was over it but that wasn’t the case. I would put a scratch through that form. If people are still interested in her as a race filly, she’s still there and doing well.”

Durance’s unraced dam Djidda (Ger) (Lando {Ger}) has outdone herself at stud, producing eight stakes horses, which in addition to Durance include Devilish Lips (Ger) (Konigstiger {Ger}), the dam of Group 2 winner Dragon Lips (Ger) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) and listed winner and Classic-placed Dynamic Lips (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}). Djidda has an as-yet unraced 2-year-old filly by Soldier Hollow (GB) named Djetties Beach (GB) and a yearling filly by Adlerflug (Ger).

“Durance is a very nice filly with lots of frame and a very strong family,” Rauscher added. “All the half siblings have done very well partly from less commercial coverings.”

Satomi (Ger) (Teofilo {Ire}) (lot 197) heads to Deauville off the back of a season that includes wins in the Listed Hein Bollow-Memorial over 2200 metres and the G2 Grosser Hansa-Preis over 2400 metres over Group 1 winners Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Donjah (Ger) (Teofilo {Ire}). The Markus Klug-trained filly has plenty going for her on pedigree, too, being out of G3 Preis des Winterkonigin scorer Swordhalf (Ger) (Haafhd {GB}) and a half-sister to listed winner and Preis der Diana fourth Sword Peinture (Ger) (Peintre Celebre).

“What is nice about Satomi too is that she’s by Teofilo, who has had a super season, the best season he’s ever had I think with six individual Group 1 winners,” Rauscher said. “On pedigree, Satomi traces back to Schwarzgold, which would be one of our best German families with Slip Anchor, Sagace and Steinlen which were a good while ago, but there are also Soul Stirring and Stacelita in Japan [from the family]. It’s as good as German families get, so Satomi certainly qualifies for a breeding operation.”

Among those being offered on behalf of Rauscher’s longtime client Dr. Christoph Berglar is Pleasant Company (Ger) (Siyouni {Fr}) (lot 111). The 3-year-old filly’s racing career was unfortunately cut short this summer after she broke her maiden at third asking, but her pedigree should generate plenty of interest. She is out of the listed-winning Peace Society (Iffraaj {GB}), who is a half-sister to G3 Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt scorer Peace In Motion (Ger) (Hat Trick {Jpn}), who Rauscher and Berglar sold at this sale two years ago for €860,000.

“Pleasant Company is a very nice filly,” Rauscher said. “She’s a typical Siyouni. We sold Peace In Motion out of that family a few years ago and she made a very good price at Arqana. This filly doesn’t have the same race record; she had a slight hiccup in the summer where she basically had to quit her racing career, but she’s really grown into herself in the time off now. She’s strengthened a lot and has a lot of quality.”

Pleasant Company is the first foal out of Peace Society, who has a 2-year-old colt by Protectionist (Ger) named Pure Bubbles (Ger), a yearling colt by the same sire and a filly foal by Sea The Moon (Ger). Peace Society is in foal to champion sprinter Blue Point (Ire).

“I think with that page behind her and her dam being in foal to Blue Point–and we have some very nice Protectionists out of the dam, a very nice yearling and 2-year-old–I think Pleasant Company should find friends in the ring. The family has been very popular in France.”

Ninfea (Ger) (Selkirk) (lot 146) is another from a family that has been very good to Dr. Berglar, and in fact her third dam is Berglar’s foundation mare Narola (Ger) (Nebos {Ger}). Ninfea is out of the Preis der Winterkonigin winner Night Lagoon (Ger) (Lagunas {GB}), and therefore a half-sister to the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. and four-time Group 1 winner Novellist (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}). The 9-year-old Ninfea was listed-placed herself and has produced two stakes-placed winners from her first two matings: Nayala (GB) (Maxios {GB}), who was second in a listed race going a mile last year, and Nemean Lion (Ger) (Golden Horn {GB}), a €205,000 Baden-Baden yearling purchase by Godolphin who was second in the G2 Prix Chaudenay on Arc weekend. Ninfea has a 2-year-old colt by Adlerflug named New Eagle (Ger), a yearling son of Protectionist and a filly foal by Oasis Dream (GB). She is offered in foal to Nathaniel (Ire).

