Night Raider’s Craven-Bound Brother Set To Put Knockgraffon Stables In Lights

Is there anything like a pedigree update to get a consignor's blood pumping in the build-up to a big sale? A little winner here, a black-type update there, it can't hurt when it comes to advertising your wares. 

Well, if it's happening pedigrees that buyers want, it won't take long to scope out lot 53 in the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. A brother to leading 2,000 Guineas contender Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), the colt will be offered under the hammer by the father-and-son team of Mick and Stephen Byrne of Knockgraffon Stables on behalf of Linden Bloodstock. 

Pedigree updates like this don't come around very often. Already a half-brother to first-season sire Far Above (Ire), the strapping Dark Angel colt was led out of the ring unsold at 125,000gns at the Book 1 session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, leaving his breeders Brendan and David Geraghty scratching their heads. 

What has happened in the intervening period, with Night Raider bursting onto the scene with two effortless successes at Southwell, which has put the horse firmly in the 2,000 Guineas picture, would suggest the Geraghty brothers were right to command top dollar for their colt.

Knockgraffon Stables has been consigning horses at the breeze-up sales for 35 years. Few people have been doing it longer. However, in all that time, never have the Byrne family had a horse like this through their hands. The excitement is palpable. 

“It looks as though the decision not to sell as a yearling could be vindicated. He's a gorgeous big horse and is without doubt the most high-profile horse that I have ever consigned,” Stephen, 34, said. 

“I had never met Brendan or David before but, shortly after the yearling sales, I got a phone call from them asking if I'd be interested in breezing this horse for them. They told me a bit about him, that he was a Dark Angel half-brother to Far Above, and I jumped at the opportunity to have that type of calibre of horse in the yard.”

It takes something special to catch the eye in the dark December months but that's exactly what Night Raider did in winning on debut at Southwell by nine lengths. Bought for 155,000gns by Joe Foley on behalf of Clipper Logistics at Tattersalls in 2021 as a foal, Night Raider confirmed the promise of that scintillating debut when dishing out a comprehensive beating to previous winners back at Southwell last month, and is now as short as just 10-1 for Classic glory at Newmarket. 

So what did the consignor make of it all? 

Byrne said, “I got very excited, didn't I? I've only been doing this full-time since last year. Obviously Mick has been doing this a long time. He's been breezing horses for as long as I can remember and, actually, the first horse I ever cantered was a breeze-up horse. I think I was 10 years of age at the time. The game has become a lot more professional since Dad started and the quality has risen. A lot of very good horses are coming from the breeze-up sales. 

“Night Raider looks as though he could be very smart and fingers crossed he can keep on progressing. I'd say this horse is very nice, too. He's not your typical breeze-up horse-he's quite big-but he does everything very well and he looks like he could make up into a very smart racehorse in time.”

Brendan Geraghty, who, along with his brother David, bought Night Raider's dam Dorraar (Ire) (Shamardal) outside the ring at Goffs after she failed to sell at €14,000 in 2017, shared how the plan to breeze the full-brother was first hatched.

He said, “We brought him to the foal sales and we brought him home. Then we brought him to the yearling sales and brought him home as well. To be honest, it was probably the pure stubborn Mayo man coming out in me both times! But, to be honest, I was shocked he didn't sell as a yearling. We'd loads of vets and I was sure he'd be popular.

“In fairness to Jack Cantillon, he has put me down a few good roads in recent times so, when I asked him where I should send the horse, I didn't hesitate when he recommended Stephen. We think he is a special horse, really and truly. Even from day one, Stephen has been saying, 'Brendan, I love this lad.' It's exciting and hopefully he can show people what he can do in the breeze. It has been a joy working with Stephen and Mick and long may it last.”

The Mayo native, who has spent time in Australia and has only a small number of mares at his base close by to Knockgraffon in Tipperary, revealed how it hasn't all been plain sailing with his pride and joy Dorraar. A winner herself and from the family of Benbatl (GB), the 13-year-old overcame a serious injury after she was sourced by Linden Bloodstock. She is now happily reported to be back in foal to Dark Angel, who, naturally, Geraghty says he is a massive fan of. 

Geraghty said, “My brother David goes through the sales and it works well. Once I saw Dorraar at the sales, I fell in love with her and had to buy her. It has worked out great. When we bought her, she was in foal to Toronado (Ire), but, as it turned out, she got injured at home and only for the lads at Fethard Equine Hospital and her big heart, she wouldn't have pulled through. After she lost the Toronado filly, we gave her a couple of seasons off, so she is a relatively fresh mare despite her age of 13.

