Emma Berry | Horse Racing Free Tips

Seven Days: Bringing Out The Big Guns

A few weeks ago the bookmaker Fitzdares made Dubawi (Ire) favourite to be champion sire this year for the first time, and perhaps no horse deserves it more than Darley's utterly dependable 20-year-old. However, the race to the top will not be easy, particularly judging by the apparent strength in depth of the challenge of Frankel's offspring for this year's major races.

Though the reigning champion, as well as the Gosden stable and owner-breeders Cheveley Park Stud, were dealt a blow by the withdrawal of Inspiral (GB) from Sunday's QIPCO 1000 Guineas, the season is but young. The G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot now seems to be the favoured target for Inspiral's reappearance, and naturally she also holds entries for the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Oaks.

In the meantime, Frankel has not been short of promising 3-year-olds to represent him in the past week, with a number of them signalling the blossoming of the Gosden yard, which had been a little slower to spring to life this season compared to last. The six winners from Clarehaven Stables over the last seven days included a Saturday double from Nashwa (GB) and Magisterial (GB), both by Frankel and both with Epsom on their agenda.

Nashwa represents the 'Cracksman cross' of Frankel on Pivotal (GB), the filly's dam, Princess Loulou (Ire) having been bought as a yearling from breeder David Brown of Furnace Mill Stud for 310,000gns. Having raced for the partnership of Imad Al Sagar and Saleh Al Homaizi, finishing runner-up in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet and then landing the Listed Gillies Fillies' S. on her final start, Princess Loulou is now wholly owned by Al Sagar. The Kuwaiti owner-breeder has continued to be a significant solo presence among the British ranks and earlier this year bolstered his team at Blue Diamond Stud with the appointments of Teddy Grimthorpe and Ted Voute. Nashwa's odds quartered for the Oaks following her facile win on Saturday, and she would be fully deserving of a place at Epsom in a bid to give her owner his chance of celebrating a third Classic success following Authorized (Ire) in the Derby and Araafa (Ire) in the Irish 2000 Guineas.

Owner-breeder Bjorn Nielsen has made no secret of how he yearns to win the Derby, and he has a potential candidate this year in Magisterial, the Frankel colt out of Hoity Toity (GB) (Darshaan {GB}). Epsom omens can be found not too far away in his pedigree as Magisterial's half-sister Lillie Langtry (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) is the dam of the 2016 Oaks heroine Minding (Ire), by Frankel's sire Galileo (Ire), and indeed that mighty racemare's full-sister Tuesday (Ire) is currently favourite for this year's Oaks following her maiden win at Naas in March.

A Day At The Races

Second-favourite to Tuesday in the Oaks betting following the most visually impressive performance of last week is another Gosden trainee, Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Bred under a foal-share arrangement between her sire's owner, the Tsuis' Sunderland Holdings, and Lordship Stud, the statuesque filly was let go as a yearling for 60,000gns at October Book 2. She now has two wins to her name from two starts, and carried seven pounds more than her 11 rivals on Friday for her initial victory at Wolverhampton last November, which makes her nine-and-a-half-length win even more noteworthy.

“Not many horses take my breath away,” said Frankie Dettori after dismounting from Emily Upjohn, who takes her name from a character in the Marx Brothers film A Day At The Races and hails from the immediate family of Sea The Stars's Derby winner Harzand (Ire). The jockey, who would know better than anyone, added ominously, “Enable was big and it never stopped her.”

John Gosden has won the Oaks three times in the last eight years, starting with another daughter of Sea The Stars, Taghrooda (Ire). The stable looks well placed to add Thady Gosden's name to a Classic roll of honour this season, even without Inspiral lining up this Sunday at Newmarket.

Frankel Abounds

Godolphin weren't exactly short of Derby entries, with 13 remaining in the list, but that number was boosted by one last Tuesday when a rare well-bred colt without an entry, Nahanni (GB)–yep, you've guessed it, another son of Frankel–landed the 'win and you're in' Listed Cazoo Blue Riband Trial at Epsom. Out of a Street Cry (Ire) half-sister to Godolphin's St Leger winner Mastery (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}), Nahanni is already a winner over the Derby distance, but at least four of his Charlie Appleby stable-mates remain ahead of him in the betting.

Friday's G3 Classic Trial at Sandown went the way of yet another Frankel, the Juddmonte homebred Westover (GB), who narrowly came out on top after a tussle with Cash (Ire) (Shamardal). Trained by Ralph Beckett, Westover is a full-brother to Monarchs Glen (GB), one of Frankel's earliest stakes winners. Their dam Mirabilis (Lear Fan)–a Grade III winner in 2006 for the man whom Frankel was named–is a half-sister to the G1 Prix de Diane winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat).

It was disappointing to see only three runners for the G3 Gordon Richards S. on Sandown's Friday card and, with two of those being by Frankel, it was no surprise to see him with yet another back-type victor to his credit. This time it was his 4-year-old son Mostahdaf (GB), owned and bred by Shadwell, and it was another good result for the resurgent Gosden stable, which was also previously home to Mostahdaf's dual Group 1-winning half-sister Nazeef (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}).

