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American Owners Dreaming Of Royal Ascot With O’Brien’s Do It With Style

Royal Ascot is calling for American owner Leonard Green and his son Jonathan after Do It With Style (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}), named after the family's first Grade I winner from over 30 years ago, marked herself down as a top-notch prospect on debut for Donnacha O'Brien at the Curragh on Monday.

This is becoming a familiar success story for the Green family in Ireland who, frustrated with competing with the big guns in the sales ring back home in the States, decided to come up with a plan to concentrate on sourcing their talent elsewhere.

The link-up with O'Brien has been a natural fit and Jonathan Green is now planning a trip to the royal meeting with his family to see Do It With Style tackle the G3 Albany S. after Monday's stylish victory.

Green said, “This filly is actually named after our first Grade I winner in the States. We'd a Grade I winner called Do It With Style back in 1991 and we had been saving this name for the right kind of filly.

“When we bought this Ten Sovereigns filly, there was no discussion whatsoever, we knew she was the next one to have the Do It With Style moniker. I'm glad that she won but, internally, I'm really pleased that it looks as though she can carry the name on and hopefully be as successful as her previous namesake. That's the confidence that we had with her. If we're going to run this filly in the Albany, which I think is the plan, you will see us there in top hat and tails.”

Leonard and Jonathan Green | Fasig Tipton

The Green family need no introduction to international racing fans. Their colours were carried to victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Dirt at Keeneland last November by Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) and the hope is that Do It With Style will eventually continue her career in America. However, Jonathan is eyeing some big-race riches in Europe along with O'Brien before that happens.

He said, “It looks like she can go on to bigger and better things. We'd like to think that she has the scope and the physical ability to cope with running here [in America] but Donnacha is going to map out a campaign for her in Europe until she shows us when it's time to possibly bring her over. We've had some success over the past few years with three-year-old fillies and won last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on dirt with Wonder Wheel. Hopefully Do It With Style will come over here for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf later in the year but a lot of things have to happen between now and then. The next big step will probably be Royal Ascot. That is what we are communicating about right now.”

He added, “The most important thing for us was to buy a filly who we thought had some substance and athleticism and certainly, when Donnacha came to us with his shortlist of yearlings from the Orby Sale last year, she was at the top of our list. We stretched a little bit for her, spending over $200,000, but we really felt like she had the substance and the pedigree that we look for in a filly.”

Do It With Style was picked up for €235,000 to be precise. She was sourced from Coulonces at the Goffs Orby last September when the dollar was trading particularly strong compared to the euro, which helped Green in his decision to stick his neck out for the filly.

“We're businessmen by practice. My Dad [Leonard] was a CPA for over 50 years and I am a financial planner for 30 years. The dollar to euro ratio was certainly in our favour at the time. We look to spend somewhere between $150,000 to $175,000 for well-bred fillies. That's the lane that we feel comfortable in. We stretched a little bit for this filly but she really ticked all the boxes for us, both physically and on breeding.”

The Greens had a multitude of different trainers to choose from when setting out to source fillies from Ireland. So, why Donnacha O'Brien?

“Donnacha is easy,” comes the reply. “He is a young trainer who has been groomed by his Dad [Aidan] to be one of the best trainers in the country if not the world. When I interviewed him a few years ago, we just really hit it off. He's a hard-working guy and I love the fact that he has such great knowledge, not only from being around horses all of his life, but from being a top-class rider himself. I think that gives a trainer a tremendous amount of insight into how a horse is going and how it's doing.”

He added, “It was a few years ago that we decided to look for other opportunities because the American market was extremely difficult to find a top horse. Unless you were willing to partner with some of the big farms, it really wasn't financially viable so we looked elsewhere. We sat down with Kim Valerio, who is our primary agent, and put together a game plan to try and buy some fillies overseas with the plan of bringing them over here. We've had some success. “Diabolic (Ire) was a Dark Angel (Ire) filly we bought in our first year and she did well. We also purchased Papillio (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) who just won a Grade 2 at Keeneland. And now with this filly, we feel like we have a pretty good game plan with picking out young fillies who can compete overseas and here in America.”

