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Choice Offerings From Owenstown Stud

John Tuthill wouldn't be the type to shout from the rooftops about the racetrack successes of the graduates of his Owenstown Stud. But, then again, he doesn't have to–the horses have done the talking themselves.

From a band of about 15 broodmares of his own, Tuthill bred two winners of the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. in the space of five years: Excelebration (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) in the Derrick Smith silks in 2012 and the filly Persuasive (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) for Cheveley Park Stud in 2017. He also bred G2 Futurity S. winner and sire Dragon Pulse (Ire), and Dark Angel's Group 3-winning sprinter Art Power (Ire). Tuthill raised and sold last year's G1 Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) for breeder Kangyu International Racing, and evergreen Group 2 winner Safe Voyage (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) for breeder Adolf Schneider.

Tuthill brings a boutique draft of three under the Owenstown Stud banner for the Sept. 28 and 29 Goffs Orby yearling sale, all from families he has nurtured for the better part of 15 years.

Lot 408, a daughter of Dark Angel, is a February-foaled full-sister to Persuasive and a half to the listed-winning and multiple Group 3-placed Tisbutadream (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and Creative Force (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of this year's G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot for Godolphin.

“She's typical of the family,” Tuthill said. “She has an absolutely sweet nature; I've had quite a lot of the family and it's something about that family, they have a fantastic nature. They give everything they can and yet they're very easy and pleasant to work with. She's an absolute joy to have around.

“It's not a family of great big specimens. When you think of Creative Force, he isn't very big. She's a little bigger than him, but it's the attitude that they have. And she's nicely proportioned and correct.”

All of Choose Me's seven prior foals have sold as yearlings, and five of those were at Orby. Creative Force's €400,000 pricetag when Godolphin bought out a foal share agreement was the most expensive. Persuasive cost €180,000 at Kildare Paddocks, and Tisbutadream €100,000. Choose Me's current 2-year-old, the as-yet unraced Mr Zero (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), was bought by SackvilleDonald for 100,000gns, and that firm has been great supporters of the mare: they purchased Choose Me's 2016 son of Slade Power (Ire), Songkran (Ire), for €100,000 from Orby and he won six times. They also purchased Tisbutadream from the 2017 Goffs London Sale for £400,000 for King Power Racing off a third-place finish in the G3 Princess Elizabeth S.

It is hard to deny that Choose Me has been an excellent producer; all six of her foals to race have won at least once, with two having none short of six wins on their CVs.

Choose Me was bred by Owenstown out of the Juddmonte-bred mare Hecuba (GB) (Hector Protector). Put through the Tattersalls December sale after winning once for trainer Barry Hills, Hecuba was picked up by McKeever St Lawrence for 27,000gns. Put in foal to Vettori (Ire), Hecuba was returned to Park Paddocks a year later and scooped up by Tuthill and his aunt, the late Averil Whitehead, for 48,000gns from the Kildaragh Stud consignment.

“She has been fantastic,” Tuthill said. “She's produced stakes horses–Choose Me is her best one so far-and she's still producing.”

Choose Me was Hecuba's second foal, and Tuthill explained how she came to stay under Owenstown's care.

“Choose Me was in the Fairyhouse sale and was injured and had to be withdrawn,” he said. “My aunt, Mrs. Whitehead, said she would race her with a 'for sale' sign around her neck. She was named Choose Me-she's by Choisir, which means to choose, but also if somebody came into Kevin Prendergast's yard looking to buy a horse, the name on the door would say, 'Choose Me.'”

Choose Me soon proved herself valuable enough to Owenstown that the 'for sale' sign was removed from her neck. She broke her maiden at two, won the Listed Fairy Bridge S. at three and won four times from 28 starts.

“She went up through the grades and proved herself to be very good indeed, and so we kept her and were happy to do so,” Tuthill said. “She's been great, she's produced Tisbutadream, Creative Force, Persuasive; they've all been good horses. Creative Force is running in Group 1s and just needs to get his head in front. He's not big in stature but no one has told him he's a small horse. When he has the tack on he's every bit as big as anybody else. He has a great attitude.”

The Dark Angel yearling filly is, sadly, the last foal out of Choose Me, who died last year. Tuthill is clearly reluctant to let her go, but such is business, especially in the wake of a difficult 2020 on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I'd love to keep her, but last year's yearling sales were not great, to put it mildly,” he said. “So I'm not in the position of being able to hold on to her. So unfortunately, sadly, I have to sell her even though she's the last of the Choose Me progeny.”

Owenstown still retains a few links to the family, however, with Choose Me's sisters Aphrodite's Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Spirit of Cuba (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the broodmare band. Hecuba has a colt foal by Starspangledbanner (Aus) and is back in foal to Mehmas.

Aphrodite's Angel's first foal, a grey colt by Kodiac, is in the Orby as lot 355, while Spirit of Cuba's sixth foal, an Iffraaj (GB) colt, is part of Owenstown's three-horse draft for Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“Aphrodite's Angel has a very nice Kodiac colt,” Tuthill said. “He's a grey, he's strong, he's a good mover and straightforward. He's another one you'd like to be associated with.”

Owenstown's Orby consignment is completed by lot 169, a colt by Roaring Lion who is the third foal out of Owenstown's homebred G3 Ballyogan S. winner Penny Pepper (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}), who is a half-sister to Art Power. Like Choose Me, Penny Pepper descends from a Juddmonte family, her second dam Shadow Casting (GB) (Warning {GB}) having been a winner for Khalid Abdullah and Barry Hills. Tuthill bred Evening Time (Ire) (Keltos {Fr}) from Shadow Casting, and running under the ownership of Whitehead she won the 2006 Listed Flame Of Tara S. and the 2007 Listed Sweet Mimosa S. for Kevin Prendergast. That was just a year before Choose Me came onto the scene.

