Tag: Sir Michael Stoute

‘Sir Michael Stoute Gave Me a Bollocking and Told Me Not to Be a Pessimist’ 

He has been branded a pessimist by Sir Michael Stoute for admitting as much, but Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock, who bought Cazoo Derby hero Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), believes Saturday's achievement will never be topped.

Brown, a renowned bloodstock agent with over 20 years of experience in the game, went to 280,000gns to secure Desert Crown on behalf of Saeed Suhail at Book 2 at Tattersalls in 2020 and counts himself as extremely lucky to have sourced what he believes is a once-in-a-lifetime colt. 

“I ended up at Sir Michael's for quite a few glasses of wine on Saturday night,” said Brown on Monday. “I called him yesterday [Sunday] to thank him and I said, 'look, you've done this before but I haven't and I'm sure I never will again.' 

“He gave me a bollocking and told me not to be a pessimist. I think it's once-in-a-lifetime stuff, mainly because so few Derby winners are offered up at public auction and you are up against the might of the top breeding operations like Coolmore, Juddmonte, Aga Khan and Godolphin. The chance of buying a horse like Desert Crown is so slim. We got very lucky.”

Desert Crown became Stoute's sixth Derby winner when powering home at Epsom under Richard Kingscote who, like Brown, was securing his first Derby. Prior to Saturday, Brown may have been best known for sourcing dual Group 1-winning juvenile Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) and top-notch sprinter Dream Ahead. However, Desert Crown eclipses all other achievements in the business and Brown is convinced he will never come across one better. 

He explained, “This won't be topped. It can't be topped. Rabbah Bloodstock was formed in 2006 and Jono Mills, who is one of my greatest mates, is the managing director and I work very closely with him, Bruce Raymond and Philip Robinson. It's through them that I have been able to buy for the people that I do. Also, I have known Sir Michael for a long time and, while we haven't done a lot of business together, we share a pretty big passion for cricket, which is all we ever seem to talk about. To be a small part of that team and to do it with these guys is very special.”

Brown added, “I am fortunate to buy for the people I do. I get to go to the sales and pick out the horses I like for people who trust me. It gives you a sporting chance. I spent many years going to the sales and not being able to buy these types of horses so I realise how fortunate I am that I have people who will back me to stretch out if I like one.”

Brown clearly liked Desert Crown as a yearling, as did plenty of others, given the colt fetched 280,000gns, above average for a colt by Nathaniel. But Brown was never going to be beaten to Desert Crown. Such was his love for him as a yearling, Brown revealed how he even ignored his own advice by laying his cards on the table and declaring his interest in the colt before he walked into the ring.

He recalled, “It's easy to say it now but he was outstanding, just a gorgeous horse with a great temperament, which he is showing now as a racehorse. We put a lot of emphasis on temperament at the sales and he just showed fantastically well. 

“I actually pride myself on my poker face at the sales but I couldn't hide my love for this guy. I told Gary Robinson, who bred the horse, what an outstanding specimen that he was and, as the words were coming out of my mouth, I was thinking 'what are you doing, what about your poker face?' He was just bombproof, such a cool dude, and he showed that on Saturday. He walked around the paddock and down to the start like a pro and he was a pro during the race as well.”

Brown has been buying for Desert Crown's owner Saeed Suhail, whose colours were also carried to Derby glory by Kris Kin (Kris S) in 2003, for three years. He sources between eight and 10 yearlings for the owner every year and, while the first batch were forgettable, Brown believes he is making up for his mistakes with Desert Crown. 

He explained, “Desert Crown is part of the second crop of horses I bought for Saeed Suhail. I didn't do a very good job with the first crop. We had some winners but didn't have a good horse. “I don't think I got the brief properly in the first year but we gave a good throw for a few horses in the second crop and luckily it's working out. To produce a Derby winner for Saeed Suhail is fantastic and there's some very positive reports about a couple of the 2-year-olds so hopefully that first crop is well and truly forgotten now.”

