Tag: Europe

Ozzie Kheir Buys Breeders’ Cup Winner And Cox Plate Contender Victoria Road

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero Victoria Road (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) will contest the A$5-million G1 Cox Plate in the colours of Ozzie Kheir next month, Racing.com reported on Friday.

Bred by Trevor Stewart and trained by Aidan O'Brien for Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, the colt is currently traveling to Australia where he will spend his two-week quarantine in Melbourne. O'Brien will continue training the son of G3 Abernant S. and G3 Charge Sprint S. victress Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) through his intended starts in the 2040-metre Cox Plate and the 2000-metre G1 Champion S. in the coming weeks. He will then change yards to Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

“We are extremely excited to have secured this very talented Northern Hemisphere 3-year-old with Japanese bloodlines,” Kheir told the publication.

“Having already won a Grade I at the age of two and being lightly raced, it gave us confidence as a group to proceed with a deal to acquire Victoria Road from Coolmore.

“The Coolmore family have always been a pleasure to deal with, our last significant acquisition being Sir Dragonet (Ire) in 2020. We have now traded together on some high-profile horses and there is a mutual respect for each other where we strike a fair price and terms to suit both. Recently Yes Yes Yes (Aus) and Coolangatta (Aus) have been sold to Coolmore.”

The 115,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 graduate also won the G3 Prix de Conde and the Listed Criterium du Fonds Europeen de l'Elevage at two. At three, he was third in the G2 Dullingham Park S. in two starts. From 10 starts, Victoria Road has won four times with earnings north of $680,000. His second dam is the hugely influential blue hen Cassandra Go (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}).

Added Kheir, “Mathew Becker was instrumental in landing the deal on Victoria Road as I, personally, didn't think we could buy him.

“So, when the opportunity come about on the terms and price, I believed it was really good buying for this loyal and fantastic group of owners we race with.

“We have a runner ready to go in the business end of the spring, provided he travels well, but more importantly, a colt for the future to race in Australia and continue to add to his value with most of, or potentially all, his downside covered by his previous Grade I win as a stallion prospect.

“He will be trained by Ciaron and Dave after his couple of runs in Australia with Aidan O'Brien. It gave us great confidence that Aidan was wanting to continue to travel Victoria Road for our group to compete in the Cox Plate. Victoria Road is currently in the air on route to Werribee [International Horse Centre].

“Our short-term plan post-spring is to target the All-Star Mile and Australia Cup before attacking the Sydney Autumn.”

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American Champion Modern Games To Stand At Dalham Hall Next Year

Godolphin's Eclipse Champion Male Turf Horse Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}–Modern Ideals {GB}, by New Approach {Ire}) will stand under the Darley banner at Dalham Hall Stud alongside his sire in Newmarket next season. A fee for the five-time top-level victor will be announced in due course.

Trained by Charlie Appleby, he won both the G3 Somerville S. and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at two. Sent to France at three, Modern Games duly nabbed the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and was third in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, and second in the G1 Sussex S. two starts later. Returned to North America, the royal blue colourbearer added the GI Woodbine Mile S. and the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, with a runner-up performance in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. in between. Kept in training at four, the 4-year-old ran second in the GI Mile S. at Keeneland before adding the G1 Lockinge S. at Newbury in May. In his final start, he was fourth in the G1 Queen Anne S. to Triple Time (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and was retired later this season with a record of 16-8-4-1 and earnings of $3,571,418.

Darley's Sam Bullard said, “The success of Dubawi as a sire of sires is now well known. How lucky we are to have such a sensational addition by the stallion, and one whose mother is also extraordinarily talented. He is a French Guineas winner, and his half-sister won the English Guineas. He won a Group 1 at two, remaining sound throughout, he finished with a Lockinge at four, and he has a magnificent mindset.

“He is now available to view, breeders should come and see him while in Newmarket and get involved.”

The chestnut is a half-brother to 2023 G1 1000 Guineas heroine Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), as well as listed winner Modern News (GB) (Shamardal), who was runner-up in the G3 Diomed S. and G3 Sovereign S. His dam is a half-sister to G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere victor and sire Ultra (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), and the family also features dual Group 1 winner Act One (GB) (In The Wings {GB}).

 

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Another Newmarket Triumph For Invincible Spirit’s Mutasaabeq

Practically unbeatable on Newmarket's Rowley Mile, Shadwell's Mutasaabeq (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) made all to annexe back-to-back renewals of the G2 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Joel S. on Friday and gain a fifth success from six visits to his favourite venue.