“Dr. Christoph Berglar and I have a long history with the family; when I was living in Ireland I had Narola as a boarding mare,” Rauscher recalled. “Ninfea is a little different from the family-she’s chestnut, and all the rest are dark bays, but being by Selkirk it’s not a huge surprise. She’s a very nice-looking mare and she has certainly upgraded the two stallions she went to the first couple seasons. Her first foal by Maxios was stakes-placed, and the second one was by Golden Horn. One shouldn’t prematurely be negative about him at all, maybe they’re just late maturing, but her 3-year-old was second in a Group 2 on Arc weekend. I think she’s done tremendously well. The cover by Nathaniel is more an owner/breeder covering and not a commercial one, but she’s a very nice mare. I like her a lot and in one way I wouldn’t like to see her go.”

During a career in which he has operated out of bases in Canada, Ireland and Germany, Rauscher has bought and sold bloodstock all over the world. He said he has been trending towards taking his consignments to Deauville because France and Germany are currently enjoying a strong synergy.

“German form is generally a little more well known in France than in England,” he said. “If you go back 10 or 15 years, I think German-bred horses were selling well in England. I sold Lady Marian there and she won the [Prix de l’Opera], and I sold Manduro’s dam there. It was a time where a few German stallions had retired in England, like Tiger Hill and Shirocco, and a lot of people thought those horses might be commercial, but they weren’t really at the end of the day. I think afterwards the English and Irish markets went off German horses a little bit. The French, in their training and the way they approach them, they would be a little different. They got a better tune out of those horses, and I think the French market might suit just a little better. That doesn’t mean I won’t take anything to Tattersalls, because I have done in the past and we sold very well there just two or three years ago.”

Rauscher described his expectations for the Arqana December market as “optimistic” and reflected on the resilience of the global bloodstock market and the commitment of the major owner/breeders.

“Having watched the foal sale at Tattersalls I was amazed by how resilient it was,” Rauscher said earlier this week. “My expectations would be optimistic especially for those higher end horses. Money seems to be there for them, the same as it was in Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton. People are willing to invest, maybe more long term than short term. The big breeding operations are willing to support their horses, with Juddmonte buying foals now, saying the yearlings were too expensive. You get the feeling that despite all the problems [related to the pandemic] that those people are fully committed and have a long-term plan.”

For those looking to bolster their long-term success in the bloodstock business, a look over the Ronald Rauscher draft at Arqana’s December Breeding Stock Sale could prove pivotal.

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The Weekly Wrap: Long May They Run

It has been quite a week for the old boys. Continuing a fine season, Way To Paris (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) finally notched a deserved Group 1 victory for himself and his trainer Andrea Marcialis in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. At seven, he is a year younger than the sprinting duo of Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) and Judicial (Ire)

(Iffraaj {GB}) who respectively recorded their 14th and 15th victories in Group 3 contests at Newmarket and Newcastle on Saturday.

Then of course there’s the redoubtable Caspian Prince (Ire), who ran his 101st race that same day, chalking up his 20th win at odds of 28/1. The biggest head-scratcher is how this remarkable 11-year-old, by Dylan Thomas (Ire) out of the unraced Crystal Gaze (Ire) (Rainbow Quest), has ended up winning the majority of his races over five furlongs. Now in his tenth season in training, Caspian Prince was an inspired purchase at 11,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale and yet another credit to the skills of bloodstock agent Gill Richardson, whose bang-for-buck ratio with the horses she selects is as good as any out there. The horse has had seven different trainers in his career, with his highest-profile success coming for Tony Coyle when Caspian Prince beat Judicial’s half-sister, the dual Group 1 winner Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), in the G2 Friarstown Stud Sapphire S. almost three years ago.