Brown added, “Nathaniel is a top-class stallion. You can't sire a mare like Enable (GB) without being top class. Andrew Stone of St Albans Bloodstock, who I do a lot of work for, had God Given (GB). She won a Group 2 in Britain before winning a Group 1 in Italy and was actually Luca Cumani's last Group 1 winner, so we have been huge fans of Nathaniel all the way through and the market does not give him the respect that he deserves. 

“That can happen. I have always thought he was a very underappreciated stallion so, when I saw a colt as nice as Desert Crown, I knew we had a chance. If he was by Frankel (GB), Dubawi (Ire) or Sea The Stars (Ire), I wouldn't have been able to buy him. He's an absolute beauty and the exciting thing is that he was still one of the more unfurnished colts in the Derby field so there should be a lot more to come from him.”

There is still an amount of celebrating to do before a plan is drawn up for the rest of the season but Brown is convinced that Desert Crown can build on Saturday's heroics. 

He said, “Sir Michael's training was exemplary. This horse had a minor setback in the spring. I went to see him in March and he was standing in his box so he was definitely undercooked heading into the Dante. When he won the Dante, I did think we had something special on our hands and it's looking that way now.”

“We are all having dinner tonight and I am sure it [future plans] will be discussed but that's well above my pay grade. The great thing is that, when you have guys as experienced as Bruce Raymond, Saeed's racing manager, and Sir Michael, you don't need to worry about it. They'll get things right. Where they decide to go next, that's down to them, I'm just lucky to be a small part of the team.”

 

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The Queen Congratulates Stoute on Derby Win

The Platinum Jubilee celebrations may have been in full swing on Saturday, but The Queen still found time to telephone Sir Michael Stoute to congratulate him on winning the Cazoo Derby with Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}).

Her Majesty had been due to attend Epsom for the Derby as she has done regularly through her 70-year reign, but instead had to watch from home as she was advised to “pace herself” through the four days of events, which saw her twice appear on the balcony at Buckingham Palace with members of her family.

At Epsom instead was The Queen's daughter Princess Anne, and grandchildren Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips. On arrival they were greeted by a guard of honour of 40 jockeys past and present wearing the royal racing silks. 

“Yes, I spoke to The Queen late afternoon,” Stoute confirmed. “She was very pleased for the team.”

The 76-year-old trainer had previously provided one of The Queen's most thrilling racing moments of recent years when sending out Estimate (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) to win the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in her colours in 2013.

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Seven Days: Jubilation

With Britain en fete in the midst of the Platinum Jubilee festivities, the Oaks and Derby fell slap-bang in the middle of a four-day bank holiday and, despite the absence of Her Majesty the Queen at Epsom, the meeting still offered much cause for celebration.

Sir Michael Stoute is never one to blow his own horn, though he is often heard humming on Newmarket Heath while watching his horses work. And as one of British racing's senior trainers, on the royal roster to boot, he was a most fitting winning trainer for the Cazoo Derby with Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), even though, in typically modest fashion, he was quick to refer to the Derby he had 'lost' for The Queen when her Carlton House finished third in 2011.

Never mind that, in winning the Derby for the sixth time, he also became, at the age of 76, the oldest trainer to have done so, taking that particular record from former Newmarket trainer Mat Dawson, who landed the race in 1895, when he was 75, with Sir Visto.

In Richard Kingscote, Stoute appears to have found the perfect jockey for his stable, which previously had such a successful association with the similarly taciturn Ryan Moore. Saturday was a huge day for 35-year-old Kingscote, winning the Derby for the first time on only his second ride in the race, but he enjoyed the moment and accepted the plaudits with endearing humility and complete absence of hoopla. 

Interviewed the following morning on Luck On Sunday he was asked how he and Stoute's relationship is developing, replying with a straight-bat delivery of which the trainer would have approved enormously. 

“Well, neither of us like to talk much,” he said in deadpan fashion.

It would appear that neither trainer nor jockey will need to do much talking when they have a horse who does that for them. Certainly the stable whispers had grown ahead of the Dante, and Stoute's quiet confidence before and since York was fully vindicated on the most prestigious strip of turf of them all at Epsom.

