Pat Smullen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Coast to Curragh Charity Cycle Takes Place On August 27

The Coast to Curragh charity cycle will be run for a second year in aid of Cancer Trials Ireland on Saturday, August 27, where the legendary Pat Smullen will be remembered on the day.

The Curragh have dedicated the August 27 fixture to the nine-time Irish champion jockey and the racecourse chief Brian Kavanagh revealed that he hopes to grow the event.

The Coast to Curragh Cycle, which raised more than €185,000 last year, starts at Laytown Racecourse at 8am taking in seven racecourses and two stud farms in total, finishing at the winning line at the Curragh during the race meeting.

The charity cycle will see racing legends AP McCoy, Barry Geraghty and Paul Carberry take part.

Kavanagh said, “Pat Smullen is remembered every day here at the Curragh and we are honoured to have our Jockeys Room named after him. We are delighted to team up again with Frances, Gavin Lynch and support the team from Cancer Trials Ireland with their ongoing work in this important area. Our objective is that the Pat Smullen Race Day in aid of Cancer Trials Ireland will be an important event in our calendar every year to create a fun day for everyone while raising money for a very worthy cause.”

On the track, racegoers are promised a high-class card and entertainment including the Paddy Power Supporting Cancer Trials Irish Cambridgeshire, Snow Fairy S., Heider Family Stables Round Tower S. and Newtown Anner Stud S.

In addition to racing, there will be meet and greet zone for racing fans to meet the jockeys, free children's entertainment, live music and a delicious BBQ ensuring a great day out for all the family

Cancer Trials Ireland will also be on hand offering advice and information on the services they provide. There will also be copies of Pat Smullen's autobiography on sale, signed by Pat's wife Frances and writer Donn McClean.

Frances Smullen, said, “The Coast To Curragh charity cycle was a huge success last year so to build on it with the race day and charity lunch at the Curragh on Saturday August 27 will be very special and a great day out. I know Pat would be thrilled that the important work of Cancer Trials Ireland continues to be promoted and highlighted. Our family are really honoured that the Curragh and Gavin Lynch, who organises the Coast To Curragh charity cycle, have come together to host this special race day in memory of Pat.”

All monies raised from the cycle, charity auction, book sales and contributions from the public and the Curragh Racecourse will be donated to Cancer Trials Ireland, the leading cancer research trials organisation in Ireland.

There are a small number of tickets for the charity lunch are still available for €200 per head and include a sumptuous four-course lunch in the Oaks Restaurant. Pat's good friend and Racing TV presenter, Fran Berry will act as MC and tipster.

The post Coast to Curragh Charity Cycle Takes Place On August 27 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Thoughts Turn To June In Moyglare’s Milestone Year

It is a year of important milestones for Moyglare Stud, most notably the 60th anniversary of its foundation by Swiss businessman and philanthropist Walter Haefner. The 50th running of the G1 Moyglare Stud S. will also take place on Sept. 11 at the Curragh, the famed Irish racecourse and training grounds which have been the beneficiary of significant support from Eva-Maria Bucher Haefner, who took over the running of Moyglare on her father's death, at the age of 101, a decade ago in June 2012.

A passionate equestrian who took up race riding in his 50s and became the 1963 Fegentri champion amateur at the age of 53, Haefner would surely have approved of his daughter's gathering of the reins at the Irish farm and continuing, with manager Malachy Ryan and advisor Fiona Craig, very much in the spirit of his beloved enterprise. Fittingly, in the early days of this noteworthy season, Moyglare Stud has already been represented by a decent smattering of classy representatives and has a couple of potential Classic fillies to savour in the coming weeks.

One of those, Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), has been ruled out of Sunday's Poule d'assai des Pouliches on account of the lively ground, and she will likely take aim at the Irish 1000 Guineas on her home track. She is trained on the Curragh by Dermot Weld, a mainstay of the Moyglare operation for decades, who, in tandem with Walter Haefner, embraced a pioneering approach to racing abroad. Their travels resulted in victory in the 1990 GI Belmont S. for the Moyglare homebred Go And Go (Ire) (Be My Guest), followed the next year by lifting the inaugural Hong Kong Bowl with Additional Risk (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}), who became the first overseas-trained winner in Hong Kong.

