Her Majesty The Queen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Seventy Glorious Years: Part III

In the concluding part of the series reflecting on the Queen's long attachment to thoroughbred racing and breeding, John Berry considers the prospect of a royal Derby runner in the year of the Platinum Jubilee

The most significant addition to the royal roster of trainers came in the autumn of 1966, when some of that year's yearlings were sent to the West Ilsley stable of Major Dick Hern. This was the start of a wonderful partnership, which in time saw Hern become as synonymous with the royal string as formerly Captain (later Sir) Cecil Boyd-Rochford had been. The Queen's numbers of horses in training began to drop after the decision in 1964 that the National Stud would cease to breed horses and instead become primarily a base for stallions, which meant that the source of leased horses dried up. From a royal string of just over 30 in the mid 1960s, she had only 20 horses in training a decade later. However, Major Hern had a wonderful knack of unearthing and developing high-class horses.

Ian Balding, too, proved to be an excellent trainer for Her Majesty. Among the first good horses whom he trained for her was the Charlottesville horse Magna Carta, a son of Almeria. Magna Carta enjoyed a tremendous campaign as a 4-year-old in 1970, highlighted by his wins in the Ascot S. (thus completing a race-to-race double for Balding and his jockey Geoff Lewis, initiated by Mill Reef's victory in the Coventry S.) and the Doncaster Cup. Tragically, Magna Carta, who appealed as an obvious Gold Cup candidate, died early the next year after an accident in his stable. The Queen still had a runner in that Gold Cup, but its extreme distance proved too far for the Dick Hern-trained Charlton, another son of Charlottesville, who went into the race in good form after a win in the Henry VII S. at Sandown. In Magna Carta's absence, Example, a grand-daughter of Doutelle, became the star of the royal horses at Kingsclere in 1971, winning the Park Hill S. at Doncaster followed by a pair of big races in France, the Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp and (the following year) the Prix Jean de Chaudenay at Saint-Cloud.

The brightest star whom Hern trained for Her Majesty at West Ilsley was the aptly-named Highclere, a daughter of the Highclere Stud-based Queen's Hussar whose exploits lit up the spring and summer of 1974. Throughout the decades, the family descending from Feola, a daughter of the influential stallion Friar Marcus who had been bred at Sandringham by King George V, proved to be worth its weight in gold as it was developed under the guidance of Captain Charles Moore, as good a servant and friend to the Royal Studs as there ever could be. Feola was a high-class filly who became an outstanding broodmare, with many of her descendants playing starring roles for firstly King George VI and subsequently Queen Elizabeth II. Feola was 19 when the Queen inherited the Royal Studs in 1952 and already boasted an outstanding record as a broodmare, most notably as the dam of King George VI's 1946 1,000 Guineas heroine Hypericum. Highclere was a grand-daughter (via Highlight) of Hypericum, and she emulated her grandmother by taking the 1,000 Guineas in 1974. An even greater triumph followed six weeks later when she completed a Classic double by taking the Prix de Diane at Chantilly. The following month she finished second to Dahlia in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. at Ascot.

Highclere was not the only top-class 3-year-old filly raced by the Queen in 1974. Ian Balding had care of Escorial, a daughter of Royal Palace whose grand-dam Spanish Court was a half-sister to Almeria. Ridden by Piggott, Escorial won the G3 Musidora S. at the York May Meeting with her head in her chest, but sadly was unable to reproduce the excellence of that effort in the Oaks, for which she started second favourite.

Highclere herself subsequently extended further the family's influence, breeding the high-class Bustino filly Height Of Fashion, successful in the Princess Of Wales's S. at Newmarket in 1982, when she broke the track record. Unfortunately, she and her Busted half-sister Burghclere were subsequently sold to finance the Queen's purchase of West Ilsley from Sir Michael Sobell. Bought by Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum, Height Of Fashion became a mainstay of the Shadwell broodmare band, launching a stream of Group 1 winners starting with the 1989 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Nashwan and most recently including the 2021 G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. hero Baaeed (GB). As the grand-dam of Deep Impact (Jpn), Burghclere has turned out to have had at least as great an influence of the breed.

