Prosperous Voyage | Horse Racing Free Tips

Stage Set for the Bloodstock World’s Theatre of Dreams

As the darkness draws in on the Monday and Tuesday afternoons of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, it is a signal for the those around Park Paddocks to head ring-wards for the bloodstock world's version of captivating theatre.

Who present, shoulder to shoulder in the packed auditorium over recent years, can forget moments such as the sale of Marsha (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) for 6 million gns? Even her trainer Sir Mark Prescott, always ready with a witticism, was for once lost for words in the drama of it all.

A decade ago the Oaks winner Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) was sold for 4 million gns carrying a foal from the first crop of Frankel (GB). Such was the clamour surrounding the Juddmonte superstar's transition to stallion duties that Dancing Rain's appearance at Tattersalls prompted a segment on BBC Radio 5 Live that evening.

It is anyone's guess as to who will emerge on top at this year's sale. The only thing that is not in doubt is that there is a vast array of contenders to choose from.

Although this segment of the sales season is collectively referred to as the breeding stock sales, there is a strong element to the December Mares Sale which could just as legitimately have it rebranded as the most elite horses-in-training sale out there. Generally, it is buyer's choice, when being lucky enough to snare one of the fillies on offer, whether or not they race on next season or head straight to the paddocks.

A poster girl for the former strategy is Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}), sold for 695,000gns two years ago to Tracy Farmer, for whom she has subsequently raced in America to land the GI EP Taylor and GI Beverly D S., along with another two Grade II wins. Her earnings have increased by more than £800,000 in the interim and she remains an enticing broodmare prospect.

Similar comments apply to Promise Of Success (GB) (Dansili {GB}), who could hardly have been better named. Still a maiden when sold in 2020 for 27,000gns to David Redvers and Rosemount Stud, she then went on to Australia and won the G2 Emancipation S. plus a $2 million conditions race at Randwick before being sold at Magic Millions in May this year for $1,350,000.

As this example shows, there will doubtless be future success stories to come from all levels of the market, but the introduction last year of the Sceptre Sessions, staged during those first two sessions, naturally shines a spotlight on some particularly high achievers.

It is hard to look past a particularly well-credentialed pairs of fillies from the same stable and owned by the same partnership. Through Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen enjoyed a particularly noteworthy 2022 season, with a Group 1 win apiece for these two fillies trained by Ralph Beckett.

Describing the four-year-old Prosperous Voyage as “a strong, robust filly with a good walk”, Beckett casts his mind back over the last three seasons.

He says, “She's been an extraordinarily tough and genuine filly. I'm not sure we knew how good she was when we first ran her in the Prestige Stakes. She progressed quickly to finish second tin the May Hill and the Fillies' Mile. Then at three she had a stellar year, with being second in the Guineas and winning the Falmouth Stakes.

“So we've had a terrific time with her, and she backed that up by winning the Princess Elizabeth at four.”

Indeed, in Prosperous Voyage's last two runs as a juvenile she was second to Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), recent heroine of the Breeders' Cup. But she had that great filly's measure when beating her the following year in the G1 Falmouth. Prior to that she had finished just a neck behind Cachet, who also features in the Sceptre Sessions, when second in the 1,000 Guineas.

Becket adds, “In terms of performance, I was equally proud of her in the Guineas. I thought she really outperformed all expectation that day.”

As Tattersalls' marketing director, Jimmy George is naturally relishing the prospect of the fillies' appearance at Park Paddocks.

“It's going to be an exciting few hours not only for Ralph Beckett, but also the owners, Marc Chan and Andrew Rosen,” he says. “Prosperous Voyage's finest hour obviously came in the Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes last year when she beat a very high-class field, including most notably Inspiral.

“She has a huge pedigree too. Her third dam is Monroe. It's a very smart Juddmonte family: fourth dam is Best In Show, one of the most influential broodmares of of the modern era. So she has plenty that should appeal to breeders from every corner of the globe.”

Prosperous Voyage is set to be sold on the Tuesday of the sale as Lot 1811. Prior to that, the three-year-old Lezoo takes to the ring as Lot 1776.