Continuity is a hallmark of Moyglare Stud, and doubtless one which has aided its success over the years. Fiona Craig joined the team in 1990, the year after the purchase of GI Acorn S. winner Aptostar (Fappiano) at Fasig-Tipton's Night of the Stars Sale in Kentucky. More than three decades later she still plays a key role in the operation and is looking forward to a Classic turn for Homeless Songs, a fifth-generation descendant of Aptostar and recent winner of the G3 Ballylinch Stud 1000 Guineas Trial. The filly's dam Joailliere (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), also trained by Weld, earned multiple group placings and won a German listed contest.

“We ran her mother on firm ground in the Guineas and she didn't run again for 10 months,” says Craig of the decision to swerve Paris on Sunday. “But Joailliere came back as a 4-year-old, and this filly is stronger than her dam. It's a long year and we'd love to race her all year and next year. She's a good filly and she deserves to run in the Guineas.”

She continues, “Mr Haefner always said 'you have to race them' and so Eva has a 6-year-old staying mare still in training.”

That mare is Search For A Song (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), one of eight black-type winners and two Group 1 winners for Moyglare's celebrated matriarch Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill). The Irish St Leger heroine of 2019, Search For A Song appeared for the first time this season when running second to her full-brother Kyprios (Ire) in the Listed Vintage Crop S. The 4-year-old colt is one of a handful of horses Moyglare has in training with Aidan O'Brien and owned in partnership with Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor. They include the recent Cheshire Oaks winner Thoughts Of June (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who naturally is a potential candidate for the Oaks on the first weekend of the month for which she is hopefully portentously named.

In the meantime, Kyprios and Search For A Song will appear again on the same day this Friday, but in separate races in different countries, with the latter heading to the Knavesmire for the G2 Yorkshire Cup and Kyprios to the G3 Saval Beg Levmoss S. at Leopardstown.

These siblings, too, descend from a mare bought in America, a favoured venue for the globetrotting Haefner. Their third dam is the dual Grade I winner Talking Picture (Speak John).

Craig recalls, “Walter Haefner loved American racing. He found it faster and more exciting, and that's where most of the broodmares on Moyglare came from, such as Talking Picure and Grenzen. They bought Talking Picture out of the Gluck dispersal in 1978. She came off Elmendorf Farm and was in foal to Hoist The Flag. This is the one branch of the family that is still thriving for us.”

That branch stretches through Talking Picture's daughter Trusted Partner (Affirmed), winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas in 1988. That mare's most vaunted offspring is Dress To Thrill (Ire) (Danehill), a star for Moyglare on both sides of the Atlantic when winning the GI Matriarch S. at the now-defunct Hollywood Park, as well as the G2 Sun Chariot S. at Newmarket. She was also runner-up in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. of 2001. As can often be the case in families, while Dress To Thrill excelled on the track, her lesser-performed full-sister Polished Gem outdid her in the paddocks.

“Dress To Thrill had a very bad foaling with her third foal and was always a bit on borrowed time after that,” says Craig. Dress To Thrill produced six foals and died in 2010 at the age of 11.

“But then there was Polished Gem. Kyprios was her eighth stakes winner but you would not have picked out Polished Gem. Dress To Thrill had all this presence, real pazzazz. She was a bigger, stronger mare. But Polished Gem was more like Trusted Partner, quite weak and light.”

Kyprios's Ballydoyle stable-mate, the grey Thoughts Of June, is half-owned by Moyglare and is out of mare who exemplifies the profile prized by Bucher Haefner and Craig in her combination of talent and toughness. With 17 starts and six wins under her belt, Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat), who was purchased as a filly in training from her breeder Patricia Generazio, won the GI Del Mar Oaks among three graded stakes wins and seven Grade 1 placings.

“Her mum was as brave as they came,” says Craig. “She was with Christophe Clement and I watched her train and race for two years. Then the Generazios wanted to sell and Eva bought her. She was really game and never gave in.

“The Generazios were breeders from New Jersey who bred many good grey horses and they always said to me, 'Have you had a grey yet?' When Discreet eventually had a grey Mr. Generazio said to me, 'That'll be the one'.”