Three years after Highclere's splendid 3-year-old season, Major Hern prepared another dual Classic-winning filly for Her Majesty. Dunfermline (GB) (Royal Palace {GB}) provided a wonderful occasion when her triumph in the Oaks in 1977 coincided with the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations. An even classier performance followed in the St. Leger when she outstayed the favourite Alleged, form which was endorsed when the runner-up won the next two runnings of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Two years later the Queen looked to have a live chance in the Derby. The beautifully-bred and well-named Milford (Highclere's first foal, by Mill Reef, named after the house at Highclere in which Lord and Lady Porchester lived) was an easy winner of the Lingfield Derby Trial and went to Epsom as one of two contenders from West Ilsley, both at single-figure odds. Stable jockey Willie Carson, though, opted for the other (leaving Milford for Lester Piggott) and he was proved correct, winning by seven lengths on Sir Michael Sobell's Troy, with Milford unplaced. Milford, incidentally, was one of two high-class 3-year-old stayers owned by the Queen in West Ilsley that year, along with Queen's Vase hero Buttress (GB) (Busted {GB}).

All good things have to come to an end, and after a hunting accident which left him in a wheelchair, Dick Hern finally had to leave West Ilsley after his Derby-winning season of 1989. Lord Huntingdon moved from Newmarket to fill the void, and while there he extended his great record at Royal Ascot, at which meeting he had first scored when Greenland Park (Ire) had won the Queen Mary S. in 1978 under the Australian jockey Harry White. Lord Huntingdon's greatest achievement was to train the winner of the Gold Cup three years running (1991 to '93). The Queen did not own the two horses involved (Indian Queen and Drum Taps) but he did prepare both Colour Sergeant (Royal Hunt Cup, 1992) and Phantom Gold (Ribblesdale S., 1995) to win at the meeting for her. Phantom Gold subsequently landed the G3 St. Simon S. and the G2 Geoffrey Freer S., both at Newbury. He also secured a notable royal victory in the USA when sending Unknown Quantity (a son of the Hyperion-line stallion Young Generation, from Example's good daughter Pas De Deux, by Nijinsky) from Newmarket to Arlington Park to win the Arlington H. in 1989. After Lord Huntingdon's retirement from the training ranks at the end of 1998, the Queen sold the property at West Ilsley to its current resident, Mick Channon.

The Queen's final Royal Ascot winner of the 20^th century came from a trainer new to the royal fold, when Sir Michael Stoute sent out Blueprint (GB) to win the Duke Of Edinburgh H. Blueprint (a son of Generous from Highbrow, by Shirley Heights out of Highclere) subsequently graduated to black-type glory by taking the Fred Archer S. on Newmarket's July Course the following month and then the G2 Jockey Club S. on the Rowley Mile the next spring. His Royal Ascot triumph was particularly well timed as only that year the former Bessborough H. had been re-named in honour of the Queen's husband. Furthermore, Stoute's presence on the royal roster is very appropriate as he is the current incumbent of Freemason Lodge, whence Sir Cecil Boyd-Rochford previously sent out so many royal winners over the decades.

As the changing face of racehorse ownership came to mean that those not racing vast strings find it hard to come up with high-class horses with any regularity, the Queen had to endure a few barren years at the start of the current century at her favourite meeting, Royal Ascot, notwithstanding that Sir Michael Stoute sent out Flight Of Fancy (GB), a daughter of Sadler's Wells from Phantom Gold, to finish second in the Oaks at Epsom in 2001. Happily, the short Ascot drought changed in thrilling style in 2008 when Free Agent (GB) (Dr Fong) won the Chesham S., much to the delight not only of his owner/breeder and her team, but also of the entire racing public. He was trained by Richard Hannon Snr, who had been added to the royal roster after gaining some great victories with fillies owned by the Earl of Carnarvon.

In recent years, the royal string has benefitted from the generosity of two of the world's most powerful owner/breeders, Sheikh Mohammed and the Aga Khan. The most notable gift from Sheikh Mohammed to the Queen was a son of Street Cry (Ire) from the 1993 Sun Chariot S. winner Talented (GB) (Bustino {GB}). Bred by Darley and born in 2008, this colt was given the to Queen as a yearling and, curiously, she chose a name for him which she had used previously: Carlton House.

