Seven Days: A St Leger Fit For a King

With a royal audience, Continuous (Jpn) became the seventh winner of the St Leger for Aidan O'Brien, relegating the King and Queen's runner Desert Hero (GB) to third, just as Pour Moi (Ire) had done in the Derby with Carlton House back in 2011 in front of the late Queen.

There were plenty of strands to an enthralling St Leger that would have made for good storylines: two of those, victory for Desert Hero with his owners present on Town Moor, or a final British Classic for Frankie Dettori, may well have propelled the dear old Classic to the front pages on Sunday. As it was, and for less obviously mainstream reasons, the win of Continuous was extremely satisfying. 

His success completed a full set of British Classics for Sunday Silence as paternal grandsire, with three of his sons having provided this quintet. The most significant contributor was of course Deep Impact (Jpn), Sunday Silence's most influential offspring, but Saturday provided the chance for Heart's Cry to have a posthumous moment in the limelight, some six months after his death at the age of 22, which came two years after he was pensioned at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan.

Heart's Cry, out of the dual Grade 3 winner Irish Dance (Jpn), herself a daughter of the Arc winner Tony Bin (Ire), has lived in the shadow of his more famous stud-mate Deep Impact. This is despite Heart's Cry having been the only horse to have beaten him on Japanese soil, in the G1 Arima Kinen in the year of Deep Impact's Triple Crown success. Heart's Cry was a year older, and after winning the G2 Shimbun Hai went on to run second in the Japanese Derby to another legend of the Shadai stallion ranks, King Kamehameha (Jpn). Campaigned at three, four and five, he will doubtless be best remembered as a racehorse for his defeat of Deep Impact, but he was beaten only a nose by the English-trained raider Alkaased in the Japan Cup a month before that, and after his Christmas Day triumph went on to Nad Al Sheba, where he was the easy winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic, with Ouija Board (GB) and Alexander Goldrun (Ire) among those to have finished behind him that day.

In 2007, both he and Deep Impact retired to Shadai's imposing stallion roster, and three years later they were first and second on the first-season sires' table. By 2012, Deep Impact was champion sire, a position he is only likely to relinquish this year, four seasons after his death. Heart's Cry worked his way up the table and has never been out of the top five stallions in Japan in the last decade, with his highest placing coming in 2019 when he was once again runner-up to his old rival.

In the 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn), Oaks victrix Snowfall (Jpn) and this season's Derby, Irish Derby and Irish Champion S. winner Auguste Rodin (Jpn), we have seen Deep Impact blend well with mares by Galileo (Ire). It is fair to assume that that is where Fluff (Ire), the full-sister to Saxon Warrior's dam Maybe (Ire), was heading in 2019 in the season in which Deep Impact became incapacitated before his death in the August of that year. Heart's Cry stepped in and on Saturday, as Continuous unleashed a lethal injection of pace to cruise to make the front-running Gregory (GB) look as if he was standing still, it was easy to spot the thick silver lining to what may have once felt like a black cloud. 

Natagora (Fr), the 1,000 Guineas winner of 2008 after her previous season's victory in the G1 Cheveley Park S., is the only outlier to the group. Conceived during the three seasons in which her sire Divine Light (Jpn) stood in France, she is out of the Lagardere-bred Reinamixa (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}).

Deep Impact has also been represented by three French Classic winners in Study Of Man (Ire) and Beauty Parlour (GB), both out of Storm Cat-line mares, and Fancy Blue (Ire), whose dam is a full-sister to High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells).

Heart's Cry can't match him in the depth of his haul of Group 1 winners but he has been no slouch himself. In Australia, he has sired the Cox Plate winner Lys Gracieux (Jpn) and the Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti (Jpn). The latter was another to have been out of a mare by an Arc winner, this one being Helissio (Fr), who also started his stud career at Shadai.

A nice postscript in the year of Heart's Cry's demise is that his son Suave Richard (Jpn), one of his two winners of the Japan Cup, is currently leading the freshman sires' table in Japan. 

What will arguably be most important to Japan on the reputational front, however, is if Heart's Cry appears as the sire of an Arc winner himself. It's a tall order to turn out a relatively lightly-raced colt again just 15 days after his St Leger triumph but it is hard not to feel that Continuous, who will need to be supplemented, has much in his favour to make an impact at Longchamp on the first Sunday of October. 

The only thing that would make the Japanese fans happier on Arc day than a win for Continuous would be if the spoils went instead to Through Seven Seas (Jpn). The five-year-old mare is by Dream Journey (Jpn), a grandson of Sunday Silence, and she was last seen running the mighty Equinox (Jpn) to a neck in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen in June. Trained by Tomohito Ozeki, Through Seven Seas arrived in Chantilly on Friday and is boarding at Nicolas Clement's stable in the build-up to the Arc.