She continues of Thoughts Of June, “But she's only just starting. We are looking at next year and onwards. Moyglare is not really commercial but there comes a point when you have to retire them, but there's not the urgency if they are good and they are racing and enjoying it. Why stop? Some of the horses bred are only starting as 3-year-olds.

“Eva wants racehorses. Her father didn't go racing as much but Eva and her children Chiara and Mischa go racing a lot more and they want to race them. It's so competitive in Ireland and therefore if you have something that can compete it's fantastic.”

Craig adds, “You watch Search For A Song coming down the yard in the morning and she loves it. I don't know whether she will win a Group 1 this year or not, but it seems a pity to put her in a field just yet.”

Mischa and Chiara Bucher race horses respectively in the colours previously used by their grand father Walter–blue and white to represent Switzerland, and green, white and gold for Ireland. The silks now sported by the Moyglare horses of a black and white jacket with a red cap and black star have a rich history as the former colours of Kaiser Wilhelm II, presumably based on the national colours of the German empire.

Whatever their heritage, they are silks which have become readily associated with the Haefner family's bloodstock, carried to success by a stream of top-class horses, including 2000 Guineas winner Refuse To Bend (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), Irish Oaks winner Dance Design (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Brief Truce (Irish River {Fr}).

“We're very lucky at Moyglare; some of the lads have been there for decades,” says Craig. “The good horses at the moment, are down to these lads and Malachy Ryan. They are the ones that do it day to day and they don't get much of the credit.”

She continues, 'The horses cannot be brought in and mollycoddled. There are big pastures and lots of trees so there are windbreaks but they have to stand out in the rain. They have to be hardy horses to compete in Ireland.

“It's not a beauty contest. Tough horses are what do it–horses that are tough enough to stay out all winter. The breeding business can get very complicated at times and it probably just needs to be kept simple. I am sure if you're a commercial breeder there are things that have to be done. But we're not really commercial–occasionally we sell things to keep the numbers down. It's 500 acres and we try to keep to around 100 horses, in the U.S. and Ireland.”

Craig adds, “We have put the odd good mare into an auction, and Eva's hope and my hope is that they would go on to be successful for someone else. They are probably going to be bred differently to how we would have bred them at Moyglare and I don't view that as a negative. For example, we sold Offshore Boom in 1997 to Joe Crowley. She was the cheapest mare in the draft and then she became the dam of Rock Of Gibraltar, but she wouldn't have been bred to Danehill had she stayed at Moyglare.”

There is no point ruing the occasional one that gets away, particularly if those who remain continue to do the stud proud.

“It's exciting to have the good ones but these things go in cycles, and if you keep doing what you do and you have some fillies, then you have a chance,” Craig says. “Moyglare has been through quite a big transition. When Eva took over the one thing we all realised was that we had to buy some new stock. Our bloodlines are so focused now that it's very hard to find something in England or Ireland that you can breed to. Galileo was such an amazing force of nature and he is throughout the pedigrees. It's equally hard to find stallions in the United States that would work back in Ireland–there's a handful–so what Eva has done in the last few years has left a handful of yearlings in training there with Christophe Clement.”

The strategy paid off in December with the Wait A While S. victory for the Uncle Mo filly Lia Marina, a daughter of Lira (Giant's Causeway), one of nine mares Moyglare has at stud in Kentucky. The Haefner family will always have strong ties to Ireland, too. Eva-Maria's support of the Curragh has been widely appreciated, and Moyglare Stud is involved in the longest-running Group 1 race sponsorship in its eponymous fillies' contest on Irish Champions Weekend.

“Eva likes helping people,” says Craig. “She helped local artists in Switzerland during the pandemic because all their work stopped. And that's why the stable staff canteen at the Curragh is sponsored because they deserve it, and it was also a significant reason for her upgrading the facilities on the gallops at the Curragh. It was really for the community of the Curragh. All the lads live in the surrounding villages and if you lose the Curragh gallops you lose a whole world of people.”

Moyglare Stud's current crop of horses trained in Ireland also include the Classic-entered pair of Trevaunance (Ire) (Muhaarar {Ire}), who beat Thoughts Of June when breaking her maiden last September for Jessica Harrington, and Eclat De Lumiere (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a recent fourth in the G3 Blue Wind S. The debutant winner Tough Talk (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) also looks a smart juvenile prospect for Ger Lyons.

