The Weekly Wrap | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Weekly Wrap: Scene Is Set

A host of good fillies have won the G3 Prestige S. at Goodwood over the years, with the most recent Classic heroine to have emerged from the race being Billesdon Brook (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), who paid a handsome compliment to her breeder Bob McCreery in the months after his death in December 2016.

This year's winner Mise En Scene (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) will certainly have her second-season trainer James Ferguson dreaming of the first weekend of May next year at his local course of Newmarket. And he has good reason beyond just his filly's performance to date as there's a 1,000 Guineas winner very close up in her pedigree. Mise En Scene's dam, the unraced Gadfly (GB) (Galileo {GB})), is a half-sister to Pam Sly's 2006 winner Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

More immediately, the filly, who is now unbeaten in two starts, looks likely to try out the Rowley Mile for size this autumn as she hold entries for the G2 Rockfel S. and G1 Fillies' Mile.

“Mise En Scene has come out of her race great,” Ferguson told TDN on Monday. “I couldn't be happier with her. She is obviously very progressive. I was thrilled with how much she had come on from her first run but the way she won, it looks like there is still more to come. I think a step up to a mile, like Oisin [Murphy] said, will suit her perfectly. As for future plans, I will have to discuss it with the team but she definitely looks like a filly who could be competitive at the top level.”

Gadfly was herself bought by David Redvers for Qatar Racing from her breeder Newsells Park Stud for 375,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale and was offered again in the same ring three years later when in foal for the first time to Harbour Watch (Ire). She returned to Tweenhills under the ownership of the Gadlfy Partnership and, following her trip to France to visit Siyouni, she has stayed at home and has a yearling colt by Roaring Lion, a Zoustar (Aus) filly foal and was covered this year by Kameko.

Newsells Park Stud also played a hand in a stakes winner over the water on Sunday when Sifting Sands (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) took his record to three wins from five starts with victory in the Better Talk Now S. at Saratoga. The 3-year-old's family also boasts a 1000 Guineas winner as Sifting Sands is a half-brother to the 2015 winner Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Owned by White Birch Farm, the colt was the second Tattersalls graduate to win at the Spa that week for Peter Brant's operation following the listed John's Call S. success of Serve The King (GB) (Kingman {GB}), bred by Normandie Stud from a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to G1 Coronation S. winner Fallen For You (GB) (Dansili {GB}). It's safe to say that Tattersalls will be welcoming back plenty of American buyers and their representatives following a run of stakes wins by horses sourced as yearlings in Newmarket.

Glycon Seals Grand Run For Saint Pair

In its pomp, the Grand Prix de Deauville was one of the most prestigious races in France. After it was opened up to foreign horses, the mighty Hungarian mare Kincsem triumphed in 1878 as part of her incredible tour which included victories in the Goodwood Cup two weeks earlier and then the Grossser Preis von Baden just over a fortnight after her Deauville win–this all in the days before international travel for horses was as relatively easy as it is now.

Glycon (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) did not have anywhere near so far to travel as he is part of Jean-Claude Rouget's large satellite stable in Deauville but the 5-year-old once again signalled his liking for the seaside track with a determined victory three weeks after winning the G3 Prix de Reux over course and distance.

In so doing, he continued a glorious summer for his owner/breeder Andreas Putsch of Haras de Saint Pair, who on Thursday celebrated the second consecutive Group 3 win for his Pearls Galore (Fr) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in Ireland. The latter is a grand-daughter of Putsch's G1 Prix Vermeille winner Pearly Shells (GB) (Efisio {GB}), who died in June at the age of 22.

Paying tribute when announcing the death of Pearly Shells, Putsch said, “She was the first mare who came to the farm when I bought Saint Pair in 2007 and we have built the farm around her. We shall all miss her presence here and will work hard to maintain her legacy in the future.”

That legacy and those of other carefully selected Saint Pair mares has been in evidence in the last week in particular. As well as Pearls Galore and Glycon, the latter's half-brother Glaer (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) broke his maiden in his breeder's silks at Saint Jean de Monts, while the Saint Pair-bred Amourdargent (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) won the first race on Deauville's final summer card on Sunday for Fabrice Vermeulen.

Glycon's 3-year-old half-sister Zoikes (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) is another to have made her way to America from the October Book 1 sale, having been bought by Mike Ryan for 450,000gns. She added to the clean sweep of winners-to-runners for her dam Glorious Sight (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}) when winning at Indiana Grand last month for Brendan Walsh.