“She took her racing extraordinarily well at two,” says Beckett of the latter. “I think I ran her four times in six weeks, from a maiden to the Empress Stakes, the Cherry Hinton and the Princess Margaret, and she had a break after that and came back strongly to win the Cheveley Park. This year, things haven't gone quite so well but she did win the Hopeful Stakes against the colts, and she's been a sound, genuine filly throughout. And like Prosperous Voyage, she has barely had a sick day, so I think she'll do very well as a racehorse next year or as a broodmare.”

He adds, “Lezoo is a strong filly, deceptively robust, in the sense that you wouldn't have her down as masculine but the scales say that she is. In terms of physique, she's taken it very well throughout her career. She's got bigger and stronger as she's got older. To be able to come back from the last weekend in July to winning a championship race in early October takes a bit of doing. She had had a bit of a dip after winning the Princess Margaret and we had to bring her back gradually. So for her to do that was quite extraordinary, really, and unusual.”

Whether Lezoo races on or not, Jimmy George points to the genetic attributes which make her an attractive broodmare prospect beyond just what she has achieved on the track.

He says, “Lezoo does have a different profile to her stable-mate Prosperous Voyage, but a very attractive profile at that. She's by Zoustar, she's out of a Red Clubs mare, and it's hard to imagine a Group-1 winning filly that would be easier to mate. She can go to any stallion in the world pretty well. And she was top class when she won the Group 1 Cheveley Park. She beat Mawj, who won this year's 1,000 Guineas. She beat Meditate, who went on to win the Breeders' Cup that year. She is very high class and from an all-speed family.”

All sectors of the December Sale have had their notable representatives this year. Via Sistina (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), the 5,000gns December yearling who became a Group 1 star, returns this time to the Sceptre Sessions as Lot 1788, as does Rogue Millennium (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), bought for 35,000gns two years ago as a two-year-old and now a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed for Tom Clover and The Rogues Gallery. She is Lot 1800.

A family which has hogged the limelight at the December Foal Sale in recent years is that of Whitsbury Manor Stud's Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), whose Frankel (GB) foal of 2020 was sold for 550,000gns. Later named Chaldean (GB), his juvenile exploits gave a huge boost to his Kingman (GB) half-brother who topped last year's foal sale at 1,000,000gns. This year, their four-year-old half-sister Get Ahead (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) makes an appearance in the Sceptre Sessions. A Listed winner who was second in this year's G1 Flying Five S., she is sold 'in training' and is one of five black-type performers for her dam, led of course by the Classic winner and new Juddmonte sire Chaldean.

Among the young fillies included in the sale are the group-winning juveniles Relief Rally (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Dawn Charger (Ire) (Soldier's Call {GB}).

The former (Lot 1798) has only once been headed in five starts when beaten a nose in the G2 Queen Mary S at Royal Ascot. Since then she has won both the Weatherbys Super Sprint and the G2 Lowther S.

Dawn Charger meanwhile is Lot 1766 and has had a similarly productive season, winning three and finishing second in another three of her seven starts. She won the G3 Prix Eclipse and was most recently runner-up in the G2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte.

A slightly different format to the foal sale week this year sees the traditional 'dark day' shifted back to Thursday to allow for more viewing time for the last two foal sessions. Trade gets underway on Tuesday straight after Monday's yearling session, which in itself usually provides plenty of gems for the years ahead.

Following the success of Chaldean over the last seasons, the December Foal Sale has had some other notable graduates to its name this year. Dual Group 1 winner Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) may have been most readily associated with topping the Craven Breeze-up Sale in April, but his sales history stretches back to December 2021 when his breeder Kelly Thomas offered him in her Maywood Stud consignment. This year, in Thomas's draft of three, she brings Vandeek's half-brother by Starspangledbanner (Aus), who is sure to be one of the most heavily perused foals on offer on the Friday.

Vimal Khosla's G2 Beresford S. winner Deepone (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) was another to have been offered at that same foal sale as Vandeek, as was the unbeaten G2 Royal Lodge S. winner Ghostwriter (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). The Clive Cox trainee runs in the colours of Jeff Smith's Littleton Stud. A notable breeder, Smith doesn't buy many foals but he has done well with recent purchases, particularly Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never), who was picked up at the Goffs November Foal Sale for €40,000 and, after winning four Group 1s for Smith and Andrew Balding, topped last year's December Mares Sale at 5.4 million gns. Just another one of those unforgettable moments of Tattersalls' own brand of theatre.