“Eva started off with a real enjoyment of breeding and racing, but she became a very good student of it and learnt an awful lot,” says Craig

“I think it's a great satisfaction to her that the stud this year has done what it was bought to do 60 years ago. Her father didn't come to Ireland to buy a farm, he came to buy a show jumper but his flight was delayed and he got chatting in an airport bar and ended up buying a stud farm.”

Despite the hope and joy brought by horses of Classic potential, for Bucher-Haefner and for Craig, two absent friends are never far from their minds. Pat Smullen, Ireland's champion jockey who became synonymous with the Moyglare silks during his long tenure at Weld's stable, had become an advisor to the stud prior to his death in 2020.

“Pat will always be a part of Moyglare,” says Craig of her long-time friend. “He was an integral part of it all. He started off as a young rider but he ended up knowing the pedigrees and the families inside out, and that was the benefit of having someone riding those generations for so long. He won't ever not be a factor at Moyglare just because he's not physically here.”

She added, “Eva said the other day when she was watching Thoughts Of June win at Chester that she had tears in her eyes for her father. She was thinking of him and how excited he would have been, because that is a step to somewhere.”

The post Thoughts Turn To June In Moyglare’s Milestone Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Coast to Curragh Raises €145,000 For Cancer Trials Ireland

A total of €145,000 was raised by the inaugural Coast to Curragh charity cycle for Cancer Trials Ireland. Created by Gavin Lynch, the event started at Laytown Races and finished at The Curragh Racecourse. Over 300 people participated, among them Rachael Blackmore, Shane Foley, Barry Geraghty, Paul Carberry and Tadhg O'Shea, in the 155km charity cycle. Members of the late Pat Smullen's family, his wife Frances, son Paddy, and brothers Ger and Brian, also took part. Pat's daughter Hannah and weigh room friend Kevin Manning were waiting at the finish line. All of the money raised will be donated to Cancer Trials Ireland in memory of Pat and Gavin's mother Olive Lynch, who both passed from pancreatic cancer.

Gavin Lynch, Coast to Curragh charity cycle organiser said, “We had a magic day on Saturday, and I was blown away by the huge turnout of cyclists and the generosity of the 2000 people who donated to Cancer Trials Ireland. I'd like to sincerely thank everyone who took part, donated and volunteered their time, including the generous support from Paddy Power and Servier Laboratories (Ireland) Ltd. I'd like to give special mention to An Garda Síochána for their assistance and all the racecourses and stud farms who allowed us to use their facilities as pit-stops.

“The Coast to Curragh GoFundMe page will stay open for donations until Friday, Oct. 29–every penny counts towards Cancer Trials Ireland's vital research.”

The post Coast to Curragh Raises €145,000 For Cancer Trials Ireland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Weekly Wrap: Like A Hurricane

It's a childish game but I've long amused myself by seeing how many song titles can be weaved into headlines and this weekend's results provided an open goal for a Neil Young classic, not once but twice.

Two hurricanes blew across Town Moor on Saturday at the opposite ends of the distance spectrum. Hurricane Ivor (Ire) (Ivawood {GB}) is an admirable sprinter who has bounced back from a blistering debut for Fabrice Chappet and subsequent illness that ruled him out of much of his juvenile season. He has been creeping up the ratings this year on the back of some consistent performances for William Haggas, culminating in his gutsy Portland H. win under top weight. Like his sire Ivawood, Hurricane Lane races in the purple and green-starred silks of Fiona Carmichael, and he surely deserves another shot at some black type.

Of far greater significance at this stage, however, is the hugely impressive winner of the Cazoo St Leger, Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Within the space of an hour, he and St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) became the 24th and 25th horses to have won Group 1 races in Britain, Ireland and France in the same year since the Pattern was devised 50 years ago.

Already proven to be highly effective over a mile and a half, Hurricane Lane's hoped-for next start in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe should see him try to reverse the Derby form with his stable-mate Adayar (Ire). Debate will rage about which son of Frankel is better, but these two Godolphin colts have lit up the middle-distance division for the Classic generation with their consistency at the highest level.

