Group 3-Winning Haskoy Retired Due To Tendon Injury

Trainer Ralph Beckett has revealed that Group 3-winning filly Haskoy (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}–Natavia {GB}, by Nathaniel {Ire}) has been retired due to a tendon injury.

Haskoy, fourth in the St Leger last year, having gone past the post in second, made a winning return at Newbury when landing the G3 Al Rayyan S. She had been just 8-1 for the Gold Cup at Ascot.

Beckett said of the Juddmonte-owned filly on Twitter, “Haskoy has strained a tendon, consequently she is being retired to the paddocks.”

Haskoy is the first foal from a listed-winning half-sister to Spinning Queen (GB) (Spinning World), who left the likes of Soviet Song (Ire) and Alexander Goldrun (Ire) nine lengths behind when upsetting the G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot S. in 2006.

 

 

 

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Newbury: Can “Unexposed” Laurel Beat the Colts in the Lockinge?

Newbury's G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. has been a happy hunting ground for some top fillies in recent times and Saturday's renewal features another as TDN Rising Star Laurel (GB) (Kingman {GB}) takes aim at the colts. Dazzling with her sectionals in a Kempton novice in September, the daughter of Promising Lead (GB) (Danehill) was sent into battle for the G1 Sun Chariot S. by the normally more-reserved Gosdens just days later and justified that risk by beating all bar Fonteyn (GB) (Farhh {GB}) in the Newmarket contest. With a confidence-enhancing win behind her in the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S. back at Kempton last month, the homebred will have the respect of all opposition in the race conquered by the likes of Russian Rhythm (GB) (Kingmambo), Peeress (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), Red Evie (Ire) (Intikhab) and Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

“Laurel is very unexposed,” Juddmonte's racing manager Barry Mahon said. “Last year we threw her in the deep end after two easy wins and it looked for a minute like she was going to pull it off in big style. That day there was a little bit of bias towards the stands' side and I think a combination of greenness and the other horse just getting a nice run up the rail saw her just get run out of it late on.”

Let The Games Begin

With Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) setting the standard bidding to provide the operation with a record-extending ninth renewal, the race to the Queen Anne is well and truly underway for the older milers. Sunderland Holding's My Prospero (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) has something to find at this trip, but showed the best form of these overall as a 3-year-old when a close-up third in the G1 Champion S. at Ascot in October. Still unexposed and low on mileage, the William Haggas trainee made relentless strides after his third in the G1 St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot to Champions Day and he may just be the class act in the line-up.
Haggas is cautious, with the homebred having missed his intended reintroduction last month. “I wanted very much to run him in the Paradise Stakes at Ascot, but his scope wasn't very good,” he said. “The reason I wanted to run there was to see if he was quick enough for the Queen Anne, or the Prince of Wales's Stakes. I'm pretty sure he's Prince of Wales's. So, having missed that, we are then a bit on the back foot and it was either this or the Prix d'Ispahan and I thought the d'Ispahan was a bit too close to Ascot for his first run, so we're coming here. I'm pretty sure a mile is not his best trip, but he's fresh and well and I think he'll run a nice race. I hope he's got a big season ahead of him.”

Time For An Upset?

So far in 2023, the flat action at Newbury has seen fields strung out more than normal and Friday's big-priced winners suggest an upset is far from off the cards here. Kevin Ryan's horses have been ripping it up at York all week and the Hambleton handler has a live Lockinge contender in Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Triple Time (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), the latest notable out of the owner-breeder's remarkable Reem Three (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}). His first run back in 2022 resulted in an impressive success in the G3 Superior Mile and while this is another level, he is open to improvement. Another who has potential to shake things up is last year's G1 Prix Jacques le Marois runner-up Light Infantry (Fr) (Fast Company {Ire}), who was just a neck down on Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}) when tackling a straight mile. “He's proven he's a group one performer,” trainer David Simcock said. “It is a very open Lockinge and I should think everybody thinks they've got a little shout.”

Can Yibir Complete The Trifecta?

There is plenty of intrigue on the Lockinge card, with the G3 Aston Park S. seeing the return of another of Godolphin's transatlantic stalwarts in Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), whose last public sighting came when winning the G2 Princess Of Wales's S. at Newmarket's July Festival. After the successful comebacks of the 5-year-olds Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), it is up to the third of the big trio of 2021 to keep up Charlie Appleby's momentum. “He went for a racecourse gallop at Newmarket a couple of weeks ago and we were very pleased with how he went,” his trainer said. “If he can bring the level of form he showed as a three-year-old and what we saw last year, he is going to be the one they all have to beat.”

