While records were being broken at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Sale on Friday, leading breeze-up handler Diego Dias showed that there is always another way to get a horse sold when sending out Gaenari (Ire) (Inns Of Court {Ire}) to finish second in the opening maiden on Guineas weekend.
It was just over a month ago when Dias was forced to buy back Gaenari after she failed to put in the breeze he felt she was capable of doing. Devoid of any other options, Dias, backed by Star Bloodstock's Matt Eves, threw a set of silks on the filly nobody wanted at Doncaster.
It looks to be a shrewd move now, given the filly was beaten just a neck by the fast-finishing Joseph O'Brien-trained Nemonte (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) in that six-furlong Curragh maiden.
Dias and Eves are now dreaming of Royal Ascot with the filly and the Brazilian native says that he hopes to secure a sale before the G2 Queen Mary S.
Good Day which my first runner I like to thanks Star Bloodstock to believe and listen when I say she's good, big future ahead for Gaenari looking forward to the next step for her, Royal Ascot in my mindhttps://t.co/pR0MSnd9hl
— Diego Dias Bloodstock (@DiegoDi41476096) May 26, 2023
“It was almost a dream start,” Dias commented on his first ever runner. “The filly ran really well and was only caught in the last few strides. We brought her to Doncaster but she didn't put in the breeze that we knew she could and then nobody wanted her. She went into the ring and there was absolutely nobody for her–not one bid–so we bought her back for £3,000.”
He added, “We knew she was better than she showed at Doncaster. At the end of the day, horses are not machines and, sometimes they just don't turn up on the day. But on her homework at home, we knew that she had the potential.”
Gaenari was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, who sold the horse at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale for £23,000 to Byron Rogers and Star Bloodstock.
Of course, it is not the first time Eves has thrown a set of silks on a horse, with eagle-eyed observers remembering that it was his light blue and purple colours that were carried initially by Joseph O'Brien's listed winner Lady Penelope (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) a few years ago.
Dias said, “I bought Gaenari with Byron Rogers at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale for £23,000 off Tally-Ho Stud. We had no other option but to race her and I just appreciate that Matt sent her to me.
“We were quietly confident that she would run well, even though it looked a good maiden, and I think we will go to Royal Ascot with her now. The Queen Mary would suit her because she is a very quick filly.”
He added, “She could be sold before Royal Ascot. She is for sale and, if someone were to buy half of her and she stay in training with me, that would be the ideal option but we'll see what happens in the next few days.”
Looking to build on his 12 victories at Royal Ascot, trainer Wesley Ward sent out several horses with intended engagements at the prestigious meeting–all campaigned by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables–for Friday morning breezes over the Keeneland turf course.
Making his first appearance on the grass was American Rascal (Curlin), the first foal out of multiple Royal Ascot winner and Cartier Award-winning 2-year-old filly of 2016 Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy), who was accorded 'TDN Rising Star' status for his towering 10 1/4-length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden over the Keeneland main track Apr. 20. Ward pronounced himself pleased with the half-mile move from American Rascal (:50 flat), whose workmate Fandom (GB) (Showcasing) went the same distance in :49 3/5. The latter won his maiden on his Apr. 27 bow by 6 3/4 lengths.
“Julio [Garcia] was on him,” Ward said about American Rascal. “I wanted him to work nice and relaxed. Today was an ultra-impressive workout. To look at this horse, he's all speed. He looks like a running back: muscles on muscles, very compact. Just excited to see the next couple of works here. As long as all goes well, we're heading to the [June 22 G2] Norfolk [S.] and we're really excited about it.”
Fandom's Royal Ascot target has yet to be determined.
'TDN Rising Stars' Twilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) and Love Reigns (Ire) (U S Navy Flag), each exiting Keeneland stakes victories and each set to make a second Royal Ascot appearance, breezed four furlongs in company in :50.40. Twilight Gleaming, second in the 2021 G2 Queen Mary S., won the Giant's Causeway S. in April and runs in the June 20 G1 King's Stand S., while Love Reigns was a solid fourth in last year's Queen Mary. This year's FanDuel Limestone S. winner is possible for the age-restricted G1 Commonwealth Cup June 23.
“Those were two nice works as well,” Ward said. “Julio [on Twilight Gleaming] broke off quite a bit behind Love Reigns and made up the ground down the lane, just comfortably. They finished together at the wire.”
Ward is also likely to be represented by Three Chimneys Farm's Bundchen (Gun Runner), who missed by a nose on Keeneland unveiling Apr. 28 and who worked in the company of the GI Jaipur S.-bound Arrest Me Red (Pioneerof the Nile). Candymaker (Twirling Candy), a debut winner sprinting on turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis May 22, rounds out the Ward team.
Turf works at Keeneland are scheduled for the next two Fridays. Ward said his Royal Ascot squad would depart Indianapolis June 14 on a direct flight to London Stansted Airport. They will spend several days at nearby Chelmsford Racecourse before moving to Ascot.
Ward said Irad Ortiz, Jr. and Joel Rosario will have Royal Ascot mounts on the horses they have been riding.
Aughamore Stud's Michael Gleeson has said that producing Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), arguably the most impressive two-year-old winner there has been so far this season and a genuine Royal Ascot contender, eclipses anything the family-run farm has achieved in the sales ring.
Gleeson runs one of the shrewdest breeding and pinhooking operations in Ireland along with his brother Laurence. The Westmeath men have made a habit of producing a number of big results at the sales in recent years and are now savouring what looks a real Coventry S. contender in TDN Rising Star Asadna.
