Highlights among this year's catalogue include a yearling colt by Acclamation (GB) out of champion 2-year-old filly and winner producer Hooray (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) (lot 1380), from the family of this year's Listed Marygate S. winner Nymphadora (GB) (No Nay Never); a yearling colt by Buratino (Ire) who is a half-brother to multiple Italian stakes winner Frozen Juke (Ire) (Frozen Power {Ire}) (lot 1387); a Cotai Glory (GB) filly foal who is out of a full-sister to the stakes-winning Princedargent (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) (lot 1397); and a Tasleet (GB) yearling colt out of the listed-placed Ejaazah (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) (lot 1372).

Among the highlights of the mares' section of the catalogue are Wine And Roses (Ire) (Cappella Sansevero {GB}) (lot 1465), a half-sister to the aforementioned Gustavus Weston; Ghany (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) (lot 1464), a full-sister to Italian champion 2-year-old colt Law Enforcement (Ire) in foal to Ribchester (Ire); and stakes producer Prem Ramya (Ger) (Big Shuffle) (lot 1451), a full-sister to multiple German group winner Precious Boy (Ger).

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Piloted by Tyler Gaffalione for trainer Brendan Walsh, The Lir Jet moved up the inside rail to earn a 1 3/4-length victory at odds of 8-1 in the Grade 3 Franklin-Simpson Stakes. He completed 6 1/2 furlongs over the firm course in 1:15.38, giving David Redvers' Qatar Racing a third straight win in the race.

Into the Sunrise and Bodenheimer were quick early, the former speeding away to lead the first quarter mile in :22.18. The Lir Jet got prime position along the inside, moving into fifth around the turn as the two frontrunners hooked up for the stretch run. Into the Sunrise held firm until The Lir Jet came up his inside and took command, pulling away to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

Easy Time made up a ton of ground to finish second by a head over Fauci, with Into the Sunrise just a nose back in fourth.

Bred in Ireland by Mr. Donal Boylan, The Lir Jet was a $9,775 yearling purchase at Goffs. He won his first two starts, including the G2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, and was twice placed in G1 company as a juvenile before his trip to the Breeders' Cup. This year, The Lir Jet ran third in a G3 in April, but had managed no better than sixth in his three starts since. Overall, The Lir Jet owns three wins, two seconds and a third from 11 starts, with earnings of $313,882.

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The Super Saturday is the marquee attraction among six huge days of racing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sept. 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central. All the races will be shown on TVG.

Purses for next Saturday's 11 races total $4,692,000, of which $2.2 million comes from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for registered Kentucky-bred horses. That's the vast majority of the horses running, but even the base purse that everyone competes for reflects some of the richest pots in the country.

“The card is amazing,” said Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson. “Hats off to our racing office.”

The headliners are the $1 million Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and the $1 million Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs. Both are “Win and You're In” stops on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and will be televised live by NBC. The Turf Cup winner will get a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and the FanDuel winner the same in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6.

Donegal Racing's Arklow, the 2020 and 2018 Calumet Turf Cup winner, renews his rivalry with Michael Hui's 2019 victor Zulu Alpha, who was sidelined after last year's stakes and is 0 for 2 this year. Arklow would be the first three-time winner of the race. But they'll have to beat another Grade 1 winner in Channel Cat, returning to Kentucky Downs for the first time since he captured the 2018 Dueling Grounds Derby. He's owned by stakes sponsor Calumet Farm.

Arklow won Churchill Downs' Louisville Stakes and most recently was seventh in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, but beaten only 1 3/4 lengths for everything.

Mike Maker, a five-time meet-leader and Kentucky Downs' record-holder in career wins, has five of the 12 horses in the body of the Calumet Turf Cup, headed by Zulu Alpha. The others are Tide of the Sea, a Kentucky Downs winner last year and Gulfstream's Grade 3 McKnight this year; Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview winner Bluegrass Parkway; Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup third-place finisher Ajourneytofreedom, and Glynn County, third in Arlington Park's Grade 1 Mr. D, the race formerly known as the Arlington Million. A sixth Maker entrant, Dynadrive, needs three scratches to get in the field.

Also in the field: Breakpoint, a triple Grade 1 winner in his native Chile, goes for his first U.S. win in three starts; Irish Group 3 winner Crossfirehurricane; Grade 1 United Nations runner-up Imperador and United Nations third Epic Bromance. Big Dreaming, second in last year's Dueling Grounds Derby, needs a defection to get in.

The FanDuel Turf Sprint brings back last year's top three finishers in Imprimis and the dead-heat runners-up Bombard and Front Run the Fed, who finished a neck behind the winner. But the favorite is likely to be boys-beater Got Stormy, winner of last year's Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint over very soft turf in her first attempt at sprinting. Got Stormy is the only filly or mare to win Saratoga's Grade 1 Fourstardave, having done so in her last start and in 2019 after taking second last year. She has been second in three other Grade 1 starts against males, including in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile.

“We've never backed down from a challenge,” says Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who acknowledges his desire to pad Got Stormy's own Hall of Fame credentials.

Other challengers: Casa Creed, winner of Belmont's Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur at the six-furlong distance; multiple graded stakes-winner Diamond Oops; the blossoming Fast Boat, a past winner over the course who last out won Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy Stakes, and Born Great, who last year won a Kentucky Downs maiden and allowance race in the span of a week.