Haskoy Back For More

Yibir faces the potentially daunting prospect of facing Juddmonte's Haskoy (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) on Saturday and the fast-improving St Leger supplementary is one of the more intriguing older fillies in action this term. Added to the Doncaster Classic following her impressive success in York's Listed Galtres S. in August, she was perhaps controversially demoted from second to fourth behind New London (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Friday's G2 Yorkshire Cup winner Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and that form has a vastly more solid look after the way the latter and the Leger hero Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) went through their race on Friday.
“She's a star–to jump up from winning a maiden on the all-weather, to then win a stakes race at York days later and then be thrown in at the deep end into a St Leger and finish second past the post,” Barry Mahon said of the Ralph Beckett trainee. “She's a good filly, but she's just taken a bit of time to come to hand.”

Star Style

Newbury also stages a fascinating renewal of the Listed BetVictor Carnarvon S., in which Godolphin's G2 Gimcrack S.-winning TDN Rising Star Noble Style (GB) (Kingman {GB}) backs up quickly after his highly creditable sixth in Newmarket's G1 2000 Guineas. Ballydoyle's own TDN Rising Star Aesop's Fables (Ire) (No Nay Never) continues on the sprinting route which could also lead to the G1 Commonwealth Cup, with his success in The Curragh's seven-furlong G2 Futurity S. not quite the distant memory his odds suggest here. TDN Rising Star material can also be found in the Listed Haras de Bouquetot Fillies' Trial S., where Juddmonte's Salisbury novice winner Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) looks to stay in a competitive Oaks picture.
Another Beckett representative on an important day for the stable, Barry Mahon said of Bluestocking, “Unfortunately we missed Lingfield, which was where we wanted to go and she has taken time to come to herself like a lot of fillies this spring. We're just waiting for her to come and bloom and she's coming. Everyone is happy with her, she's not 100 per-cent there yet, but she's coming and just about ready to start.”

Fantastic Prospect At Iffezheim

Baden-Baden's G3 Japan Racing Association – Derby-Trial should offer some big clues ahead of the G1 Deutsches Derby, with likely favourite Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) out to put a latest drubbing at the hands of Mr Hollywood (Ire) (Iquitos {Ger}) behind him. Beaten 7 1/2 lengths by that TDN Rising Star in Munich's G3 Bavarian Classic at the start of the month, Liberty Racing's G3 Preis des Winterfavoriten winner faces four more unbeaten and unexposed colts including Gestut Karlshof's highly-regarded Straight (Ger) (Zarak {Fr}). A relative of Monsun's domestic Derby-winning siblings Schiaparelli (Ger) and Samum (Ger), he hails from the Andreas Wohler stable. A deep contest also features a TDN Rising Star in search of redemption in Gestut Rottgen's Aspirant (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}), who is up in trip following his well-beaten fourth in Krefeld's G3 Dr Busch-Memorial with something to prove.

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McGivern Grasps A Golden Opportunity

“I'm on a mission to make GB great in its own right.” A statement from Britain's new prime minister, perhaps? No. Forget Westminster, and cast your mind instead to the rolling Cotswold hills that frame the area around Cheltenham.

Those words are uttered not far up the road from the home of National Hunt racing, at Overbury Stud, by the new owner of the stud's newest stallion. Jayne McGivern is unashamedly proud of her recent purchase of Golden Horn (GB), the horse who lit up the 2015 Flat season, graduating from Derby trials, to winning the Derby itself, followed by the Eclipse, the Irish Champion S. and the Arc. No prizes then for guessing that by the end of that glorious season he was made Horse of the Year.

Since those days, Golden Horn, now 10, has resided at Dalham Hall Stud on the Darley roster. But with his Flat stallion career perhaps not as explosive as it might have been hoped for, but with some eye-catching early results over jumps, he was sold this summer by his owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer to McGivern, whose passion for all things equine is equal to her formidable curriculum vitae in the construction industry. With a track record that includes London's Crossrail project, a major construction development at Madison Square Gardens in New York, and a seat on the board of one of the world's leading construction companies, McGivern has recently been appointed as the CEO of the Sports Boulevard Foundation in Saudi Arabia. Currently on her plate is that company's major urban regeneration of the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Horses, then, provide a pleasurable respite during McGivern's return trips from Riyadh to the green pastures of her Dash Grange Stud, or nearby Overbury, which is temporarily home to her four broodmares and their followers. Golden Horn, meanwhile, is now a permanent resident at the latter and has been reunited with two old stablemates from his time at John and Thady Gosden's Clarehaven Stables in Jack Hobbs (GB), who was runner-up to him in the Derby, and Ardad (Ire), whose more precocious profile makes him a rather different prospect.

