“Very sadly he had a heart attack last Monday doing a regular canter under Gavin Ryan who landed safely on his feet,” Cooper said. “No previous indications that this would be likely to happen. He was a lovely individual who everyone liked.”

A Flaxman Stables homebred, the Donnacha O'Brien trainee was also placed in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and the G2 Mooresbridge S. and made his final start a winning one in Dundalk's Listed Dubai Diamond S. in September. His record stands at 9-3-2-2 and $334,337 in earnings.

Piz Badile's dam That Which Is Not, a Listed winner in France who ran second in the G2 Prix Corrida, has also foaled the G3 Anglesey S. second Yosemite Valley (GB) (Shamardal). She was sold for €3.3 million to Coolmore at Goffs last November. His second dam Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector) won the 1999 Tattersalls Gold Cup, and her Kingmambo half-sister Light Shift triumphed in the 2007 edition of the G1 Oaks before foaling Piz Badile's dual Group 1 winning sire Ulysses to the cover of Galileo (Ire).

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Some have now faded from everyday use, and for this fan the Ballymacoll Stud colours are much missed. Certain silks have such resonance that one almost doesn't need to have a race card handy to have an educated guess at the standard of certain races about to happen, and if the colours of the Niarchos family are spotted in the parade ring then it's a safe bet that there's a classy maiden or Pattern race in store. 

Happily, those distinctive colours are not about to disappear, though the restructuring of the family's bloodstock operation has brought about a proper 'bloodstock event', and one which offers a mouthwatering opportunity for other breeders to buy into some of the best Niarchos pedigrees. 

Forty of their fillies and mares will be offered at Goffs next week. Friday's session is likely to be the liveliest of the November Breeding Stock Sale since the Wildenstein Stables dispersal of 2016 or the Paulyn dispersal a decade ago when Chicquita (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), sold for €6 million to Coolmore, became the most expensive horse ever to sell in Ireland.

“We had a big draft last November at Goffs but this one is exceptional because the offerings include three homebred Group 1 winners,” says Alan Cooper, who has been the Niarchos family's racing manager for almost 40 years.

He adds with no little understatement, “It's a very special gathering of the family's stock.”

Before we run through some of the bluebloods on offer, it is worth emphasising that the Niarchos family will still be developing these equine families through the young stock being retained. More than 100 horses, including those in training, remain within their ownership.

“It's not a dispersal,” says Cooper. “These are going to auction but from each of the core families, we've got several fillies who are either foals, yearlings, or two-year-olds of this year going forward. We're not cutting the tie with any of the top families. That is important because Maria and her father and her brothers have built this up, and it's still ongoing.”

Stavros Niarchos, the Greek shipping tycoon, made a significant impact on the world of Thoroughbred breeding in the second half of the twentieth century, and his passion for the sport was shared by his daughter Maria Niarchos-Gouaze, one of his five children, who took on the running of the bloodstock sector of her father's empire following his death in 1996. 

Earlier this year, Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard, the Normandy farm bought by Stavros Niarchos in 1979, was put up for sale. It had previously been home at different times in their lives to such luminaries of the turf as Nureyev, his incredible daughter Miesque, and her influential son Kingmambo (Mr. Prospector). Other top names include Hernando (Ire) (Niniski) and his son Sulamani (Ire), both of whom were winners of the Prix du Jockey Club, and the Breeders' Cup Mile victrix Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}).

Members of those families and more are included in the draft for next week's sale. As referred to above, three Group 1 winners form the cornerstone of that elite group. 

Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), the Prix Marcel Boussac winner whose first foal by Wootton Bassett (GB) sold for €460,000 as a yearling this season, is offered as Lot 1212 from Baroda Stud and is in foal to St Mark's Basilica (Fr). She also has a weanling filly by Dubawi (Ire) on the ground. 