“There aren't many mares like her around. Far Above put her name in lights and now Night Raider looks like he could be very good. I love Dark Angel. His record speaks for itself and he gets results day in, day out. Night Raider is only going one way.”

And so, too, is Knockgraffon Stables. Along with popular work rider and long-time friend Shane 'Rancher' Ryan, who Byrne says he would be lost without, the work gets done. Brothers Michael and David, who like Stephen, enjoyed some success in the saddle, lend a helping hand as does Mick, 67.

“I am only back working here this past year,” Stephen explains. “I gave it about five or six years as an amateur. I rode a bust of winners but decided it wasn't for me. I just stopped enjoying it. You have to be riding good horses to enjoy it and I wasn't riding good horses.”

That's not to say that a certain Mr S R Byrne came and went without anybody noticing he had ever been in the weighroom to start with. Through Jim Will Fix It (Ire) (Lord Of Appeal {GB}), trained by Seamus Roche, Byrne enjoyed his biggest day in the sun when out-battling big-name amateurs Robbie McNamara and Nina Carberry to win the Grade 2 Future Champions Bumper at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival in 2010. 

Byrne piloted that horse to three more victories under rules but it wasn't enough of a lure. A stint with leading breeze-up consignor Con Marnane was the next port of call followed by seven years working for Joseph O'Brien. Not a bad grounding for the National Hunt jockey who has turned his attention to blooding top-class runners on the Flat. 

Byrne said, “I really enjoyed my time with Joseph. He's a very easy man to work for and you learned plenty from him as well. The biggest thing I learned from Joseph is patience. Patience and keeping calm, that is key. If things weren't going right or horses weren't doing what you wanted them to be doing, Joseph would always keep a steady head and never panic.”

He added, “Not only that but, there were so many nice horses coming through Joseph's, it trained your eye as to what a nice horse looks like. Joseph buys really strong, solid horses. I'd like to think I learned plenty from him about what an athlete looks like. I try to buy a nice horse by a solid stallion. We can't afford to buy the horses by the top stallions but you can buy some very nice horses by solid sires. That's what we try to do. A lot of the good racehorses that I have sold are not by the big sires, but they reached good ratings on the track.”

Beautiful Aisling (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) is a good example. Bought by Knockgraffon Stables and Donovan Bloodstock for £22,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, she rocked into £120,000 when bought by Anthony Stroud at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale in 2022. After winning twice and reaching a rating of 90 for Simon and Ed Crisford, Beautiful Aisling went on to fetch 240,000gns at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale later that year. 

Such a result proves that not only can Byrne turn a profit in the ring, but he also produces solid racehorses who can fulfil their potential and stand the test of time on the track. 

Romina Power (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), a listed winner in Germany who has subsequently been snapped up by Joseph O'Brien, fellow listed winner Tardis (GB) (Time Test {GB}) and Sailthisshipalone (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) are other notable graduates.

It is clear to see that the Byrne family has a proven track record in producing quality runners but you won't see them hogging the limelight when they do. Instead, they prefer to get on with business in the background. 

Stephen said, “I'll tell you a good story about Dad. When I was working in Edward O'Grady's, Paddy Mangan won the conditional riders' championship and brought the trophy into work. I was looking at all the names on the trophy and, next thing 'Michael Byrne' pops up. I was like, 'Dad was champion conditional?' I rang him up and I asked him and he goes, 'oh, I was, yea', as if it wasn't a big thing. But it is a big thing.”

The pressure may be rising ahead of what could potentially be a breakout sale for Byrne, but the burgeoning operator is approaching Tattersalls in a similarly understated manner. 

He concluded, “I was doing a few breeze-up horses whilst working with Joseph. We'd a couple of horses that sold well so it looked as though we could do the job to a good standard. I said I'd take the leap and give it a go full-time and, touch wood, things have gone really well. Hopefully we can keep on building and keep attracting a nicer horse. We think we have nice horses this year so fingers crossed it goes well.”

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Burke Looking Forward With Fallen Angel After Cancer Fight

The flooded fields that line the approach to Spigot Lodge might suggest differently, but spring has finally arrived in Middleham and that can only mean one thing in these parts.

