Tag: Quickthorn

TDN Horses of the Year: Quickthorn 

Continuing the profiles of the favourite horses of TDN Europe's editorial team in 2023, Heather Anderson selects a bold frontrunner with huge reserves of stamina.

At first glance, the admirable Quickthorn (GB), by Newsells Park Stud's perpetually under-appreciated Nathaniel (Ire), had compiled a fairly successful record as a member of the staying ranks throughout his five-year career prior to his Goodwood heroics this August. However, the Lady Blyth homebred elevated his game to another level when taking the G1 Goodwood Cup this summer, and it was the manner in which he did it, that made this the performance of the year for me.

The Hughie Morrison trainee first came to my attention in August of 2022, when winning the G2 Lonsdale Cup S. at York as, from my home in America, that was my first opportunity to stream one of his races live. Teaming up with regular pilot Tom Marquand, Quickthorn delivered a front-end processional performance and I marked him down as one of my horses to follow. Granted, Quickthorn's proclivity for excelling when out on his lonesome was not exactly a state secret, as he'd earlier won the G3 Henry II S. and G2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil in the spring and summer of 2022 utilising similar tactics.

He put me in mind of noted U.S.-based frontrunner Presious Passion (Royal Anthem), a two-time winner of the GI United Nations S. at Monmouth Park in New Jersey (2008/2009), who gave Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) a scare in the 2009 GI Breeders' Cup Turf when just failing to last.

Needless to say, Quickthorn, a son of three-time winner Daffydowndilly (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and one of six winners from six foals of racing age from his dam, is well suited to his profession as a quality stayer. He has proven time and again that he not only has the stamina, but also a truly devastating cruising speed, if allowed to employ it. Indeed, immediately prior to the Goodwood Cup, the gelding had landed a listed race at York, giving the impression that he was rounding back into his late-summer form of the season before.

So, it was at first with bemusement and then with incredulous glee that I saw the 6-year-old bowling along alone on the lead over the Goodwood turf, a chilly Marquand doing his best statue impression (video). The margin between Quickthorn and his rivals increased with every stride the farther they travelled from the starting stalls.

Surely, with all the experienced and feted jockeys signed on–Dettori, Moore, Buick and Murphy to name a few–they wouldn't let Marquand and Quickthorn just gallop? The rest of the 11-horse field was loaded with quality horses, with no less than three Group 1 winners in attendance–Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}), and Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}). Most of the remainder had at least one group title to their names, befitting the sheer class of one of the preeminent staying challenges of the British Flat season.

Despite the quality of the competition, it was worth remembering that Quickthorn, a proven stayer, would not fold once the real running began. The multiple group winner belonged in a field of this calibre, and had developed a reputation of being an especially tough nut to crack when given his ideal set up. And they gave it to him–a critical miscalculation–on a silver platter.

Running through my mind as the race unfolded was the simple fact that he shouldn't be able to get away with this in a Group 1 race. These were some of the best stayers and jockeys in the world. They knew his game and they knew it before the stalls ever opened. Surely at least one of the rival jockeys would send their mount to apply some pressure?

By the time the final quarter-mile was reached and the multi-pronged chasing pack was mounting a fruitless challenge a short time later, I was hard pressed to remember when was the last time I'd enjoyed watching a race to this extent. And it was this enjoyment, of watching a horse and rider in their undisputed element, that made the race linger in my mind long after Quickthorn and Marquand continued their relentless gallop all the way to the winning post. Nigh uncatchable. 

A tip of the cap to Quickthorn, who was later nominated for the 2023 Cartier Stayer award, and to his connections. It was truly a delight and privilege to watch.

 

 

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Seven Days: Succession

Last week this column was led by Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Now, for the same owner/breeder, Shadwell, it is the turn of Al Husn (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

It was quite the boost for Newcastle's all-weather G3 Hoping Fillies' S. that both the winner Al Husn and runner-up Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) went on to win a Group 1 on the turf on their next start. With Nashwa having won the G1 Falmouth S. in emphatic fashion, she reopposed Al Husn in attempting to defend her crown in the G1 Nassau S., eventually finishing third, just half a length behind Above The Curve (American Pharaoh), who was the same distance behind Shadwell's winner.

Al Husn thus became the fourth individual Group 1 winner for Shadwell this season following Hukum, Mostahdaf (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Anmaat (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}), and the seventh since Sheikha Hissa took over at the head of the operation from her late father. This year there have also been Group 2 wins for Alfaila (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Mutasaabeq (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Israr (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}).

When Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum died in March 2021 and Shadwell subsequently significantly reduced its stock, it would have been easy to assume that the operation would gradually wind down. Happily, the reverse appears to be true, and the streamlining, which would undoubtedly have been painful, is now paying dividends. 

Shadwell's elite troops have marched to glory in impressive fashion, with the old housemates in their Newmarket assistant trainer days, Owen Burrows and Roger Varian, supplying the latest Group 1 winners, while William Haggas, John and Thady Gosden, and Charlie Hills have all played their parts. A select amount of restocking took place at last year's yearling and foal sales, with Angus Gold signing for 10 fillies at Books 1 and 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, while another six colts and one filly were recruited from the December Foal Sale. A group of young trainers were added to the roster, with Harry Eustace, Kevin Philippart de Foy and George Boughey each receiving four Shadwell horses this year.

And then there are the stallions, present and future. The highest-rated turf horse in the world last year, Baaeed (GB), joined the Nunnery Stud while Group 1-winning sprinter Minzaal (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) went to Derrinstown. Whether Hukum eventually stands on the same roster as his brother remains to be seen, but the dual Group 2 winner Mutasaabeq is from the same family and will deserve a place at stud, as does Anmaat, while the G1 Prince of Wales's S. winner Mostahdaf is a hugely enticing prospect. 

More pleasing still for racing fans is that, at four, Al Husn, Israr and Alfaila are the youngest of the horses mentioned here. We are getting the chance to see these bigger names compete, and improve, over several seasons. And that, after all, is what it's all about. 

A Classic for the King?

Similar concerns were raised as to the continuation of the Royal Studs following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September. In the immediate aftermath of her passing there was a day's delay to the St Leger, a race the Queen had won in her Silver Jubilee year of 1977 with Dunfermline (GB). 

There could be no finer tribute to the Queen's beloved breeding operation than a major success close to her anniversary in this year's race, and in the Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood winner Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), King Charles and Queen Camilla have a noteworthy potential contender. The William Haggas-trained colt has now won four of his six starts, most importantly last week's G3 Gordon S. While Haggas has trained one of Sea The Stars's faster runners in Baaeed, there looks to be little doubt that Desert Hero will see out the Leger trip. His unraced dam Desert Breeze (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was gifted to the Queen by Sheikh Mohammed, as was her full-brother, Dartmouth (GB), winner of the G2 Yorkshire Cup and G2 Hardwicke S. among his four Pattern wins. Another of the mare's siblings, Manatee (GB) (Manduro {Ger}), won the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly, while the family's middle-distance and staying record was further enhanced by the Listed success over almost two miles of another half-sister, Gaterie (Dubai Destination).

Desert Hero may be arguably the most important budding stayer at Haggas's Somerville Lodge, but there is clearly a big soft spot for Hamish (GB) (Motivator {GB}), who is ridden daily by the trainer's wife Maureen and was bred by his father Brian. 

Hamish, who beat Hukum in the G3 September S. of 2021, is unbeaten this season in three Group 3 contests and could yet aim to give his stable a St Leger double if the plan to head to the Irish Champions Weekend comes to fruition. Now seven, he's been a slow burn, but he is exactly the type of horse the racing public loves to latch on to. Three of Hamish's six wins have come at York, the track that Haggas pere et fils would consider to be their local, despite the fact the horse is trained in Newmarket. More remarkably, six of Hamish's nine wins have been in Group 3 contests. Don't rule him out of striking at a higher level eventually. 

William Haggas signed for Hamish's granddam, the unpromisingly-named Frog (GB) (Akarad {Fr}), at the Tattersalls Houghton Sale of 1994 for 16,000gns, and she went into training with his former boss, Sir Mark Prescott, winning five of her 11 starts. Her greater achievement has been as a broodmare, however. 

Frog's eight winning offspring are led by the G1 Doomben Cup winner Beaten Up (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}), while his half-brother, Harris Tweed (GB) (Hernando {Fr}), who was named after Haggas Sr's company, won the Listed March S. at Goodwood. Their sister Vow (GB), by Hamish's sire Motivator, was fourth in the Oaks after winning the Lingfield Oaks Trial. Her current three-year-old, Pledgeofallegiance (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), has won two staying handicaps this season for Prescott in the colours of Victorious Racing, but the majority of the family has raced, initially at least, for the Haggases. It is the dual winner Tweed (GB) (Sakhee), the dam of Hamish, who holds the bragging rights so far among Frog's broodmare daughters. 

