Tag: Juddmonte

Frankel’s Alpinista Secures Fifth Group 1 On The Knavesmire

Kirsten Rausing's homebred 5-year-old mare Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}), unbeaten through five tests last term, disposed of esteemed rivals in last month's G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on seasonal return and maintained her winning streak with a decisive success as the 7-4 favourite in a stellar edition of Thursday's G1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks on the Knavesmire, a “Win And You're In” for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in November. Successful in the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, G1 Preis von Europa and G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern last year, she became Sir Mark Prescott's first domestic Group 1 winner since Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) annexed 2017's G1 Nunthorpe S. at this meeting. The grey's second dam Albanova (GB) (Alzao) rattled off the same trio of German Group 1 triumphs in 2004 and she embellished her record with a fifth straight elite-level triumph in the 12-furlong test. Trainer Sir Mark Prescott had voiced pace concerns beforehand, going so far as to say she may have to make her own running, but his worries were assuaged as G1 Pretty Polly S. victrix La Petite Coco (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) and G1 Irish Oaks heroine Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) disputed a solid tempo up front with Alpinista positioned in behind in a stalking third. Urged closer once into the long home straight, she went to the front approaching the quarter-mile marker and was driven out in the closing stages as Epsom's G1 Oaks winner Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) gave vain chase. At the line, Alpinista held a one-length advantage with La Petite Coco staying on well once headed to finish 1 3/4 lengths further adrift in third.

“They are all great, but Group 1 races are hard to come by and, for a smallish stable, every five or six years you get good ones come along and it's tremendous when it happens,” said Prescott. “We trained this one's dam, granddam and great granddam. It's been a marvellous family. The original intention was to go [G1] Coronation Cup and [G1] King George [VI & Queen Elizabeth S.], but she wouldn't come in her coat in time for the Coronation, so it then became Saint-Cloud and then either here or the [G1 Prix] Vermeille. Miss Rausing was very keen to come here as she hadn't won a Group 1 in England. She has really done it all now, she's won Group 1s in England, France and Germany.”

Looking ahead, the veteran Heath House conditioner added, “The [G1 Prix de l'] Arc [de Triomphe] has always been her aim. Last year we rather patted ourselves on the back for being so clever winning three Group 1s in Germany, then, when the one behind us [Torquator Tasso] came and won the Arc, we rather felt we might not have been as clever as we thought we were. When she stayed in training this year that was always the aim.”

Winning jockey Luke Morris is also relishing the prospect of going to ParisLongchamp on the first Sunday in October. “Since she has been on better ground this year she has looked like a filly with more class so we can dream about Paris now,” he said. “Generally the Yorkshire Oaks can look a little top heavy with a superstar of Aidan's, but I thought it had a lot of depth and she had to give nine pounds away to the second. I thought it was a great performance and it's great she's been able to show in Britain what she is capable of. It's a massive effort from the teams at Heath House and Lanwades Stud. I'm just the lucky one that gets to sit on her a couple of times a year.”

Aidan O'Brien was not too downcast, despite Tuesday's defeat, and looked ahead to future targets after the G1 Oaks heroine failed to reel in the winner. “She will go on Irish Champions weekend somewhere, whether she will stay here [in England], or whether she will go to Ireland or whether she will go to France or whatever. Hopefully she will go somewhere. We were happy enough with that. It was her first run back, she ran very well and I don't think she was losing any ground going to the line. She has come back to form after [finishing fourth in the G1 Irish Derby at] the Curragh. She was a bit hot before the race, but I didn't mind that as I was hot myself. She is in the mix for the Arc and other races.”