The Richard Baltas-trained Venetian Harbor ships in from California for the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint. The 4-year-old filly has been worse than second only once in 10 starts. In two turf races, she was second in her debut and won Santa Anita's Grade 2 Monrovia.

Also in from the West Coast is the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Superstition for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. John Sadler sends out Santa Anita stakes-winner Constantia in the overflow field of 14.

The beer will be flowing in Henderson if Yes It's Ginger prevails. There were so many people connected to Henderson beer distributor Mike “Hotdog” Utley, as well as the Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team Racing partnerships, that the winner's circle presentation had to move to the main track after “Ginger” prevailed in the Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint, which gave her a free roll in this 6 1/2-furlong race.

The Casse-trained Jeanie B lost a Grade 2 stakes at Woodbine by a nose in her last start for owner CJ Thoroughbreds, whose managing partner Corey Johnsen was president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs before its sale to Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone.

Violenza enters the race off victory in a $100,000 turf sprint at Colonial Downs in her stakes debut for trainer Ian Wilkes and his son-in-law jockey Chris Landeros. The Maker-trained Jakarta has been off form but won a starter-allowance race here last year.

The $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Mile is headlined by 5-for-6 Princess Grace, winner of three straight stakes capped by Del Mar's Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon. The Mike Stidham-trained Princess Grace shares the 126-pound high-weight with 2020 One Dreamer winner Dalika.

She'sonthewarpath, an eight-time winner out of 19 starts, is in peak form off of two stakes victories at Ellis Park. Florida trainer Saffie Joseph has the horse to catch in Shifty She, a two-time stakes-winner at Gulfstream and a good third in Saratoga's De La Rose won by 2020 Ladies Mile winner Regal Glory.

Summer in Saratoga, an allowance winner here last year for trainer Joe Sharp, won Indiana Grand's Indiana General Assembly Distaff in her last start.

With The Lir Jet, Qatar Racing will try to win the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson for the third straight year, and the first time with the stakes a Grade 2. Qatar Racing won last year's stakes with Guildsman, who like The Lir Jet is trained by Brendan Walsh, and in 2019 with the Doug O'Neill-trained Legends of War. The Lir Jet won Royal Ascot's Group 2 Norfolk as a 2-year-old but is winless since. He makes his debut both in the United States and as a gelding.

Sharing high weight status of 124 pounds with The Lir Jet is the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By, winner of Arlington Park's Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes (formerly the Secretariat).

The field of twelve 3-year-old stakes-winners, with three others on the also-eligible list, includes the filly Miss Amulet, a Group 2 winner in England and a close second in a Group 1. Other contenders in a talented field: Woodbine's Grade 3 Marine winner Easy Time; the Wesley Ward duo of Churchill Downs' War Chant winner Next and Ellis Park's Dade Park Dash victor Into the Sunrise, and American Derby winner Tango Tango Tango. Other stakes-winners are Bodenheimer, King of Miami, Omaha City, and County Final. Last year's Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint runner-up Fauci, also trained by Ward, needs a scratch to get in the field.

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Tylicki said, “I'm absolutely delighted to be joining RacehorseClub and feel honoured to have been given this great opportunity. I am wholly behind the club's ambitions and truly believe that it is going to be a great success. RacehorseClub gives anyone and everyone the chance of owning an affordable share of a top-class racehorse in the UK and Ireland at the highest level with the assurance of enjoyment and great fun along the way. I'm really looking forward to getting started and meeting members to share my enthusiasm and knowledge.”

RacehorseClub's Create Belief (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}) and The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) are set to run at Royal Ascot on Friday, with shares available in each at £59 and £84, respectively.

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The sale ring at Fairyhouse has now swung back into action, however, and this sale rides the momentum of a fruitful season on the racetrack for its graduates. Those are headlined by the G1 Matron S. victress Champers Elysees (GB) (Elzaam {Aus}), who was bought here back in 2017 as a foal by Aughamore Stud for €12,500. She went on to be pinhooked for €28,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale when bought by her trainer Johnny Murtagh, and she doubtless made many multiples of that when sold privately to Teruya Yoshida following her top-level victory on Irish Champions Weekend.

The Tattersalls Ireland Flat Foal and Breeding Stock Sale flag was flown in the 2-year-old division this season by group winners The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}) and Steel Bull (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}). The Lir Jet was sold by breeder Donal Boylan for €9,500 at this sale to Joe Foley, who stands his first-crop sire at Ballyhane Stud. Foley moved The Lir Jet on to Robson Aguiar for £8,000 at last summer’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, and like Champers Elysees, The Lir Jet was then the subject of two private transactions: one to Nick Bell when the breeze-ups were postponed, and one to Qatar Racing after he broke the track record at Yarmouth on debut. He went on to win Royal Ascot’s G2 Norfolk S.

The G3 Molecomb S. winner Steel Bull has likewise lined numerous pockets. Madeline Burns signed for him at €5,000 at this sale, and he made £15,000 as a Tattersalls Ascot yearling when bought by Kilbrew Stables. Trainer Michael O’Callaghan picked him up for £28,000 at the Goffs UK breeze-up sale on July 1, and sold him on to Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez after his Molecomb win.