Mountain High

Among a potentially strong team of older horses for Frankel this season is Kirsten Rausing's treble Group 1 winner Alpinista (GB), who looks set to return in the G1 Coronation Cup, in which she could face last year's Derby winner Adayar (Ire), who shares her sire.

Alpinista was the first foal of her dam Alwilda (GB), a Listed-winning daughter of the late Lanwades sire Hernando (Fr) and Albanova (GB) (Alzao), who, like her grand-daughter, also won three Group 1 races in Germany.

Alwilda's second foal, a 3-year-old filly named Alpenblume (GB) (Kendargent {Fr}), has been entrusted by her breeder to second-season Chantilly trainer and old family friend Tim Donworth, who on Sunday sent the filly out to win on debut at Le Pin au Haras.

Interestingly, Scandinavian legend cites Alwilda as a princess-turned-pirate, and she was the inspiration for the tragic poem Il Re Torrismondo, by Torquato Tasso. Food for thought for future mating plans when last year's Arc winner retires to stud.

Ascot Pointers

While Frankel's runners have been dominating the news this week, the name currently at the head of the general sires' list in Europe is Dark Angel (Ire), and he was represented by a hotly anticipated runner on Thursday when Battaash's full-brother The Antarctic (Ire) overcame a little unrest in the stalls to win well on debut for Aidan O'Brien.

The colt, out of Anna Law (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), was the first of two winners on the Tipperary card for his breeder Ballyphilip Stud. The second came in the following race when Messa Concertata (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), who is also out of a Lawman mare, took the 3-year-old maiden for Joseph Murphy.

While it seems fair to assume that O'Brien will be aiming The Antarctic towards Royal Ascot, one of his winners last week who confirmed his ticket to Berkshire was New York City (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who has the G1 Commonwealth Cup on his agenda after winning the Listed Committed S. at Navan. Both Aidan and Joseph O'Brien will now be high on the Christmas card list for the Cantillon family of Tinnakill House, who bred New York City from the G1 Falmouth S. winner Rajeem (GB) (Diktat {GB}), whom they purchased from Darley for €26,000 in 2015. Earlier that year the mare had foaled subsequent G2 Duke Of York S. winner Invincible Army (Ire), a full-brother to New York City who is now at Yeomanstown Stud alongside Dark Angel. The Tinnakill team also bred Joseph O'Brien's globetrotting stable star State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), winner of the G1 Cox Plate and GI Saratoga Derby.

A True Gem

Moyglare Stud has enjoyed a decent start to the season, with Group 3 winner Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who remains in the picture for Sunday's 1000 Guineas, and first-time-out juvenile winner Tough Talk (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). Better still, on Saturday Eva Bucher-Haefner's operation had the first two home in the Listed Vintage Crop S with full-siblings, the third-generation homebreds Kyprios (Ire) and Search For A Song (Ire), both by Galileo and aged four and six respectively.

They are but two of eight black-type winners for their dam Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill), two of whom, Search For A Song and Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), are Group 1 winners. Now a true blue hen for Moyglare, Polished Gem's sole win in five starts came in a Leopardstown maiden, and she was outshone on the track by her full-sister, the GI Matriarch S. winner Dress To Thrill (Ire), who won six stakes races and was runner-up in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. Less fortunate at stud, however, Dress To Thrill left six foals, only two of whom won, before she died as an 11-year-old.

Another of their siblings, Trust In Luck (Ire) (Nashwan), features as the grand-dam of the G1 National S. winner Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}).

Chez Pierre Remains Unbeaten

Mehmas (Ire) hasn't put a foot wrong since retiring to Tally-Ho Stud, and has been both the leading first- and second-crop sire in Europe. His statistics in the U.S. make for interesting reading, too, albeit from a small sample to date, though it's easy to see that changing in the coming years, especially with the renewed participation of American buyers at European yearling sales.

Over the weekend, Chez Pierre (Fr), who was unbeaten in France when trained by Francis Graffard, has kept a clean sheet since being sold to race in the States, winning at Tampa Bay in March before landing his first stakes success in the Listed Henry S Clark S. at Laurel Park for Lael Stables and trainer Arnaud Delacour.

Chez Pierre is the third black-type winner in America for Mehmas following GI Del Mar Oaks victrix Going Global (Ire), who is a winning machine across the Atlantic with six graded stakes to her name, and the listed winner Quatroelle (Ire).

Malavath (Ire), who has to have a decent chance of giving Mehmas his first Classic winner in Sunday's 1000 Guineas, was second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, while Tetragonal (Ire), Keeper Of Time (Ire) and Optimising (Ire) are also stakes placed. In total, of Mehmas's 14 runners in America, eight have won.

Rogue In Vogue

There aren't too many Dubawi fillies who change hands for 35,000gns, but that was the price paid for Rogue Millennium (Ire), who was bought by Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of trainer Tom Clover and owners The Rogues Gallery from the Shadwell draft last December.

