Tag: Sakheer

Sakheer Found To Be Lame After Disappointing Ascot Effort

Sakheer (Ire) was found to have genuine excuses for disappointing in last Friday's Commonwealth Cup after trainer Roger Varian reported that the colt emerged from Royal Ascot with “front limb lameness”.

The Zoffany (Ire) colt won two of his three juvenile starts last season, including the Group 2 Mill Reef S. at Newbury, and after failing to see out the mile in the 2,000 Guineas, was sent off as short as 17-2 for the Commonwealth Cup.

However, Sakheer trailed home last of the 13 runners reverting in trip, and Varian says that genuine excuses are coming to light for the sub-par performance. 

The trainer posted on Twitter, “Unfortunately Sakheer is not 100 per cent following his run in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on Friday.

“He is currently unsound and being investigated for a front limb lameness. He will require a period of time out of training but will return to the track later in the year.

“Whilst this is obviously disappointing, it does go some way to explaining his below-par performance.”

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Newmarket, It’s Good To Be Back

They're off and running at Newmarket, though not all of the runners have been in official races. The first day of the Craven meeting, a date anticipated with longing by those racing folk who dwell by that wind-blasted Heath, was ushered in by a Classic winner on the Rowley Mile. 

While we have more than a fortnight to wait for the first Classic victor of 2023 to reveal himself, the 2021 Irish Derby winner Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) strode out with purpose under William Buick on the easy turf on Tuesday morning. He is likely to be seen next in Newbury's G3 John Porter S. on Saturday, and the post-work smile on Charlie Appleby's face was matched a few hours later by Roger Varian, who oversaw a pre-racing gallop for his 2,000 Guineas contender Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {GB}).

“It was perfect to be honest,” said Varian, who was in company with Fawzi Nass and Oliver St Lawrence representing Sakheer's Bahraini owner KHK Racing. 

“It was not meant to be gut-busting work, and it wasn't. He did enough to have a nice blow and it got him a day away from home.”

Ed Harper of Whitsbury Manor Stud paid close inspection to Sakheer as he was warmed down after his gallop. As the breeder of Sakheer's potential Guineas rival Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Harper is entitled to be more interested than most, but then the stallion men know how fierce the competition is for new recruits. It's never too early to start looking.

Meanwhile, Varian added of the colt's five-furlong gallop, “It's nice to come an hour before racing as there are a few people around and there is a little bit of atmosphere, and he got to experience the undulations [of the Rowley Mile].

“He was very well balanced throughout the work and he came through nicely. It was a bridle work, but a strong work and he will come forward nicely for it. It's very much part of his schedule and he has got a strong two weeks ahead of him.”

Nass and St Lawrence have also got a strong few weeks ahead of them with the commencement of the breeze-up sales in Europe this week. Both Sakheer and his stable-mate, the St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who races in the same colours, were sourced at the Arqana breeze-up in the past two seasons.

Varian noted that we can expect to see Eldar Eldarov return to action in the G2 Yorkshire Cup on May 19. With Stradivarius (Ire) busily covering more than 100 mares next door to the Rowley Mile at the National Stud, and Kyprios (Ire) having met with a setback, could this be the year for the youngster to further enhance his name in the staying ranks?

As the sun was chased away by fierce gusts, Frankie Dettori may well have been wishing that he'd remained in California, especially when his first two mounts back on home turf finished last. But then Covey (GB) (Frankel {GB}) burst through to win the Alex Scott Maiden by four lengths to earn himself a likely tilt in stakes company for his next start.

“I arrived this morning: I slept two hours on the plane and two hours in my bed,” said Dettori. “I was counting it this morning and I've got six months until 21 October and Champions Day, so there is still plenty to do. I'm not going to start crying yet but I will enjoy it.”

It was a day for memorials. Alex Scott, who trained Lammtarra in his juvenile season as well as the top sprinters Cadeaux Genereux (GB) and Sheikh Albadou (GB), has been commemorated on the Rowley Mile since his premature death in September 1994 at the age of just 34, and many members of his family gathered on the rostrum for the presentation. 

