One Master Foals Dubawi Colt

Roy and Gretchen Jackson's triple G1 Prix de la Foret winner One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) has produced her first foal, a Dubawi (Ire) colt born on Jan. 27, and will be bred back to Frankel (GB), Gretchen Jackson told the TDN.

One Master is one of around five mares that the Jacksons-the Pennsylvania-based breeders of Classic winners on both sides of the Atlantic in George Washington (Ire) and Barbaro-keep at New England Stud in Newmarket. She is a second generation homebred for the Jacksons' Lael Stables; they bought her dam, the talented sprinter Superstar Leo (Ire) (College Chapel {GB}), in training, and bred from her the G3 King George S. and G3 Molecomb S. winner Enticing (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), who has produced six winners. Enticing, who has a 2-year-old full-brother to One Master, sadly died last month. Superstar Leo is retired on the Jacksons' farm in Pennsylvania.

Trained by William Haggas, One Master raced until the age of six. In addition to her three Forets, she won the G3 Fairy Bridge S. at Tipperary and the G3 Oak Tree S. at Glorious Goodwood.

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Jacksons Stay Loyal To The Racing Game

When Roy and Gretchen Jackson purchased their 190-acre property in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1978, they christened it Lael Farm, the Gaelic word for loyalty. Today, more than 40 years into the couples' transatlantic forays in the world of breeding and racing Thoroughbreds, that name could hardly be more appropriate.

The Jacksons, both lifelong horse people, became household names in the sport and beyond in 2006 during their months-long attempt to save the life of their GI Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro (Dynaformer) after the colt suffered what was ultimately a fatal injury shortly out of the gates in the GI Preakness S. That wasn't the first time the Jacksons had worn their loves of their horses on their sleeves, and it was far from the last: today, Barbaro's dam, the 25-year-old La Ville Rouge, is enjoying her retirement in a paddock within eyesight of the Jacksons' home on Lael Farm. Her paddock mate is the 23-year-old Superstar Leo (Ire) (College Chapel {GB}), who has provided the Jacksons with so many happy days on the European racing circuits, particularly thanks to her granddaughter, the triple G1 Prix de la Foret winner One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Superstar Leo was the first horse the Jacksons purchased in Europe-a venture that would also include breeding the champion 2-year-old and 2000 Guineas winner George Washington (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who in an amazing feat won his Classic on the same day as Barbaro's Derby. After Superstar Leo was weaned from her last foal, a now 2-year-old colt by Havana Gold (Ire), the Jacksons repatriated her to Pennsylvania to enjoy her in retirement.

Even amidst breeding and campaigning Classic winners on both sides of the Atlantic, Gretchen Jackson said the experience with One Master has been “pretty up there.”

“We're really proud of her,” she said. “We have Superstar Leo in Pennsylvania now with all our retired broodmares, and to just visit her daily, and what she's accomplished with One Master, it just makes us glow inside. We love her.”

“We brought her over here to live out her life and she's turned out in a field right in front of the house here with Barbaro's dam and a filly that was very good to us named Belle Cherie, who was running around the same time as Superstar Leo,” Roy Jackson added. “They're out here enjoying life.”

Bred by legendary jockey Lester Piggott and Tony Hirschfeld, Superstar Leo was the ninth foal out of the placed Council Rock, whose family was somewhat ordinary at the time but which later blossomed to produce a plethora of black-type winners including Classic winners Footstepsinthesand (GB) and Power (GB) in addition to One Master. Superstar Leo was bought back by Piggott's daughter Maureen Haggas for 3,400gns at Tattersalls October as a yearling in 1999 and put into training with Haggas's husband William. After finishing second at first-asking in May of her 2-year-old campaign, Superstar Leo won a pair of races at Catterick before beating the boys at Royal Ascot in the G3 Norfolk S. It was that victory that caught the eye of Gretchen Jackson all the way over in Pennsylvania.

“I had read about her winning a race in England in the TDN,” she recalled. “The name Superstar Leo struck me, and I inquired about her and she was for sale. It took some negotiating with Lester Piggott and her other owner, Tony Hirschfeld, but we got her and she was a delight. She won the Cartier award for us just a few months later. We've gotten so much pleasure from her offspring and her granddaughter, One Master.”

As Jackson alluded to, Superstar Leo added victories over the colts in the G2 Flying Childers S. in the summer of 2000 and the Weatherbys Super Sprint. She was second in the G1 Phoenix S. and against elders in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye on the Longchamp card that her granddaughter One Master would make her own between 2018 and 2020.