A Valued Test

While there is plenty of head-shaking at the shuffling off to National Hunt studs of St Leger winners in this part of the world (NB: this doesn't prevent Flat breeders from using their services), the picture is entirely different in Japan.

As Triple Crown winners, Deep Impact and his immensely popular young stallion son Contrail (Jpn) of course both won Japan's St Leger equivalent, the Kikuka Sho. So did Kitasan Black (Jpn), the sire of Equinox and the busiest stallion in Japan this year with 242 mares covered. So too did Orfevre (Jpn), who was beaten a neck into second in the following year's Arc, and also Epipheneaia (Jpn), who went on to win the Japan Cup and sired the Fillies' Triple Crown winner Daring Tact (Jpn) in his first crop. They too remain popular members of the Shadai roster. 

Another For the Late Adlerflug

Doncaster's was not the only St Leger to be run over the weekend, as the German equivalent was also staged at Dortmund on Sunday, though this, like the Irish St Leger, has in recent years been opened up to older horses. 

This year's winner, the Gestut Hof Ittlingen homebred Lordano (Ger), is a four-year-old, and the son of Adlerflug (Ger) went one better than his full-brother Loft (Ger), who was second in the same race two years ago.

The most famous member of this family that has served Ittlingen so well, in international terms at least, is Lando (Ger) (Acetanango {Ger}), a full-brother to their grand-dam, Laurella (GB). At home, Lando took the scalp of Monsun (Ger) in the Deutsches Derby and in the following season's Grosser Preis von Baden. Twice named German Horse of the Year, he spread his wings to win two Group 1 races in Italy and, finally, the Japan Cup of 1995. He makes an appearance in modern-day pedigrees most usually as the damsire of the talented but subfertile Farhh (GB), who already has four young sons at stud: Far Above (Ire), King Of Change (GB), Wells Farhh Go (Ire) and Dee Ex Bee (GB).

Despite twice beating Monsun (Ger), Lando could not be held in the same regard as him as an influence at stud. In reflecting on Monsun's reign it is worth remembering that his sire Konigsstuhl (Ger) won the German Triple Crown, while his damsire, the Deutsches Derby winner Surumu (Ger), also features as the paternal grandsire of Lando.

Class will out, if only we give it a chance.

Hotter Still

As the two-year-old racing steps up a notch in Europe, it is hard not to be impressed with the start Too Darn Hot (GB) has made to his stud career. 

After the previous weekend's victory for his daughter Fallen Angel (GB), whose owner-breeder Steve Parkin outlined plans for his own stallion operation in Monday's TDN, Too Darn Hot was represented by another eye-catching success in the facile winner of the G2 May Hill S., Darnation (Ire), for owner-bredeer Newtown Anner Stud.

Karl Burke is the trainer behind both of these fillies and he's pretty darn hot himself at the moment with a 30% strike-rate. Burke also provided Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) with his first group winner over the weekend in the G3 Prix Eclipse scorer Dawn Charger (Ire), as well as winning the Listed Stand Cup S. at Chester with Al Qareem (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}). At Ireland's Champions Festival, Burke had also saddled G2 Dullingham Park S. winner Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).

Another highly impressive juvenile performance at Doncaster came from Iberian (Ire), winner of the G2 Champagne S. for Charlie Hills. The son of Lope De Vega (Ire) was bred by Ballylinch Stud, who retained a share in him when he was bought by Johnny McKeever on his trainer's behalf, and Ballylinch now races him in partnership with Teme Valley Racing. With luck we will see this progressive colt next in the Dewhurst.

Lope De Vega, whose first-crop son Belardo (Ire) won the Dewhurst in 2014 and was also bred by Ballylinch, has sired more winners (138) in Europe than any other stallion so far this year, and that haul includes 14 black-type winners. 

Iberian's success capped a good 36 hours for bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever, who saw two of his in-training selections for the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable land group wins in Australia. Just Fine (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) won Saturday's G3 Kingston Town S. at Randwick after being bought from from last year's Horses-in-Training Sale, while Goffs London Sale purchase Military Mission (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) landed the G3 Newcastle Gold Cup.

 

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King Of Steel Heads 13 Still Standing For Irish Champion Stakes

King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) heads the 13 still standing for Saturday's Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on a weekend where the colt's owners Amo Racing could bid for a Group 1 double with Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on course for the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S on Sunday. 