In a good week for the Newmarket trainer, the 3-year-old out of the G3 Cumberland Lodge S. winner Hawaafez (GB) (Nayef) made her debut at Wetherby and hinted at a bright future ahead with a decisive win. Her page also has plenty of depth to it, featuring Group 1 winners Moonlight Cloud (GB), Generous (Ire) and Imagine (Ire).

It wasn't only the Clover stable celebrating the victory as Robbie Mills of RMM Bloodstock consigns Rogue Millennium's half-sister by Awtaad (Ire) to this week's Guineas Breeze-up Sale at Tattersalls as Lot 315. With a perfectly-timed update, let's hope she posts a similarly well-timed breeze on the Rowley Mile on Tuesday morning.

The post Seven Days: Bringing Out The Big Guns appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Seven Days: Advance Appleby Fair

As statements of intent go, the results for Charlie Appleby's stable over recent weeks speak loudly as to his determination to retain the trainers' championship in 2022.

Twenty-three runners have emerged from Moulton Paddocks in the last fortnight, and 13 of them have returned home as winners, most importantly Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), the champion 2-year-old in Europe last year whose triumph return in the G3 Craven S. got the season off on a proper footing.

Of that baker's dozen, four were by the trainer's reliable old friend Dubawi (Ire), whose name must feature more than any other on doorcards around Moulton Paddocks. Appleby does seemingly have a new best friend, though, in Frankel (GB). The Juddmonte star played a hugely important role in helping the trainer to his first championship, just as he sealed his own first sires' championship with Godolphin's Derby-winning duo of Adayar (Ire) and Hurricane Lane (Ire) in the vanguard.

Frankel's offspring are appearing increasingly frequently in the royal blue silks, with his daughter Wild Beauty having won the G3 Fred Darling S. at Newbury, where the colt Natural World–bred on the same Frankel-Dubawi cross as Adayar–impressed on debut. In Tuesday's Cazoo Blue Riband Trial at Epsom, Appleby will saddle another son of Frankel, Nahanni (GB), the easy winner of a 1m4f novice contest at Leicester earlier this month.

As we await the return of Adayar in the Coronation Cup and Hurricane Lane in the Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot, in the wings Appleby has another 10 Frankel juveniles listed in training, including Adayar's full-brother named Military Order (Ire).

Those few people on course in the early morning last Wednesday witnessed the racecourse gallop of Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who swerved the Greenham S., with his trainer's reasoning being that he wanted to remain at Newmarket with the colt who has won on each of the town's two courses but has never run elsewhere. The guessing game now begins as to whether Coroebus might be able to overhaul his stable-mate Native Trail in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas after the latter became the third Craven S. winner for Appleby in the last four runnings of the race, following Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Breezing Into Contention

One young racegoer who was perhaps as thrilled as Charlie Appleby to see Native Trail return in such fine style was Josh Williamson, the son of Norman and Janet Williamson who sold the unbeaten colt through their Oak Tree Farm draft at the 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale a year to the day before his victory in the Craven itself.

The 15-year-old schoolboy certainly has the pedigree to be a decent rider, and indeed he was entrusted to be aboard Native Trail for much of his work leading up to the sale. It was touching to see Josh's input into the horse's early career acknowledged by Appleby as he strode into the winner's enclosure and immediately went over to shake his hand and congratulate him.

We're betwixt breeze-up sales at the moment, with the Craven completed last week, and the horses for the Goffs UK Sale on Thursday set to breeze at Doncaster on Tuesday. That sector of the market could hardly have had a better advertisement than the results on course over the last week.

Not only did Native Trail fly the flag, but so too did Highclere Racing's G3 Nell Gwyn S. winner Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}), as well as the G3 Greenham S. winner Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), who was bred, like the runner-up Lusail (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), by the seemingly unstoppable force that is Tally-Ho Stud. These followed the previous week's G3 Prix Imprudence victory of Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), another Tally-Ho-bred breezer who appears to be on course for the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Yet another Tally-Ho star graduate kept the ball rolling over the weekend when the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) returned for her 4-year-old debut at Keeneland with a classy win in the Listed Giant's Causeway S. Once again, trainer Wesley Ward looks to have been dealt a strong hand for his annual Royal Ascot challenge, with Campanelle being pointed towards the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. and the free-running speedball Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) heading to the G1 King's Stand S.–and that's before we consider Ward's juvenile contenders.

Trainers In Form

It should be noted that there are currently two Applebys in the top four in the British trainers' ranks, the other being Michael Appleby, no relation to Charlie and narrowly ahead of him following another excellent winter campaign which saw him crowned champion all-weather trainer for the fourth year in a row. Based in Leicestershire, Michael Appleby's stable may not feature as many bluebloods as some of his rivals in the table, but over the last decade it has become an operation which should be taken very seriously indeed, with Michael surpassing the 100-winner mark for the first time in 2021. Expect more of the same this time around.

Another trainer to have enjoyed a good week was Roger Varian, whose statuesque Eydon (GB) was a rare winner for the veteran Olden Times (GB) in the Listed Feilden S. at Newmarket. Having broken his maiden in some style on his third start, Eydon, whose name is taken from Eydon Hall Farm where he was born and raised, has the Classics on his agenda.

