Tag: Seven Days

Seven Days: The Remarkable Jarvis Training Dynasty 

As we stand braced for five consecutive weekends of Group 1 action in France and Britain, it is a sign of course that the Flat season of 2023 is drawing to a close, albeit with a bang rather than a whimper.

As announced in the Racing Post on Sunday, these final skirmishes on the turf will also bring with them the ending of the longest-running family training dynasty in Britain when William Jarvis saddles his final runner after 38 years with a licence. You could say he was born to it, following not just in his father's footsteps, but those of his grandfather and two generations before that, as well as various uncles and relatives, which include members of the notable Leader, Rickaby and Hall families. More than that though, Jarvis is simply a really good bloke who will be much missed among the Newmarket training ranks and beyond, especially in his role as a proactive and industrious president of the Newmarket Trainers' Federation. 

In a sense, the Group 1 winners Grand Lodge (Chief's Crown) and Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) served as book-ends for Jarvis's training career, which commenced in 1985 after he had worked in Australia as an assistant to George Hanlon and Tommy Smith, and back in Newmarket to Henry Cecil.

It was at the latter's Warren Place where Jarvis would have first encountered the stock of Lord Howard de Walden, in whose famous apricot silks ran such great names as the Cecil-trained Slip Anchor (GB), Kris (GB) and Diesis (GB).

The same owner-breeder's Weld (GB) became an important early group winner for Jarvis in the Doncaster Cup and Jockey Club Cup of 1989 and he was followed several years later by Grand Lodge. As the trainer's first Group 1 winner, he ensured that Phantom House Stables remained very much on the map with his victory in the Dewhurst S., followed the next year by an agonising short-head defeat by Mister Baileys (GB) in the 2,000 Guineas before he notched his second top-level success in the St James's Palace S. Jarvis also oversaw the careers of Grand Lodge's sister Papabile and half-sister La Persiana (GB) (Daylami {Ire}), both of whom were dual Listed winners. More recently, those colours were carried to success for Phantom House and Lady Howard de Walden by the G3 Lillie Langtry S. victrix Gravitation (GB) (Galileo {Ire}).

“I was very lucky in the early days to have had the support of some English owner-breeders. It gave me a real headstart to have had Mr Jim Joel's colours and Lord Howard de Walden's colours hanging in the racing tack room. That was always very special,” Jarvis said, while acknowledging that the demise of the owner-breeder has been one of the major changes in the near-four decades that he has been training. 

“Mr Joel and Lord Howard de Walden never sold a yearling or a foal. Every single horse they bred was put into training,” he said. “Even now, if you look at Cheveley Park Stud and Mr Oppenheimer and the Lloyd-Webbers: I would classify them as commercial owner-breeders. They sell some of their colts and to an extent they have to balance the books.

“The game has changed completely, that's for sure, and whether it's changed for the better is for other people to comment on. To an extent, and it's not a chippy remark at all, but it is becoming a bit more polarised, and the big are getting bigger, and the middle tier and smaller tier of professionals are going to be up against it.”

Jarvis, who turns 63 next month, has three children who have steered different courses, but he admits that he only ever really had a desire to continue the Jarvis family tradition. His sister Jane George, who is married to Tattersalls' marketing director Jimmy George, is a director of the Newmarket-based International Racing Bureau.

“It was important to me, and I felt very honoured to be part of it, because my father was a pretty good trainer and my grandfather trained for King George V and trained Classic winners for the royal family from Egerton. My uncles, Jack Jarvis and Basil Jarvis, trained [Derby winners] Blue Peter and Papyrus, and Jack was given a knighthood for services to racing. My great-grandfather was a trainer and so, I'm pretty sure, was my great-great-grandfather. From the 1880s there has been a Jarvis training in Newmarket.”

Sir Jack Jarvis, one of three sons of William Arthur Jarvis to train a British Classic winner, was indeed the first racehorse trainer to be knighted by the late Queen in 1967. A history of some of Newmarket's most famous training yards would doubtless unearth that a member of the Jarvis family had trained there at some stage, with Palace House, Park Lodge, Egerton House, Hackness Villa, Green Lodge and La Grange all included on that list, along with the now-defunct Waterwitch House and Warren House 

Jarvis added, “My father trained at Clarehaven for a while, after the war until 1952 when he bought Phantom House.”