“Between Evening Time and Choose Me, those two fillies kept Mrs. Whitehead alive for another few years,” Tuthill said. “She was in the final years of her life and they gave her such excitement and such reason to keep going. It was great that even as she was becoming more frail she still had something to shout for. I can remember her being cautioned in hospital for making too much noise shouting at the television. She had a lot of fun with them and they've both been great producers.”

Penny Pepper and Art Power are two of Evening Time's three stakes winners; she is also responsible for the Listed Prix Ronde de Nuit winner Morning Frost (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) and the American listed-placed Shaan (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}). Penny Pepper's first two foals, a 3-year-old filly by Dragon Pulse (Ire) named Penny Pulse (Ire) and a 2-year-old colt by Dark Angel (Ire) named The Grey Wolf (Ire), are as-yet unraced, but Tuthill said the Roaring Lion colt shows all the signs of being something good.

“He's got great presence–there's plenty of horse there,” he said. “He's very nice; a big, powerful colt. He's everything you'd hope to produce. He really has a look that says, 'come and look at me, I'm going to be something special.' It was such a shame that Roaring Lion himself had such a short life, because if the rest of his progeny are anything like my lad, he would have made such a mark on the pedigrees.”

Mares like Choose Me and Evening Time are key to shaping the modern history of Owenstown, which was established by Englishman Major Dickson in Maynooth, Co. Kildare shortly after the turn of the 20th century. Owenstown and Dickson's neighboring Moygaddy Stud were managed by Tuthill's grandfather Frank Tuthill. When Major Dickson opted to return to England in the midst of the political unrest in Ireland, he offered Frank Tuthill the opportunity to buy his studs. Tuthill could only afford one and chose Owenstown, and he soon embarked on a highly successful run as a breeder in his own right. The most famous Thoroughbred produced at Owenstown under Frank Tuthill's tutelage was the Oaks and 1000 Guineas winner Musidora, while other Classic winners reared there during that time period included Indiana, Humble Duty and Cavan. Frank Tuthill later handed Owenstown off to his niece, Averil Whitehead, who bred the likes of Indian Ridge-a dual Royal Ascot winner and influential sire-and G3 Rockfel S. winner Negligent in the early days of her Owenstown reign. Whitehead remained keenly involved in the running of the stud until her death in 2010.

“Mrs. Whitehead handed it over to me 25 years ago and I ran it very much with her until she died and I've continued on myself,” Tuthill said. “My core business is breeding and selling yearlings, but I also board mares, either long term, permanent boarders or some short term ones through the breeding season. We would foal about 50 mares and we'd have some mares that would come in to visit Irish stallions.”

In addition to his Orby and Tattersalls Book 2 drafts, Tuthill has yearlings to sell at this week's Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale as well as the Goffs Sportsman's Sale and Tattersalls October Book 3. He said he is hoping to go some way toward healing the damage done during last year's pandemic-ravaged season.

“I'm expecting the market to be stronger than last year,” he said. “My perception is that people want to shake off the horrors of Covid and I think there is an appetite to buy some horses and get racing again and try to get the normality and the enjoyment out of the sport. I hope that positivity is reflected in good yearling prices and certainly I'm hoping I have a good year to in some way make up for last year.”

With a select group of yearlings by commercial sires from current top-class female families, there is every reason to believe the shrewdest buyers should be shopping at Owenstown Stud.

The post Choice Offerings From Owenstown Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Lions Ready To Roar At Arqana

Buyers at this weekend's Arqana August Yearling Sale will have the chance to get their hands on an extremely rare commodity when eight yearlings from the lone crop of 2018 Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion go up for sale in Deauville.

Qatar Racing's Roaring Lion was euthanized in August 2019 in New Zealand after suffering several bouts of colic. The grey had not long before finished covering a debut book at Tweenhills Stud in Britain that resulted in 90 registered foals.

David Redvers, racing manager to Qatar Racing and owner/managing director of Tweenhills Stud, said, “We've seen quite a lot of the Roaring Lions that are around and we have a good number here, somewhere between 30 and 40. They're a very good, level group of miler, middle-distance type of horse very much in Roaring Lion's image at the same stage.”

Redvers would know. He and his team picked out Roaring Lion at the same point in his life, on the first day of Keeneland September in 2016, for $160,000-not quite a steal, but certainly under the radar of the $305,171 session average. Placed under the tutelage of John Gosden, Roaring Lion won his first three starts on the bounce, including the G2 Royal Lodge S., before finishing a neck second to Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Racing Post Trophy. Third behind eventual Derby winner Masar (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) in the G3 Craven S. and fifth behind Saxon Warrior in the Guineas, Roaring Lion bounced back to win the G2 Dante S. by 4 1/2 lengths before finishing third in the Derby. He then embarked on a remarkable four race Group 1 win streak taking in the Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International, Irish Champion S. and Queen Elizabeth II S., the Group 1 winners in his wake including Saxon Warrior, Laurens (GB), Addeybb (Ire), Study Of Man (Jpn), Rhododendron (Ire), Thunder Snow (Ire) and Hawkbill.

“When the horse has been and gone it's easy to forget what a brilliant racehorse he was, but there have been so many by him that are similar in their action and that have his quality,” Redvers said. “The ones that have just started their prep, we love their outlook, movement, everything. We're delighted with what we're seeing and we're massively invested. Qatar Racing is going to have 25 to 30 in training by him.”