In the next race we remembered Pat Smullen, the multiple Irish champion jockey who gained even more respect in his fundraising efforts for Cancer Trials Ireland, and was a much enjoyed columnist for TDN as his riding career came to an end. Since Smullen's death in September 2020, his great friend and colleague Ted Durcan has ensured that his name lives on at Newmarket by sponsoring the Pat Smullen Memorial British EBF Novice S. 

It was a contest that provided a third winner for the early leader in the first-season sires' table, Darley's Blue Point (Ire). His son Blue Storm (Ire), trained by James Tate for Sultan Ali, had been expected in the ring on Tuesday evening for the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale. Instead he graced the parade ring on the Rowley Mile, the second two-year-old winner this year, after Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), to have been entered for that sale but sent straight to the racecourse instead.

Plenty of mutterings between races on the pre-parade ring rail still centred on the events at Aintree on Saturday, and a security guard at Newmarket admitted that they had been warned to expect potential protesters back at the Rowley Mile for the Guineas meeting, which coincides with the King's coronation.

It would be preferable to be able to cast such worries from our minds and focus on the most important thing in front of us while leaning on that rail: enticing, well-bred Thoroughbreds who could be anything. That, after all, is what the Craven meeting is all about. The true start of the Flat, at British racing's HQ. It's good to be back, even in bone-chilling weather. 

 

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Seven Days: Bahrain’s Burgeoning Success

It has been another banner week for the breeze-up sector, not to mention the burgeoning Bahraini participation in European racing. 

Following Classic victories for Cachet (Ire), Native Trail (GB) and Eldar Eldarov (GB), more graduates of the two-year-old sales scene lifted one of last weekend's major races in Britain, the G2 Mill Reef Stakes, and also the G3 Stockholm Cup. 

Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) was imperious in the Mill Reef, and was the standout in a magnificent seven winners on Saturday for Roger Varian, which also included landing a Group 3 with Mitbaahy (Ire) (Profitable {Ire}) and the Listed Doonside Cup with Royal Champion (Ire) (Shamardal).

Varian had also featured prominently the previous weekend, claiming his second St Leger with Eldar Eldarov, who, like Sakheer, is owned by Bahrain's Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who races under the banner of KHK Racing, a name which only appeared on the British racing scene in 2020. This season KHK Racing has had 12 individual runners from six different stables.

Through trainer Fawzi Nass and bloodstock agent Oliver St Lawrence this is an outfit that has been making quite a splash at the sales in recent years, its purchases including the 2020 Arqana Select Sale topper Pure Dignity (GB), the Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to Sottsass (Fr), who is raced in partnership by Shaikh Khalid and his brother Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa. She has raced just once, winning well on debut at Newmarket, and is entered on Wednesday at Kempton.

St Lawrence said, “This is only the second crop of three-year-olds for KHK Racing in Britain, so to have a Classic winner and then a very promising two-year-old is very exciting.

“It's also very important for racing, and all the shaikhs that are involved in Bahrain are really enjoying it.”

Bred by Drumlin Bloodstock, Sakheer, who was bought as a foal by Camas Park Stud, was sold at Arqana 18 months later by one of the original breeze-up men, Willie Browne of Mocklershill. St Lawrence signed for him at €550,000 a year after picking up Eldar Eldarov at the same sale for £480,000 from Norman Williamson.

On the forthcoming return of a lovely broodmare prospect, St Lawrence said, “The intention is for Pure Dignity to run on Wednesday and if all goes well, Roger will try to find a black-type race for her later in the season. Then we will put her away, and she will race on next year, all being well. 

“I think both Shaikh Nasser and Shaikh Khalid are very keen to try to build up a quality broodmare band which will obviously take a bit of time.”

Shaikh Khalifa, who also races horses individually as Victorious Racing, has enjoyed success this year at Britain's flagship meeting, Royal Ascot, where Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}), yet another breezer, won the G2 Coventry Stakes for Archie Watson. He also owns the Listed winner and Group 3 runner-up Rocket Rodney (GB) (Dandy Man {Ire}).

