Tag: Frankel

Revelation And Vindication – The Story Behind Brilliant Broodmare Repose

Few broodmares carry a more impressive combination than Repose (Quiet American), who landed a left and right hook with State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}), and she's far from finished after it was announced this week that she would be joining the Juddmonte broodmare band after a deal was struck with Tinnakill House Stud.

Dermot Cantillon, the man behind Tinnakill, of which Group 1 winners Alexander Goldrun, Red Evie, Casamento and more recently State Of Rest are graduates, revealed that the Repose story is as much about vindication as it is revelation.

It was a November day in 2007 when Cantillon put his shoulders back and took a punt on a then 17-year-old mare called Monaassabaat (Zilzal).

According to Cantillon, she ticked a lot of the right boxes, being by a stallion with brilliance and from an exceptional family.

The one drawback, although Cantillon didn't see it that way, was her age, which may explain why he secured the mare for just €42,000.

Monaassabaat is a proven producer of black-type performers, including Prince Alzain (Street Sense) and Echo River (Irish River {Fr}), but it is Repose, who never managed to make it to the track, who has put the pedigree in lights.

They say the secret to becoming an overnight success is a lifetime of hard work and, in Cantillon's case, nurturing the bloodlines of the globetrotting star State Of Rest and genuine Oaks contender Tranquil Lady began when he took a punt on a mare that many others would have deemed too old back in 2007.

“The fundamentals we adhere to are strong,” Cantillon explained. “We always try and get into female families where the black-type is substantial and of good quality. That particular family featured one of the best mares ever in America, It's In The Air (Mr. Prospector) and we bought her daughter, Monaassabaat, quite cheaply.

“When we bred Repose, she was owned in partnership with Pat and Kim Hayes, who worked for me at the time, and I subsequently bought out the share. I bought Monaassabaat from Darley at Goffs in 2007. She was a Maktoum Al Maktoum-owned mare and, if you were to look down through the pedigree, it was a fantastic family, so that was a big attraction for me.”

He added, “I remember Monaassabaat because I was mad about Zilzal and, if memory serves me correct, she may have been the first stakes winner by Zilzal. I thought he had brilliance as a sire and was a Nureyev horse so, in my mind, it was ticking boxes.

“At the time I bought her, I had just purchased a farm in Kentucky and I thought she would be a very good mare to have over there given she had a strong American pedigree. We sent her over there and, out of her, we bred Prince Alzain, who was the first stakes winner for Street Sense.”

Repose never made it to the sales in America but, thinking he might have something different to offer potential buyers in Ireland, Cantillon elected to roll the dice at the Orby Sale at Goffs in 2013, but she failed to sell.

Acknowledging his luck, Cantillon recalled, “She held entries in the November Foal Sales at Keeneland in 2012 and was also entered in the sales at Keeneland the following January but she didn't attend either of those because I didn't think I would get much for her.

“I decided to bring her back to Ireland and offer her at the Goffs Orby Sale thinking she would be a bit different but she didn't sell. I had 10 yearlings that year and I sold nine but couldn't sell her.”

He added, “In actual fact, I sold Chicago Dancer (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), whose first yearling made 1 million gns, so it wasn't a bad consignment looking back at it now.”

After failing to sell as a yearling, Repose was put into training before it was reported that she wouldn't make it as a racehorse and, while her first foal–as they often can be–was disappointing, she has quickly earned revelationary status as a broodmare.

Cantillon explained, “She has been an outstanding producer from two very different sires in Starspangledbanner and Australia. When you watch a horse that you have bred go on to win a race, it's like having a winner of your own without the expenses, and we have been given huge pleasure by State Of Rest. In fact, one of the greatest thrills of my life was watching him winning the Cox Plate.”

The State Of Rest story may never have been written had Cantillon not been prepared to take on an older mare but, along with the help of his wife Meta Osborne, an industry-renowned vet, it has been an avenue the stud have enjoyed huge success with down through the years.