The Italian Way
Way To Paris may have the perfect name and sire to win a Group 1 in the Parisian suburbs, but both he and his connections have their roots firmly planted in Italy. Bred by Franca Vittadini’s Grundy Bloodstock, he races in the colours of nonagenarian Paolo Ferrario and is trained in Chantilly by Italian ex-pat Andrea Marcialis. Moreover, Way To Paris’s dam Grey Way (Cozzene), from whom he inherits his grey coat, was herself the winner of the G2 Premio Lydia Tesio among her five victories on Italian soil. Twelve years prior to Way To Paris, who was born when Grey Way was 20, the mare had produced the dual G1 Premio Presidente della Repubblica winner Distant Way (Distant View), who later served his time at stud in Italy.

Champs Elysees, a perfectly capable Flat stallion who was massively popular with the jumps brigade in the three seasons he stood at Castle Hyde Stud, died in 2018, the year his daughter Billesdon Brook (GB) won the 1000 Guineas. The brother to Dansili (GB) and Cacique (GB) also featured among the Italian group-race winners over the weekend via his German-bred and -trained son Durance (Ger), who beat French raider Royal Julius (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}) by a neck to land the G2 Gran Premio di Milano for owner-breeder Gestut Ebbesloh.

The other group race on Sunday’s card at San Siro, the G3 Premio Carlo Vittadini, is named in honour of the father of Way To Paris’s breeder, who was himself the owner of the outstanding triple Classic winner of 1975, Grundy (GB) (Great Nephew {GB}). It brought up a double not just for German runners but also for sons of Hasili (GB) as the race was won by the Juddmonte-bred Runnymede (GB), (Dansili {GB}}, who is now trained by Sarah Steinberg for Stall Salzburg having been bought for 75,000gns at Tattersalls in February 2019.

A further feather in the cap for Italian breeding over the weekend came in Ireland, where Speak In Colours (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}) recorded his sixth triumph in the G2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands S. Bred by Paolo and Emma Agostini, the 5-year-old raced initially in their Scuderia Archi Romani silks at two when trained by Marco Botti (who also trained his sire). Following his win in the listed Doncaster S. at two, Speak In Colours was sold to Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez and transferred to Joseph O’Brien, subsequently adding another four stakes victories to his record.

The Derby Cross
The main event of the weekend, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, produced the novel result of a Coolmore-owned winner whose sire and damsire both stood as Darley stallions. However much the Irish Derby’s reputation regrettably continues to be devalued, there is much to like about the newest name on the roll of honour, Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), not least his ability to have bounced back so soon after winning the G2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot.

Then there is his pedigree, and the fact that his fifth dam, Allegretta (GB), also pops up in the backgrounds of plenty of top-class horses, most notably as the grandam of Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire).

Santiago’s Classic victory further embellishes the late Cape Cross’s record as a broodmare sire, a position he also occupies in the pedigrees of Derby winners Australia (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) and Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), Japanese Derby winner Logi Universe (Jpn) (Neo Universe {Jpn}), South Australian Derby winner Russian Camelot (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), G1 Zabeel Classic winners Authentic Paddy (NZ) (Howbaddouwantit) and Consensus (NZ) (Postponed), and six-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}).

Santiago’s dam Wadyhatta (GB) was bought from Shadwell at Arqana’s Summer Sale when carrying Santiago for €275,000. Sheikh Hamdan has himself enjoyed plenty of success with the family over the years, notably through Tamayuz (GB) (Nayef), a half-brother to Santiago’s grandam Thamarat (GB) (Anabaa).

The 2007 Derby winner Authorized will probably end up being best remembered as the sire of dual Grand National winner Tiger Roll (Ire) and, like so many sons of Montjeu (Ire), he has had decent success with his jumpers, which include Nichols Canyon (GB) and Goshen (Fr). But Authorized is also a Flat sire of some note, his chief earner being the evergreen Hartnell (GB) who, like Santiago, won the Queen’s Vase before he was exported to Australia.

Authorized served 12 seasons at Darley’s British, Irish and French wings before being sold to stand in Turkey for the Turkish Jockey Club for the 2020 season.