Later, as Lot 1240 from Kiltinan Castle Stud, comes Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), the G1 Coronation S .winner who was runner-up in the G1 Prix de Diane, G1 Jacques Le Marois ad G1 Prix de l'Opera. She is in foal to Frankel (GB) and had a colt foal by the same stallion.

It remains to be seen which of the draft becomes the jewel of the crown in broodmare terms, but as a racehorse it is easy to argue the case for Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who sells last of all as Lot 1263 from Norelands and is in foal to Sea The Stars (Ire), carrying what will be her fourth offspring. On the track she was both the European champion three-year-old filly and champion three-year-old miler of 2018, when her wins included the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation S., Falmouth S., and Prix Jacques Le Marois, which ran under the long-term sponsorship of the Niarchos family. 

Alpine Star and Alpha Centauri are half-sisters and daughters of the Rahy mare Alpha Lupi, representing the family which has become synonymous with the name Niarchos. Their granddam was another Jacques Le Marois winner and dual Classic heroine, East Of The Moon (Private Account), herself a daughter of one of the most revered mares of the modern era, Miesque. The latter's many Group/Grade 1 triumphs included back-to-back wins in both the Jacques Le Marois and Breeders' Cup Mile, as well as victories in the 1,000 Guineas, Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix de la Salamandre, and Prix d'Ispahan. And that was just the entree to Miesque's celebrated career at stud.

The Hall of Famer produced the aforementioned Classic winners Kingmambo and East Of The Moon, as well as the Group 3 winners Miesque's Son (Mr. Prospector) and Mingun (A.P. Indy), Listed winner Moon Is Up (Woodman) and stakes-placed Inventing Paradise (Mr. Prospector). Another daughter, Second Happiness (Storm Cat), is the dam of  the Prix du Jockey Club winner and young sire Study Of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), while another, Kingmambo's full-sister Monevassia, is the dam of Group 1 winner Rumplestiltskin (Ire) (Danehill).

Along with the aforementioned Group 1 winners, Miesque's direct line is also represented in the three-year-old Frankel filly Humankind (Lot 1104). Meanwhile, another branch of the family appears through Miesque's half-sister Yogya (Riverman), the dam of Six Perfections whose daughter Raja Ampat (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) features as Lot 1259 and is carrying a member of the first crop of Baaeed (GB). 

Six Perfections's unraced four-year-old granddaughter See (War Front) is Lot 1105, and that filly's full-sister La Fiamma is Lot 1181, and is sold in foal to Mehmas (Ire).

Another family which has stood the operation in great stead is that of Coup De Folie, the Halo mare bought from her breeder EP Taylor as a yearling who went on to win the G3 Prix d'Aumale. She later become the dam of Machiavellian (Mr. Prospector), his fellow Group 1 winner and full-sister Coup De Genie, and Exit To Nowhere (Irish River {Fr}), who was yet another winner of the Jacques Le Marois in the Niarchos silks.

That line thrives still, notably through Coup De Genie's daughter Moonlight's Box (Nureyev), the dam of Arc winner Bago (Fr) (Nashwan), dual Group 1 winner Maxios (GB) (Monsun {Ger}) and Listed-placed Malicieuse (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), whose Deep Impact daughter Bold As Love (Ire) gets the ball rolling when offered as Lot 1102, the first of the draft.

Worldwide influences loom large among the Niarchos broodmare band, which has ties beyond Europe, to America, South Africa, and Australia. Significantly the family has long had strong links to Japan, before other major owner-breeders caught on to this fertile source of class. 

“Maria was definitely a precursor of the modern age on that,” says Cooper. “And thanks to the good relations we built up with Teruya and Chizu Yoshida, which came through Hector Protector going over [to stud in Japan]. We sent him mares and then sent mares to Sunday Silence and then Deep Impact as well. And we branched out every now and again, we took mares to Bago, of course, and Lord Kanaloa, Daiwa Major.”

He continues, “And we've even got some Australian influence in the draft, with Dawn Wall [by Fastnet Rock] in there and Provocateuse by Pride of Dubai. It's truly global.”