He said, “This is massive for us. The sales ring is brilliant but it's the winner's enclosure where you really want to be. We were fortunate enough to have sold a Group 1 winner [Champers Elysees (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus})] who won the Matron S. during lockdown so we couldn't be there for that. That's always going to stick in the back of your mind so we're going to make sure we're at Royal Ascot to see Asadna run.”
That might be a good idea. The ratings suggest that what Asadna did on debut at Ripon was something out of the ordinary. In actual fact, no two-year-old has posted a bigger Timeform rating than Asadna did when pulling a massive 12 lengths clear of his rivals to win over six furlongs on debut at Ripon for George Boughey.
For Asadna to win on debut didn't come as a surprise to anyone close to him. But for him to go and post one of the most impressive speed figures in recent times for a debutant, just over a month after selling from Church Farm and Horse Park Stud to owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah for 160,000gns, could not have been predicted by anybody.
Gleeson said, “We spoke to John Cullinan and Roger Marley, who breezed him, and they were very keen on the horse. But then again, he didn't blow the lights out at the Craven but still managed to sell well.
“Obviously, they got him sold on their reputation because it was probably the soft ground that killed him in the breeze. We heard he was going well with George and everyone liked him but you never want to get too far ahead of yourself.
“You hear so many stories about horses who are going to be the next big thing and it normally doesn't work out so you have to try and keep your feet on the ground.”
He added, “When you first saw him win by that distance, you were in shock. And then the more information that came out in the following hours and days made you wonder if it actually happened. At the same time, it was still only a maiden, but he looks very exciting.”
Asadna is a best-priced 4-1 for the Coventry but most firms are quoting just 5-2 about him winning one of the most prestigious two-year-old races in the calender. His success is a triumph for the Gleeson brothers' patience and once again highlights their ability to sniff out a bargain given the dam Looks Great (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) was picked up for just 10,000gns through Hamish Macauley at the Tattersalls July Sale seven years ago.
Gleeson said, “We've seven broodmares on the farm now but a lot of those have only been purchased in the past couple of years. Asadna is out of one of the original mares that we bought when we moved back home to the farm to try and give it a go so it has taken time. It's a long time since she was bought from the sales as a three-year-old.
“As her name suggests, she was an outstanding individual and we knew that her dam [Danehill Dreamer (Danehill)] produced lovely-looking stock. There was a Nathaniel (Ire) colt [Ecole d'Art (Ire)] out of the mare that made 675,000gns as a yearling.
“You need to find an angle and have to forgive something somewhere when you are shopping at that level. So we forgave her page because she had a strong backpage and felt that New Approach (Ire) would be a very good broodmare sire, which he now looks to be. He looks to be the next big thing as a broodmare sire.”
He added, “We were actually debating whether or not to put her in training after we bought her off Godolphin but we just didn't have the finances to test the waters.”
The Gleesons kept it local by travelling just 20 minutes from their base in Streamstown, County Westmeath, to their near neighbours in Tally-Ho Stud to visit Mehmas just before his first runners hit the track. It turned out to be an inspired decision given the heights Mehmas has scaled in the interim and Gleeson is hoping that Asadna can be the latest star for the popular sire.
He said, “We went to him during his first season and it just made sense to go back. He is local to us there in Tally-Ho Stud and they have always been very good to us. It was an easy decision. When we used him the second time with the mare, with the resulting progeny now being Asadna, there was actually a lot of word about his first runners so we decided to send two mares to him before anything hit the track. It proved to be the last chance saloon when you consider what his stud fee is now.
“But with the way the market is gone now, there has to be an element of risk because sire power is everything, especially with the mares who don't have the big pages. You need to land on the right sire to potentially upgrade your mare.”
Gleeson added, “Looks Great now has a Belardo (Ire) yearling filly who I imagine we will bring to the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale. She's also in foal to Nando Parado (GB, who we have a share in, so we were keen to support him this year with something decent.”
“Even though The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is in the pedigree, you also have Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}), while Fille De Reve (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Sulaalaat (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) were other highly-rated performers in the pedigree as well. Sulaalaat actually won over six furlongs so we just said that we'd embrace the speed element of the pedigree. From a commercial point of view, it made sense to go that way with that level of a stallion.”
The second episode of An American Dream: The Return to Royal Ascot, a series following American Harlan Malter's ambitious quest to return to Royal Ascot with a horse sired by his G1 King's Stand S. runner Bucchero (Kantharos), was released by Great British Racing International (GBRI) and Ascot Racecourse on Sunday.
The new episode follows Malter and Florida-based trainer Joe Orseno as they attempt to win Gulfstream Park's inaugural Royal Palm Juvenile S. with Mattingly (Bucchero), who finished second to No Nay Mets (Ire) (No Nay Never) in the automatic qualifier for entry into one of Royal Ascot's six 2-year-old races. While No Nay Mets has been confirmed to make the trip to England next month, a final decision as to whether co-owners Ironhorse Racing Stable LLC and Harlow Stables LLC will ship Mattingly has yet to be made.
All episodes released thus far in An American Dream: The Return to Royal Ascot can be found on GBRI's YouTube channel.
runner I like to thanks Star Bloodstock to believe and listen when I say she's good, big future ahead for Gaenari looking forward to the next step for her, Royal Ascot
in my mind
https://t.co/pR0MSnd9hl