Fairy’s Story
In a good week for former Derby winners, the 2014 hero Australia (GB) was represented by a third group win for his first-crop son Buckhurst (Ire) in the G3 Alleged S., as well as a runner-up finish for 3-year-old daughter Cayenne Pepper (Ire) in the G1 Pretty Polly S.

An interesting runner of Australia’s on the pedigree front was Saturday’s Hamilton maiden winner King Fairy (Ire). Trained by William Haggas, he was making his second start in the colours of his breeder, the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings, and the 3-year-old colt is inbred 3×3 to their Arc winner and brilliant broodmare Urban Sea (Miswaki) through his grandsires, the half-brothers Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire).

King Fairy’s dam My Fairy (Ire) was unraced but is a sister to My Titania (Ire), who was Sea The Stars’s first group winner back in 2013. The family has also been kind to Haggas who trained another of the mare’s half-siblings, the triple Group 2 winner Muthmir (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

Rude Awakening
The international barriers are slowly lifting and Thursday saw the first English runners in French group races this season. The prizes for both contests were duly smuggled back across the Channel by Hughie Morrison and Charlie Appleby after last year’s G2 Dante S. winner Telecaster (GB) (New Approach {GB}) ran out the easy winner of the G3 La Coupe followed by the triumph of Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 Prix de la Porte Maillot.

Following a run of solely domestic contests since racing resumed in France on May 11, these interlopers were clearly not welcomed by all. The next day’s Jour de Galop bore the front-page headline ‘Rude Britainnia’ and went on to grumble about ‘Des Anglais sans pitie’.

But really the only rude thing about the day’s racing was the start time: the Weekly Wrapper was still mucking out when Telecaster romped home at 8.40am Newmarket time. The French don’t usually like to let racing interrupt lunch, let alone breakfast.

More Joy For Darley Matriarch
Eastern World (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) has an awful lot to live up to in following his high-flying siblings onto the racecourse but the 3-year-old looks set to uphold the family honour following his comfortable maiden win at Newmarket on Sunday.

At the very least he has kept a clean sheet for his dam, the celebrated Darley mare Eastern Joy (GB) (Dubai Destination). Eastern World is her sixth winner from as many runners and all those who have gone before him—all by Darley sires—have notched black-type victories. Heading the list is the Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) and he is followed, in ratings order, by Always Smile (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Ihtimal (Ire) (Shamardal), Winter Lightning (Ire) (Shamardal) and First Victory (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}).

Great Heavens
As we look ahead to the most exciting weekend of action since racing returned, with the Derby, Oaks, Eclipse, Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de Diane all being staged within two days, we must first acknowledge the welcome return of the great mare Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who extended her Group 1 record to five wins with significant ease in Sunday’s Alwasmiyah Pretty Polly S. at an almost deserted Curragh.

In a more normal season, we might have been expecting her to line up again at Sandown on Sunday to try to reverse the 2019 placings with Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the Coral-Eclipse. As it is, she had a pretty easy hit-out for her seasonal debut and we may see her next instead in the ‘King George’ at Ascot, where she completed her magnificent four-year-old season with victory in the G1 QIPCO Champion S.

Magical’s celebrated dam Halfway to Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) was not the only mare of that name to have produced a top-flight winner of the weekend. This is where country suffixes come in handy. Halfway To Heaven (SAf), a daughter of Jet Master (SAf), is the dam of Sheikh Hamdan’s Hawwaam (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}), who won Saturday’s GI Premier’s Champions Challenge at Turffontein, his second Grade 1 victory of the month and, like Magical, fifth in total.

The Irish Halfway To Heaven had already produced a multiple Group 1 winner in Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) but her South African namesake has her matched there, too, as her 5-year-old son Rainbow Bridge (SAF) (Ideal World) is also a dual Grade I winner in South Africa.

And finally…
Well done to the BHA for persuading the government to allow owners to return to the racecourse in time for a belated Derby day. A well-timed decision indeed.

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