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Ubettabelieveit To Mickley Stud

Richard Kent's Mickley Stud will welcome the G2 Flying Childers S. winner Ubettabelieveit (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}–Ladylishandra {Ire}, by Mujadil) to its stallion ranks for the 2022 season.

Trained by Nigel Tinkler for owner Martin Webb, Ubettabelieveit won on his second start at two and followed that up with victory in the Listed National S. at Sandown. Dropping back to five furlongs after failing to see out the six in the G2 Gimcrack S., he then won the Flying Childers in a tight finish with subsequent Group 2 winner Sacred (Blame). He rounded off his productive juvenile campaign by finishing third in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf over 5½ furlongs at Keeneland.

“I'm delighted that Mickley Stud is to stand Ubettabelieveit as he's a really good-looking individual and son of the highly successful sire Kodiac, whose sons are proving to be sire sons as well,” said Richard Kent. “Kodi Bear (Ire), Adaay (Ire), Prince of Lir (Ire) and Coulsty (Ire) have all sired Group-winning 2-year-olds, and Ardad (Ire), who also won the Flying Childers Stakes, has sired the Middle Park and Prix Morny winner Perfect Power (Ire) from his first crop of impressive 2-year-old winners this season.”

He continued, “I'm grateful to Martin Webb and Nigel Tinkler for giving me the opportunity to acquire Ubettabelieveit and am also grateful that they are retaining shares in him and will be supporting him. We will be making shares available to breeders and will be announcing further details regarding his nomination fee after the conclusion of the October Yearling Sales.”

Trainer Nigel Tinkler added, “Ubettabelieveit is one of the fastest horses that I have trained and completely sound in every way. His attitude was completely professional and all he wanted to do was please you.”

Bred at Ringfort Stud by Derek and Gay Veitch, Ubettabelieveit is out of the juvenile winner Ladylishandra (Ire), herself a daughter of Flying Childers S. winner Mujadil and now the dam of four black-type winners. These include the dual Group 3 winner Tropical Paradise (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}) and listed Rothesay S. winner Shenanigans (Ire) (Arcano {Ire}). Ubettabelieveit shares his fourth dam Dinner Partner (Tom Fool) with Noverre (Rahy), and she also features as the grandam of July Cup winner Ajdal (Northern Dancer).

Sold for 50,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale to Roger Marley and John Cullinan of Church Farm and Horse Park Stud, Ubettabelieveit was originally catalogued for the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale but was sold privately to Tinkler when the 2020 breeze-up season was delayed by the Covid-enforced lockdown.

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Choice Offerings From Owenstown Stud

John Tuthill wouldn't be the type to shout from the rooftops about the racetrack successes of the graduates of his Owenstown Stud. But, then again, he doesn't have to–the horses have done the talking themselves.

From a band of about 15 broodmares of his own, Tuthill bred two winners of the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. in the space of five years: Excelebration (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the Derrick Smith silks in 2012 and the filly Persuasive (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) for Cheveley Park Stud in 2017. He also bred G2 Futurity S. winner and sire Dragon Pulse (Ire), and Dark Angel's Group 3-winning sprinter Art Power (Ire). Tuthill raised and sold last year's G1 Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) for breeder Kangyu International Racing, and evergreen Group 2 winner Safe Voyage (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) for breeder Adolf Schneider.

Tuthill brings a boutique draft of three under the Owenstown Stud banner for the Sept. 28 and 29 Goffs Orby yearling sale, all from families he has nurtured for the better part of 15 years.

Lot 408, a daughter of Dark Angel, is a February-foaled full-sister to Persuasive and a half to the listed-winning and multiple Group 3-placed Tisbutadream (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of this year's G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot for Godolphin.

“She's typical of the family,” Tuthill said. “She has an absolutely sweet nature; I've had quite a lot of the family and it's something about that family, they have a fantastic nature. They give everything they can and yet they're very easy and pleasant to work with. She's an absolute joy to have around.

“It's not a family of great big specimens. When you think of Creative Force, he isn't very big. She's a little bigger than him, but it's the attitude that they have. And she's nicely proportioned and correct.”

All of Choose Me's seven prior foals have sold as yearlings, and five of those were at Orby. Creative Force's €400,000 pricetag when Godolphin bought out a foal share agreement was the most expensive. Persuasive cost €180,000 at Kildare Paddocks, and Tisbutadream €100,000. Choose Me's current 2-year-old, the as-yet unraced Mr Zero (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), was bought by SackvilleDonald for 100,000gns, and that firm has been great supporters of the mare: they purchased Choose Me's 2016 son of Slade Power (Ire), Songkran (Ire), for €100,000 from Orby and he won six times. They also purchased Tisbutadream from the 2017 Goffs London Sale for £400,000 for King Power Racing off a third-place finish in the G3 Princess Elizabeth S.

It is hard to deny that Choose Me has been an excellent producer; all six of her foals to race have won at least once, with two having none short of six wins on their CVs.

Choose Me was bred by Owenstown out of the Juddmonte-bred mare Hecuba (GB) (Hector Protector). Put through the Tattersalls December sale after winning once for trainer Barry Hills, Hecuba was picked up by McKeever St Lawrence for 27,000gns. Put in foal to Vettori (Ire), Hecuba was returned to Park Paddocks a year later and scooped up by Tuthill and his aunt, the late Averil Whitehead, for 48,000gns from the Kildaragh Stud consignment.

“She has been fantastic,” Tuthill said. “She's produced stakes horses–Choose Me is her best one so far-and she's still producing.”

Choose Me was Hecuba's second foal, and Tuthill explained how she came to stay under Owenstown's care.

“Choose Me was in the Fairyhouse sale and was injured and had to be withdrawn,” he said. “My aunt, Mrs. Whitehead, said she would race her with a 'for sale' sign around her neck. She was named Choose Me-she's by Choisir, which means to choose, but also if somebody came into Kevin Prendergast's yard looking to buy a horse, the name on the door would say, 'Choose Me.'”

Choose Me soon proved herself valuable enough to Owenstown that the 'for sale' sign was removed from her neck. She broke her maiden at two, won the Listed Fairy Bridge S. at three and won four times from 28 starts.

“She went up through the grades and proved herself to be very good indeed, and so we kept her and were happy to do so,” Tuthill said. “She's been great, she's produced Tisbutadream, Creative Force, Persuasive; they've all been good horses. Creative Force is running in Group 1s and just needs to get his head in front. He's not big in stature but no one has told him he's a small horse. When he has the tack on he's every bit as big as anybody else. He has a great attitude.”

The Dark Angel yearling filly is, sadly, the last foal out of Choose Me, who died last year. Tuthill is clearly reluctant to let her go, but such is business, especially in the wake of a difficult 2020 on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I'd love to keep her, but last year's yearling sales were not great, to put it mildly,” he said. “So I'm not in the position of being able to hold on to her. So unfortunately, sadly, I have to sell her even though she's the last of the Choose Me progeny.”

Owenstown still retains a few links to the family, however, with Choose Me's sisters Aphrodite's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Spirit of Cuba (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the broodmare band. Hecuba has a colt foal by Starspangledbanner (Aus) and is back in foal to Mehmas.

Aphrodite's Angel's first foal, a grey colt by Kodiac, is in the Orby as lot 355, while Spirit of Cuba's sixth foal, an Iffraaj (GB) colt, is part of Owenstown's three-horse draft for Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“Aphrodite's Angel has a very nice Kodiac colt,” Tuthill said. “He's a grey, he's strong, he's a good mover and straightforward. He's another one you'd like to be associated with.”

Owenstown's Orby consignment is completed by lot 169, a colt by Roaring Lion who is the third foal out of Owenstown's homebred G3 Ballyogan S. winner Penny Pepper (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}), who is a half-sister to Art Power. Like Choose Me, Penny Pepper descends from a Juddmonte family, her second dam Shadow Casting (GB) (Warning {GB}) having been a winner for Khalid Abdullah and Barry Hills. Tuthill bred Evening Time (Ire) (Keltos {Fr}) from Shadow Casting, and running under the ownership of Whitehead she won the 2006 Listed Flame Of Tara S. and the 2007 Listed Sweet Mimosa S. for Kevin Prendergast. That was just a year before Choose Me came onto the scene.

“Between Evening Time and Choose Me, those two fillies kept Mrs. Whitehead alive for another few years,” Tuthill said. “She was in the final years of her life and they gave her such excitement and such reason to keep going. It was great that even as she was becoming more frail she still had something to shout for. I can remember her being cautioned in hospital for making too much noise shouting at the television. She had a lot of fun with them and they've both been great producers.”

Penny Pepper and Art Power are two of Evening Time's three stakes winners; she is also responsible for the Listed Prix Ronde de Nuit winner Morning Frost (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) and the American listed-placed Shaan (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). Penny Pepper's first two foals, a 3-year-old filly by Dragon Pulse (Ire) named Penny Pulse (Ire) and a 2-year-old colt by Dark Angel (Ire) named The Grey Wolf (Ire), are as-yet unraced, but Tuthill said the Roaring Lion colt shows all the signs of being something good.

“He's got great presence–there's plenty of horse there,” he said. “He's very nice; a big, powerful colt. He's everything you'd hope to produce. He really has a look that says, 'come and look at me, I'm going to be something special.' It was such a shame that Roaring Lion himself had such a short life, because if the rest of his progeny are anything like my lad, he would have made such a mark on the pedigrees.”

Mares like Choose Me and Evening Time are key to shaping the modern history of Owenstown, which was established by Englishman Major Dickson in Maynooth, Co. Kildare shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Owenstown and Dickson's neighboring Moygaddy Stud were managed by Tuthill's grandfather Frank Tuthill. When Major Dickson opted to return to England in the midst of the political unrest in Ireland, he offered Frank Tuthill the opportunity to buy his studs. Tuthill could only afford one and chose Owenstown, and he soon embarked on a highly successful run as a breeder in his own right. The most famous Thoroughbred produced at Owenstown under Frank Tuthill's tutelage was the Oaks and 1000 Guineas winner Musidora, while other Classic winners reared there during that time period included Indiana, Humble Duty and Cavan. Frank Tuthill later handed Owenstown off to his niece, Averil Whitehead, who bred the likes of Indian Ridge-a dual Royal Ascot winner and influential sire-and G3 Rockfel S. winner Negligent in the early days of her Owenstown reign. Whitehead remained keenly involved in the running of the stud until her death in 2010.

“Mrs. Whitehead handed it over to me 25 years ago and I ran it very much with her until she died and I've continued on myself,” Tuthill said. “My core business is breeding and selling yearlings, but I also board mares, either long term, permanent boarders or some short term ones through the breeding season. We would foal about 50 mares and we'd have some mares that would come in to visit Irish stallions.”

In addition to his Orby and Tattersalls Book 2 drafts, Tuthill has yearlings to sell at this week's Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale as well as the Goffs Sportsman's Sale and Tattersalls October Book 3. He said he is hoping to go some way toward healing the damage done during last year's pandemic-ravaged season.

“I'm expecting the market to be stronger than last year,” he said. “My perception is that people want to shake off the horrors of Covid and I think there is an appetite to buy some horses and get racing again and try to get the normality and the enjoyment out of the sport. I hope that positivity is reflected in good yearling prices and certainly I'm hoping I have a good year to in some way make up for last year.”

With a select group of yearlings by commercial sires from current top-class female families, there is every reason to believe the shrewdest buyers should be shopping at Owenstown Stud.

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Premier Sale Ends On A High

DONCASTER, UK–Any fears that a reduced catalogue and lack of high-end Maktoum participation could lead to a soft market at the Goffs UK Premier Sale were firmly quashed as the auction came to a close on Wednesday in Doncaster with a set of results that compared favourably with the pre-Covid era.

At 366 lots, Goffs UK compiled a catalogue that was 8.5% smaller than last year. Yet in a testament to the quality of horse on offer, not to mention the appetite of buyers on the ground, the sale returned an aggregate of £13,334,000, up 18% from 2020. The average also rose by 20% to £40,907, while particularly impressive was the clearance rate of 89%.

A total of 13 yearlings made six figures headed by a first-crop son of Darley's Harry Angel (Ire) (lot 296), who provided a fine advert for his young sire by selling for £220,000 on Wednesday to agent Alex Elliott.

Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent was understandably delighted with the level of trade.

“The Premier Sale is back on track,” he said. “Last year's sale endured its own Covid-related challenges but, with the help of a very loyal band of vendors and purchasers, we've seen a remarkable trade over the two days and proved to everyone that 2020 was a one-year blip due to circumstances beyond anyone's control. The car park has been overflowing since Sunday morning and the footfall of genuine buyers has been incredible. There has been a real buzz around the sales complex over the last few days and it's great that this has resulted in trade which started well yesterday, finished strong last night, and kicked on again today.

“The impressive 89% clearance rate shows the demand for Premier yearlings is as strong as ever. The fact that the 13 six-figure yearlings were purchased by 11 different buyers demonstrates the diversity of the buying bench associated with this sale whilst our policy of going 'back to the future' when selecting the traditional 'Donny yearling' has clearly proved popular with buyers.

“We've said this before but it is never more relevant than today; we simply cannot do this without our clients. Without them, we are nothing and we would like to thank all of our vendors for putting their faith in the Goffs UK team. We are absolutely delighted that this loyalty has been well rewarded, and we wish all purchasers the best of luck with their new racehorses. We are already looking forward to next year, when we will see the next star graduates emerge, and build again on two great days in Doncaster.”

His views were echoed by Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock.

“I think it's a fantastic trade,” said the agent, who signed for two six-figure lots. “I've been involved on the selling side with vendors as well and there's been some fantastic sales. Lots of horses are changing hands. It's great to see and good on Doncaster.”

The £220,000 sale-topper will be trained by Clive Cox after Alex Elliott saw off Oliver St Lawrence to sign on behalf of an undisclosed client. Offered by Houghton Bloodstock, the colt was bred by Cheveley Park Stud and descends from one of their most successful families as a son of listed winner Red Box (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), herself a daughter of the stud's G1 Prix de Diane heroine Confidential Lady (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}).

“I am delighted to buy him, first and foremost because he's an exceptional individual, but also because Mr and Mrs Thompson and Chris Richardson have been extremely supportive of me–I was able to buy A Plus Tard for them,” said Elliott. “So I'm very happy to be able to buy one from Cheveley Park Stud.

“He's by one of the best horses that this sale ring has ever seen and out of a very fast mare. He also vetted perfectly and watching him in the back ring, it was like men against boys.

“You could see all the breeze-up boys on him and they're the best in the business with the fast ones. But when you get into the end-user territory, then it can thin out a bit.

“He's for a new client and with the passing of Sheikh Hamdan, who was such an influential figure within the industry, and especially at this sale, we felt there was a bit of a gap in the market. We were all out at the end but we're pretty excited. Hopefully there will be a photo of him outside on the wall here this time next year.”

Red Box was trained by Sir Mark Prescott to win three races, including the 2016 Listed Valiant S. at Ascot. Her first foal, Secret Box (GB) (Le Havre {Fr}), is also a winner this year and rated 81 for the Newmarket trainer while her 2-year-old by Pivotal (GB) is in training with Martyn Meade.

“I bought his third dam Confidante as a yearling and it's a family that has done us proud,” said the stud's managing director Chris Richardson. “Confidential Lady provided Mr and Mrs Thompson with a great thrill when she won the Prix de Diane. This colt is a bonny horse by a first-season sire that we thought would be a nice one to send to Doncaster. Mentally he's very sound and what I really liked about him was how he thrived from the moment prep started.”

Top sprinter Harry Angel is one of the most celebrated graduates of the Premier Sale, having sold for £44,000 to Clive Cox at the 2015 edition, and with a sale-topping transaction in the books, it was appropriate that he should reign as the auction's leading first-crop stallion thanks to five yearlings who sold for an average of £92,000.

Star for Fitzgerald

From an investment of just 10,000gns in the Bated Breath (GB) mare Under Offer (Ire), Alice Fitzgerald and Michael Doyle were able to reap excellent rewards on Wednesday in the sale of a homebred Starspangledbanner (Aus) filly (lot 381) for £160,000 to M V Magnier.

The filly is the first foal out of the mare, a half-sister to listed winner Bayargal (Bernstein) who was purchased by the pair through SJ Leahy Bloodstock at the 2018 Tattersalls July Sale.

“We'd had our eyes on the mare for a while and we were able to buy her,” said Fitzgerald, whose select draft also included a £55,000 first-crop son of Kessaar (Ire). “We actually tried to sell her later on at Tattersalls but luckily she didn't sell. This filly is a good first foal and it helps that Starspangledbanner is having an excellent season. The mare isn't that big so I think he has put a bit of strength into this filly.”

The filly was the sole purchase made during the two days by Magnier. Speaking on behalf of the Coolmore team, its UK representative Kevin Buckley said, “She was a lovely filly, a very good first foal, and all the team loved her.”

Tally-Ho On Top

The sale of a Kodiac (GB) colt for £210,000 sealed an excellent sale for vendor Tally-Ho Stud, who wound up as leading vendor thanks to 20 yearlings who turned over £1,188,000. The star act was lot 359, a homebred colt out of the Pivotal (GB) mare Stunner (GB) for whom Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock outbid Alex Elliott on behalf of Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum.

The owner has horses in training with an array of British trainers and this colt is set to join Richard Fahey, who sent out Perfect Power (GB)–a grandson of Kodiac–to win Sunday's G1 Prix Morny in the colours of Sheikh Juma's younger brother Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum.

“Obviously Sheikh Juma's brother, Sheikh Rashid, had a good weekend and so he wanted to find a nice colt to go to Richard,” said Brown. “We ran through them here with Richard and we both fell on this colt–he's a smasher. He comes from a top-class farm, he's an early foal, he looks forward and then you have the Pivotal mare. It was further than we thought we would have to go but he was the one horse we really wanted in the sale and we're delighted to get him.”

Bred on the same Kodiac-Pivotal cross as Group 1 winner Fairyland, the colt is the first foal out of Stunner, who was purchased to join Tally-Ho for 77,000gns as an unnamed 3-year-old at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2018. The mare is out of listed winner Adonesque (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), also granddam of the G2 Coventry S. hero Buratino (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), and from the further family of influential sire Danehill Dancer (Ire) (Danehill).

As for Sheikh Rashid, he did not come away empty-handed, acting through Brown to invest £100,000 in a colt by Perfect Power's sire Ardad (Ire) from Whatton Manor Stud. As with the Kodiac colt, he will be trained by Richard Fahey.

Brown is well placed to appreciate Ardad better than most having purchased the horse as a Doncaster breezer back in 2016 in addition to his flag-bearing son Perfect Power as a 2-year-old in the same ring in April.

“Ed [Player of Whatton Manor Stud] rang me a couple of weeks ago to say he'd just had a belter of an Ardad walk into the yard,” said Brown. “My ears pricked up and obviously Ed was right–he's a smashing colt, very athletic and with a great temperament, something that we're seeing coming through a lot with the Ardads. And he comes from very good breeders. So it all added up. He was hard enough to buy though–we had to outbid a very good judge in Clive Cox.”

The colt was bred by Mick and Fiona Denniff–of Beat The Bank (GB) (Paco Boy {Ire}) and Kachy (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}) fame–out of their homebred mare Pigeon Point (GB). He is the second foal out of his unraced dam, who is a half-sister to three minor winners and from the further family of GI Travers S. winner Alpha (Bernardini).

The Denniffs have managed the first two generations of this family but it was only by a quirk of fate that Pigeon Point remained in their ownership, as Fiona Denniff explained.

“I bred the mare and when she was a yearling, something frightened them in a field and she was the first one to get out,” said the Nottinghamshire-based breeder. “She jumped two gates–despite being Flat-bred–and hurt herself so she never raced.”

She added: “We've been very lucky with Ardad. I went to look at him when he came to the sales to parade and thought then that he was a lovely individual, and one who would suit a number of my mares. So I actually bought a breeding right in him. We loved this colt from day one. He's very easy to deal with, very relaxed, and Ed and his team have done a marvellous job with him.”

Returning To The Well

Hopes that lightning would strike twice ran high following the sale of lot 268, a Dandy Man (Ire) filly, to Peter and Ross Doyle. It was at this sale two years ago that the father and son duo plucked a daughter of the same stallion for £25,000 out of the draft belonging to Jimmy Murphy's Redpender Stud. It has since proven to be money exceptionally well spent with the filly in question, Happy Romance (Ire), going on to win the G3 Dick Poole and Hackwood S. in addition to the 2020 Weatherbys Super Sprint and the Goffs UK Premier Yearling S. for Richard Hannon.

Yesterday, the Doyles returned to source for another daughter of the stallion, a filly out of Nuclear Option (Ire) who blossomed from a €29,000 foal into a £135,000 yearling.

“If she's as good as Happy Romance, that will be ok,” said Ross Doyle after outbidding Joe Foley. “She's for a good owner in the yard.

“We've been very lucky buying off Redpender before–we bought [G1 winners] Canford Cliffs and Toormore here off them in the past. We thought she was the pick of the fillies here. She really stands out. She's just a bit different, very mature–she looks right now like a 2-year-old going on three.”

The filly was making her second trip through the ring, having been picked up by Redpender for €29,000 as a Goffs November foal. Bred by John Grogan's Milestream Stud, she is the first foal out of her placed dam, a Frozen Power (Ire) half-sister to the listed-placed Danielsflyer (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) who descends from Daniel Wildenstein's champion mare All Along (Fr) (Targowice {USA}).

“We were very lucky with Happy Romance,” said Murphy. “This was a lovely filly bred by a very good breeder, John Grogan. She was lovely the day we bought her and did everything right for us.”

Overall, it was a very productive sale for the Doyles as the purchasers of 16 yearlings for a total of £1,032,000, enough to place them at the head of the buyer standings.

Successful Day for Ballyhimikin

It was also a good day for James Hanly's Ballyhimikin Stud, which sold three colts for an average of £95,000.

Leading the way was lot 244, a second-crop son of Ribchester (Ire) who caught the imagination of Richard Hughes, so much so that the trainer was happy to stretch to £125,000 to secure the youngster on spec.

By a stallion who has sired ten first-crop winners to date, he was bred by Joseph Stewart Investments out of the placed Miracle Dictu (Ire) (King's Best {USA}), whose four winners include the Listed-placed Tres Belle (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}).

“We've done the rounds for two days and I thought he was the nicest horse here,” said Hughes. “I fell in love with him–he has great movement to him and he's a big, strong horse. He's going to be fine horse. I own him myself at the moment and there'll be a few sleepless nights but I couldn't help myself.”

He added: “I don't have any in training by Ribchester at the moment but I bought another by the sire yesterday, a colt for £28,000. You could see at the breeze-ups that they're big, fine horses, quite like him, and I think he's doing well.”

Breeder Trevor Stewart was watching on from Deauville and was understandably delighted with the result.

“He's the first yearling I've sold this year and I'm delighted,” he said. “I think this was the nicest individual that Mirabile Dictu had produced. He's a cracking, big, long-striding horse. We bred the dam and I bought her out of the partnership and put her in training. She was placed a couple of times and has done ok as a broodmare. Her daughter Tres Belle got black-type and now I have her first foal, Tortuguero, in training in France, and he's won this year too. It's a nice family that gets plenty of winners.”

Hanly and Stewart later combined to sell a Fast Company (Ire) half-brother to the listed-placed Snazzy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) for £80,000 to agent Armando Duarte.

Silver Linings

As a successful Premier Sale was consigned to the books at Goffs UK, another 69 yearlings comprising the Silver Sale catalogue were ushered straight into the ring for a final session of trade conducted at a more modest level.

Of that number, 47 horses were sold, with the average and median figures closely aligned at £8,830 and £8,000, respectively. A further £415,000 was added to the day's takings.

The session's leading light, as in the Premier Sale, was a yearling colt by a Darley sire, this one a colt registered as black, by Brazen Beau (Aus), and offered as lot 404.

Sarah Fanning, the wife of leading jockey Joe Fanning, is a relative newcomer to the scene as a consignor but she is an accomplished horsewoman and the £30,000 attained for the half-brother to four winners, including Topmeup (GB) (Mayson {GB}), was a considerable mark up on his foal price of 5,000gns.

Fanning consigned the colt on behalf of his pinhooker Vanessa Thompson. Bred by Whitwell Bloodstock, his dam Ambrix (Ire) (Xaar {GB}) is a half-sister to GII Del Mar Mile H. winner Ferneley (Ire) (Ishiguru) from the family of G1 Irish 1000 Guineas winner Just The Judge (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}).

With last year's Silver Sale having been merged with the Autumn Sale, it is hard to draw direct comparisons, and in 2019 more than double the number of yearlings were offered when 160 came under the hammer. But in that pre-Covid sale, the average, at £8,094, was slightly below that set on Wednesday in Doncaster, and the median was just £5,500. A mixture of relief and satisfaction can be drawn from a distinctly buoyant two days of trade in Yorkshire to get the British yearlings sales off to a decent start.

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Bloodlines: Northern Dancer’s Sprinting Lines Shine At Royal Ascot

Just in time for Father's Day, freshman sire Ardad received the perfect gift when his son Perfect Power won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. A winner in two of his three starts, Perfect Power is the first stakes winner for his sire from a dozen winners so far.

Bred in Ireland by Tally Ho Stud, Perfect Power was a 16,000-guinea RNA at last season's Tattersalls October yearling sale, and the colt returned as a 2-year-old in training at the 2021 Goffs UK breeze up and sold for 110,000 guineas to Blandford Bloodstock on behalf of Sheikh Rashid Dalmook al Maktoum.

The colt that Perfect Power beat a head to claim the Norfolk was Go Bears Go, a son of second-crop sire Kodi Bear, who is a son of Kodiac, like Ardad. Last year, Kodiac had four freshmen sire sons, and each sired a group-placed horse or group winner. This year, Ardad already has a group winner and a group-placed, after Vintage Clarets was third in the G2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Ardad, like his son Perfect Power, was a pricey juvenile in training (cost 170,000 guineas) and became a winner at Royal Ascot with a victory in the listed Windsor Castle Stakes, then won the G2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster. Rated 111 by Timeform at two, Ardad won three of his six starts as a juvenile but did not train on.

Sent to stud in 2018 at Overbury Stud in England, Ardad proved popular enough to have a first crop of 91 foals, and he is the current leading freshman sire in Europe by earnings and by number of winners. On that list, five of the top six have stud fees priced at 4,000 or 5,000 euros; Ardad's stud fee for 2021? It was 4,000 euros.

That is history and to what degree depends on how well Perfect Power, Vintage Clarets, and some of the other winners from the sire finish out their first season.

The effect that Kodiac and his sons are having on European racing is evident. They are fast, athletic horses who come to hand early and naturally. The comment of Ardad's trainer John Gosden is appropriate: “a strong, powerful and precocious colt with a great mind. He was an absolute pleasure to train and was a real Royal Ascot 2-year-old.”

Kodiac appears to be taking the legacy of his sire Danehill in a similar direction to some of that sire's Australian sons, with speed and precocity being the key words there. And it is important that Europe has such a wide variety of racecourses and racing distances available because sires and their offspring who have a special preference have a likewise broad opportunity to race effectively and win.

This broad specialization and resulting segregation of sires, and sometimes of entire lines of sires, into stayers or sprinters was much more rigid a century ago in Europe and remained so for much of the 20th century until Vincent O'Brien began training American-pedigreed horses who appeared to have miler pedigrees but nonetheless could win classics and all-age events at middle distances.

As the Northern Dancer revolution swept up European racing and breeding, the old sprinting lines disappeared into the history books, but it is intriguing that the Northern Dancer line is the source of what appear to be the best “sprinting lines” in Europe through Danzig's sons Danehill and Green Desert, as well as through juvenile highweight Try My Best (Acclamation and his sons, especially Dark Angel).

Certainly, Kodiac has been a major-league revelation at stud following a racing career that featured only one stakes-placing. The sire has been a black-type machine, siring 66 stakes winners to this point and another 75 stakes-placed horses. And, although the sire's top colt, three-time G1 winner Best Solution, won a Caulfield Cup in Australia, Kodiac's other G1 winners preferred the shorter side of eight furlongs.

Fairyland and Tiggy Wiggy won the G1 Cheveley Park; Hello Youmzain won the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup and Diamond Jubilee; and Campanelle won the G1 Prix Morny and then the Commonwealth Cup last week at Royal Ascot. Now one of the most popular sires in Europe, Kodiac stands for 65,000 euros at Tally Ho Stud in Ireland.

His is a line of serious speed horses who frequently want five furlongs, rather than six; their complement in the Northern Dancer set of sprint influences comes through Danzig's son Green Desert, a sire of classic winners and top milers himself. He also sired Invincible Spirit, who also won a Haydock Sprint Cup and has become an important sire of speed, with a dash of classic inclination.

Both Invincible Spirit and Kodiac are out of the Prix de Diane winner Rafha (Kris); so, despite all our focus on male lines, should the actual credit for the most persistent expression of specialist sprinting form go to a classic-winning broodmare?

The post Bloodlines: Northern Dancer’s Sprinting Lines Shine At Royal Ascot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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