Green admits that there is now heightened competition at the Goffs Orby Sale compared to when his family first dipped their toe in the Irish market but, through forging relationships with Coolmore and the O'Brien family, says he is hoping to continue to pick up a select amount of yearlings every year.

He said, “We felt like we were ahead of the curve three years ago by coming to Goffs and looking for our yearlings at the Orby Sale but, the last time we came over, there were 50 of us on the plane.

“People are recognising that there is tremendous value in Ireland and we love the fact that we have the opportunity to buy these fillies at Goffs or privately from the Magnier family and working with the O'Briens. Especially at Goffs, they look after us so well and roll out the red carpet every time we arrive. Charles O'Neill [CEO of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing] certainly makes us feel very comfortable there and we always love coming over to Goffs.”

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Blue Point A Short-Priced Favourite For FSS Honours After Red-Hot Start

The market has reacted to the blistering start Blue Point (Ire) has had with his two-year-olds with the Kildangan-based stallion trimmed into 5-6 favouritism for first-season sire honours with Fitzdares.

Blue Point is operating at a 50 per cent strike-rate, with four winners on the board already in Britain and Ireland, as well as another in France. He has also enjoyed notable success with his offspring in the sales ring at the domestic breeze-up sales.

The in-demand youngster leads Ten Sovereigns (Ire), whose only runner in Britain and Ireland was a winner, in the market, with the Coolmore stallion available at odds of 5-2 with the betting firm.

A spokesperson for Fitzdares said on Friday, “It is of course early in the season, but Blue Point has backed up his initial appeal on paper with some impressive early runners returning a strike-rate of 50 per cent and, with plenty more to come, he looks strong at the top of the market, meaning we've trimmed him into the 5-6 clear favourite.

“We've not seen much from Ten Sovereigns yet, but he's one from one following Brighter's (Fr) win at Dundalk earlier this month. Having covered a big book of decent mares, one can expect that there are more winners to come from him, so we make him a 5-2 second favourite behind Blue Point.”

Fellow Coolmore-based stallion Calyx (GB) has enjoyed a good start to the season, which is reflected by the market. A fast two-year-old himself, being the winner of the G2 Coventry S. in 2018, Calyx has sired two winners in Europe already this season–one in France and another in Britain.

“Calyx, although lightly-raced, was a top quality two-year-old and seems to have passed this precocity onto his offspring,” the Fitzdares representative continued.

“Persian Dreamer was hugely impressive at the Craven Meeting and looks destined for Royal Ascot, whilst an additional debut winner in France and some eye-catching performances in defeat mean we think he looks a live contender and have accordingly cut his price into 9-1.”

Fitzdares make Darley's Too Darn Hot (GB) a 13-2 chance, Tally-Ho Stud's Inns Of Court (Ire) a 9-1 shot while Invincible Army (Ire) is 12-1 and Soldier's Call (GB) can be backed at odds of 16-1. Advertise (GB) is available at 16-1 and it's 25-1 and bigger the rest.

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Top Industry Judges Have Their Say On The First-Season Sires

It's early-February and already the Flat enthusiasts are getting excited about what stallion will end the season as champion first-season sire. A futile exercise, one would have thought? Not a bit of it.

Even the greatest handlers of young stock, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O'Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, men who know better than most the folly that comes with predicting 2-year-old talent, are keen to have their say on which up-and-coming stallion can make the biggest splash this season.

O'Brien is sticking loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire) in his prediction for first-season sire championship honours while Bastard, who broke and pre-trained Too Darn Hot (GB), has reported striking similarities between the unbeaten champion 2-year-old and his stock.

Meanwhile, Dick Brabazon, one of the finest horsemen in Ireland who has had Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) and Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) through his Curragh base, has taken a swing on Study Of Man (Ire) to come up trumps with a top-notcher.

