It is a source of regret that the selection of British racing colours has been homogenised to the extent that it comes down to artlessly underwhelming choices such as light blue or dark blue. Eighteen standard colours are allowed in a variety of patterns, but gone, sadly, are the days when an aspiring owner could opt for 'Straw' (The Duke of Devonshire), or 'Apricot' (Lord Howard de Walden).
James Wigan inherited his distinctive set from his grandfather, the owner/breeder Charles Gordon, who most certainly would have approved of seeing his silks, described as 'cherry, cornflower blue sash and cap', rippling to victory on British Champions Day on the back of Richard Kingscote riding Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}).
The four-year-old colt, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, may have spoiled the swansong of Baaeed (GB), but for his breeder it was an immensely happy chapter in a story which didn't start off as well as Wigan might have hoped.
“He was entered for the foal sale and the stud manager called me a couple of days before when I was already in Newmarket,” recalls Wigan, whose habit it is to sell his the stock from his Dorset-based West Blagdon Stud as foals, and who routinely has an enviable draft at Tattersalls in December.
“He was ready to come up and he'd got a knock and was slightly lame. We decided that it was pointless putting him on the box.”
There was of course an option to sell the colt from the first crop of Ballylinch Stud's New Bay as a yearling the following year but, in what has transpired to be an inspired decision, he was retained. It is rare to see a colt race in Wigan's name, though he enjoyed notable success in the late 1970s with his well-named homebred Final Straw (GB), by Thatch out of Last Call (GB), who won the G2 Champagne S. along with three Group 3 victories and runner-up finishes in the G1 Sussex S. and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois.
Wigan says of Bay Bridge, “We sell a yearling every now and again, but I liked him very much as a yearling and thought, 'Right. Well, having got this far, maybe somebody's trying to tell us something. Maybe we should just stick with him'. And luckily we did.”
With two placed runs as a back-end two-year-old, Bay Bridge wasn't an early star among New Bay's debutants, but he has made up for that at three and four, when it really matters. Unbeaten and quietly progressive in four starts in 2021, he rounded off that season a year ago almost to the day with victory in the Listed Seymour S. at Newmarket, but it wasn't until this May that his presence was properly felt on the main stage.
An explosive seasonal debut in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. set the scene for his immediate elevation to the top level, with Bay Bridge's ensuing three runs this year including a runner-up finish to State Of Rest (Ire) in the Prince of Wales's S. before bowing out with a triumph over Adayar (Ire) and Baaeed in the Champion S. For his four-year-old season his ownership became a partnership between Wigan and Ballylinch Stud, where he will eventually stand alongside his sire but, with just ten starts to his name to date, Wigan indicates that there is a “strong possibility” that Bay Bridge will be back next season in an attempt to enhance that record.
“Ballylinch has done extremely well with their stallions,” he says. “And they're very nice people to deal with, I've found, having had a lot of experience with them over the years.”
Wigan has justifiable claims to being New Bay's biggest cheerleader as he is also the co-owner, with Lucy and Ollie Sangster, of Saffron Beach (Ire), one of the stallion's two other Group 1 winners who lives just across Newmarket's Bury Road from Bay Bridge and who also remained in his possession rather fortuitously, after missing the yearling sales.
He says, “I took a share in New Bay when he went to stud, so I was keen on him then. It was actually Liam Norris who selected Saffron, and he must get most of the credit, because he was looking for foals to pinhook for Ben [Sangster]. I happened to meet Liam and I asked if he had seen many New Bay foals because I was interested in them. I asked if he could look at this particular filly and he already had and said 'I like her very much and she's on my list for Ben.' So I said, 'Well, maybe Ben and I should speak'.”
The pinhook 'gone wrong' has turned into a racing adventure which has gone spectacularly right, with Jane Chapple-Hyam guiding Saffron Beach to a Group 3 win as a juvenile, followed by a runner-up finish in the 1,000 Guineas and victory in the G1 Sun Chariot at three, and further success in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. at Royal Ascot and G1 Prix de Rothschild this year.
Wigan adds of her sire, “I liked New Bay very much as an individual. He's a beautifully-made horse. He's not too big, I think he's just on 16 hands. He's got lots of quality, he's got substance, I like [his sire] Dubawi, and it's a very nice Juddmonte family. It's the female line of Oasis Dream, so he had a lot going for him, as well as being a good racehorse.”