Redvers said he and his team will also be on the lookout for the Roaring Lions at the sales, likening the scenario to another Horse of the Year that was lost too soon, Dubai Millennium, and Dubawi, the champion sire he left in his lone crop.

“We'll be trying to identify one or two of the best horses [at the sales] and the hope is that we will identify the Dubawi in the Dubai Millennium crop,” Redvers said. “And while we know what we like the look of, we don't have a crystal ball, so there will be plenty of opportunity for other people there as well.”

Roaring Lion finished second only to Saxon Warrior by average among first-crop sires at the foal sales last year, his eight sold averaging £61,027/€71,985, and his first yearling to step into a sales ring will be lot 4 at Arqana on Saturday, a colt out of the Pivotal (GB) mare Every Time (GB). He is a homebred for Haras d'Etreham, which purchased the mare for 300,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2015. Every Time is a placed half-sister to the dams of G3 Oh So Sharp S. winner Mot Juste (Distorted Humor) and G1 Moyglare Stud S. and G3 Albany S. winner Cursory Glance (Distorted Humor), whose half-sister Willow View (Lemon Drop Kid) is the dam of American Grade I winner Digital Age (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). The Roaring Lion colt is the fifth foal out of the mare, whose first foal is a winner. The mare's second foal, a filly by Invincible Spirit (Ire), was injured before she could go into training and her third, the Zoffany (Ire) filly Villa Wagram (Ire), has been placed this year at three. She also has a 2-year-old colt by Camelot (GB).

“He's a colt we've always liked; he has size, scope, a bit of quality about him, and a good walk,” said Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure. “He looks a Classic type of horse to me. He looks mature already, and as the Americans would say, he's a real two-turn type of horse. We're very happy with him. He has that bit of class that Roaring Lion had.”

Etreham also sends the final Roaring Lion of the sale through the ring. Lot 321 is out of the winning Amarysia (Fr) (Medicean {GB}), a two-time winner and half-sister to the stakes-winning and producing Skia (Fr) (Motivator {GB}). Lot 321 was a €65,000 Arqana December foal.

“He is being pinhooked by one of our clients,” de Chambure said. “He has a very good mind as well, and that's something those [Roaring Lion] colts have in common. He has a bit of scope, and he looks a bit earlier. He's a bit more compact and more close to the ground, but he has that good walk as well and some quality about him.”

Ecurie des Monceaux offers a homebred Roaring Lion colt (lot 96) out of Secrete (Fr) (Cape Cross {Ire}). The 12-year-old mare has repaid the €250,000 Monceaux invested when it purchased her out of the Wertheimer et Frere draft at the 2012 Arqana December Sale; her first foal, Normandy Eagle (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), was Group 3 placed and her third foal, Solage (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) was a listed winner in Ireland. Her fourth foal, Rumi (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) won this year's G3 Prix Vanteaux. Both Solage and Rumi were €700,000 yearlings at this sale.

“I was quite impressed with Roaring Lion and I wanted to send him a nice mare,” said Monceaux's Henri Bozo. “Secrete is the mare we sent him and she's a really nice one-she's produced three black-type horses including Solage who won a stakes in Ireland and Rumi who won a Group 3 in France this year. It's a very proven family in Europe. The Roaring Lion colt is quite similar to the stallion; he has a good walk and a good temperament so I'm happy with him. He's a nice horse and I think it's interesting to have the Kitten's Joy bloodline.”

The other Roaring Lions on offer are Haras de la Perelle's colt out of G1 Falmouth S. winner Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 13); La Motteraye's filly who is the first foal out of the listed-winning Lbretha (Fr) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) (lot 38); Haras du Cadran's filly out of the dual listed-winning Avenue Gabriel (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) (lot 137); Haras des Capucines's colt out of the listed-winning Cheriearch (Arch) (lot 153); and Normandie Breeding's colt out of New Desire (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), a full-sister to champion Islington (lot 239).

Tweenhills launches another sire at this year's yearling sales, and although categorized as a first-crop sire on these shores he is in fact not at all, having already made waves in the Southern Hemisphere with his first four crops to race. Zoustar won the G2 BRC Sires' Produce S. at two before going on to take the G1 Golden Rose S., G2 Roman Consul S. and G1 Coolmore Stud S. at three, after which Qatar Racing and Widden Stud bought into him. The decision was taken to wait to shuttle the son of Northern Meteor (Aus) until he had proven successful Down Under, and thus when he covered his first Northern Hemisphere book of mares at a fee of £25,000 in 2019 he already had seven stakes winners Down Under led by the brilliant Sunlight (Aus), who had led home a 1-2-3 for her sire in the 2018 edition of the Coolmore Stud S. Zoustar's first Northern Hemisphere book resulted in 103 foals-which averaged £57,028/€67,268 at the foal sales last year–and his proficiency continued in such fashion in Australia that his fee actually rose to £30,000 for his second British book in 2020.

“His best crop is his second crop, which is an extraordinary thing,” Redvers said. “His nomination fee went up and he got a bigger book of mares and that was because his second crop was off the back of his extraordinary results with his first 3-year-olds in Australia,” Redvers said. “He had the first three in the Coolmore Stud S. and produced a couple champions. We've had the benefit of seeing what an extraordinary sire of sprinters and milers he is in Australia and that's as close you can get to an open goal as a breeder.”