One of those mares sent to the Classic-winning homebred Hector Protector, who was later sold to Zenya Yoshida of Shadai Farm for his stallion career, was Lingerie (GB) (Shirley Heights {GB}), a daughter of another important founder of a dynasty in Northern Trick (Northern Dancer), winner of the G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix Vermeille. 

Lingerie's daughter Shiva was foaled in Japan and exported to Europe where she won the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup. Her half-sister Light Shift (Kingmambo), also trained by Henry Cecil, later won the Oaks. Five members of Lingerie's family are catalogued, including Shiva's Listed-winning daughter That Which Is Not (Elusive Quality), the dam of Group 3 winner Piz Badile (Ire), who is by another Niarchos-bred stallion in Ulysses (Ire).

The 40 mares are spread between the drafts of Norelands, Baroda and Kiltinan Castle Studs, and are also dotted evenly through the Friday of the catalogue in groups of five or six. 

“All those studs have boarded mares for us,” Cooper explains. “With this number of horses we thought it was best to divide them up between these teams, who all do a wonderful job. We thought it was very manageable that way for us, too. It would be too much for everybody to sit and watch 40 horses go through together.”

Cooper arrived at the Niarchos family's London office in February 1984 to work as assistant to Sir Philip Payne-Gallwey, the former racing manager to Stavros Niarchos who played such a key role in the operation's success through his purchase of Miesque's sire and dam, Nureyev and Pasadoble, as well as Northern Trick, as yearlings in Kentucky.

“He went back to the BBA in 1987 and I've been here ever since,” says Cooper. “Karen Clark was here before me, and she's still very much part of the original team.”

Of the draft itself, he adds, “It goes back to the yearling fillies purchased in the 80s: you've got Pasadoble, the dam of Miesque; Coup De Folie, the dam of Coup De Genie, and so much has come down from those two alone. But then you spread out and another branch of Miesque's family was Yogya, the dam of Six Perfections, another family goes back to Rare Mint, and we've got a great-granddaughter of hers, Celestial Lagoon, represented through several of her daughters. Then you've got Lyrism, the dam of Whakilyric, who is the third dam of Nature Spirits.

“So there's a lot of families that we've had for generations. It's quite a history.”

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Albigna, Fiesolana, Tapestry and a raft of other top-class mares in foal to stallions such as Frankel, Dubawi, Wootton Bassett, No Nay Never and more will feature among the draft.

The offering will number 44 mares all told and Alan Cooper, the operation's racing manager, was keen to stress that the draft was not a dispersal and that the iconic Niarchos silks that were proudly carried by Miesque, Spinning World, Light Shift, Sulamani and Bago are going nowhere anytime soon. 

Speaking exclusively to TDN Europe, he explained, “This is a restructuring process and not a dispersal. The family will have the opportunity to set reserves on the stock as they see fit.”

Cooper added, “The racing stables will continue to be supported by foals, yearlings, two-year-olds and older horses that are already in the system. There will be further offerings at Tattersalls and Arqana in the coming months.”

Three consignors will handle the draft with 18 from Norelands and 13 apiece for Baroda Stud and Kiltinan Castle. The 44 lots feature 10 Group winners.

Announcing the draft, Goffs Group Chief Executive, Henry Beeby said, “The Niarchos Family have proved to be one of the world's preeminent owner-breeders over the last fifty years and have developed a broodmare band that is the envy of the global bloodstock community. 

“It is extremely rare for a draft of this quality and depth to be offered at public auction and Goffs are delighted that we have been chosen to handle this superb sale.”

He added, “As was the case when Paul Makin and David Wildenstein appointed us, we will ensure a global audience at Kildare Paddocks for a draft that would have graced any breeding stock catalogue in the world and offers an unprecedented chance to buy into some of the best bloodlines in thoroughbred racing.”