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Beckett Hopes To Crown Record Season In Style

LEXINGTON, KY — Though introducing no fissure of light into the bruised grey sky hanging over Keeneland, daybreak on Wednesday nonetheless spread an array of crimson and saffron, dazzling as any sunrise, into the trees peering over the rituals of training track and shed row. And for those supervising one horse in particular, it felt especially apt that a final, lingering blaze of autumn glory should be preserved against the fading of the year.

For if he could win the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile here on Saturday, Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) would not only extend to a quite remarkable climax to his own spree of improvement through 2022; he would also set a corresponding seal on a landmark season in the career of his trainer.

Last year, Ralph Beckett posted his best haul yet, in domestic prizemoney, at £1.94 million. This time round, his Kimpton Down team have not just consolidated but smashed their way to £2.74 million already. Contributors include four Group 1 winners, and their diversity attests to a versatility that Beckett, during his rise, was not always given adequate opportunity to measure. While he has reiterated his mastery with a homebred Classic colt in Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}), he has also saddled the winners of two elite sprints.

One of those is Kinross himself, whose autumn schedule–he's seeking a third Group/Grade I success in five weeks–is not just bewildering local horsemen, with their collective neurosis about spacing out races. It's also allowing Beckett to show equal flair in a very different discipline to the type in which he largely made his name.

There were times when he would be sent fillies at a ratio approaching two-in-three, many of them requiring patience and distance. Here, in contrast, is a gelded dasher who has thrived on a timetable so hectic that Beckett even permits himself comparisons with a couple of indefatigable sprint handicappers of a generation ago: Chaplins Club (Parade Of Stars) and Glencroft (GB) (Crofter).

“It's slightly shades of those David Chapman horses,” he says. “Those guys who were really good at it, Dandy Nicholls was another, I never really worked out how they got it so right. But really all they were doing was just going with the horse. And that's rather what we're trying with Kinross: just not to stand in his way. I think it was David Elsworth who said, 'At a mile or less, it's all about wellbeing.' And that feels like a good way or looking at it, particularly with an older horse like this one.”

To a degree, in fact, the art of training can in these cases sooner become the art of not training. It's about restraint, about going from race to race as though you were lighting one candle with another. The growing weight of accumulated starts inevitably tugs at the thread, and Beckett and his team just have to stop it fraying.

“He just hacked a couple of laps of the training track this morning, and that's all we'll do with him,” Beckett explains. “He's not a horse you ever want to do much with, never mind need to. He trains himself really. These older horses, going out in the mornings, they really know their own way around. He's enjoying life out here. But by Friday he'll know exactly what he's going to be doing, how many laps he's going to go.”

It's important, then, to ensure that horses find their regime to be congenial. Because that's one of the few doors through which a trainer can offer a horse something as elusive, but critical, as confidence. A year ago, Kinross was beaten in both the the G1 Prix de la Foret and the G1 QIPCO British Champions Sprint after travelling powerfully but running out of track and/or time. As a fully rounded professional, aged five, he has won both with the same mechanical efficiency as he had previously two races in the tier below.

“I think there are always layers, it's always a sum of parts,” Beckett reflects. “The jockey understanding him, the way he does now, is definitely relevant. Frankie [Dettori] is not afraid to sit closer to the pace now. But I do think confidence is a big thing with this horse as well. It's just grown and grown as he's got older. It's a hard thing to nail down, but it's definitely part of your role, particularly with an older horse, to make sure they're happy what they're doing.”

This race will be a whole different ball game for Kinross, spinning round the dizzy bends of the inner track while going back up in trip. Things are complicated by a tiresome draw, 13 of 14, but there's definitely a scenario in which the environment will appeal to the horse's zesty style.

“And that's key,” Beckett says. “He's pretty straightforward, a horse you could put just about anywhere, he's like a scooter. So yes, it's a tough draw but I don't see it as the end of the world. Frankie will just have to deal with it. And I'm not concerned about the mile at all, particularly given the nature of Keeneland. Whether he handles that or not is another question, but I don't think trip will be an issue. Nor would I have any concerns about the ground, it was quick when he won the [G2] City of York S.”