The first Carlton House, a son Pall Mall from Almeria's full-sister Alesia, had been good, winning the Fenwolf S. at Ascot in 1974 when trained by Major Hern; but the second one, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, was even better. In the spring of 2011, he won the G2 Dante S. at York and then, as the nation prepared to celebrate the Queen's 85^th birthday, he started favourite for the Derby. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite produce the result for which the nation wished, but he still ran well, finishing third to Pour Moi (Ire), beaten less than a length. He was subsequently transferred to Gai Waterhouse's stable in Australia where he performed well for the Queen in Group 1 races, including finishing third in, appropriately, the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at Randwick in 2014.

A subsequent gift from Sheikh Mohammed was Dartmouth (Ire), a Darley-bred son of Dubawi. From 2014 to 2017 he proved to be a redoubtable campaigner, winning eight of his 20 races including, in 2016, the G3 John Porter S., the G3 Ormonde S. and the G2 Hardwicke S. at Royal Ascot. He then finished third in the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. The following year he won the G2 Yorkshire Cup.

From the Aga Khan's kindness came even greater glory. The Darshaan mare Ebaziya (Ire) was one of the stars of the stud of HH Aga Khan IV, with several high-class offspring headed by the 1997 Irish Oaks victrix Ebadiyla (Ire) and the 1999 Gold Cup winner Enzeli (Ire). When Ebaziya was aged 20 in 2009, HH Aga Khan IV gave her Monsun filly foal to the Queen, echoing his grandfather's wedding present of Astrakhan to the young princess 62 years previously. This proved to a bountiful gift. The filly, named Estimate (Ire) and trained by Sir Michael Stoute, won twice at Royal Ascot, in 2012 taking the Queen's Vase and the following year emulating her half-brother Enzeli when carrying the royal colours to victory in the meeting's centrepiece, the Gold Cup. Estimate thus became the first Gold Cup winner owned by the Monarch, and the first winner of Ascot's greatest race owned by a member of the Royal Family since her great-grandfather Edward VII had won it (while Prince of Wales) in 1897 with Persimmon. Estimate is now happily ensconced at Sandringham and has bred two winners to date.

Looking back over the past 70 years, royal racing memories come flooding back. Aureole came so close to a royal Derby victory in Coronation Week, while Dunfermline's Silver Jubilee Oaks triumph was perfectly timed. Looking ahead, we can dream that the Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB), a Sea The Stars (Ire) grandson of Phantom Gold, can win this year's Derby. Trained by John and Thady Gosden, he may well be able to do just that, judged on his win in the G3 Solario S. at Sandown last September. He is currently fourth favourite for the race.

We shall leave the last word on Her Majesty's place in the sport to the Aga Khan III, taken from his forward to Cope's Royal Cavalcade of the Turf: “Racing has been fortunate to have Royal Patronage from the time of the Stuarts down to today, but never has it been so fortunate as at present in having a Monarch who is not only interested in, but has knowledge of racing, horse breeding and the history of the sport and great industry into which it has developed.” Those words were very true when they were written in 1953. They are even more true today.

Click here to read Part I and Part II of this feature.

The post Seventy Glorious Years: Part III appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Weekly Wrap: From Ascot To Deauville

DEAUVILLE, France–The Queen knew. Decked in royal blue, she arrived at her beloved Ascot racecourse to present the trophy for the race named in her honour, and also to receive a medallion for her induction to the British Horseracing Hall of Fame.

It is beyond question that Her Majesty's passionate involvement with racing and breeding for more than 70 years has not only sustained her but has given the sport in Britain a priceless allure. This year has not been an easy one for The Queen herself, or for those connected with a number of major owner/breeder operations. Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, who died in March a little over a fortnight before the passing of Prince Philip, has been not only a major force in that regard but also as a supporter of the yearling sales. His absence was referred to on many an occasion over the last few weeks, though thankfully those sales performed well beyond expectation, even without the sight of the sheikh's immensely popular racing manager Angus Gold in the gangway at Tattersalls.

Gold was at Ascot on what must have been a day of hugely mixed emotions for the Shadwell team. It is hoped that the overwhelming feeling was a sense of pride. Two Group 1 winners on any weekend is special, but for them to come in consecutive races by way of two homebred 3-year-olds gave the results a gilt edge.