Tom and Nathaniel

No jockey was in finer form at Goodwood than Tom Marquand, whose four winners were all at group level. The aforementioned Hamish and Desert Hero provided a brace of Group 3s, and he committed daylight robbery in the G1 Goodwood Cup aboard Lady Blyth's homebred Quickthorn (GB), later producing a similar front-running masterclass with Sumo Sam (GB) in stamina-sapping conditions in the G2 Lillie Langtry S. before racing was abandoned halfway through the final day of the meeting. 

Quickthorn and Sumo Sam provided two further examples of the prowess of Nathaniel (Ire) as a sire. While Enable (GB) never graced Goodwood with her presence, another of Nathaniel's top daughters, Lady Bowthorpe (GB), won the G1 Nassau S. of 2021. With Quickthorn becoming his seventh Group 1 winner on the Flat (Burning Victory (Fr) won the G1 Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival), Nathaniel remains one of the unsung heroes of the British stallion ranks, and a friend to Flat and National Hunt breeders alike.

Ralph Beckett, who had a winning week all over the place, was Goodwood's leading trainer on countback. His three winners in Sussex included taking the G2 Lennox S. for a second time with Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and another for the King and Queen, for whom Beckett is the longest-standing trainer. The royal winner, Serried Ranks (GB) (Land Force {Ire}), is a seventh-generation descendant of one of the Royal Studs' foundation mares, Feola (GB) (Friar Marcus {GB}), who was runner-up in the 1,000 Guineas for King George VI and is the dam of the 1,000 Guineas and Dewhurst winner Hypericum (GB) (Hyperion {GB}). He thus belongs to the same distinguished family as Baaeed and Hukum.

Now a dual winner this season, the juvenile Serried Ranks has a full-sister catalogued as lot 95 in the Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale (good on Goffs UK for re-rebranding this sale thus, as everyone still calls it 'Donny' anyway). The filly is one of two yearlings to be offered in the sale by Highclere Stud on behalf of the Royal Studs.

Northern Lights

The battle to be champion sprinter of the year looks to be between two Yorkshire-trained speedballs in Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) and Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}). The latter's trainer, John Quinn, tied with Ralph Beckett at Goodwood on three winners, and he will no doubt have been most delighted to get his star mare back in the winner's enclosure following three placed efforts this season, including two runs at Royal Ascot.

The pair is unlikely to meet in the Nunthorpe, in which Highfield Princess will aim to defend her title, with Shaquille being pointed towards the Haydock Sprint Cup. It is encouraging, however, for Britain, and the north of the country in particular, to have two such high-class sprinters in the ranks.

In The Footsteps of Monsun

In Germany, it has been quite the season for Sea The Moon (Ger) and also for Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten, who is involved in different ways with both the G1 Deutsches Derby winner Fantastic Moon (Ger) and G1 Preis der Diana victrix Muskoka (Ger).

As highlighted by Sean Cronin in Monday's TDN, Lanwades resident Sea The Moon became the first stallion in 19 years, following his own damsire Monsun (Ger), to sire the Derby-Oaks double in the same year. And it is more than 100 years since the same sire (Ard Patrick in 1910) had the trifecta in the German Oaks as he did, with Kassada (Ger) and Sea The Lady (Fr) chasing home Muskoka.

Baumgarten bred Muskoka with his former wife Antje, and the filly is inbred 4×3 to Monsun's dam Mosella (Ger) (Surumu {Ger}). This family was also fairly recently given a Classic boost by Brametot (Ire) (Rajsaman {Fr}), the winner of the 2017 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey Club, whose dam Morning Light (Ger) is a Law Society half-sister to Monsun and is the granddam of Muskoka.

Having sold Muskoka at the BBAG September Yearling Sale through Gestut Ohlerweiherhof for €80,000, Baumgarten later that day signed for Stauffenberg Bloodstock's Sea the Moon colt for €49,000. Subsequently named Fantastic Moon, he went on to be champion two-year-old in Germany before winning the Derby for Baumgarten's investor-driven Liberty Racing syndicate. 

Morning Mist, the dam of Muskoka, has a yearling filly by Reliable Man (GB) in this year's BBAG Yearling Sale as lot 175, again in the Ohlerweiherhof draft, while the Masar (Ire) half-sister to Fantastic Moon is in the Goffs Orby Sale, consigned by her breeders Philipp and Marion Stauffenberg as lot 373.

Anodin Strikes Gold

France held onto another one of its Group 1 prizes this season–just–when the six-year-old King Gold (Fr), the winner of a handicap four starts earlier in April, landed the Prix Maurice de Gheest on Sunday. It was not only a first Group 1 winner for his sire Anodin (Ire), the brother to the mighty mare Goldikova (Ire), but also for his trainer Nicolas Caullery. 

