DEAUVILLE, France–There were plenty of flags of different countries flying high on the grandstand at Deauville but in the winner's circle, the red dragon of Wales was planted firmly, if only metaphorically, with the G1 Sumbe Prix Morny victory of Vandeek (GB).
Bred by Kelly Thomas, who is celebrating her 20th anniversary as a breeder at her Maywood Stud in Camarthenshire, the grey colt from the second crop of Havana Grey (GB) was originally sold as a foal for 52,000gns. It was when he returned to the Tattersalls sale ring 17 months later for the Craven Breeze-up Sale that he first came to wider attention when sharing top billing at a price of 625,000gns. The Glending Stables breezer, who was bought by Anthony Stroud for owner KHK Racing, has continued to impress and is now making proper headlines with his unbeaten progression through a Nottingham maiden to the G2 Richmond S. before going one better than his celebrated young sire by winning Deauville's juvenile Group 1 highlight.
“It takes a long time for it to sink in with me. I'm a bit speechless, but I did find myself jumping up and down near the finish line,” said Thomas, who is taking a rare break from farm duties while her husband Huw is at the helm at home and is enjoying a few days in Deauville with her parents Barbara Strong and Andrew Matthews and her daughter Jessica. That enjoyment has of course been greatly enhanced by the first Group 1-winning graduate from her boutique operation.
She continued, “We're just a small stud, we don't have a huge amount of space and we are very careful with what we have got. We have five mares, some of them are a little bit older now so they don't breed every year. I have an education in equine science so I do draw on that quite a lot as well as the experience I've gained over the 20 years of breeding. It's our 20th anniversary and it is absolutely amazing to have achieved this in this year.”
Thomas also bred Vandeek's 16-year-old dam Mosa Mine (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), whom she initially sold as a yearling and later bought back as a four-year-old.
“She has a beautiful Starspangledbanner colt coming to the sales this year as a foal,” she said. “When she had finished her racing days we bought her back for £800. We've actually bought three of our mares back that we've bred.”
Thomas, who is aided by her family, including children Jessica, Holly and Sion, added, “We're really not big enough to employ any staff so it's all hands on deck 365 days a year.”
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