While the conclusion of this season will bring about an end to his participation from Phantom House, he will remain in situ with plans to rent out the stables to Dylan Cunha, who already rents the bottom yard. 

“I have a young grandson now but it's not going to be pipe and slippers,” he said. “I need to find something to keep the adrenaline going. That's the thing about our industry, every day there's something to get the adrenaline going. It's not really a job, it's 24/7 and you have to overcome a lot of things as a racehorse trainer, but it's also a wonderful way of life and I've loved it.

“Newmarket is unique and long may it last. We've had a great time. I've had some wonderful staff over the years and I've trained for some wonderful people.

“It is sad, of course it is, but having said that I'm happy, I'm relieved, and I've had a wonderful career – well, I've enjoyed it, I don't know if other people have.”

Anyone who was present at Glorious Goodwood two years ago when Lady Bowthorpe won the Nassau S. for Emma Banks would have heard and seen how much “other people” truly enjoyed a Group 1 winner trained by the eminent and popular William Jarvis.

“That meant a lot,” he recalled. “It was very humbling.”

Niarchos Restructuring

The Niarchos family's racing manager Alan Cooper was keen to stress that the sale of a significant number of the operation's mares at Goffs in November represents a restructuring of the breeding empire rather than a dispersal, but it was nevertheless a startling press release to receive. 

From three different consignors – Baroda Stud, Kiltinan Castle Stud and Norelands – 44 mares will be offered for sale, including the four-time Group 1 winner and Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and her half-sister Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who emulated her sibling by winning the G1 Coronation S. at Royal Ascot. The sisters are offered in foal to Sea The Stars (Ire) and Frankel (GB) respectively, and a full list of the mares being consigned, along with their covering sires, can be found here. 

“The family will have the opportunity to set reserves on the stock as they see fit,”  Cooper told TDN's Brian Sheerin. “The racing stables will continue to be supported by foals, yearlings, two-year-olds and older horses that are already in the system.”
Such a reassurance was music to the ears of anyone who has followed racing over a number of decades with a keen eye on the pedigrees of the top horses, for a Niarchos influence is never far from the winner's circle. The chance to buy into some of the family's best bloodstock presents an extremely rare opportunity that will draw breeders from across the globe to Goffs' Kildare Paddocks.

Sleepy in Name Only

Just in case you were in danger of thinking that Quickthorn (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was the star of the show at Hughie Morrison's stable, up jumped the redoubtable 11-year-old Not So Sleepy (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) to remind us all that there's plenty of life in the old boy yet. 

The two horses both race for their breeders Lord and Lady Blyth and, though unrelated, have a similar way of going: jump out smartly and try to make all. This was indeed the method of Not So Sleepy's latest win in the Dubai Duty Free Autumn Cup at Newbury on Saturday, which was his fifth on the Flat, his first having come on his debut nine years ago at Nottingham. Since those days, he has also won the Listed Dee S. and has been Group 3-placed but has enjoyed even greater success over hurdles. The peak of his five National Hunt wins came when he dead-heated with champion hurdler Epatante (Fr) in the G1 Fighting Fifth in 2021. 

Not So Sleepy had not raced since his fifth-place finish in the Champion Hurdle in March, and he may yet head to the Cesarewitch before returning to hurdles.

Ittlingen Strikes Again

For the second weekend running, the colours of breeder Gestut Ittlingen returned to the winner's enclosure after a group race, each time borne by the offspring of the late Adlerflug (Ger). The previous weekend had seen victory for Lordano (Ger) in the G3 Deutsches St Leger, which was followed seven days later for victory in the G1 Grosser Preis von Europa for the mare India (Ger), who is both pretty and pretty talented. 