Asked to assess his stellar campaign, Beckett stresses one thing immediately. “It's been great fun,” he says. “I've really enjoyed it. There have been setbacks, too, but that's inevitable. When Scope (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) broke a hindleg, that was obviously a huge blow–we didn't run at Ascot because it was too fast, and then for that to happen… Especially when you consider how few miles he had on the clock. But everything else has been great.

“Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) we only ran because it was the right race [G1 Falmouth S.], not because we thought we could win. Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}) hid her light under a bushel at home, so to get there [G1 Cheveley Park S.] with her was extraordinary. And Westover [G1 Irish Derby] was hugely satisfying. The King George was obviously a disaster, and there's always a certain pressure when they go west like that, and you have to get them all the way round again, so we were very pleased with his run in the Arc. He's probably going to for the G1 Sheema Classic, that looks a good fit for him and he'll enjoy it, I think. He's a big, tall, long horse, so you would think he might [keep developing] but that's always easy to say and we'll just have to see.”

Westover, of course, had excruciating luck in running at Epsom and that kind of thing will never cease to haunt any red-blooded horseman. But Beckett is gracious in his reflections.

“I mean, of course it was tough on everybody at the time,” he says. “But I don't think any of us thought we'd have beaten winner. It was just not getting the chance to see, that was the crux of it. And, of course, whether it'll ever happen again? It's easy to be blase about these things but horses like that are hard to come by.”

But while one can hardly invite him to comment, a personal reflection is that Beckett is now one of the handful of trainers in Britain whose eligibility for an elite yearling of absolutely any kind is proven beyond doubt. Standing 10th in the trainers' championship, he has had fewer runners than all those above him bar Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O'Brien. He is now at that optimal stage where, though still much younger than doyens of the previous generation, he has accumulated masses of experience. Far too classy ever to hustle for business, he knows that a certain clientele are inevitably drawn to the tranquillity and independence of his facilities–and, as it happens, these also tend to be just the type of people he likes training for.

Nonetheless it's gratifying for Beckett to have preconceptions so thoroughly corrected. Juddmonte, in sending him yearlings in 2015, made him their first new trainer in a decade: and they have been rewarded for giving him opportunities across the spectrum.

Ironically, given the way Beckett has had to fight to avoid becoming a victim of his own success, the gelding he has brought to the Bluegrass actually conforms to the original brand: he was homebred by one of his most longstanding clients, Julian Richmond-Watson. (And started out in his silks before being transferred to another of the stable's patrons, Marc Chan, at the beginning of last year.)

“I trained the dam, the sisters, the dam's sisters, the whole shooting match,” Beckett remarks. “So to be able to show up here with him is a big deal. It's easy to forget that, if you get too caught up in it. Whatever happens on Saturday, when we look back in years to come I hope we reflect how blessed we were that everything worked out the way it has.”

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Seven Days: Half-Mast

The flag at Somerville Lodge in Newmarket is at half-mast. For the inhabitants of that famous stable it is of course a deeply personal gesture as Maureen Haggas and her family mourn the death of her father Lester Piggott. Over the decades they will have become accustomed to the fact that the head of their family was also a racing icon–a man not just whose name is the first jockey a random member of the public can call to mind, but for many longstanding fans of racing the man who is their sporting hero.

So it is that racing mourns with the Piggott family, feeling a loss not so grievously intimate but a more wistful lament at the closing of one of the most celebrated and remarkable chapters of this great sport.

There appears to be a tendency in modern-day parenting towards excessive praise and a reluctance to criticise. Striking the right balance surely can't be easy, but a smattering of tough love never hurt anyone, and is perhaps often a major driver towards success.

An intriguing interview conducted by Kenneth Harris with Piggott for The Observer in 1970, the year in which the he won the Triple Crown on Nijinsky, reveals in the jockey's own words the most significant mentor of his life: his father, Keith. Though born into racing, the young Lester was clearly never allowed simply to coast along.

“He never let me know I was any good,” Piggott said of his father, a former jockey and Grand National-winning trainer, and himself the son of multiple champion National Hunt jockey Ernie Piggott.