Desert Crown, with just three impeccable runs to his name, is now as short as 3/1 favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. For a trainer so adept with progressive middle-distance horses it seems almost remiss that Stoute has won the Arc just once, in 2010. But when he did, it was with his most recent Derby winner before Saturday, Workforce (GB). That great horse's sire King's Best had also been resident at Stoute's Freemason Lodge stable, and won the 2,000 Guineas for Desert Crown's owner Saeed Suhail. Underlining the trainer's versatility is the fact that the most recent top-class performer he has had for Suhail was the sprinter Dream Of Dreams (Ire) (Dream Ahead), winner of the last year's G1 Diamond Jubilee S. at Royal Ascot.

Nathaniel the Elite

Nathaniel (Ire) entered elite company on Saturday in joining the group of stallions to have sired a Derby and an Oaks winner. Of course his own sire Galileo (Ire) is a fully paid-up member of this group, as are two of his other sons, fellow Derby winner New Approach (GB), sire of Masar (Ire) and Talent (GB), and Frankel (GB), with Adayar (Ire) and Anapurna (GB) to his credit. Galileo's half-brother Sea The Stars (Ire) is also part of this set, courtesy of Harzand (Ire) and Taghrooda (GB), and he enhanced his Epsom roll of honour when Hukum (GB) won Friday's G1 Coronation Cup.

But let's not forget some mighty mares. On Friday at Epsom, both Group 1 winners already had Group 1-winning full-siblings. Hukum, handing his trainer Owen Burrows a first top-level win, is the brother of Baaeed (GB), who is arguably the most exciting horse in training at the moment. Their Listed-winning dam Aghareed provides what appears to be a pretty magical cross for Sea The Stars with Kingmambo, and is herself a daughter of the dual Grade I winner Lahudood (GB) Singspiel {Ire}). Notably, her current 2-year-old, Naqeeb (GB), is by Nathaniel and he will be heading into training with William Haggas. And in Jubilee year it was fitting that the Coronation Cup winner emanated from a family initially developed by the Royal Studs.

Similarly brimming in talent is the family of Oaks winner Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). She became the third Classic winner for her dual Group 1-winning dam Lillie Langtry (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) after Minding (Ire) and Empress Josephine (Ire).

Thinking of Josh

Amid all the jubilation on Friday, and a fourth win in the Oaks for Ballydoyle's number one jockey with Tuesday, thoughts also turned to Ryan Moore's brother Josh, who remains in hospital making a steady recovery from serious complications following a race fall on April 16.

“Every day we talk and always the first thing we speak about is Josh, and then everything else leads on from there,” said Aidan O'Brien in the post-race press conference. “We hope and pray that every day Josh makes another little bit of improvement.

“Everyone is very conscious and aware of what the important things are, but Ryan is obviously a very professional person and when he has to do his job he just goes into a different zone. That's his job and we are very grateful to him for doing it.”

London Calling for Derby Runner-up

The Goffs London Sale returns this year after a two-year hiatus and, rather unusually, the catalogue includes a Classic-placed colt.

Hoo Ya Mal (GB) (Territories {Ire}) upheld the faith shown in him by his owner Ahmad Al Shaikh when storming to a second-place finish in the Derby on Saturday at odds of 150/1, and he remains as lot 6 for next Monday's eve-of-Royal Ascot sale, now with a rather significant update to his page. 

It was the third year that Al Shaikh had had a Derby runner, with Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}) also finishing second in 2020, and Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) running eighth last year. 

All three were trained by Andrew Balding, who said of Hoo Ya Mal, a 40,000gns yearling purchase by Federico Barberini, “I have Ahmad Al Shaikh to thank entirely, because I didn't want to run in the race but he insisted.”

Balding also trained the fourth home, Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) for Mick and Janice Mariscotti, whose good day at Epsom was augmented by the win of Swilcan Bridge (GB) (Helmet {Aus}) in the opening race. Both Swilcan Bridge and Hoo Ya Mal were bred by the Weinfeld family at Meon Valley Stud, who were also the owner/breeders of the 2019 Oaks winner Anapurna (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

Aga Khan Appreciation Day

There's little let-up in the Classic calendar in Europe at this time of year and no sooner had the smoke cleared from the ill-advised pre-Derby fireworks at Epsom than attention turned to Chantilly for the Prix du Jockey Club.