In the case of Eshaada (GB), an extra cherry on top was the fact that the Roger Varian-trained filly became the first Group 1 winner for her Shadwell sire Muhaarar (GB) in the QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S. The race provided the most thrilling finish of the day, but had the short-head verdict gone the other way to Kirsten Rausing's hugely game grey Albaflora (GB), the result would have been the same for Muhaarar.

For the second time in a fortnight, the legacy of the great Allegretta (GB) cast a long shadow over a major raceday, for just as in the case of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Ger), she appeared as the fourth dam of Eshaada. We are used to Allegretta's daughter Urban Sea (Miswaki) claiming most of the glory for this family, but Torquator Tasso and Eshaada descend from two different daughters: Turbaine (Trempolino) and Allez Les Trois (Riverman).

The latter's offspring include the 2001 Prix du Jockey Club winner Anabaa Blue (GB) (Anabaa), as well as Al Ishq (Fr) (Nureyev), who in turn in the dam of dual Group 1 winner and Derrinstown Stud's Tamayuz (GB) (Nayef) and his full-sister Muhawalah (GB), who has now enhanced the family further by producing Eshaada as her third foal.

Allegretta was found again on the male side of William Haggas's unbeaten Baaeed (GB), who is by Urban Sea's outstanding son Sea The Stars (Ire). When handing over the trophy for his success it almost certainly will not have escaped The Queen's attention that the exciting colt is a fifth-generation descendant of her own Height Of Fashion (Fr), whose sale to Sheikh Hamdan in the early 1980s would prove so significant in the foundation and subsequent success of Shadwell.

Baaeed's dethroning of Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S., propels him to the fore of what will be a reduced but not insignificant team of horses in training for Shadwell and Sheikha Hissa next term, and Gold's words following a poignant day for the team were encouraging.

“We'll hope to keep the best ones and we'll have some yearlings come into training next year,” he said of the planned string for 2022. “Compared to most owners it would be fairly sizeable.”

Allez France

Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) started Champions Day in fine fashion for the French-breds, adding the G2 QIPCO Long Distance Cup to his Group 1 wins in the Goodwood Cup and Prix du Cadran, but the star performance came from Sealiway (Fr) in the G1 QIPCO British Champion S. Last year he had provided his sire, the Haras de Colleville resident Galiway (GB), with a first win at the highest level when Sealiway won the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere before a raid on the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, in which he ran well to be fifth. Twice second in Group 1 races behind St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) this season is hardly shabby form, and neither was his fifth-place finish in the Arc.

Three months ago Sealiway switched from the Marseille stable of Frederic Rossi to that of his nephew Cedric, whose star has really been in the ascendant of late. On Arc day, Cedric Rossi and the same owner, the Chehboub family's Haras de la Gousserie, combined to take the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Opera with Rougir (Fr) (Territories {Ire}).

Both Sealiway and Rougir had been plucked from Arqana's 2019 August Sale, for €62,000 and €55,000 respectively, which by the standards of that particular auction are relatively modest sums. Following the Goffs Orby and Sportsman's Sales, two weeks of action at Tattersalls in Newmarket and BBAG's autumn sale, the yearling trade continues this week back at Arqana for its five-day October Sale.

The catalogue contains nine Gailway yearlings, three of which are bred on what will perhaps start to be known as the 'Pariente cross' with mares by that sire's fellow Colleville resident Kendargent (Fr). These include lot 250, who sells early on Tuesday and is a half-brother to the listed winner and Group 3-placed Styledargent (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}).

Around 750 youngsters will come under the hammer this week at a convivial autumn auction which harmonises well with three days of racing just across the road. In fact, it was at this meeting last year that Rougir registered her first black-type win in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs.

A typically strong draft of 27 yearlings from Ecurie des Monceaux includes a Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to the G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Intelligent (Fr) (Intello {Ger}) as lot 77, as well as one of the two Galileo yearlings in the catalogue (lot 39), a colt out of a full-sister to Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}).

The other Galileo colt is presented by Haras des Capucines as lot 55 and is a half-brother to the G1 Eclipse S. winner Mukhadram (GB) (Shamardal).

Siblings to some of this season's stars can be found scattered through the catalogue, and they include lot 108, Normandie Breeding's filly from the second crop of Recorder (GB) who is a half-sister to the recently retired dual Group 1 winner Wonderful Tonight (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}).