“They're a different type of horse to the Roaring Lions,” Redvers continued. “The Roaring Lions are all quality and screaming back-end 2-year-old and a mile to 10 furlong 3-year-old. The Zoustars that are bred on speed lines look like absolute rockets, but they don't look like small, precocious horses; they have big hips and a great action. So many of them have his undeniable, immediately recognizable characteristics: that big broad head and jaw, and you can just see him in them. I'm as excited about him as it is possible to be about a stallion, and hopefully we're going to see a new era in the production of speed horses in the UK and Europe.”

There are five Zoustars catalogued at Arqana, and Etreham offers a colt out of the winning Fortitude (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) (lot 181). Etreham purchased Fortitude as a 3-year-old for 90,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2017 and she has enjoyed some major family updates this year, with her 5-year-old half-brother Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) winning four stakes races including the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, and her 2-year-old half-brother Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}) taking the Listed Chesham S. at Royal Ascot. Fortitude has a 2-year-old by another Australian-bred sire, the Etreham shuttler Scissor Kick (Aus), and the Zoustar colt is her second foal. De Chambure said that in sending Fortitude to Zoustar, he was attempting to replicate the speed-on-speed matings that have worked so well for Zoustar Down Under.

“I thought it would be interesting to breed that Green Desert line to Zoustar,” he explained. “He's done really well with those speedy Australian mares and I thought I'd try to replicate that by sending him a mare that has a bit of speed. Sometimes we probably make the mistake of using those Australian sires to speed up a pedigree and send them a Classic mare or 2400 metre type of mare, and sometimes that doesn't work because it's too extreme. So I thought I'd send him a mare with true speed. We're happy with the colt, he has that good length from Oasis Dream and he's very athletic and a good walker.”

Monceaux's Zoustar filly, lot 269, is the first foal for her dam, the winning Saccharose (GB), who is by Australian champion sire Exceed and Excel. Monceaux bought Saccharose for €170,000 at Arqana December carrying this filly in 2019.

“She's has the physical and she moves well, and she looks quite forward and precocious,” Bozo said. “She looks like she could run early. I have another Zoustar selling in October. I have three of them and they're all very athletic horses; they have a lot of strength.”

The other Zoustars catalogued for Arqana are a filly out of the Listed Lanwades Stud S. winner Arabda (GB) (Elnadim) (lot 134) offered by Arcadia Elevage; Haras de Saint Pair's half-sister to Grade III winner Guildsman (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) from the family of Almanzor (Fr) (lot 162); and Haras d'Haspel's colt out of Meandering (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a full-sister to multiple group winner Up (Ire) and a half to multiple Group 1 winner and sire Dutch Art (GB) (lot 224).

It is exciting times for the team at Tweenhills Stud. Although Roaring Lion is much missed, he and Zoustar's first yearlings look to usher in a new era for the stud, which also has some first-crop yearlings by the crack miler Lightning Spear (GB) (Pivotal {GB}). Its elder statesman Havana Gold has hit another gear this season, and G1 2000 Guineas winner Kameko covered his first book this spring.

“Roaring Lion was the first serious world champion we produced so it's incredibly exciting seeing his first crop of yearlings going through, obviously tinged with a huge amount of sadness that there aren't more crops to follow for him,” Redvers said. “But Zoustar is possibly the horse that excites me personally even more, because we know already that he is the sire of two Group 1 winners from his first crop in Australia and that he's going from strength to strength down there. So it's going to be the most fascinating 12 months. Hopefully this time next year we'll be seeing the fruits of it.”

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Value Sires: First Yearlings of 2021

In the third installation of our Value Sires series, we will dig into the sire crop with its first foals born in 2020, and therefore with its first yearlings this year. After some two years in waiting since most of these retired to stud, the judges got the chance at the recently concluded foal sales to lay eyes on the first progeny of most of them, and though it is still incredibly early days, their opinions, corroborated through their actions in the ring, will have an impact on the perception of these horses and the support they receive in their crucial third and fourth seasons.

It is interesting to note that the top four first-season sires by average at the European foal sales in 2020 were all born abroad, and are all by sires that stand outside Europe. It’s not like any of them have snuck up on us, of course-Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy), Zoustar (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}) and US Navy Flag (War Front) were four of the top five most expensive horses of their crop to retire to stud in 2019. But it is affirmation of the global nature of the game.

We noted in our prior edition of Value Sires that all bar three of the 18 sires with their first foals to be born in 2021 are taking fee cuts, and the nature of the pandemic and the global economic uncertainty means of course that much of this sire crop, too, has had its fees reduced.

Leading the way on first-crop foal sale averages was Coolmore’s G1 Racing Post Trophy and G1 2000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior, who had 16 sold for an average of €108,315/£98,679-3.6x his debut stud fee of €30,000, and he was the only member this sire crop to crack six figures on foal sale averages. His median of €82,502/£75,162 was 2.75x his fee. Saxon Warrior had 94 foals registered from his first crop and covered a further 166 mares last year at a fee of €27,500, and he stands for €20,000 in 2021.

Unbeaten in three starts at two, Saxon Warrior won the G2 Beresford S. before besting Roaring Lion in the Racing Post Trophy. He once again bettered that rival as well as the likes of Derby winner Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and GI Breeders’ Cup Mile victor Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) in the Guineas first up at three. Though that proved his final win, Saxon Warrior put in fine performances in some of Europe’s greatest races over the remainder of the summer, including second-place finishes by a neck to Roaring Lion in both the G1 Coral-Eclipse and G1 Irish Champion S. Saxon Warrior is the second foal out of the G1 Moyglare Stud S.-winning and Classic-placed Maybe (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who, after a stint in America to visit American Pharoah and War Front, returned to Japan and produced a full-brother to Saxon Warrior in 2020. Maybe is herself out of Sumora (Ire) (Danehill), a three-quarter-sister to G1 Oaks winner and multiple stakes producer Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), while sires Dr Devious (Ire) and Shinko King (Ire) and last year’s G1 Irish Oaks winner Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) appear under the third dam.