Alpha Centauri will forever be remembered for providing Jessica Harrington with a breakthrough Classic victory when storming home in the 2018 Irish 1,000 Guineas. She went on to land a trio of Group 1 triumphs in the Coronation S. at Royal Ascot, the Falmouth and then the Prix Jacques le Maroi.

Harrington also trained Alpha Centauri's half-sister Alpine Star as well as top-notcher Albigna to other notable successes. Alpine Star won the Coronation S. in 2020 while Albigna ran out a gritty winner of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend in 2019.

The full list of the Niarchos Mares are as follows. 

Consigned by Baroda Stud

Albigna (IRE) in foal to St Mark's Basilica

Burning Topic (GER) in foal to Ulysses

Innervisions (IRE) in foal to Saxon Warrior

Kanthaka (JPN) in foal to Arizona

Liquid Amber (USA) in foal to No Nay Never

Mirror in Space (IRE) – Maiden

Mississippi Delta (USA) in foal to Camelot

Night Glow (USA) – Maiden

Night of Light (IRE) in foal to Lope De Vega

Nocturne (GER) in foal to State of Rest

Sea Meets Sky (FR) in foal to Churchill

Tierra Del Fuego (IRE) barren

Valle De La Luna (GB) in foal to State of Rest 

Consigned by Kiltinan Castle Stud

Alpine Star (IRE) in foal to Frankel

Diaphora (GER) in foal to New Bay

Foniska (IRE) – Maiden

Heliosphere (USA) in foal to Study Of Man

Light of Joy (USA) in foal to Night Of Thunder

Light of Night (GB) in foal to Saxon Warrior

Lovee Dovee (GB) in foal to Sea The Moon

Martini Glass (USA) in foal to Starspangledbanner

Nature Spirits (FR) in foal to New Bay

Perseids (USA) – Maiden

Phaenomena (IRE) in foal to No Nay Never

Provocateuse (IRE) in foal to Kingman

Spell On You (IRE) in foal to Study of Man

Consigned by Norelands

Alpha Centauri (IRE) in foal to Sea The Stars

Bold As Love (IRE) – Maiden

Cosmic Lady (IRE) – Maiden

Dawn Wall (AUS) in foal to Saxon Warrior

Fiesolana (IRE) in foal to Mehmas

Flutter (IRE) in foal to Wootton Bassett

Forever Be (IRE) in foal to Wootton Bassett

Hand On Heart (IRE) in foal to No Nay Never

Humankind (IRE) – Maiden

La Fiamma (USA) in foal to Mehmas

Malicieuse (IRE) in foal to Wootton Bassett

Only Mine (IRE) in foal to Siyouni

Raja Ampat (IRE) in foal to Baaeed

See (USA) – Maiden

Snakeless (USA) in foal to Circus Maximus

Sunrise Valley (USA) in foal to Study of Man

Tapestry (IRE) in foal to Dubawi

That Which Is Not (USA) in foal to Frankel

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“We've always dreamt of winning the Derby. We haven't yet, but let's hope that Saturday can go the right way,” Alan Cooper, the operation's racing manager, told TDN on Wednesday. 

That dream could become reality if Passenger continues to show the level of improvement that persuaded the Niarchoses to supplement the colt for the Betfred Derby. Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Passenger has an extra special element to him in that his sire, the dual Group 1 winner Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), is also a Niarchos homebred and was trained by Stoute, while his female family traces back through the Niarchos operation for five generations.

Passenger was first seen in action in public during the Craven meeting at Newmarket, where he impressed plenty of onlookers with his three-length victory in the Wood Ditton Maiden over a mile. He then stepped straight into group company at York for the G2 Dante S., a race won last year by his stable-mate and subsequent Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) ((Nathaniel {Ire}), who was also making just his appearance on a racecourse at the time. Denied a clear run at a crucial stage in the Dante, Passenger eventually burst clear to finish a running-on third behind The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and White Birch (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}), both of whom he will meet again at Epsom. 