The British-trained duo of El Bodegon (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) dug deep but could offer no riposte to the streaking home run of the Aga Khan homebred Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}).

“It's been quite a day, quite significant,” said the Aga Khan Studs manager in France, Georges Rimaud, as he assessed a magnificent afternoon which featured three stakes winners for the team.

The trio was led by Vadeni, whose victory was significant for a number of reasons, not least because he was the first Classic winner for Coolmore's young Guineas winner Churchill (Ire). For his owner/breeder he represented a ninth victory in the Prix du Jockey Club, and he was the fifth for trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, whose run started back in 2009 with Le Havre (Ire).

Adding to the spoils was Baiykara (Fr), a maiden from two starts prior to Sunday but now a new group winner for her sire Zarak (Fr), who made such a promising start with his first runners last season and was the toast of the autumn and winter sales. It is easy to imagine that the Aga Khan would be thrilled to see Zarak properly succeed at stud as he is of course a son of the mare he considered to be the greatest achievement of his lengthy spell as a breeder, the great Zarkava (Fr), a fifth-generation descendant of Prince Aly Khan's champion, Petite Etoile (GB). As the Aga Khan Studs operation celebrates its centenary this year, Vadeni's success was extremely apposite, but there was more to come for both Zarak and the runners in the green and red.

Francis Graffard is now overseeing the Aga Khan's private training centre at Aiglemont along with his own training operation and, after saddling Baiykara to triumph in the G3 Prix de Royaumont, he struck again with another smart 3-year-old later on the card when Rozgar (Fr) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) won the Listed Prix Marchand d'Or, giving retained jockey Christophe Soumillon a memorable treble. Rozgar's victory was all the sweeter for his breeder as his dam, the listed-placed Roshanara (Fr), is a daughter of Sea The Stars (Ire), who stands on his Irish roster.

William Haggas, who has his string in sensational form, added to the party by having Zarak's daughter Purplepay (Fr) well primed on just her second start for him and her new owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson of Lael Stable, who paid €2 million for the Group 1-placed juvenile at Arqana in December. She can now have her name displayed in bold black type after a taking victory in the G2 Prix de Sandringham.

“It has been a very nice day: a Group 1, a Group 3 and a Listed race, and three victories with three very different horses,” Rimaud said. 

“Vadeni did it very easily beating some very nice horses. He's a true champion and we're very pleased in this centennial year. His Highness and Princess Zahra are obviously very happy but sometimes it just happens like this–it's nice that it has happened this way though because it puts a little focus on what we do. There's a long road ahead but hopefully [Vadeni] will be able to make the stallion roster.”

Aurora Australis

Mare Australis (Ire), the most beautiful deep liver chestnut, has been raced sparingly through his four seasons to date, and a fetlock injury kept him off the track between his G1 Prix Ganay victory in May 2021 and his placed return in the G2 Prix d'Harcourt two months ago. 

It was therefore great to see the patience of his owner/breeder Gestut Schlenderhan repaid with a fourth win for the 5-year-old, this time in the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly. The Arc had been the plan last year until injury intervened, and it remains on the cards this season. 

“We breed stayers,” said Philipp von Ullmann, son of Schlenderhan's owner Baron Georg von Ullmann, before adding of winning the Arc, “It's been our dream for 153 years.”

Speaking to TDN for a feature last year, von Ullmann senior recalled his longstanding association with Mare Australis's trainer Andre Fabre. 

“The first horse I had with Fabre was Shirocco and I told him at Belmont [at the Breeders' Cup] that it was the beginning of a new friendship,” he said.

“Fabre just really has this feeling. He was very happy when Mare Australis came to him as a 2-year-old, then he called me up and said 'you will be surprised but I will give him a rest and he will say thank you'.”