“I did worry when we named him that it could be a disaster,” said Prince Faisal's racing and bloodstock manager Ted Voute with a grin after the colt romped to a comfortable victory at Newmarket.

Olden Times, now 24 and the winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat for the owner/breeder, has had several homes during his stud career but has been at Throckmorton Court Stud for the last five years, where he is essentially used as a private stallion by the prince.

Voute added, “We bred a mare to him the other day. We're sending him two mares this year and hoping for fillies.”

Varian was also represented at the Craven meeting by the Godolphin-bred maiden winner Ameynah (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), who holds a 1000 Guineas entry, while last season's G2 Champagne S. winner Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) will head straight to either Newmarket or ParisLongchamp for a Classic attempt without taking in a trial.

Ameynah wasn't the smartest daughter of Exceed And Excel on the Rowley Mile last week, however, as the Chris Wall-trained Double Or Bubble (Ire) took the G3 Abernant S. for owner/breeder Salah Fustok of Deerfield Farm. Lightly-raced for a 5-year-old, Double Or Bubble has done little wrong during her 11 starts, only ever finishing out of the first two twice, and winning five times, including last year's Listed Flying Fillies' S at Pontefract.

Wall, one of the most under-rated trainers in Newmarket who also trained this mare's full-sister, the G3 Chartwell Fillies' S. winner Mix And Mingle (Ire), outlined that after an “old school” winter being turned out back at Deerfield, Double Or Bubble has both strengthened and quickened. He is considering the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. for the mare's next start.

My Oh My

My Titania (Ire) already owns a footnote in history as the first stakes winner for her illustrious sire Sea The Stars (Ire) back in 2013, and as a broodmare she has had a fruitful week thanks to her first three foals, all of whom are trained by William Haggas for the Tsui family.

The first off the production line, 5-year-old My Oberon (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), won the All-Weather Mile Championships at Newcastle on Good Friday having finished a respectable sixth in a competitive running of the G1 Dubai Turf on March 26. The mare's 3-year-old, My Prospero (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), was a winner at the second time of asking in a Newbury maiden on Saturday and could head next for the Listed Heron S. at Sandown in May.

Meanwhile, 4-year-old My Astra (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) picked up another slice of black type when third in the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S. at Kempton. A lateish starter during July of last year, she won her first two races before finishing runner-up in the Listed Prix Solitude. There's surely more to come from this lightly-raced filly, who holds a G2 Dahlia S. entry on Guineas weekend.

Hit And Mist For Kildaragh

Also featuring prominently among the results of the last seven days is the Kavanagh family's Kildaragh Stud, most notably as the breeder of the winner of the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S., Roman Mist (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The 4-year-old provided her young trainer Tom Ward with his first stakes victory when winning in the colours of Hot To Trot Racing.

Last Thursday, a brace of Kildaragh Stud graduates, both 3-year-olds by Churchill (Ire), returned to winner's enclosures of Newmarket and Ripon respectively. Tuscan (Ire), who struck last year at Thirsk for John and Jess Dance, took the British EBF Conditions S. for Charlie Hills, and this was followed less than an hour later by victory for the Richard-Fahey-trained Blenheim Boy (Ire) in the Cock o' the North H.

Meanwhile Roderick Kavanagh, son of Kildaragh owners Peter and Antoinette, had a successful week with his Glending Stables draft at the Craven Breeze-up Sale, selling all four horses for an average of 87,500gns.

Horton Won't Hear A Who

The well-liked James Horton left his position as Sir Michael Stoute's long-term assistant last year to start training in his own right for John and Jess Dance at Manor House Farm in Middleham, the birthplace of the Derby winner Dante. And on Monday, Horton ensured that his name will soon be widely known by announcing his presence on British racing's stage with his first three winners all on the same afternoon at Redcar.

The first came in the opening race, a novice event won by Phantom Flight (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}), who had finished runner-up on debut on March 25 as the trainer's first runner. Horton was back for more in the fourth and fifth races on the card, winning with Il Bandito (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and Asjad (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}). He also came close to securing a four-timer when Ghost Rider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) finished second by half a length at Wolverhampton.

On a day to remember for the trainer and owners, John Dance also announced on Twitter on Monday that his superstar mare Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) produced her second foal, a filly by Kingman (GB), overnight.

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Seven Days: On The Classic Trail

It wouldn't be Craven week without a brisk wind blasting across Newmarket Heath, but for those of you considering spending afternoons paddock-side perusing the physical merits of some of this year's Classic contenders, the encouraging news is that the temperature is rising in East Anglia this week, along with the quality of action on the turf.

France and Ireland are ahead of Britain on the Classic trials front, and there is plenty to reflect upon in that regard, but a brief look ahead to the Newmarket and Newbury trials this week is enough to quicken the pulse that has only just come back to a steady tempo following the Corinthian exploits of the marvellous Sam Waley-Cohen in Saturday's Grand National. The name Mullins is never far from the winner's enclosure, in National Hunt circles especially, but Willie's thunder is increasingly being stolen by his nephew Emmet, 32, for whom Noble Yeats (Ire) was a first National winner with his first runner, the season after the young trainer saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winner. The winning 7-year-old also ensured that his sire, the four-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats (Ire), surged to the head of the National Hunt sires' table for the first time.