Haras de Saint Pair has enjoyed a good season on the track in France and Ireland, and breeder Andreas Putsch offers a three-parts-brother to the Group 3 winner Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who has also been runner-up in her last two starts in Group 1 company. The colt (lot 85) is by Invincible Spirit's son Shalaa (Ire) and is also a half-brother to the stakes winners Lucky Lycra (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) and Pearly Steph (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

In unseasonably warm October sunshine in Deauville, plenty of prospective buyers were hard at work on Sunday and none had a bigger smile on their face than Tim Donworth, who watched from afar as the 2-year-old Cotai Hero (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) became his first winner. The Irishman has been training in Chantilly since the beginning of September.

The Arqana October Sale gets underway at 11am local time on Monday.

The post The Weekly Wrap: From Ascot To Deauville appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

This Side Up: A Warning Flare Illuminates Empress Bid

Nobody in our community is more eligible than Ted Bassett to say that he has seen it all before, but something will be attempted Saturday that falls outside even the long experience encompassed by his 100th birthday in just a few days' time. For a Keeneland showpiece that Mr. Bassett helped to inaugurate in 1984, as host to the lady for whom it was named, could well present one of her subjects with the opportunity to complete a unique double.

First, in the backyard of Windsor Castle, William Haggas saddles the unbeaten star of his Newmarket stable, Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot. Then, just a few hours later, he will see whether Cloudy Dawn (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) can export the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Be in no doubt, an elite prize on either side of the ocean–both honoring one of the patrons of his own yard–is a day's work well within the reach of one of the premier English trainers of his generation. Two weeks ago, Haggas sent out eight winners at five different tracks in one afternoon. That might seem a relatively feasible endeavor in the American system, Jeff Runco having saddled seven state-bred winners on a single card at Charles Town only last week, but it is thought to be unprecedented in Britain. Regardless, you can judge the precision with which Haggas places his horses from the last time he sent Cloudy Dawn into action, at Deauville in August. She was first of four winners either side of the English Channel within 40 minutes, three at Group level, at cumulative odds of 4,252-to-1.

This upgrade for Cloudy Dawn duly implies that her progress must be ongoing. But a race so hospitable to the strengths of European raiders, true to the diplomatic spirit of its creation, also features one whose campaigning invites horsemen on both sides of the water to ponder their collective management of the breed.

For it was only last Saturday that Empress Josephine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) finished strongly for third in the GI First Lady S. This same formula worked for Ballydoyle 10 years ago with another daughter of Galileo, Together (Ire), who similarly finished strongly for a podium against her seniors before wheeling back to beat fellow sophomores the following weekend. (And Together, moreover, had run in a Group 1 at Newmarket just two weeks before the First Lady.)

Empress Josephine (left), third just last week in the First Lady | Coady

Now this kind of thing has long been a familiar trademark of their record-breaking trainer, Aidan O'Brien. Partly, no doubt, that has been a luxury of his status as primarily a private trainer. Federico Tesio, who was similarly in the business of proving stock for breeding, ruthlessly diverted even elite animals to the service of their workmates as soon as he felt he had established their ceiling. And O'Brien has always said that his employers–renouncing the nervous protection of reputations that once inhibited so many commercial operations–urge him to use the Ballydoyle talent pool as a means of drawing out its deepest genetic resources. John Magnier had plainly decided that the cyclical, dynastic nature of breeding made it a better play, in the long term, to be sure what you had.

As a result, O'Brien has been able to produce breeding stock that repeats its brilliance because it's encased in corresponding hardiness. The most celebrated example among stallions he has made is Giant's Causeway, whose ferrous qualities were such that the aggregate winning distance across his last eight starts–five as winner, three times as runner-up, over different distances and surfaces but all at Group 1/Grade I level–was barely a couple of lengths. But O'Brien has frequently hammered wonderful careers out of fillies, too, by plunging them unsparingly into the forge.

That of Peeping Fawn (Danehill), for instance, was compressed between April and August of her sophomore campaign, and included four starts in maidens. Eleven days after the last of those, she ran third in the G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas–and then second in another Classic, over half a mile farther at Epsom, just FIVE days after that. Time for a break? Forget it. Later that month she was launched on a spree of four Group 1 wins, each more impressive than the last, within 54 days.