Second on the first-crop foal sale averages was Horse of the Year Roaring Lion, who tragically died in the summer of 2019 after covering a book of 133 mares that resulted in 90 registered foals for a fee of £40,000 at Tweenhills Stud. Roaring Lion’s eight foals sold at the sales averaged €69,603/€63,411, with a median of €62,272/£56,732. While his legacy will be sadly fleeting, he nonetheless has an excellent chance to make a last impact, with Group 1 winners Bateel (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Golden Lilac (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Simple Verse (GB) (Duke of Marmalade {Ire}) among those to have produced by him, as well as excellent young mares like Kiyoshi (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), Purr Along (GB) (Mount Nelson {GB}) and Wekeela (Fr) (Hurricane Run {Ire}).

The team at Tweenhills are afforded some consolation by the fact that they have another exciting young sire among this group, the Australian shuttler Zoustar (Aus) (Northern Meteor {Aus}). Zoustar’s popularity in his first season shuttling was such that he sired 102 foals in his first crop, and he covered a further 124 mares last year. Zoustar started at £25,000 in 2019, took a rare second-season fee hike last year to £30,000 and is back down to £25,000 in 2021. His 18 first-crop foals sold at the breeding stock sales averaged €67,281/£61,295, 2.7x his stud fee, with a median of €49,971/£45,525, 2x his stud fee.

The team at Qatar Bloodstock, which had bought into Zoustar during his racing career, made the strategic decision to not shuttle the horse until he had proven himself Down Under, and that decision has paid dividends, with Zoustar having an excellent body of work behind him in his homeland before he even set foot on UK soil. Zoustar won two key sire-making races in Australia, the G1 Golden Rose S. and G1 Coolmore Stud S., over seven and six furlongs at three, and it took him no time at all to fulfill that prophecy in the stud barn. He was far and away the leading first- and second-crop sire of his generation in Australia, and in his first season among the general sire ranks in 2019/20 wound up seventh with just three crops of racing age. Zoustar thus far has 16 stakes winners with his fourth crop of juveniles having just hit the racetracks Down Under, with 12 of those emanating from his first crop including his brilliant sprinting mare Sunlight (Aus), who led home a trifecta for her sire in the Coolmore Stud S. of 2018. Sunlight is one of five pattern race winners by Zoustar with dams or second dams by Sadler’s Wells or Danehill, which bodes well for the European broodmare population.

European breeders may be less familiar with Zoustar’s sire Northern Meteor-another winner of the Coolmore Stud S. who got off to a brilliant start at stud before an untimely death. He is a son of the excellent Australian sire Encosta de Lago (Aus), who is by Sadler’s Wells’s full-brother Fairy King, and out of a daughter of the influential American sire Fappiano. European breeders will be plenty familiar, however, with Zoustar’s damsire Redoute’s Choice (Aus), who not only hails from one of the most international families in the stud book but who is himself proven in the Northern Hemisphere through the likes of G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis winner Danceteria and the excellent staying filly Enbihaar, the winner of five Group 2s.

Like Zoustar, US Navy Flag started out at €25,000 at Coolmore in 2019, and after dropping to €17,500 last year he is down to €12,500 for 2021. US Navy Flag’s 10 foals to sell at the sales last year averaged €39,971/£36,415, with a median of €41,297/£37,623. Like Saxon Warrior, US Navy Flag is out of a Group 1-winning daughter of Galileo, his dam being the four-time Group 1 and Classic winner Misty For Me (Ire), a full-sister to the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac scorer Ballydoyle (Ire) who has also produced the triple Group 1 winner Roly Poly (War Front). US Navy Flag’s second dam, Butterfly Cove (Storm Cat), is a half-sister to the dual Group 1-winning juvenile and sire Fasliyev (Nureyev).

US Navy Flag embodied the precocity his pedigree suggested he should. He ran a remarkable 11 times at a 2-year-old, finishing worse than fourth just twice and winning the G1 Middle Park S. and the G1 Dewhurst S. over his subsequent GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-winning stablemate Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy). US Navy Flag returned at three to win the G1 July Cup in a performance that was a joint career-best with his Dewhurst win (RPR 122). He sired 60 first-crop foals last year and covered an additional 143 mares in his second book.

Darley’s Champions

Rounding out the top five first-crop sires by average at the foal sales last year was Darley’s Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who had 16 foals sell for an average of €35,958/£32,759. Cracksman has stood for £25,000 the past two seasons and is down to £17,500 for 2021.

Cracksman has earned the gold medal on the value sire podium in this column the past two years based on his racetrack merits; he was one of the best racehorses we’ve seen in the past 10 years, his official rating of 130 trailing only Frankel (140), Sea The Stars (Ire) (136) and Harbinger (135) among European colts in the past decade.

A debut winner in October of his 2-year-old campaign, Cracksman won an Epsom Derby trial conditions race next out before finishing a length off Wings Of Eagles (Fr) (Pour Moi {Ire}) when third in the Derby in his third start. He split that rival and the winning Capri (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Irish Derby before embarking on a three-race win streak that began with the G2 Great Voltigeur S. and G2 Prix Niel and culminated in a seven-length score in the G1 Champion S. (RPR 131), good enough to earn him champion 3-year-old honours at the Cartier awards.