The five-year-old, trained by Waldemar Hickst, became the eighth Group 1 winner for Adlerflug, and it is worth reflecting in this week that his success is not restricted to Germany, as his son Torquator Tasso (Ger) won the Arc two years ago, 12 months after another, the Deutsches Derby winner In Swoop (Ger), had finished second. Another son, Alenquer (Fr), won last year's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland. For a stallion that has only had 272 runners to date, and not that many more to come, a ratio of 10.7% stakes winners to runners reads well.

Italian Flavour to Japanese Success

The Irish Oaks winner and Arc runner-up Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was arguably the best known of the offspring of Holy Moon (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}) on the international stage, but the mare also produced a trio of winners of the Oaks d'Italia.

The three – Charity Line (Ire) (Manduro {Ger}), Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), and Cherry Collect (Ire) (Oratorio {Ire}) – were all bred by the Botti family's Razza del Velino and have all subsequently been sold to Japan for their broodmare careers.

The most successful in this secondary phase to date is Cherry Collect, whose three-year-old son Satono Glanz (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}), bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, won Sunday's G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai, his second victory at that level. He is the mares's sixth winner from six consecutive foals to race, along with the Listed winner and Grade 2-placed Wakea (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Listed winner Diana Bright (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Charity Line has produced three winners from her three runners, while Final Score has also produced three winners to date.

The sisters will not be the only Italian Oaks winners to be gracing the paddocks at Northern Farm as Katsumi Yoshida also purchased this year's winner, Shavasana (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) from her owner Mario Sansoni prior to her Classic success. She too was bred by Razza Del Velino and trained by Stefano Botti.

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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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Seven Days: Ireland’s Perfect Pick-Me-Up

The Devil's Dyke stretches in pretty much a straight line for more than seven miles through parts of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. The best part, according to this scribbler anyway, is the section roughly a mile and half long which cleaves Newmarket's July Course from the Rowley Mile, with a break in the dyke allowing the two courses to join briefly just beyond the ten-furlong mark on the latter.

A Dutch author, Iman Jacob Wilkens, once claimed that Cambridge's Gog Magog Hills was the true location of the City of Troy, with a suggestion that the imposing dyke may have formed part of its protection, though his theory appears to have been largely ignored. Had he lived to see it, Wilkens may have been tempted to have a flutter on Coolmore's City Of Troy (Justify) as he stormed the July Course, to land the G2 Superlative S. in emphatic fashion alongside the Devil's Dyke. Perhaps, after his defection from Sunday's G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S., City Of Troy will be back to conquer the other side of this historic landmark in the Dewhurst S. At least the Rowley Mile offers a longer pull-up zone for this ebullient colt, though he could still end up in the car park.

From the top of the dyke one has the benefit of seeing the breeding and racing world in microcosm. In the distance are the paddocks of the National Stud, dotted at various times of the year with mares and foals or cavorting yearlings. The stallions are there, too, with Stradivarius (Ire) having brought with him renewed interest and a constant stream of visitors. The spring, summer and autumn seasons see the switching from the Rowley Mile to July Course and back again until we wait, those cold and at times seemingly endless months, from early November until Craven time swings back around. 

It is the habit in this sport to constantly be looking forward to the next race, even when the winner is still blowing from the travails of his latest effort. September and October are pretty special months of action and while they may bring with them various departures as the season draws to a close, the action in the two-year-old sphere is all about next year. 

Following a period in which injury and retirement has claimed a number of the big equine names, Ireland's Champions Festival and France's Arc Trials needed to deliver a bit of a pick-me-up as we embark on the autumn programme, and it is fair to say that both did just that. 

The aforementioned City Of Troy remains ante-post favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, with his stable-mate and National S. winner Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) just behind him in the market. Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), another to have triumphed on the July Course in the Sweet Solera, now heads the market for the 1,000 Guineas following her gutsy victory in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. 

Dubawi Dominates

In a quiet season for Britain's champion trainer Charlie Appleby, there were no runners for Godolphin in either Ireland or France over the weekend, but Appleby's key sparring partner Dubawi still managed to steal the show on Champions Weekend. Darley's flagship sire was represented by a Group 1 double on Sunday, notably through the Coolmore-bred Henry Longfellow, whose dam is the brilliant Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a star of this weekend herself eight years ago when she took the Moyglare. 