But enough of the hedge-hoppers, it's Craven week after all, and we are about to witness the unveiling of Europe's champion 2-year-old of 2021 in Wednesday's Craven S. Godolphin's Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), the pride of Jose Delamotte's Haras d'Haspel, sailed through his juvenile exams without turning a hair, culminating in victory on the Rowley Mile in the G1 Dewhurst S. That experience of Newmarket's famous dip will doubtless be of value as his trainer Charlie Appleby sends him out on his first serious test a year to the day after he was sold by Norman Williamson's Oak Tree Farm for 210,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale, which begins on Tuesday.

Appleby has won two of the last three runnings of the Craven, bearing in mind that the race didn't take place at all in 2020. His first winner, Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), famously went on to win the Derby, while last year's winner Master Of The Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was beaten only a short-head by Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) when second in the 2000 Guineas.

Appleby's embarrassment of 3-year-old riches includes the exciting Coroebus (Ire), who looks set to head to Saturday's Greenham S. at Newbury, while New Science (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) heads a disappointingly small field for Tuesday's European Free Handicap.

Those on 'young stallion watch' will have spotted two entries for the National Stud resident Time Test (GB) in the Nell Gwyn S. The duo consists of William Stone's Salisbury Group 3 winner Romantic Time (GB) and Ribbon Rose (GB), who is unbeaten in two starts for the in-form stable of Marco Botti, who has formed an interesting partnership with Neil Callan since the jockey's return from Hong Kong.

These days, the Nell Gwyn is sponsored by Lanwades Stud, an arrangement that came about after the race was run for some years in the name of the former Plantation Stud manager Leslie Harrison. It was a fitting memorial to a man who devoted so much of his life to the breeding operation of Lord Howard de Walden, and who loved nothing more than the prospect of a Classic filly.

In retirement, Harrison, whose caustic wit was every bit as sharp as his pedigree recall, chose to share his great knowledge with a group of young(ish) enthusiasts who would gather in his study once a week, large glasses of wine in hand, sharing the space with his many lurchers. I was lucky enough to be among the group, and they were days I cherish. I miss them as much as I miss Leslie himself, whose extraordinary kindness is remembered especially in this week, 15 years after his passing.

The Z Factor

Zarkava (Fr) (Zamindar) was described at the end of her racing career by her breeder HH The Aga Khan as “the greatest reward a breeder could have”.

With brilliance in abundance, plus a liberal dash of spirit, there was little she had left to prove on her retirement from the track. All bar one of her Zarkava's seven victories came at French racing's Parisian focal point of Longchamp where she annexed the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac, G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, G1 Prix Vermeille and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. At Chantilly, she also claimed the G1 Prix de Diane. She was simply wonderful, and as a fifth-generation descendant of Petite Etoile, who was such an important foundation of the Aga Khan Studs and a hugely influential mare worldwide, Zarkava represented the pinnacle of the breeding operation which celebrates its centenary this year.

While superior performance on the racecourse is the ultimate aim for any breeder, studs are built on the ability of those champions to impart their superior genes. For myriad reasons that doesn't always happen. In the case of Zarkava, though she cannot yet be considered a blue hen, she has already produced three black-type winners, led by her Group 1-winning son Zarak (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), who has made strong indications in his fledgling stud career that he will further cement his mother's reputation by becoming a stallion of note.

The champion first-season sire in France last year, Zarak's name has continued to feature among the winners in this early stage of the Flat season. Last week alone, he was represented by a quartet of 3-year-old winners in Sabio Cen (Fr), La Parisienne ((Fr), Caramelito (Fr) and Zagrey (Fr). The first two named hold Classic entries in the Prix du Jockey Club and Prix de Diane respectively. Sabio Cen, trained in Chantilly by Christopher Head, was impressive in his second victory in the Prix Tourbillon at Saint-Cloud last week, racing in the colours of his Spanish breeder Leopoldo Fernández Pujals of Yeguada Centurion.

It was also confirmed this week by William Haggas that Zarak's daughter Purplepay (Fr), who was last seen on the track running third in the G1 Criterium International before selling at Arqana for €2 million to Roy and Gretchen Jackson, has joined his stable and has been given an entry for the Irish 1000 Guineas on May 22.

Zarak is not the only son of Zarkava at stud. His unraced half-brother Zaskar (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has recently embarked on his stallion career at Haras de Cercy. Still to come from the family is a 3-year-old full-sister to Zarak named Zarka (Fr) and a Frankel (GB) 2-year-old filly, Zarkala (Fr), both of whom are in training with Francis Graffard.