It was the culmination of a successful week for Mare Australis's sire Australia (GB), after

Ocean Road (Ire) became his fifth Group/Grade 1 winner in the Gamely S at Santa Anita for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Like her trainer, Ocean Road was born and raised in Ireland. She is the second top-flight winner for Kevin and Meta Cullen's broodmare Love And Laughter (Ire) (Theatrical {Ire}). The first came a decade ago when her son Wigmore Hall (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) won the GI Northern Dancer Turf S. for Michael Bell.

Walsh, now in his twelfth season in the U.S., had a good week with European imports. On Sunday at Belmont Park, he sent out Steve Parkin's homebred Lady Rockstar (GB) (Frankel {GB}) for her second successive win in as many starts since moving to his stable from William Haggas over the winter. 

The half-sister to Spanish star Noozhoh Canarias (Spa) (Caradak {Ire}) made her breakthrough in England last October when winning a Kempton maiden by 12 lengths. Now four, she looks set for a bright future in the United States.

C:C The Stars

In the first-season sires' championship Havana Grey (GB) is still knocking in the winners and now has 15 to his name at a strike-rate of almost 40%.

But remember Cracksman (GB), who ran once as a 2-year-old in October over a mile, then ran placed in the Derby and Irish Derby before winning four Group 1 races from 10 to 12 furlongs? A son of the reigning champion sire Frankel, Cracksman has had just six runners to date, and four of those have already won. 

Darley recently publicised Cracksman's PlusVital Speed Gene rating of C:C, i.e. sprint-orientated, with the adverting streamline “It's all about to happen faster than you think”. So far, so good on that front, as Cracksman has been represented by four winners since May 21. 

Speed gene tests are all well and good as an extra guide to a horse's potential but we don't need one to remind us that good, early juveniles can come from seemingly unexpected sources. Let's not forget that Cracksman's stable-mate at Dalham Hall Stud, New Approach (Ire), had three Royal Ascot stakes winners with his first crop of 2-year-olds. That should not have been surprising, however, because as well as winning the Derby he was also champion 2-year-old. Another Classic-winning son of Galileo, Sixties Icon (GB), also took some by surprise with a scorching start when his first 2-year-olds took to the track. And the old boy proved he's still got it by siring Friday's Woodcote S winner, Legend Of Xanadu (GB), trained by Mick Channon – who else? 

The moral of the story? It is not just sharp, early 2-year-olds who can sire sharp, early 2-year-olds. But in sires like Cracksman, New Approach and Sixties Icon, there is also clearly the hope of their stock progressing as the seasons unfold. And that's when it gets really exciting.

 

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Derby Glory For Desert Crown

There were stage-managed fireworks exploding from Epsom's stands minutes before the 243rd staging of the G1 Cazoo Derby In Memory of Lester Piggott, but the real pyrotechnics were provided on the grass by Saeed Suhail's superb Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}–Desert Berry {GB}, by Green Desert) as he proved a class apart in this special edition. Sent off the 5-2 favourite for a race which looked deep both numerically and in terms of talent and promise, the unbeaten TDN Rising Star marked the occasion with a performance to place alongside the best of recent times as he provided Sir Michael Stoute with a momentous sixth Blue Riband. Always cruising ominously under an admirably cool Richard Kingscote in mid-division staying wide out of trouble, the bay was let loose approaching two out and sprinted to the lead to win without being fully extended by 2 1/2 lengths from the 150-1 longshot Hoo Ya Mal (GB) (Territories {Ire}). As there had been on Friday, there was a hard-luck story as the race's clear second-best colt Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}) got out of a traffic jam to storm home and finish a head back in third. It had been a dozen years since the 76-year-old Stoute had enjoyed Epsom glory, but the man who is officially the oldest trainer to win the Blue Riband had remained philosophical during the lean spell. “You realise your chances lessen, but I wasn't paranoid about it,” he said. “You just hope one would come along, and it did.”