Welcome to this year's earliest predictions to what the next Mehmas (Ire), Cotai Glory (GB) or Havana Grey (GB) will be. Each opinion is right until proven otherwise and, for starters, Bastard, McCabe and Hoban are in agreement that the bookmakers have found the right favourite in Blue Point (Ire), priced up as a general 5-2 market leader by most firms.

McCabe, who pre-trains for Rabbah Bloodstock, Simon Crisford and Charlie Appleby among others, is particularly keen on Blue Point's stock and said, “I think he will make a big splash. I think that bookmarkers are barking up the same tree as I am with Blue Point as I think he will go well in the first-season sire championship. In fact, there was a very smart Blue Point colt I was dealing with, and he's gone into Simon Crisford's. He was the smartest Blue Point I had and, if he is not winning up at the July Course at Newmarket, I'd be very surprised.”

Bastard agrees.

Malcolm Bastard | Racingfotos.com

He said, “We have six or seven Blue Points and they are nice solid horses who are very good in their minds. They all have nice action about them. They are only just cantering away nicely at this time of year, so it is difficult to say, but the Too Darn Hots and the Blue Points stand out a little bit at the moment. The Blue Points are definitely not early horses, not ours anyway.”

But it's the Too Darn Hots who have set the temperature at Bastard's Wiltshire operation with the renowned handler of young stock particularly impressed by the progeny of the young sire.

“I have about a dozen Too Darn Hots and they are very similar to him. From day one, he cantered like an old pro–he was a beautiful-moving colt–and his progeny seem to be the very same. I think they will be late summer horses, if not autumn horses, like he was. They will be seven furlongs plus and they are not going to be sprinters so he's probably priced right [at 14-1]. You'd expect him to have a really good number of winners by the end of the season and quality horses out of that number as well.”

Hoban may be one of the newest names on the Irish scene but he has made a major impact already. The professional jockey has had two Classic winners, Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}), through his hands and has built up an impressive portfolio working with Barnane Stud, Yulong Investments, Johnny Murtagh, Eddie Lynam, Jessica Harrington and Paddy Twomey.

Along with the progeny of Blue Point, Hoban nominated Invincible Army (Ire) to throw down an early marker this spring, and said, “I have a very nice Invincible Army colt. He'll be going to one of the breeze-up sales and he seems to be doing everything well. He's the only Invincible Army I have but I'd be keen to recruit more of them at the sales as everything about him is promising. He just has a lovely way of going and nothing seems to phase him. I'm very interested in the sire.”

Hoban added, “I don't have a Ten Sovereigns but there seems to be a bit of chat about them, which is interesting, and the couple of Blue Points that I have are really nice. They are forward-going, are strong and seem to have good minds. I've had a couple of Phoenix Of Spain (Ire)s as well and, while they won't be that precocious, they are well-balanced horses who have great attitudes. They will be more for the second half of the year.”

One man who has his fair share of Ten Sovereigns to work with is O'Brien and he likes what he sees.

“It's early days, obviously, but we've been lucky enough to have accumulated quite a few by Ten Sovereigns and we really like what we are seeing from them,” the trainer said.

McCabe has the biggest sample size to choose from given he has broken in the best part of 100 yearlings to go into training for this year and, while he admits a certain amount of luck is needed for a stallion to break through, he identified a broad spectrum of young sires whose stock has impressed him.

Blue Point: favourite for the first-season sire championship | Racingfotos.com

He said, “I'd be very keen on the Masar (Ire)s and the Too Darn Hots as well. The Blue Points are a sharp bunch and they look as though they will be 2-year-old types and the Too Darn Hots are just beautiful horses. They are lovely to deal with and are all very good-looking horses. We like them a lot.

“The Masars are very similar to the first Night Of Thunder (Ire)s. They're very honest horses and I'd imagine he will be pretty successful. Masar won over seven furlongs as a 2-year-old and was no slouch. He'd a great constitution as a racehorse and, like Night Of Thunder, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They seem to have good minds and are easy to work with.