Just as significant as Superstar Leo's victories was the relationship she solidified between the Jacksons and the Haggases. William Haggas today trains most of the Jackson runners in Europe, and was responsible for both One Master and her stakes-winning dam Enticing (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}).

“He's a great person and a great trainer, and his wife [Maureen] enters into it wholeheartedly,” Gretchen said. “She's very talented too.”

Superstar Leo was retired to stud in 2002 and her second foal was Enticing, who emulated her dam by becoming a stakes-winning 2-year-old with a victory in the G3 Molecomb S. in 2006, just months after Barbaro and George Washington had won their respective Classics. Enticing would add the Listed Lansdown Fillies' S. at three and finish second in the G3 King George S. before going one better in that Glorious Goodwood feature for Haggas at four.

One Master, the fifth of 10 foals thus far out of Enticing, certainly inherited her dam's longevity moreso than her granddam's precocity. One Master was not seen on a racecourse until August of her 3-year-old campaign, but she promptly made up for lost time, breaking her maiden at second asking and adding the Listed October S. at Ascot before seasons' end. Just a few lengths away in a trio of stakes to kick off her 4-year-old campaign, One Master won the G3 Fairy Bridge S. that August before upsetting the G1 Prix de la Foret at 33-1.

“I remember watching the Prix de la Foret when she was four and she won it,” Gretchen Jackson recalled. “And I was as mad as the devil at William for not telling us that she could possibly win it, because we would have been there. He had no idea how she won it, though he was hoping she would.”

Happily, the Jacksons were at Longchamp a year later when One Master defended her title after placing in the G1 Queen Anne S. and G1 Falmouth S. They had also traveled to Kentucky to see her run fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile the prior November, and to Hong Kong when she ran in the G1 Hong Kong Mile a month later.

“She took us on quite a tour,” Roy summarized.

The coronavirus pandemic meant that the Jacksons couldn't be there to see One Master make it a hat trick of Forets at Longchamp last October, or when she won the G3 Oak Tree S. at Glorious Goodwood in July on the same card that her year-younger half-brother Prompted (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) took the Golden Mile H.

And although One Master's racing career came to an anti-climatic close when she was scratched from last year's Breeders' Cup Mile after tying up at Keeneland, the Jacksons still have plenty to look forward to with her as she visits Dubawi (Ire) for her first covering this year. One Master resides alongside her dam and five other Lael broodmares at New England Stud in Newmarket. Roy Jackson noted that New England's Peter Stanley has been just as pivotal in the Jacksons' enjoyment of the European industry as the Haggeses have been, and after discussing options with him for One Master they decided to simply “breed her to the best.”

One Master and Prompting were among three winners last year for Enticing-her now 3-year-old filly Arousing (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) won at Yarmouth at first asking in September in the Lael silks, and Roy noted that Haggas holds her in high regard. Soon after the turn of the new year, 4-year-old gelding Craved (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) became Enticing's sixth winner, firing off victories at Newcastle on Jan. 23 and Southwell on Feb. 9. Enticing's latest produce is a yearling full-brother to One Master, and she will unfortunately not have a foal for 2021 after slipping another foal by Fastnet Rock. A mating plan for this year has not yet been set in stone.

In addition to Enticing, the Jacksons have three other daughters of Superstar Leo in their broodmare band. The Listed Fleur de Lys Fillies' S. winner and G3 Jersey S. second Sentaril (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) has bred two winners for Lael and has a 2-year-old colt by Dabirsim (Fr) this year, and her full-sister Cloud Line (GB) is the dam of a winner and has a 2-year-old colt by Showcasing (GB). The 7-year-old Yaraki (GB) (Frankel {GB}), meanwhile, has joined the Jacksons' 21-strong American broodmare band in Kentucky and has already foaled a filly by Hard Spun this year.

The Jacksons also have a half-sister to George Washington, the 10-year-old Sea The Stars (Ire) mare Wonderstruck (Ire), at New England Stud, and her 3-year-old filly Ready To Venture (GB) (Kingman {GB}) was a winner in the Lael blue, green and white at second asking in September at Yarmouth for Haggas. Roy Jackson said Wonderstruck “is producing good, sound horses.”