All horses are different, naturally, and a genius like O'Brien will clearly tailor his methods to their individual needs. And being totally ignorant of what makes Malathaat (Curlin) tick, for instance, it would be invidious to rebuke her Halley's Comet schedule. In broader terms, however, I think we are all entitled to regret those changes in either the breed or training methods, or both, that nowadays inhibit the way racehorses are campaigned.

Flippant brings a three-race win streak to her first GI test | Coady

We owe nearly all the copper-bottomed influences in postwar American pedigrees to an old school testing of their genetic selection for the kind of robust constitution required to carry speed. Hail to Reason's career notoriously derailed in its first September, but he had already made 18 starts. Nashua won a maiden on debut, in May, and was contesting his second stakes 14 days later.

John Williams, such a precious and enlightening conduit of the best old lore, has always said that this horse was his physical paragon. John will tell you that just looking at Nashua's shoe, even as an ageing stallion, would explain how he had sustained a juvenile championship, 2-1-1 finishes in the Triple Crown, and a Jockey Club Gold Cup over four seconds faster than his first. Eddie Arcaro once told John how he was wondering what to say as Nashua returned from one of his occasional dud works, but before he could say a word Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons had sent him straight back out to do it again. This time Nashua put in a bullet, and he won the Wood Memorial three days later.

Now you may say that it would be reckless to train horses like that today. But I'm not sure O'Brien would agree with you and, if the Thoroughbred really is less resilient today, then that may well reflect a far more culpable recklessness among breeders.

Earlier this week colleague Emma Berry broke the story in TDN Europe that G1 2,000 Guineas and G1 St James's Palace S. winner Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire})–who this spring contested three Classics in 22 days–has been acquired to stand in Japan. Poetic Flare, remember, was bred and trained by Jim Bolger, once mentor to the young O'Brien. And you can be sure Bolger approves what his former protégé is doing with Empress Josephine, as another 2021 Classic winner from the same school of Irish horsemanship.

As a stud prospect, Poetic Flare offered precisely what we need to staunch the genetic losses being suffered by the breed today. Unfortunately, however, European commercial breeders have unanimously written off his sire and none of them, despite the evidence before their eyes, appears to accept that worthwhile strains in a pedigree might filter through regardless. (Ironic, really, when Poetic Flare satisfies the Galileo-Danehill blend they hold so sacred.)

Maybe an imaginative farm in Kentucky might have taken a chance with Poetic Flare, but the environment there would have been no less wholesome. Despite the vogue for importing yearlings from Tattersalls, everyone can see how hard it is even for proven turf stallions, never mind extremely credible new ones, to get commercial traction in the domestic yearling market.

Bassett and The Queen before the 1984 inaugural race in her name | Keeneland photo

Once again, then, the Japanese have been able to consolidate a program that will eventually leave the transatlantic gene pools to repent, too late, of their disastrous recent schism. One keen observer of the breed will surely not need reminding of what has been lost as a result. During the war her father bred a filly named Knight's Daughter, who was exported to Claiborne and a couple of years later delivered a Princequillo colt. His name was Round Table, and he won just the 43 of 66 starts.

By the same token, then, perhaps The Queen will also be glad to see a daughter of Tapit in the Keeneland race run in her name. The Gainesway phenomenon has been given mysteriously little opportunity in Europe, despite a dazzling winner of the historic Cambridgeshire H. from a very small sample of runners. Tapit's stock actually has a pretty respectable record on turf in the U.S., bearing in mind that it's an option typically only even tried for horses appearing short of ability on the main track. Certainly Flippant has been thriving on the grass, and we wish her connections well in a race they would prize dearly.

We can't all benefit from the length of perspective shared by Mr. Bassett and The Queen of England, now approaching a combined 195 years. But maybe Empress Josephine or Flippant, between them, can at least get a few people to see a slightly bigger picture.

The post This Side Up: A Warning Flare Illuminates Empress Bid appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Weekly Wrap: It’s Good To Be Back

There are banners along the High Street of my home town of Newmarket saying 'Welcome back to racing'. Though we've been fortunate in England to have been able to allow crowds gradually to return to racecourses earlier than some other countries, it has only really been in the last few weeks that it has felt like the proper pre-pandemic experience. And where better to have the people back in force than at York, widely regarded by many to be the best racecourse in the country?

