It's the time of year which most trainers must dread as they juggle spending time in their yards and at the races with attending yearling sales here, there and everywhere. One who will doubtless be patrolling the sales grounds of Doncaster and Baden-Baden this week with an extra pep in his step is Ralph Beckett. Marc Chan, one of Beckett's principal owners, had four runners in the past week and all four won. Even more remarkably, three of those victories came in stakes contests on the same day at three different tracks.
Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) has developed into one of the most dependable sprinter-milers in Europe, and he added Saturday's G2 City of York S. to his fine record, which includes victory in that same race last year, along with Group 1 strikes in the QIPCO British Champions Sprint and the Qatar Prix de la Foret. The latter is naturally on his radar for later this season, along with the GI Breeders' Cup Mile and possibly the G1 Hong Kong Mile.
The same afternoon, Angel Bleu (Fr) provided another fine example of both the precocity and durability of the stock of his sire Dark Angel (Ire), as outlined in yesterday's feature by John Berry, when winning the G2 Celebration Mile, to add to his three group wins as a juvenile, including the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and G1 Criterium International.
To cap a sensational afternoon for the Beckett-Chan team, another former Group 1 winner, Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), who is owned in partnership with Andrew Rosen, won Newmarket's Listed Hopeful S., her first success since claiming last year's Cheveley Park S. next door on the Rowley Mile.
While Kinross was a private in-training purchase from his breeder Julian Richmond-Watson, the other two are both Arqana graduates, as is Chan's fourth winner, the juvenile Going The Distance (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who won a Ffos Las novice race last Thursday and looks one to follow as the autumn comes on. All were bought for the owner by his racing manager Jamie McCalmont.
Beckett is currently in fourth place on the British trainers' table and he has plenty of ammunition in reserve to see him through some of the season's key contests yet to come, including Westover (GB), Remarquee (GB), Prosperous Voyage (Ire), and Juddmonte's exciting juvenile Task Force (GB), who remains unbeaten after his listed victory at Ripon on Monday and has some fancy entries.
Brothers and Sisters
It has also been a successful spell for the band of brothers that makes up the Bronte Collection, a gang of friends and associates of Steve Parkin of Clipper Logistics fame. Four juvenile winners over the last fortnight have included the G3 Tattersalls Acomb S. winner Indian Run (Ire) (Sioux Nation) at Parkin's local track, York. The colt is yet another to advertise the considerable talents of his trainer Eve Johnson Houghton, who earlier this season landed the Woodcote S. with Bobsleigh (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}).
Indian Run also provided a boost for the Tattersalls Somerville Sale, one of the new kids on the block as far as yearling sales are concerned, but one that is fast gaining traction. Joe Foley, the buyer and manager for both Parkin and the Bronte Collection, signed for the Ciaran McGrath-bred Indian Run for £75,000, and he will have taken equal delight in two other Bronte winners in recent weeks. Hot Front (Ire) and Government Call (Ire) were both bred by Foley's Ballyhane Stud and are by first-season sire Soldier's Call (GB), who raced so successfully in the Clipper Logistics colours.
Johnson Houghton has nominated the G1 Dewhurst S. as Indian Run's major end-of-season target. It is a race her stable last won 21 years ago with Tout Seul (Ire) (Ali-Royal {Ire}), trained by her father Fulke.
Deauville, Over and Out
British and Irish raiders in France this year have found it harder to return with the spoils than it has been in recent years, but the final weekend of Deauville's summer meeting saw British-based trainers plunder all three group races.
France has been a particularly happy hunting ground for Simon and Ed Crisford in 2023 and, after their breakthrough Group 1 success the previous weekend with Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) in the Sumbe Prix Morny, they returned to take the G3 Prix Quincey with Poker Face (Ire), another member of the Fastnet Rock (Aus)-Galileo (Ire) nick club, and who had also won the Listed Pomfret S. in July for owner Edward Ware. The four-year-old's full-sister will be offered by breeder Marlhill House Stud during Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Mill Stream (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), trained by Jane Chapple-Hyam for former trainer Peter Harris, added the G3 Prix de Meautry to his previous win in the Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud at the same track and has a Group 1 engagement on British Champions Day. He is another to have provided an update for a yearling heading to the sales. His Mehmas (Ire) half-brother is in the draft of breeder Redpender Stud for Book 1 at Tattersalls.
Completing a group-race double for Gleneagles was Jack Darcy (Ire), winner of the G2 Grand Prix de Deauville for another father-and-son team, Paul and Oliver Cole. A 24,000gns Book 3 purchase, Jack Darcy has now won at two (on debut), three and four, and he has had a busy summer, which has included finishing runner-up to Hamish (GB) in the G3 Glorious S. at Goodwood. Paul Cole had previously won the Grand Prix de Deauville on five occasions between 1988 and 1999, including twice with the St Leger winner Snurge (Ire).
A Legendary Leger?
It is almost tempting fate to say it, but this year's St Leger is shaping up to be an intriguing contest. We could be treated to the sight of last week's G2 Great Voltigeur S. winner Continuous (Jpn) attempting to become the first British Classic winner for his late Shadai sire Heart's Cry (Jpn) and the seventh St Leger winner for Aidan O'Brien.
He shares the top of the betting market with Gregory (GB), who will be attempting the same breakthrough Classic win for his own Derby-winning sire Golden Horn (GB) and for owner Wathnan Racing, the coming force on the European scene.
Then of course there's Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), owned by the King and Queen and already a star of Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood. A victory for him on Town Moor would make him the first royal winner of Britain's oldest Classic since Dunfermline (GB) in 1977.
