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‘Pharoah’ Doubles Up in February S.

Café Pharoah (American Pharoah) returned to the winner's circle for the first time since landing the 2021 G1 February S. in the 2022 version, and became the second horse to win two editions after Copany Rickey (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) in 2014/15. A “Win And You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in November, the 1600-metre race saw the Noryuki Hori-trained runner draw off by 2 ½ lengths from T M South Dan (Jpn) (South Vigorous), with the popular white filly Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune) ran third, another half-length back.

In touch with the first flight as Sunrise Hope (Jpn) (Majestic Warrior) cleared the field, the 4-1 shot perched in between horses in fifth. The bay edged closer to the vanguard once Yuichi Fukunaga relaxed his hold as T M South Dan took over pacesetting duties from Sunrise Hope and hit the half-mile pole in :46.80. Sunrise Hope began a gradual retreat and Sodashi had dead aim on T M South Dan. Surging three deep, Café Pharoah began to let down strongly as Sodashi tired at the quarter pole, and took over the lead from T M South Dan with 200 metres to travel. He maintained the advantage all the way to the line, covering the 1600 metres in a snappy 1:33.80 in the mud, tying the track record.

“Mr. Hori and I went over the tactics before the race and everything went as planned,” said pilot Yuichi Fukunaga, who was returning from an injury sustained during the Longines Hong Kong International Races. “Cafe Pharoah's start wasn't that sharp but he recovered well and we were able to sit in a good position, in third, where he didn't have to bear too much sand in his face, which was what I was hoping for. After that I just tried to keep him focused especially after taking over the lead in the final stages. I'm grateful to the connections who offered me this ride even before I had fully recovered from the fall in Hong Kong and am happy that I was able to do a good job.”

Knocked down for $475,000 to Narvick International, agent, after breezing a quarter in :21.1 at the OBS March Sale in 2019, the 5-year-old entire won his first three starts at two and three, with stakes victories in the Listed Hyacinth S. and G3 Unicorn S. Later that year, he added the G3 Sirius S. and, after a sixth-place run in the G1 Champions Cup in December fo 2020, put it all together in the 2021 February S. The Paul Pompa, Jr.-bred bay was off the board in his next three starts, among them the Champions Cup at Chukyo on Dec. 5 when last seen.

Pedigree Notes
One of three Grade/Group 1 winners for his American Triple Crown-winning sire, Café Pharoah is also the first of the trio to win twice at the highest level. Of the Coolmore Ashford resident's 24 stakes winners, 13 have been grade/group winners.

Since his February S. win last year, Café Pharoah's year-older half-sister Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) became a Grade I winner herself with an 2 1/2-length win in the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar in the colours of Peter Brant's White Birch Farm. Also a winner of four other graded stakes including Saratoga's GII Lake Placid S. over her career, she had sold for $975,000 out of the Paul Pompa, Jr. Dispersal at Keeneland January in 2021, while their dam, Mary's Follies had been knocked down to BBA Ireland on a bid of $500,000 at the same sale. The first foal out of the dam was the GIII Dania Beach S. and GIII Transylvania S. hero Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway). Mary's Follies's 4-year-old colt by Uncle Mo died, while she also has a 3-year-old colt by Candy Ride (Arg) and a juvenile colt by Connect. She aborted after being bred to Curlin in 2020, and re-visited Coolmore Ashford's American Pharoah last spring.