“I only had one Magna Grecia (Ire) colt but I liked him a lot. He looked like he would be a runner. I have a little filly by Intrinsic (GB) and she goes very well. Intrinsic won a Stewards Cup and his trainer Robert Cowell said that, if he didn't get injured, he'd definitely have been a group horse. He's only had a handful of runners and he's had winners, with one of them [Intrinsic Bond (GB)] achieving an RPR of 101 so he may not be a bad sire at all. I know he's not a first-season sire but we've a lovely Kodi Bear (Ire) as well and I'd be a fan of him as a sire.”

On the championship as a whole, he added, “I used to ride Kheleyf and nobody would have predicted he'd have done what he did at stud. You get horses who you think will do well at stud and they don't do it for whatever reason and then you get others who you think will be basement level and they come up with the goods. It's very hard to predict but, if I was a betting man, I'd be rowing in behind Blue Point to get rocking and rolling early. You need a lot of luck.”

One stallion who is a longer shot at ending the year as the champion first-season sire is Study Of Man but, for different reasons, the stock of the impeccably-bred French Derby winner has impressed Brabazon.

He explained, “We deal more with the owner-breeder type of horse, the one that will be slower to mature, but still, when I go through my list, we've got a nice filly by Magna Grecia and another by Phoenix Of Spain. But if I was to nominate one sire that I am particularly interested in the progeny of, it would have to be Study Of Man, as the two that we have by him are very athletic, hardy and tough types. He could be a very interesting sire and it would be great if Deep Impact (Jpn) had a major influence over here given what he achieved in Japan. He's a horse I will follow with great interest this year. His granddam is Miesque so it is one hell of a pedigree. Saxon Warrior (Jpn) has got going in Ireland so it will be really interesting to see how Study Of Man gets on. Now, it's only February, and I might be talking nonsense at this early stage in the year, but these two Study Of Man fillies have really caught our eye.

“We've only just started out on the Curragh gallops with our 2-year-olds now. I am beside the Old Vic gallop and we've only just started with the colts cantering up the Old Vic now. We'll get the fillies going now soon. It's all about education for me. I am not the trainer, so I let the trainer train them and I only educate them. I am always shouting at the riders to remember they are only babies. Sometimes they start scooting around on them if they start showing a bit but I always try to mind them and turn the horses into a career horse for their owners. I am not going to win any Brocklesbys, I am afraid! I have accepted that at this stage in my life. My aim is for the horse to last. I just lay the foundation for the trainers and then follow the horses' careers with great interest.”

He added, “The riders are so important. Tim Carroll is my main rider and he's just super. He just has a natural feel for a horse and can tell exactly how well each horse is going. If he says this is nice, I take note of what he says. He has picked a few already and he is a fan of the Study Of Mans. They don't all go on the right way but you'd have a fair idea at this stage.”

Similarly, Bastard has seen enough from the progeny of Land Force (Ire), Inns Of Court (Ire) and Ten Sovereigns to suggest that their 2-year-olds can achieve good things on the track this season.

He concluded, “We've had a few Land Forces and they've been quite nice to deal with as well. They've got a bit of size and scope about them and plenty of strength. They have good bone, are nice in their minds and are quite forward-going and they look okay. He might be a bit of a surprise package. He could do well. Inns Of Court is another worth mentioning. I must say, we only had one by Inns Of Court, but he was very nice and I expect him to do very well. We have a few by Ten Sovereigns, who go well but, again, the ones we have seem as though they will want a bit of time. There is nothing really early amongst them but they are nice horses. They are quite scopey.”

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Blue Point 2-1 Favourite To Land First-Season Sire Honours

Blue Point (Ire) has been installed as the 2-1 favourite to be crowned leading first-season Flat sire in Britain and Ireland by Paddy Power.

Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) has been inserted at 5-2 next best in the betting while Coolmore's Ten Sovereigns (Ire) has been quoted at odds of 3-1. Tally-Ho Stud, responsible for two of the past three champion first-season sires Mehmas (Ire) and Cotai Glory (GB), are represented by 4-1 chance Inns Of Court (Ire). It's 10-1 the field.