Adayar's defection from the G2 Qatar Prix Niel was a disappointment, as was the late scratching on a vaccination error of Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and while the latter has claimed the GI Belmont Derby this season, he still has something to prove on European turf.

One thing is for sure, the Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old Colt title will be one of the hottest contests of the year, with Adayar and Hurricane Lane facing stiff competition from the outstanding St Mark's Basilica, who is surely the odds-on favourite for this honour, as well as the boldly campaigned Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}). In another year, any one of the quartet would be a worthy winner.

The Ger and Jessie Show

Aidan O'Brien may have this year's star package in the Irish Champion S. winner St Mark's Basilica but the Group 1 honours on Irish Champions Weekend were shared around pretty fairly, with five different stables winning the six top-level races.

Jessica Harrington was queen of both Leopardstown and the Curragh, winning the G1 Coolmore America Matron S. with No Speak Alexander (Ire), who delivered an important first Group 1 winner for Shalaa (Ire), as well as for Dandy Man (Ire) as a broodmare sire.

Bred by Mount Armstrong Stud and raced by Noel, Charles and Paul O'Callaghan, No Speak Alexander is the first foal of their listed winner Rapacity Alexander (Ire), who is a full-sister to Dandy Man's Hong Kong Group 1 winner Peniaphobia (Ire).

Another first was notched for the Harrington team in the following race, the G2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang Mile when Real Appeal (Ger) became the first European group winner for the former shuttler Sidestep (Aus), a son of Exceed And Excel (Aus) who spent three years at Haras du Logis.

Bought as a €9,000 foal by Con and Theresa Marnane, Real Appeal won three races in France as a juvenile, including the listed Prix La Fleche, and was subsequently sold for £265,000 to Zhang Yuesheng at the Goffs London Sale.

Sidestep stood his first three seasons in Australia for Darley but is now leased to Telemon Thoroughbreds in Queensland. He made an eye-catching start in the southern hemisphere where his first crop included the 2019 G1 Golden Slipper winner Kiamichi (Aus).

Perhaps the most satisfying of four wins over Irish Champions Weekend for Harrington was that of the Niarchos family's Discoveries (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. This is a family which has really helped to raise the profile of her stable on the Flat, with full-sister and erstwhile stable star Alpha Centauri (Ire) and half-sister Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) having each landed Group 1 races for Harrington in recent seasons.

Huge interest will doubtless be paid to the full-brother of Discoveries and Alpha Centauri who is consigned to the Goffs Orby Sale as lot 347 by Camas Park Stud. His was a page which hardly needed an update–only two dams fit as it is, leaving off his mighty great grandam Miesque–but it has been given another dose of proper black type nonetheless.

Harrington's quartet of wins on Irish Champions Weekend was matched by Ger Lyons, who was a welcome sight back at the races for the first time since the pandemic struck. He timed his run well as he was present to enjoy the success of Atomic Jones (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who remained unbeaten when winning the G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile S. The same ownership trio Sean Jones, David Spratt and the trainer's wife Lynne Lyons, was celebrating again later in the afternoon when Camorra (Ire) (Zoffany {GB}) led home a one-two for the stable in the G3 Paddy Power S.

Breeders Behind The Stars

The breeding plaudits for the weekend must be split equally between Bob Scarborough and Philippa Cooper, who were each responsible for two group winners at Leopardstown and Doncaster respectively.

When Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) won the 2000 Guineas, Melbourne-based Scarborough could have been forgiven for thinking that he'd hit the heights as a breeder, but little did he know that the best was yet to come from his Galileo mare Cabaret (Ire). Two years after foaling Magna Grecia, she produced St Mark's Basilica, who is now the winner of five consecutive Group 1 races in three countries. But he was not the sole highlight on Saturday for Scarbrorough's northern hemisphere breeding operation, which is based at Norelands Stud in Co Kilkenny. No sooner had the dust settled on a dramatic Champion S., than Camorra bounced out to give the breeder another boost in the following race, the G3 Paddy Power S. The 4-year-old is the top-rated runner of Mauralakana (Fr) (Muhtathir {GB}), who won the G1 Beverly D S. in Scarborough's colours in 2008.