Sacred Sisters

The Juddmonte mare Sacred Shield (GB) (Beat Hollow {GB}) is currently represented by one of the smartest juveniles in Ireland in Sacred Bridge (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who has sailed unbeaten through four starts for Ger Lyons. They include the valuable Irish EBF Ballyhane S. and Friday's G3 Heider Family Stables Round Tower S. at the Curragh. The following day her elder full-sister Viadera (GB) claimed further laurels for the family when winning the GII Ballston Spa S. at Saratoga for Chad Brown. The 5-year-old had also previously been trained by Lyons, with her three Irish victories including a listed success at Killarney. Since moving stateside last year Viadera has also won the GIII Noble Damsel S. followed by the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar last November.

A trip to Newmarket may be next for Sacred Bridge, who is being considered for the G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S. on Sept. 25. Viadera meanwhile could aim to defend her title in the Matriarch before being retired to the paddocks.

Their dam was a dual winner for Sir Henry Cecil and represents a family which lit up the trainer's later years at Warren Place. Sacred Shield's half-sisters Clepsydra (GB) (Sadler's Wells) and Double Crossed (GB) (Caerleon) are respectively the dams of Sir Henry's Group 1 winners Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}), Timepiece (GB) (Zamindar) and Twice Over (GB) (Observatory).

Stars Abound

Georges Rimaud gave TDN the lowdown on the progressive stud career of Siyouni (Fr) last week but his fellow Aga Khan Studs stallion Sea The Stars (Ire), representing the operation's Irish base at Gilltown Stud, has also been in the ascendant of late.

Of course, much more was expected of the stud career of Sea The Stars than of Siyouni when they each retired to stud, and while it would be hard for the former ever to have kept pace with his high-achieving half-brother Galileo (Ire), Sea The Stars continues to merit his place in elite company.

Following the previous week's return to the winner's enclosure for one of the most popular horses in training, his son Stradivarius (Ire), Sea The Stars has been represented this week by the G2 Tote Celebration Mile winner Lavender's Blue (Ire), who recorded her third stakes victory for her breeder Benny Andersson. That was followed later the same evening by the first stakes win at Windsor for Ali Saeed's Teona (Ire), a daughter of the G1 Pretty Polly S. victrix Ambivalent (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}).

On Sunday, Sundoro (Ire), a half-sister to Pinatubo (Ire), notched her second win in France for Henri-Alex Pantall, and there have been a few notable Sea The Stars juveniles emerging of late. Moyglare Stud's homebred Eclat De Lumiere became his 12th TDN Rising Star at the Curragh on Aug. 21, the same day that The Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) announced himself as a potential Classic contender with his facile victory in the G2 Solario S.

Both Siyouni and Sea The Stars have joined the illustrious trio of Frankel (GB), Galileo and Dubawi (Ire) in the top five stallions in Europe so far this season.

From Cheltenham To Deauville

The Nathaniel (Ire) mare Burning Victory began her racing career at Deauville when trained locally by Stephane Wattel. Her debut fifth in the December of her juvenile season saw her finish not far off the winner Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) who has since gone on to bigger and better things, including clobbering Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on the line in last week's G1 Prix Jean Romanet.

Burning Victory had beaten Grand Glory in the race to become a top-level winner, though hers came in a Grade 1 over hurdles at the Cheltenham Festival after being sold to race on for Audrey Turley and Willie Mullins. But both of Burning Victory's wins since the Triumph Hurdle have come on the Flat and she clearly relishes revisiting her homeland, as she has been successful at Lyon-Parilly as well as in last week's Handicap de la Manche on her return to Deauville. Further travel may well be likely as the 5-year-old mare is currently third-favourite for the historic Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Oct. 9.

Inspirational Women Of The Turf

On Friday, different parts of the racing world were in mourning after the loss of two young women to cancer. Nini Vascotto was based in Sydney where she was social media manager for the Australian Turf Club and had developed a particularly strong bond with the champion racemare Winx (Aus). The 44-year-old was known to many racing fans globally via her own Twitter account, on which she became an inspiration in documenting with grace and courage her ten-year struggle with breast cancer.

