Facteur Cheval Upends Dubai Turf, Lord North Off the Board

After knocking on the door so many times–finishing second or third in four Group 1 events in his four most recent starts–Team Valor and Gary Barber's Facteur Cheval (Ire) (Ribchester {Ire}–Jawlaat {Ire}, by Shamardal) got one of his own in an ultra-competitive renewal of the $5-million G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan Racecourse on Saturday. Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of the Dubai Turf the last three years and seeking an historic four-peat, broke a bit awkwardly, but despite recovering quickly, finished off the board. The U.S. hope Catnip (Kitten's Joy) went wrong in late stretch, with rider Christophe Lemaire thrown hard to the ground and removed from his final mounts on the card after being taken to hospital. While he reportedly suffered a broken collar bone and rib, Catnip's injuries necessitated euthanization shortly after the race.

Under Maxime Guyon, who won this race in 2015 with Solow (Singspiel {Ire}), Facteur Cheval bided his time far back, midfield but in the clear, as Feb. 25 G2 Nakayama Kinen winner Matenro Sky (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) went to the early lead with three-time Group 1 heroine Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) a close second. The field was cluttered up early with Japanese hope and multiple Group 1 scorer Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) unlucky and in receipt of a rough trip.

Facteur Cheval tipped out into the lane, hooking up with diminutive Japanese Group 1 heroine Namur (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), who commenced an even-wider run from even further back than the eventual winner. The two finished so close a photo was required to determine the gold medallist, who got there by a short head. Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), runner-up in this event last year, finished third. The final time for the 1800 metres was 1:45.91.

“It's just amazing, I have no words,” said trainer Jerome Reynier, a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start program. “I see a horse here that has been prepared the best way possible by [work rider] Gregory [Davignon] and it's just amazing, I can't believe it.

“I said to Maxime I've never seen this horse go backwards at the finish, he is always going forward and giving his best. I had no doubts about the distance and Maxime has given him a perfect ride; he had Lord North to follow and he switched off during the race.

“He switched him to the outside and then waited long enough to save something for the end and that's just amazing. I am so happy for all my team.”

Reynier also said Facteur Cheval would likely stay in Dubai, where he has reportedly thrived, and would possibly train up to the Apr. 28 G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin in Hong Hong.

The Dubai Turf winner won the first four starts of his career in France in 2022 before finishing that year with his first group score in the G3 Prix Perth at Saint-Cloud. Although he failed to visit the winner's circle in 2023, he was never worse than third and placed in four consecutive Group 1 events. He was last seen finishing second in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot Oct. 21. The Dubai Turf victory marked the kickoff of his 2024 campaign.

With a fourth Dubai Turf not in the cards, Lord North appeared to exit his eighth-place finish well.

“He had a great spot, great cover,” said regular Dubai partner Frankie Dettori. “He travelled great into the straight, but he just didn't have the gears that he had in the past. We are all getting older, right?”

 

Pedigree Notes

Facteur Cheval is the first Group 1 winner for France's Ribchester, a resident of Darley's Haras du Logis, and one of nine black-type winners for the son of Iffraaj (GB) worldwide, which include two group winners in Australia. A four-time Group 1 winner himself between England and France, Ribchester also was third in the 2017 Dubai Turf. Facteur Cheval, one of 102 stakes winners out of a daughter of the late Shamardal, is a member of his sire's first crop.

The unraced Jawlaat, a Shadwell-consigned 18,000gns purchase in 2016 at Tattersalls February by McCracken Farms–breeder of Facteur Cheval–has a yearling colt by Sottsass (Fr). She is a half-sister to multiple group winner Tantheem (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and hails from the same family as Shadwell's multiple Group 1 winner Tamayuz (GB) (Nayef).

Jawlaat was a third-generation Shadwell-bred whose fifth dam, Allegretta (GB) (Lombard {Ger}), produced both 2000 G1 2000 winner King's Best (Kingmambo) and the immortal Urban Sea (Miswaki). The latter–herself winner of the 1993 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe–is responsible for a breed-shaping dynasty, not least through her sons Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire).