That win was backed up later by Eldar Eldarov (GB), bred at Lanwades by Kirsten Rausing from the same family as her Arc heroine Alpinista (GB), and completing the St Leger double in England and Ireland for Roger Varian and KHK Racing. The Bahraini owners were celebrating their second Group 1 victory of the season after the Prix Morny win of Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}).

Dubawi's growing influence was also felt in a first Group 1 winner for his freshman son, Too Darn Hot, the sire of the Karl Burke-trained Fallen Angel, while another son, Night Of Thunder (Ire), provided her runner-up, Vespertilio (Fr). Night Of Thunder is also the sire of Flight Plan (GB), who won the G2 Dullingham Park S. at Leopardstown on Saturday.

Double Parkin

It is likely that we are about to hear plenty more of Dullingham Park Stud, the farm on the outskirts of Newmarket that was bought earlier this year by Steve Parkin and is being managed on his behalf by Ollie Fowlston. 

Parkin has invested plenty in racing in Britain and Ireland over recent years, and that financial commitment appears to be matched by his enthusiasm. British owner-breeders are becoming a scarce commodity so it is heartening to see Parkin's operation, which also includes Branton Court Stud in Yorkshire, being rewarded, in particular with some homebred success.

We have already touched on Fallen Angel and, as a Group 1-winning juvenile, she is the stand-out in this regard, closely rivalled by Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), last year's G2 Queen Mary S. winner who landed the G2 Temple S. in May. Dorothy Lawrence (GB), by Parkin's young Ballyhane Stud-based sire Soldier's Call (GB), has been knocking on the door, too, and she was second last week in the G3 Dick Poole Fillies' S.

Among the horses purchased for Parkin by Ballyhane's Joe Foley are Flight Plan, who gave his connections a huge double and an extra boost by winning their own race, the Dullingham Park S., in a career-best performance. 

This wasn't the first time the team has pulled off this particular feat, either, as Space Traveller (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}) won the same race when it was run under Parkin's better-known banner of the Clipper Logistics Boomerang S.

To complete the good run, the Branton Court Stud graduate Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), who was sold to Jim and Fitri Hay last October, won the G3 Sirenia S. at Kempton on Saturday. And, lest the Kempton action be overlooked amid the bigger days of last weekend, it was heartening to see Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) return triumphant to the winner's enclosure after the G3 September S. Hopefully a fruitful autumn campaign beckons for him in his preferred softer conditions. 

Bottom Up

A clever person (Joseph Burke) pointed out over the weekend that to make any sense of this year's 2,000 Guineas one has to view the form of that race upside down. Only the last three home–Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Flight Plan and Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never)–have won a race since running at Newmarket in May, with the best of those of course being the enigmatic Auguste Rodin.

The way he came home in the Derby remains one of the most visually impressive performances of the season. He was then workmanlike when winning the Irish Derby before flopping in the King George, followed by redemption in the Irish Champion S. on Saturday. 

He rivals stable-mate Paddington (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) as the leading three-year-old colt of the season, with Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) having failed, so far, to build on his 2,000 Guineas success. 

Among the fillies, Tahiyra (Ire) is continuing to ensure that her sire Siyouni has two of the best three-year-olds of the season, if not the two best. The Aga Khan's half-sister to fellow Group 1 winner Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) has only been bettered once when the subsequently absent Mawj (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) prevailed by half a length in the 1,000 Guineas, and Tahiyra has been imperious in her three Group 1 victories since that seasonal debut.

A cap should also be doffed to Warm Heart (Ire), who is giving her sire Galileo (Ire) something of a last hurrah at the top table. She has barely put a foot wrong all season apart from appearing not to enjoy the soft conditions at the Curragh for the Irish Oaks, in which she was fifth. This was the only time she was asked to contest a Classic, but prior to that she had been the smart winner of the G2 Ribblesdale S. at Royal Ascot and has subsequently annexed the G1 Yorkshire Oaks and G1 Prix Vermeille. Those two latest successes have come in the hands of James Doyle, who has made the most of his rare Coolmore call-ups.