Trained by Roger Varian, King Of Steel heads the betting for the Irish Champions Stakes, the showpiece event of the rebranded Irish Champions Festival, and connections of the colt are predicting a bold display. 

“It's a very exciting time of the year and to be going to the Irish Champions Festival with two live contenders in two Group 1s is what we've been striving for over the last 18 months,” said Amo Racing's Tom Pennington.

“It's the culmination of real hard work from everyone involved, we're excited and I know the boss [Kia  Joorabchian] is really looking forward to it.”

Aidan O'Brien's dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is once again on the comeback trail after a below par effort in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.

It was in that Group 1 contest where King Of Steel performed with credit to finish best of the three-year-olds in third behind the winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and connections say that they are optimistic of better again at Leopardstown. 

“We've been looking for an option to drop King Of Steel back to ten furlongs all year, but so far it has just not presented itself and we're very much looking forward to it,” Pennington said.

“There's no such thing as an easy Group 1, but we've been waiting for this race to present itself. The horse is in great form, I saw him at the weekend and he did a routine piece of work and did it very nicely and let's hope he gets there in one piece now.”

Along with Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel, the 13 remaining in Saturday's contest feature Nashwa, Onesta and the supplemented Alflaila.

Bucanero Fuerte provided the Amo operation with a breakthrough Group 1 in the Phoenix S. at the Curragh last month and the Adrian Murray-trained colt is reported to be in top shape ahead of Sunday's National S. at the Curragh. 

Pennington said, “He has always been a strong stayer at six furlongs and looks as if he's been crying out for seven. His last furlong has been his best in his last couple of races.

“At the beginning of the season he was a big frame of a horse with an engine, now he is really maturing into the horse we hoped he would.”

If Bucanero Fuerte is to add another big-race victory he will have to lower the colours of Aidan O'Brien's City Of Troy (Justify), who is currently odds-on at the head of the betting.

City Of Troy made it two from two in the Superlative S. at Newmarket–and connections of Bucanero Fuerte are under no illusion they have a huge task on their hands.

“Bucanero Fuerte does like to get his toe in, but we wouldn't be overly concerned stepping up to seven–the one concern we do have is obviously City Of Troy,” added Pennington.

“You can't be frightened of one horse, but what he did at Newmarket, to the eye, was visually impressive. We know he will take a lot of beating, but we think we're going there with a live chance.”

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‘I Get A Kick Out Of The Breezers – But It’s Not The Same As Riding Winners’

Five years ago this week, Katie Walsh took Relegate (Ire) from going nowhere to the Cheltenham Festival winner's enclosure when galvanising the mare to come from last to first to take the Champion Bumper in pulsating fashion. 

Little did we know at the time, but that Cheltenham success was to be Walsh's last, as she bowed out on a winner at her beloved Punchestown Festival the following month.

A lot has changed in those five years since. Along with her husband Ross O'Sullivan, a prominent trainer in his own right and just about the friendliest person you could meet in any walk of life, Walsh welcomed daughter Stevie [three] and son Ted [one] into the world. 

Like her own father Ted and more recently her brother Ruby, Katie has proved to be a dab hand as a broadcaster and is now a regular contributor–along with her 2010 County Hurdle hero Thousand Stars (Fr)–on RTE's television coverage of all the major festivals. 

And then there are the breeze-ups. That same competitive spirit that saw Walsh win the Irish Grand National and three Cheltenham Festival races in total has been channeled into producing belters of breezers. 

There was a time where Walsh hummed to a very different tune. A helter-skelter soundtrack that came to a crescendo in the second week of March for over a decade. The buzz that comes with riding a Cheltenham winner will never be replaced but new dreams abound for the 39-year-old who will swap the Cotswolds for preparing her horses for the Dubai Breeze Up Sale this week. 

“It was crazy at one time,” says Walsh on a morning borrowed from the depths of winter at the family yard in Kill, County Kildare.

“When I was riding and doing the breezers, I would be riding at Cheltenham this week for example and then try and manage everything that was going on at home with the breezers. 

“Or, if I was riding at Aintree, you'd be straight into the car and driving down to Newmarket to the Craven afterwards. I'm still working at the big festivals but it's different to what it was.”

She added, “Back five or six years ago, the breeze-up business at home was getting going and the whole thing was getting bigger. I came to a stage where it made sense to retire. 

“Part of me wasn't ready to stop but it made sense. I wanted to have a family and it came to a choice between this or keeping on riding. And for what? Another two or three years at best? Driving all over the country to ride was great craic when you were younger. But that went.”