St Lawrence added, “It has been a dream season and I am lucky enough to be buying these expensive horses, With that comes a lot of weight of trying to produce some good ones, but I think so far we are fulfilling that remit, though this season will be a tough one to follow.”

Those charged with running racing in Bahrain have signalled their intent to increase the domestic racing programme, with the G3 Bahrain International Trophy steadily gaining more traction, and the second Bahrain Turf Series set to kick off just after that in early December. On the back of recent results it is not hard to imagine that we will see increased Bahraini participation in British racing, too.

Easy to Please

In Scandinavia, the Lodge Park Stud-bred Hard One To Please (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) has been making merry this season. The winner of the Swedish and Norwegian Derbys in July and August, he stepped into Pattern company to land Sunday's G3 Stockholm Cup in the hands of Pat Cosgrave for trainer Annike Bye Hansen. 

An £8,000 Goffs Sportsman's yearling-turned-80,000gns breezer, Hard One To Please was bought by Walter Buick at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale. It could be a big week for the family as his half-sister Dandy Alys (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), who was recently runner-up in the G3 Sweet Solera Stakes, is entered for Friday's G2 Rockfel Stakes. Their dam, the nine-year-old New Approach (Ire) mare Alyssum (Ire), has a Camacho (GB) yearling filly in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale.

Move Over Hollie and Tom

Hollie Doyle and Tom Marquand are rightly feted, both individually and as racing's unofficial golden couple, but two other young jockeys, Saffie Osborne and David Egan, who also happen to be a couple, stole the limelight in the last week.

On Thursday, the second Racing League drew to a close in Britain, with a sensational 6,539/1 treble from Saffie Osborne, who duly lifted the £20,000 prize as the leading rider of the series. The 20-year-old jockey's most enjoyable moment of that evening would surely have been her victory on 40/1 shot Raising Sand (GB) for her father Jamie. The 10-year-old son of Oasis Dream (GB) has been a stalwart of the Osborne stable and his eighth win came two years after his last victory.

Osborne's recent run of success has propelled her into the top 50 riders in the country, the only other female on that list along with Doyle, who is second behind William Buick.

For David Egan, 22, it has been an up-and-down year. He lost his retainer with Prince AA Faisal in July, having previously ridden the owner-breeder's Mishriff (Ire) to victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup, G1 Dubai Sheena Classic, and G1 Juddmonte International. Taking the news of that reversal with admirable equanimity, Egan kept his head down, kept riding, and for his boss Roger Varian has been at the heart of a real purple patch for the stable, winning his first Classic on Eldar Eldarov and notching four wins at Newbury on Saturday, including in all three group races, two of which were for Varian and one for Hughie Morrison on Stay Alert (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}).

Angel Shouldn't Be Kept in the Dark

It is hardly a news flash to say that Dark Angel (Ire) is an excellent stallion but Yeomanstown Stud's 17-year-old somehow seems to be a little overlooked. He shouldn't be, for he is currently riding high in the European sires' table in fourth position behind Dubawi (Ire), Frankel (GB), and Sea The Stars (Ire). That leading trio can perhaps be percieved more as 'Classic' sires, but Dark Angel has also been among the Classic winners this season via his daughter Mangoustine (Fr), winner of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, in which she narrowly beat the 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet.

The son of Acclamation (GB) was among the major winners on three continents on Saturday. In Canada, Dark Angel's two-year-old son, the Godolphin homebred Mysterious Night (Ire), strolled to victory in the G1 Summer Stakes to become his sire's twelfth Group/Grade 1 winner. This followed Mysterious Night's triumph in last month's G3 Prix Francois Boutin and was one of three graded stakes winners for Charlie Appleby in North America on Saturday, along with Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). 

Another of his juveniles, Barefoot Angel, bred by Guy O'Callaghan, landed the G3 Firth of Clyde Fillies' Stakes at Ayr, while earlier that day in Australia, the six-year-old Top Ranked (Ire), a former Group 3 winner for James Tate in Britain, had claimed his first southern hemisphere stakes win in the G3 Bill Ritchie Handicap for Annabel Neasham and Australian Bloodstock. 