Warm Heart is bred on similar lines to the ill-fated Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Ire). Both are by Galileo out of mares by a son of Danehill. In Warm Heart's case, that is Fastnet Rock (Aus), who has often blended well with Galileo on the reverse of this cross. They are both also out of fast Australian-bred mares. Warm Heart's dam Sea Siren (Aus) won three Group 1 races in Australia for John O'Shea over six and seven furlongs before heading north to join Ballydoyle and adding the Listed Belgrave S. to her record along with a pair of Group 3 placings.

Top Sprints Delivering Diversity

The top-class sprint division continues to provide some delightful results this season, giving an airing to some usually lesser-heralded sires and deserved success for some smaller stables.

To the twin Group 1 triumphs in June and July for Julie Camacho's Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}), we can add the victory in the Nunthorpe of the Adam West-trained Live In The Dream (Ire), a son of Prince Of Lir (Ire), while last weekend saw Group 1 victories for Regional (GB) (Territories {Ire}) in the Haydock Sprint Cup and Moss Tucker (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) in the Flying Five.

Regional became the first Group 1 winner for his trainer Ed Bethell, who, with agent Tom Biggs, managed to pick him up at the July Sale two years ago for just 3,5000gns. The five-year-old also provided another major group success in Britain for the Italian breeding industry this season. Francesca Franchini of Scuderia La Tesa has already been successful with Giavellotto (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who defeated Eldar Eldarov in the G2 Yorkshire Cup, and Isabella Bezzera of Razza del Sole bred Regional from the Listed winner Favulusa (GB) (Dansili {GB}).

Moss Tucker, bred by Donal Spring, proved yet again what Ken Condon is capable of when he gets a good one in his stable, and the five-year-old follows Barney Roy (GB) in becoming a Group 1 winner for Excelebration who was last listed as standing at the Moroccan National Stud.

Though on the face of it, with Moss Tucker's dam Rare Symphony (Ire) being by the July Cup winner Pastoral Pursuits (GB), it is perhaps no surprise that she has produced a good sprinter, the mare herself rather defied her speedier sireline and won twice over hurdles, in Britain then Ireland. Rare Symphony's stamina was perhaps gathered from her dam Rubileo (GB), an unremarkable member of Galileo's first crop on the track, who went on to produce two useful horses by Sir Percy (GB) in the Swedish Derby winner Bomar (Ire) and Pantsonfire (Ire), whose Grade III victory at Santa Anita came over 1m4f.

Hot Take

Though most of the best two-year-old races are still to come, Darley looks to have this year's freshman sires' title sewn up, with Blue Point (Ire) way out in front numerically on 32 winners, and Too Darn Hot being the only stallion in the group to have been represented by three group winners, including a Group 1 winner. 

There was a breakthrough for Yeomanstown Stud's Invincible Army (Ire) over the weekend, when Kitty Rose (GB) became his first black-type winner in the Ingabelle Stakes. Like Flight Plan, who won the Group 2 on the same day, her fourth dam was John Greetham's Much Too Risky (GB) (Machiavellian).

The half-sister to two excellent stayers in Sydney Cup winner Marooned (GB) and Irish St Leger winner Arctic Owl (GB), Much Too Risky produced the Yorkshire Oaks runner-up and Musidora winner Short Skirt (GB) as well as Group 2 winners Little Rock (GB) and Whitewater Affair (GB). The latter went on to have particular success as a broodmare in Japan as the dam of Group 1 winners Victoire Pisa (Jpn) and Asakusa Den'en (GB).

When it comes to stallion tables, it is always wise to pay close attention to the percentage of winners to runners. In this regard, Blue Point and his nearest pursuer, Soldier's Call, measure up well on 40% and 35% respectively. The nine winners for Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) have come from just 22 runners to put him on 41%, while Study Of Man (Ire), who had two new winners this week, is now on five from 14 runners (36%). 

In France, Haras d'Etreham's City Light (Fr) has now been represented by 10 winners from his 26 runners (38%).