Saturday, Meydan, Dubai
DUBAI TURF SPONSORED BY DP WORLD-G1, AED5,000,000, Meydan, 3-30, 3yo/up, 9fT, 1:45.91, gd.
1–FACTEUR CHEVAL (IRE), 126, g, 5, by Ribchester (Ire)
                1st Dam: Jawlaat (Ire), by Shamardal
                2nd Dam: Riqa (GB), by Dubawi (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Thamarat (GB), by Anabaa
1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (145,000gns Wlg '19 TATFOA;
€120,000 Ylg '20 ARDEAY). O-Team Valor International & Gary
Barber; B-McCracken Farms (IRE); T-Jerome Reynier; J-Maxime
Guyon. $2,900,000. Lifetime Record: GSW & MG1SP-Fr, G1SP-
Eng, 14-6-4-3, $3,748,163. Click for the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Namur (Jpn), 121, m, 5, Harbinger (GB)–Sambre Et Meuse
(Jpn), by Daiwa Major (Jpn). O-Carrot Farm Co Ltd; B-Northern
Farm (JPN); T-Tomokazo Takano. $1,000,000.
3–Danon Beluga (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Heart's Cry (Jpn)–Coasted, by
Tizway. 1ST GROUP 1 BLACK TYPE. (¥160,000,000 Wlg '19
JRHAJUL). O-Danox Co Ltd; B-Northern Farm (JPN); T-Noriyuki
Hori. $500,000.
Margins: SHD, 3/4, HF.
Also Ran: Measured Time (GB), Do Deuce (Jpn), Straight Arron, Calif (Ger), Lord North (Ire), Nashwa (GB), San Donato (Ire), Real World (Ire), Cairo (Ire), Voyage Bubble (Aus), Luxembourg (Ire), Matenro Sky (Jpn). Also Ran (DNF): Catnip.
Click for the ERA chart & video.

 

O-Team Valor International LLC and Gary Barber; B-McCracken Farms (Ire); T-Jerome Reynier.

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Richard Fahey: ‘You have to think of horses like humans; what’s good for their minds’

It never bodes well when a trainer starts an interview with the words, “I don't really like doing interviews.”

This, from Richard Fahey, was far less intimidating, however, than when TDN went to interview David Elsworth some years ago to be greeted by him marching across the yard and stating, “I'm in a murderous mood.”

I Having mercifully escaped from Egerton House Stables unscathed to live to annoy many more trainers, our recent mission to Malton was a comparative cakewalk. 

For a start, it would be impossible for either interviewer or interviewee to be in a bad mood, murderous or otherwise, in the Yorkshire countryside on the most vibrant of late spring days. From the top of Fahey's idyllic fiefdom at Musley Bank, an eye can be cast over great swathes of North Yorkshire. Umpteen racecourses are within easy reach, as is the A1, but the outside world seems a far cry from these peaceful acres where his horses and their riders go about their business unfazed and unfussed.

On the day of the visit, the trainer warned that he was about to run a number of two-year-olds that were pleasing him and, indeed, last week he had three juveniles make a winning debut. They followed Golden Mind (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}), who won on his second start and is no doubt looked upon fondly at the yard as a half-brother to the recently retired stable star Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}). The latter became the first of Fahey's two consecutive G2 Norfolk S. winners in 2021, before going on to win the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. He returned to Royal Ascot last year to take the G1 Commonwealth Cup.

“From the middle of May to the end of June, you should start to know where you are and if we've got some stars coming through. Fingers crossed, we have five or six two-year-olds there that we're extremely excited about,” says Fahey. “Over the next three or four weeks we'll find out whether we're going to play with the big boys or not.”

The trainer admits to having adapted his approach in recent years when it comes to the youngsters in his care.

“I do train horses a lot different now. Two-year-olds especially,” Fahey says. “I'm not as tough on them as I used to be. I used to love to see them win first time out. Now I prefer if they get beat [on debut].