Cantillon said, “Monaassabaat was 17 when we bought her. If you get a foal that looks the part out of an older mare, the chances are that it is the part. What happens with older mares, a lot of them are bred to first-season sires, who are unproven and chances are that one out of 10 of those sires will be good. There's a big bias with mares as they get older. When they are young, they tend to get bred to more proven sires, so of course they are going to produce much better horses.

“Meta is very good at what she does and treats mares as individuals. She thinks about them a lot and is at the cutting edge of managing older mares. We don't put ourselves under massive pressure with regards to expectations either. If we buy a mare who is 15 years' of age or older, we would be thinking that if we could get them in foal every second year, that would be good. We'd love to get them in foal every year but don't get too disheartened if we don't.”

Repose joined Juddmonte in foal to Frankel (GB), with Cantillon retaining a Sea The Stars (Ire) filly foal alongside Sunderland Holdings, although a decision has yet to be made on whether she will be offered at public auction as a foal or a yearling.

In the meantime, the pedigree could be set for yet another boost, with State Of Rest bidding for his first Group 1 on home shores when he lines up in the Tattersalls Ireland Gold Cup at the Curragh on Sunday, while Cantillon has already made plans to travel to Epsom to see Tranquil Lady tackle the Oaks. The story continues.

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Equine Worlds Collide In Team Behind Classic Hope Onesto

“Ca va, ca va, ca va,” says one rider after another as they report back to trainer Fabrice Chappet on their respective mounts during a routine Monday morning exercise in Chantilly.

Then comes Gregory Defrel, the Martinique-born rider of G2 Prix Greffulhe winner Onesto (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

“Tres, tres bien,” he says, before gesticulating with the internationally recognised hand signal for 'ok'.

That's good enough for the trainer, who remains outwardly impassive as he watches his second lot circle under the trees in the Rond Allez France. Chappet is not prone to issuing wild statements of excitement about his runners, either pre- or post-race, but he does concede that he is very happy to have Onesto in his immaculate Chantilly stable. One wouldn't have Chappet pegged as overly superstitious, but he notes with the merest hint of a smile that the horse arrived in his yard from America last year on Prix du Jockey Club day. An omen, perhaps?

Onesto has certainly taken a fairly unusual route towards this year's 'French Derby'. Bred in Ireland at Coolmore by American breeder Adam Bowden of Diamond Creek Farm, he made his first public appearance in England at the October Yearling Sale at Tattersalls, where he was unsold at 185,000gns. With the pandemic showing no sign of abating and 2-year-old sales potentially being halted or delayed again, the colt was shipped to the States and was eventually consigned to the Ocala Spring Sale in Florida, where he first caught the eye of bloodstock agent Hubert Guy.

“He went to Ciaran Dunne, who is one of the great consignors at Ocala,” Guy recalls. “This horse worked and I was shocked. He had an unbelievable stride and did a fantastic time (breeze-up video). Then I saw that he was by Frankel out of a Sea The Stars mare, so it looked  on pedigree like he was a mile-and-a-quarter, mile-and-a-half horse, and his grandmother was by Kahyasi, and you go back to the dam of Hasili, from the best family of Juddmonte. I called Jean-Etienne Dubois and I said 'we have to buy this horse'.”

Therein two worlds collided, in more ways than one. Adam Bowden has only relatively recently added Thoroughbred breeding to his repertoire, having majored in Standardbreds. His Diamond Creek Farm, with wings in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, stands 11 stallions. On the other side of the Atlantic, Jean-Etienne Dubois is a name etched in the annals of the French trotting scene, as a former champion trainer, driver and breeder. Dubois, who is now based in Australia, owns a third of Onesto, in partnership with his father Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois, as well as Ecurie Hunter Valley, Ecurie Billon, Haras d'Etreham, Hubert Guy and Fabrice Chappet. Quite a vote of confidence from agent and trainer, as well as a potentially shrewd investment from the renowned stallion-makers at Etreham.