On Good Friday, as tradition dictates, a handful of the town's racing stables will invite the public in for a look behind the scenes as part of the annual Middleham Open Day, organised by Racing Welfare. Spigot Lodge promises to be the first port of call for many visitors, with trainer Karl Burke expecting to welcome between 200-300 people during the course of the morning.

Hoping to beat the rush, the TDN descends on Spigot Lodge the week before the Middleham Open Day, but already Burke is a man in high demand. Having welcomed David Craig and the Sky Sports Racing cameras to film a feature the previous morning, today our visit clashes with that of Derek 'Tommo' Thompson, the veteran broadcaster and commentator who warmly greets all comers in the now-customary fashion, “Are you well?”

Allowing Tommo first crack at Burke provides the opportunity for a quick tour of the stable yard, giving just a taste of why Spigot Lodge is proving such a popular destination with us media folk as the start of the Flat season proper looms on the horizon. In every corner you look there's a familiar name, from the hard-knocking older sprinter that is Spycatcher (Ire) (Vadamos {Fr}) to the exciting three-year-old Classic contender that is Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}).

Put simply, Burke has never assembled a stronger team of horses, across all departments, than the one in his care right now, certainly on the evidence of last year when he celebrated career-best figures in Britain, with 119 winners and £3,130,725 in total earnings.

“And if you count the European money earnings it was close to £4 million,” Burke points out as he pulls up a stool in the kitchen after bidding farewell to Tommo, ready to reflect on a record-breaking year for the team in 2023 and to look ahead to what 2024 might have in store.

“I never ever thought we'd get to those sorts of figures,” he adds. “I think the only blank month we had last year was March. We didn't have a winner in March, but apart from that we had a great all-weather season and it just followed on through the year.”

Already this year Burke is ahead of where he was at the same stage in 2023, with 12 winners on the board–including a first of the season on turf when Liamarty Dreams (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) scored at Doncaster on Sunday–compared to 10 in the first three months of last year.

The big cards are all still to be played, of course, but the omens are certainly good ahead of what promises to be another successful year for the team. Happily, Burke can also look forward to taking a front row seat in the coming months having returned to familiar surroundings in recent days, making his first appearances on a racecourse since last summer.

In a year when Burke's powerful string rose to virtually every challenge thrown at them in 2023, their trainer was forced to watch on from afar as he fought his own battle with illness, out of the public eye as the likes of Fallen Angel did their bit to keep his name in lights.

“Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with cancer just before Royal Ascot last year,” Burke recalls. “I didn't have any symptoms or anything. I had a routine test and they found it, luckily. They were able to get me in and operated on in early-July, so I haven't been racing since then really.

“I was just getting over the operation, which was fairly severe, and then they wanted me to have a course of chemo as a belts-and-braces job. That took me up to Christmas time, so it hasn't been easy, but we've got a great team here and things ticked along nicely.”

When he felt up to it, the day-to-day routine of a trainer's existence was a huge comfort to Burke during his illness, simply being around the animals to which he's devoted over 30 years of his life in this profession.

Burke's soft spot for Fallen Angel is certainly clear for all to see, with the smile coming easily to him when he's asked to pose for a picture with the grey filly who ended the stable's four-year wait for a Group 1 winner when landing the Moyglare Stud S. at the Curragh last September. A second in the space of six weeks then came along when Poptronic (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) caused a 22/1 upset in the G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. at Ascot.

That proved to be Poptronic's swansong for the stable, later being sold for 1.4 million gns at the Tattersalls December Mares' Sale, but Burke need look no further for a flagbearer this year than Fallen Angel, who is quickly having to get used to all the media attention that comes with being one of the best fillies of her generation.

 

 

“There were always high hopes for her and she was a lovely stamp of a filly,” Burke says of Steve Parkin's homebred. “And she's out of a good mare, Agnes Stewart, who was a Group 2 winner. You never can say you're definitely going to win a Group 1, but she just improved all the way through.”

Expressing his belief that Fallen Angel should still be unbeaten, Burke adds, “Even when she got beat at Sandown, Danny [Tudhope, jockey] came in and was kicking himself that he didn't make more use of her because she stays very well. She'd always been quite a strong traveller and he was just trying to teach her by holding on to her a little bit, but I think she probably would have won that day as well if we'd kicked her in the belly a bit earlier.”

Fallen Angel made no mistake on her next two starts, first winning the G3 Sweet Solera S. at Newmarket and then following up in very similar fashion when making the breakthrough at the top level at the Curragh, still appearing full of running at the line as she fought off the speedy Vespertilio (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) to win by a length and a quarter.