If some had come to expect a slight demise in the fortunes of Newmarket's Knight, whose recent personal trials have served to put this sport into context, then the dramatic arrival of Desert Crown and his year-older stablemate Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}) have put such thoughts firmly to the side. Freemason Lodge is abuzz once more, much as the neighbouring Warren Place had been at the start of the last decade, and in this Derby hero the establishment now boasts a totem to generate fear and awe in all as the season progresses. This was as far from a surprise as it gets in racing, as anybody who is more than a casual observer of racing would have known that Desert Crown's impressive display in the Dante on his seasonal debut and second career start off an interrupted preparation was only for starters. Only the yard's last Derby winner Workforce (GB) had come here with the audacity to win with such little race experience under his belt and it is worth remembering that he had been beaten 3 1/4 lengths by Cape Blanco (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at York prior to his seven-length rout on the Downs.

There was never a stage during Saturday's race that the blue-and-yellow first put into Epsom folklore by Kris Kin did not catch the eye, with Changingoftheguard (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) merely providing the target up ahead. Despite the presence of the likes of Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Star of India (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Westover around him, the overwhelming feeling watching it all unfold was that nothing could go quick enough to take him out of his remarkable comfort zone. Kingscote took a sit for several yards passing three out with Ryan Moore struggling to make a fist of it even at that point on Ballydoyle's number one and there were echoes of Eddery on El Gran Senor. This time, there was no Secreto looming and not even a worthy competitor to hand and so it was left to Desert Crown to come home alone and allow connections a two-furlong-long spell to soak in the moment.

“He was very good today,” Kingscote stated humbly in the aftermath of his career-defining moment. “It was very smooth–he took all the preliminaries professionally, but then every time I've sat on him he has been very calm and today was no exception. I was hung out a little wide, but he was very comfortable and really well-balanced, changed leads over the road and off he went into top gear. The others weren't able to take him along and he has a good deal about him. At York, he took time to wind up but today was much more solid and alert. He's got gears and a lot of class, so I can't pigeon-hole him in terms of distance–at the two pole it was all over. It took guts for the connections to stick by me and let me ride. I'm not a champion jockey, not Ryan Moore, so that takes a lot for them not to look elsewhere.”

Stoute was quick to pay tribute to the rider. “I've been impressed with Richard since the time he got involved with us and I was very confident he would do the job today,” he said. “He's a deep thinker with beautiful hands and is calm.” Racing's most famous septuagenarian admitted to an aura of calm himself as he watched a sixth Derby victory unfold. “I was comfortable from the time he got to the top of the hill and he came down it very smoothly–he has a lot of talent and a good mind, which is very important,” he said.

“We were very hopeful after York that he might win the Derby. His performance delighted me as he had it won a long way out,” his handler added. “From an early stage, he was having little niggles and that is why he didn't run until the backend last year. There was nothing serious–he was maturing and developing and that was causing a few little problems with niggles. Shergar was very special and he hasn't quite reached that stage, but he has potential.” Of future plans, he said, “I think you have to just go home and see how they take it and we will just try and get it right and see how his recovery is. These good horses have good acceleration and he won the Dante over a mile and a quarter, so I think 10 or 12 will be no problem.”

The 2022 Derby's most significant footnote was the misfortune of Juddmonte's G3 Sandown Classic Trial winner Westover, who was stopped just as he was winding up heading to two out. As the gap between Stone Age and West Wind Blows (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) shut, the route to the inside was taken by the slaloming outsider Hoo Ya Mal and Rob Hornby had to wait several seconds to angle wide and unleash his mount's closing effort. When it came, it was impressive as he ate up an abundance of lengths and it was no surprise to hear connections mention the St Leger afterwards.

“He ran an amazing race and showed his quality and what an exciting horse he is to look forward to,” Westover's jockey Rob Hornby said. “Full credit to Sir Michael Stoute, who produced the winner beautifully and to Richard. Ryan and Richard were drawing me into it and he brought himself into a real nice position and warmed into it well, but when the gap was there he wasn't quite quick enough to get in. It got quite messy and I had to check and check again, but he really powered home and galloped through the line very strongly.”

“Epsom is tough and as Frankie said yesterday, you'd love to be beaten fair and square but he didn't really have a clear run,” Hornby added. “A lot goes into these days–it's a big team effort and it didn't go our way, but he's a hell of a horse. I'm gutted, but we'll pick ourselves up and go again–how he took the preliminaries, travelled in the race and hit the line makes me excited about what a future he is going to have. He stays very well and is relaxing nicely, so he's going to keep improving.”