“He's a horse who probably surprised us a little bit in the Wood Ditton and he has just matured, physically and mentally, since his first racecourse experience,” Cooper said.

“The Dante was a very good education with hindsight. He didn't win but he learnt a lot from it. It's a great compliment to Michael and his team that we are getting him to Epsom.”

He added, “He's by our homebred stallion and the female family has been in the Niarchos family since the early 1980s, going back to Misinskie, who was trained by Peter Walwyn. Then the mare went over to be bred in America and had her breeding career over there.”

Bred by Will Farish III, Misinskie, by Nijinsky, features as the fifth dam of Passenger. Her daughter Ajman (Woodman) was bred under the Niarchoses' Flaxman Holdings banner but raced for Shadwell, who then bred Passenger's third dam El Laoob (Red Ransom). This branch of the family returned to the Niarchos fold when Passenger's grand-dam Pachattack (Pulpit) appeared at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale of 2011 with plenty of black type to her name and was bought for $1.2 million.

Also seeking a first Derby win is Charlie Johnston in his first season with a training licence in his own name since his father Mark stepped back. The trainer is likely to saddle two for the race, and there is a particular poignancy to one of those runners as Dubai Mile (Ire), owned by Ahmad Al Shaikh, is from the sole crop of the late Roaring Lion, who was himself third in the Derby won by Masar (Ire). 

The Group 1-winning juvenile was bought for €20,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale from his breeder Lady Chryss O'Reilly and most recently finished fifth in the 2,000 Guineas. 

“There's no horse in this race that we know is better than ours, on ratings we're right there with them all,” said Johnston. “He's a Group 1 winner who ran a good trial over an inadequate trip in the Guineas, so in that sense I think we've got a rock-solid profile.

“The fact he was a €20,000 yearling and a bit more unfashionable probably explains why he's 14-1 rather than 4-1. There's nothing in there that scares me or we have 7lb to find with. If he improves for the trip, which we all expect he will, then he goes there with a good chance.”

Johnston is also represented by the 100/1 outsider Dear My Friend (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) for Middleham Park Racing.

“He's our first runner in the Derby and we are going into it with our eyes wide open,” said Mike Prince of Middleham Park Racing. “He was well beaten in the Dante but we think the step up in trip will suit him.

“There'll be a few horses in the race who don't stay, there'll be a few horses in the race who don't handle the track and there'll be a few horses in the race who don't handle the occasion – hopefully we'll be there trying to pick up some of the pieces. There's good place money down to sixth and [the owners are] all delighted that we're rolling the dice.”

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Located in the heart of Normandy, the 205-hectare farm (506 acres) has been under Niarchos ownership since being purchased in 1979 by the late Stavros Niarchos from prominent French owner-breeder Marcel Boussac.

Alan Cooper, Racing Manager to the Niarchos Family, said, “It is emotional for the family to say goodbye to Fresnay, but as our racing and breeding interests have evolved over the years, we now have horses in a variety of international locations, which makes this the right move for us at this time.”

Over the 43-year period under Niarchos ownership, the farm has expanded to include additional lands, barns, and a pre-training track. All paddocks on the property were recently reseeded and are maintained by a rotation of sheep and cattle. Besides the paddocks, the farm is supported by barns and stable yards with approximately 200 boxes, as well as a 14-stall isolation barn at the Haute Cote annex.

Champions and Classic winners that called Fresnay-le-Buffard home at various stages of their careers include the great racemare and bluehen producer Miesque (Nureyev), her son, the celebrated sire Kingmambo (Mr. Prospector), as well as sire duo Sulamani (Ire) and his sire Hernando (Ire) (Niniski), and GI Breeders' Cup Mile heroine Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}), among many others. Current Gainesway stallion Karakontie (Jpn) (Bernstein) also won the Breeders' Cup Mile for the operation in 2014.

The family remains fully committed to its international racing and breeding operation, which encompasses Europe, America, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

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Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season. 