“He has a super turn of foot. Unfortunately it doesn't happen all the time that you are able to buy the horse that you really like, and then for that horse to repeat it on the racetrack. But he had a perfect vetting, everything was right,” says Guy, who rallied the troops to buy him at $535,000.

“When I watched the work, I rushed to the barn to see him. When I arrived, I saw a little chestnut pony, but he walked really well and had a fantastic attitude. Nothing fazed him.”

An agent glimpsing a catalogue page with Frankel and Sea The Stars in the first two generations may reasonably assume that the horse in question could be on the large side. Perhaps Onesto's neatness comes from his dam's side of the family. As Guy has referenced, this is one of Juddmonte's best. His great-grand-dam Kerali (GB) (High Line {GB}) produced the petite Hasili (GB) (Kahyasi {Ire}), the legendary dam of five Group/Grade 1 winners. It is Hasili's unraced sister Kalima (GB) who features as Onesto's grand-dam.

His pedigree is lent some nice historical symmetry by the fact that his fourth dam Sookera (Roberto) was the joint-top-rated filly in the Irish Free Handicap of 1977 with Fairy Bridge (Bold Reason), who also appears in Onesto's fourth generation in the top line as the dam of Sadler's Wells. Furthermore, with Galileo (Ire) and his half-brother Sea The Stars as his grandfathers, Onesto is inbred 3×3 to Urban Sea (Miswaki).

“He has always been a nice horse,” says Chappet of Onesto, who lives only a hop, skip and jump from his front door. The trainer celebrated his first Classic success five years ago with Precieuse (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, and he has come agonisingly close in the intervening years with Dice Roll (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}) finishing third in the colts' equivalent, the same season that Intellogent (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) won the G1 Prix Jean Prat after finishing a length off the winner when fourth in the Prix du Jockey Club. During the delayed Classic season of 2020, Speak Of The Devil (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) was beaten a nose in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and was followed home in third by her stable-mate and paternal half-sister Mageva (Fr).

He adds, “Everybody saw that when we bought him at the breeze-up. He went very fast, and he's not born for that.”

Onesto, whose name translates from Italian to mean 'honest', certainly has the look of a horse deserving of such a moniker. As he wanders through the Chantilly forest, he keeps his head low, focused on his job, never putting a foot wrong as one or two of his stable-mates exhibit a touch of Monday morning high jinks. His lack of stature is compensated for by powerful quarters and a long, loose walk.

The chestnut colt made his racecourse debut on his home track last September when rounding the field to break his maiden with ease, beating Juddmonte's Badge (GB), a close relative to his own sire Frankel. He was awarded a 'TDN Rising Star' for his efforts.

“He had a small break when he first came here, but he has always done what we've asked him to do,” Chappet says. “He was very impressive first time out. Next time we wanted to give him a good lesson and he was beaten by Welwal (Fr) but he was dropping back to 1,500m. And then first time out this year, since he was a winner and because he has showed such a good turn of foot, we thought maybe he could go for the Guineas. So we sent him to the Fontainebleau, and he ran well–as a matter of fact, if you look at the clock–but he just showed that the mile is definitely a bit short for him now to show his best.”

Onesto bounced back from his eighth place in the G3 Prix Fontainebleau when stepping up to the Jockey Club trip of 2,100m in the G2 Prix Greffulhe. Once again his turn of foot was deployed to full effect as he accelerated past odds-on favourite Agave (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) to win eased down.

“Then last time he was impressive and that was what we wanted to see before we decided to go for the Jockey Club,” Chappet adds. “And he has come out of that race perfectly well. I'm quite happy with him at this stage.”