Cracksman added victories in the G1 Prix Ganay and G1 Coronation Cup and a title defense in the G1 Champion S.-in which he won by six lengths, equaling his RPR of 131 from the year prior-at four. He packs plenty of power on pedigree, too, being out of the stakes-winning and multiple stakes-producing Pivotal (GB) mare Rhadegunda (GB), who is herself a granddaughter of the G1 1000 Guineas and G1 Sussex S. scorer On The House (Be My Guest). Cracksman sired 98 first-crop foals last year and covered 112 mares in his second book.

Cracksman is joined at Dalham Hall by another Cartier champion in Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}). A half-brother to the G2 Mill Reef S. victor Pierre Lapin (Ire) (Cappella Sansevero {GB}) out of Beatrix Potter (Ire) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), a half-sister to Hong Kong star Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}), Harry Angel was a sprinter of the highest quality. He also won the Mill Reef at two and leapt into the big leagues at three with back-to-back scores in the G1 July Cup and G1 Sprint Cup. Harry Angel has had 89 foals reported from his first crop and bred an additional 98 mares last year. After standing for £20,000 his first two seasons, Harry Angel is down to £12,500.

Expert Selection

Another young Group 1 winner who has been well supported is Juddmonte’s GI Breeders’ Cup Mile scorer Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}), who has 96 first-crop foals and covered 105 mares in his second book including a handful of Juddmonte bluebloods. Expert Eye was precocious enough to win the G2 Vintage S. at two, and add the G3 Jersey S. at Royal Ascot by 4 1/2 lengths and the G3 City Of York S. before shipping to Churchill Downs to take the Breeders’ Cup Mile. There have been fewer sire lines hotter than Acclamation as of late, he having supplied the likes of Dark Angel and Mehmas (Ire), and Expert Eye has the female side to match; his dam Exemplify (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is a half-sister to champion and dual Classic winner Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy), and it is also the family of multiple Grade I winners Sightseek (Distant View) and Tates Creek (Rahy). Expert Eye is down to £12,500 after standing for £20,000 and £17,500, with his first-crop foals (22 sold) having averaged €35,857/£32,667.

Completing the Coolmore clan with its first yearlings in 2021 are the Castlehyde Stud duo of Sioux Nation (Scat Daddy) and Gustav Klimt (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Sioux Nation shares a likeness with No Nay Never not only through their sire by also through the fact that they both won the G2 Norfolk S. at two and followed it up with a Group 1 score; for No Nay Never it was the Prix Morny, and for Sioux Nation it was the Phoenix S. Both also trained on to win Group 3 sprints at three, and Sioux Nation was just three quarters of a length behind Havana Grey (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) when third in the G1 Flying Five S. Sioux Nation was the busiest first-season flat sire in Britain and Ireland last year, covering 241 mares which yielded a first crop of 133 foals. His second book numbered 158 mares. Sioux Nation was well received at the foal sales, his 28 sold averaging €29,622/£26,987, 2.4x his opening stud fee of €12,500. Sioux Nation, who is out of the Oasis Dream (GB) mare Dream The Blues (Ire), is down to €10,000 for 2021.

Gustav Klimt hails from the same Galileo over Danehill cross that has produced the excellent sires Frankel and Teofilo. His race record didn’t nearly hit the heights of either of those two, but nonetheless he won the G2 Superlative S. at two and, in addition to taking the Listed 2000 Guineas Trial S. at Leopardstown at three, placed in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas, the G1 St James’s Palace S., G1 Prix Jean Prat and G1 Sprint Cup during a busy 10-race 3-year-old campaign. Gustav Klimt has a sire’s pedigree, too, being out of Massarra (GB), who has produced five stakes winners and is herself a daughter of Rafha (GB) (Kris {GB}), the dam of Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB). It is also the family of Pride Of Dubai (Aus), who made an eye-catching start with his first 2-year-olds last year, and future sire power could be added to the page by not only Gustav Klimt but also Pinatubo (Ire), who is the most expensive first-season sire of 2021, and James Garfield (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), who also stands his second season in 2021. Gustav Klimt is down to €4,000 after standing for €7,500 and €6,500 the past two seasons.

Rathbarry Stud’s James Garfield bested Invincible Army (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the G2 Mill Reef S. in 2017 and trained on to beat Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G3 Greenham S. before being beaten a half-length in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. He had 45 first-crop foals last year before covering another 31 mares and is down to €4,000 from an opening fee of €7,000.

Speed Proves Popular

Whitsbury Manor Stud’s Havana Grey (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) was the busiest of this sire crop at the foal sales last year, with 44 offered and 36 sold for an average of €26,161/£23,834 (3.3x his opening fee of £8,000) and a median of €18,812/£17,139. His first crop numbered 108 foals, and he maintained his popularity when covering a further 130 mares in 2020 dropped to £6,500. He is available for £6,000 this year. From the family of the great Al Bahathri (Blushing Groom {Fr}) and her sire son Haafhd (GB) (Alhaarth {Ire}), Havana Grey is out of the Dark Angel (Ire) mare Blanc de Chine (Ire). He is best remembered for his victory at three in the G1 Flying Five S. over the likes of Sioux Nation, but he was also prolific at two, running eight times and winning the G3 Molecomb S., two listed contests and finishing second in the G1 Prix Morny.