Sure to be suited by stepping up to a mile, Fallen Angel now has the G1 Qipco 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday, May 5, firmly in her sights, attempting to provide her trainer with a first British Classic success in a race that looks a whole lot more winnable following the news of the likely defection of Aidan O'Brien's Opera Singer (Justify)–not that Burke was afraid of going head-to-head with the winter favourite for the race.

“I was looking forward to taking on Opera Singer,” he reveals. “Darnation ran against her on fast ground in France, which Darnation wouldn't want, and we were still upsides her a furlong and a half out. I know where Fallen Angel is with her [Darnation] on fast ground. Darnation is very much a soft-ground filly, so I didn't think for a minute that Opera Singer was unbeatable.

“There will be plenty of horses that pop their heads up above the parapet from now until Guineas day. I'm sure there are a few horses lurking around that are going to show improved form and will be challenging us. My main aim is to get her there in one piece and, hopefully, that's what we'll do.”

Fallen Angel is set for a racecourse gallop at the Craven Meeting which Burke hopes will put her spot on for the 1,000 Guineas, while Darnation (Too Darn Hot {GB}) could also come into the reckoning for that race if conditions fall in her favour. According to her trainer, she isn't one to underestimate, either, in the event that that happens.

“I'm sure that on soft or heavy ground, she's going to be a handful for any horse,” Burke says of the filly who counted the G2 May Hill S. at Doncaster amongst her three wins last season. “A lot of horses just can't manage that ground, but she seems to thrive on it.

“She carried a little niggle all of last season and I think that's one of the reasons why she didn't perform on firmer ground. But she's come through that and she's working nicely. I'm not sure what the plan is–it will be dictated by the ground really. It was in my mind to go for one of the trials if it came up heavy, but there's not a mile trial for fillies without going up to France and I don't really want to do that with her first-time-out.”

 

Darnation | Adam Houghton

 

One exciting three-year-old at Spigot Lodge who has already been in action in 2024 is the 'TDN Rising Star' Night Raider (Ire). In fact, the quick circuit of the stable yard on this particular morning involves only a brief stop at his empty box, the son of Dark Angel (Ire) already having departed ahead of his run at Southwell that evening.

“It's a big day for him,” says Burke, who later follows Night Raider on the 230-mile round trip to Southwell for his first racecourse visit of the year. “I've just seen him on the horsebox and he's roaring away. He's got that little immaturity still about him, so another day out won't do him any harm. Today, whether he wins easily or is in a battle, the idea is to give him a little squeeze and make him go and stretch in that last furlong.”

As it turns out, Night Raider has absolutely no difficulty dismissing a 93-rated rival from the Charlie Hills stable in that novice event, responding quickly when that little squeeze is applied as he powers clear to win by five lengths.

Unbeaten in two starts, by a cumulative margin of 14 lengths, the feeling remains that we've only scratched the surface of Night Raider's potential. He's clearly held in high regard by Burke, too, with the only uncertainty in his mind being about what to do next ahead of a possible tilt at the G1 Qipco 2,000 Guineas on Saturday, May 4.

“We'll make a decision whether we go for a trial or a racecourse gallop,” he sums up. “The trial is more likely to be the seven-furlong conditions race at Newmarket, for horses that haven't run more than twice. I don't want to try him in the Craven over a mile where there could be cut in the ground and it could turn into a slog. And if we wait for Newbury, it's literally two weeks before the Guineas which is getting close.

“We've got decisions to make, but he's a beautiful horse and the Guineas and the start of the season is not the be-all and end-all for him–he's going to get better and better as the season goes on.”

Burke's Southwell trip might have resembled a return to some sort of normality for the trainer, but he's still finding his feet in certain aspects at home, notably when it comes to getting to grips with the latest intake of juveniles in his care.

“There are a few nice horses out there,” he says of the class of 2024. “I was away for a month in the winter, which I've never done before, and obviously before Christmas I wasn't as on it as I usually would be with having the chemo. But I'm recognising the horses now and seeing how they've developed. I'm just catching up with that and I must admit now that, when I see the string, we've got some lovely fillies out there.”