Cooper also enjoyed a group double in consecutive races, with Hurricane Lane's St Leger victory following yet another win for the admirable Glorious Journey (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The 6-year-old has now won eight races, six of them at group level, the latest coming on Saturday in the G2 Park S.

Lynams Pinpointing Success

'Fast Eddie' Lynam will be paying close attention to the notes in the foal sales catalogues of his wife Aileen and daughter Amy this season after Romantic Proposal (Ire) (Raven's Pass) became the second group winner for the stable to have been pinhooked by the duo. The first was Soffia (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}), who won two group races at the Curragh for Lady O'Reilly.

Winner of the listed Dubai Duty Free Dash in June and also twice group-placed this season, Romantic Proposal beat a strong field in the G1 Flying Five S. to give Steve Parkin of Clipper Logistics a memorable weekend and another valuable future broodmare prospect for his Yorkshire-based Branton Court Stud.

Originally bought as a foal from breeder Julie Lynch of Fastnet Stud for €25,000, Romantic Proposal returned to Goffs for the Orby Sale, where she was bought by Parkin's bloodstock advisor Joe Foley for €55,000.

The Breeders' Cup Classic winner Raven's Pass now boasts a strike-rate of 8.4 stakes winners to runners and has never had a foal crop larger than 80, which was the tally from his first year at stud in 2010. He has now had a Group 1 winner in Japan, Dubai, France and Ireland and is also having some success as a broodmare sire, notably through Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and the G2 Mill Reef S. winner Kessaar (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), whose first yearlings are now at the sales.

There is much to recommend Romantic Proposal beyond her sire, however, as her dam Playwithmyheart (GB) (Diktat {GB}) is a winning half-sister to the G1 Prix de la Foret winner Toyslome (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}). Some stouter influences are also found in the presence of Ascot Gold Cup and St Leger winner Leading Light (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), whose grandam River Jig (Irish River {Fr}) is Romantic Proposal's third dam.

Blazing A Trail

There was a disappointing lack of British runners in the Irish Champion S. but Charlie Appleby ensured that Champions Weekend was not an entirely domestic affair when sending out Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) to land an upset in defeating Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and Ebro River (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) in the G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S.

It was a notable first Group 1 success for breeder Jose Delmotte of Haras d'Haspel, who bought Native Trail's dam Needleleaf (GB) (Observatory {GB}), a full-sister to G1 Sprint Cup winner African Rose (GB), from Juddmonte for 60,000gns through his friend and advisor Marc-Antoine Berghgracht.

Native Trail has already been through the sale ring three times, initially when sold by his breeder for €50,000 to Sam Sangster as a foal and most recently when consigned by Norman Williamson at the Craven Breeze-up Sale. There he was sold to Godolphin for 210,000gns, having been bought at Tattersalls as a yearling for 67,000gns.

His two previous victories, including the G2 Superlative S., gave an important boost to his Kingman half-sister when she went through the Arqana August Sale the following month. Unsurprisingly, it was Anthony Stroud who signed for the filly, as he had done for Native Trail, but this time at €950,000.

Varian The Party-Pooper

Charlie Appleby wasn't the only British trainer responsible for spoiling the fun for Ballydoyle over the weekend as the Roger Varian-trained Teona (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) sprang quite a surprise when getting the better of odds-on favourite Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Qatar Prix Vermeille.

There's something rather satisfying about seeing Derby winners feature as sire and broodmare sire of top-class horses, and Teona's dam Ambivalent (Ire), also trained by Varian, is one of six Group 1 winners for the somewhat overlooked Authorized (Ire). Both mother and daughter have carried the colours of Ali Saeed.

Varian may also have caused a bit of consternation in the palace on Saturday when his Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) halted the upwardly mobile progression of the Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) by winning the G2 Champagne S. by a head.

Bred by Ballylinch Stud, Bayside Boy had previously been runner-up in the listed Denford S. to Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir), who in turn was beaten a short-head by Native Trail in the Superlative S.

David Egan was on board Bayside Boy and notched a double at Doncaster for his boss when also winning on Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Title (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). Not far away at Chester the same day, we were reminded of a different type of sire power when John Egan, David's 53-year-old father, rode a double of his own, including in the day's feature race, the listed Tote+ Stand Cup. There's life in the old dog yet.