Team Valor's La Petite Coco would have preferred more juice in the ground, but nonetheless produced a display of star quality in third. “She is not the type to set the pace, but nobody else wanted to so that was somewhat less than ideal,” admitted Barry Irwin. “I think the difference between her finishing right there with the first two and where she did finish was somewhat quality, because they are two fantastic horses for sure, but our filly needs the soft. The ground had a good cover on top, but underneath it was firm and she can't lay her body down like that. On soft turf, not that the others would not have run as well, I think we would have been able to hang with them better if the ground was softer. The fact that the race turned into something of a sprint, and that she wasn't going to let herself down as well, played against her somewhat.” It's unlikely connections will be tempted into a rematch with Alpinista in Paris. “Paddy [Twomey] is talking about the [G1] Prix de l'Opera or the [G1] Champion S. [at Ascot]. That is what he is looking at, we need to wait for the ground to soften and we are going to forget about the Arc this year. When she won at the Curragh it was like a miracle, where it rained just before the race and she got her ground. Even though she wasn't really totally fit, she was able to win anyway because of the ground.”

Alpinista, kin to a 2-year-old colt by Oasis Dream (GB) and a weanling filly by Iffraaj (GB), is the first of four foals and one of two winners produced by a stakes-winning half-sister to four black-type performers out of the aforementioned Albanova (GB) (Alzao). The quartet includes G3 Legacy Cup victor Algometer (GB) (Archipenko), stakes-winning G3 Geoffrey Freer S. third Alignak (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) and multiple stakes scorer All At Sea (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). Albanova is one of four black-type performers thrown by G1 Moyglare Stud S. third Alouette (GB) (Darshaan {GB}), whose descendants also include dual G1 Champion S. heroine Alborada (GB) (Alzao) and stakes-winning G1 Epsom Derby runner-up Dragon Dancer (GB) (Sadler's Wells). Alouette is a half-sister to G3 Doncaster Cup vixtrix Alleluia (GB) Caerleon), who produced G1 Prix Royal-Oak heroine Allegretto (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G2 Nassau S. winner Last Second (Ire) (Alzao), with the latter being the dam of G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains-winning sire Aussie Rules (Danehill).

Thursday, York, Britain
DARLEY YORKSHIRE OAKS-G1, £533,750, York, 8-18, 3yo/up, f, 11f 188yT, 2:29.92, gd.
1–ALPINISTA (GB), 135, m, 5, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Alwilda (GB) (SW-Ger & SP-Eng), by Hernando (Fr)
2nd Dam: Albanova (GB), by Alzao
3rd Dam: Alouette (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
O/B-Kirsten Rausing (GB); T-Sir Mark Prescott; J-Luke Morris. £302,690. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Ger & G1SW-Fr, 14-9-2-0, $1,165,186. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tuesday (Ire), 126, f, 3, Galileo (Ire)–Lillie Langtry (Ire), by Danehill Dancer (Ire). O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £114,756.
3–La Petite Coco (Ire), 135, f, 4, Ruler Of The World (Ire)–La Petite Virginia (Ger), by Konigstiger (Ger). O-Team Valor International LLC; B-Mr B Schone (IRE); T-Paddy Twomey. £57,432.
Margins: 1, 1 3/4, 2HF. Odds: 1.75, 3.50, 4.00.
Also Ran: Lilac Road (Ire), Magical Lagoon (Ire), Raclette (GB), Poptronic (GB). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

 

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Ana O’Brien Shares All About The Magic Behind Family-Run Whisperview Operation

Racing fans who have always had a bit of trouble believing in the magic that goes on behind the gates at Ballydoyle or at Owning Hill need not look any further than the result of last week's Ballyhane S. at Naas.

There are some people, so hell-bent in their views that the sole reason why Aidan and Joseph O'Brien have conquered some of the greatest prizes in racing, is because they have all the best horses at their disposal.

It sounds somewhat plausible, doesn't it? Aidan and Joseph have been sent the best, therefore they are the best, right? Wrong.

Aidan launched his training career by winning a slew of races with moderate horses and Joseph, who sent out his 1,000th winner at the Curragh on Saturday, essentially started out with a string of jumpers. The Ballyhane was yet another example of the O'Brien family pulling a rabbit out of the hat. 

The race was won by Voce Del Palio (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}), carrying the colours of Annemarie O'Brien, whose daughter Ana rightfully points out that the big-race hero was there for everyone else to buy at the Goffs Sportsman's Sale the previous October.

Voce Del Palio | Racingfotos.com

Instead, Voce Del Palio was led out of the ring unsold at 14,000gns and that's not even the most interesting part of this story.