Sunday, Tokyo, Japan
FEBRUARY S.-G1, ¥232,980,000, Tokyo, 2-20, 4yo/up, 1600m, 1:33.80, my.
1–CAFE PHAROAH, 126, h, 5, by American Pharoah
                1st Dam: Mary's Follies (MGSW-US, $338,889),
                                by More Than Ready
                2nd Dam: Catch the Queen, by Miswaki
                3rd Dam: Wave to the Queen, by Wavering Monarch
($475,000 2yo '19 OBSMAR). O-Koichi Nishikawa; B-Paul P.
Pompa (KY); T-Noryuki Hori; J-Yuichi Fukunaga. ¥123,486,000.
Lifetime Record: 11-6-0-0. *1/2 to Night Prowler (Giant's
Causeway), MGSW-US, $475,682; and Regal Glory (Animal
Kingdom), GISW-US, $1,529,884. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click
   for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–T M South Dan (Jpn), 126, h, 5, South Vigorous–Moving Out
(Jpn), by Langfuhr. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (¥17,280,000
Ylg '18 JBBAAUG). O-Masatsugu Takezono; B-Grand Farm
(Jpn); ¥48,996,000.
3–Sodashi (Jpn), 121, f, 4, Kurofune–Buchiko (Jpn), by King
Kamehameha (Jpn). O-Makoto Kaneko Holdings; B-Northern Farm (Jpn); ¥30,498,000.
Margins: 2HF, HF, NK. Odds: 4.10, 7.90, 7.20.
Also Ran: Soliste Thunder (Jpn), Time Flyer (Jpn), Red le Zele (Jpn), Arctos (Jpn), Sunrise Nova (Jpn), Air Spinel (Jpn), Mutually (Jpn), Inti (Jpn), Sunrise Hope (Jpn), Suave Aramis (Jpn), Teorema (Jpn), Daiwa Cagney (Jpn), K T Brave (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Bahrain Turf Series Hailed At Home And Away

After two months and ten races, the curtain came down on the inaugural Bahrain Turf Series on Friday, with the results of the final two contests having both international and local appeal.

Britain's champion trainer Charlie Appleby fielded his first runners of the series in the seven-furlong Al Sakhir Cup and duly landed the spoils with Silent Film (GB) (New Approach {GB}), who rallied under a strong drive from James Doyle to win by a head from Shebil Aljazira (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}).

The 4-year-old winner was landing his third victory in succession in three different countries, having won a seven-furlong handicap at Sandown back in June and then reappeared at Meydan last month to win off a mark of 94.

“He's a horse we pinpointed for the race so we're delighted he's gone and won,” said Appleby. “It's a great series they have set up in Bahrain and we're just happy that we've been able to find the right horse to come over and be competitive. Everyone is very happy in Dubai, and I'm sure we'll be part of the Turf Series moving forward.”

The following race, the Vision 2030 Cup, went the way of the partnership which is leading the tables in Bahrain his season, with dominant local trainer Hesham Al Haddad, who trains in partnership with Fawzi Nass, claiming his seventh victory in the series with Zagato (GB) (Frankel {GB}) under Neil Callan, the leading rider on the island for the current campaign with 19 wins under his belt.

Shaikh Sultan Aldeen Al Khalifa of Al Mohamediya Racing is a familiar figure both at Tattersalls and on British racecourses, and his visit to Newmarket last September proved to be a fruitful one as he purchased the smartly-bred Zagato from John and Thady Gosden's stable for 55,000gns. John Gosden had also trained her dam, the dual Group 1 winner Izzi Top (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), for breeder Meon Valley Stud.

A winner at Thirsk last year over a mile, the 4-year-old has been gradually finding his feet in his new homeland and he had previously finished third then second in earlier legs of the Turf Series on Dec. 31 and Feb. 5. On Friday, he blew his rival away after skimming the rail round the tight bend for home and blasting through under Callan to win by 6 1/2 lengths.

“Zagato has been an improving horse and he has improved with each start,” said Fawzi Nass. “We'll see what the handicapper does with him but he'll probably get an entry into the King's Cup which is a race run over 12 furlongs so he'll have a further two furlongs to negotiate.”

With $50,000 per race up for grabs in prize-money, the Turf Series also rewards the horse to have earned the most points throughout the series in two distance categories: 'Pot A' is for horses racing over six and seven furlongs and 'Pot B' for those over nine and ten furlongs.

Happy Craf (Arg) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), trained in Bahrain by Allan Smith and the winner of four of her last five starts, took the $25,000 Pot A bonus, while the Newmarket-trained Arqoob (Ire), representing William Jarvis, landed the same bonus in Pot B, with $15,000 going to his owners and $10,000 to the trainer. Though Arqoob did not win one of the races in the series, he appeared in five of them, placing three times.

