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Desert Berry, whose son Desert Crown won this year's Derby, has been bought by M V Magnier in foal to Nathaniel. Congratulations Gary Robinson & @FieldsStud. pic.twitter.com/IHyDZRp1OP

— TDN (@theTDN) November 29, 2022

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When Desert Crown passed the line in front at Epsom, he fulfilled a lifetime dream for breeder Gary Robinson of Newmarket's Strawberry Fields Stud, who will offer the 13-year-old Desert Berry as lot 1891 on Tuesday evening of the sale.

“She's a beautiful mare, she's the right age and she's carrying a full-sibling to the Derby winner,” he says. “So this is it: the best chance anybody's ever going to get to buy another Derby winner.”

Desert Berry first came into Robinson's possession as a foal, but he also owns her dam, the Juddmonte-bred Foreign Language (Distant View), as well as Rose Berry (GB) (Archipenko), a six-time winner and half-sister to Desert Crown who is also now in foal to Nathaniel. With younger members of the family also in his possession, including Desert Berry's 2-year-old daughter by Al Kazeem (GB) and yearling colt by Study Of Man (Ire), Strawberry Fields is well stocked with this Classic family.

“She's from a Juddmonte family originally,” says Robinson of Desert Berry, whose relations include the Group 1 winners Proviso (GB) and Byword (GB).

“I bought her as a foal at Tattersalls many years ago with the first four base mares that we had, and she is the last of those base mares.”

Desert Berry certainly has established a strong foundation for Robinson. All five of her foals to have raced are multiple winners. Successive matings with the late Lanwades resident Archipenko produced not just Rose Berry but also the Hong Kong Group 3 winner Flying Thunder (GB), who raced in Britain as Archie McKellar, winning for Ralph Beckett before moving to Frankie Lor.

“Unfortunately Archipenko is gone, but she is a nice mare and Nathaniel was perfect for her,” says Robinson. “She's bred a Derby winner now and that's put us on the map. And we've got all the family to go further with.

“I've got the yearling half-brother here and a daughter by Al Kazeem who is in pre-training as well.”

Robinson describes Desert Berry as an “alpha mare” and he adds, “She's an individual, she's different but she is kind. And she's got a beautiful action.”

He says of his decision to offer her for sale, “Sometimes you have to let things go. At the end of the day, this is a business, so we have to make money to go on again. We're building more new stables…and then we've also created a racing yard, so we've got that as a back-up as well. It's been a big investment and sometimes we have to sell things. This is a great opportunity now to reinvest the money into the stud, but we have the family and I'm quite sure they're going to be successful for a while.”

While Desert Crown will always be first and foremost remembered as a Derby winner, Robinson says that it was the colt's easy victory in the G2 Dante S. for his owner Saeed Suhail and trainer Sir Michael Stoute that lingers most in his mind.

“For me, the Dante was the race where I saw a wonderful walking horse and athlete, and that really that made it for me more than anything, just to have produced a wonderful horse,” he says.

Indeed, Desert Crown's physical attributes were clearly obvious from an early age, as he sold for 280,000gns to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock when offered as a yearling at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October sale in 2020. And there could well be more high days to come for the colt, who has recently returned to training at Stoute's Freemason Lodge in Newmarket.

Robinson says, “Desert Crown is doing really well now, so he'll be ready and they're really excited about him for next year. They're going to go places with him. It's good, it shows that the horses the mare produces are progressive.”

The post Desert Berry A Rare Jewel in the Sceptre Sessions appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The 13-year-old mare will be offered for sale carrying a full-sibling to Desert Crown by her owner Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud. The Derby winner was himself bought at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 280,000gns, and his yearling half-brother from the first crop of Lanwades sire Study Of Man (Ire) will be offered as lot 435 during Book 1 this year.

“Desert Berry has been an absolute star for us,” said Robinson. “Having studied thoroughbred bloodlines all my life, breeding a Derby winner is an absolute pinnacle and I am immensely proud to have bred Desert Crown. Desert Berry is a superb individual with an impeccable breeding record and I have retained two of her daughters in whom I have great confidence.”

Along with the Derby winner, Desert Berry is also dam of the Group 3 winner Archie McKellar (GB) (Archipenko), who was renamed Flying Thunder when exported to Hong Kong. The mare has also produced another three multiple winners by Archipenko, including the six-time scorer Rose Berry (GB), who is also now in foal to Nathaniel. 

A winner herself over a mile, Desert Berry is out of a Distant View half-sister to the top Juddmonte mare Binche (GB), whose offspring include the Group 1 winners Byword (GB) and Proviso (GB), and Group 2 winner Finche (GB).