McGivern has been steadily making some notable purchases in her establishment of a boutique broodmare band. Queen Of The Stage (Ire) (King's Theatre {Ire}), the dam of the outstanding young hurdler Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}), is perhaps the stand-out and was bought for €340,000 in May. Buildmeupbuttercup (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}) was acquired last November, a year after the purchase of Jelan (Ire) (Milan {GB}), a full-sister to the Champion Hurdler Jezki (Ire). She had good reason then to wish to secure a stallion whose profile is rising fast among the National Hunt sector.

Of her mission to ensure that good stallions remains in Britain, McGivern told visitors to Overbury Stud last week as Golden Horn paraded before them, “I'm starting with the very best. I've looked for a stallion for some time and missed a couple for various reasons. I had a little go for Nathaniel and then [Newsells Park] stud got sold. But for the right reasons, I've ended up with this magnificent horse. I can pinch myself. I'm the luckiest person on the planet that he's mine. He's very intelligent and fortunately very fertile.”

Indeed he is. Golden Horn may have seen his appeal adjusting more from the Flat towards the National Hunt crowd but he has not been standing idle, and he covered more than 150 mares this spring before he left Newmarket. One of those was McGivern's treble listed-winning hurdler Buildmeupbuttercup, and while there are some smart jumping names on the list, such as L'Unique (Fr) and My Petra (GB), there are also still some Flat names to conjure with. At Overbury, which has been home to two leading first-season sires in Bertolini and Ardad, as well as multiple British champion National Hunt sire Kayf Tara (GB), it could be said that Golden Horn will have the chance to be involved in the best of both worlds.

McGivern is quick to emphasise that it is Golden Horn's genuine dual-purpose profile that appeals to her and, she hopes, to her fellow breeders. While his smattering of jumps runners to date can boast a strike-rate in excess of 60%, with 14 of his 23 representatives in this sphere having won, including the smart Grade 2 winner Stag Horn (GB), he has also had an encouraging summer on the Flat since relocating to Overbury. The thrice-raced Juddmonte filly Haskoy (GB) has won twice, including the Listed Galtres S., and may yet win back her second-past-the-post finish in the St Leger that was taken away in the stewards' room. The Andre Fabre-trained dual group winner Botanik (GB), meanwhile, is heading to the Breeders' Cup Turf, and another Godolphin representative, Trawlerman (GB), won the valuable Ebor.

“I do think that he's proving himself on the Flat and is a proper dual-purpose stallion,” says McGivern, who also owns 4% of Nathaniel (Ire), another stallion who has piqued the interest of jumps breeders but is eminently capable of siring top-class runners on the Flat.

“And I don't want to get political, but I think everybody may agree that Brexit has been a bit of a disaster for the thoroughbred breeding industry. I look at my own mares and the thought of sending them to Ireland, as we might have done some years ago, just doesn't work for me any more. It's incredibly expensive, it's a huge amount of admin, and I don't think that it's practical.”

She adds, “I have lovely mares, and I think it's really important that we start securing these terrific stallions for the United Kingdom.”

McGivern's broader-brush interests on the equine front run to the ownership of some smart eventers ridden by the current Burghley champion Piggy March. Together they won last weekend's CCI4* class for young horses at Blenheim Horse Trials with the grey stallion Halo.

“I'm fortunate enough that Pig rides for me, but really racing is my heart,” says the effervescent McGivern, who, like her husband David Crossland, previously rode in point-to-points.

“I am a National Hunt person. I love National Hunt racing. It is my passion and has been for most of my life. But that said, I'm moving to the dark side.”

It could be described as returning to the dark side, as McGivern's current horse on the Flat, the winning juvenile Sirona (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), is with Mark Johnston, whom she and Crossland previously had horses with in the 1990s. She also bid on the filly's full-brother at the recent BBAG Yearling Sale, but he was eventually bought by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

She says of Sirona, who was recently second in the valuable British EBF Fillies' Series Final, “I'm really chuffed at the way that she's panned out. We're entering her for a listed race at the end of this month and then a Group 3 in Dusseldorf in mid-November. And then I think we'll just turn her out and see what we've got as a 3-year-old, but her pedigree's perfect for Golden Horn.”