It is less than three years ago when Howson & Houldsworth Bloodstock signed for the Juddmonte mare Caption (GB) (Motivator {GB}), in foal to Bated Breath, on behalf of the O'Brien family's Whisperview Trading.

With that resulting foal snaring the lucrative €300,000 Ballyhane last Monday, it's fair to say that the 7,500gns it took to secure Caption at that December Mares Sale at Tattersalls in 2019 has been paid back in spades, yet some people still refuse to believe in magic.

Ana O'Brien has immersed herself in bloodstock since suffering the horror fall at Killarney five years ago that cut short her successful career in the saddle. As well as consigning her own horses at the sales under the banner of Mount Richard Stud, she plays an integral role at Whisperview, but that's not to say that she will take any credit for the acquisition of Caption.

“I don't think so,” she says with typical modesty, before adding. “I think it was either Dad or Joseph to be honest. It was massive to win the Ballyhane and for the horse to run in Mum's colours was great as well.

“He actually went through the sales ring himself but didn't sell. It just goes to show, good racehorses can get overlooked at the sales. He was always a very straightforward horse and you could never fault him really.”

Caption ran three times for Sir Michael Soute and, while she showed promise, retired as a maiden with a rating of 65. However, being a daughter of a Derby winner out of an unraced sister [Razzle (Danzig)] to Danehill and countless other black-type horses, the pedigree was there.

Buyers may have missed the chance to buy Voce Del Palio at the yearling sales last year but it's unlikely that the same mistake will be made twice when Caption's yearling filly (lot 377) by Caravaggio walks through the ring at the Orby Sale at Goffs.

As for O'Brien, she is content with growing things organically at Mount Richard Stud while continuing to learn the ropes at Whisperview.

She explained, “I have only just started selling a few under Mount Richard Stud and I'm enjoying it. With regards to Whisperview, there's a massive team here.

“I sold four of my own yearlings in 2020, didn't sell any last year, but I have four more going to the yearling sales this year so I'm branching into that at the moment. I have two Saxon Warriors (Jpn), one filly and one colt, a Churchill (Ire) filly and a nice Ten Sovereigns (Ire) colt as well. I'm looking forward to them. I think they're nice horses so hopefully they do well.

“People might have the perception that we're not sellers but we are. We have to sell to keep the wheel turning. We're not afraid to sell the good ones as well because you can't keep everything. “I just figured that, by drafting horses under my own name and earning a reputation for selling good horses, it would be good to get that word out there. We'll see how it goes and I'm not making any major plans for the future. We'll see how we get on.

“I'm full-time on the farm and Niall Ryan is here with me. Niall is a huge benefit to us, he's brilliant. Obviously I was racing up until only a few years ago so I'm still learning and I couldn't ask for a better mentor than Niall. Between us, we're here every day and taking care of the place as best we can.”

On Caption, O'Brien added, “She has a Caravaggio yearling filly and a Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt foal. She's back in foal to Starspangledbanner as well. They're two lovely horses. The Caravaggio looks like she could be a very good filly so please God she turns out to be. She's going to the Orby Sale at Goffs. Like I said, we sell good ones as well.

“The Starspangledbanner is nice. Obviously foals can change a lot in a short space of time but, at the moment, we really like him. We're looking forward to all of her stock.”

The big-race success of Voce Del Palio in Annemarie's famous orange and blue silks is just the latest in a string of high-profile victories for the matriarch of one of the most successful racing families in history.

It was in those colours that four-time Group 1 winner Iridessa (Ire) (Ruler Of The World {Ire}) burst onto the scene by winning a Killarney on debut in 2018 before being sold privately to Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez. Her dam Senta's Dream (GB) (Danehill) has been another inexpensive purchase by the family at 14,000gns.

More recently, high-class fillies Agartha (Ire) (Caravaggio) and Brostaigh (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) have achieved notable success in the orange and blue before being sold to Scott Heider.

“It's great to see them win in our own colours but, when they go on to do well for the next person, that's also brilliant,” Ana explained.