Havana Grey looks to follow in the footsteps of Whitsbury Manor incumbent Showcasing, and it is a son of his, Tasleet (GB), who represents Shadwell here. Tasleet turned heads at the mare sales in 2019, his first in-foal mares selling for an average of 5.3x his opening fee of £6,000. The G3 Greenham S. and G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. winner remained popular at the foal sales last year, with 17 sold averaging 3.8x his fee at €22,834/£20,803 and returning a median 3.3x his fee at €19,605/£17,861. Tasleet’s dam Bird Key (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}) is a half-sister to the dam of Sheikh Hamdan’s outstanding sprinter Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), who continued to enhance the page last year with wins in the G1 King’s Stand S., G1 Nunthorpe S. and G2 King George S. While Tasleet can’t claim to have reached the racecourse status of that illustrious relative, he has some upside down to £5,000 in 2021. He ran six times at two and was a listed winner and placed in the G2 Richmond S. and G3 Somerville Tattersall S. before winning a three-runner Greenham S. when it was switched to Chelmsford’s all-weather course in 2016. Despite running just once more at three he returned at four to win the Duke of York before finishing second in three Group 1s-the Diamond Jubilee, Sprint Cup and British Champions Sprint S. Tasleet has a first crop of 63 foals and covered 51 mares last year.

Another Shadwell-bred among this crop is Massaat (Ire), a son of the red-hot Teofilo (Ire) who stands at Mickley Stud for £4,000, down from £5,000 the last two seasons. Massaat finished second to Air Force Blue (War Front) in the G1 Dewhurst S. in his third start and confirmed that form by finishing second to Galileo Gold (Ire) (Paco Boy {GB}) in the G1 2000 Guineas before going on to win the G2 Hungerford S. at four and finish third in the G1 Prix du Moulin. Massaat boasts a page littered with high-class runners; he is a half-brother to G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who has his first foals in 2021, and last year’s G3 Horris Hill S. scorer Mujbar (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}). His dam, Madany (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) is a half-sister to the four-times stakes producer Zeiting (Ire) (Zieten), who is also the second dam of French Classic winner Precieuse (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}).

If toughness is what you’re after, Bearstone Stud’s Washington DC (Ire) may be the way to look. The son of Zoffany (Ire) ran 32 times over four seasons on the track and won a stake in all but his final year. Washington DC won the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot and was second to champion Air Force Blue (War Front) in the G1 Phoenix S., and went on to win two listed races and place in two Group 1s and an overall five pattern races in 11 starts at three before registering a career high at four in the G3 Phoenix Sprint S. His first foals earned plaudits at the foal sales, too, averaging 3.9x his opening fee of £6,000 at €23,376/£21,296. After standing for £5,000 in 2020, Washington DC is down to £4,500 in 2021.

Tweenhills’s Lightning Spear (GB) is down to £5,000 from an opening fee of £8,500. Lightning Spear won his lone starts at two and three, but he didn’t truly get going until four. From that point, he rarely had an off day through his 7-year-old campaign, and after winning the G2 Celebration Mile at five and six and placing six times in Group 1s, he at last got that elusive top level prize to his name when beating Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G1 Sussex S. in 2018. Free of Northern Dancer in his first three generations, he is a son of the influential Pivotal.

Though he is down to £3,000 for 2021, the National Stud’s G2 Coventry S. scorer Rajasinghe (Ire) (Choisir {Ire}) turned heads at the foal sales last year; off a debut fee of £5,000, his six first-crop offerings brought 50,000gns, 46,000gns, 37,000gns, etc. for an average of €33,936/£30,941 that was 6.8x his stud fee, and a median of €32,827/£29,906.

Irish Value

Available for €5,000 in Ireland this year are Kessaar (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Smooth Daddy (Ire) (Scat Daddy). Kessaar was Ireland’s busiest first-season sire in 2019 standing outside the Coolmore banner, with a book of 97 mares at Tally-Ho Stud yielding 75 registered foals. Kessaar is the latest juvenile group winner to be ushered off to stud after early success on the racecourse, he having won the G3 Sirenia S. and the G2 Mill Reef S. during a seven-race 2-year-old campaign. His second book dipped to 42 mares last year, but strong debuts by Kodiac sons Adaay (Ire), Kodi Bear (Ire), Prince Of Lir (Ire) and Coulsty (Ire) last year alone should ensure Kessaar still has his fans, especially as he dips from an opening price of €8,000 to €5,000.

Smooth Daddy will have the weight of numbers against him on the racecourse, having sired 25 foals in his first crop before covering a further 37 last year at Starfield Stud, but what he does have going for him is that he is a graded stakes-winning son of Scat Daddy who was tough and sound throughout a five-year, 32-start career, the highlight of which was a win in the GIII Fort Marcy S. going 1800 metres on the turf over Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Unfortunately (Ire) (Society Rock {Ire}), winner of the G1 Prix Morny and G2 Prix Robert Papin at two and the G3 Renaissance S. at three, stands for €4,500 at Oak Lodge Stud in Ireland. He has 32 first crop foals and covered 50 mares in 2020 with substantial support from his joint owners Cheveley Park Stud and Linda and Reddy Coffey.

Group 1 Winners In France

France welcomed a pair of classy Group 1 winners in 2019, and heading those on fee at the time was Haras du Quesnay’s Recoletos (Fr) (Whipper). The G1 Prix d’Ispahan and G1 Prix du Moulin scorer debuted at €8,000 and is down to €6,500 in 2021, and he is a classy individual that trained on to win a further four pattern races after defeating the future G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victor Waldgeist (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G2 Prix Greffulhe at three and finishing third in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club. Recoletos retired with a rating of 121 and hails from a stout family; in addition to being a half-brother to the dual pattern race winner Castellar (Fr) (American Post {GB}), he is a grandson of Pharatta (Ire) (Fairy King), a graded/group winner in Britain and America and is also related to the dual Derby winner Shahrastani (Nijinsky).