O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire) in his prediction for first-season sire championship honours while Bastard, who broke and pre-trained Too Darn Hot (GB), has reported striking similarities between the unbeaten champion 2-year-old and his stock.

Meanwhile, Dick Brabazon, one of the finest horsemen in Ireland who has had Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) and Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) through his Curragh base, has taken a swing on Study Of Man (Ire) to come up trumps with a top-notcher.

Welcome to this year's earliest predictions to what the next Mehmas (Ire), Cotai Glory (GB) or Havana Grey (GB) will be. Each opinion is right until proven otherwise and, for starters, Bastard, McCabe and Hoban are in agreement that the bookmakers have found the right favourite in Blue Point (Ire), priced up as a general 5-2 market leader by most firms.

McCabe, who pre-trains for Rabbah Bloodstock, Simon Crisford and Charlie Appleby among others, is particularly keen on Blue Point's stock and said, “I think he will make a big splash. I think that bookmarkers are barking up the same tree as I am with Blue Point as I think he will go well in the first-season sire championship. In fact, there was a very smart Blue Point colt I was dealing with, and he's gone into Simon Crisford's. He was the smartest Blue Point I had and, if he is not winning up at the July Course at Newmarket, I'd be very surprised.”

Bastard agrees.

Malcolm Bastard | Racingfotos.com

He said, “We have six or seven Blue Points and they are nice solid horses who are very good in their minds. They all have nice action about them. They are only just cantering away nicely at this time of year, so it is difficult to say, but the Too Darn Hots and the Blue Points stand out a little bit at the moment. The Blue Points are definitely not early horses, not ours anyway.”

But it's the Too Darn Hots who have set the temperature at Bastard's Wiltshire operation with the renowned handler of young stock particularly impressed by the progeny of the young sire.

“I have about a dozen Too Darn Hots and they are very similar to him. From day one, he cantered like an old pro–he was a beautiful-moving colt–and his progeny seem to be the very same. I think they will be late summer horses, if not autumn horses, like he was. They will be seven furlongs plus and they are not going to be sprinters so he's probably priced right [at 14-1]. You'd expect him to have a really good number of winners by the end of the season and quality horses out of that number as well.”

Hoban may be one of the newest names on the Irish scene but he has made a major impact already. The professional jockey has had two Classic winners, Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}), through his hands and has built up an impressive portfolio working with Barnane Stud, Yulong Investments, Johnny Murtagh, Eddie Lynam, Jessica Harrington and Paddy Twomey.

Along with the progeny of Blue Point, Hoban nominated Invincible Army (Ire) to throw down an early marker this spring, and said, “I have a very nice Invincible Army colt. He'll be going to one of the breeze-up sales and he seems to be doing everything well. He's the only Invincible Army I have but I'd be keen to recruit more of them at the sales as everything about him is promising. He just has a lovely way of going and nothing seems to phase him. I'm very interested in the sire.”

Hoban added, “I don't have a Ten Sovereigns but there seems to be a bit of chat about them, which is interesting, and the couple of Blue Points that I have are really nice. They are forward-going, are strong and seem to have good minds. I've had a couple of Phoenix Of Spain (Ire)s as well and, while they won't be that precocious, they are well-balanced horses who have great attitudes. They will be more for the second half of the year.”

One man who has his fair share of Ten Sovereigns to work with is O'Brien and he likes what he sees.

“It's early days, obviously, but we've been lucky enough to have accumulated quite a few by Ten Sovereigns and we really like what we are seeing from them,” the trainer said.

McCabe has the biggest sample size to choose from given he has broken in the best part of 100 yearlings to go into training for this year and, while he admits a certain amount of luck is needed for a stallion to break through, he identified a broad spectrum of young sires whose stock has impressed him.