These three graduates alone prove the importance of shopping at all levels of the catalogue; last year’s sale returned a top price of €50,000, an average of €6,442 and a median of €3,000. The addition of the yearling section means that this year’s catalogue is up significantly in size, with 190 catalogued including wildcards. Among the proven sires represented are Australia (GB), who has a yearling half-sister to the listed-placed Venturous Spirit (Fr) catalogued (lot 968); Dandy Man (Ire), with a yearling half-brother to three winners from Ballintry Stud (lot 954); Dark Angel (Ire), who has a colt foal who is the first produce for the New Approach (Ire) mare Quite Sharp (GB), a three-quarter sister to listed winner Galactic Star (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) (lot 1023); Footstepsinthesand (GB), who has a yearling colt who is the first foal out of the six-time winner Refuse Colette (Ire) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}) (lot 940); Kodiac (GB), whose two yearlings include a filly who is the second foal out of a half-sister to champion Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) (lot 955A); Mehmas (Ire), who has six yearlings and one foal catalogued, including a yearling colt who is the first foal out of a placed half-sister to multiple Grade II winner and Grade I-placed Beau Recall (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) (lot 980); and No Nay Never, whose one yearling on offer is a half-sister to the G2 Kilboy Estate S. third Annie Fior (Ire) (Finsceal Fior {Ire}) (lot 975).

Other proven sires represented include exciting up-and-comers like Belardo (Ire), New Bay (GB) and Pride Of Dubai (Aus), as well as elder statesmen like Camacho (GB), Elzaam, Tamayuz (GB) and Zoffany (Ire).

The Tattersalls Ireland November Flat Foal and Breeding Stock Sale offers the final chance to purchase at public auction members of the first crops of some of this year’s first-season sires. Those with representatives from their first crops include Aclaim (Ire), Caravaggio (Ire), Cotai Glory (GB), Decorated Knight (GB)-his two include a half-sister to the seven-time winner and G3 Acomb S. second Fort Bastion (Ire) (lot 1005)-El Kabeir, Galileo Gold (GB), Highland Reel (Ire), Kessaar (Ire) and Time Test (GB).

There are also a handful of sires in the foal section represented by their first crop, including Scat Daddy sons Sioux Nation and Smooth Daddy. The G2 Norfolk S. and G1 Phoenix S. winner Sioux Nation was the subject of positive press at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale when he produced the session-topping 88,000gns colt on the fourth day of the sale, and his lone colt here (lot 1052) is the third foal out of Dorothy Parker (Ire) (Mujadil), whose 3-year-old The Nosey Parker (Ire) (Dream Ahead) has won twice since the catalogue was published. Smooth Daddy has four first-crop foals catalogued, while the G2 Mill Reef S. and G3 Greenham S. winner James Garfield (Ire) has one, a filly from the immediate family of this year’s G2 Champagne S. winner Chindit (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) (lot 1032).

The 26 filles or mares catalogued include lot 1068, an unnamed 2-year-old filly from the immediate family of this year’s G2 Lowther S. winner Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}); Winning Return (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), a granddaughter of the great producer Park Appeal (GB); and Tip Of The City (GB), the dam of the aforementioned James Garfield filly who is back in foal to that sire. Catalogued as lot 1074A, she is a half-sister to the dam of Chindit and from the family of Derby winner and sire Motivator (GB).

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Boylan bred The Lir Jet when he mated his bargain mare Paper Dreams (Ire) (Green Desert) with Ballyhane Stud’s then first-season sire Prince Of Lir, another Norfolk winner. Boylan sold The Lir Jet to Ballyhane master Joe Foley for €9,500 at the Tattersalls Ireland flat foal sale of 2018, after which Foley sold him on to Robson Aguiar for £8,000 at Goffs UK as a yearling. Aguiar had the colt slated for the Tattersalls Ascot Breeze-Up sale, but when COVID-19 turned the world upside down Aguiar sold The Lir Jet privately to Nick Bell, son of trainer Michael Bell. Bell sold the colt onto Qatar Racing for a presumably much larger sum after The Lir Jet’s debut victory.

Reflecting on the highs and lows of 2020, Boylan-who typically spend most of his time in Asia but has been in Ireland this year since March–said, “Economically, this year was a disaster. The main positive of this year is that I’ve had six months with my family. So The Lir Jet was a great lift. The smartasses out there will say, ‘aren’t you the dumb so-and-so that sold The Lir Jet for eight grand?’ But isn’t that the story of this industry? The horse fairs in Ireland that we all went to as kids, particularly the traveling community, they always talk about the luck money, where you spat in your hand and left a pound or a dollar for the buyer. Everybody loves to see something they sold do well and you have to wish them luck, but ultimately I believe I’ll be beneficiary of that.”

Boylan could see his windfall as early as Friday, when he sends Paper Dreams’s colt foal by Footstepsinthesand (GB) (lot 957) through the ring at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale through The Castlebridge Consignment. The 12-year-old Paper Dreams herself will go through the ring next Monday on the first day of the Mare Sale also with The Castlebridge Consignment as lot 1387.