For Ahmad Al Shaikh, a runner-up finish at big odds in the Derby was again the end result of the decision to pitch one of the race's apparent fringe players into the fray. This was a significant upgrade on Hoo Ya Mal's third in the G3 Craven S. and distant second in the Listed Newmarket S., but it was no fluke over the furthest trip he has raced and he was duly able to emulate the 2020 runner-up Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}). It is beginning to feel like Green Team Racing are genuinely lucky around here and trainer Andrew Balding, who also saddled the fourth-placed Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) at 66-1, was quick to put all the credit at the owner's door. “I have Ahmad Al Shaikh to thank entirely, because I didn't want to run in the race but he insisted,” he explained. “At the end of the day, he made a very good argument that if the horse who was supplemented won it we'd think where would we have finished, so it was great decision. He just got the trip and has a lot of class, while Andrea [Atzeni] said that Masekela needs further which surprised me.”

David Probert said of the runner-up, “Second in the Derby is massive for me and it hasn't really sunk in yet. I looked up about a furlong out and I could see Richard was only really teasing me, which was quite heartbreaking in a way. Obviously he was trying a mile and a half for the first time and he'd never run at this level, so it was all about keeping a lid on him and getting him to relax. He got into a very good rhythm the whole way around and we got a nice position and then hunted our way up the inside. It opened up quite nicely and his last furlong was his best. He saw it out really well and there are better things to come.”

This was a first Derby victory for Nathaniel, fittingly a year on from that of his great rival Frankel, and a huge moment for the Teversham-based Strawberry Fields Stud. Sold for 280,000 guineas at Tattersalls October Book 2, Desert Crown boasts a group-winning half-brother in the G3 Premier Cup scorer Archie McKellar (GB) (Archipenko) but little of major note close up in his pedigree. Where the alchemy comes in is via the dam Desert Berry's own second dam, Juddmonte's listed scorer and group-placed Binary (GB) (Rainbow Quest) who was responsible for the Scandinavian champion Binary File (Nureyev) and, more importantly, the top producer Binche (Woodman). She was responsible for the G1 Prince of Wales's S. hero Byword (GB) (Peintre Celebre), the four-times top-level scorer Proviso (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and the G2 Prix Eugene Adam winner Finche (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Also connected to another multiple grade I winner in Wandesta (GB) (Nashwan), Desert Berry's 2-year-old filly is by Al Kazeem (GB) while she also has a yearling colt by Study of Man (Ire).

Saturday, Epsom, Britain
CAZOO DERBY-G1, £1,604,000, Epsom, 6-4, 3yo, 12f 6yT, 2:36.38, gd.
1–DESERT CROWN (GB), 128, c, 3, by Nathaniel (Ire)
     1st Dam: Desert Berry (GB), by Green Desert
     2nd Dam: Foreign Language, by Distant View
     3rd Dam: Binary (GB), by Rainbow Quest
1ST GROUP 1 WIN. (280,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Saeed Suhail; B-Strawberry Fields Stud (GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute; J-Richard Kingscote. £909,628. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $1,264,597. *1/2 to Archie McKellar (GB) (Archipenko), GSW-HK, $513,497. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Hoo Ya Mal (GB), 128, c, 3, Territories (Ire)–Sensationally (GB), by Montjeu (Ire).
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (40,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). O-Ahmad Al Shaikh; B-Meon Valley Stud (GB); T-Andrew Balding. £344,860.
3–Westover (GB), 128, c, 3, Frankel (GB)–Mirabilis, by Lear Fan.
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-Ralph Beckett. £172,590.
Margins: 2HF, HD, 5HF. Odds: 2.50, 150.00, 25.00.
Also Ran: Masekela (Ire), Changingoftheguard (Ire), Stone Age (Ire), Nahanni (GB), Nations Pride (Ire), West Wind Blows (Ire), El Habeeb (Ire), Grand Alliance (Ire), Piz Badile (Ire), Star of India (Ire), Glory Daze (Ire), Sonny Liston (Ire), Royal Patronage (Fr), Walk of Stars (GB). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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