The story of the Jacksons and George Washington is almost as serendipitous as that of Superstar Leo. The Jacksons bought into George Washington's half-brother Grandera (Ire) (Grand Lodge) and raced him with Viv Shelton during a 3-year-old campaign in which he won the Listed Dubai Arc Trial and was placed in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, G1 Eclipse S. and G1 Juddmonte International for trainer James Fanshawe. Shelton and the Jacksons sold Grandera privately when they got a big offer from Godolphin, for whom he went on to win three Group 1s at four, and the Jacksons used part of their proceeds to purchase his dam, the Wildenstein-bred Bordighera (Alysheba), privately. The second foal she produced for the Jacksons was George Washington, who they sold to Coolmore for 1.15-million gns as a yearling. Roy said it was a tough decision to let George Washington go, but that they had decided to do so if the price was right.

“Over the years we've kept many and tried to race them, but it just made business sense,” he said. “We got a very big offer and we felt that it was time to recoup some of the money and do some other things in racing with the money. We thought it made business sense to do it.”

George Washington would, of course, go on to win the G1 Phoenix S. and G1 National S. at two and the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. at three and finish second in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas. Fertility issues meant that he sired just one live foal in 2006, the winning and stakes-producing Date With Destiny (Ire), and he was sadly lost during the running of the 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park.

The Jacksons have, in more recent years, continued to apply the same formula that led to such great success with Superstar Leo and La Ville Rouge: purchasing top-class fillies in training. They bought Hawksmoor (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) in 2016 from Chris Humber after she had won the G3 Prestige S. at two and placed in the G1 Fillies' Mile and G1 Prix Saint Alary for trainer Hugo Palmer, and she went on to win the G2 German 1000 Guineas in the Lael colours before transferring to American-based trainer Arnaud Delacour, for whom she won three Grade IIIs and placed in two Grade IIs. Hawksmoor is in foal for the first time to Palace Malice, a Classic-winning son of Curlin.

The Jacksons went back to Humber and Palmer the following spring to buy the listed placed Architecture (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), and she went on to place in the Epsom, Irish and German Oaks before being bought by Katsumi Yoshida for 600,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2019. Last spring, the Jacksons purchased the G3 Prix Vanteaux winner Magic Attitude (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) from Haras du Saubouas ahead of her second-place finish in the G1 Prix Saint Alary. Switched to Delacour from Fabrice Chappet, Magic Attitude won the GI Belmont Oaks and was third in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, and is currently tuning up for a 4-year-old campaign.

“We've tried to do a bit of that, I guess somewhat related to our age too,” said Roy. He and Gretchen are both 84. “If something has a foal now, by the time it's going to run it's going to be some years down the road, so we're always looking to see whether there's something coming along that's going to run that we'll pick up.”

Speaking with Roy and Gretchen Jackson, one gets a sense that there is no measuring the pride they feel and they joy they have derived from their transatlantic racing and breeding programme. Both are lifelong horse people-Gretchen as a foxhunter and Roy as the son of a foxhunter whose mother later dabbled in racehorses-and thus understand the extreme ups and downs of the game, which they have themselves withstood as much as anyone. They both grew up somewhat locally to Chester County-Roy just 10 miles away in Edgemont and Gretchen in Philadelphia-and thus can boast a deep appreciation for the land on which Superstar Leo and La Ville Rouge now graze, and where legendary steeplechase conditioner Jonathan Sheppard once trained just a stone's throw away. Roy Jackson spent six years as a stockbroker before pursuing his passion of baseball, eventually owning a few professional teams and also working with minor league teams before helping to found Convest, a management firm for professional athletes in the mid 1980s. Jackson eventually sold his share in Convest to focus full-time on horse racing, and the labours of he and Gretchen's love in that realm have been a gift to fans of racing on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Addeybb Being Primed For Australian Return

Only three horses in the world finished the season with a rating higher than Addeybb (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), and certainly none of them have won Group 1 races in two hemispheres within 2020.

Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum’s homebred 6-year-old may not have received the recognition he deserves for his exploits throughout the year, but it is safe to say that he is fully appreciated by his trainer William Haggas and jockey Tom Marquand. It is also not an exaggeration to say that, as much of the racing world went into lockdown and the start of the British turf season was delayed by more than two months, Addeybb’s first Group 1 strike, in the Ranvet S. at Rosehill in March, brought a collective cheer to his home town of Newmarket when it was badly needed. 

“It was extraordinary really,” says Haggas as he reflects on an ambitious Australian raid with Addeybb and Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger}), who won the G3 Manion Cup and was seventh in the G1 Sydney Cup before joining the Ballarat stable of Archie Alexander.