Acclaim for Pyledriver

It is the time of year when plenty of rumours abound as to which colts have been snapped up for stallion duties. There is at least one announcement imminent this week, and we already know that Native Trail (GB) is off to Kildangan Stud, Little Big Bear (Ire) to Coolmore, and Bouttemont (Fr) is joining his sire Acclamation (GB) at Rathbarry Stud. 

There is one horse from the much-vaunted Acclamation line that it would be particularly gratifying to see granted a place at a good Flat stud, and that is Pyledriver (GB). Just as it is easy to forget that the high-flying sprinter Havana Grey (GB) has those noted middle-distance influences of Teofilo (GB) and Galileo as his grandsire and great-grandsire, so it is to overlook that Pyledriver is by Acclamation's son Harbour Watch (Ire). A six-furlong Group 2 winner whose racing and stud career were both cut short, the late Harbour Watch pops up in the pedigrees of good horses with some frequency.

The neat and good-looking Pyledriver, who, on 122, is the second-highest rated of any colt from this sireline to retire to stud, also has some nice influences in the bottom half of his pedigree. Furthermore, he proved over five seasons that he has that vital durability to accompany the class that drove him to win a King George and a Coronation Cup. He wasn't a late developer, either, as he won on debut in the July of his juvenile season before winning the Listed Ascendant S. two months later.

As already pointed out in this column, there is as much delight to be taken from the big sprints as from the Classics, and stallions can sometimes buck expectations. But the programme in any serious racing nation must remain balanced.

This is no new concern, but it remains troubling that it is becoming harder still for horses of Pyledriver's ilk to be given a proper chance at stud. It would be a crying shame if he is overlooked in the blinkered rush towards stallions who offer little prospect of siring a horse who will see out the Guineas trip, never mind a Derby or an Arc winner. When breeding, it is wise to remember where the greater prestige and rewards remain.

 

 

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Seven Days: No Hollywood Ending but Baden Still Shines

The Tattersalls Somerville Sale has meant that a return to Newmarket could be delayed no longer but this column sprang, or perhaps staggered, into life on the final day of Baden-Baden's Grosse Woche.

The scribbling started reasonably early on Sunday morning from a desk in the press room that boasts one of the best views in the racing world, looking out across the turf to the wooded mountains of the Black Forest. It was also the desk that was once occupied by British-born but German-based racing correspondent David Connolly-Smith, who died in July. David was 83 but he had still been a regular presence at the races, and I always enjoyed a chat with him on my annual trip to BBAG. He brought German racing to life for readers of various publications in Britain and Ireland and, more than that, he was always so helpful and welcoming. David is much missed and it was an honour to be granted temporary residence at the desk that still bears his name.

The last day of Baden-Baden's premier week of racing is not for the faint-hearted. By 11am, the runners were already leaving the parade ring just after 11am for the first of a 12-race card on a sweltering day at Iffezheim. Three of those races, much to the delight of Baden Galopp's effervescent Stefan Buchner, featured within the World Pool, an increase from just one race on the same card last year and following on from the inclusion of the Deutsches Derby and Grosser Preis von Berlin earlier this season. By the end of the day, World Pool reported turnover of HK$64.3million (€7.5m) on those three races.

It is hard not to be concerned about German racing, primarily because it is really important for it not just to survive, but to thrive. Any country that continues to make such an impact on thoroughbred breeding globally really must have a strong domestic racing scene in order for that reputation not to start waning. Germany is not alone in struggling with falling racecourse attendances and a reduction in the number of horses in training and mares in the paddocks, but the contraction, to around 850 broodmares and slightly less than 2,000 racehorses, is worrying nonetheless.

A day or two at the bustling Baden-Baden racecourse during this late summer week almost certainly gives a false sense of the health of German racing overall, but it also provides an encouraging glimpse of racing at its very best, where a significant portion of the crowd is fully engaged with the stars of the show: the horses. It is hard to think of another racecourse where the runners and riders are clapped as they pass the stands for the first time. This happens for every race of sufficient distance at Baden-Baden; not so much a Cheltenham roar, more a polite Iffezheim ripple of applause, but it is beguiling.