“He didn't believe in it. A taskmaster. I think it's the best way. I knew he knew his stuff, and I tried to please him because I knew he knew his stuff. I wanted to be good and I was ready to take it from him.”

And while Keith Piggott may never have told his son he was any good, as the years progressed, Lester's legion of adoring fans never let him forget his brilliance. From Piggott's first of nine Derby victories in 1954 at the age of 18 aboard Never Say Die–a horse whose name would come to encapsulate his jockey's approach to riding–it quickly became clear that a prodigious talent galloped among us; one whose legend was only enhanced by his apparent aloofness and stony-faced deportment.

We could all learn plenty from Piggott's response to another of Harris's questions about the requisite attributes for a jockey, especially when the age of social media encourages almost ceaseless commentary of varying veracity and quality.

“That's one thing about not wanting to talk very much,” he said. “I get time to read about racing, and to listen, and to think.”

Harris issued one final question, eliciting a response which was as telling as it was tongue-in-cheek.

He asked of the greatest jockey, “I've noticed, very occasionally, that if you've won a really great race, like the Derby, in fine style, there is a ghost of a smile on your face as you enter the winner's enclosure. What are you thinking about then?

To which Piggott responded, no doubt with that ghost of a smile, “About Dad saying: 'What about the times you didn't win?'”

Racing is often more about losing than winning. Though Lester Piggott's extraordinary career is defined by the latter, we mourn this one significant loss.

Sombreness Amid The Jubilation

Lester Piggott's death will be marked this weekend at Epsom, when the Derby, the race with which he is most readily associated, will be run in his memory. The jockey's bronze likeness overlooks the unique winner's circle into which he was led following his record nine wins in the Derby, six in the Oaks and another nine in the Coronation Cup.

When Piggott won the Oaks for the first time aboard Carrozza (GB) in 1957, he was led in by the filly's owner, Her Majesty The Queen, who it appears may now be absent from Epsom on Derby day, which has long been marked as one of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations during the long weekend.
A report in the Sunday Times stated that the 96-year-old monarch would be “pacing herself” in a bid to be present at some of the events being staged to mark her 70 years on the throne. The Queen has missed the Derby only four times during her reign, two of those being through the pandemic restrictions of the last two years.

Take That

Thirty years ago Piggott notched his final Classic success aboard the Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Rodrigo De Triano in the 2,000 Guineas for his old ally Robert Sangster. He was 56 at the time, a milestone that is closing in for Kevin Manning, who won last year's 2,000 Guineas and Irish 2,000 Guineas at the age of 54.

Manning, who recovered extraordinarily quickly from surgery on his shoulder at the end of October in order to be back in time to ride one of those Classic winners, Mac Swiney (Ire), at the Hong Kong International Meeting in mid-December, shows no sign of slowing down. The same can be said for the evergreen Yutaka Take, now 53, who won Sunday's Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) for the sixth time.

As Alan Carasso pointed out in his report of the race won by last year's champion 2-year-old Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), Take has now won his home Derby in his 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Among his many riding achievements, he was also in the saddle for Deep Impact (Jpn)'s Triple Crown. His most recent major victories outside Japan came on one of that horse's many good sons, A Shin Hikari (Jpn), winner of the 2015 Hong Kong Cup and 2016 Prix d'Ispahan in France.

We may yet see him reappear at Longchamp this season with Do Deuce, as Take said after Sunday's success, “The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe should be a strong option for the owner and will probably be our next target.”

Learning Curve

On just her fourth start, Above The Curve leapt from winning a maiden and finishing runner-up in the Chesire Oaks to winning Sunday's G1 Prix Saint-Alary, sponsored by Coolmore, who bred and own the filly with Westerberg.

She duly became her U.S. Triple Crown-winning sire's 16th group winner from his four crops of racing age and his fifth at Group/Grade 1 level in America, Japan and France. Plenty of credit must also go to Above The Curve's strong female family. Her unraced dam is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Giant's Causeway and You'resothrilling, whose own brood, all by Galileo and including Gleneagles (Ire) and Marvellous (Ire), have played leading roles in recent Classic contests.
For all that Above The Curve has a pedigree and connections fully deserving of her Group 1 status, the race was denied the presence of 1,000 Guineas runner-up Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), whose passage from England to France was hampered by delays at the port of Dover.