“Essentially I thought that was the place for Addeybb as he had struggled to win a Group 1 in England, and I thought that if it rained he must have a chance of winning a Group 1 in Australia,” he continues. 

“The only blip we had was in the Sydney Cup [with Young Rascal] but the rest of it went absolutely swimmingly. I said to [former assistant trainer] Harry Eustace when he got back, ‘We’ll try it every year now but it will probably never go that well again’. We had the right people, the right conditions, and the right horses for the right races. And we had a jockey who knew the place and who was English and hungry and was able to come and sit on the horse a few times before he ran. It just went to plan, it was very fortunate.”

For Marquand, who is not officially stable jockey to Haggas, but who rides out for him regularly and is generally first preference for the stable’s mounts, the Ranvet victory was an important milestone in an extraordinary season. From that first Group 1 success, he added another two on Addeybb, in the Queen Elizabeth S. at Randwick and the QIPCO British Champion S. back home at Ascot. He also notched a first British Classic in the St Leger aboard Galileo Chrome (Ire) (Australia {GB}), as well as a first win at Royal Ascot. All that, and still Marquand has been somewhat usurped by his equally high-achieving girlfriend Hollie Doyle, with the pair currently sitting in second and third position in the jockeys’ table for the year.

“It has been a remarkable year for them,” says Haggas. “For Tom, who I know better and have obviously worked with a lot this year, it has been a really interesting year. He’s obviously still a very young man but he lost the ride on English King (Ire) in the Derby then finished second on an outsider. Then the real irony was that he took the ride back on English King for the St Leger and then they rerouted [the horse] on declaration day to the Grand Prix de Paris. Tom was going to be without a ride in the St Leger but then Shane Crosse tested positive for Covid and Tom got the ride on the winner. The luck has to go your way in life, and in racing in particular luck went his way this year.”

He adds, “Both the jockeys we are using at the moment, Tom and Cieren [Fallon Jr], have had nothing but progression all their racing lives but we have to prepare them for the bump in the road, which is inevitable.

What Hollie has achieved is remarkable, and she and Tom are both very level-headed, normal people. And all the stories that can be gleaned from Hollie’s success in particular are fantastic for our sport.”

While Doyle stayed in Britain through last winter, plying her trade on the all-weather, Marquand became quite the darling of the Australian race fans and media during his fruitful spell in Sydney. His return to the UK and continued association with Addeybb saw the pair score their biggest home win on British Champions Day, the same day that Doyle landed her first Group 1 in the Sprint with Glen Shiel (GB), trained by Haggas’s former assistant Archie Watson.

Haggas is understandably protective of Addeybb. He says, “He’s sort of been a little bit under the radar for most people because of his love of soft ground. The more dour performances come on this type of ground but you’ve still got to win it. Champions’ Day, rightly or wrongly, is often run on soft ground, so that’s an obvious target. A lot of the field were known to be suited by soft ground too, so it’s not as if they all failed. I watched him the whole way and, I shouldn’t really say this because it sounds arrogant, but it was never really in doubt. He got a good position, travelled well and waited until the two, then he kicked and that was it.”

Addeybb has subsequently enjoyed a well-earned spell in the paddock but has recently returned to Haggas’s Somerville Lodge in preparation for another trip to Australia in 2021.

“I think we’re going to try for the same again,” says the trainer. “The beauty of last year was the travelling. He travelled immaculately and when he came back he was eight kilos lighter than when he left, which is extraordinary. He’s old and he’s a gelding, but he’s a dude now and he doesn’t take too much out of himself. He’s had a little time in the field, he looks big and well and his preparation will be geared up towards returning.”

The return of Addeybb may not be music to the ears of Chris Waller, whose Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) finished runner-up to him in both his Group 1 victories, but Sydney’s champion trainer can at least count Haggas among the many owners in his stable. Humbolt Current (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) joined Waller’s stable from Haggas after the 2018 season and his former trainer ended up buying a share in the Queen’s homebred, who, appropriately, has won three times in Queensland this year.

Haggas explains, “Chris bought a horse from Her Majesty, and he bought him at the right time. I said to him that I thought he was the soundest horse I’ve ever trained. When Mathilde [Texier] vetted him she said she couldn’t find one bit of him that wasn’t perfect. So I rang the two people who had owned [G1 Doomben Cup winner] Beaten Up (GB) with us and I said ‘Your trainer has just bought this horse and I think you should buy a share in him’. So they did, and then Chris rang me and said, ‘If he’s such a nice horse would you like a share?'”