Golden Start For Diamond Creek…

For breeder Adam Bowden, an avowed fan of European turf racing, it has not only been Onesto who has made his early-morning race viewing even more exciting this year, as his Diamond Creek Farm is also the breeder of 'TDN Rising Star' and Royal Ascot-bound Queen Olly (Ire) (No Nay Never). The farm will also be doubly represented in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. by graduates Missy Greer (Nyquist) and Favor (Pioneerof The Nile).

“Two of the fillies that we've bred are in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico on Friday, so it seems like there's too much good luck all at one time,” says Bowden with a chuckle. “I'm just very thankful and I'm enjoying it because I know it's extremely difficult, so when it happens you'd better enjoy it.”

Of his foray into the Thoroughbred world he adds, “I was a huge fan of Galileo and Frankel. I spent all my mornings in the office watching all the English and Irish tracks and just got hooked on it years ago.

“My wife and I had gone over to Ireland as we sponsored the Vincent Delaney Memorial Standardbred race, and one of the days we had free, we had a tour of Coolmore. While we were there they told us they had some mares for sale. Eddie Fitzpatrick was fantastic and is my contact there, and we ended up buying a couple of mares from them.”

If breeders want to make a splash in European racing they could do worse than buy from the best, and in addition to the mares acquired from Coolmore, Bowden later bought Onesto's dam Onshore (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), as an unraced 3-year-old from the Juddmonte draft at the 2016 Tattersalls December Mare Sale.

“Her pedigree was the huge draw for me,” he says of the relation to stallions Dansili (GB), Champs Elysees (GB), Cacique (GB) and Leroidesanimaux (Brz), not to mention star racemares Banks Hill (GB), Intercontinental (GB) and Heat Haze (GB). “We had circled the mare and my agent Mike Akers went to see her and said, 'well if you're willing to spend what it takes to buy her, then I think she is the type of filly that we want.' And it worked out.”

It also appears to be working out with Queen Olly's dam Surprisingly (GB) (Galileo {GB}). The mare's elder offspring, the dual winner Schooner Ridge (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), is one of two fillies Bowden has in training in Chantilly with Nicolas Clement, while Queen Olly was herself bought at the Orby Yearling Sale for €300,000 by Amo Racing.

“It's crazy that all of this is happening at the same time and she looks pretty special too,” Bowden notes. “It's more than I could have hoped for in a short period of time. We really only got into the Thoroughbred side six or seven years ago. We've had decent success at the sales and now it has rotated to the track.”

Four Diamond Creek mares have recently returned to Coolmore after a spell in America.

“We've cut to 10 mares and have split them relatively evenly between Europe and the U.S.,” the breeder explains. “All of our mares shipped over to Kentucky in the fall of 2020. I couldn't travel because of the pandemic and we just wanted a better feel for them, and to see what the foals looked like. I wasn't sure how long the pandemic was going to last so they ended up staying here a while and have recently gone back with the yearlings.”

And the small world that is the horse world recently brought Bowden together with Onesto's part-owner Jean-Etienne Dubois, who has also enjoyed success in Britain as part of the syndicate that owned Group 1-placed Flotus (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}).

“He happened to be over here in Kentucky doing some Standardbred stuff a couple of weeks ago and we ran into him,” says Bowden. “We were there looking at one of their Standardbreds to stand as a stallion and we ended up talking about Onesto the whole time.”

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Walsh Has High Hopes for Invincible Spirit Colt at Tattersalls

Of the seven horses Katie Walsh offers under the Greenhills Farm banner at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale on Thursday, none jump off the page quite like lot 42, an Invincible Spirit (Ire) half-brother to dual Group 1 winner Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who the leading consignor has high hopes for.

Goresbridge has been a good sale for Walsh, who sold GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up East (GB) (Frankel {GB}) at Ireland's only breeze-up sale when it was last held at Gowran Park in 2018, and she is upbeat about the prospects of continuing that trend at Fairyhouse this week.

The Invincible Spirit colt may be the ace in the pack, but Walsh says she has “something for everyone” at Tattersalls and expects trade to be strong after another profitable sale for her operation at Arqana last week.