Any amount of time spent on the Knavesmire is time well spent indeed, and you really could have picked any of the days of the Ebor meeting to be able to enjoy a proper feature race with intrigue and stars aplenty. Even the queue for the bus to the track from the train station provided a level of fun. A group of men of advanced years huddled together like schoolboys, copies of the Racing Post tucked under their arms, clearly relishing the prospect of a midweek day at the races. When the bus arrived, they rushed for the long bench seat at the back, always the preserve of the naughtiest in class, and with a full load of passengers chattering about their fancies for the day, our chariot trundled off to the track.

Clarehaven Resurgent

Thady Gosden's name was added to his father's training licence just ahead of the start of the turf season in Britain and though the stable played a less prominent role in the Classics than is usually to be expected, it has now clicked into top gear.

A stellar run was launched eight days ago in Deauville, where Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) landed his second G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, swiftly followed by the G3 Prix Minerve victory for George Strawbridge's Free Wind (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Further big guns were wheeled out for York, with the mighty Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) sparking endless 'Is he the best in the world?' debates with his visually impressive first Group 1 victory in Britain in the Juddmonte International.

Whether he is the best or not will be settled at the end of the year in the international rankings–and even then the debate will likely rage on. What can be said with some certainty is that Mishriff is the most versatile at the highest level, with his wins coming on the Riyadh dirt track over nine furlongs in the Saudi Cup, the Meydan turf over 12 furlongs, and now 10.5 furlongs at York, not forgetting his Classic win at Chantilly last season. Victory at the Breeders' Cup–or even in Japan, as has been mooted, with that tempting $3 million bonus on offer–would go a long way to settling the argument once and for all.

While Palace Pier and Mishriff have strong claims to being the best in their divisions, the king of the stayers is still Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). It is to be hugely regretted that the half-brothers Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Sir Ron Priestley (GB) (Australia {GB}) are both sidelined with injuries as this has undoubtedly weakened the staying division in the second half of the season. But the 7-year-old stallion Stradivarius proved that even if the years have blunted his game a little, he has lost none of his will to win. Arguably, he's at his best when he has to knuckle down and fight, and this is exactly what he did when dispatching the Yorkshire Cup winner Spanish Mission (Noble Mission) on his return to the Knavesmire.

With a race record that now includes three Ascot Gold Cups, four Goodwood Cups, three Lonsdale Cups, two Yorkshire Cups and a Doncaster Cup, Stradivarius is truly one of the modern wonders of the Flat scene. We must continue to enjoy him while we can.

Arise, Sir John?

We already have Sir Mark and Sir Michael in Newmarket; could Sir John be next? If the Gosdens manage to turn the impressive G3 Solario S. winner Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) into a Classic winner for his breeder The Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year then surely a further mention in the honours' list could be on the cards for Gosden senior, who was awarded an OBE in 2017.

The Queen was just 25 when she acceded to the British throne in February 1952. Her coronation took place the following June, on what would have been Derby day, with the great race moved back to the Saturday to allow for the royal festivities. The celebrations within the royal household would have been greater still had the Queen's Derby contender Aureole (GB) not been beaten into second by Pinza (GB). More recently, the Queen's colours have been carried in the Derby by the Darley-bred Carlton House, a gift from Sheikh Mohammed, who was third behind Pour Moi (Ire) in 2011. Who would begrudge racing's greatest patron a Derby winner in the year she celebrates her extraordinary longevity as monarch?

Bred on the Sea The Stars-Sadler's Wells cross, Reach For The Moon's pedigree echoes that of the former Gosden trainee and Oaks winner Taghrooda (GB), and the Solario has good form of late for being won by some pretty special horses, including the Gosden-trained trio of Raven's Pass, Kingman (GB) and Too Darn Hot (GB), not to mention the 2018 Derby winner Masar (Ire).

Next June is an awful long way off in racing terms, but the prospect of Reach For The Moon giving the sport widespread publicity during the year-long jubilee celebrations is an enticing one.

The form of the Chesham S. now has a pleasingly solid look to it, with Reach For The Moon and Great Max (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who finished second and third to Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}), each finishing one place better in the Solario, while the Chesham winner continued his unbeaten passage with victory in the G2 Galileo Irish EBF Futurity S., having previously landed the G3 JRA Tyros S. The Chesham fifth Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) has gone on to win the Listed Denford S., and the seventh-placed New Science (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) subsequently returned to Ascot to win the Listed Pat Eddery S.