Blue Point stands at Kildangan Stud for €35,000 having started off on a fee of €45,000 in 2020. The son of Shamardal was a smart 2-year-old, as he showed when winning the G2 Gimcrack S., but he progressed with age and landed the G1 King's Stand S. and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. in the same week at Royal Ascot as a 5-year-old.

Of the 64 yearlings by Blue Point to sell at public auction last season, they averaged just over €100,000, and included a €420,000 filly bought by MV Magnier from Mountain View Stud at the Goffs Orby Sale.

Soldier's Call has been hotly-tipped to get off to a fast start with his juvenile runners this year. A speedball of a 2-year-old himself, Soldier's Call won the Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot, and the G2 Flying Childers S. at Doncaster before running an excellent third, beaten just a neck against hardened sprinters, in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye at ParisLongchamp.

Speaking to TDN Europe at the recent Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail, Ballyhane boss Joe Foley nominated two juveniles to follow from the stallion who stands for €7,5000 at the County Carlow outfit.

Foley said, “We're proud to have Soldier's Call. We're happy with him and we're looking forward to seeing his progeny race and I am sure every other stallion man is looking forward to their stallion's progeny race as well. All will be revealed at the end of the year.”

“There is a colt out of Alicia Darcy (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), who was a good race filly, and he has gone to Karl Burke. He's beautiful and everybody loves him. He's one we'd be keen on.”

He added, “There's a colt out of Rush (GB) (Compton Place {GB}), who Kevin Blake bred, who we bought at Doncaster for £105,000. He's a really good-looking, chunky 2-year-old and everyone loves him as well. He's gone to Archie Watson. They'd be the two I'd pick but I'm sure I've missed the best one.”

Invincible Army (Ire) was subject to similarly bullish reports on the Stallion Trail, with Rob O'Callaghan saying that he had every confidence in the Yeomanstown-based sire this year. However, Paddy Power have largely ignored Invincible Army's claims by pricing him up at 25-1.

O'Callaghan said, “We're very confident with Invincible Army. He's got great stock coming through and has a lot going for him with over 130 2-year-olds this year. They are well-bred horses and they've got the strength, the action and they have gone to the right homes as well. Karl Burke, Richard Hannon, Ger Lyons, Richard Fahey and Clive Cox have all bought yearlings by him and he's got as good a chance of any of the first-season sires to make a big impression this year. You've got to remember that he was a top-class racehorse and was a group winner at two, three and four.”

Too Darn Hot, the unbeaten and champion 2-year-old in 2018, who won the G1 Dewhurst S. for John Gosden, can also be backed at double-figure odds with Paddy Power offering 14-1. If there is a lurker in the betting, it may well be Highclere Stud's Land Force at odds of 10-1, whose yearlings sold well last year.

Not only did Shadwell pick up a couple of fillies by the impeccably-bred G2 Richmond S. winner from Book 2 at Newmarket, but Richard Knight also paid 180,000gns for a colt out of Book 1 by the stallion who averaged over €30,000 with his yearlings last year.

Paddy Power are clearly erring on the side of caution with the 4-1 quoted about Inns Of Court, and rightly so, given Tally-Ho's track record in this sphere.

The son of Invincible Spirit (Ire), who stands at €5,000, went down well at the yearling sales last year, averaging just over €30,000 for the 116 that were sold.

Paul Binfield, spokesman for the betting firm, said, “It's a little early to say where the money's going as we've only just priced it up, but it will be fascinating to find out which of the sires attract interest.

“We price it up on which yard the horse came from, their stud fee-trying to get the right mix between quality and price, the number of mares covered and also the sire's pedigree themselves.

“We've installed Blue Point as the favourite this year as Godolphin are renowned for farming their own horses so our traders felt that he was the right choice to head the market, but as I mentioned earlier, let's see where that money goes.”

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