Boylan-who was raised in Dublin but said his love of horses blossomed from summers spent on his mother’s family’s farm in North Tipperary-got into racehorse ownership some 25 years ago through syndicates, and later branched out to own some racehorses and mares with a group of friends including former National Hunt jockey Ronnie Beggan and racecourse commentator Simon Holt. In 2011, the group was perusing lower level races looking for underpriced breeding stock when they landed on Paper Dreams, a 3-year-old filly trained by Kevin Ryan. By Green Desert, Paper Dreams was out of Pickwick Papers (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), an unraced daughter of Italian champion mare Papering (Ire) (Shaadi). Paper Dreams had broken her maiden on her 3-year-old debut and won another seller two months later, both over six furlongs, before being plucked by Boylan and co from a Wolverhampton seller that September.

“Mares were selling for silly prices at the sales, and we were always looking for mares that we thought, by pedigree and otherwise, we might get out of a seller or claiming race in the UK,” Boylan said. “That’s where we found Paper Dreams. We had seen her race and she was moderate enough, but she had won a couple races over six furlongs.”

Even with hindsight in his favour, Boylan doesn’t claim to have had any grand premonitions about Paper Dreams.

“Paper Dreams, is she a beautiful mare? No, except her head,” he said. “The two reasons we bought her were Green Desert and the head. I can’t say in hindsight that we looked at Paper Dreams and she ticked all the boxes back in 2011; we mainly bought her because she was a basic winner, she was by Green Desert with a reasonable pedigree page and we thought Singspiel, even though he’s a bit of a staying pedigree, we thought he was a solid damsire. And she had a beautiful head. That was it.”

“But every foal she’s turned out has been a decent size and has probably been at the top end of what that stallion produces, so she [improves her stallions]. We’ve had five foals out of her and she has gotten into foal at first cover every time. Her dam had nine foals out of 10 years, so one thing they don’t seem to have a problem with in her line is production. I have rested her three years out of the last seven or eight just because we had late foals.”

Boylan said his modus operandi has been mating his mares with stallions in their first or second season, or well-proven sires, as he has done with Paper Dreams to produce The Lir Jet and her latest Footstepsinthesand colt. Boylan said, however, auction ring trends have him leaning towards rolling the dice on a sire that will have his first runners at the time of sale.

“What I’ve found the last three or four years is that things have been difficult in the market,” he said. “If you have what would appear to be moderate mares, like a lot of small breeders have, you’re on a bit of a hiding to nothing with first-season stallions, because you’re marrying a moderate mare to an unproven stallion. You get to the sales and you have no choice but to sell or give them away. We had one very nice filly from Paper Dreams called Fast Dreams, who is being sold at the same sale [lot 1577 with Jamie Railton]. She was a yearling in 2016, and we had two Fast Companys, a colt and a filly. We ended up selling them both for less than 5,000. They both went to Italy and they both won multiple times.

“So I’ve been moving towards trying to get progeny that when I go to sell, the sire has had their first season on the track. You can be a loser from it, but I’ve found that unproven first-season stallions don’t help more moderate mares. We went early on with Society Rock and Dandy Man, they were two stallions we used a reasonable amount. I got both of those at a point where they’d had their first runners and had done quite well, and I think that’s better than being absolute first-season.”

The Lir Jet is a distinct example of a colt whose moderate pedigree and unproven sire put an automatic ceiling on his value in the ring.

“As a foal The Lir Jet looked the part, but the problem is when you’re sitting there at the sales with a first-season stallion with a moderate enough mare-and we didn’t know what Prince Of Lir was going to become, and we still don’t-The Lir Jet was going to be a foal you had to sell no matter what he looked like at a very moderate price,” Boylan said. “So well done to everyone involved, and the good news for small breeders like myself is if you’re fortunate enough to have The Lir Jet, then you’re fortunate enough to have the mare and the siblings afterwards. You might ask, ‘why would you put the mare into the sales?’ But the challenge is first of all if you don’t and she doesn’t repeat it again, you’ve missed an opportunity. But I think the second issue for someone like myself is that I’m not one of the bigger breeders with access to high quality stallions. I’m not going to invest in stallions that cost me 50,000 to 250,000. A mare like this, I think she has proven herself. In her first two years she visited Approve and Gale Force Ten, two stallions who didn’t make it, but once we put her to an established stallion like Fast Company she produced a solid winner. And with Prince of Lir we took a chance again.”

Before The Lir Jet came along and prompted Paper Dreams’s entry into the sale, Boylan tried his latest tactics with El Kabeir, who will have his first runners next year. The son of Scat Daddy won graded stakes in the U.S. at two and three and his first yearlings have been well received this year, averaging £26,382/€29,562 off an €8,000 stud fee and selling for up to 180,000gns.

“There were probably three reasons for choosing El Kabeir,” Boylan said. “The first is the Scat Daddy commerciality. In Europe people have been getting very excited about No Nay Never, and I think in general there is a degree of excitement about Scat Daddy’s progeny and the fact that we don’t have him with us anymore. The second is El Kabeir himself, from a speed point of view. Scat Daddy, not unlike Green Desert and others, has been a very versatile producer; he can produce quick horses and middle distance horses, but El Kabeir had plenty of speed. And when we went to look at him, I think from Paper Dreams’s perspective, El Kabeir is a good size but she doesn’t want a massive stallion. She produces a big foal even from a smaller stallion.”

Paper Dreams faces another upward battle that will resonate with small breeders in the fact that some of her key family members have been exported to smaller racing nations, like her aforementioned daughter Fast Dreams and her dam Pickwick Papers, who is in India.