“It may sound like a crazy thing to say. If they win, fine, but I felt over the years that to get them to win, because I was so keen and I wanted winners, you have to be tough on them. And then of course if they win, the next race is going to be tough. And about six years ago I decided not to be so tough on them because at least if they run a decent race, they've got an easy race the next race. And I just felt maybe one or two of the better horses I left behind because I was over-keen myself.”

It is an admission that speaks well of a man who has had a tally of winners well into three figures for the past 15 years but is clearly prepared to learn as he goes along. Indeed, Perfect Power and his Norfolk Stakes successor The Ridler (GB) (Brazen Beau {Aus}) were both beaten on debut, as was Ribchester (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), who later struck in the G2 Mill Reef S. before winning three Group 1 races at three and four.

“Perfect Power is a perfect example,” Fahey says of the young Darley stallion. “He had a great mind and I didn't want to ruin it. And he kept it all his life. He got beat at Newcastle then he went to Hamilton and won. He arrived down to Ascot absolutely bouncing.”

He adds, “Hey look, it's each to their own, but if I've changed anything in my years of training, that's it. You have to think of horses like humans; what's good for their minds.”

Perfect Power is one of two former Fahey trainees to have joined the European stallion ranks this season, along with Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), winner of the G3 Jersey S. and G2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang S. before latterly spending some time with Brendan Walsh in America, where he was Grade I-placed. Earlier this year at Ballyhane Stud, where Space Traveller now stands, Joe Foley jokingly referred to a section of his stallion yard as the Richard Fahey Wing, as the Group 1-winning sprinter Sands Of Mali (Fr) (Panis) is another to have been trained at Musley Bank. But the former Fahey-trained stallions stand far and wide, and include Mayson (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) at Cheveley Park Stud, the aforementioned Ribchester at Haras du Logis and, perhaps most notably, another son of Iffraaj, Wootton Bassett (GB), at Coolmore. 

The G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Garswood (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) started his stallion career at Cheveley Park Stud and now stands in Saudi Arabia. He was one of a number of successful recruits to the Fahey stable from the breeze-up sales over the years.

“I think we've had four Group 1 horses out of the breeze-ups,” says Fahey, who works the sales hard alongside his son Peter and valued ally Robin O'Ryan.  

“I wouldn't regard myself as a big purchaser at the breeze-ups, but we've had more pattern winners and more winners than anybody. I only know that because they keep the stats! We've been extremely lucky at it, and the breeze-up sales are very professional now. They are getting loads of winners.”

Fahey finds the increasingly crowded sales calendar in general, however, a source of frustration. 

“There's too many sales at the moment,” he says. “It's every week. Last three weeks we've been at sales. I didn't get to Ireland [for Goresbridge] because I want to see my horses. We've been to France, we've been to Newmarket twice, and Doncaster, in the last month. It's only two, three days away, but the season's getting going now and I need to be here.”

He adds, “As a matter of fact, I think they should bring in a rule that a horse can only go to the sales twice before they run, because they can literally be there five times. They can be inside the mother, they can be at the foals, they can be in yearlings or the breeze-up twice.”

Now 57, Fahey left his native Ireland the day before his 18th birthday and competed both on the Flat and over jumps as a jockey, which included him being the joint-champion conditional at the conclusion of the 1998/99 National Hunt season. 

This summer sees him celebrate his 30th anniversary as a trainer, having started with one winner in 1993 from just nine runners. An operation that began in a modest fashion has grown into one which now regularly features on the list of leading stables in the country. Fahey first passed the 100-winner mark in 2008, and set a personal record in 2015 when he trained 235 winners and was runner-up in the championship to John Gosden.

“It's a strange thing but you never really appreciate it when you're doing it,” he says rather wistfully as he notes that he is currently training a smaller string than in those days. “Covid hit and we stopped racing, and at the time it was serious. The government terrified us all. And it was a time I reflected on things.

“We trained our 3,000th winner not long ago, and I think as you get older you do think about it. But 10 years ago I never thought about it. I just got on with it. I trained 42 winners one month, which was a phenomenal amount. But as I'm getting older, I'm probably enjoying it a lot more.”