McGivern adds, “I'm moving over into Flat racing a little bit, because this is a dual-purpose stallion by anybody's measure. If it had been six weeks later, the deal might have been slightly different, but as soon as I heard he might be available, we moved very quickly. I think I was extremely lucky to get him and he will be with me for the rest of his life.”

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Seven Days: Out of the Frying Pan

Sir Mark Prescott will happily recount the story of the time he bashed his former pupil assistant William Haggas over the head with a frying pan for oversleeping. He will also reflect with pleasure on the great pride he felt when Haggas won the Derby in 1996 with Shaamit (Ire).

When it comes to being a benevolent dictator, the Prescott pendulum has, by his own admission, swung more from dictatorship towards benevolence in recent years and, more than anyone involved in British racing, the master of Heath House cares deeply for the history of the sport, its milestones, and its continuing traditions.

Prescott will certainly be enjoying the fact that Haggas currently has the best horse in the world in his clutches, Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who notched his perfect ten in the Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday, earning a provisional Timeform rating of 137 with his imperious six-and-half-length romp over last year's winner, Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).

But when it came to moments of exultation on the Knavesmire last week, there was as much jubilation for the victory of the Prescott-trained Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Yorkshire Oaks as there was for Baaeed. Alpinista had been runner-up to the Oaks winner Love (Ire) in the Yorkshire Oaks of 2020 and, despite adding British Listed and Group 2 victories to her tally since then, her big-race successes had all come overseas until last Thursday.

Even if Kirsten Rausing's grey mare had retired last year at the end of her 4-year-old season she would still have been a treble Group 1 winner who had  achieved the remarkable feat of emulating her own grand-dam, Albanova (GB), by winning the Grosser Preis von Berlin – famously beating subsequent Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) – then the Preis von Europa and Grosser Preis von Bayern. But we were treated to an extra season, and what a year it has been so far for the current star of the prolific Lanwades breeding programme. Two-for-two in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and Yorkshire Oaks, Alpinista looks set for a rematch with Torquator Tasso at Longchamp on the first weekend of October. Whether or not she will also face Baaeed in the Arc remains in doubt. The crowd are certainly baying for it, and indeed the manner in which the Shadwell homebred won the Juddmonte International did nothing to suggest he would not see out another two furlongs. Haggas raised the idea that the Irish Champion S. could be the colt's next port of call for what looks likely to be his penultimate race, but wherever and however he ends his career Baaeed will surely be Horse of the Year.

Maybe because he didn't race at two and isn't a Classic winner, Baaeed is somehow not afforded the level of adulation deserving of a horse of his calibre, which is a shame, because let's face it, he's bloody brilliant. Naturally he is most often compared to two previous winners of the International in his own sire Sea The Stars, for whom it was one of six consecutive Group 1 wins in 2009, starting with the 2,000 Guineas and ending with the Arc, and Frankel, who brought York to a standstill a decade ago with his seven-length victory.

The debate will rage endlessly among racing folk as it which of those two greats was the greatest, but it doesn't really matter. What is more important is that both Sea The Stars and Frankel have gone on to be important sires in their own right, with their offspring lighting up racecourses around the world, just as Baaeed and Alpinista did last week at York.

And in the case of those two most recent Group 1 winners, equally important is that they both represent families which have been the cornerstone of their respective breeders' empires for generations. From Sheikh Hamdan's purchase of Height Of Fashion (Fr) from the Queen in 1982 stems Baaeed, while the purchase of Alpinista's fourth dam Alruccaba (Ire) in 1985 by Kirsten Rausing and Sonia Rogers from the Aga Khan has resulted in an impressive dynasty being assembled largely, but by no means solely, at Rausing's Lanwades Stud. Alpinista's run of success is all the more special to those who enjoy the continuity of the great families for it being the centenary of the Aga Khan Studs, an operation which owes much of its own success to her tenth dam, one of the greatest greys of all time, Mumtaz Mahal (GB), who was born 101 years ago and still exerts such influence over the breed.