Blue Point: favourite for the first-season sire championship | Racingfotos.com

He said, “I'd be very keen on the Masar (Ire)s and the Too Darn Hots as well. The Blue Points are a sharp bunch and they look as though they will be 2-year-old types and the Too Darn Hots are just beautiful horses. They are lovely to deal with and are all very good-looking horses. We like them a lot.

“The Masars are very similar to the first Night Of Thunder (Ire)s. They're very honest horses and I'd imagine he will be pretty successful. Masar won over seven furlongs as a 2-year-old and was no slouch. He'd a great constitution as a racehorse and, like Night Of Thunder, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They seem to have good minds and are easy to work with.

“I only had one Magna Grecia (Ire) colt but I liked him a lot. He looked like he would be a runner. I have a little filly by Intrinsic (GB) and she goes very well. Intrinsic won a Stewards Cup and his trainer Robert Cowell said that, if he didn't get injured, he'd definitely have been a group horse. He's only had a handful of runners and he's had winners, with one of them [Intrinsic Bond (GB)] achieving an RPR of 101 so he may not be a bad sire at all. I know he's not a first-season sire but we've a lovely Kodi Bear (Ire) as well and I'd be a fan of him as a sire.”

On the championship as a whole, he added, “I used to ride Kheleyf and nobody would have predicted he'd have done what he did at stud. You get horses who you think will do well at stud and they don't do it for whatever reason and then you get others who you think will be basement level and they come up with the goods. It's very hard to predict but, if I was a betting man, I'd be rowing in behind Blue Point to get rocking and rolling early. You need a lot of luck.”

One stallion who is a longer shot at ending the year as the champion first-season sire is Study Of Man but, for different reasons, the stock of the impeccably-bred French Derby winner has impressed Brabazon.

He explained, “We deal more with the owner-breeder type of horse, the one that will be slower to mature, but still, when I go through my list, we've got a nice filly by Magna Grecia and another by Phoenix Of Spain. But if I was to nominate one sire that I am particularly interested in the progeny of, it would have to be Study Of Man, as the two that we have by him are very athletic, hardy and tough types. He could be a very interesting sire and it would be great if Deep Impact (Jpn) had a major influence over here given what he achieved in Japan. He's a horse I will follow with great interest this year. His granddam is Miesque so it is one hell of a pedigree. Saxon Warrior (Jpn) has got going in Ireland so it will be really interesting to see how Study Of Man gets on. Now, it's only February, and I might be talking nonsense at this early stage in the year, but these two Study Of Man fillies have really caught our eye.

“We've only just started out on the Curragh gallops with our 2-year-olds now. I am beside the Old Vic gallop and we've only just started with the colts cantering up the Old Vic now. We'll get the fillies going now soon. It's all about education for me. I am not the trainer, so I let the trainer train them and I only educate them. I am always shouting at the riders to remember they are only babies. Sometimes they start scooting around on them if they start showing a bit but I always try to mind them and turn the horses into a career horse for their owners. I am not going to win any Brocklesbys, I am afraid! I have accepted that at this stage in my life. My aim is for the horse to last. I just lay the foundation for the trainers and then follow the horses' careers with great interest.”

He added, “The riders are so important. Tim Carroll is my main rider and he's just super. He just has a natural feel for a horse and can tell exactly how well each horse is going. If he says this is nice, I take note of what he says. He has picked a few already and he is a fan of the Study Of Mans. They don't all go on the right way but you'd have a fair idea at this stage.”

Similarly, Bastard has seen enough from the progeny of Land Force (Ire), Inns Of Court (Ire) and Ten Sovereigns to suggest that their 2-year-olds can achieve good things on the track this season.

He concluded, “We've had a few Land Forces and they've been quite nice to deal with as well. They've got a bit of size and scope about them and plenty of strength. They have good bone, are nice in their minds and are quite forward-going and they look okay. He might be a bit of a surprise package. He could do well. Inns Of Court is another worth mentioning. I must say, we only had one by Inns Of Court, but he was very nice and I expect him to do very well. We have a few by Ten Sovereigns, who go well but, again, the ones we have seem as though they will want a bit of time. There is nothing really early amongst them but they are nice horses. They are quite scopey.”