Katie Walsh with Relegate after winning the Champion Bumper in 2018 | Racingfotos.com

One chapter closes and another begins. Stevie, who was named after Nicks, not Wonder, and inspired Jamie Osborne to name a horse he bought off Walsh precisely that, arrived just in time for the yearling sale season in 2019. Not ideal timing you could say. But typical of Walsh, she made it all work regardless. 

“I had Stevie in September and obviously missed a lot of sales that year. I went to Doncaster and then Arqana in October that year and even that was hard. Stevie is used to it now but, at the start, I did find it quite difficult to leave her. But that's the way this industry is and that's the business I am in.”

She added, “The great thing about this job is that it's seasonal. I am gone from a lot of September through to October but then I'm at home for the rest of the year. Okay, Dubai is next week, but that's only a couple of days. 

“It's definitely more challenging with two small kids around. At night you find that your work is never done but I'm not the only mother in the country who is trying to organise kids and work. It can be difficult at times but I have great help and support. Mam, Dad and my sister Jennifer are brilliant.”

Concentrating fully on the breezers must be made easier when you have a track record like Walsh does. From these famous gallops, where Ted's war horses Commanche Court (Ire), Papillon (Ire), Rince Ri (Ire) and this year's Grand National contender Any Second Now (Ire) have all been trained off, Walsh has blooded her own big names.

Casper Netscher (GB) was the first to put Greenhills Farm in lights and, according to Ted, it was his sale that underpinned the success that followed.

“I'll tell ya how things turn around,” he started. “A good few years ago, we had what I thought was a nice horse and he worked well. We weren't getting enough for him at the sales so we brought him home. He ended up being a grand horse but he didn't go on and be a good horse. We'd have been as well off to have sold him. 

“The following year, we had a nice horse and I said to Katie, 'unless you get a good price for him, don't sell him because he's a good horse.' She says, 'we're selling him no matter what because I'm in the business of buying and selling. I'm not keeping any of them.'

“We arrived at the sales anyway with this little bay horse that I thought was too small but who Katie liked. By God he could fly. She got 65,000gns for him. Who did he turn out to be? Casper Netscher. He won the Gimcrack, the Mill Reef and the German Guineas. He was a great little horse and while she only got 65,000gns for him, she did the right thing in selling him, as it got the word out that she was a seller.”

After Casper Netscher there was Breeders' Cup runner-up East (GB) (Frankel {GB}), G2 Richmond S. winner Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) and last year Walsh broke the record for the highest price ever achieved at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale when her Saxon Warrior (Jpn) filly sold on behalf of James Hanly to Stephen Hillen for €520,000. 

But for all the smiles this game generates, Walsh knows that the scowls can be just as plentiful, given the unpredictable nature of working with horses.

Walsh with her record-breaker at Tattersalls Ireland | Racingfotos.com

“I'm realistic,” she says. “I have been in this game for so long and I know the disappointments. Between horses getting injured, breezers going wrong and different things, that's just the way it is and I'm okay with that. I don't lose sleep at night over it. I understand the game and know the way things go. I've seen it my whole life with racehorses not going the right way or not working out as you hoped they would. Breezing horses is very easy compared to training them.”

She added, “I always had an interest in the breeze-ups. I just got the bug for this from the start and loved it. Okay, the next few weeks will be crazy again, but then I am at home with the kids for the summer. Ross won't be. He'll be heading off to Kilbeggan and Ballinrobe. That's why I said, training horses is much harder than doing the breeze-ups. 

“There's absolutely no let up as a trainer. You need to be a certain type of person to make a trainer. Ross is a very likeable fella and has a good bunch of owners there. I'm not saying I wouldn't handle it, but I do know that I wouldn't have the same patience as other trainers. I have built up a reputation with the breeze-up horses and have a good bunch of people here and some great staff as well. I have no problem calling a spade a spade and owners either like that or they don't. If a horse isn't good enough I'll tell the owners and I wouldn't be putting cherries on top of it either.”

“I'll never come out and say that I think I've an aeroplane. That sort of talk rubs me totally up the wrong way,” – Katie Walsh

What you see is what you get with the Walshes. They don't suffer fools nor do they care too much about what other people think. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but they've gotten this far just fine and Katie is a chip off the block. 

“I'll never come out and say that I think I've an aeroplane. That sort of talk rubs me totally up the wrong way. I'll never really believe it until they go and do it on the track. When you think a horse is going to breeze well and it doesn't, nine times out of 10, that horse will always let you down. But when a horse breezes better than you expected, that's the one who will always deliver for you.