Fahey admits that enjoyment was not always easy to find, despite a thriving stable with plenty of horses. But in a business which is now about so much more than just focusing on horses on a daily basis, increased numbers can also increase stress levels.

“I went through a spell there where I wasn't enjoying it as much. I felt I was putting myself under an awful lot of pressure but I was keeping it in. I would have hated anyone to think that I was under pressure. The last year and a half I've really started to enjoy it again,” he says.

“I didn't purposely reduce the number of horses. I stopped having shares in as many, which automatically reduced the numbers.”

The hundred-plus acres at Fahey's disposal means that his horses can benefit from turn out in the 42 pens up on the bank above their stables. The gallops are private and, as we jump in a vehicle to watch a few of the horses in action, the trainer says with a mischievous grin, “We'd better take the Audi because the turbo has gone on the Jeep so we'll never keep up with them.”

Back down in the yard, we take a tour of the indoor ride, which is large enough to start the two-year-olds cantering before they venture up onto the bank, or to give shelter to the string in particularly bad weather. Fahey is clearly proud, though not boastfully so, of what he has built here on land bought from fellow trainer Colin Tinkler, but he is unwilling to take sole credit.

“Every trainer says it, but I genuinely believe, without the staff, you are completely nothing,” he says. “You can't do it all yourself. You have to rely on third parties. And I've been very lucky that I've had some good third parties. Some of my head guys have been here 15, 16 years since they started in racing and haven't left me. We like to give everybody responsibilities. And I think if you treat people with respect, they'll work for you. And I've been very lucky over the years that we've had that. I just feel the yard runs itself. Everybody knows their job and I never have to worry that something's not going to get done. They know what's to be done.”

Foremost in the minds of the team at the moment will be putting the finishing touches on the raiding party heading south for Ascot in less than a fortnight's time.

Some juveniles worth watching before then appear on Saturday at Beverley, where Midnight Affair (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) will seek to go one better than her eye-catching runner-up finish at Newmarket when she runs in the Hilary Needler Trophy for Clipper Logistics. Hussain Alabbas Lootah's homebred Bombay Bazaar (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) also returns to the track where he ran out the easy winner on his second start on May 16.

The Ascot juvenile team could be joined by Roisin and Richard Henry's Ribblesdale entrant Midnight Mile (Ire) (No Nay Never), the winner last year of the G3 Oh So Sharp S. who went on to be fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. 

“I was a little disappointed at York,” says Fahey of Midnight Mile's fourth-place finish in the G3 Musidora S. when 4 1/2 lengths behind subsequent Oaks winner Soul Sister (GB) (Frankel {GB}). “I thought she was second best really and I'm not just a hundred per cent sure what her best trip might be. I'm thinking I might step her up again.”

Fahey notched his first winner at the royal meeting back in 2000 with Superior Premium (GB) (Forzando {GB}) in the G2 Cork And Orrery S., the race that has undergone four name changes and an upgrading since then and this year will be run as the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S. Another seven Royal Ascot winners have come his way since then and it would be no surprise to see a young star emerge this year to start to fill the gap left by Perfect Power and last year's G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner The Platinum Queen (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), who was sold for 1.2 million gns in December to Katsumi Yoshida.

“We've been lucky over the years in that we've always seemed to find a good one,” he says. “In the past it was definitely easier to buy a more precocious sprinter type. And I suppose we didn't really have the clients that would wait two years. They wanted instant success and I was a young trainer that needed winners.”

Fahey adds, “As I've got older, I've mellowed. I'm not as hard on myself as I used to be. My attitude now is that I can do my best and if it's not good enough, well I'm sorry but I know I'm doing my best. We're very lucky to have the facilities and the staff we have and if we don't get the results that we want, it's not for the want of not doing it right.”

He may not like interviews, but Fahey is refreshingly candid on a range of topics. He did his best, and only a short amount of time in his company is required to understand how he coaxes the best out of his horses and people.

 

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TDN Rising Star Shaikha in Action at Deauville

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday's Observations features a 'TDN Rising Star'.