“That’s a problem for a lot of small breeders is that your stock disappears off into India or Italy,” Boylan said. “In the sales, people don’t even want to admit it; you’ll often see, ‘won three times abroad’ rather than say it was in Italy or Turkey or wherever. With Paper Dreams’s dam, Paper Dreams was her first foal and she was moderate enough. The second foal was a colt by Choisir and he won over six furlongs first time out. So her first two foals were both winners over sprint distances.”

Pickwick Papers was sold to Indian interests for €10,000 in foal to Excellent Art (GB) in 2010.

“Excellent Art wound up in India and the Indians love him, so the mare was sold to a stud in Jaipur, and her next seven foals or something have been born there, and I think five of them have been winners in India. But you disappear off the map.”

As such, the initial financial blow of giving a horse away or selling it cheaply to local interests may make for the best outcome for the breeder in the long run.

“It is a consideration as a breeder, if you had to give a horse away to somebody who is going to potentially train it or train it well, that may be a better thing to do for your mare,” Boylan said. “When the market is so bad, and I hear this a lot with small breeders now, they’re keener to see their animal end up with somebody who will have a view of getting it to the racetrack [locally]. Because that is the only way they can enhance the value of their mare. Having horses go abroad doesn’t really help you as a breeder.”

While he prefers his horses to stay close to home, Boylan has forged a career that has taken him around the world. He has been involved since the late 1980s in aircraft leasing, a business that he says was largely developed in Ireland.

“There are about 25,000 commercial airliners flying out there with all the airlines you know, and about 40% of them are leased or rented to the airlines,” Boylan explained. “Aircraft fly for about 25 years and the operating leases tend to be for the first 10 to 12 years and then they get rented for shorter periods as they get older. The prime airlines would tend to keep their operating leased aircraft for about a dozen years, then get rid of them.”

Boylan started out working for one of the pioneers of the aircraft leasing trade, Tony Ryan, at Guinness Peat Aviation. In fact Ryan-also an astute horse breeder in his time and founder of low-cost airline Ryanair–is from the same North Tipperary town, Kilboy, as Boylan’s mother.

“A lot of us worked for Tony and he spawned off a series of replica leasing companies,” Boylan said. “I was a co-founder of a company that was about the fourth or fifth largest aircraft leasing company [SMBC Aviation Capital]. We’ve since sold it but that company is still on the go and it’s about number six in the world now. I got involved with the Chinese about 10 years ago and was the guy effectively who brought Chinese investment into commercial aircraft leasing.

“We developed another leasing group [Bohai Leasing, owner of Avolon]. They had about 20 airlines in the group and a lot of hotels. At one stage we bought 30% of Hilton Hotels and we bought the Radisson Group and we had a Chinese hotel group and so forth. But I ran the whole of their aircraft activities. That company now is about number three in the world, and to give you a sense of the size of those businesses, they’d have about 500 aircraft and the value of those aircraft would be about $25-billion.”

Boylan had spent much of his time over the past 10 years in Hong Kong including as chief executive officer of Hong Kong Aviation Capital, but has more recently turned his focus to Vietnam.

“I’m on the board of the Vietnamese low-cost airline called VietJet, run by a really inspiring woman, Madam Thao,” Boylan said. “She is Vietnam’s first US dollar billionaire and I do a lot with her; I’m trying to convince her to get involved with horses but I haven’t managed yet.”

While the aviation industry, like all others, still has some turbulence to withstand as the world is shaken by COVID-19, Boylan can look forward not only to seeing Paper Dreams and her Footstepsinthesand colt go through the ring at Tattersalls, but also to The Lir Jet’s impending 3-year-old campaign.

“Is he actually a sprinter, or could he stay a mile?” Boylan mused. “You can’t make that judgement from the Breeders’ Cup because that’s not a true mile in the European sense, and he had a bad draw and I don’t think he particularly got a good ride. So it’ll be interesting to see what he is next year, and does he progress over the winter. I think he might actually be a better colt next year than he ended up ratings wise this year. And it’ll be interesting for Joe to see whether Prince Of Lir can put his stamp on a few more horses next year. Prince Of Lir has had a very good start and I liked him from the first time I saw him.”

For breeder Boylan, then, and those that buy into The Lir Jet’s family at Tattersalls next week, there are plenty of reasons to keep dreaming.

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Five Europeans-GII Juvenile Turf Sprint entrant Ubettabelieveit (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) in addition to the fillies Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire})) and One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus})–tested the Keeneland turf course for the first time on Tuesday.

G1 Prince of Wales’s S. winner Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was a standout among the John Gosden trio as he took to the training track alongside stablemates Terebellum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Mehdaayih (GB) (Frankel {GB}), and the GI Turf contender traveled enthusiastically on the bridle without being overeager through an easy gallop. Trainer Ralph Beckett, having arrived in Lexington on Monday night, was aboard a pony to oversee his GI Juvenile Turf runners New Mandate (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) and Devilwala (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). The G2 Royal Lodge S. winner New Mandate galloped freely ahead of his barnmate Devilwala, who was fourth in the G1 Dewhurst S. last out. Both horses are campaigned by owners relatively new to the game: Marc Chan bought New Mandate from a partnership headed by Beckett and Alex Elliott after a handicap win at Sandown in August, while Devilwala is among a talented bunch of 2-year-olds for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing.