Trevaunance at the Double

On the subject of anniversaries, the 60th year of Moyglare Stud continues to be marked with great success on the track. As well as an Irish 1,000 Guineas victory for Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), and racing the top stayer in Europe, homebred Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), in partnership with Coolmore, Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner's operation celebrated back-to-back group wins for Trevaunance (Ire) in the G2 Prix de la Nonette. Trained by Jessica Harrington, the daughter of Muhaarar (GB) had previously won the G3 Prix de Psyche at Deauville's opening meeting 18 days earlier.

Trevaunance marks the blending of two notable Irish stud farms. Her dam Liber Nauticus (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) was bought by Moyglare from the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal of 2017, and is from a celebrated family which includes dual Breeders' Cup hero Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and Irish 2,000 Guineas and Champion S. winner Spectrum (Ire) (Rainbow Quest).

Never Again – and Again

Nine years ago No Nay Never bounced from victory in a Keeneland maiden to the G2 Norfolk S. followed by the G1 Darley Prix Morny, and he is now the sire of a Morny winner following the success of Blackbeard (Ire) on Sunday.

It has to be said that a five-runner Prix Morny with no French-bred or -trained horse was a little disappointing, but there is nothing disappointing about the winner himself, who has had a busy first campaign and has now won five of his seven starts for Aidan O'Brien, including the G2 Prix Robert Papin. 

Twenty-four hours earlier, No Nay Never had been represented by a Group 2 juvenile double at the Curragh, courtesy of the exquisite-looking Meditate (Ire) and Aesop's Fables (Ire), both Ballydoyle stable-mates of Blackbeard and the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Little Big Bear (Ire). No Nay Never is steaming ahead as the leading sire of juveniles in Europe this year, with Whitsbury Manor Stud's freshman Havana Grey (GB) in determined pursuit.

Deauville's other group races on Sunday fell to Richard Hannon, with the Rathasker Stud-bred Aristia (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) going one better than her finish behind Nashwa (GB) in the G1 Nassau S. to win the G1 Prix Jean Romanet, and to William Haggas, who completed a fantastic week in style with simultaneous victories in the G2 Prix de Pomone with Sea La Rosa (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and G3 Tally-Ho Stud Ballyogan S. at Naas with Perfect News (GB) (Frankel {GB}). 

Sea La Rosa also brought up an impressive double for both her dam Soho Rose (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and breeder Guy Heald following the win of her brother Deauville Legend (Ire) in the G2 Dante S. at York. 

Only Yann Barberot managed to keep a group race at home for the French trainers this weekend, and that has been a theme in Deauville again this summer, with 13 of the 17 group races having been won by British or Irish trainers, including all five Group 1 contests.

Golden Moments

Both Nathaniel (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB) have covered a number of National Hunt mares this year, and indeed the latter is now officially standing as a dual-purpose sire at Overbury Stud from next season. But both are still eminently capable of getting decent Flat runners, as exemplified by results at York this week.

Godolphin's Trawlerman (GB) landed the valuable Ebor H. under Frankie Dettori, while Haskoy (GB) became the second of Golden Horn's daughters to win the Listed Galtres S. The Juddmonte-bred filly, who was making just her second start, is out of a mare by Nathaniel, who also featured as the damsire of G3 Solario S. winner Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), the first foal of Group 1 winner God Given (GB).

Meanwhile, though the G2 Lonsdale Cup was drastically depleted by the defections of Stradivarius (Ire) and Trueshan (Fr), there was plenty to enjoy about the emphatic victory of Nathaniel's five-year-old son Quickthorn (GB) for his owner/breeder Lady Blyth.

While we are handing out bouquets, the mighty mare Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) deserves an extra-large one for winning back-to-back Group 1s in Deauville and York within 12 days, to take her tally to 11 wins from 29 starts for her owner/breeder John Fairley and trainer John Quinn.

Another should go to the Whitsbury Manor Stud broodmare Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), who added the G3 Acomb S. winner Chaldean  (GB) (Frankel {GB}) – a rare non-homebred runner for Juddmonte – to her list of black-type performers which now numbers five and includes the G2 Mill Reef S winner Alkumait (GB) (Showcasing {GB}). 

Finally, one trainer who almost certainly hasn't been bashed over the head with a frying pan by Sir Mark Prescott, but who, like Haggas, has enjoyed a fruitful week, is Ralph Beckett. Within five minutes on Saturday his stable was represented by the G2 City of York S. winner Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Listed Chester S. victrix River of Stars (Ire), who was one of five stakes winners for Sea The Stars last week. Beckett's good week also included the aforementioned Haskoy among his seven winners.

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