Haggas Looking To The Future With Baaeed’s Little Brother

William Haggas is looking to the future after Baaeed's shock swansong defeat in the Qipco Champion S. at Ascot on Saturday by revealing the six-time Group 1-winning superstar's younger brother is set to make his debut soon. 

Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {GB}) lost his unbeaten record on his 11th and likely final start on Champions Day when finishing fourth, beaten a little under two lengths, behind Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}). That was despite being sent off as a prohibitively short-priced favourite at odds of 1-4.

Haggas was magnanimous in the immediate aftermath, simply saying that. “Jim [Crowley, jockey] said he couldn't quicken.” 

He added at the time, “When he pulled him out he hoped he'd do what he's done before on faster ground, but he simply couldn't quicken on that ground.

“Perhaps it's not the greatest surprise. In my experience, it's rare a horse who acts as well on fast ground as he does also acts as well on soft ground. He tried his best, but he couldn't pick up.”

Now that the dust has settled on that performance, Haggas is concentrating on unleashing Baaeed's juvenile half-brother by Nathaniel (Ire), the sire of this year's brilliant Derby winner Desert Crown (GB), before the season is out. The colt has been named Naqeeb.

Speaking on Monday, Haggas said, “Most people who have got a full-brother are nothing like their full-brother, so though this mare has produced a fantastic horse in Baaeed and another very good horse in Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), there is a chance that he could be a good horse and we will campaign him as such.

He added, “But if he's somewhere near Hukum we'll be thrilled. We hope to run him this year. It'll be a mile maiden somewhere, I'd love to get him on the grass, but we're a bit tight for time now.”

The post Haggas Looking To The Future With Baaeed’s Little Brother appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seven Days: Jubilation

With Britain en fete in the midst of the Platinum Jubilee festivities, the Oaks and Derby fell slap-bang in the middle of a four-day bank holiday and, despite the absence of Her Majesty the Queen at Epsom, the meeting still offered much cause for celebration.

Sir Michael Stoute is never one to blow his own horn, though he is often heard humming on Newmarket Heath while watching his horses work. And as one of British racing's senior trainers, on the royal roster to boot, he was a most fitting winning trainer for the Cazoo Derby with Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), even though, in typically modest fashion, he was quick to refer to the Derby he had 'lost' for The Queen when her Carlton House finished third in 2011.

Never mind that, in winning the Derby for the sixth time, he also became, at the age of 76, the oldest trainer to have done so, taking that particular record from former Newmarket trainer Mat Dawson, who landed the race in 1895, when he was 75, with Sir Visto.

In Richard Kingscote, Stoute appears to have found the perfect jockey for his stable, which previously had such a successful association with the similarly taciturn Ryan Moore. Saturday was a huge day for 35-year-old Kingscote, winning the Derby for the first time on only his second ride in the race, but he enjoyed the moment and accepted the plaudits with endearing humility and complete absence of hoopla. 

Interviewed the following morning on Luck On Sunday he was asked how he and Stoute's relationship is developing, replying with a straight-bat delivery of which the trainer would have approved enormously. 

“Well, neither of us like to talk much,” he said in deadpan fashion.

It would appear that neither trainer nor jockey will need to do much talking when they have a horse who does that for them. Certainly the stable whispers had grown ahead of the Dante, and Stoute's quiet confidence before and since York was fully vindicated on the most prestigious strip of turf of them all at Epsom.

Desert Crown, with just three impeccable runs to his name, is now as short as 3/1 favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. For a trainer so adept with progressive middle-distance horses it seems almost remiss that Stoute has won the Arc just once, in 2010. But when he did, it was with his most recent Derby winner before Saturday, Workforce (GB). That great horse's sire King's Best had also been resident at Stoute's Freemason Lodge stable, and won the 2,000 Guineas for Desert Crown's owner Saeed Suhail. Underlining the trainer's versatility is the fact that the most recent top-class performer he has had for Suhail was the sprinter Dream Of Dreams (Ire) (Dream Ahead), winner of the last year's G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot.

Nathaniel the Elite

Nathaniel (Ire) entered elite company on Saturday in joining the group of stallions to have sired a Derby and an Oaks winner. Of course his own sire Galileo (Ire) is a fully paid-up member of this group, as are two of his other sons, fellow Derby winner New Approach (GB), sire of Masar (Ire) and Talent (GB), and Frankel (GB), with Adayar (Ire) and Anapurna (GB) to his credit. Galileo's half-brother Sea The Stars (Ire) is also part of this set, courtesy of Harzand (Ire) and Taghrooda (GB), and he enhanced his Epsom roll of honour when Hukum (GB) won Friday's G1 Coronation Cup.