The latter, a kind of younger, Gallic Mick Jagger, would look equally at home headlining Glastonbury as he does picking up gongs in Deauville, but he was visibly moved by this notable milestone in his career provided by a horse he co-owns with King Gold's breeder Christiane Wingtans.

Anodin, who moved from Haras du Quesnay to Haras de la Haie Neuve ahead of the 2022 breeding season, had been leading the French sires' table even before King Gold's major success, and he has now surged farther clear of the reigning champion Siyouni (Fr), who has been represented by most of his major runners this season outside France. That list of course includes last week's G1 Sussex S. winner Paddington (GB) and Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Tahiyra (Ire), though Mqse De Sevgine (Fr) landed a blow at home in the previous weekend's G1 Prix Rothschild.

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Seven Days: Out of the Frying Pan

Sir Mark Prescott will happily recount the story of the time he bashed his former pupil assistant William Haggas over the head with a frying pan for oversleeping. He will also reflect with pleasure on the great pride he felt when Haggas won the Derby in 1996 with Shaamit (Ire).

When it comes to being a benevolent dictator, the Prescott pendulum has, by his own admission, swung more from dictatorship towards benevolence in recent years and, more than anyone involved in British racing, the master of Heath House cares deeply for the history of the sport, its milestones, and its continuing traditions.

Prescott will certainly be enjoying the fact that Haggas currently has the best horse in the world in his clutches, Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who notched his perfect ten in the Juddmonte International at York on Wednesday, earning a provisional Timeform rating of 137 with his imperious six-and-half-length romp over last year's winner, Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).

But when it came to moments of exultation on the Knavesmire last week, there was as much jubilation for the victory of the Prescott-trained Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the Yorkshire Oaks as there was for Baaeed. Alpinista had been runner-up to the Oaks winner Love (Ire) in the Yorkshire Oaks of 2020 and, despite adding British Listed and Group 2 victories to her tally since then, her big-race successes had all come overseas until last Thursday.

Even if Kirsten Rausing's grey mare had retired last year at the end of her 4-year-old season she would still have been a treble Group 1 winner who had  achieved the remarkable feat of emulating her own grand-dam, Albanova (GB), by winning the Grosser Preis von Berlin – famously beating subsequent Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) – then the Preis von Europa and Grosser Preis von Bayern. But we were treated to an extra season, and what a year it has been so far for the current star of the prolific Lanwades breeding programme. Two-for-two in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and Yorkshire Oaks, Alpinista looks set for a rematch with Torquator Tasso at Longchamp on the first weekend of October. Whether or not she will also face Baaeed in the Arc remains in doubt. The crowd are certainly baying for it, and indeed the manner in which the Shadwell homebred won the Juddmonte International did nothing to suggest he would not see out another two furlongs. Haggas raised the idea that the Irish Champion S. could be the colt's next port of call for what looks likely to be his penultimate race, but wherever and however he ends his career Baaeed will surely be Horse of the Year.

Maybe because he didn't race at two and isn't a Classic winner, Baaeed is somehow not afforded the level of adulation deserving of a horse of his calibre, which is a shame, because let's face it, he's bloody brilliant. Naturally he is most often compared to two previous winners of the International in his own sire Sea The Stars, for whom it was one of six consecutive Group 1 wins in 2009, starting with the 2,000 Guineas and ending with the Arc, and Frankel, who brought York to a standstill a decade ago with his seven-length victory.

The debate will rage endlessly among racing folk as it which of those two greats was the greatest, but it doesn't really matter. What is more important is that both Sea The Stars and Frankel have gone on to be important sires in their own right, with their offspring lighting up racecourses around the world, just as Baaeed and Alpinista did last week at York.

And in the case of those two most recent Group 1 winners, equally important is that they both represent families which have been the cornerstone of their respective breeders' empires for generations. From Sheikh Hamdan's purchase of Height Of Fashion (Fr) from the Queen in 1982 stems Baaeed, while the purchase of Alpinista's fourth dam Alruccaba (Ire) in 1985 by Kirsten Rausing and Sonia Rogers from the Aga Khan has resulted in an impressive dynasty being assembled largely, but by no means solely, at Rausing's Lanwades Stud. Alpinista's run of success is all the more special to those who enjoy the continuity of the great families for it being the centenary of the Aga Khan Studs, an operation which owes much of its own success to her tenth dam, one of the greatest greys of all time, Mumtaz Mahal (GB), who was born 101 years ago and still exerts such influence over the breed.