Another to hold an entry is the G1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Warm Heart (Ire), who led home a poignant 1-2-3 for her late sire Galileo (Ire) on the Knavesmire last week. It was in the St Leger that Galileo first dropped a major hint as to his prepotency when members of his first crop, Sixties Icon (GB), The Last Drop (Ire) and Red Rocks (Ire), filled the first three places in 2006. One last hurrah, maybe? Either way, let's hope the grand old St Leger ends up with a field that a race of its history and standing deserves.
Fond Farewells
It has been a time of sad farewells for the racing and breeding industry. There was widespread dismay at the sudden death of Lady Chryss O'Reilly last week so soon after she had been in Deauville with her draft of yearlings.
John Osborne, former CEO of the Irish National Stud (INS), added his voice to the many tributes paid to the hugely successful owner-breeder, whom he had come to know well during her time as Chair of the INS, where her Coventry S. winner Verglas (Ire) stood for the majority of his stallion career.
He said, “Chryss's knowledge of pedigrees was unsurpassed and she had boundless energy and enthusiasm for matings and then monitoring the development of the subsequent foals. She enjoyed great success at the highest level and we were lucky to be in Longchamp for her Pouliches winner Bluemamba, which was celebrated with customary gusto.
“It was a privilege to know her and it is such a shame she has been taken so soon, at her favourite time of year.”
Lady O'Reilly's passing followed that of another grand dame of the French turf, Countess Marguerite de Tarragon of Haras de Maulepaire, who died at the age of 92 on August 16. The daughter of famed breeders Jean and Elisabeth Couturié, she was born at Haras du Mesnil and took over its sister stud, Maulepaire, on her marriage to Count Bertrand de Tarragon. Her nephew Henri Devin owns and runs Haras du Mesnil with his wife Antonia, and their son Henri-Francois Devin trains in Chantilly.
Maulepaire has been the birthplace of plenty of notable Flat and National Hunt horses, including La Bague Au Roi (Fr) and Dunaden (Fr). The countess had seen her own colours carried to glory in the days immediately prior to her death by her homebred Hoola Hoop (Fr) at Le Lion d'Angers.
“Hoola Hoop will have given her great pleasure. Thanks to Gaby Leenders and team for this ultimate gift,” Pierric Rouxel, manager of Maulepaire, told France Sire.
Rouxel was one of many who had benefited from the countess's “life's work”, alongside Thoroughbred breeding, of providing a haven and upbringing to children who had had a difficult start in life.
He added, “For more than 50 years, this house has welcomed many children tossed about by life, where operating within a family has allowed them to rebuild themselves.
“Deprived of motherhood herself, she naturally knew how to open wide her wings for all the chicks that had fallen from the nest, but also for the many trainees at the stud farm, for her countless nephews and nieces, for all those who, one day or another, benefited from her inexhaustible affection. Her trust she gave without hesitation because she knew very well how to judge horses, especially young foals, but also humans.”
Hanagan the Humble Hero
Champions come in all shapes and sizes, but it would be hard to find a more modest and self-effacing owner of that title than Paul Hanagan.
The former dual champion jockey and champion apprentice was given a proper send-off at York on Friday after announcing his intention to retire on the opening day of the Ebor meeting.
There was to be no fairytale ending for the man who, in his pomp, rode 168 and 142 winners in the seasons in which he secured his championships in 2010 and 2011, and which led to him becoming the retained rider for Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum for the following five years.
Hanagan has ridden just 10 winners this year, and he candidly admitted that he has not ridden with the same confidence since a fall two years ago which broke his back in three places and left him in considerable pain. One also sensed that he still cannot believe his luck in getting to the top from humble beginnings.
“I was two-time champion jockey as a kid from Warrington without a lot of racing experience, so I keep telling kids it can be done,” he said at York last Wednesday.
“The fall a couple of years ago knocked me, just fitness-wise, getting to that level again [has been hard] and I just thought of all the meetings to [retire], maybe it's here, where I've had a lot of success.”
Hanagan was rightly given a guard of honour by his fellow jockeys as he left the weighing-room for his final ride on Friday. He may not have the flamboyance of Frankie Dettori, who is set to bow out later this year (in case you hadn't heard), but Hanagan did things his way to the last, and he should be remembered not just for his great achievements in the saddle, but also for his endearing humility. He will be missed.
Cunha's Tremendous Machine
Silver Sword (GB) (Charm Spirit {Ire}) may not be in quite the same league as Secretariat, but he does carry the same blue-and-white silks made famous by Penny Chenery's great Triple Crown winner, and for his trainer Dylan Cunha he has undoubtedly been a tremendous flag-bearer.
The South African-born trainer only joined the British ranks last year, and he has teamed up successfully with another ex-pat from his home country, jockey Greg Cheyne, for some notable success on the track this year for his small Newmarket stable.
Silver Sword, an 11,000gns yearling purchase, has been to the forefront of this good run, though admittedly his recent success did not look likely when he blotted his copybook by refusing to race on his first two starts last year. He has more than atoned, however, and the three-year-old now has a trio of wins to his name, including in a £100,000 heritage handicap at York on Friday, as well as a runner-up finish at Epsom on Derby day.
Silver Sword runs for Martians Racing in colours that were auctioned by the BHA last September for £5,500 and are identical to those registered in America and borne by one of the most celebrated horses of all time. Cunha has also had a blue-and-white bridle made for Silver Sword to further replicate Secretariat's style.
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