Always happy on the front end with the bias firmly for front-runners, the Charlie Hills-trained homebred son of Ghanaati (Giant's Causeway) had to work late to deny two others who have likewise been around the block but remain just shy of the very top.

They are the Freemason Lodge favourite Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}), who for some time up the rising ground to the line threatened to ruin the party for the 11-4 favourite, and the imperturbable Chindit (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) but their combined doggedness and three-pound advantage over the penalised winner was not enough. By hard-fought head and half-length margins, Mutasaabeq saw them off to add to his Suffolk tally which also includes the rescheduled G2 Sandown Mile in May, a 2-year-old novice contest and conditions event the following season in which he gained TDN Rising Star status. The returning Maljoom (Ire) (Caravaggio) was never able to land a blow and finished fifth.

“This was right up there with his best,” jockey Jim Crowley said. “He loves it here, he likes to get rolling between the three and the two and where he has folded in the past, in fairness when they came to him he kept fighting and toughed it out well.”

Charlie Hills added, “It is a case of horses for courses and he has got a tremendous record at the Rowley Mile. I think when he wins he puts a lot into it and so he can't put too many races together, although he is a little bit older now and a bit stronger.”

“When he won here as a 3-year-old, he looked unbeatable and he was not far off favourite for the 2000 Guineas just off winning a conditions race. He has been pretty sound through his career, but he has not had too many chances at Group 1 level. I've always felt he is up to it and I'll speak to Angus [Gold] and Sheikha Hissa, but we could have a look at America for the [Breeders' Cup] Mile–that could be an option.

“What do you do with a horse that has won three Group 2s? He is a good miler and he likes fast ground. I'm sure he will handle the journey and he only needs to improve a couple of lengths with the travel and the conditions and you never quite know. A track like this tests his stamina, but a two-turn mile at Santa Anita will suit him ideally.”

 

Pedigree Notes

Following on from Thursday's G3 Tattersalls S. win of his relative Alyanaabi (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), Mutasaabeq adds another chapter to the remarkable story of his third dam Height Of Fashion (Fr) (Bustino {GB}). A son of the aforementioned G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Coronation S. heroine Ghanaati, he shares his second dam Sarayir (Mr. Prospector) with Alyanaabi and is therefore linked to the operation's current and very recent Sea The Stars (Ire) luminaries Baaeed (GB) and Hukum (Ire) and past greats Nashwan and Nayef.

Invincible Spirit's sire line also shows up in the family's G3 Cumberland Lodge S.-winning sire Mawatheeq by Danzig, the G2 Queen Mary S. winner and 1000 Guineas-placed Maqaasid (GB) by Green Desert and the GII New York S. winner Makderah (Ire) by Danzig's Danehill. Ghanaati also produced the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal scorer Wafy (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the Royal Hunt Cup winner Afaak (GB) by Green Desert's son Oasis Dream (GB).

 

Friday, Newmarket, Britain
AL BASTI EQUIWORLD DUBAI JOEL S.-G2, £125,000, Newmarket, 9-29, 3yo/up, 8fT, 1:34.71, g/f.
1–MUTASAABEQ (GB), 135, h, 5, by Invincible Spirit (Ire)
1st Dam: Ghanaati (MG1SW-Eng, $720,406),
                                by Giant's Causeway
2nd Dam: Sarayir, by Mr. Prospector
3rd Dam: Height Of Fashion (Fr), by Bustino (GB)
O/B-Shadwell Estate Company Ltd (GB); T-Charles Hills; J-Jim
Crowley. £70,888. Lifetime Record: 17-7-2-1, $356,753. *1/2
to Wafy (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), GSW-UAE, $246,592. Werk Nick
   Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or
   the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Regal Reality (GB), 132, g, 8, Intello (Ger)–Regal Realm (GB),
by Medicean (GB). O-Peter Done; B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd
(GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute. £26,875.
3–Chindit (Ire), 132, h, 5, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Always A
Dream (GB), by Oasis Dream (GB). (65,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT).
O-Villoo Poonawalla Greenfield Farms; B-J C Bloodstock & R
Mahon (IRE); T-Richard Hannon. £13,450.
Margins: HD, HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 2.75, 16.00, 3.33.
Also Ran: Epictetus (Ire), Maljoom (Ire), Mighty Ulysses (GB). VIDEO.

 

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Starspangledbanner’s Carla’s Way Brilliant In The Rockfel; Has BC Juvenile Fillies Turf Berth

All who witnessed the Doncaster debut success of Carla's Way (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}–Sulaalaat {GB}, by New Approach {Ire})) already knew that she was a talented performer, but Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa's imposing chestnut had to show it where it matters and she duly delivered in Friday's G2 Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai Rockfel S. at Newmarket.