New Mandate landed in gate two for Friday’s Juvenile Turf at Monday evening’s post position draw and Devilwala in 13, the only horse to the inside of Qatar Racing’s The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}). The Lir Jet’s trainer Michael Bell was on hand to supervise his first Breeders’ Cup starter on Tuesday, having landed the evening before, and he was philosophical about the draw.

“The draw could have been kinder, but people seem to say you’re better off drawn wide than out low. Time will tell,” he said. “I watched the [2015 Juvenile Turf] when Hit It A Bomb won here, and he won from post 14 and had a great ride from Ryan Moore, so we hope Oisin [Murphy] can do the same.”

The Lir Jet skipped over the training track for the second straight morning on Tuesday, and Bell said he is pleased with how the colt has taken his journey.

“He seems very happy in himself and he’s eating well, which is the most important thing when they’ve traveled, because it can be a bit disruptive for them,” the trainer said. “But he looks in very good form when he’s out on the track in the morning. We’ve kept him on the training track just to keep a lid on him but he couldn’t have traveled better.

It was somewhat serendipitous circumstances that saw The Lir Jet land in Bell’s yard earlier this year; the colt was bought privately by Bell’s son Nick from pinhooker Robson Aguiar after the breeze-up sales were delayed in the spring. Sheikh Fahad came calling after The Lir Jet set a five-furlong track record when winning at Yarmouth on debut two days after racing in Britain resumed on June 3, and the colt carried Qatar Racing’s colours when beating Wesley Ward’s Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot. The Lir Jet, from the first crop of Ballyhane Stud’s fellow Norfolk winner Prince of Lir, was somewhat unlucky to be beaten when second in the G2 Prix Robert Papin on July 19 and the G1 Phoenix S. on Aug. 9, and according to Bell didn’t quite handle the Newmarket dip when fifth in the G1 Middle Park S. on Sept. 26. He steps up to a mile for the first time on Friday.

“He was a bit unlucky in the photograph in the Papin when it was heads up, heads down; the dice didn’t roll the right way for him because he was in front just before and just after the line,” Bell said. “He ran in Ireland in the Phoenix S. and stayed on very well but got slightly hampered and finished off very well over six furlongs. He ran at Newmarket and was a bit unbalanced coming down the hill, so this flatter track will suit him better. But he finished off his race very well over six, so we’re hopeful he’ll get the mile.”

“It would be a fantastic achievement,” Bell said of a potential Breeders’ Cup win. “It’s not going to be easy; we’re under no pretensions that he’s a warm-order favourite. We’re taking a punt at the trip, but if he does stay he’ll be in the mix because he has the class and he can certainly run to a higher rating over a mile if he stays. But we’ll only find that out on Friday.”

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It will be Bell's first Breeders' Cup runner.

“In all his races his last furlong has been his best, which suggests he's worth a try over further,” Bell told racingpost.com. “His pedigree doesn't say he will definitely stay, but his style of racing suggests he might, especially going around a two-turn mile like they have at Keeneland.”

Owned by Qatar Racing Ltd., The Lir Jet is out of the Green Desert mare Paper Dreams. He was a $9,775 yearling at Goffs, and owns a record of two wins and two seconds from five starts for earnings of $116,914. Other top finishes this year include a second in the G2 Prix Robert Patin at Chantilly and a second in the G1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

Read more at the Racing Post.

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The Lir Jet would go on to finish second to fellow Premier graduate Ventura Tormenta (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G2 Prix Robert Papin and was runner-up again in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S.

Such is the quality of last year’s Premier Sale intake, however, that it could be someone other than The Lir Jet or Ventura Tormenta who winds up top of the heap. Supremacy (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) proved to be well-named with a four-length score in the G2 Richmond S. on July 30 that earned him a rating of 115. Method (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) looked a smart type when taking the Listed Rose Bowl S. at second asking in July, and the filly he had beaten by 4 1/4 lengths on debut, Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}), came roaring back to take the Listed Star S. and last weekend won the G2 Prix du Calvados. These are among nine graduates of last year’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale to have already won stakes, and they set a strong precedent for the 423 yearlings set to go under the hammer at this year’s edition of the sale at Doncaster on Sept. 1 and 2.

“It’s been a wonderful year on the track and we have a wonderful bunch of horses,” said Goffs UK’s Managing Director Tim Kent. “If we were in a normal year we’d be very confident we’d have a wonderful sale but it’s difficult to know what to expect with the way everything is going, but the market has held up remarkably well in Europe up until now. The breeze-up sales went better than anyone expected and the horses in training sales have had plenty of demand. So we have to hope that continues. We’re confident we have a nice draft of horses and the stallion index is reading well. There have been a lot of photos on social media and videos online and just looking at those you think ‘blimey, that’s a nice horse…that’s a nice horse…’ and they’re by the right stallions and from some good farms, so we’re hopeful it will all come together.”

Three of the sale’s likely heavyweights will come on day two, beginning with a Starspangledbanner (Aus) half-brother to Ventura Tormenta (lot 313) from Baroda Stud. Given the Group 2 update supplied by his elder brother, that one is likely to provide a hefty return on the €40,000 paid by the Tweenhills team Redwall Bloodstock at Goffs November last year.