Addeybb is likely not to be Haggas’s lone challenger in Sydney next year. The trainer also hopes to send Sinjaari (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and Favorite Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}).

“Sinjaari was just beaten in a listed race the other day and is a good, solid 106,” he says. “He should be competitive in mile-and-a-quarter races but probably not the Queen Elizabeth. And I’m looking at sending Favorite Moon, who won two staying handicaps at Haydock last year. He’s done really well and I quite fancy going for the Manion Cup with him, and trying to win it, and then going for the Sydney Cup.”

Though many in British racing have ongoing concerns over prize-money, which falls way below the pots on offer at Sydney’s The Championships, Haggas points to the fact that it is not only the UK which has suffered Covid-related cuts at the top end.

He says, “I am concerned but I think we are far too negative at the moment. The bookmakers, the racecourses and the government will sort it out. This industry isn’t going to collapse overnight. We just have to be more positive because negative talk puts the fear of God into the customers.”

He continues, “Although the Queen Elizabeth was a huge prize to win, it got chopped in half, so it was a $4 million race when we left England and it was £2 million by the time we raced. I know that is still a lot of money, I’m not saying it’s not. I’d also like to point out that One Master has won the Prix de la Foret three years in a row and in 2018 she won €176,000, in ’19 she won €181,000, and this year she won €101,000, so it’s not a problem only for England. I think we mustn’t forget that.”

While the gelding Addeybb remains in training with another global campaign in his immediate future, his main rival for the title of stable star, Lael Stable’s One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) has now been retired to the paddocks after her honourable career. Her owner-breeders Roy and Gretchen Jackson recently purchased promising 2-year-old Aunty Bridy (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) through Haggas’s son Sam of Hurworth Bloodstock at Tattersalls’ December Sale and she will be joining the team at Somerville Lodge.

“The Jacksons have been wonderful,” says Haggas. “They’ve been fabulously loyal ever since they bought into Superstar Leo in 2000—so that’s 20 years—and every member of each branch of the family that they train comes to us. They never interfere and they deserve every bit of success.”

He adds, “They are very sporting as well. They came out last year for the Foret, and they are in their mid-80s but they flew over to Paris, and they came to Hong Kong the year before, and to Ascot. They absolutely love it. It was Roy’s idea to race One Master as a 6-year-old. I said, ‘ No you can’t do that, she needs to go off to stud,’ and he said, ‘Well we’re old and we might not be around to see her children.’

“Aunty Bridy is coming to me to start with. Hopefully she’ll be a top filly and they can race her here and then we can come for the Breeders’ Cup or for the Beverly D. We’ll see how we get on with that.”

The trainer also has One Master’s 2-year-old half-sister Arousing (GB) (Kodiac {GB}), who won her only start comfortably, as well as the promising York maiden winner Ready To Venture (GB) (Kingman {GB}).

He says, “I’ve had some nice 2-year-olds for the Jacksons this year so they have a bit to look forward to next year.”

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One Master Retired To Stud

Lael Stable homebred One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}-Enticing {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}), the three-time G1 Prix de la Foret winner, has been retired from racing and will take up residence at New England Stud, Racing Post reports.

The 6-year-old mare, trained by William Haggas for Roy and Gretchen Jackson, only got going in the late summer of her 3-year-old campaign but quickly made up for lost time, breaking her maiden at second asking before winning the Listed October S. at Ascot. She picked up a first pattern win the following August in the G3 Fairy Bridge S. at Tipperary before upsetting the Foret at 33-1, and she would never be that long a shot again. Freshened after running at the Breeders’ Cup and the Hong Kong International meeting in 2018, One Master went winless but was not beaten far in three Group 1 tries last year before defending her Foret title. Kept in training this year at six with the goal of a third Foret, One Master won the G3 Oak Tree S. at Glorious Goodwood prior to finishing second in the G2 City of York S. and G2 Park S., after which she bested Godolphin’s multiple Group 1-winning colt Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal) in the latest edition of the Foret over the heavy ground. Beaten a half-length when third in the G1 British Champions Sprint S., One Master was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Mile earlier this month after tying up at Keeneland.

Haggas told Racing Post, “One Master has been an absolute star for us, but she has been retired to New England Stud. She was kept in training specifically to win the Foret for a third time and it came off, which seldom happens. She owes us nothing and hopefully the second chapter of her career will be as successful as the first.”

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