But let's not forget some mighty mares. On Friday at Epsom, both Group 1 winners already had Group 1-winning full-siblings. Hukum, handing his trainer Owen Burrows a first top-level win, is the brother of Baaeed (GB), who is arguably the most exciting horse in training at the moment. Their Listed-winning dam Aghareed provides what appears to be a pretty magical cross for Sea The Stars with Kingmambo, and is herself a daughter of the dual Grade I winner Lahudood (GB) Singspiel {Ire}). Notably, her current 2-year-old, Naqeeb (GB), is by Nathaniel and he will be heading into training with William Haggas. And in Jubilee year it was fitting that the Coronation Cup winner emanated from a family initially developed by the Royal Studs.

Similarly brimming in talent is the family of Oaks winner Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). She became the third Classic winner for her dual Group 1-winning dam Lillie Langtry (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) after Minding (Ire) and Empress Josephine (Ire).

Thinking of Josh

Amid all the jubilation on Friday, and a fourth win in the Oaks for Ballydoyle's number one jockey with Tuesday, thoughts also turned to Ryan Moore's brother Josh, who remains in hospital making a steady recovery from serious complications following a race fall on April 16.

“Every day we talk and always the first thing we speak about is Josh, and then everything else leads on from there,” said Aidan O'Brien in the post-race press conference. “We hope and pray that every day Josh makes another little bit of improvement.

“Everyone is very conscious and aware of what the important things are, but Ryan is obviously a very professional person and when he has to do his job he just goes into a different zone. That's his job and we are very grateful to him for doing it.”

London Calling for Derby Runner-up

The Goffs London Sale returns this year after a two-year hiatus and, rather unusually, the catalogue includes a Classic-placed colt.

Hoo Ya Mal (GB) (Territories {Ire}) upheld the faith shown in him by his owner Ahmad Al Shaikh when storming to a second-place finish in the Derby on Saturday at odds of 150/1, and he remains as lot 6 for next Monday's eve-of-Royal Ascot sale, now with a rather significant update to his page. 

It was the third year that Al Shaikh had had a Derby runner, with Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}) also finishing second in 2020, and Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) running eighth last year. 

All three were trained by Andrew Balding, who said of Hoo Ya Mal, a 40,000gns yearling purchase by Federico Barberini, “I have Ahmad Al Shaikh to thank entirely, because I didn't want to run in the race but he insisted.”

Balding also trained the fourth home, Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) for Mick and Janice Mariscotti, whose good day at Epsom was augmented by the win of Swilcan Bridge (GB) (Helmet {Aus}) in the opening race. Both Swilcan Bridge and Hoo Ya Mal were bred by the Weinfeld family at Meon Valley Stud, who were also the owner/breeders of the 2019 Oaks winner Anapurna (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

Aga Khan Appreciation Day

There's little let-up in the Classic calendar in Europe at this time of year and no sooner had the smoke cleared from the ill-advised pre-Derby fireworks at Epsom than attention turned to Chantilly for the Prix du Jockey Club.

The British-trained duo of El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) dug deep but could offer no riposte to the streaking home run of the Aga Khan homebred Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}).

“It's been quite a day, quite significant,” said the Aga Khan Studs manager in France, Georges Rimaud, as he assessed a magnificent afternoon which featured three stakes winners for the team.

The trio was led by Vadeni, whose victory was significant for a number of reasons, not least because he was the first Classic winner for Coolmore's young Guineas winner Churchill (Ire). For his owner/breeder he represented a ninth victory in the Prix du Jockey Club, and he was the fifth for trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, whose run started back in 2009 with Le Havre (Ire).

Adding to the spoils was Baiykara (Fr), a maiden from two starts prior to Sunday but now a new group winner for her sire Zarak (Fr), who made such a promising start with his first runners last season and was the toast of the autumn and winter sales. It is easy to imagine that the Aga Khan would be thrilled to see Zarak properly succeed at stud as he is of course a son of the mare he considered to be the greatest achievement of his lengthy spell as a breeder, the great Zarkava (Fr), a fifth-generation descendant of Prince Aly Khan's champion, Petite Etoile (GB). As the Aga Khan Studs operation celebrates its centenary this year, Vadeni's success was extremely apposite, but there was more to come for both Zarak and the runners in the green and red.