Gifted an ideal lead, a strong pace and fast conditions in this seven-furlong “Win and You're In” for the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, the Crisfords' 7-2 shot was not for catching once James Doyle had committed passing two out.

Despite the admirable effort of the 13-8 favourite Shuwari (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) from an impossible position, the contest had already been decided and there was a safe 2 1/4-length margin between them at the line. Ballydoyle's G3 Silver Flash S.-winning TDN Rising Star Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was back to form a further 2 1/2 lengths away in third, but was outpaced some way out in a race that looked top-level in all but name.

Carla's Way, who had showed she could run as fast as only the best can do when defeating the smart pair Star Of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) and Serene Seraph (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) on her introduction 20 days before disappointing when eighth in the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot, had undergone a wind operation before finishing second to the subsequent G2 May Hill S. winner Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) on ground that would have been unsuitably soft in Goodwood's G3 Prestige S. last month.

Simon Crisford is looking at Santa Anita as a real possibility now that she has the ticket. “She did it really well, I think the fractions early on were pretty strong so all credit to her for picking up well,” he said. “I think she was slightly running on empty the last hundred yards, so that's probably as far as she wants to go trip-wise. I think the Fillies' Mile back here in two weeks might just be stretching her stamina too much, but a quick two-turn mile at the Breeders' Cup in California might be okay.”

Ed Crisford added, “There is a lot of New Approach in her and she is a big, tall, scopey filly and for sure next year she should train on. Whether she will quite stay a mile I'm not sure. We will get this year out of the way and then think about next year and see how she is training over the winter before thinking of the 1000 Guineas.”

Shuwari's trainer Ollie Sangster has no stamina concerns for the runner-up, who lost nothing in surrendering her unbeaten record racing against the bias against a top-drawer opponent. “I was very happy and she ran great,” he said. “I suppose the way the race panned out, she had a lot to do but she stayed on well. We will see how the next week goes, but we could think about coming back for the [Oct. 13] Fillies' Mile. She had been off for 64 days and she will come on again, so will definitely think about that.”

 

Pedigree Notes

Carla's Way, who at £350,000 was the second-highest-priced filly at the Goffs UK 2yo Breeze Up Sale, is the third of three current foals out of Sulaalaat who sported the Shadwell silks and was at her best over this trip. Registering a career-best in a handicap at the same Doncaster venue at which her daughter starred on debut, she is a full-sister to the dam of another member of the 2023 juvenile class who has produced something out of the ordinary in the Ripon debut winner but subsequently disappointing Listed Rose Bowl S.-placed Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}).

The third dam Sumoto (GB) (Mtoto {GB}) was responsible for the G1 Eclipse S. hero Compton Admiral (GB) (Suave Dancer), the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. winner Summoner (GB) (Inchinor {GB}) and the G2 Ribblesdale S. runner-up Twyla Tharp (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) who in turn produced the G1 Irish Champion S., G1 Prince of Wales's S., G1 Nassau S. and G1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}). This is also the family of the high-class G1 July Cup and G1 Prix de la Foret winner Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}).

 

Friday, Newmarket, Britain
AL BASTI EQUIWORLD DUBAI ROCKFEL S.-G2, £107,000, Newmarket, 9-29, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:23.01, g/f.
1–CARLA'S WAY (IRE), 128, f, 2, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Sulaalaat (GB), by New Approach (Ire)
2nd Dam: Danehill Dreamer, by Danehill
3rd Dam: Sumoto (GB), by Mtoto (GB)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (£350,000 2yo '23 GOUKB). O-Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa; B-Grove Stud & David Spratt (IRE); T-Simon & Ed Crisford; J-James Doyle. £60,680. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-0, $100,265. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Shuwari (Ire), 128, f, 2, New Bay (GB)–Lady Pimpernel (GB), by Sir Percy (GB). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (80,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Mrs B V Sangster & Ballylinch Partnership; B-Ballylinch Stud (IRE); T-Ollie Sangster. £23,005.
3–Ylang Ylang (GB), 128, f, 2, Frankel (GB)–Shambolic (Ire), by Shamardal. (1,500,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-Magnier, Tabor, Smith,Brant & Westerberg; B-Newsells Park Stud & Merry Fox Stud (GB); T-Aidan O'Brien. £11,513.
Margins: 2 1/4, 2HF, 3/4. Odds: 3.50, 1.63, 2.50.
Also Ran: Spiritual (Ire), Zenjabeela (GB), Carolina Reaper (GB). Scratched: Alshinfarah (Ire), Marcella (Ger).

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