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2.25 Saint-Cloud, Debuntates, €27,000, 3yo, c/g, 12fT
TABARIN (IRE) (Frankel {GB}) debuts for the Niarchos Family and Francis-Henri Graffard and is a son of the G3 Prix Vanteaux winner and G1 Prix Saint-Alary runner-up and G1 Prix Vermeille third Mare Nostrum (GB) (Caerleon). A half-brother to the operation's GI Canadian International and G1 Grand Prix de Paris hero Erupt (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), the March-foaled bay encounters a dozen rivals.

6.00 Newcastle, Novice, £7,300, 3yo/up, 10f 42y (AWT)
ELDAR ELDAROV (Dubawi {Ire}) makes his eagerly-awaited second start, having achieved TDN Rising Star status with his impressive debut win at Nottingham in October. KHK Racing's £480,000 Arqana Breeze Up sensation from the family of Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and many other Kirsten Rausing celebrities holds entries in the G2 King Edward VII S. and Irish Derby and Roger Varian will know more about how ambitious those targets are after this comeback.

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Dettori made his Derby breakthrough in 2007 aboard Authorized (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) for Peter Chapple-Hyam as well as partnering John Gosden's Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) to victory in the race back in 2015 and he will bid to win the iconic race for a third time aboard the impressive G3 Ballsax S. winner.

A general 10-1 chance for the Derby, Piz Badile has raced just three times, but that reappearance win in the Ballysax at Leopardstown received a major advertisement when the runner-up, Buckaroo (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), ran out an impressive winner of the Listed Tetrarch S. at the Curragh last month.

Confirming Dettori for the ride, Alan Cooper, racing manager to Piz Badile's owners the Niarchos Family, said: “Frankie is going to ride at Epsom. The horse is in good form. We've got just under three weeks to go, so hopefully he stays in good form between now and then.”

He added, “I think Donnacha is very happy with his horse and the decision was made not to go to the Derrinstown (Derby Trial), which would have been the horse's third trip to Leopardstown.

“I'm in regular contact with Donnacha and he's delighted with his horse. They all need luck in running and we'll go from there.”

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Harrington said, “The plan is to go to Ascot to get the three fillies to win the Coronation S. We'll train her for that, there's lots of races for her, they have just come a bit close together.”

A winner of the G1 Moyglare Stud S. as a juvenile, Discoveries ran seventh after racing near the vanguard in the G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas on May 1.

She continued, “She's grand, we're very happy with her. Maybe the ground was a bit fast for her at Newmarket.”

Harrington also announced plans for Zhang Yuesheng's G3 Flame Of Tara S. heroine Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who will skip the G1 Cazoo Oaks on June 3. In action at Navan last month, the filly finished second by a short head in the Listed Salsabil S. and is also pointing to Royal Ascot.

“She's not going to go to Epsom, she's going to go straight to the [G2] Ribblesdale [S.] and then on to the Irish Oaks [on July 16],” said Harrington.

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1.10 Curragh, Mdn, €25,000, 2yo, 6fT
SIMPSON'S PARADOX (IRE) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) is the 10th foal out of the Niarchos Family's now-legendary Alpha Lupi (Ire) (Rahy), whose prior offerings by this sire are the Group 1-winning distaffers Alpha Centauri (Ire) and Discoveries (Ire). Also responsible for the G1 Coronation S. heroine Alpine Star (Ire) by Sea the Moon (Ger), she has produced only two previous colts and the one who got to the track was Ballydoyle's useful Tenth Star (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) who took the Listed Golden Fleece S. and was second in the G2 Royal Lodge S. Jessie Harrington, who managed and manages the careers of the aforementioned trio of top-level winners, has been handed the responsibility of handling the May-foaled bay who is out surprisingly early.

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