“It is rare for the dam of a Derby winner to be offered for sale, and even rarer in the year of the Derby triumph,” said Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony. “Desert Crown is an outstanding Derby winner and Desert Berry will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of our inaugural Sceptre Sessions. It is a pleasure and a privilege to offer such an exceptional broodmare on behalf of Gary Robinson, and the depth and international appeal of her pedigree make her an enticing prospect for breeders from throughout the world.”

The Tattersalls December Mare Sale begins its four-day run on Monday, 28 November.

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While most of Robinson's team from the farm travelled to Epsom to watch their graduate's crowning moment, the stud owner himself took a leaf out of The Queen's book and watched the race at home from the comfort of his own sofa.

As the horse's trainer Sir Michael Stoute received three cheers from the Epsom crowd so delighted to see him back in the winner's circle he first visited on Derby day with Shergar (GB) 41 years ago, Robinson said via telephone, “I'm going to the pub now to tell everyone I don't do handicaps.”

He added, “I stayed at home with my daughter and her partner and it was just so exciting to watch. I wasn't a bit nervous, I have nerves of steel.”

The breeder said that he had believed in the horse from the start, and indeed he had employed a bold marketing approach when offering Desert Crown during Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, with an advert including the strapline, “A future Classic winner?”

It worked, as Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock went to 280,000gns to purchase the half-brother to Hong Kong Group 3 winner Flying Thunder (GB) (Archipenko) for owner Saeed Suhail.

Robinson can now remove that question mark, with Desert Crown having freewheeled around Tattenham Corner and down the hill to a sixth Derby success for Stoute and a second for Suhail, who also owned the 2004 winner Kris Kin (Kris S.), as well as 2000 Guineas winner King's Best (Kingmambo).

“When I sold him I said to people, 'do yourself a favour and buy something for the weekend'. I always knew he was going to be a Classic winner,” Robinson said with a laugh. “But joking apart he was a lovely horse and he went to a fantastic stable.”

Desert Crown's Juddmonte-bred granddam Foreign Language (Distant View) is a half-sister to Binche (GB) (Woodman), whose four stakes-winning offspring for Prince Khalid Abdullah include the Group 1 winners Proviso (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and Byword (GB) (Peintre Celebre).

“We're not breeding sprinters, we've gone for Classic types if we can,” Robinson added. “We're in to the end.”

Those are words that Julian Dollar of Newsells Park Stud would doubtless be pleased to hear more often from breeders of varying sizes, and indeed Robinson has returned to that particular well twice, as Desert Crown's dam Desert Berry (GB) (Green Desert) has a full-brother to the Derby winner at foot and is now back in foal to him. The well-bred Nathaniel, a Group 1 winner at 10 and 12 furlongs and one of the stud's three resident stallions, has had dwindling support from Flat breeders despite producing one of the standout performers of the modern era, Enable (GB), from his first crop. The 14-year-old son of Galileo (Ire) has been busy this season but an increasing number of mares sent to him in Royston are from the National Hunt sector.

“I feel a bit of vindication,” said Dollar as he left Epsom on Saturday. “People have started to doubt him and that has made me question if we can stand him at Newsells Park Stud as he is not fashionable enough.”

He continued, “The owner/breeders who should be supporting him have not been supporting him as much, but he has proven himself over and over again. He's had Enable, and now this horse, who looks seriously exciting, but it's not just them, he's had a French Oaks winner and plenty of other good horses.

“I can't change things and we all know how the market is but it does frustrate me when some horses get so hyped and Nathaniel doesn't get the respect he deserves. But we are governed by the market, and that is just the way it is.”

Prior to Saturday, Nathaniel's five other Group/Grade 1 winners were all fillies: the Classic winners Enable and Channel (Ire), along with last season's Nassau S. victrix Lady Bowthorpe (GB), God Given (GB), and the former French-trained Mutamakina (GB), who won the EP Taylor S. at Woodbine.

Dollar added, “A day like today makes me feel like it's a bit of a two fingers up to the market and to the sales houses who won't take a Nathaniel. I'm overwhelmingly proud of him and it is my privilege to work alongside him. He has three mares left to cover today, and another three tomorrow, and probably three the day after that given the type of mares he is covering these days.

“This is a fantastic day for the breeders. I saw the team from Strawberry Field Stud and had a glass of champagne with them. They are all delighted and so they should be. It's what we all still want to do, to breed a Derby winner.”

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Desert Crown is the fifth foal and scorer produced by a winning granddaughter of stakes-winning G3 Prix de Psyche runner-up Binary (GB) (Rainbow Quest), whose descendants include MGISW distaffer Proviso (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Binary is also the ancestress of G1 Prince of Wales's S.-winning sire Byword (GB) (Peintre Celebre) and MG1SP G2 Prix Eugene Adam victor Finche (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The March-foaled bay is a half-brother to Hong Kong's G3 Premier Cup victor Flying Thunder (GB) (Archipenko), who raced in Europe as Archie McKellar (GB), a yearling filly by Al Kazeem (GB) and a weanling colt by Study of Man (Ire).