Francis Graffard is now overseeing the Aga Khan's private training centre at Aiglemont along with his own training operation and, after saddling Baiykara to triumph in the G3 Prix de Royaumont, he struck again with another smart 3-year-old later on the card when Rozgar (Fr) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) won the Listed Prix Marchand d'Or, giving retained jockey Christophe Soumillon a memorable treble. Rozgar's victory was all the sweeter for his breeder as his dam, the listed-placed Roshanara (Fr), is a daughter of Sea The Stars (Ire), who stands on his Irish roster.

William Haggas, who has his string in sensational form, added to the party by having Zarak's daughter Purplepay (Fr) well primed on just her second start for him and her new owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson of Lael Stable, who paid €2 million for the Group 1-placed juvenile at Arqana in December. She can now have her name displayed in bold black type after a taking victory in the G2 Prix de Sandringham.

“It has been a very nice day: a Group 1, a Group 3 and a Listed race, and three victories with three very different horses,” Rimaud said. 

“Vadeni did it very easily beating some very nice horses. He's a true champion and we're very pleased in this centennial year. His Highness and Princess Zahra are obviously very happy but sometimes it just happens like this–it's nice that it has happened this way though because it puts a little focus on what we do. There's a long road ahead but hopefully [Vadeni] will be able to make the stallion roster.”

Aurora Australis

Mare Australis (Ire), the most beautiful deep liver chestnut, has been raced sparingly through his four seasons to date, and a fetlock injury kept him off the track between his G1 Prix Ganay victory in May 2021 and his placed return in the G2 Prix d'Harcourt two months ago. 

It was therefore great to see the patience of his owner/breeder Gestut Schlenderhan repaid with a fourth win for the 5-year-old, this time in the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly. The Arc had been the plan last year until injury intervened, and it remains on the cards this season. 

“We breed stayers,” said Philipp von Ullmann, son of Schlenderhan's owner Baron Georg von Ullmann, before adding of winning the Arc, “It's been our dream for 153 years.”

Speaking to TDN for a feature last year, von Ullmann senior recalled his longstanding association with Mare Australis's trainer Andre Fabre. 

“The first horse I had with Fabre was Shirocco and I told him at Belmont [at the Breeders' Cup] that it was the beginning of a new friendship,” he said.

“Fabre just really has this feeling. He was very happy when Mare Australis came to him as a 2-year-old, then he called me up and said 'you will be surprised but I will give him a rest and he will say thank you'.”

It was the culmination of a successful week for Mare Australis's sire Australia (GB), after

Ocean Road (Ire) became his fifth Group/Grade 1 winner in the Gamely S at Santa Anita for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Like her trainer, Ocean Road was born and raised in Ireland. She is the second top-flight winner for Kevin and Meta Cullen's broodmare Love And Laughter (Ire) (Theatrical {Ire}). The first came a decade ago when her son Wigmore Hall (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) won the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. for Michael Bell.

Walsh, now in his twelfth season in the U.S., had a good week with European imports. On Sunday at Belmont Park, he sent out Steve Parkin's homebred Lady Rockstar (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for her second successive win in as many starts since moving to his stable from William Haggas over the winter. 

The half-sister to Spanish star Noozhoh Canarias (Spa) (Caradak {Ire}) made her breakthrough in England last October when winning a Kempton maiden by 12 lengths. Now four, she looks set for a bright future in the United States.

C:C The Stars

In the first-season sires' championship Havana Grey (GB) is still knocking in the winners and now has 15 to his name at a strike-rate of almost 40%.

But remember Cracksman (GB), who ran once as a 2-year-old in October over a mile, then ran placed in the Derby and Irish Derby before winning four Group 1 races from 10 to 12 furlongs? A son of the reigning champion sire Frankel, Cracksman has had just six runners to date, and four of those have already won. 

Darley recently publicised Cracksman's PlusVital Speed Gene rating of C:C, i.e. sprint-orientated, with the adverting streamline “It's all about to happen faster than you think”. So far, so good on that front, as Cracksman has been represented by four winners since May 21. 