It was the two-year-olds which underpinned Burke's success last season, making up 68 of the yard's 119 winners in Britain, whilst pocketing nearly £1 million in prize-money. This year the team of juveniles won't be quite so numerically strong, according to Burke, but he still expects to have plenty of early runners despite a less-than-ideal preparation, chiefly because of the exceptionally wet weather the whole country has endured in recent weeks and months.

“We won't have quite as many two-year-olds this time around because we've kept a lot of the nice two-year-olds from last year,” Burke explains. “We have 139 boxes here and we're pretty limited above that, so we had to cut back somewhere and it ended up being the two-year-olds. But we seem to have a nice bunch and still good numbers.

“I've been saying to a few people that I felt the three-year-olds and older horses were probably a week or two ahead of where we'd usually be with them, but we're probably a week or two behind with the two-year-olds. We're probably better off having it that way round, because there are loads of races for the two-year-olds and they've got plenty of time.”

Pinatubo (Ire) is a first-season sire expected to waste no time in having two-year-old winners in 2024 and Burke is excited to see what his half-brother to Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) can do having been sent to Spigot Lodge by Parkin. “He looks a lovely colt,” says the trainer. “There's a lot of scope about him–a lot more scope than Dramatised had.”

Burke also puts in a positive word for a filly by Sergei Prokofiev, but it's another Whitsbury Manor Stud resident who is the main subject of his affections, namely Havana Grey (GB), whom he trained to win the G1 Flying Five S. back in 2018.

“It's been unbelievable really,” Burke says of the success Havana Grey has enjoyed at stud, notably with the dual Group 1-winning two-year-old Vandeek (GB), the star of his second crop. “And fair play to Ed Harper from Whitsbury. When we were looking to try and sell him, we had a price in our heads, us and the owners. All the big studs came over to see him and liked him, but they didn't want to pay the price that we had in mind. We stuck to our guns and fair play to Ed. He said, 'I think I'm paying plenty for him, but I want him.'

“His constitution was brilliant,” Burke adds of Havana Grey. “All he did was eat and sleep and he was a very sound, tough horse. I think he's passing on that toughness to his progeny.”

As for the current inmates at Spigot Lodge, there is arguably no finer embodiment of toughness than the six-year-old Spycatcher, who did his trainer proud in 2023 when winning the G3 Prix de Ris-Orangis at Deauville before being beaten just a short head when bidding for a first Group 1 success in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at the same venue.

 

Spycatcher | Adam Houghton

 

Spycatcher, who occupies the box that was once home to Burke's multiple Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), will be back for more in 2024 with the aim of breaking his top-level duck, so too the four-year-olds Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Royal Rhyme (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), both of whom acquitted themselves well in good company last season.

There's certainly plenty to be excited about if you're planning a visit to Spigot Lodge during the Middleham Open Day, albeit Burke's own enjoyment of the event isn't necessarily what it once was since the introduction of racing on Good Friday.

“We've got three meetings, so we're going to be stretched to the limit,” he explains. “We've had to limit our opening window to two and a half hours, because we just can't do it any other way. We're going to have lads everywhere and horses travelling. You can't be loading horses up when you've got 200-300 people walking around.

“It's unfortunate because it does have a place. It's a good selling point to try and get new blood into the game, but it certainly hasn't made it easier with so much racing on Good Friday.”

It's a message that rings especially true at a time when the fixture list seems to grow year-on-year, despite a general decline in foal crops in Britain, not to mention the increase in the number of horses being bought to race overseas.

It provides an interesting talking point on which to end the chat with Burke, who clearly remains as passionate as ever about a sport which means everything to him and his family, ably assisted at Spigot Lodge by wife Elaine and daughters Kelly and Lucy.

“I think that's a big problem [the loss of horses overseas] and I don't know how you halt that,” he says. “Obviously, prize-money comes into it, but we're so far behind as a country on prize-money compared to a lot of the other major racing nations that we're never going to catch them up.

“Any increase in prize-money will help, but how do you go about persuading people not to sell their horses? I think in a perverse sort of way, while the Middle East programme that's there doesn't really help British racing, there's a case for owners keeping those good middle-distance horses and high-class sprinters and going out in the winter to the Middle East to compete for that prize-money.

“That's probably as good a selling point as any. The likes of Richard Fahey have obviously had great success, so the more that they build their programme, it will probably help to a degree to persuade owners in Britain to keep those horses.”