An Abundance Of French Classic Hopes

Zarak wasn't the only Aga Khan Studs stallion in the news last week as Dariyan (Fr) was represented by a decent Classic prospect and his first group winner in the G3 Prix La Force with Mister Saint Paul (Fr), whose co-trainers Gregoire and Etienne Leenders are as readily associated with jump racing as with the Flat. Bred by Annie and Philippe Delarue, Mister Saint Paul was a €10,000 buy-back at the yearling sales but was later syndicated by his trainers for €25,000 via the recently established Iwantthewinner sales platform.

Not to be outdone, Siyouni (Fr), France's reigning champion sire and stud-mate of Zarak and Dariyan, was also in the limelight with the exciting filly Mqse De Sevigne (Fr), who won Sunday's G3 Prix Vanteaux. The half-sister to Group 1 winner Meandre (Fr) (Slickly {Fr}) races for her breeder Edouard De Rothschild, whose family's Haras de Meautry bred both her dam Penne (Fr) and the mare's unraced sire Sevres Rose (Fr), who stood for a time at Haras du Quesnay.

Thursday's G3 Prix Imprudence saw the return of two exciting juveniles from 2021 in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Malavath (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), who took the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte before running second to Pizza Bianca in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Running for the partnership of Everest Racing, David Redvers and Barbara Keller, Malavath, representing the Francis Graffard stable, confirmed that she has wintered well after her exciting 2-year-old campaign when holding off Zellie by a length and a half over Deauville's heavy turf. The winner and runner-up are both close up in the betting for the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches behind Juddmonte's Raclette (GB), who is entered for Sunday's G3 Prix de la Grotte.

The Eagle Flies On

The aforementioned Francis Graffard has a big year ahead at the helm of his own stable and that of the Aga Khan at Aiglemont. The trainer has started the season in fine form and another owner-breeder with whom he has enjoyed notable success of late is Baron Georg von Ullmann of Germany's historic Gestut Schlenderhan.

As ParisLongchamp's season got underway on Sunday, Graffard unleashed two unraced 3-year-olds to score on debut, both by the late Schlenderhan-bred stallion Adlerflug (Ger) who died last year in the season after he was crowned champion in Germany for the first time.

Alerio (Ger) got the ball rolling in the Prix Juigne, while the filly Swoosh (Ger) took the Prix de Chaillot. The latter, who has Classic entries in France and Germany, is a full-sister to the G2 Prix de Deauville winner and German Derby runner-up Savoir Vivre (Ire), who is now at stud in France at Haras du Taillis. Their dam is the Listed-winning Monsun (Ger) mare Soudaine (Ger), and this cross of two Schlenderhan stallions was seen again in Germany's first group race of the year, the G3 Walkman Frujahrs-Meile, won by Adlerflug's 4-year-old son Mythico (Fr), winner of last season's G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas).

Alerio is also bred along similar lines, with his dam Amazona (Ger), by Dubawi (Ire), being a daughter of Monsun's Preis der Diana winner Amarette (Ger), who is a half-sister to the dam of Melbourne Cup winner Almandin (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}).

Adlerflug, a son of In The Wings (GB) and closely related to Galileo (Ire), did not leave many sons at stud. In addition to Savoir Vivre, Iquitos and Ito remain in Germany, and the full-brother of the latter, another Graffard/Schlenderhan star In Swoop (Ire), has recently joined Coolmore's National Hunt division at Beeches Stud, where, unsurprisingly, he has been very busy.

Think Again – And Again

A decade ago, So You Think (NZ), the mighty wild-maned son of High Chaparral (Ire), completed the rare feat of winning five Group 1 races in Europe to complement his five Group 1 successes in Australia.

Now ensconced at Coolmore Stud in Australia, he pulled off the equally rare–perhaps unique–feat of siring three consecutive Group 1 winners on Saturday during Sydney's Championships at Randwick.

Two of those–the Queen Elizabeth S winner Think It Over (Aus) and Sydney's Queen of the Turf S winner Nimalee (Aus)–are out of daughters of Zabeel (NZ), while the Sydney Cup winner Knights Order (Ire) started his career in Ireland, where he was bred by the Rogers family at Airlie Stud. The 7-year-old's dam Lamanka Lass (Woodman) was 20 when she foaled him and was also responsible for producing the GII Oak Tree Derby winner Dark Islander (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}), who was trained by the late John Hills.

Brits Abroad

The early 2-year-old skirmishes at Keeneland over the weekend saw a gratifying debut win for Baytown Lovely, by Fast Anna out of the Bernardini mare Meu Amor. As overlooked in the betting as she was at last year's Keeneland September Sale, the filly provided a great start to the Spring Meet for a pair of British expats in trainer Paul McEntee and jockey Jack Gilligan. McEntee plucked Baytown Lovely from the final day of the September Sale for $3,000. She rewarded him with a return of $48,360 from her first racecourse outing.

It is the kind of result also associated with the trainer's both Phil, who is based in Newmarket and is a dab hand at turning sales bargains into multiple winners. There are plenty of members of the McEntee clan spread around the racing world, including another brother, Carl, who runs Ballysax Bloodstock in Kentucky. Phil's son Jake is also currently in America assisting Kenny McPeek, while daughter Grace is a successful young jockey in Britain.