Just a few lots later Salcey Forest Stud’s Cotai Glory half-sister to A’Ali (lot 322) will grace the ring (see Monday’s TDN for more on her). And the very last horse through the ring is likely to ensure that bidders stick around; he is a full-brother to the 2016 sale topper and G3 Hackwood S. winner Yafta (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) (lot 423) offered by Highclere Stud, the same draft that sold Yafta as well as Golden Horde here. Others that appeal on paper include a No Nay Never daughter of the G3 Round Tower S. scorer Dingle View (Ire) (Mujadil) (lot 170); an Invincible Spirit (Ire) colt out of G3 Firth Of Clyde S. winner Distinctive (GB) (Tobougg) (lot 173); a Kodiac (GB) filly out of a half-sister to Equiano (Fr) (lot 195); a Night Of Thunder (Ire) colt out of a full-sister to champion sprinter Fleeting Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) (f2lot 346); a Siyouni (Fr) filly out of a half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf victress Queen’s Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}) (lot 361); and a Lope De Vega (Ire) son of the Group 3-placed Royal Empress (Ire) (lot 380).

With the consequences of Britain’s low prizemoney levels being increasingly felt, it is perhaps more important now than ever to provide owners with incentive to get in or stay in the game, and races like the £180,000 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Stakes open to all graduates of this sale can go some distance towards that. The winner of this year’s contest at York on Aug. 20 was the Dandy Man (Ire) filly Happy Romance (Ire), who cost £25,000 at Doncaster a year ago and is the first horse owned by the McMurray family. It is likely no mistake, either, that trainer Richard Hannon targets the race so heavily, and Happy Romance gave him his fourth win in it in the past five years. Happy Romance was scratched from Saturday’s G3 Prestige S. but will doubtless get her shot at black-type soon.

The Premier Yearling Sale S. has not only been taken by some quality fillies, but also by three of the best colts to ever come from the sale: Wootton Bassett (GB), Acclamation (GB) and his son Dark Angel (Ire). That triumvirate sits atop a burgeoning group of successful sires to have emanated from this sale.

Acclamation was a £33,000 purchase by his trainer Gerald Cottrell in 2000 under this sale’s former guise as the St Leger sale and was a member of the first crop of his sire Royal Applause (GB). Acclamation capped a productive juvenile campaign the following year with a victory in the £200,000 St Leger Yearling Stakes. After an interrupted 3-year-old campaign he blossomed to take the Listed Starlit S. and the G2 Diadem S. at four, but it was in the breeding shed where his legacy was truly cemented. While his best runner was the superstar sprinting filly Marsha (GB), he has left behind a stacked roster of colts to carry on his line, thus far led by Dark Angel and Equiano (Fr) and with this year’s first-season sensation Mehmas (Ire) potentially poised to join them. He can also lay claim to the very useful sires Lilbourne Lad (Ire) and Harbour Watch (Ire), the latter of whom is responsible for this season’s impressive G2 King Edward II S. and G2 Great Voltigeur S. scorer Pyledriver (GB). And with young horses like Aclaim (GB) and Expert Eye (GB) still to have their first runners, the Acclamation sireline looks likely to continue to thrive.

Dark Angel, meanwhile, has already firmly established his own branch of the Acclamation line. Like Acclamation was, Dark Angel was a member of the first crop of his own sire and was a £61,000 purchase from the 2006 St Leger sale. He won the sales race for trainer Barry Hills in 2007 before going on to take the G2 Mill Reef S. and G1 Middle Park S. before retiring upon the conclusion of his 2-year-old campaign. Dark Angel’s first crop, interestingly, would include the G1 Diamond Jubilee and G1 July Cup S. winner Lethal Force (Ire), the sire of current Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale poster boy Golden Horde. Dark Angel looks in these early days to be making a similar mark on the breed to his sire, with Gutaifan (Ire) proving his prowess in his second year with runners and with Estidhkaar (Ire) and Markaz (Ire) each having gotten off to a promising start with his first runners this season. And while his best runner to date, Battaash (Ire), will not get the chance to pass on his genes as a gelding, Dark Angel still has the Goffs UK graduate and champion sprinter Harry Angel (Ire) waiting in the wings with his first foals this year. Another Group 1-winning sprinter to come from the sale with a chance to make his mark as a sire is the Phoenix S., Commonwealth Cup and Prix Maurice de Gheest scorer Advertise (GB), a £60,000 graduate who covered his first book at the National Stud this year.

Already a sire on the rise, Wootton Bassett is set to enter a different stratosphere, having been purchased by Coolmore just prior to getting his second Group 1 winner in the G1 Prix Jean Romanet victress Audarya (Fr). A £46,000 graduate of 2009, Wootton Bassett won the sales race midway through a perfect 2-year-old career which was capped by a G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere score and French champion 2-year-old honours. With Coolmore having pledged the support of its impeccable broodmare band and with Wootton Bassett’s best son Almanzor (Fr) set to have his first runners next year, there looks to be plenty more to come in the Wootton Bassett story.

With such opportunities on the line, the shrewdest buyers will not miss this week’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. And as the first yearling sale during this pandemic-stricken season, all eyes will be on the figures as an indication of what is to come.

“The big thing for us will be clearance rate,” said Kent. “People have brought these horses here to sell and we’re providing an opportunity for that to happen. The way we’ll measure the sale is going to be different; the normal metrics will go out the window and it will be very much about clearance rate and feel. If vendors are happy with what they’re achieving and purchasers are saying they can’t buy horses, for us that’s a good feel for this sale. We’re normally worried about comparative metrics-average, turnover, median, that sort of thing. It’ll be less about that this year and more about clearance rate and the ability to get horses sold.”

