Classic Winners Kameko, Siskin Clash In Wednesday’s ‘Win And You’re In’ Sussex Stakes

Classic winning 3-year-olds, Kameko and Siskin, are set to clash in the Qatar Sussex Stakes (G1) at Goodwood on Wednesday. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the US$2 million TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) through the international Breeders' Cup Challenge.

QIPCO 2000 Guineas (G1) winner, Kameko, and Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas (G1) winner, Siskin, will take on the older generation on Wednesday in the British Group 1 mile showpiece.

Prince Khalid Abdullah's unbeaten homebred colt Siskin travels from Ireland for this hot contest. The son of First Defense (USA), trained by Ger Lyons, has not been seen on a racecourse since scoring in impressive fashion at the Curragh.

Lyons said: “On form figures we have to improve. I think he has but we won't know until the day. The horse has done everything I've asked him and has been working well at home. Physically he is improving — you can see him getting stronger. It is going to be a tough contest.”

Regular jockey Colin Keane will take the ride despite facing 14 days' quarantine on his return to Ireland, with Lyons adding: “These are the races that you want to win. He has to self-isolate when he comes home. These are strange times though, and we are lucky to be racing.”

Owned by Qatar Racing and trained by Andrew Balding, Kameko steps back down in trip after finishing a credible fourth in the Investec Derby (G1) last time out. The dual Group 1 winner set a course record over a mile in the 2000 Guineas (G1), beating Ballydoyle's Wichita (IRE) by a neck.

Wichita is one of three runners for trainer Aidan O'Brien, alongside Queen Anne (G1) winner Circus Maximus (IRE) and Irish Guineas runner-up Vatican City (IRE). The former's Royal Ascot victory guarantees his place in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile through the international Breeders' Cup Challenge.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge is an international series of stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which is scheduled to be held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, on Nov. 6-7.

Others lining up at Goodwood for the Qatar Sussex Stakes and looking to earn their place at this year's Breeders' Cup include Mohaather (GB) and San Donato (IRE), the first two home in the Group 2 Betfred Summer Mile at Ascot this month.

Mohaather was an emphatic winner that day, having previously endured a luckless run behind Circus Maximus in the Queen Anne Stakes. His trainer Marcus Tregoning is hoping for his first Group 1 success since landing the Derby with Sir Percy in 2006.

Marcus Tregoning said, “It's a tough order but I don't think we could have Mohaather any better and he deserves a crack at it. He took his race in the Summer Mile very well and was back cantering the next day.

“I don't see why he won't handle the track because he's a neat horse who travels well and has plenty of speed. Hopefully he's going to run a big race.”

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the winner of the Qatar Sussex Stakes to start in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile, which will be run over 1 mile at the Keeneland turf course. Breeders' Cup also will provide a travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must already be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program or it must be nominated by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of Oct. 26 to receive the rewards.

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‘Worth Sacrificing’: Ireland-Based Jockey Colin Keane Faces Quarantine By Partnering Siskin At Goodwood

Ireland-based jockey Colin Keane will face 14 days of quarantine after reuniting with Siskin at Glorious Goodwood – but the red-hot rider says that's a sacrifice he was willing to make in a heartbeat.

Dual Classic winner Keane piloted Ger Lyons' cracking colt to a brilliant victory in the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas last month, toppling Vatican City at the Curragh to extend Siskin's flawless record to five wins from five.

Lyons confirmed that Goodwood's Qatar Sussex Stakes will be next for the 3-year-old, as the trainer targets another Group One glory following Even So's triumph in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks this weekend.

The coronavirus restrictions mean Keane will face two weeks of quarantine upon returning to Ireland after Goodwood, however, severely jeopardizing his chances of usurping Shane Foley's lead at the summit of the Leading Jockeys table.

Keane has partnered Siskin in all five of his trips so far and while this time may all but end his chances of regaining his Champion Jockey crown of 2017, he says he simply couldn't pass the opportunity to team up with the speedster once more.

“It's definitely worth sacrificing the two weeks,” Keane told Nick Luck's Daily Podcast. “There are not too many like Siskin that I've got to sit on before, so when a horse like that comes around you want to be on him everyday – especially on the big days.