2nd-Nottingham, £9,500, Mdn, 11-3, 2yo, 8f 75yT, 1:47.26, sf.
DESERT CROWN (GB), c, 2, 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
(280,000gns Ylg '20 TATOCT). 1ST-TIME STARTER. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $6,985. O-Saeed Suhail; B-Strawberry Fields Stud (GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video

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Godolphin has already had its share of success with the progeny of Kingman, notably through Group 1-winning colts Persian King (Ire) and Palace Pier (GB), and Anthony Stroud added another by the sire to Sheikh Mohammed’s string for next year when outbidding Joseph O’Brien at 400,000gns for lot 576.

The son of the 8-year-old Rip Van Winkle (Ire) mare Allez Y (Ire) was bred by Australian John Camilleri, best known in the racing world as the breeder of superstar Winx (Aus), and was offered on his behalf by Harry McCalmont’s Norelands Stud.

“He is a well-balanced horse, he moves well and we have had a lot of luck with Kingman,” said Stroud. “He is from Norelands, who do such a good job, and he will go to France to be trained by Andre Fabre.”

McCalmont added that Allez Y has been covered by Lope De Vega (Ire) to southern hemisphere time and will soon be joining Camilleri’s broodmare band in Australia.

“I am delighted I have sold a good horse for him, very happy,” said McCalmont.

Allez Y is a daughter of the champion race filly L’Ancresse (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}) and a half-sister to the Lloyd Williams-owned Master Of Reality (Ire), one of four Joseph O’Brien-trained horses to have arrived in Australia recently to contest the Melbourne Cup in November.

The trade in Book 1, though reduced, was highly encouraging in the current circumstances and the same can certainly be said for the first of three Book 2 sessions. The clearance rate rose three points to 85% as 216 of the 255 yearlings offered found a buyer. The average dipped by 10% to 70,539gns and the median by 5% to 52,000gns. The day’s aggregate of 15,236,500gns was down by just 5%. 

D-Day For Churchill Filly
The first book of dual Classic winner Churchill (Ire) included a mare of rare appeal. Date With Destiny (Ire), the sole offspring of the ill-fated George Washington (Ire), earned some small black type herself when third in the Lingfield Oaks Trial and her subsequent mating with Galileo (Ire) produced the G3 Royal Whip S winner Beautiful Morning (GB). 

Newsells Park Stud sent the 12-year-old mare back to Coolmore to visit Galileo’s son Churchill and were rewarded with 350,000gns for the resultant yearling (lot 718). The filly was signed for by Anthony Stroud.

Date With Destiny raced in the colours of Julie Wood and was bought as a 3-year-old for 185,000gns by Newsells Park Stud, who also owned her half-sister Flawly (GB) (Old Vic {GB}).

“We’d had some luck with the family before,” said stud manager Julian Dollar. “Flawly was one of the first mares we bought and she produced [Group 3 winer and Classic-placed] Best Name (GB). We were very fond of the family so when the opportunity came to buy a bit more of it, we came in with her.”

He added, “The Churchill was an interesting mating going back to something familiar but to put in a bit more speed and precocity. The mare was herself quite precocious.”

Churchill has 21 yearlings catalogued in Book 2 and the seven offered on Monday were all sold for an average of 80,571gns.

Model Start For Delevigne
Model Queen ((Kingmambo) has already heaped reflected glory on Highclere Stud, notably through her July Cup-winning son Regal Parade (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), and the baton passed to another of her offspring on Monday at Tattersalls. The 5-year-old mare Delevigne (GB) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) may have retired to the paddocks unraced but her first foal became one of the most expensive fillies of the day when bought by Alastair Donald for 350,000gns.

The Dark Angel (Ire) filly will join the King Power racing team, which enjoyed a stellar Saturday on the Rowley Mile with a hat-trick of Group wins on Future Champions Day.

Donald said of lot 722, “I loved her. She was my favourite filly in the sale. We stretched bit to get her, everyone was on her. She walks for fun and it is a lovely family to be involved with.”

David Redvers had eyes for another daughter of Dark Angel and jumped in when the bidding reached 360,000gns for lot 767, the sister to German listed winner Dark Liberty (Ire). The agent was pushed to 390,000gns to secure her for Qatar Racing.

“She’s one for the long term, for our breeding plan. She looked all speed, a little cracker,” he said of the Yeomanstown Stud-bred filly whose half-sister Queen Of Love (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) won the listed Prix Coronation at Saint-Cloud after the publication of the catalogue. 

Mehmas Success Story Continues
The popularity of Tally-Ho Stud’s young stallion Mehmas (Ire) has grown with each winner he has notched this season, and he now leads the first-crop sires of Europe with 35 individual winners to his credit, including the G1 Middle Park S. hero Supremacy (Ire).