The huge hedge-lined parade ring is encircled by racegoers four or five deep for every race, even from such an early start. Each winner and the also-rans are cheered back in by those lining the route, including plenty of children, along each side of the walk of fame that has the names of every winner of the Grosser Preis von Baden embedded in a path back to the winner's enclosure.

I wonder how many bosses of British racecourses have visited Baden-Baden on a raceday to see what's possible with low-cost entry, very little division of enclosures, no dress code, plenty of seating and picnic areas, and better still no noisy sideshows to divert attention from the main event or to upset the horses. It can be done, as long as we promote a day at the races as just that, and not as a big boozy outdoor party with some horses galloping around in the background.

To Longchamp via Baden-Baden

The trophy for Germany's main race of the week, the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, hopped over the nearby border to France when Christophe Soumillon timed his run to perfection on the statuesque Zagrey (Fr) to give Zarak (Fr) his first Group 1 winner. The Aga Khan Studs stallion was also the sire of the third home, Straight (Ger), and in the States over the weekend he was represented by Parnac (Fr), winner of the GII Flower Bowl S. At Saratoga. 

It was a banner day for Zagrey's trainer Yann Barberot, who was in Germany to receive the prize for the second Group 1 win of his career despite having the smart Beauvatier (Fr) in action at Longchamp, where he remained unbeaten in the G3 Prix la Rochette. That son of Lope De Vega (Ire) looks a smart Classic prospect for Barberot's Deauville stable next season. Before that, however, the trainer has much to look forward to on the first weekend of October, with Zagrey bound for the Arc and Beauvatier likely to start next in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

Zagrey was the sole foreign runner in the Grosser Preis, and his last-gasp win was a blow to fans of the second-placed Mr Hollywood (Ire), who has featured in this column before and almost made all, going down by just a neck at the line. It was encouraging to see the three-year-old in the flesh, as he is a strong, handsome individual, who will surely notch his top-level win before too long. 

Sean Cronin and Tom Frary, who are the racing writers entrusted with handing out TDN Rising Stars, guard this honour closely, and it was hard not to prick up one's ears when Tom decided to award one to a son of the little known (outside Germany anyway) Iquitos (Ger) back in early April. That was the day that Mr Hollywood made his debut at Mulheim and bolted in to win by 16 lengths. He won the G3 Bavarian Classic on his next start, and has been second in his ensuing three runs, including when second to Fantastic Moon in the Deutsches Derby. He is one of one five foals from the first crop of his sire, a son of Adleflug (Ger) standing at Gestut Graditz. Another of the quintet is the G3 Diana Trial runner-up Drawn To Dream (Ire). Both were bred by Dietrich von Boetticher of Gestut Ammerland, where the stallion stood for his first two seasons, and they are both out of mares by the owner-breeder's Arc winner Hurricane Run (Ire). 

We'll keep a close eye on Iquitos. I've a feeling there may well be plenty more to report on his offspring in the coming seasons. 

Breakthrough Win for Pearson 

Baden-Baden is likely to be remembered fondly by British jockey Laura Pearson, who had her first German ride there on Saturday. She won the Listed Wackenhut Mercedes Benz Fillies Cup with a cool-headed ride aboard the Ralph Beckett-trained Diamond Vega (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

It was the first stakes-race victory for Pearson, 22, who only rode out her claim a month ago having had to sit out the second half of 2022 with a serious neck injury. She returned to the saddle in January and is already well on her way to surpassing last year's tally of winners, with 19 on the board, including a Ffos Las treble for Beckett on August 25.

“I had a really fun trip to Italy last February and was lucky enough to have a double at Pisa, so it's great to keep my overseas record at 100 per cent,” Pearson told TDN.

She is enjoying her association with Beckett's Kimpton Down stable, which currently has one of the best strike-rates in Britain after a hugely successful August.

“I ride out there four days a week and it's a pleasure to be in there with the team,” she added. “I recently had my first treble for the boss, and it's great to get this win for him. I can't thank him enough for the opportunities he's given me. It's brilliant.”