She said, “Miss O'Kelly of Kilcarn Stud owns the Invincible Spirit and I'm delighted to be selling one for her. She is a great supporter of Irish racing and, as she doesn't keep her colts, she decided to breeze him when he missed the yearling sales. Hopefully he will do a nice breeze on Wednesday and will sell well for them on Thursday.

“The Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (lot 151) filly is pretty smart as well and I have a Brazen Beau (Aus) (lot 73) colt who I think is pretty sweet, so I am looking forward to the sale. There's a nice mix of horses there and I have something for everyone. From a smaller-priced horse right up to the Invincible Spirit with a really good pedigree, and everything in between, we have a nice team.”

Walsh added, “It's been a good year for us without having anything off the charts. We had a good sale at Arqana last week. Dad [Ted Walsh] bought an Almanzor colt as a yearling for €12,000 and he made €65,000 last week. That was a good result.

“We'd an Acclamation (GB) filly with a good pedigree, who Peter Nolan bought for me as I was just after having a baby at the time, and she cost 38,000gns as a yearling and we turned her into €120,000. That was super.

“I also bought a Showcasing colt for 50,000gns and he only made €55,000. I thought going to Arqana that he was the best one I had but that's the way the sale went, and hopefully he can be lucky for his new connections.”

Matching the right horses for what buyers want in each sale is hugely important and Walsh revealed that the Invincible Spirit colt was entered for Goresbridge on the basis that it would give him a maximum opportunity to shine.

Speaking about her approach to the breeze-up sales, Walsh explained, “You set out at the start of the season to try and buy the best physical with the best pedigree for the right money. Sometimes you get lucky and it just happens for you but more often than not you have to dig a bit deeper to make it happen.

“Every horse that I bring to a breeze-up sale, they are there to be sold and the main objective is to come home with empty head collars, win, lose or draw. My business model is to get them sold and to start with a clean slate when the yearling sales start.

“What determines what sale I go to, I suppose it's driven by physical and by pedigree, and sometimes it's better to be a big fish in a smaller pond. When it comes to Goresbridge, it's always been a good sale for me down through the years, and I am lucky enough to be bringing the nice Invincible Spirit colt this year with a big pedigree. He looks like he might be a big fish in a small pond along with the Saxon Warrior filly. I'm lucky to have two big pedigrees there and they are nice physicals as well.”

Reflecting on preparing East, who was knocked down to Stephen Hillen for €315,000 at this sale in 2018, Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) and Caspar Netscher (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), who have flown the flag for Walsh with great distinction in this sphere, she added, “East was sold on behalf of a client but it was fantastic to get her. She was a very good filly, extremely fast and forward, and by a fantastic sire. I was lucky to get the phone call to prepare a Frankel filly for Goresbridge. I was absolutely over the moon. It was a lovely thing to do and lovely to be associated with a really good filly like that.

“I prepared Asymmetric  last year and he was a very good colt who went on to win a Group 2 but the one who got me going was Caspar Netscher.”

Walsh's seven-strong team will be among the 217 horses to breeze at Fairyhouse at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. The sale kicks off at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.

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Observations: 700K gns Yearling Debuts at Ascot

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Wednesday's Observations features a 700,000gns Tattersalls October purchase, Eternal Pearl (GB). 

15.00 Ascot, Cond, £20,000, 3yo, f, 7f 213yT
Godolphin's 700,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 acquisition ETERNAL PEARL (GB) (Frankel {GB}), representing the in-form Charlie Appleby and set to sport a first-time hood in this unveiling, is out of a stakes-winning half to last term's MGSW G1 Matron S. and G1 Prix de la Foret runner-up Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Her five opponents include Anthony Oppenheimer's once-raced winner Kings Joy (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who is out of a half-sister to G1SW sires Footstepsinthesand (GB) (Giant's Causeway) and Pedro The Great (Henrythenavigator), from the John and Thady Gosden stable.

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