Power Play

Fillies filled four of the first six places in the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S., and while Suesa (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) was favoured to follow up on her Goodwood triumph, it was Winter Power (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) who went the early pace with Wesley Ward's Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), surging straight as an arrow down the centre of the track. As the American raider weakened and wobbled from his early blitz, Winter Power continued to blast home unchallenged to set the seal on a memorable week for her trainer Tim Easterby at one of his local tracks.

There was doubtless much celebration across the Irish Sea in various households of the Burns family, too. For her breeder Patrick Burns it was both a wonderful triumph and huge update for the full-brother to Winter Power that his Newlands House Stud is preparing to send to the Goffs Orby Sale. And for Patrick's brother Maurice, Winter Power became the first Group 1 winner for her speedy sire Bungle Inthejungle, who stands at the family's Rathasker Stud.

Good Week For Coolmore Clan

Wootton Bassett, who lent his name to the Nunthorpe, also enjoyed some success on the Knavesmire with two stakes-winning juveniles. Royal Patronage (Fr) may have been the least fancied of the quintet who lined up for the G3 Tattersalls Acomb S. but he has progressed nicely from his novice win at Epsom to give trainer Mark Johnston back-to-back wins in the race following the victory of Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) last year.

On Saturday it was the turn of Steve Parkin's homebred Attagirl (GB), conceived while Wootton Bassett was still standing in France but born and trained in Yorkshire. She bounced out of her narrow defeat the previous week in the listed St Hugh's S. at Newbury to land the listed Julia Graves Roses S., doubtless giving her breeder extra cause for celebration at his favourite meeting of the year.

Wootton Bassett's week was just a nostril away from ending on a high when his star daughter Audarya (Fr) was denied her second win in the G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet when Grand Glory (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) snatched victory from her on the line in Deauville.

Caravaggio moved from Coolmore's Irish base to Ashford Stud for the most recent stud season but he is creeping up the freshman sires' table in Europe with three stakes winners to his name already, including Saturday's smooth G2 Debutante S. winner Agartha (Ire).

He's not the only son of Scat Daddy on a roll as No Nay Never is enjoying a terrific season, with Alcohol Free (Ire) as his 3-year-old poster girl and the increasingly impressive G2 Lowther S. winner Zain Claudette (Ire) the star of his juvenile crop.

Ho Ho Ho

Tally-Ho Stud is an unstoppable force this season, both as breeder and stallion master. Having had the record-breaking champion first-season sire of 2020 in Mehmas (Ire), who was represented by another top-flight winner over the weekend in the Nicky Hartery-bred GI Del Mar Oaks winner Going Global (Ire), Tally-Ho must now be odds-on to have this year's leading freshman sire.

Whether it will be Galileo Gold (GB) or Cotai Glory (GB) is hard to say. The latter is forging ahead with 23 winners, but Galileo Gold was the first of his peers to notch that all-important Group 1 winner. His leading son Ebro River (Ire), winner of the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S., was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, as was Lusail (Ire), who gave Mehmas back-to-back winners of the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Gimcrack S. and is owned, like Ebro River, by Al Shaqab Racing, which also campaigned the sires of both youngsters.

Further top-level success came on Sunday in the G1 Darley Prix Morny with the Tally-Ho-bred Perfect Power (Ire), who became a first Group 1 winner for his sire Ardad (Ire). Though Ardad is not a Tally-Ho stallion–he stands at Overbury Stud in England –he was however bred by the O'Callaghan family and reflects further glory on the Tally-Ho team as he is a son of its headline stallion Kodiac (GB).

The latter in turn is the sire of the Tally-Ho-bred G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Campanelle (Ire), who was also the winner of last season's Prix Morny. It is a race which has been a particularly successful one for Tally-Ho Stud, which also bred the 2008 winner Bushranger (Ire) and Unfortunately (Ire), who landed the 2017 running of the Morny. Those two colts were also by Tally-Ho stallions, the late Danetime (Ire) and Society Rock (Ire) respectively.

The post The Weekly Wrap: It’s Good To Be Back appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post