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Also from Godolphin is ‘TDN Rising Star’ Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is on a roll over seven furlongs having annexed the G3 Prix de la Porte Maillot at ParisLongchamp on June 25 and the G2 Lennox S. at Goodwood on July 28. He was only beaten a length when third in this 12 months ago and is probably an improved performer. “Space Blues has come out of the Lennox S. in good form. He ran well in this race last year and, with the way he has performed so far this year, we are heading back very confident that he can run a big race,” Charlie Appleby said. “Every time he has stepped up in grade this season, he has won more impressively, while he has performed well at Group 1 level on both his previous starts at Deauville. He ran very well in it last year and a repeat performance of that or what he has done this year is going to make him a live player.”

Golden Horde has stepped up this year, winning the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on June 19 before finishing third in the G1 July Cup at Newmarket on July 11. Trainer Clive Cox commented, “He is drawn 10 of 11, but I’m very happy with the horse. This is a very competitive Group 1, especially with Earthlight in there, who we have form with from last year. In the Morny he beat us quite convincingly, although our horse ran well, and we closed the gap by the end of the year in the Middle Park. I think an extra half a furlong will be no problem for us. I’m quite excited and looking forward to it. I think home territory might be a slight advantage, with the heat we have at the moment, but that said, apart from the journey it will be the same for all of us. He won well at Royal Ascot first time out and ran well in defeat in the July Cup. I’m still full of hope and admiration for our horse.”

Another Royal Ascot winner in the line-up is Haras d’Etreham and Cambridge Stud’s Hello Youmzain (Fr) (Kodiac {GB}), who took the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. on June 20. Only fifth in the July Cup, he has to bounce back. Jockey Kevin Stott said, “I think he’ll like the track, as he didn’t come down the hill particularly well at Newmarket and the extra half a furlong will be right up his street. I’m really excited. He’s a very laid-back horse who takes everything in his stride.” Aidan O’Brien’s duo are the July 12 G1 Prix Jean Prat runner-up Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Wichita (Ire) (No Nay Never), who drops back in trip after his second in the June 6 G1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, third in the G1 St James’s Palace S. at Royal Ascot on June 20 and fifth in the G1 Sussex S. at Goodwood on July 29.

Phoenix Headlines Curragh Card

The Curragh features a fascinating clash of the precocious juveniles in the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S., with Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez’s recent purchase Steel Bull (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}) stepping up to six furlongs following his success in Goodwood’s G3 Molecomb S. on July 29. Qatar Racing’s June 19 G2 Norfolk S. winner The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}) renews rivalry with Middleham Park Racing’s Ventura Tormenta (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), with the latter denying him by the narrowest of margins in the G2 Prix Robert Papin over this trip at Chantilly on July 19. “The Molecomb winner was very impressive and Group 1s are never easy, but the horse seems in good form so we’ve got our fingers crossed,” trainer Michael Bell said of The Lir Jet. “He was in front before and just after the line in Chantilly, a real case of heads up, heads down, but unfortunately ours was up where it mattered. The horse who beat him is obviously a good horse in his own right. I don’t think he’s an out-and-out 2-year-old–you wouldn’t think it looking at him, as he’s a scopey sort. Hopefully the Commonwealth Cup might be on his agenda next season.”

Richard Hannon is hoping Ventura Tormenta can uphold the Robert Papin and said of him, “He is an Acclamation and he does exactly what it says on the tin. He is a reliable worker and is as good an Acclamation as we have had. They are rock hard and are made for racing and he is no different. In France it looked to me like he was running for second or third, but he stuck at it very well. This is another step up and he needs to find more, but he improved from his last run so hopefully he can do the same again.”

Also in the line-up is the July 18 G2 Railway S. first and second Laws of Indices (Ire) (Power {GB}) and Lucky Vega (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and that course-and-distance contest has always been a stepping stone to this. The winner’s trainer Ken Condon has a smart collection of juveniles in 2020 and said, “All has been fine with him and we’re looking forward to it. He’ll have to improve and step forward again, but he’s been good since and he’s well entitled to take his chance. He took a big step forward from his first to his second run and then from his second to his third, and has pleased us since.” According to jockey bookings, the one to head the trio bidding to give the current Ballydoyle set-up a 17th renewal is St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), the half-brother to Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) who was second on his sole start over this track and trip on July 26.

Elsewhere on the Curragh card, the story of the G3 Rathasker Stud Phoenix Sprint S. is whether the June 28 G2 Greenlands S. and July 5 G3 Ballycorus S. winner Speak In Colours (GB) (Excelebration {Ire}) can give nine pounds to last year’s G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Millisle (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), now that she has served notice that she is back to her best when winning by four lengths in Naas’s G3 Ballyogan S. over this six-furlong trip on July 22. At Salisbury, Shadwell’s June 16 Buckingham Palace H. and July 11 Bunbury Cup winner Motakhayyel (GB) (Heeraat {Ire}) steps into pattern company in the G3 AJN Steelstock Sovereign S., where he meets some established performers headed by the July 28 G2 Lennox S. runner-up Duke of Hazzard (Fr) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).

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