4:50 Tipperary, Mdn, €14,000, 2yo f, 7 1/2fT
HISTORY (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) was a highly promising second on debut at The Curragh earlier this month and has considerable scope for progression off that effort, being a daughter of the multiple graded-stakes winner Prize Exhibit (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) who is a full-sister to the high-class G1 Sussex S. hero Mohaather (GB). The second highest-priced lot at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 at 2.8million gns, the Aidan O'Brien-trained bay is joined by stablemate West Coast (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a half-sister to the G2 Rockfel S. winner Just Wonderful (Dansili {GB}) out of another winner of that race in Wading (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) who is in turn a full-sister to Bracelet (Ire) and a half to Athena (Ire) by Montjeu's son Camelot (GB).

 

6.25 Deauville, Cond, €34,000, 2yo, 6 1/2fT
SHAIKHA (FR) (Ribchester {Ire}) earned TDN Rising Star status on debut here earlier this month and will be tested in this smart-looking test which includes four other winners. One of those to face Al Shaqab Racing's Andre Fabre-trained half-sister to the Listed Criterium de Lyon victor and G3 Prix la Force-placed Darkness (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) is Gerard Augustin-Normand's Bremontier (Fr) (Ultra {Ire}), a Stephane Wattel-trained son of the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud runner-up Brocottes (Fr) (Lando {Ger}) who opened his account at the first time of asking at Dieppe last month.

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The Weekly Wrap: Coming Of Age

In February, the inevitable announcement came that Pivotal (GB) was to be pensioned at Cheveley Park Stud at the age of 28. David and Patricia Thompson's homebred son of Polar Falcon has been one of the great British breeding stories of the last few decades and the sturdy chestnut has been a great friend to small and major breeders alike through his magnificent stud innings. 

As he continues his retirement, so does his legacy gain momentum. A few months before Pivotal was retired, his son Siyouni (Fr) had been crowned champion sire in his native France for the first time. The Aga Khan Studs stallion had only missed out on earning that title in the two previous seasons to Galileo (Ire) and Nathaniel (Ire), respectively the sires of the high-earning Arc winners Waldgeist (GB) and Enable (GB) in those two years. Then Siyouni got his own Arc winner, Sottsass (Fr), augmenting a profile which already had a properly classy look to it.

In each of the last four seasons, Siyouni has been responsible for a French Classic winner. His first-crop daughter Ervedya (Fr) had actually got the ball rolling in 2015, winning the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches for her and her sire's breeder the Aga Khan. A little gap ensued, but Le Brivido (Fr) was soon knocking on the door, and was only a short-head away from claiming the Poule d'Essai des Poulains two years later when being so narrowly beaten by Brametot (Ire).

Then came Laurens (Fr) to claim the Prix de Diane as one of her six Group 1 victories in France, Britain and Ireland, starting a Classic run which was continued by Sottsass in the Prix du Jockey Club of 2019, Dream And Do (Fr) in last year's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches before the 2020 European champion 2-year-old St Mark's Basilica (Fr) made good on his juvenile promise to land the Poulains for Aidan O'Brien and the Coolmore team. 

Of course Siyouni can't take all the credit here, as St Mark's Basilica's Group 3-winning dam Cabaret (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has already shown herself to be a producer par excellence for Australian breeder Bob Scarborough via her son Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), winner of the 2000 Guineas in 2019. This repeats the cross seen to good effect in Sottsass, who is out of arguably the most celebrated active broodmare in France, Starlet's Sister (Ire). 

Doubling up on Danzig has done no harm in the case of Laurens and Dream And Do, while Siyouni's other top-level winner, the GI EP Taylor S. victrix Etoile (Fr), is out of a mare by Authorized (Ire) and is, like Laurens, inbred 4×4 to Danzig. A similar cross to this is found in the Siyouni 2-year-old Kaltham (Fr), a daughter of dual Arc winner Treve (Fr), who is by another Derby-winning son of Montjeu (Ire) in Motivator (GB).