Music agent Emma Banks, who is involved in the ownership of Arqoob and who enjoyed a memorable season on the track in 2021 with her Group 1-winning filly Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), said, “What a fantastic bonus to keep him out here. He hasn't won yet but he's been ultra-consistent and passed a lot of horses. It's a really interesting way the points have worked out and makes for an interesting end to the series.”

She continued, “You can't be disappointed when you go home with prize money from races, prize money from the league table and a lovely trip to Bahrain.”

Arqoob's trainer William Jarvis added, “I'm so thrilled his owners have been able to come out and witness this race. I'm very proud of him, he's been so consistent and the support I've had from Richard, his owner, has been massively appreciated.”

Happy Craf is likely to be seen in action next in Europe, switching from Allan Smith's stable to the Newmarket base of his son Martin.

Allan Smith said, “She deserves it. It's a pity we couldn't run her in the last Turf Series race but she's off to England at the start of April. She'll be targeted at Listed and Group 3 races. Hopefully if she can pick up some black type we can send her to stud and then she can return to Bahrain to foal.”

The Bahrain Turf Series, which got underway on Dec. 10, has been shown through 20 broadcasters around the world via the Racecourse Media Group. Channels to have featured the racing from Sakhir include Fox Sports in America, ESPN in Latin America, Dubai Racing Channel, and Japan's Green Channel.

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Storm Eunice Forces Cancellations in UK/Ire

The approach of Storm Eunice, which will impact Ireland and the United Kingdom on Friday, has caused some racecourses to cancel their cards as a precautionary measure. Fakenham was called off on Thursday due to the severe weather warnings, and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has cancelled Dundalk's Friday card, too. The storm is expected to bring high winds and, in some cases, snow.

“We discussed the situation with Jim Martin of Dundalk Stadium and Met Eireann this morning and again this afternoon and we felt with the current forecast for tomorrow it was prudent to make an early decision and cancel the fixture,” said IHRB Clerk of the Course, Brendan Sheridan via Twitter. “Many parts of the country are subject to Orange and Red Weather Warnings in the morning which would make travel unsafe and Met Eireann are also forecasting gusts with speeds in excess of 80km/h during race time.”

Kelso, one of three UK courses still set to race on Friday, will hold an inspection at 8 a.m. on Friday morning.

“We're only a yellow warning at the moment up here and we are getting nothing like the wind speeds down in England,” said clerk of the course Matthew Taylor. “Our concern would be snow more than anything and access to the racecourse maybe and the surrounding areas on high ground if they got heavy snow. We are in a trickier situation than most because it literally is just the waiting game.

“The problem as well is that the forecast is changing by the hour. We were supposed to be getting 10 centimetres of snow and then this afternoon it's changed back to rain so we don't know exactly what we're going to get.”

“We've got an 8 a.m. inspection so hopefully we can make the right call early.”

Lingfield and Southwell are both set to race as of Thursday evening, with Lingfield set to be inspected at 8 a.m. and Southwell, which is expecting 60-70mph winds, due for inspection at 10 a.m.

Kirkland Tellwright, clerk of the course at Haydock, is hoping by Saturday that the storm has weakened in advance of the course's Saturday meeting.

He said, “The main concern has been wind, which would be a problem on a raceday but shouldn't be the day before. There will be a lot of damage to repair, no doubt. Saturday is expected to be blustery, gusts of wind and more rain. Having walked the course a couple of times today, I'm pretty optimistic we'll get through.

“The hurdle course is heavy, soft in places, and is not in a bad place. The chase course is heavy, and very heavy in one or two places so we might be bypassing them. I've taken the second fence out in the back straight mainly as a precaution because it gives us more options in terms on how we get past that location.”

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Ballylinch And Fabre’s Fab Four

On a crisp, bright morning at Ballylinch Stud last week, there was just cause for enthusiasm from managing director John O'Connor, and not just for the tea and cake on the table in front of us.

Not much more than a hop, skip and a jump from the office, via a path right past the headstone of The Tetrarch, the stallion yard is about to crank into top gear as the mares start rolling in for the season. There may only be four stallions, but there will be plenty of visitors for them, right through from one of the established elite sires of Europe, Lope De Vega (Ire), to the young buck Waldgeist (GB).