Lucrative BEBF Target For Juveniles

There was welcome news from the British wing of the European Breeders' Fund on Monday with the launch of a £200,000 series aimed at the offspring of middle-market stallions.

Juveniles can qualify for two £100,000 finals for colts and fillies respectively by finishing in the first six from a total of 110 restricted novice or maiden races throughout the turf season in Britain. The aim of the series is “to identify ways to encourage a new avenue for progeny of commercially priced stallions to compete without an expensive series of early closing deadlines”.

The finals take place over seven furlongs, with the fillies' final being staged at Goodwood on Sept. 7, and the race for colts and geldings on Oct. 7 at York.

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Seven Days: The Price Of Progress

Even at this early stage of the season, we can be forgiven for mentally fast-forwarding to the first weekend of June at Epsom. It is after all the best weekend of the year, featuring the best race of the year.

There are plans afoot in Newmarket – plans being mooted by the Jockey Club, no less – to dig up one of the best turf gallops on the Heath to install a new all-weather racecourse and training facility. At a time when there's concern as to having enough horses to fill races in the over-stuffed fixture lift–one which is already heavily reliant on all-weather fixtures–it seems a rather tone deaf approach from an operation whose raison d'être is supposedly the preservation of horseracing and all its glorious heritage.

Since attending a presentation of the Jockey Club's plans in Newmarket last week, and while watching our small string of horses skip over that perfect turf gallop in question on a beautiful spring morning a few days later, my thoughts have turned to how to oppose this idea. Lying in front of a bulldozer may be taking it a bit too far but considering the vast expanse of the Heath avoided being wrecked during World War II to provide food while the island was under siege, it would be a great sadness to see a chunk of it lost all these years later, even if it is for a racing-related scheme.

I feel the same chest-tightening dismay whenever I read a column suggesting that the Derby should be shortened in distance. Why? Having horses run a mile and a half is no hardship. In fact, it's a mere sprint compared to the four-mile heats of yore. It is of course progress that has brought us to the current Classic distances but we must beware any further limiting of the programme in the name of so-called progress. Where will it end? It seems reasonable to assume that it ends with the loss of one of the most absorbing elements of racing in this part of the world, which is the diverse nature of the Flat tests, for sprinters through to stayers and everything in between.

That should remain reflected in the range of stallions available to breeders, as it currently is. While being fully cognisant of the reasons behind commercial breeders' desire to breed for the market in which they wish to participate, a look at the range of yearlings buyers in Europe in recent years offer plenty of cause for hope that not everyone is looking for an early, fast horse. Add to that the fact that of the world's 22 top-rated races last year, only one was a sprint (Australia's TJ Smith S.) and one more was run at a mile (Ascot's Queen Elizabeth S.). The remainder were 10- to 12-furlong races, and breeding horses capable of getting that sort of trip should surely therefore continue to be the primary aim.

The rise of Galileo (Ire) as a supersire has, up to a point, helped to prop up the Derby in recent years, and as his influence wanes, in the first generation at least, it is heartening to see other Derby winners coming to the fore. In fact, the current top three in the betting for this year – Luxembourg (Ire), Reach For The Moon (GB) and Point Lonsdale (Ire) – are sons of the Derby winners Camelot (GB), Sea The Stars (Ire) and Australia (GB) respectively. Reason enough, surely, to give due credence to the horses good enough to pass the unique test of this special race when they end up at stud.

The Ascent Of Piz Badile

Bar some notes from recent stable visits, most of this year's Classic contenders remain firmly under wraps and in barracks. One to have shown his hand over the weekend is Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}), who rallied tenaciously to hold off Buckaroo (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in a battle between the O'Brien brothers to win the G3 Ballysax S. The race has been won 11 times by their father Aidan with such great names as Galileo himself, High Chaparral (Ire), Yeats (Ire), and Fame And Glory (GB).

Joseph O'Brien landed the 2017 running of the Balllysax with future Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), but this year it was Donnacha's turn, with the Niarchos family's regally-bred Piz Badile, who became the first stakes winner for his sire Ulysses, a son of two Epsom stars in Galileo and the Oaks winner Light Shift (Kingmambo).

We looked at this family recently in a feature on Ulysses and his close relation Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who has his first juvenile runners this season. Piz Badile, who takes his name from a mountain in the Swiss Alps, has a double dose of these illustrious genes, being inbred to Lingerie (GB), by another Derby winner in Shirley Heights (GB), and whose G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup-winning daughter Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector) in turn produced Piz Badile's dam, the Listed winner and Group 2-placed That Which Is Not (Elusive Quality).

Enable's Family To The Fore

Andre Fabre could have an embarrassment of riches in the 3-year-old fillies' division this year with the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Zellie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Sea The Sky (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), and the promising Raclette (GB) (Frankel {GB}) among his Classic hopes. This group also extends to Agave (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), one of three winners for the trainer at Saint-Cloud on Saturday when extending her unbeaten run to three in the G3 Prix Penelope.