Like Pivotal before him, Siyouni started out at stud standing for a relatively small fee of €7,000, which has gradually climbed to €140,000, making him the most expensive stallion in France, just as his own sire was in Britain when Pivotal's covering price climbed to £85,000 in 2007 and 2008. In both cases, lofty reputations look to be well earned.

Spanish Super Sub

For Basque-born jockey Ioritz Mendizabal, the Covid-19 pandemic has been both a blessing and a curse. Last July, when travel restrictions meant that neither David Egan nor Frankie Dettori could make the trip to Chantilly, he won his first Classic aboard Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club for Britain's champion trainer John Gosden.

Mendizabal's good season continued when he rode Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) to victory in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet for James Fanshawe, but he was then prevented from travelling to Keeneland to ride her in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf after testing positive for Covid. The now-suspended Pierre-Charles Boudot picked up the winning ride on Audarya in America, but fortune swung back in Mendizabal's favour when Ireland's champion Aidan O'Brien came calling on Friday for him to take the ride on St Mark's Basilica. 

“Winning the Guineas is fantastic,” the jockey told Jour de Galop. “But you cannot know the emotion of even having your name in the same line in the race card as Aidan O'Brien. He is the best trainer in the world. I knew I was going to ride St Mark's Basilica on Friday at 2pm and it was extremely satisfying that Aidan O'Brien called on me.”

Wow Takes A Bow

In his short racing career, The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), an early star of the now-defunct Ascot Breeze-up Sale, went from winning an Ayr maiden to success in the G2 Coventry S. and G1 Darley Prix Morny, to finishing last in the G1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and then out. 

His stud career was similarly short-lived. From covering 40 mares at Haras de Bouquetot in 2017 and 12 the following season, The Wow Signal's poor fertility meant that he had only 15 registered foals in France before he died from laminitis in the spring of 2018.

From a family which includes Shadwell's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Ta Rib (Mr Prospector), The Wow Signal now has his own posthumous winner of that same race despite his seriously limited opportunities. Coeursamba (Fr) was bred by three members of the Mestrallet family, including Julie Mestrallet, who consigns at the French sales under the name of her Haras de l'Aumonerie. She owns only two broodmares, with the Quesnay-bred Marechale (Fr) (Anabaa), the dam of Coeursamba, being the first bought by Mestrallet from a claiming race in the French provinces. 

When The Wow Signal won the Coventry he was following something of a Royal Ascot tradition for his sireline. His sire Starspangledbanner won the G1 Golden Jubilee S. on his second start for Aidan O'Brien after moving from the Australian stable of Leon Corstens, and in turn his father Choisir (Aus) had been the poster boy that opened the floodgates for Australian sprinters heading to the Royal meeting, having won both the King's Stand and the Golden Jubilee back in 2003.

Starspangledbanner was also famously subfertile in his early years at stud but a combination of patience and good management has seen him continue his stallion career while remaining popular with commercial breeders. 

He too was represented among the stakes winners over the weekend when the Fozzy Stack-trained juvenile Hermana Estrella (Ire) landed the G3 Coolmore Stud Irish EBF Fillies' Sprint S. on debut, with the horses in behind her including favourite Contarelli Chapel (Ire) (Caravaggio), who had earned a TDN Rising Star for her own impressive debut success three weeks earlier.

Bred by Mark and Aisling Gittins at Castlefarm Stud from The Last Sister (Ire), a daughter of the Gittins family's G1 Prix Jean Prat winner Lord Shanakill, Hermana Estrella had been sold as a foal for just 2,500gns. She transpired to be a profitable pinhook for Timmy Hillman of Castledillon Stud, who resold her as a yearling for £42,000 to her trainer and Hubie de Burgh at last year's relocated Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

The family has worked well with that sireline in the past as The Last Sister's half-sister Lady Springbank (Ire) is a dual Group 3-winning daughter of Choisir. Hermana Estrella may now be given her own chance at Royal Ascot in the G3 Albany S.