It is no secret that the Brexit vote has caused travel disruption and extra expense for moving racing and breeding stock between the nations formerly happily engaging under the eminently practical Tripartite Agreement. These days there are few prosperous voyages to be made between Britain and the other European nations. It's a bit late now, but it's always wise to be careful what you wish for.

Bay Bridge Sparkles

Hayyona (GB) (Multiplex {GB}) must have been a good-looking youngster to command foal and yearling prices of 130,000gns and 145,000gns respectively. She was only a moderate racehorse, running three times for a rating of 60 and ultimately being sold as a maiden to James Wigan of London Thoroughbred Services for 18,000gns as a 3-year-old. Now 12, the mare has already paid back that outlay, chiefly via her son Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}).

Wigan's West Blagdon Stud draft is regularly one of the highlights of the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, but Bay Bridge missed his date in the ring when he was withdrawn from that sale. Put into training with Sir Michael Stoute, who also trained the dual Grade I-winning homebred filly Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}) for Wigan, Bay Bridge really came into his own as a 3-year-old and has remained unbeaten in his five starts over the last 14 months.
His imperious first Group win in the Brigadier Gerard S. last Thursday hinted at bigger and better things to come, as does the exemplary record of his trainer with later-maturing middle-distance types.

New Bay has been a lucky stallion for Wigan to date, as he is also the co-owner, with Ben, Lucy and Ollie Sangster, of the Ballylinch Stud sire's Group 1 winner Saffron Beach (Ire). She too missed her intended sale date, this time as a yearling, having been pinhooked by the owners as a foal. So far, Plan B has worked out rather well, with both Saffron Beach and Bay Bridge holding smart entries for Royal Ascot.

Extra Special

It is by now no surprise to see graduates of Lanwades Stud winning major races around the world. So attached was Kirsten Rausing to her late stallion Archipenko that she will no doubt have been delighted to have seen him represented by a sixth Group 1 winner in Saturday's Doomben Cup, even if the celebrated Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}), whom she bred, was beaten into third.

The winner, Huetor (Fr), was bred and initially trained in France by Carlos Laffon-Parias, who also trained his half-sister, the G1 Prix de l'Opera winner Villa Marina (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}). He had bought their dam, the Listed winner Briviesca (GB) (Peintre Celebre), as a yearling at Tattersalls for 10,000gns, and subsequently sent her to Bill Mott to add some American black type to that which she had already earned in France.

It is not just the top half of Huetor's pedigree that Rausing will approve of, however, for she has already bred three of Archipenko's Group 1 winners from this female family herself. Huetor's fourth dam Kilavea (Hawaii {SAf}) also features as the sixth dam of the brothers Time Warp (GB) and Glorious Forever (GB), and as the third dam of Madame Chiang (GB). This means that Kilavea's dam, the illustrious Special (Forli {Arg}), features on the top and bottom lines of all four Group 1 winners as she is also the grand-dam of Archipenko.

Kilavea, a half-sister to Nureyev, was bought as a yearling through Richard Galpin by Rausing's compatriot Magnus Berger, and she eventually retired to spend her initial days as a broodmare at Lanwades Stud, visiting Niniski in his first season there. The mare ended up being bought by Sheikh Mohammed for £860,000 when carrying the G1 Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Kiliniski (GB), from whom both Madame Chiang and Huetor descend. Born the year after Kilavea's half-sister Fairy Bridge produced Sadler's Wells, Kiliniski eventually ended up being reoffered for sale as a 14-year-old barren mare at Keeneland's November Sale.

“I rang Joss Collins and asked him to bid on her for me,” Rausing told TDN in 2017. “I said I'd give him $8,000 and he bought her for $2,000. At the time Northern Park had just gone to Gainesway and I didn't want to ship a barren mare so I grossly inbred to Northern Dancer and she had a filly for me. In fact she had four fillies in four years and one was Robe Chinoise (GB), later the dam of Madame Chiang.”

Madame Chiang's daughter Ching Shih (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who was third in the G3 Musidora S., is entered for the Oaks on Friday along with her fellow Lanwades-bred Kawida (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), who is out of an Archipenko half-sister to the aforementioned Zaaki (GB).

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