Bay Bridge's dam Hayyona (GB) (Multiplex {GB}), a descendant of the Aga Khan's Prix de Diane winner Shemaka (Ire), is back in foal to New Bay, so there is much to look forward to at West Blagdon Stud next spring, but first thoughts turn to the impending December Sales at Tattersalls. Saffron Beach, who was ruled out of a Breeders' Cup finale just a few days ago, is nevertheless likely to take a leading role in the inaugural Sceptre Session of the Mares' Sale, and before that the West Blagdon team will be kept busy with a draft of eight foals, including a trio by New Bay.
“It's early days, the foals haven't been in prep for very long, but I think there's a nice draft and we're looking forward to it,” says Wigan.
One of the New Bays [lot 1010] is a grand-daughter of Dank (GB) (Dansili {GB}), another to have carried the cherry-and-cornflower-blue silks with honour, notably in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf nine years ago. Meanwhile, another member of the draft [lot 1007], a colt by Saxon Warrior (Jpn), hails from the same family as New Bay being a great grandson of Juddmonte's Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victrix Zenda (GB), who found further fame as the dam of Kingman (GB).
Wigan nominates another son of Dubawi as a stallion he will be following with interest. “I rather like Ghaiyyath's progeny, from what I've seen. I've only used him once. I will certainly be going back to him.”
With 14 on offer at Tattersalls, he will have a chance to peruse further the stock of Ghaiyyath (Ire), and Wigan also pinpoints a young sire with roots stretching back to West Blagdon when he says, “If I think of the first-crop sires, obviously Havana Grey (GB) has done very well, but that's very obvious. Tasleet (GB) interests me, probably because he's from our old family, so I follow him with some interest. He hasn't had an awful lot of mares but he's done pretty well. He's probably my sleeper amongst the young stallions.”
The old family in question is that of Pelting (GB) (Vilmorin {GB}), Tasleet's sixth dam and a broodmare of some note for Wigan's late mother, Dawn, who was bequeathed West Blagdon Stud by her father in 1959 and ran it with her husband Dare, a renowned racing journalist.
“My mother was given three mares,” says Wigan, whose wife Anita is also a successful breeder in her own right. “She did it very much as a hobby and only ever had a few mares here, never more than four or five, but did extremely well. She preferred to sell foals at Tattersalls, which I continue to do, but I have increased the size of the stud by adding new boxes and we bought some more land. It's run in conjunction with an arable farm; a neighbour has a farm share arrangement with us.”
Among the many notable descendants of Pelting, which include Group 1 winners Rebelline (Ire), Moon Ballad (Ire) and Central Park (Ire), was Bassenthwaite (GB) (Habitat {GB}), who was bred by Wigan's parents and who raced successfully for Stravros Niarchos, winning the G1 Middle Park S. and later standing at stud in New Zealand. Though neither Bay Bridge nor Saffron Beach are travelling to this year's Breeders' Cup, there will still be plenty of interest at West Blagdon with Pelting represented by her sixth-generation descendant Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is currently favourite for Saturday's Filly & Mare Turf.
Wigan wears many hats in the bloodstock industry. As well as being a successful breeder, consignor and agent, he has managed the operations of other notable owner/breeders, including Lady Rothschild and George Strawbridge, while a recent addition to his duties includes advising and buying for Peter McCausland, who has restored the historic Erdhenheim Farm in Pennsylvania and is establishing his own breeding programme on the stud which can boast Derby winner Iroquois and inaugural Kentucky Derby winner Aristides as former residents.
“They've got some lovely mares, and Peter McCausland, who owns it, is new to the business and very enthusiastic, and he's beginning to race. So he's very much doing what I enjoy most,” says Wigan of the owner/breeder who has been represented by his first juvenile runners under the Erdenheim Farm banner this year. “He's certainly been using the best sires. The mares have got the pedigrees, so we just hope that they can produce the goods.”
Reflecting on his work for his fellow breeders and clients of his London Thoroughbred Services, Wigan adds, “It's enormously satisfying because you're basically doing what you love. You think of the horses not as your own, but you get just as much pleasure from them. They've been able to buy into some nice families, they are very nice people to work with, and one can share their enjoyment and occasional successes.”
There can be nothing more satisfying, however, than having produced a colt of the highest calibre to continue the decades of work at the stud put firmly on the British map of bloodstock breeding first by Wigan's grandfather and later his mother. It's the cherry on top, with a splash of cornflower blue.
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