Bravo, Mon Ami

Cracksman (GB) is making a pleasing start to his stud career with ten winners already on the board from his 26 runners to date, including the Listed winner Dance In The Grass (GB). It will also be worth following the progress of another son of Frankel (GB) bearing Anthony Oppenheimer's colours who made the most eye-catching start to his racing career last week. 

Courage Mon Ami (GB), out of a full-sister to Group 2 winner Bronze Cannon (GB) (Lemon Drop Kid), was well adrift of the main pack in the early stages when making his debut at Kempton on Friday, but that slow start gradually turned into a steaming finish as the three-year-old passed all his rivals with a ground-eating stride that saw him win eased down by five lengths. Certainly one for the notebook.

Tijuana's Record Enhanced by Tunnes

It would seem that the fairytale of the small breeder Paul Vandeberg still has a few chapters to be written. Vandeberg's lone broodmare Tijuana (Ger) (Toylsome {GB}) is already the dam of Arc winner Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}), and her three-year-old son Tunnes (Ger) (Guiliani {Ger}) has now added the G3 Deutsches St Leger to his victory last season in the G3 Herzog von Ratibor-Rennen. 

The latter had seen him made winter favourite for the Deutsches Derby, but a setback ruled him out of a spring campaign. Trainer Peter Schiergen indicated on Sunday that the colt will now be aimed at the G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern in early November, the race in which his elder brother was second two years ago after winning the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin. Before that, Tunnes could head to Longchamp for the G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris, a fortnight after Torquator Tasso will attempt to defend his Arc crown.

Meanwhile, Vandeberg is sitting pretty with a yearling full-brother to Torquator Tasso and a weanling full-brother to Tunnes at home.

The Americans are Coming

Lope De Vega's excellent run, which has seen him recently notch his 100th stakes winner, was extended on Sunday across the pond with the victory of Faith In Humanity (Fr) in the G3 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont at the Big A (so named for the races held at Aqueduct while Belmont Park undergoes development work).

Faith In Humanity, bred in partnership by Ecurie des Monceaux and Lordship Stud, is yet another European-bought stakes winner for Klaravich Stables to add to the list which includes the Grade 1 winners McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}), Digital Age (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

Word has it that American buyers will be out in force for the Orby and October Sales, and who can blame them? With a seeming reluctance from American breeders to use turf sires based in the US, and the exchange rate for the dollar against euros and sterling currently extremely favourable, the best place to shop for horses for an expanding turf programme is in Europe. 

Farewell to Her Majesty

As this column was being written, the solemnities of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II had brought much of Britain to a near standstill. 

On Sunday in Newmarket during the Henry Cecil Open Weekend, the public gallops which preceded a morning of stable tours were led by two of the Queen's horses, Educator (GB) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Saga (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), ridden respectively by Michael Hills and Rab Havlin wearing the royal silks in tribute.

A number of the Queen's racehorse trainers were observed among the congregation at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle for the service of committal. For many involved in racing, the last we saw of the Queen in public was at Ascot last October for Champions Day when she presented the trophy for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was herself awarded with a commemorative medal to mark her induction in the British Horseracing Hall of Fame. Her Majesty's fellow inductee Lester Piggott was also at Ascot to be honoured that day. Now, in a mournful time for the sport, both are gone, but neither will ever be forgotten.

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‘The Dream Is Alive’ – Willie Browne on TDN Rising Star Sakheer

Breeze-up king Willie Browne, who sold G1 1000 Guineas heroine Speciosa (Ire), G1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Trip To Paris (Ire) and many more top-notchers, is allowing himself to believe that recent graduate Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) could be the real deal after he coasted to an effortless victory at Haydock on Thursday.

The 76-year-old bought Sakheer for $65,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales in 2021 before producing the colt to top the Arqana Breeze-up Sale in May of this year.

Sakheer was bought by Oliver St Lawrence for €550,000 on behalf of KHK Racing Ltd. and went some way in justifying that price tag when bolting up by six lengths second time out at Haydock under David Egan for Roger Varian.