Along with Zagrey, various international raiders struck in the major races during the week at Baden-Baden. Charlie Johnston saddled the third group winner from the first crop of Too Darn Hot (GB) when Carolina Reaper took the 150th running of the G3 Renate und Albrecht Woeste Zukunfts Rennen last Wednesday, and Francis Graffard sent out the Aga Khan's Darkaniya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) to win the G2 T von Zastrow Stutenpreis.

Stauffenbergs on Top

Philipp and Marion Stauffenberg may be best known to many on the sales circuit as the leading German consignors internationally, but they are also first-class breeders and currently occupy the top spot on the list of German breeders with significantly fewer runners than their nearest rivals in the table, Gestut Karlshof and Gestut Rottgen.

Of course, a large portion of the prize-money haul comes from the Deutsches Derby victory of Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who disappointingly was a late withdrawal for the G1 Grosser Preis on Sunday owing to ground worries. But they were also represented at the course on Saturday by a homebred debutante, Lady Mary (Ger) (Lawman {Ire}), winner of the strong maiden, the Gestut Etzean Winterkonigin Trial, for Andreas Suborics. The juvenile is out of La Reine Noir (Ger) (Rainbow Quest), a half-sister to G1 Prix de l'Opera winner Lady Marian (Ger) (Nayef), who, like Fantastic Moon, had been sold by Stauffenberg Bloodstock for €49,000 at the BBAG September Yearling Sale.

None of the five yearlings in the Stauffenberg draft sold for that magic number this year, but the vendor was among the leaders with a €220,000 filly by Sea The Stars (Ire). The other Sea The Stars yearling in the consignment, a colt from the Lordship Stud family of Classic winners Love Divine (GB) and Sixties Icon (GB), sold for considerably less than one might have expected, and was knocked down at €80,000 to Tina Rau for the Ullmann family of Gestut Schlenderhan. 

The good-looking colt will be well worth following when he heads into training with Joseph O'Brien, however. As we see time and again, there is often little correlation between sales prices and racecourse performances, and the most notable Lordship Stud graduate of recent years was another by Sea The Stars who was sold for just 60,000gns as a yearling. Later named Emily Upjohn (GB), she turned out to be rather good.

King of Paris

Kingman (GB) was represented by a notable double at Longchamp on Sunday when his daughter Sauterne reeled in the front-running Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}) to land the G1 Prix du Moulin and Narnaco (GB) made all in the G3 La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte.

For Sauterne, who delivered her trainer Patrice Cottier a first Group 1 win, this was truly reward for effort and consistency. Bred by her owner Jean-Pierre-Joseph Dubois, she won the Listed Prix Pont du Neuf in April and since then has been placed three times at Group 1 level, in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, Prix Jean Prat and Prix Rothschild.

On the same weekend two years ago, Spain's champion trainer Guillermo Arizkorreta sent out Rodaballo (Ire) and Kitty Marion (GB) to win the G2 Oettingen Rennen and G3 Goldene Peitsche in Baden-Baden, and this year he turned his attention on Longchamp with Naranco. 

It was a truly international result. The colt was bred in Britain by the Hong Kong-based Eric Chen and was bought at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale by the former head of the Spanish Jockey Club, Jose Hormaeche, for owner Yeguada Rocio. Trained in Madrid by Arizkorreta, he was ridden to glory by Czech jockey Vaclav Janacek. Naranco also owns a pretty smart pedigree that is spreading its wings. His dam Patsy Boyne (Ire) is a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to High Chaparral (Ire) and she has been exported to Australia by Chen.

Hays Making Merry

One should never say never, but it seems highly unlikely that any other owner will be able to repeat having a treble spreads across Kincsem Park and Kentucky Downs, as enjoyed by Jim and Fitri Hay on Saturday.

This unique feat was pulled off by Splendent (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and Silent Film (GB) (New Approach {GB}), both of whom won at Hungary's big meeting with Frankie Dettori in the saddle. This was followed later in the day by victory in the valuable GIII Mint Millions S. for Ancient Rome (War Front). Trained by Charles Hill and ridden by Jamie Spencer, the 110-rated four-year-old won almost £1 million in prize-money and was following up on his win in the Chesterfield Cup at Goodwood last month. 

 

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