“We're so lucky that Joseph, Donnacha and Dad are all training so, anything that doesn't get sold, they get it to train. The hope is that they can go on and make careers for themselves.”

They're not bad trainers to be able to call upon, are they Ana? But tell us, if you could pick just one, who would you rate the best of the three?

“I get a good deal with Joseph so I better say him!”

Joking aside, the success enjoyed by Whisperview in recent seasons is rivalling what Aidan, Joseph and Donnacha have been achieving on the track. The family have an unrelenting ability to produce, as well as train winners, and just like Caption, not all of the mares on the farm fetched big money at the sales.

Asked what the secret behind the success was, O'Brien said, “I suppose when you look down through the pedigrees, something might jump out at you and catch your eye.

“Going back through all of those old families, they seem to come back around at some stage. If you saw a mare who had been going to stallions that didn't suit her, that could also be of interest as, if you changed things up a bit, it might work. Now, it's often the case that it doesn't work, but sometimes you'll get lucky and it will.”

Joseph and Sarah O'Brien | Tattersalls

Not only do some of the horses bred at Whisperview benefit from being trained by Aidan, Donnacha or Joseph, they have also been given the best opportunity from the outset.

Whisperview utilises the Coolmore stallions, the majority of which were at one point in training with Aidan at Ballydoyle, and Ana believes that access is imperative to the success story.

“Sure there's no better stallions around,” Ana said, before adding, “It also goes back to my Mum's Dad [Joe Crowley]. He was a big fan of a bargain and would take a chance on something that someone else wouldn't.

“He was always great to buy something cheap and do well with it. Mum is a huge part of the operation and it wouldn't function without her. 

“Sarah [Ana's sister] is also a massive help. She is a qualified vet and, as well as helping Joseph on the veterinary side of things on the hill, she puts a lot of work in on the stud. It's a big family effort and it wouldn't function without everyone.”

“But Granddad had his own ways and, while some people would question them, most of the time it worked.”

There are some things in life that can't be explained. The O'Brien family's Midas touch with horses, be it breeding or racing them, is one of those things. It's magic.

 

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Frankel Filly A New TDN Rising Star At Deauville

Alain and Gerard Wertheimer's hitherto unraced 2-year-old filly Kelina (Ire) (Frankel {GB}–Incahoots {GB}, by Oasis Dream {GB}) was let go at odds of 29-5 for Saturday's Prix des Marettes at Deauville and returned home with a 'TDN Rising Star' tag after posting a taking pillar-to-post performance in the 7 1/2-furlong debutantes' heat. The eventual winner was the sharpest of one dozen into stride and seized an immediate lead. Holding sway throughout, she was shaken up when threatened passing the quarter-mile marker and ran on strongly once quickening clear approaching the eighth pole to easily outclass Shalromy (Fr) (Shalaa {Ire}) by an impressive three lengths.

Kelina is the third of five foals and second scorer from as many runners produced by Listed Prix Saonois victrix Incahoots (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), herself a full-sister to dual stakes-winning G3 Prix de Lieurey third Dream Clover (GB) out of G3 Prix de Flore winner In Clover (GB) (Inchinor {GB}). Produce of the February-foaled homebred bay's second dam also includes G1 Prix du Cadran victor Call The Wind (GB) (Frankel {GB}), G1 Prix Rothschild heroine With You (GB) (Dansili {GB}), G1 Prix de l'Opera victrix We Are (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and Listed Grand Prix Anjou Bretagne winner In Crowd (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). In Clover is also the second dam of this term's G1 Prix Saint-Alary third Queen Trezy (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}). Kelina is full to a weanling colt and a half to Listed Prix Petite Etoile runner-up Ansilia (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and a yearling colt by Lope De Vega (Ire).

4th-Deauville, €27,000, Mdn, 8-6, unraced 2yo, f, 7 1/2fT, 1:35.16, gd.
KELINA (IRE), f, 2, by Frankel (GB)
1st Dam: Incahoots (GB) (SW-Fr), by Oasis Dream (GB)
2nd Dam: In Clover (GB), by Inchinor (GB)
3rd Dam: Bellarida (Fr), by Bellypha (Ire)
1ST-TIME STARTER. O/B-Wertheimer & Frere (IRE); T-Carlos Laffon-Parias. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, €13,500. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by TVG.