“Hopefully there'll be other championships in the future, but there might not be another Siskin for a very long time, so I want to take every opportunity.

“He's been great since the Guineas, he looks a million dollars and we couldn't be happier with him. We'll keep him wrapped up and it's about getting him there in one piece.”

The Keane-Lyons axis banged in their second Classic winner of the season on Saturday as Even So followed in Siskin's glittering footsteps in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks.

The fabulous filly reeled in Jessica Harrington's Cayenne Pepper – with Foley on board – as Keane delivered a red-hot performance of his own to make things spicy in the Leading Jockeys table.

The 25-year-old has now ridden 28 winners this season, one behind Wayne Lordan but still 11 triumphs adrift of Foley's table-topping 39 efforts.

Foley and Harrington remain without a Classic victory this campaign, however, with Aidan O'Brien landing the other two races with wins for Peaceful and Santiago in the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.

Keane, the 2014 Champion Apprentice, is a man for the big occasion and while both his Classic triumphs have come behind closed doors, it's done little to diminish his joy.

“It was a brilliant weekend – it's still surreal, and one we'll remember for a while I think,” he added.

“Anytime I've ridden a Group One winner there's been nobody there, so it's strange but we're not going to complain.

“There was a lot of pressure for Siskin, but not so much on the filly, so we were just hoping for black type. To go and do what she did was surreal, she was very good.”

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Bloodlines: Irish 2,000 Guineas Winner Siskin Fits The Juddmonte Farms Blueprint

An acrobatic little bird of the finch family, a siskin weighs about half an ounce and prefers the seeds of conifers to other food. It is one of the most entertaining and generally charming winter birds that we find at feeders in North America and Europe.

There's not a lot in that description of the bird that links directly to the equine Siskin (by First Defence), except the part about being charming. Siskin has attracted a legion of fans with his speed and dramatic finishes; that was once more on display over the weekend, as Siskin sliced between rivals in the closing furlongs of the Irish 2,000 Guineas on June 12 to snatch victory from the six-horse Ballydoyle troop by a length and three-quarters.

The Irish classic is the latest top-level success for the international Juddmonte Farms of Prince Khalid Abdullah. He acquired the first elements of Siskin's family with the purchase of the yearling filly later named Monroe in 1978, and Juddmonte's Kentucky farm manager Garrett O'Rourke said that, “it's not easy to get your hands on these elite families, and it's not easy to keep them producing at this level for decades,” because of the challenges of racing and breeding at the intensely selective international level.

A foal of 2017, 40 years on from his highly successful third dam, Siskin was bred by Juddmonte, like both his parents and three of the four grandparents. The Kentucky-bred Siskin is a son of the Unbridled's Song stallion First Defence, who is out of Toussaud's high-class daughter Honest Lady (Seattle Slew). Siskin's dam, Bird Flown, is by the very quick Oasis Dream (Green Desert) out of the stakes-placed Silver Star.

Silver Star's sire, Juddmonte's 1993 2,000 Guineas winner Zafonic (Gone West), was one of the early stars of the operation's Kentucky breeding program, although he raced overseas. Most of the Juddmonte stock, regardless of birthplace, begin their careers in Europe, and only Honest Lady and a scant few others so suited to American racing by pedigree and type begin their careers in the States.

Racing in Europe, Silver Star was one of seven stakes horses from the Juddmonte foundation mare Monroe (Sir Ivor), who was herself a daughter of the great producer Best in Show (Traffic Judge), the dam of Kentucky Oaks winner Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom), as well as Monroe's full brother, Irish highweight 2-year-old Malinowski.

“It's a very good family that we have a very good branch of, and it's a family that's been producing Grade 1 winners for longer than since I was a boy,” O'Rourke said. “Some families go dormant, but this one has never gone dormant. They're lovely looking horses, they're fast and sound, and they are versatile. I remember when Monroe was running, and she was a five-furlong sprinter, but at the same time, there was another member of the family that was a staying horse.”

The best of Monroe's produce was the highweighted English colt Xaar, a full brother to Silver Star who won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at two, but failed to gain another victory at that level in two further seasons of racing.