“I think it's so much easier to keep expectations lower than start calling horses good before they have done anything. At the back of my mind, I might be thinking, 'this can bloody rubber,' but I'll never say it. You are on a hiding to nothing if you go telling people a horse is good until it goes and breezes well. If it clocks, well then you can say, he's after breezing like I thought he would, he's a good horse. It's only then that you can stand behind them because you know they are a good horse.”

With that in mind, it might be best to concentrate on what Walsh doesn't say about her Dubai Breeze Up Sale horses, colts by Into Mischief and Tonalist. She got well-paid for an Exceed And Excel (Aus) colt at the inaugural running of this sale 12 months ago and this year's representatives were bought specifically to go back to Dubai.

“They are very big horses so you are just giving them every chance you can. But you are not under as much pressure in Dubai because there are no clocks. The season finishes out there the following week at the Dubai World Cup meeting so that makes it easier. You want them to look the part and go up there in a nice style and, off the back of John Cullinane's Tapiture colt [Go Soldier Go] winning a Listed race at Meydan last week, he only cantered up the straight at the breeze-up. He is a fine big colt and clearly needed all that time. They are the types of horses that they seem to want over there. Obviously, you can bring a bigger, scopier horse to Arqana but you wouldn't be bringing a Craven or a Donny type of horse out to Dubai. I don't think anyone goes to the Craven with a horse for next year. The Craven is where you try to sell the Royal Ascot dream and Doncaster is the same.”

Regardless of how well this year's batch of breezers sell, nothing will come close to the days of Poker De Sivola (Fr), Thousand Stars, Relegate and Thunder And Roses (Ire), horses Walsh will forever be associated with. 

“It's very hard to replace the kick you get riding winners. If you have never experienced it, you don't know what you are missing. To ride a winner, wherever that may be, that buzz is unbelievable. When that stops, you look for something to replace it. I'm not saying it's the same buzz but I do get a great kick out of the breezers. I love finding out which ones are good and bringing him to the sales and for them to behave and breeze the way they should. Regardless of their ability, I take pride in the fact that it's professional. That means a lot to me. Listen, I'd love one of those horses of my own to go and make €500,000. That's the dream and who knows? Maybe some day it will happen. 

She added, “I always hoped and envisioned that it would grow to be as big as it is. I hope it gets bigger. I'd like more horses of my own. This week revolved around Cheltenham for a long time. I was lucky enough to be riding as an amateur for Willie [Mullins] and the whole thing snowballed from there really. 

“Every year, it was all about Cheltenham and trying to get a ride in the bumper and the amateur races over there. I was lucky enough to ride a few winners there, I'd great luck, but now it's different and things change. It's the same for Ruby, who's flat to the boards now with ITV and Racing TV, so it's been a big change for us all over the past few years.”

For all of the change the Walshes have seen in recent times, the results Katie has achieved through her Greenhills Farm operation remains a constant. 

 

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12 Questions: Richard Knight

First job in the Thoroughbred industry?

Mucking out at Guirys 1 in Coolmore Ireland on my year out from University. I think there were 20 foals in the barn – 18 by Sadler's Wells and two by Danehill.

Biggest influence on your career?

Ultimately, my father, who introduced both my brother William and I to racing. He loved his National Hunt and we spent many a happy afternoon at Huntingdon and Towcester. Later in life, both Richard Henry and Simon Mockridge played major roles in my experience and development.

Favourite racehorse of all time, and why?

Desert Orchid. I was 10 when he won the Gold Cup and he was a grey who jumped well – everything me and my grey pony at the time aspired to be.

Who will be champion first-season sire in 2023?

Too Darn Hot.

Greatest race in the world?

The Derby.

If you could be someone else in the industry for a day who would it be, and why?

MV Magnier. MV works very hard and I would imagine his day-to-day is incredibly diverse from selecting young stock to managing the paths of future champions. I love that diversity.

Emerging talent in the industry (human)?

He has already emerged, but at only 24 years old, I am going to say Tom Marquand. I am sure Tom will be champion jockey in the near future.

Name a horse TDN should have made a Rising Star, and didn't?

Checkandchallenge – I so hope he will provide my brother William with his first Group 1 winner in 2023.

Under-the-radar stallion?

Once again, I am not sure quite how under the radar they are, but I think both Saxon Warrior and Cracksman are set for big years ahead.

Friday night treat?

Chinese takeaway.

Guilty pleasure outside racing?

Watching Rugby Union.

Race I wish I'd been there for…

The Wow Signal's Prix Morny Group 1 win. I think I was inspecting yearlings for the Goffs UK Premier sale. Any winner celebrating with John and Sean Quinn is good fun, so I really missed out with his Group 1 win.

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