 

 

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All Emotion As Frankel Hits A Century Of Stakes Winners

The all-conquering Frankel (GB) reached a new benchmark on Saturday when Emotion (GB) became the 14-year-old stallion's 100th stakes winner worldwide from just seven crops of racing age.

Not many horses are given a two-hour Valentine's night special on BBC Radio 5 Live to launch the start of their first covering season, but not many horses are Frankel. Those connected to the Juddmonte champion who were interviewed for that unprecedented terrestrial broadcast back in 2013 were keen to point out that being a top-class racehorse does not necessarily guarantee that that horse will carry all before him once in the stallion barn. Frankel, however, is doing just that.

Champion sire for the first time in Britain and Ireland in 2021, succeeding his own outstanding father Galileo (Ire) in the year of his death, Frankel is now responsible for 25 Group/Grade 1 winners and currently heads the European table for the 2022 season, in which he has already been represented by the Classic winners Westover (GB), Homeless Songs (GB) and Nashwa (GB), along with Group 1 winners Inspiral (GB), Alpinista (GB) and Onesto (Ire). He became the fastest sire in history to notch 50 group winners in 2021, and his current tally in that regard has already been elevated to 67.

Frankel has not of course been short of opportunities as, from the start, he has been sent some of the best-bred and best-performed mares around. The lag between covering that first book and their offspring appearing on the track gave ample time for the naysayers to start crabbing Frankel's stock that appeared at the sales, but once they hit the racecourse doubts soon started to be allayed.

His first runner, Cunco (Ire), won on debut in May 2016, was then third in the Chesham, and won the G3 Sandown Classic Trial the following season. From that same crop, Fair Eva (GB)–appropriately a Juddmonte homebred–became Frankel's first black-type winner in the G3 Princess Margaret S. At the end of that year, a first breakthrough win at the top level came in Japan, when Soul Stirring (Jpn) won the G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. The daughter of the top-class racemare Stacelita (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) then scored a double first the following season when going on to win the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) to give Frankel an important first Classic winner.

It was also a sign of things to come in regard to his increasingly international influence as a sire, despite the fact that he has never left the Banstead Manor stallion yard since he moved there from Warren Place in October 2012. Instead, mares came to him from all over the world. From the outset Frankel has covered in Newmarket to Southern Hemisphere time, with the demand for that service having grown in recent years.

That was no doubt in part owing to the success of his first Australian Group 1 winner Hungry Heart (Aus), whose dam Harlech (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) was purchased at the Tattersalls July Sale from Godolphin by Yulong Investments and sent straight to Frankel to be covered before departing for Australia.

Bred on the same cross as Hungry Heart is Frankel's first European Group 1 winner, Cracksman (GB), who is now a promising first-season sire for Darley, while the G1 St James's Palace S. winner Without Parole (GB) is standing at Newsells Park Stud, and Logician (GB), one of Frankel's eight European Classic winners, has joined the National Hunt ranks at Shade Oak Stud. The number of Group 1-winning sons standing at stud in Europe will soon grow, not least when last season's Derby and Irish Derby winners, Godolphin stablemates Adayar (Ire) and Hurricane Lane (Ire) are eventually retired.

Frankel's latest benchmark equals to the day the record of his fellow Juddmonte homebred Danehill in reaching the milestone of 100 stakes winners, though Danehill was of course also shuttling to Australia, covering larger books there than Frankel's Southern Hemisphere coverings in England. In the race to a century of black-type winners, he has surpassed his own remarkable sire Galileo, as well as another pre-eminent British stallion, Dubawi (Ire).

On the racecourse, perhaps the most memorable image of Frankel's three-season tour de force was his breathtaking triumph in the G1 2000 Guineas, in which he streaked to such an early, wide-margin lead that maintaining it seemed scarcely believable. He did just that, and now Frankel's tearaway talent echoes through his stallion career.

 

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