Double Bubble

The first of the Arc Trials at ParisLongchamp went the way of Bubble Gift (Fr) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who completed a notable double within eight days for owner Zak Bloodstock and trainer Mikel Delzangles. The previous Sunday his three-parts-sister Bubble Smart (GB) (Intello {Ger}) had won the G3 Prix Gladiateur.

Both horses were bred and are raced by the Hakam family under a breeding operation established by the Moroccan-born Zakaria Hakam, who died 10 years ago. His children Ali and Amina and their mother Mouna Bengeloun have carried on the tradition, now racing their homebreds, which are raised at Haras de Maulepaire, under the name of Zak Bloodstock.

It has been a successful season for the family, with 4-year-old Bubble Smart having notched a hat-trick of wins, and the year-younger Bubble Gift adding the Niel to his victory in the G2 Prix Hocquart in the spring. He was just over nine lengths behind Hurricane Lane when sixth in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris.

Their dam Bubble Back (Fr) (Grand Lodge) remained winless in her five-start racing career but she has proved a worthy broodmare, with her earlier offspring including Bubble Chic (Fr) (Chichicastenango {Fr}), who was runner-up to Reliable Man (GB) in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and won the G3 Darley S. at Newmarket before being sold to race on in Hong Kong, where he won two listed contests.

It is pleasing to see the talented Mikel Delzangles back in the limelight this season, and his group-race success continued on Sunday when the Aga Khan's Sagamiyra (Fr) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) landed the G3 Qatar Prix du Pin. The 4-year-old filly was beaten just a head by Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) on her previous start in the G1 Prix Rothschild in August.

Raiders Of The Lost Arc

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has long represented something of a holy grail for Japanese owners and trainers and the latest of their raiders to put his name in the reckoning for Europe's richest race is Deep Bond (Jpn). The 4-year-old is a member of the first crop of Japanese Derby winner Kizuna (Jpn), the champion freshman sire in Japan in 2019 and a son of the late Deep Impact (Jpn).

Both Deep Bond's sire and grandsire staked their own claim to the Arc, with Deep Impact finishing third in 2006 and subsequently being disqualified when a banned substance was detected in his post-race sample. Kizuna beat Derby winner Ruler Of The World (Ire) to win the G2 Qatar Prix Niel of 2013 before finishing fourth in the Arc behind Treve (Fr), with his fellow Japanese-trained runner Orfevre (Jpn) taking second that day.

Deep Bond, who is inbred 4×4 to Halo, may not be the only Japanese contender for this year's Arc as the highly regarded treble Grade 1 winner Chrono Genesis (Jpn), a 5-year-old daughter of the 2004 Arc winner, Bago (Fr), is also an intended runner. The presence of Japanese runners in any race internationally always adds some spice and they are usually accompanied by a large throng of supporters, though that will sadly be scuppered this year by ongoing travel restrictions.

Pat Smullen Remembered

Wednesday, Sept. 15 marks the first anniversary of the passing of Pat Smullen. We were fortunate to have had Ireland's multiple champion jockey as a TDN columnist throughout the 2019 season and one thing that stood out in his weekly missives was how pleased he was to see his fellow jockeys do well, even though he had been forced to curtail his own brilliant riding career through illness.

It is doubtless this generosity of spirit that made Smullen so popular along his peers and so revered by the young jockeys on their way up, many of whom would ring him regularly for advice and feedback on their own burgeoning careers.

It was hard not to have a lump in the throat watching and listening to his weigh-room colleagues pay tribute by singing Stand By Me with the Newbridge Gospel Choir during Sunday's broadcast from the Curragh. Two years earlier the racecourse had been the scene of an equally emotional occasion when Smullen raised €2.5 million for Cancer Trials Ireland, predominantly through the Pat Smullen Champions Race.

One of the nine retired champions in that race was his former arch-rival Johnny Murtagh, who won the last of eight Group 1 races over the weekend, the Irish St Leger, with the Ebor winner Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}).

Reflecting on their competitiveness in the saddle back in April 2019, Smullen said, “I think our relationship is a lot better since both of us have not been riding. I genuinely feel that his ability to train horses is unquestionable.”

On this and many other things he was unquestionably right.

The post The Weekly Wrap: Like A Hurricane appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post