Trevaunance at the Double

On the subject of anniversaries, the 60th year of Moyglare Stud continues to be marked with great success on the track. As well as an Irish 1,000 Guineas victory for Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), and racing the top stayer in Europe, homebred Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), in partnership with Coolmore, Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner's operation celebrated back-to-back group wins for Trevaunance (Ire) in the G2 Prix de la Nonette. Trained by Jessica Harrington, the daughter of Muhaarar (GB) had previously won the G3 Prix de Psyche at Deauville's opening meeting 18 days earlier.

Trevaunance marks the blending of two notable Irish stud farms. Her dam Liber Nauticus (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) was bought by Moyglare from the Ballymacoll Stud dispersal of 2017, and is from a celebrated family which includes dual Breeders' Cup hero Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and Irish 2,000 Guineas and Champion S. winner Spectrum (Ire) (Rainbow Quest).

Never Again – and Again

Nine years ago No Nay Never bounced from victory in a Keeneland maiden to the G2 Norfolk S. followed by the G1 Darley Prix Morny, and he is now the sire of a Morny winner following the success of Blackbeard (Ire) on Sunday.

It has to be said that a five-runner Prix Morny with no French-bred or -trained horse was a little disappointing, but there is nothing disappointing about the winner himself, who has had a busy first campaign and has now won five of his seven starts for Aidan O'Brien, including the G2 Prix Robert Papin. 

Twenty-four hours earlier, No Nay Never had been represented by a Group 2 juvenile double at the Curragh, courtesy of the exquisite-looking Meditate (Ire) and Aesop's Fables (Ire), both Ballydoyle stable-mates of Blackbeard and the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Little Big Bear (Ire). No Nay Never is steaming ahead as the leading sire of juveniles in Europe this year, with Whitsbury Manor Stud's freshman Havana Grey (GB) in determined pursuit.

Deauville's other group races on Sunday fell to Richard Hannon, with the Rathasker Stud-bred Aristia (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) going one better than her finish behind Nashwa (GB) in the G1 Nassau S. to win the G1 Prix Jean Romanet, and to William Haggas, who completed a fantastic week in style with simultaneous victories in the G2 Prix de Pomone with Sea La Rosa (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and G3 Tally-Ho Stud Ballyogan S. at Naas with Perfect News (GB) (Frankel {GB}). 

Sea La Rosa also brought up an impressive double for both her dam Soho Rose (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and breeder Guy Heald following the win of her brother Deauville Legend (Ire) in the G2 Dante S. at York. 

Only Yann Barberot managed to keep a group race at home for the French trainers this weekend, and that has been a theme in Deauville again this summer, with 13 of the 17 group races having been won by British or Irish trainers, including all five Group 1 contests.

Golden Moments

Both Nathaniel (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB) have covered a number of National Hunt mares this year, and indeed the latter is now officially standing as a dual-purpose sire at Overbury Stud from next season. But both are still eminently capable of getting decent Flat runners, as exemplified by results at York this week.

Godolphin's Trawlerman (GB) landed the valuable Ebor H. under Frankie Dettori, while Haskoy (GB) became the second of Golden Horn's daughters to win the Listed Galtres S. The Juddmonte-bred filly, who was making just her second start, is out of a mare by Nathaniel, who also featured as the damsire of G3 Solario S. winner Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), the first foal of Group 1 winner God Given (GB).

Meanwhile, though the G2 Lonsdale Cup was drastically depleted by the defections of Stradivarius (Ire) and Trueshan (Fr), there was plenty to enjoy about the emphatic victory of Nathaniel's five-year-old son Quickthorn (GB) for his owner/breeder Lady Blyth.

While we are handing out bouquets, the mighty mare Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) deserves an extra-large one for winning back-to-back Group 1s in Deauville and York within 12 days, to take her tally to 11 wins from 29 starts for her owner/breeder John Fairley and trainer John Quinn.

Another should go to the Whitsbury Manor Stud broodmare Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), who added the G3 Acomb S. winner Chaldean  (GB) (Frankel {GB}) – a rare non-homebred runner for Juddmonte – to her list of black-type performers which now numbers five and includes the G2 Mill Reef S winner Alkumait (GB) (Showcasing {GB}). 

Finally, one trainer who almost certainly hasn't been bashed over the head with a frying pan by Sir Mark Prescott, but who, like Haggas, has enjoyed a fruitful week, is Ralph Beckett. Within five minutes on Saturday his stable was represented by the G2 City of York S. winner Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Listed Chester S. victrix River of Stars (Ire), who was one of five stakes winners for Sea The Stars last week. Beckett's good week also included the aforementioned Haskoy among his seven winners.

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