On both pedigree and race record one has to imagine that Haras du Logis’s Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) has a great chance to stand for much more than €7,000 down the road. The winner of the G3 Prix des Chenes in his second start at two before finishing second in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, Cloth Of Stars won the G3 Prix la Force and G2 Prix Greffulhe during a four-race 3-year-old campaign. He returned at four to win the G3 Prix Exbury, G2 Prix d’Harcourt and G1 Prix Ganay consecutively before finishing second to Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in the Arc, and he came back the following October to fill third in the great race, and on both occasions was the first colt across the line in the Arc. Cloth Of Stars retired as a tough, consistent Group 1 winner rated 123 and holds further clout as a sire prospect being out of a full-sister to Oaks winner Light Shift and a half to G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector), both of whom are excellent producers.

Haras De La Haie Neuve offers Seahenge, a $750,000 yearling by Scat Daddy, for €4,000, down from €5,000. Seahenge won the G2 Champagne S. at two and was third in the G1 Dewhurst S., and is one of four stakes horses out of the listed-winning Fools In Love (Not For Love), those also including last year’s GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. third Max Player (Honor Code). Another son of Scat Daddy available in France for €5,000 this year is the 1700m GIII Pilgrim S. winner Seabhac, who is enshrined at Haras de Saint Arnoult.

Germany’s flagbearer of this sire crop is the nation’s 2016 Horse of the Year Iquitos (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), who stands at Gestut Ammerland for €6,000. Iquitos was Group 3 placed at three but really got going the following season when he won the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden and the G2 Grosser Preis der Badischen. First or second in all but two of his seven starts at five, Iquitos added the G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis and was twice second at Group 1 level. The bay wrapped up a prolific career with a victory over Defoe (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern in November of 2018.

Value Podium

Gold: Cracksman (£17,500) – he has occupied this space the last two years and deserves to more than ever down in price. One of the best colts we’ve seen of the past 10 years.

Silver: Expert Eye (£12,500) – a world-class Group 1 winner by sire-maker Acclamation. Juddmonte rarely misses the mark.

Bronze: Havana Grey (£6,000) – a quality sprinter at two and three who was popular at the foal sales and has the book sizes to sustain him.

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Moment of 2020: Kameko

In Moment of 2020, the staff of TDN Europe reflect on their favourite moments in racing for the year.

Future Classic winner Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) first came on my radar with his nose second in the G3 Solario S. in August of 2019 after winning on debut at Sandown in July. I especially noticed the flashy dark bay because he bore the same Qatar Racing silks as another favourite of mine, the late Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion, also a Kentucky-bred incidentally by Kitten’s Joy.

A $90,000 Keeneland September yearling, the Calumet Farm-bred Kameko gave every indication he was moving in the right direction in his next start, this time second by a neck in the G2 Royal Lodge S. at Newmarket in September of 2019 for trainer Andrew Balding. His progression continued with a smart win-by 3 1/4 lengths–in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy in November last term, but the race was also notable as the first British Group 1 race ever contested on a synthetic surface. As such, perhaps its overall form carried less clout ahead of the 2020 Classics than if it had been contested on a traditional turf course. Regardless, for me I had settled on my Classic horse for the 2020 season.

The winter of 2019/2020 seemed to be stretching endlessly, despite the weather gradually improving. And then COVID-19 hit, turned the world on its head and racing ceased in the UK on Mar. 17. By the time French racing resumed with a quartet of group races on May 11, I was just grateful for racing anywhere in Europe, let alone worrying about the impending Classics.

British racing began again on June 1 and just five days later Kameko, under regular rider and champion jockey Oisin Murphy, stamped his quality on the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas in race record time, despite not having the clearest of runs late on. After failing to stay with a fourth in the G1 Investec Derby at Epsom on July 4, Kameko faced his elders for the first time in the G1 Qatar Sussex S., but he was once again fourth after a troubled trip. He fared the same in the Aug. 19 10 1/2-furlong G1 Juddmonte International S. trying older heavy weights Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and connections determined he was strictly a miler.

Newmarket’s G2 Joel S. appeared to be a top-flight race in all but name, and much was riding on the outcome of the one-mile test. Back at HQ for the first time since his Classic victory, Kameko was facing an accomplished older horse in Godolphin’s MG1SW Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) while also carrying top weight in the six-horse field. It was a definite acid test for the Qatar Racing runner, who needed to prove that his Classic win, although accomplished in a wonderfully fast clocking, had not been a fluke.

Needless to say, I was glued to my computer screen that September morning. Would Kameko bounce back to his best at his preferred distance? He’d ducked no one throughout his campaign and this was his first try outside of Group 1 company since his G2 Royal Lodge second just under a year prior.

Second choice on the board behind Benbatl, the son of GIII Senorita S. heroine Sweeter Still (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) was away in good order, but was already being scrubbed on by Murphy at the half-way point. Kameko readily responded to his pilot’s cajoling and he split horses decisively to emerge with a slight advantage in the climb to the line. He wore down the pacesetting Benbatl and fended off the rallying Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}) to post a clear score. The latter edged Benbatl for second and it was on to the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile in November for the son of Kitten’s Joy.

Although unplaced at Keeneland, the 2021 Tweenhills Stud recruit deftly advertised his ample talent and class during his two campaigns and I look forward to his foals lighting up the course in years to come.

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