Speed gene tests are all well and good as an extra guide to a horse's potential but we don't need one to remind us that good, early juveniles can come from seemingly unexpected sources. Let's not forget that Cracksman's stable-mate at Dalham Hall Stud, New Approach (Ire), had three Royal Ascot stakes winners with his first crop of 2-year-olds. That should not have been surprising, however, because as well as winning the Derby he was also champion 2-year-old. Another Classic-winning son of Galileo, Sixties Icon (GB), also took some by surprise with a scorching start when his first 2-year-olds took to the track. And the old boy proved he's still got it by siring Friday's Woodcote S winner, Legend Of Xanadu (GB), trained by Mick Channon – who else? 

The moral of the story? It is not just sharp, early 2-year-olds who can sire sharp, early 2-year-olds. But in sires like Cracksman, New Approach and Sixties Icon, there is also clearly the hope of their stock progressing as the seasons unfold. And that's when it gets really exciting.

 

The post Seven Days: Jubilation appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Hammer Blow as Hukum Ruled Out For Season With Leg Fracture

Owen Burrows has been dealt a hammer blow with the news that brilliant G1 Coronation Cup winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his hind leg. 

Hukum made the breakthrough at the highest level when storming to Coronation Cup glory at Epsom on Friday and now his racing career hangs in the balance. 

For Burrows, Friday's win also represented a memorable first at Group 1 level, with the trainer describing the success as “massive” at the time. 

However, just three days after Hukum's greatest day on a racecourse, Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell Estate, revealed the 5-year-old may never grace the track again.

He said, “He's got a fracture in his hind leg so we've had to put some screws in it. Obviously he'll be out for the rest of this year. It's a shame as he'd just won his first Group 1 with a career-best.

“We haven't got as far as deciding if he will return to training as it's early days. From one point of view he just seemed to be hitting his best form so with that in mind you'd say yes, but at the same time he'll be a back-end 5-year-old this year.”

Gold added, “We haven't had a chance to discuss that and won't make a rushed decision as he'll be in his box for a bit. We'll make a decision on that later in the year.”

“It's a real shame, sadly, especially for Owen as Friday was a huge result for him, but you've got to take the rough with the smooth.”

 

The post Hammer Blow as Hukum Ruled Out For Season With Leg Fracture appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Dependable Hukum Speaks Volumes For Burrows

DUBAI, UAE–In the week building up to Dubai's major race day, a growing throng of owners and trainers arrive at Meydan to see their horses in action, and perhaps shoot the breeze with the press pack gathered trackside. At a quiet remove behind the back stretch is the training track favoured by the European horses, with a grass circuit and a Tapeta surface, each to be enjoyed without the hullabaloo of the main racecourse, and with few onlookers present.

It is here on Thursday morning that Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum arrives with Shadwell's racing manager Angus Gold and advisor Richard Hills to watch her homebred Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) have his penultimate exercise under Jim Crowley before his start in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic on Saturday. It is a poignant moment, as a year ago to the day the racing world was saddened by the death of Sheikha Hissa's father, Sheikh Hamdan, a man revered and admired across the industry as one of loyalty and modesty. The latter is borne out by the fact that his many runners over his 40-year involvement with horseracing ran in the name of Hamdan Al Maktoum – his regal title dropped for his involvement in the sport he loved the most. And a glance back over the many tributes paid to Sheikh Hamdan this time last year is a reminder of how frequently the word loyal occurred when those closely associated with him, particularly his trainers, recalled their relationship.

It is not difficult to imagine that Sheikh Hamdan appreciated and rewarded loyalty in others. Over the years when visiting Sir Michael Stoute's Freemason Lodge in Newmarket he would have had many opportunities to witness Stoute's longtime assistant trainer Owen Burrows at work, and when the time came for Burrows to start training under his own name, it was Sheikh Hamdan who installed him as a private trainer, in 2016, at Kingwood House Stables in Lambourn. 

It is no secret that, with the horses now running under the banner of Shadwell Stable, the operation is significantly smaller than in Sheikh Hamdan's time, and it is a reduction that will be felt by a number of stables. It has precipitated a slight change of scenery for Burrows, his wife Lynn and their two children to Farncombe Down Stables, still in Lambourn, and a smart 40-box yard previously used by Shadwell as a spelling and rehabilitation facility. Though Burrows is now a public trainer, support from the Maktoum family remains, through Sheikh Ahmed, and also his niece Sheikha Hissa, the owner of the regally-bred stable star Hukum.

“I have a huge amount to be thankful to Sheikh Hamdan for, he was such a good man, you only had to hear the way people talked about him,” says Burrows a couple of hours after overseeing Hukum's morning exercise alongside his ownership team.