Like Raclette, Agave is a Juddmonte homebred, emanating from a family which has brought the operation much success in recent seasons via its most celebrated member, Enable (GB). Agave's dam Contribution (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) is Enable's half-sister and broke her maiden over 1m7f at Maisons-Laffitte as a 3-year-old as well as finishing third in the G2 Prix de Pomone.

With such stamina hints on her page, and having already won the Listed Prix Rose de Mai over 2,000m last month, it was no surprise to hear that Agave may go straight to the G1 Prix Saint-Alary at the end of May. A nomination for the Oaks, which closes on Tuesday, would also not be out of place.

Both group races on Saint-Cloud's Saturday card fell to the offspring of Dubawi, with the extremely likeable The Revenant (GB) adding yet another win to his tally, which now stands at 12 from his 19 starts, as well as five placed finishes.

There could hardly be a more consistent horse in training, particularly when he gets his favoured soft ground. The 7-year-old's victory in the G3 Prix Edmond Blanc was his sixth group win, that sextet including the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. of 2020.

Sly And The Family Rock

It is 16 years since Pam Sly notched the biggest success of her career when saddling Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) to win the 1000 Guineas. The Classic heroine, who was retained as a broodmare, has been a stalwart for the Sly family and continues to give the stable plenty of cause for cheer.

Sly has had just two runners on the turf this season, and not only are they both winners, but Dark Spec (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Astral Beau (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) scored with 40 minutes of each other at Leicester on Friday and are a son and grand-daughter of Speciosa respectively.

Dark Spec, now seven, must have tried the patience of his trainer, who bred and races him in partnership with her son Michael and Dr Tom Davies. Having made four starts as a 2-year-old, he was then off the track for almost four years until resuming last summer. Persistence has paid off, and he won at Pontefract on his final start of last season and again on his resumption at Leicester off a mark of 77. While he was sent off favourite on Friday, his 3-year-old 'niece' Astral Beau was one of the outsiders of the field at 50/1 for her debut in the seven-furlong novice event, but posted a professional performance to hint at plenty more to come. Her dam Asteroidea (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was Speciosa's third foal and won over a mile and a half.

With the stable in such form, it is worth keeping an eye on the progress of Eileendover (GB) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), another of Speciosa's grand-daughters who is a Listed bumper winner and has also won over 1m6f on the Flat. The late-maturing 5-year-old is entered in Wednesday's Listed Further Flight S. and though she will face only four rivals, one of them is Alan King's dual Group 1 winner Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}).

Juveniles On The March

Trainer Michael O'Callaghan already has Royal Ascot ambitions for his first 2-year-old winner of the season, Crispy Cat (GB), who became the first runner from the second crop of Ardad (Ire). The Overbury Stud sire was himself a winner at the Royal meeting and provided last year's G2 Norfolk S. (and subsequent dual Group 1 winner) Perfect Power (Ire).

Crispy Cat was the subject of one of the feelgood stories of last year's yearling sales, having been bought for 7,500gns by policeman Leon Carrick and nurse Michelle Gibbons while they were lying in bed watching the the foal sales online during the pandemic. The couple brought him back to Newmarket 10 months later when Ardad's first runners had made a decent impression and the colt was resold for £105,000 to Amo Racing. Proceeds from the sale have been used to fund midwifery training for Gibbons.

The question which will loom large through the next few months is which of the freshman sires will follow Ardad's example with some sharp first-crop winners. Several Coolmore sires are already in the hunt, with Sioux Nation having been represented by the winner of the first juvenile contest of the Irish turf season in Ocean Quest (Ire), one of his three runners to date.

On Sunday at Le Lion d'Angers, Saxon Warrior (Jpn) followed suit with his first runner and winner, the smartly bred Ser Sed (Ire), who is out of a Frankel (GB) half-sister to Lope De Vega (Ire).

US Navy Flag was unlucky not to join his stud-mates in having a winner on the board when the Clive Cox-trained Kaasib (Ire) found trouble in running at Windsor on Monday but kept on gamely to take second. That same afternoon, Redcar's juvenile race went the way of Star Of Lady M (GB), from the first crop of Whitsbury Manor Stud resident Havana Grey (GB) and trained by David O'Meara.

Lemaire Takes Pride To Kentucky

“If I could choose one race, I would choose, of course, the Kentucky Derby because it's such an iconic race and the atmosphere is incredible, and the race itself with 20 runners is very unusual in America,” Christophe Lemaire told the website Japan Forward in April 2021.
Twelve months later, and the French-born multiple champion jockey in Japan appears to be on the cusp of being granted this wish. Lemaire has been given the nod to partner the G2 UAE Derby winner Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach The Crown {Jpn}) in the 'Run for the Roses' on May 7, replacing Australian hoop Damian Lane, who was in the saddle for the colt's win at Meydan.
Lemaire did not go empty-handed on Dubai World Cup night, however, as he partnered Stay Foolish (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) to victory in the G2 Dubai Gold Cup, having a month earlier ridden four winners on the Saudi Cup card.
With Lemaire having already won Classics in France, Britain and Japan, not to mention landing Australia's Melbourne Cup with Dunaden (Fr), the logical next challenge for the five-time Japanese champion is to conquer America.

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