It was a performance that left tongues wagging, with the G1 Middle Park S. entrant earning himself a 'TDN Rising Star'  badge in victory, and Browne hopes that Haydock triumph can prove a launchpad for Sakheer's career.

He said, “Visually, it looked very good and we'd like to think he's smart. The third horse was a winner and the time looked good considering he could have gone faster if he [Egan] pressed a button.”

Browne added, “He was always a nice horse and he breezed very well for us. I think he breezed in the top four or five at Arqana and obviously we got well paid for him. He looked a special horse and hopefully he will go on and be that for his connections.”

Operating under the Mocklershill banner, Browne has been breezing horses since 1978 and described the current landscape of the profession as the best it's ever been.

 

“We're getting old but sure we'll try to keep going for as long as we can. It's hard to stop,” – Willie Browne

Thursday represented a good day for his renowned Tipperary-based operation, not only because Sakheer lived up to the high opinion he had always been held in by Brown, but because fellow Arqana graduate Ensued (Lemon Drop Kid) posted an encouraging debut at Salisbury.

He said, “We get it right a fair bit but we have also had quite a lot of horses through our hands so we need to produce a few good ones. Sakheer is one of them.

“I went out and bought him by chance at Keeneland last year. He was an expensive foal [80,000gns] in Europe and then the vendors brought him to America to re-sell him for whatever reason.

“He did have a sibling [half-sister Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass)] who did well out there so maybe that was part of the thinking in bringing him to America but he didn't make his reserve in the ring and we got him outside it [for $65,000].”

Browne added, “He was a beautifully put together horse and it wasn't rocket science. The fact that he could gallop, though, there was a certain amount of good fortune in that. Sometimes you can buy beautiful-looking horses and they might not be able to gallop. He could.

“The plus about Arqana is, even though this horse breezed very well and we got well paid, we'd another horse there, a Lemon Drop Kid, and we got well-paid for him even though he didn't break the clock.

“He [Ensued] actually ran yesterday, was a very good third on debut at Salisbury for James Fanshawe, and he's a good middle-distance horse going forward. He breezed like a middle-distance horse but the people who buy in Arqana can see beyond speed and that's a plus for us.”

 

Browne has been breezing horses ever since it was a thing and Mocklershill is recognised as one of the premier consignors of 2-year-olds in Europe. He has overseen a kaleidoscope of change in the industry and admits that, in order to get well paid, you don't always need to break the clock anymore.

He explained, “A fast horse will always get you money, no matter where you go, but the Lemon Drop Kid was a good example of a middle-distance horse making good money at the breeze-ups, as we got €260,000 for him.

“If yesterday's run is anything to go by, he's also an exciting horse in his own right, so there's two horses at the opposite end of the stick. The fast horse, Sakheer, who showed up well, and the middle-distance horse, Ensued, who may not have been as fast, but showed different qualities and made a good price.

“It's a great thrill opening the paper every morning and seeing the percentage of 2-year-old winners who are graduates from the breeze-ups. It's just off the charts. It's unbelievable what's going on in the breeze-ups at the moment. There's a lot of good people breezing horses and they know what they're doing.”

Asked where Sakheer may rank in the pantheon of top-notchers to have graduated from Mocklershill, he replied, “When he wins a group race, come back to me. He needed to do what he did yesterday. It gives you great satisfaction when you produce a good horse, it's as much relief as anything else, but when they cost what Al Sakheer did, you like to see them go on and be good.

“Sometimes it happens and other times it doesn't but the dream looks well and truly alive right now. If he goes and wins a group race, maybe we'll be able to put our chest out a little bit more.”

Browne has already been making his presence felt at the yearling sales and has been busy re-stocking for next year's breeze-ups.

He said, “I didn't go to the August Sale at Arqana this year. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. We went to Doncaster and bought a few there alright.

“We gave a good few quid for a Showcasing (GB) horse, we gave 140,000gns for him, which is plenty of money for a breeze-up horse, but he looks a fast horse to me. I'm hoping the money is well spent.

“We bought a Ten Sovereigns (Ire) for 50 grand as well, so that's the start of it all. We're getting old but sure we'll try to keep going for as long as we can. It's hard to stop.”

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