Snowfall On The Knavesmire

We usually expect to see something special at York in the spring and indeed both formal Classic trials threw up decent winners. Galileo was the broodmare sire of yet another European Classic winner at ParisLongchamp on Sunday and he could yet chalk up further success in this realm in the coming weeks with Snowfall (Jpn), who was highly impressive in winning the G3 Tattersalls Musidora S. Like Saxon Warrior (Jpn) before her, she is bred on the Deep Impact (Jpn)-Galileo cross. Her mother fell somewhat short of her lofty name of Best In The World (Ire), and in fact she herself finished last in the Musidora in 2016. She did, however, later collect the G3 Give Thanks S. As a full-sister to Arc winner Found (Ire) and a daughter of Group 1 winner Red Evie (Ire) (Intikhab), Best In The World of course had plenty to recommend her, and her first foal is now second-favourite behind stablemate Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) for the Cazoo Oaks.

The Dante meeting also proved to be a highly successful one for trainer Ed Walker, who has a crack sprinter on his hands in Starman (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}). The 4-year-old is still lightly raced and has been beaten just once in his five starts for owner/breeder David Ward, who bought his dam Northern Star (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale for €50,000 through Ed Sackville. She won just once but has already produced two stakes performers with her first two foals. Sadly, the mare died after producing a Kingman (GB) filly, named Lodestar (GB), in 2018.

Northern Star's first foal, Sunday Star (GB) (Kodiac {GB}), is a dual winner with multiple stakes placings, including finishing third in the G3 Summer Fillies' S. at York last season. Starman is smarter still and now has two Group 1 sprint entries at Royal Ascot.

Sackville also did Ward a favour when selecting Primo Bacio (Ire) at Tattersalls October Book 1 two years ago from her breeder Kildaragh Stud. A winner last December on her fourth start for Walker, the daughter of Awtaad (Ire) has taken major strides forward in her 3-year-old season and, following a first-up fourth in the G3 Fred Darling S., she now has bold black type thanks to her three-length win in the Oaks Farm Stables Fillies' S., which is run in memory of the late racing journalist Michael Seely.

Primo Bacio's victory not only completed a double for Walker and Ward, but also initiated a stakes double last week for her Derrinstown Stud-based sire Awtaad. Both she and the Sir Edmund Loder homebred Bellosa (Ire), who won the listed Betway King Charles S. at Newmarket on Saturday, are members of the Irish 2000 Guineas winner's first crop, as is last season's Leopardstown winner Ebeko (Ire). The latter was subsequently exported to California, where she won the listed Zuma Beach S. for trainer Peter Miller.

Rising Stars Of The Stud Ranks

There has been plenty of activity in the European first-season sires' table over the last week. Overbury Stud's Ardad (Ire) doubled his tally of winners to eight, with Beautiful Sunshine (GB) and Superior Force (GB) among those to have added to the impressive run for the partnership of trainer George Boughey with Amo Racing and breeze-up consignor/pre-trainer Robson Aguiar.

The National Stud duo of Aclaim (Ire) and Time Test (GB) both got off the mark on Saturday, with Aclaim's first winner, Cachet (Ire), another breeze-up graduate trained by Boughey, being awarded a TDN Rising Star for her Rowley Mile debut.

Galileo Gold's first winner, Ebro River (Ire), struck at Doncaster on Saturday and, appropriately, the colt is trained by Galileo Gold's former trainer Hugo Palmer in the colours of his former owner Al Shaqab Racing, and was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, where the 2000 Guineas winner now stands.

Ribchester (Ire) was another freshman to be represented by a TDN Rising Star in the last week in the form of Gisburn (Ire), the facile winner of a Newbury maiden on Friday for Richard Hannon and owners Michael Kerr-Dineen and Martin Hughes. He is likely to head next to the Coventry S. 

Meanwhile at the head of the table presently on progeny earnings is Ribchester's fellow Darley sire Profitable (Ire). His four winners include the Gavin Cromwell-trained Quick Suzy (Ire), who was runner-up to the aforementioned Hermana Estrella in the Group 3 at Naas on Sunday. Events at Royal Ascot will surely bring further clues as to the prowess of the latest crop of young stallions.

The post The Weekly Wrap: Coming Of Age appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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