Last year, Siskin was poised to follow Xaar's path of success by contending for the divisional leadership in the Dewhurst Stakes against Pinatubo and others, but the dark brown colt lost his cool in the starting stalls for the Middle Park Stakes, was scratched by the stewards, and derailed for the rest of his juvenile season.

Unraced since then and making his seasonal debut in the Irish Guineas, Siskin was blocked in until quite late by what trainer Ger Lyons called “a football team,” but jockey Colin Keane helped create a seam about a furlong and a half from the finish, and once released, the colt's closing kick was too strong for the opposition.

The manner of his classic victory leaves Siskin and the Juddmonte team in an enviable position to seek and dominate the competition at principal events at a mile, or perhaps more, through the rest of the season, and there is evidence from the pedigree that continued improvement would be a reasonable expectation.

The sire, First Defence, improved nicely from his 3-year-old season to win the G1 Forego at Saratoga as a 4-year-old. Likewise, his dam, Honest Lady, was a Grade 2 winner at three, won a Grade 1 early at four, then tilted against colts to finish second in the G1 Metropolitan Handicap and the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

The best previous racer by First Defence was champion older mare Close Hatches, a multiple Grade 1 winner who is the dam of Wood Memorial winner Tacitus (Tapit), also second in the Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes. Close Hatches and her stakes-winning full-sister Lockdown are out of the Storm Cat mare Rising Tornado, a winning half-sister to Bird Flown.

So, three of the five or six best offspring by First Defence are out of half-sisters from the same family. Probably just a coincidence, right?

Sure.

Siskin is from First Defence's final Kentucky crop, as the horse was sold to stand in Saudi Arabia. Siskin is the second foal of his dam, and Bird Flown has a 2-year-old by Juddmonte-bred and -raced Flintshire, who is syndicated and stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington. That filly is named Talacre, and the mare has a yearling filly by Noble Mission, as well as a colt of 2020 by Flintshire.

Bird Flown is in foal to champion Arrogate, the best son of Unbridled's Song. A reason to hope, a reason to dream.

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Siskin Breeding Rights Sold

The breeding rights in Prince Khalid Abdullah’s homebred Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin (First Defence) have been sold to “a group of breeders”, Juddmonte confirmed on Monday.

Speaking on Sky Sports Racing, Juddmonte’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said, “Obviously there have been various rumours and talk, so to confirm, breeding rights have been sold to him to a group of breeders. Confidentiality means I cannot say anything further. He will continue to race in the name and colours of Prince Khalid for his racing career.”

Unbeaten in five starts for Ger Lyons, including last season’s G1 Keeneland Phoenix S., Siskin is a descendant of the influential broodmare Best In Show (Traffic Judge), who is also ancestress of such notable performers as the brothers Try My Best (Northern Dancer) and El Gran Senor, wide-margin G1 Dewhurst S. winner Xaar (GB) (Zafonic), and back-to-back GI Belmont S. winners Jazil (Seeking The Gold) and Rags To Riches (A. P. Indy).

Siskin is closely related to the five-time Grade I winner Close Hatches, who is also by First Defence and is out of a half-sister to his dam Bird Flown (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}). First Defence was himself sold to stand in Saudi Arabia in 2016, the year Siskin was conceived, in a deal brokered by Schumer Bloodstock.

Juddmonte currently stands five homebred stallions at its Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket, including Frankel (GB) and Siskin’s broodmare sire Oasis Dream (GB). The American wing of the operation, which stands Mizzen Mast, was dealt a blow recently by the death of its champion galloper Arrogate, a rare non-homebred to have raced in the prince’s colours who was euthanised in early June at the age of seven.

Grimthorpe added, “Like everything there is a business to be run here and when the offer was made it was considered satisfactory and we took it from there. Obviously Prince Khalid has sold horses before and I’m sure he will do again.”

Among stallions to have been sold by Juddmonte is the late champion sire Danehill, who took up stud duties at Coolmore in 1990. Juddmonte also stands Frankel’s full-brother Noble Mission (GB) and Flintshire (GB) in partnerships respectively with Lane’s End Farm and Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Kentucky.

Siskin’s likely next target is the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood.

 

 

 

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