“Like him, Sheikha Hissa is really keen on racing,” he adds. “Before Super Saturday she came and watched Hukum a few times and the other morning she came out to the yard and was feeding him Polos. She's very passionate about it, which is brilliant. 

“We all understood the operation had to trim right back but it is wonderful to hear that she wants to come to England and go racing. Richard Hills said after the first conversation he had with her that it was just like speaking to a female version of her father and, to me, that is almost the biggest compliment you could give her.”

Sheikha Hissa doubtless has much to look forward to this season back in Europe. The five-time Group winner Hukum and his even starrier full-brother Baaeed (GB)–the pair descending from Height Of Fashion (Fr), the bedrock of Sheikh Hamdan's breeding operation–will be at the forefront of her equine team. Hukum has stolen a march on the unbeaten Baaeed so far in 2022 as he has run once and won once, securing his place in the Sheema Classic line-up with his victory in the G2 Dubai City of Gold. He will be one of six runners for the Shadwell Stable on Dubai World Cup night.

Hukum is an important flag-bearer for Burrows. He was his first Royal Ascot winner when landing the King George V S. on only the third start of his life, helping to make Sheikh Hamdan the leading owner at the Royal meeting of 2020. His victory earlier this month at Meydan means that Burrows now boasts a perfect record in Dubai from his sole runner there. 

“He's been so consistent, he's always run well,” says the trainer, “The Sheema Classic is a very strong race but I think he deserves his chance back in Group 1 company. We've only tried him in it once – in the St Leger as a 3-year-old – and he didn't quite get home. He won over a bit further last year but I never really felt he was going to be a Cup horse; he's got a bit more speed than people give him credit for.”

Reflecting on his Super Saturday victory, Burrows adds, “That was obviously massive for me, and also for the whole operation. That was the first horse we brought out here since Sheikh Hamdan passed and for him to go and do that was perfect. It was a prep run, and obviously on ratings he was the best horse, but he was drawn 14 of 14 and that made it a but more difficult. I'm glad we decided to come out for that race. I felt it would have been asking a lot to bring him here just a week before the Sheema Classic.”

Now five, Hukum is exactly the type of horse with which Sir Michael Stoute would have excelled. Having made just two starts at two, he went straight to Royal Ascot for his first run at three. The 12 years spent with Stoute provided a valuable lesson for Burrows, and hopefully through his progressive campaigner he will reap the rewards of that as this season gets properly underway.

“Covid interrupted Hukum's 3-year-old season a little bit,” Burrows says. “He was rated 91 so he was thrown in for the George V but he got quite badly struck into at Royal Ascot so had to have a bit of time off.

“We're under no illusion, we know he has to find seven pounds, but having had a prep run here and some sunshine for three weeks it has brought him forward. I was talking to Richard and Angus yesterday, and we agreed that if we are competitive on Saturday I think it lets us know where we sit back home in England, because these are the best in the world. It will help us to know whether we are looking later in the year – at the King George, or possibly the Arc at the end of the season. It's exciting.”

On the other side of the world on Saturday, another former Burrows star, the 2000 Guineas runner-up Massaat (Ire), will be represented by his first two runners in the Brocklesby S., the opening 2-year-old race of the British turf season. In the trainer's yard currently, there are 17 juveniles, constituting roughly half the team. There is no son or daughter of Massaat there yet, but the breeze-up sales are just around the corner.

“This has to be a building year,” he says. “We will be trying to get the numbers back up. There's room to put some more boxes in and I'd love to get up to around 60 horses.”

Burrows admits that he is not the most tech-savvy pop trainers, and he is currently learning to embrace the joys, and otherwise, of social media.

“Being Sir Michael's assistant for all those years, obviously we didn't do that kind of thing,” he says with a smile.

But even without that association, it is hard to imagine the modest Burrows enjoying the often brash, look-at-me era of Twitter and Instagram. As one who grew up in a National Hunt stable when his father was Head Lad to David 'The Duke' Nicholson, and who then rode as a conditional for such luminaries of the jumping world as Martin Pipe and Josh Gifford, Burrows seems more at home in the school of traditional horsemanship, where the horses do the talking for you.

Hukum has already done just this, and it would be no surprise to see him trumpeting his likeable trainer's abilities a little louder through this year.

The post Dependable Hukum Speaks Volumes For Burrows appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights