Dubawi’s Eldar Eldarov Edges The Queen’s Vase

Wednesday's G2 Queen's Vase was staged over 14 furlongs, but it took a pixel study for the judge to call it as TDN Rising Star Eldar Eldarov (GB) inched out Zechariah (Ire) (Nathaniel {Ire}) to continue the fine week for Dubawi (Ire). KHK Racing's unbeaten colt had launched his season with a win over 10 furlongs on Newcastle's Tapeta May 24, but Roger Varian had plumped for this staying test of all the options here and ultimately was fully justified as the £480,000 Arqana Breeze Up graduate needed every yard to get in front. Anchored towards the rear of mid-division early by David Egan, the 5-2 favourite had plenty of ground to make up on Zechariah from the top of the straight as Colin Keane struck for home, but his stirring finale saw him take it from that rival on the line. While the official nose margin seemed too vast a measurement, there was a relatively gaping neck back to Hafit (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in third as they drew clear of the remainder. “I have never hit the line so strong in a mile and six-furlong race and ended up by the St James's Palace Stakes start,” Egan said. “He was full of running. Stamina is his biggest attribute–we always thought he was a horse who would also like ease in the ground, so there is a lot more to come.”

Roger Varian, who had introduced the winner over an extended mile at Nottingham in October, had also been worried about the fast conditions and commented, “The ground was a concern because Eldar Eldarov is so inexperienced and I thought, on fast ground, he looks like a horse laden with lots of stamina so let's go the distance. There was a lot of chat about him in the winter because he'd won at Nottingham in a similar style to the Derby winner and of course we were excited about him and hoping to get him to a Derby trial, but the horse just didn't thrive in the spring. We went to Newcastle, where I think he was only 90% and that was a strong novice.”

“There is a lot to come from this horse and I think his best days are ahead of him. He put in one hell of a performance and you would think looking down the road that he could develop into a St Leger horse. Even looking to next year, hopefully he can keep improving. I'm delighted for KHK, Sheikh Khalid [ bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa] and everyone involved. They are supporting the industry very strongly, they are supporting me. Days like this are very special to all of us and to get the horse home in front with a lot of expectations is very satisfying.”

Trainer Martyn Meade had to suffer the agony of losing out in the bobber and said of Zechariah, “A mile and six furlongs and you think crikey, I don't need to lose by that! That's racing for you! We have been waiting to run him over this sort of distance and have been building up to this. The betting did not show it, but we had a lot of faith coming into this and he looked as though he'd been well placed at one stage. Today was a bit of an experiment to see if our judgment had been right and he would get the trip. It opens up a whole new array of opportunities. He could have Cup hopes in time. Travelling to Australia could be an option with Aquis involved. They have horses with us to run them here, but he might be better there in time.”

Eldar Eldarov is the third of five foals and the second scorer out of Kirsten Rausing's Listed Prix de Liancourt, Listed Prix Zarkava and Listed Prix de la Pepiniere winner All At Sea (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). Also responsible for the Listed Rothesay S.-placed A La Voile (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), she is one of five black-type performers produced by the G1 Deutschlandpreis, G1 Rheinland-Pokal and G1 Preis von Europa heroine Albanova (GB) (Alzao), who is a full-sister to the dual G1 Champion S. heroine Alborada (GB) and a half to the dam of Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) who brought up her own German group 1 treble last term in the Grosser Preis von Berlin, Grosser Preis von Bayern and Preis von Europa. All At Sea's 2-year-old colt Kingswood (GB) (Roaring Lion) was bought by Glyn Davies for €130,000 at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale, while she also has a yearling filly by Study of Man (Ire).

Wednesday, Ascot, Britain
QUEEN'S VASE-G2, £262,500, Ascot, 6-15, 3yo, 14f 34yT, 3:01.33, g/f.
1–ELDAR ELDAROV (GB), 128, c, 3, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: All At Sea (GB) (MSW-Fr, $133,622), by Sea The Stars (Ire)
2nd Dam: Albanova (GB), by Alzao
3rd Dam: Alouette (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (£110,000 Ylg '20 GOFOR; £480,000 2yo '21 ARQDEA). O-KHK Racing Ltd; B-Kirsten Rausing (GB); T-Roger Varian; J-David Egan. £155,400. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $196,428. *1/2 to A La Voile (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), SP-Eng. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Zechariah (Ire), 128, c, 3, Nathaniel (Ire)–Nancy O (Ire), by Pivotal (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (15,500gns Wlg '19 TATFOA; £40,000 Ylg '20 GOFOR). O-Aquis Farm & Manton Park; B-John Gunther (IRE); T-Freddie & Martyn Meade. £58,774.
3–Hafit (Ire), 128, c, 3, Dubawi (Ire)–Cushion (GB), by Galileo (Ire). (2,100,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Godolphin; B-Floors Farming & Coolmore Stud (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. £29,374.
Margins: NO, NK, 5. Odds: 2.50, 20.00, 9.00.
Also Ran: Al Qareem (Ire), Anchorage (Ire), Nahanni (GB), Green Team (Fr), Typewriter (Ire), Ruler Legend (Ire), Perfect Alibi (GB), Emotion (GB), Baltic Bird (GB). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

 

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On The Trail of the Next Breeze-Up Star

NEWMARKET, UK–His photo, needless to say, adorns the front of the catalogue. But those seeking another one at the first European breeze-up auction of the year will scarcely require that prompt when the horse himself will be surfacing halfway through the sale, just up the road on the Rowley Mile, as an unbeaten champion juvenile and favourite for the G1 Qipco 2,000 Guineas. Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) was found here last year as Lot 56 in the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. On Wednesday afternoon, before the second of two post-racing sessions at Park Paddocks, Charlie Appleby will saddle the dual Group 1 winner at long odds-on for the G3 Bet 365 Craven S., the historic Classic trial that shares its name with this sale.

Whatever he can do at three, Native Trail has already catapulted his stud value way beyond the 210,000gns paid by Godolphin to secure him from the Oak Tree consignment of Norman Williamson. In turn, however, he had already been brilliantly found by Williamson and colleague Mags O'Toole for just 67,000gns from Kildaragh Stud in the same ring the previous October. That was less than a third of the average transaction in Book 1 that year. Certainly, Williamson and O'Toole were expecting him to make a lot more as a yearling. They didn't even get him vetted. But you never know in this game, and Williamson followed the colt into the ring–just in case.

And, sure enough, suddenly the horse was stalling at 50,000gns, 55,000gns. It looked like he might slip through the cracks. Williamson had already made a bid before he spotted Roderic Kavanagh, whose father Peter had perceived the colt's potential at an even earlier stage, pinhooking him (through Sam Sangster) as a foal for €50,000 at the Arqana December Sale, where he had been offered by breeders Haras d'Haspel.

Williamson, after breezing three colts here on Monday morning, reiterated his gratitude to the vendors. “I saw Roderic standing in front of me and I went over and said, 'Is this horse okay?'” he recalled. “And when he said, '100%, in every way,' I bid again–and next thing I knew, I had bought him. You do need that bit of luck. But then I suppose that's why we go through all the sales, why we walk round and work so hard. I bought one horse out of Book 1, and that was him. It just shows that everyone has a chance.”

But they do say that you make your own luck. And, quite apart from showing the necessary diligence in a prohibitive catalogue for pinhookers, Williamson had already been prepared to see past the obvious. This was not a model that would necessarily have appealed to everyone, for this particular job, whatever his price.

“I suppose he was very big and looked like he might take time,” Williamson said. “But I thought he had a great hip on him–and that he wouldn't. I suppose the other thing that swayed me was the pedigree. [Juddmonte family of Distant Music (Distant View), Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB}) etc.]. But looking at him, you'd have to say he didn't look like a breezer; he didn't look a fast, sharp horse–which he probably isn't. But he's a very, very good one.”

While he acknowledges that Native Trail's success since can only be good for Oak Tree, Williamson stresses that the colt has also contributed to a wider awareness.

“It does a lot for the business but it does a lot for breeze-ups, too–and that's the 'brand' we're all trying to sell,” he said.    “We're not selling two-furlong horses. We're trying to sell racehorses. It's gone more and more professional, all the vendors are doing a fantastic job, and the results are amazing.”

Other graduates from last year's sale duly include Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), brought here by Greenhills Farm and subsequently winner of the G2 Richmond S.; and Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), sold by Aguair Bloodstock before winning the G2 Railway S. Both were knocked down for 150,000gns (respectively in the names of Stephen Hillen Bloodstock and A.C. Elliott, Agent/Amo Racing).

But then the standard of breeze-up stock has been progressing for several years now–along, it must be said, with its value. For the vogue to be sustainable, however, it's been essential for the horses to show that they are not merely precocious. A lot of people claim that the stopwatch is only one factor in their investment, but that's not always apparent in their spending. It's worth stressing, then, that Native Trail himself would have caught the eye of any horseman doing things the old-fashioned way.

“He changed his legs a lot,” Williamson recalled. “But the best part of his breeze was when he passed the line. When others are slowing down, he met the rising ground like he'd have gone on to the clock tower. He wasn't stopping. And it was the same in the [G1] Dewhurst, and the same in the Curragh. When he gets to that last furlong, he's starting to motor. He was still probably in top 30, I supposed, time-wise. But a lot of judges saw beyond the clock, and of course you have people reading the gallop-out, too. Anyway, thankfully there's no point going back through the top 10 times now. He was the best horse here, and he's proved it.”

Happily, Williamson feels that the European market has matured in such a way as to resist the exorbitant value sometimes placed on the “bullet” breeze at 2-year-old sales in the U.S., where times are official.

“Here there's people reading two furlongs, there's people reading the second furlong, there's people reading the gallop-out,” he explained. “So you've three or four chances of selling your horse. Whereas in America you have that one time, and that's it. But then racing on dirt is different. They're flat out from the start and it's the horse that goes the fastest for the longest. Here they have to settle. If you see a horse at the breezes here jumping off and running away, well, bar he's a sprinter, he's going to be no good. They need to start off half-relaxed and to keep quickening. So you have to train them that way, to end up with a good horse.”

The breadth of the available spectrum explains why Alan King and Anthony Bromley of Highflyer, for instance, have long enjoyed dredging the breeze-ups for staying pedigrees, most notably finding star stayer Trueshan (Fr) (Planteur {Ire}) at the Guineas Sale here in 2018 for just 31,000gns. Before that, Federico Barberini bought subsequent G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) (Champs Elysees (GB) for 20,000gns at the equivalent auction; while Williamson himself once sold another smart stayer, Nearly Caught (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), to Hughie Morrison.

“He was a beautiful ride and I was thinking that I'd love to keep him as a bumper horse,” Williamson recalled. “But I'd have had to wait two years to run him, so when Hughie showed an interest I said, 'Listen, take the horse home for two weeks and see what you think.' And a couple of weeks later he rang me, said he liked him, and we did a deal, for not a lot of money. And the horse went on to be a Group 2 winner and was placed in the [G1 Prix du] Cadran. But everyone had walked past the door, because he'd be 'too slow'. So it's fantastic that everyone has a chance, if they're prepared to go beyond the clocks.”

That said, this particular sale obviously showcases elite prospects and there was corresponding tension as they showed their wares on the Rowley Mile. While spectators could enjoy the spring sunshine, there was a challenging headwind and due credit should go to those youngsters that saw out the climb towards that distant horizon with enthusiasm.

Williamson was delighted with all three of his charges, stabled in boxes adjacent to the one that housed Native Trail last year.

He sounds especially excited by the War Front colt offered as Lot 39. Out of a graded stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare, he's another to be sieved out of a Book 1–this time at Keeneland. Perhaps it will prove worth reminding ourselves that Williamson fished another son of the same stallion from the front of the same sale in 2017, and he became GI Preakness S. winner War Of Will before joining his sire at Claiborne. Just like with Native Trail, that was a case of putting in your groundwork: he was a half-brother to Pathfork (Distorted Humor), who'd done so well in Europe, and Williamson was quick to do a deal once he had failed to meet expectations in the ring.

“But I can't take any credit for this one,” Williamson said. “My brother-in-law Tim Hyde [Jr.] rang me said that there was this beautiful War Front that wasn't sold, he sent me a video and I said, 'Jesus yes, see if you can get him.' He breezed beautiful, and I heard he did a very good time. He's a big horse, 16.1, but I wasn't worried about the [drying] ground, he's got such a lot of ability I knew he'd handle it. I do think a lot of him.”

But the pair selling on Wednesday also stepped right up to the plate. “The Camelot [126] is going be a mile-and-a-quarter horse,” Williamson said. “He's a really good-looking horse, a great mover, with a lot of strength. The Oasis Dream [128] is another beautiful, great-moving horse, he was good on the clock too. He's out of a sister to Mecca's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), so he needs to be quite sharp–but he looks it.”

Despite an exotic preliminary leg in Dubai this year, this auction marks the start of the regular European breeze-up calendar. And for all the remarkable resilience of the bloodstock market during and after the pandemic, it's plainly a relief to get back onto an even keel. This sector, after all, was not only the first to be broadsided by Covid, in 2020, but was also first to test the water last year.

“Absolutely,” Williamson said. “For the last two years you've had sales moving, you've been at home with horses ready to roll, and the next thing it's another two weeks; or horses going to France had to go to Doncaster; all that kind of thing. So it has been a bit of a nightmare. Going into the yearling sales last year was very uncertain, and the market was remarkable. It was very hard to buy, horses were making triple what you thought they were worth.

“Remember the breeze-up vendors are now buying better-class horses, better pedigrees, and they're really putting their necks on the line. If you go out there and your horse doesn't do respectably–if it doesn't face the headwind, or it ducks across the track–it's over, bar you love him so much that you put him into training. But it's all telling in the results on the track.”

Native Trail, moreover, is also a poster boy for a bonus scheme introduced by Tattersalls last year. He received £125,000 (split 4:1 between buyer and vendor) as the first 2021 Craven Breeze-Up graduate to win any of the 15 European Group 1 prizes open to 2-year-olds. The same sum will also be offered, again, to the first to win any of the juvenile prizes at Royal Ascot this summer. Along with the standard bonus of £15,000 for winners of qualifying Bonus Scheme races, many of these “breezers” are going to benefit from a following wind.

Whether our industry can remain immune to fresh turbulence in the wider world remains to be seen. But there's certainly a helpful slipstream from Native Trail.

“Listen, it's what we do it for,” Williamson concluded. “You obviously have to make a living: you have to make the money that pays for everything else. But at the end of the day, it's fantastic to have gone to Book 1 and found a champion.”

The first session begins at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday. By then, who knows, this sale may have enjoyed yet another boost. Cachet (Ire) is disputing favouritism in the G3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn S. after her Group 1 podium on the same track last autumn, and then going down by just a length at the Breeders' Cup. This time last year, she was in town as an Aclaim (Ire) filly from Hyde Park Stud, listed as Lot 68. She was bought by Highclere Agency for 60,000gns.

One way or another, the breeze-up Trail remains hot.

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Dubawi’s Eldar Eldarov A New Rising Star at Nottingham

KHK Racing's 2.7-million guineas October Book 1 purchase Akhu Najla (GB) (Kingman {GB}) ran second for Roger Varian in his Leicester unveiling Tuesday and the partnership was back in action with £480,000 Arqana@Doncaster Breeze-Up graduate Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who powered to 'TDN Rising Stardom' in the second division of Wednesday's British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden S. at Nottingham. The 13-8 favourite tanked forward from a slot in rear to track the leaders in fourth after the initial exchanges of this debut and crept closer once into the home straight. Looming large on the bridle soon after passing the three-furlong marker, he assumed control approaching the two pole and stretched clear in impressive fashion to easily account for Janoobi (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) by a geared-down five lengths.

Eldar Eldarov is the third of five foals and second scorer out of Listed Prix de Liancourt, Listed Prix Zarkava and Listed Prix de la Pepiniere winner All At Sea (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). He is a half-brother to Listed Rothesay S. third A La Voile (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a yearling colt by Roaring Lion and a weanling filly by Study of Man (Ire). All At Sea is one of five black-type performers produced by G1 Deutschlandpreis, G1 Rheinland-Pokal and G1 Preis von Europa victrix Albanova (GB) (Alzao), herself a full-sister to dual G1 Champion S. heroine Alborada (GB). The February-foaled bay shares his second dam with last month's G1 Preis von Europa winner Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

2nd-Nottingham, £7,000, Mdn, 10-13, 2yo, 8f 75yT, 1:47.87, g/s.
ELDAR ELDAROV (GB), c, 2, by Dubawi (Ire)
1st Dam: All At Sea (GB) (MSW-Fr, $133,622), by Sea the Stars (Ire)
2nd Dam: Albanova (GB), by Alzao
3rd Dam: Alouette (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
(£110,000 Ylg '20 GOFOR; £480,000 2yo '21 ARQDEA). 1ST-TIME STARTER. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $5,137. O-KHK Racing Ltd; B-Kirsten Rausing (GB); T-Roger Varian. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Frankel Colt Sets Tattersalls August Record

During a session which saw just 10 horses through the ring fail to change hands, the Ralph Beckett-trained and Juddmonte Farms-owned Fabilis (GB) (Frankel {GB}) fetched 350,000gns to establish a new record at the Tattersalls August Sale in Newmarket. The transaction easily eclipsed the previous top price of 220,000gns from last year's inaugural event.

An own brother to G3 Darley Club S. hero Monarchs Glen (GB) and produced by a half-sister to G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat), Fabilis, cataloged as lot 380, was a maiden winner at second asking at Chepstow last September and added a Nottingham handicap in his next appearance. He most recently took his Timeform rating to 104 with a 1 3/4-length victory going 12 furlongs at Newmarket Aug. 27.

Peter and Ross Doyle Bloodstock signed the winning ticket and indicated that the 3-year-old colt is off to the Middle East to continue his career.

“He is for Prince Faisal bin Khalid's Najd Stud, a very long established client,” said Doyle. “I bought for his family many years ago. He is a lovely horse, I didn't think he'd make that much, but lots of people liked him. He comes from a very good operation, it is always nice to buy a horse from Juddmonte. The horse passed all the vets very well. The immediate plan will be to go and race in Saudi Arabia and aim for the Crown Prince Cup. We have had some success in the race before.”

Underbidders included would-be suitors from Australia and others from the Gulf region.

Mark Johnston trainee Zabeel Champion (GB) (Poet's Voice {GB}), lot 411, achieved the session's second-highest price when Mags O'Toole, bidding on behalf of National Hunt bloodstock agent Tom Malone, paid 185,000gns for the 4-year-old colt. Previously campaigned by Jaber Abdullah, the bay hit a rich vein of form this spring, winning consecutive events at Ripon before adding a vaulable Newmaket handicap May 2. Also third in the Duke of Edinburgh S. (handicap) at the Royal Meeting June 18, Zabeel Champion was offered with a TF rating of 112.

“A real champion. He is a big scopey horse, just our type of horse a chaser in the making,” Malone messaged Tattersalls after landing in Germany. “He came highly recommended and the owners weren't going to release him too lightly. He ticks a lot of boxes, he showed a lovely pace over 1m2f to win at Ripon, stayed 1m4f on heavy ground at Royal Ascot. A beautiful pedigree, so fingers crossed he goes on and does our job as a novice over jumps. He goes to Ditcheat.”

While strict comparisons to last year's horses-of-racing-age sales are difficult, given the circumstances under which the 2020 renewal was held, the combined turnover of 18 million guineas for this year was well above last year's turnover of 14,371,000gns.

“Last year's inaugural Tattersalls August Sale, which was born out of COVID-related disruption to the racing calendar, was a huge success and the second renewal has returned figures which suggest that the fixture very much has a long-term future,” said Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony. “With the recent July Sale returning to its customary numbers, the August catalogue was significantly smaller than last year, but the vibrance and extraordinary level of international participation which are the hallmarks of sales of this nature at Tattersalls have been in evidence from start to finish. Buyers from throughout Europe, the Gulf region, Australia and the USA have added to the strong domestic participation and we have yet again hosted a sale which has achieved a clearance rate in excess of 90% and generated sustained demand in all sectors of the market.”

He added, “Equally pleasing has been the fact that the August Sale has seen a return almost to normality after more than a year of staging sales which have been hampered by COVID-related protocols. It has been a real pleasure to have welcomed so many people back to Park Paddocks as we turn our attention to the Tattersalls yearling sales season starting with the Somerville Yearling Sale next week.”

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