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Dark Angel’s Night Raider Another TDN Rising Star

Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics have live Guineas contenders of both sexes in 2024 as the Karl Burke-trained Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}–Dorraar {Ire}, by Shamardal) produced a sensational display to obtain TDN Rising Star status at Southwell on Wednesday evening. Off the mark in style by nine lengths this track and seven-furlong trip on debut in December, the 1-4 favourite tanked his way to the front under Danny Tudhope from the outset. Chased entering the straight by his only serious rival, last year's G3 Acomb S. fifth Cogitate (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), the 155,000gns Tatts December Foal purchase simply extended away to score by five lengths, registering a penultimate split of 10.98 and a final three-furlong sectional of 34.12 in the process.
Burke, who is preparing the owner's G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) for the May 5 G1 1000 Guineas, is planning on sending Night Raider for the previous day's Newmarket Classic. “He's a horse of huge potential, we know that and he's not fully wound up by any stretch of the imagination,” he said of the half-brother to Farhh's G3 Palace House S.-winning first-season sire Far Above (Ire).
“His weight was identical to first time out and all of ours improve for their first time. Nadir, who leads him up, said he has taken more of a blow tonight than he did the first time. He was a second-and-a-half faster this time and I don't know if that is down to ability or the track riding faster. The Guineas isn't the be all and end all for him and he's a horse with a big future.”
“He may have been on grass at the beginning of his two-year-old career, but he certainly wouldn't have been on grass in the last 10 months or so. The idea was to go to the Guineas with a racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting–I don't want to go a mile or go for the Craven itself and if we went for the seven-furlong race at Newbury [the Greenham], that only gives us two weeks before the Guineas–or there is a seven-furlong conditions race for horses that haven't run more than twice. I have to speak to connections, but if we do go anywhere, I would be pointing that way.”
“Danny [Tudhope] just said there he could do with another run. He's still green in front and was lugging away up the straight. Another run is probably the right way to go. Laurens was pretty good in her first two runs, but he's a lovely horse with a great temperament and there's a lot of scope there, so we've just got to look after him, do the right thing by him and hopefully he reaches his full potential.”
Night Raider, who was one of colleague Adam Houghton's Ten 2024 Three-Year-Olds To Follow, is the sixth TDN Rising Star for Dark Angel. The grey's best Rising Star so far is G1 Phoenix S. runner-up Dr Zempf (GB). The winner is out of a granddaughter of the G2 Ribblesdale S. scorer and G1 Oaks, G1 Irish Oaks and GI Flower Bowl Invitational-placed Bahr (GB) (Generous {Ire}). That links him to the Group 1-winning mother and son Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk) and Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), with the latter also registering a wide-margin debut success before being thrown straight into the deep end. Also in the pedigree is the aforementioned talented sprinter Far Above, whose career was cut short by injury, and the precocious and tough Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) who captured the G2 Railway S. and G3 Pavilion S. and was also placed in the G1 Phoenix S. and GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Dorraar's 2-year-old full-brother to the winner is catalogued in next month's Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up.
1st-Southwell, £11,400, Novice, 3-20, 3yo/up, 7f 14y (AWT), 1:26.77, st.
NIGHT RAIDER (IRE), c, 3, by Dark Angel (Ire)
     1st Dam: Dorraar (Ire), by Shamardal
     2nd Dam: Dorrati, by Dubai Millennium (GB)
     3rd Dam: Bahr (GB), by Generous (Ire)
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $12,306. O-Clipper; B-Linden Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Karl Burke. *155,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE. **1/2 to Far Above (Ire) (Farhh {GB}), GSW-Eng, SW-Fr. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Sandy Lane Winner El Caballo To Stand At Culworth Grounds

Group 2 winner El Caballo (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) will stand at Culworth Grounds Farm in 2024, the stud announced on Wednesday. The four-year-old will stand at £6,000 in his first season.

This is a first stallion for Culworth Grounds, which is owned by Sophie Buckley, a familiar face on the sales circuit as a consignor and pinhooker. She said, “We are delighted to have secured El Caballo. He was a precocious, tough and consistent racehorse. Bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud he has an excellent pedigree and is rated only one pound lower than their super sire Havana Grey (GB). El Caballo is an exciting prospect offering breeders access to a fast, current and successful family at exceptional value.”

A £30,000 Goffs UK Premier yearling, bought by his trainer Karl Burke, El Caballo is a half-brother to four winners including the Italian Listed winner Avengers Queen (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}). His dam was a four-time winner and also a half-sister to G2 Mill Reef S. winner Temple Meads (GB) (Avonbridge {GB}).

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