Another milestone was passed on Monday when lot 600, a half-brother to the stakes-placed Ziarah (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), became his most expensive yearling at 320,000gns.

The colt, who is out of the unraced Ashtown Girl (Ire), an Exceed And Excel (Aus) half-sister to classy sprinter Hot Streak (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), was signed for by  Tom Goff, who was standing between John Gosden and Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing.

“I think we can say that Mehmas has been something of a revelation,” said Goff. “Some people wrote him off as cheap speed but he has defied that. My brief was to buy a colt who would make a sharp 2-year-old and this is a lovely colt out of an Exceed And Excel mare. He will go to John Gosden.”

 The colt, bred by the Noonan family, was “the busiest of the sale” according to John Noonan of Cregg Stud, who consigned him.

He added, “I bred his dam and didn’t sell her as a yearling but she has been very good to us since then. She is now in foal to Ribchester (Ire).”

A Mehmas colt was also on the list of Charlie Gordon-Watson, who bought lot 731 on behalf of Al Shaqab Racing at 160,000gns. The Tally-Ho Stud-bred colt is out of Diaminda (Ire) (Diamond Green {Fr}), a half-sister to G1 Golden Jubilee S winner Fayr Jag (Ire) (Fayruz {GB}).

Al Shaqab has focused much of its buying on the French market of late but picked up two yearlings in Newmarket on Monday, the other being lot 655, Barton Stud’s Teofilo (Ire) colt out of the Italian listed winner Cape Magic (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), for 200,000gns.

Derby Dreams For Strawberry Fields
Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud brought just one yearling to Book 2 and the strapping son of Nathaniel (Ire) (lot 724) made the top ten on Tuesday when selling for 280,000gns to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock. 

It has been quite a reversal of fortune for the Green Desert mare Desert Berry (GB), whose first four offspring are all by the late Archipenko. One of those was bought back by Robinson for 1,000gns at the December Foal Sale of 2016 but ever since his year-older brother Archie McKellar (GB) advertised the family’s prowess by becoming a Group 3 winner in Hong Kong under the name of Flying Thunder, the mare’s subsequent yearlings have not been overlooked. The Hong Kong Jockey Club bought Archie McKellar’s full-brother for 425,000gns at Book 2 last year, but the Nathaniel colt looks set to remain in Europe.

“He is an exceptional mover,” said Brown, who did not divulge the horse’s new owner. “He is going to need some time but he looks a real Classic type.”

Robinson, who raced the colt’s half-sister, six-time winner Rose Berry (GB) (Archipenko), said with a smile, “I bought the mare from Chris Dwyer and she’s been good to us. He looks a real Classic colt, I expect to see him win the Derby.”

Back at Strawberry Fields Stud in Fulbourn, just outside Newmarket, Desert Berry also has an Al Kazeem (GB) filly foal and is in foal to Study Of Man (Ire).

Loughtown Filly In Fashion
A mid-May foaling date proved no barrier to the popularity of Loughtown Stud’s daughter of Invincible Spirit (Ire) (lot 700) out of the stakes-placed Cristal Fashion (Ire) (Jeremy), who was bought by Ross Doyle at 220,000gns and will go into training with Richard Hannon.

“The mare has a top back pedigree,” said Loughtown’s Paddy Burns, who bought Cristal Fashion, a grand-daughter of the G3 May Hill S. winner Solar Crystal (Ire) (Alzao), for €25,000 at the Goffs November Sale. 

He added, “The whole team at home have done a top job and I’d just like to thank my head man Tom Brinkley, my wife Helena and everyone. She has gone to a great stable and wish them all the best with her. She has been a cracker all the way through.”

Doyle said. “I told Richard Hannon that I thought she was the best filly I had seen for the three days, and he agreed and decided we had to have her.”

He added, “She is from a great nursery and is out of a black-type mare. The last time we bought an Invincible Spirit yearling out of a black-type mare was [G2 Flying Childers winner] Zebedee (GB).”

Holy Pinhook
Bloodstock agents Johnny and Susie McKeever have been absent from the European sales circuit this year as Susie continues medical treatment in Australia, and the couple received a great pick-me-up with a foal pinhook purchased last year in partnership with James Hanly of Ballyhimikin Stud. 

The Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) relation to Anna Salai (Dubawi {Ire}) and National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), sold near the end of the session as lot 783, had been purchased from breeder Stuart McPhee as a foal last November for €30,000 and sold on Monday for 235,000gns to SackvilleDonald. 

McPhee bought the colt’s dam, the unraced Pivotal (GB) mare Fire Heroine, for 6,000gns from Darley in 2015.

“The McKeevers and I picked him out together. Johnny and Susie are in Australia and they were watching on. They are thrilled,” Hanly said.

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