In between these two are the up-and-comers, Make Believe (GB) and New Bay (GB), both in the early stages of forging their reputations, the former especially via the mighty Mishriff (Ire), the highest earner in Europe last year thanks largely to his exploits in the $20 million Saudi Cup, for which he is returning a week on Saturday. Let's not forget, however, that Mishriff was also a Classic winner in France, continuing some important first-crop baton-passing down his sireline from Dubai Millennium (GB) to Dubawi (Ire) to Makfi (GB) and Make Believe. Following his success in Riyadh, Mishriff then added the G1 Juddmonte International S. to his tally back on the grass last season. He's as versatile and likeable as they come, and will certainly have brought untold joy to his owner/breeder Prince Faisal, who also raced Make Believe, having bought him as a foal.

“Prince Faisal has been really successful with Make Believe,” says O'Connor. “And he doesn't have a very big broodmare band but whatever he is doing, he is doing really well. He hasn't just had Mishriff, he's also had [Listed winner] Tammani (GB), [Group 3 winner] Noticeable Grace (Ire), and a recent Group 2 winner in Saudi Arabia, Third Kingdom (GB). He is continuing to support him and it does show you that when good shareholders stay in a stallion it is a huge advantage for a young horse.”

We hear plenty about syndicates in racing, but less publicly syndication has long been key to establishing stallions, and there are few studs around the world better versed in the art of this side of the business than Ballylinch. The stud and its partners are not afraid to put their shoulder to the wheel, as it were, in launching a new recruit, and recent successes speak to the value of this collaborative approach. Lope De Vega's first Group 1 winner Belardo (Ire) was a Ballylinch homebred, while another of his recent recruits to the National Stud in England, Lope Y Fernandez (Ire), was bred by shareholder SF Bloodstock. Similarly, China Horse Club provided the first Group 1 winner for New Bay in the Jane Chapple-Hyam-trained filly Saffron Beach (Ire), who has the G1 Dubai Turf pencilled in for next month.

There's plenty of buzz about sons of Dubawi at stud at present–witness the clamour for nominations and breeding rights to Zarak (Fr) and Time Test (GB) following their first-crop runners in 2021–and New Bay is one of the most significant vessels caught on this rising tide. He was the first of the Ballylinch quartet to be full for 2022, even after a fee rise from €20,000 to €37,500, and there are plenty of his offspring to look forward to this season. These include Classic prospects Bayside Boy (Ire) and Sea Bay (Ger), the latter having been Germany's champion 2-year-old last season. Another of note is the typical Sir Michael Stoute improver Bay Bridge (GB), winner of all four of his starts last year, including the Listed James Seymour S., for owner/breeder James Wigan, who also owns Saffron Beach with Lucy and Ollie Sangster.

We will have a while to wait for Waldgeist's runners as his first crop are just yearlings, but perhaps the wait won't be too long once the 2023 season is upon us. A son of Galileo (Ire) and the celebrated Monsun (Ger) mare Waldlerche (GB), Waldgeist wasn't slow in making an impression as a juvenile. He won on debut at Chantilly in September before finishing third (behind the Ballylinch-bred winner Frankuus) in the G3 Prix de Conde and then being produced with perfect timing by the maestro Andre Fabre to win the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, a race which, in hindsight, had both strength and depth. Behind Waldgeist that day in Paris were future winners of the Derby, St Leger and Melbourne Cup in Wings Of Eagles (Fr), Capri (Ire) and Rekindling (GB), as well as treble Group 1 winner Best Solution (Ire).

O'Connor says, “We're delighted with the response from the industry to Waldgeist. I think one of the things that maybe caught one or two people by surprise is the quality and consistency of his stock. They mostly have quite fluent movement to them, and some of them look quite precocious actually, which was a bit of a surprise. But they have beautiful attitudes. Even watching his foals at the sales, they will always walk straight back in the box–they have that willing attitude and I hope that will transfer to their racing days.”

Waldgeist himself made 14 racecourse appearances, nine of them ending in victory, including his last triumphant hurrah in the Arc. But he was also highly effective over the shorter 2,100-metre trip of the G1 Prix Ganay, a performance which remains vivid in O'Connor's memory for the turn of foot he displayed in dispensing with Study Of Man (Ire) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) to win by more than four lengths.

“It's probably fair to say that Andre Fabre tends not to run horses in Group 1 races as 2-year-olds unless he feels they are up to it and he was proved right in this particular case,” O'Connor says. “I think this horse could surprise people in several ways. If we only think of him as an Arc winner then we can forget that he was a talented racehorse right from the start.”

He adds of the current preoccupation for standing precocious sprint-orientated stallions, “It's a phase that we are going through in terms of what's fashionable and it's probably related to people wanting to have a shorter time span in having to wait for a horse to reach his peak. But one of the things that we shouldn't forget with this particular horse is that he is a Group 1-winning 2-year-old.”

Waldgeist is another to benefit potentially from some notable backers, not least from those studs involved in his breeding, Newsells Park Stud, Gestut Ammerland and Gestut Fahrhof.

“He has a very strong syndicate and it's one that has a bit of history of doing well with launching a stallion so that is an advantage,” O'Connor notes. “Ammerland have been outstanding breeders for a number of decades. They certainly helped us to launch Lope De Vega, and now Newsells Park are involved, who are also outstanding breeders, combined with our usual shareholders, many of whom have been here since I started. I think that is influential in getting a young horse going.”

Now 15, Lope De Vega is all swagger in the Kilkenny sunshine, an attribute he has passed on to some of his sons at stud. There are four now in Ireland and Britain: Belardo, Phoenix Of Spain (Ire), and the latest additions Lucky Vega (Ire) and Lope Y Fernandez. With 11 full covering seasons under his belt, Lope De Vega's fee has increased from his opening €15,000, with a dip to €12,500 in years three and four, before his runners steadily emboldened the team to increase his price year by year to his current high of €125,000.

“Hopefully his sons will do well,” says O'Connor. “They were generated from his initial crops when he was €15,000 or a little margin above or below that. Obviously he's now a proven sire at the top level he's covering some really high-quality mares so it will be exciting to see the next generation of sons that come through from some of the top mares. It could give Lope De Vega a real opportunity to create a dynasty.”

Certainly, his recent books have had a stellar feel to them, with this year's foal crop alone set to include the offspring of Group 1 winners Arabian Queen (GB), Cursory Glance (GB), Dank (GB), Dar Re Mi (GB), Ervedya (Fr), Fallen For You (GB), Miss France (Ire), Moonlight Cloud (GB), Qualify (Ire), Taghrooda (GB), and Zarkava (Fr), as well as siblings to Pinatubo (Ire), Earthlight (Ire), Newspaperofrecord (Ire), Alcohol Free (Ire), and Legatissimo (Ire) among others.

He continues, “All the stallions will cover good books this year and the horse who was first to be full this time was New Bay, who was full from the end of last year really. We put his price up by a significant amount but he could have gone up more and it would have made no difference. Our policy is to go step by step to try to let the horses respond to how they are doing on the racetrack and in the sales ring. We did that with Lope De Vega and we try to do it with any of the younger horses that are succeeding. I try to think about how I would feel about it if I was on the other side of the fence, and we factor that into our plans.”

The Ballylinch quartet may be standing deep in famed Irish breeding territory at the former home of The Tetrarch but all four have a notably strong link to Chantilly, having graduated from the stable of one celebrated trainer, Andre Fabre. O'Connor has long had a fondness for France and admits to keeping a very close eye on the racing scene there, outlining his belief that the French form can be a little under-rated.

“Obviously we have had a lot of success with horses that have been trained by Andre,” he says. “He is a wonderful trainer and I think, certainly in our view, he trains horses in a way that it is very simple to understand how good the horse was.

He is fascinating to listen to in terms of his insight into a particular horse and we are delighted that he is happy to recommend us as a home for some of his top horses.”

O'Connor adds, “The first horse that we stood that he trained was Soviet Star, through he didn't come directly to us. But we have had a number of stallions that he has trained and a lot of them have done well, so if it ain't broke…”

Some sentences do not require an ending, for it is plain to see that the French connection has served this corner of Ireland very well indeed.

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