In Spain, the closeknit training centre at Madrid's La Zarzuela racecourse was rocked by the passing of Belgian-born Leyla Ennouni, 46, a popular figure who started training in her own right in 2016 having previously spent time working in Newmarket for Luca Cumani and as assistant to Spain's champion trainer Guillermo Arizkorreta.

To the friends and families of Nini and Leyla we send our deepest condolences.

A brighter note was sounded on Saturday in the result of one of Newmarket's more curious races, the Town Plate. The legendary amateur contest, which is run over 3m6f of the July Course and part of the National Stud, is believed to have been first staged in 1666.

The winner of the 351st running of the Town Plate, Rachel Rennie, had originally intended to ride in the race five years ago until a cancer diagnosis in the weeks beforehand put paid to her plans. After successful surgery, eight rounds of chemotherapy and 20 rounds of radiotherapy, the 49-year-old returned to the saddle to post an emotional triumph aboard the 6-year-old Friends Don't Ask (GB).

Declaring her win to be the “culmination of the getting-back process”, Rennie intends to defend her crown in next year's race. Though she will be 50 in 2022, that is no age at all compared to one of her competitors on Saturday, Colin Moore, who is 79. The former jump jockey rode his sole winner 60 years ago.

The post The Weekly Wrap: Scene Is Set appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Weekly Wrap: It’s Good To Be Back

There are banners along the High Street of my home town of Newmarket saying 'Welcome back to racing'. Though we've been fortunate in England to have been able to allow crowds gradually to return to racecourses earlier than some other countries, it has only really been in the last few weeks that it has felt like the proper pre-pandemic experience. And where better to have the people back in force than at York, widely regarded by many to be the best racecourse in the country?

Any amount of time spent on the Knavesmire is time well spent indeed, and you really could have picked any of the days of the Ebor meeting to be able to enjoy a proper feature race with intrigue and stars aplenty. Even the queue for the bus to the track from the train station provided a level of fun. A group of men of advanced years huddled together like schoolboys, copies of the Racing Post tucked under their arms, clearly relishing the prospect of a midweek day at the races. When the bus arrived, they rushed for the long bench seat at the back, always the preserve of the naughtiest in class, and with a full load of passengers chattering about their fancies for the day, our chariot trundled off to the track.

Clarehaven Resurgent

Thady Gosden's name was added to his father's training licence just ahead of the start of the turf season in Britain and though the stable played a less prominent role in the Classics than is usually to be expected, it has now clicked into top gear.

A stellar run was launched eight days ago in Deauville, where Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) landed his second G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, swiftly followed by the G3 Prix Minerve victory for George Strawbridge's Free Wind (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Further big guns were wheeled out for York, with the mighty Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) sparking endless 'Is he the best in the world?' debates with his visually impressive first Group 1 victory in Britain in the Juddmonte International.

Whether he is the best or not will be settled at the end of the year in the international rankings–and even then the debate will likely rage on. What can be said with some certainty is that Mishriff is the most versatile at the highest level, with his wins coming on the Riyadh dirt track over nine furlongs in the Saudi Cup, the Meydan turf over 12 furlongs, and now 10.5 furlongs at York, not forgetting his Classic win at Chantilly last season. Victory at the Breeders' Cup–or even in Japan, as has been mooted, with that tempting $3 million bonus on offer–would go a long way to settling the argument once and for all.

While Palace Pier and Mishriff have strong claims to being the best in their divisions, the king of the stayers is still Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). It is to be hugely regretted that the half-brothers Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) and Sir Ron Priestley (GB) (Australia {GB}) are both sidelined with injuries as this has undoubtedly weakened the staying division in the second half of the season. But the 7-year-old stallion Stradivarius proved that even if the years have blunted his game a little, he has lost none of his will to win. Arguably, he's at his best when he has to knuckle down and fight, and this is exactly what he did when dispatching the Yorkshire Cup winner Spanish Mission (Noble Mission) on his return to the Knavesmire.

With a race record that now includes three Ascot Gold Cups, four Goodwood Cups, three Lonsdale Cups, two Yorkshire Cups and a Doncaster Cup, Stradivarius is truly one of the modern wonders of the Flat scene. We must continue to enjoy him while we can.

Arise, Sir John?

We already have Sir Mark and Sir Michael in Newmarket; could Sir John be next? If the Gosdens manage to turn the impressive G3 Solario S. winner Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) into a Classic winner for his breeder The Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year then surely a further mention in the honours' list could be on the cards for Gosden senior, who was awarded an OBE in 2017.

The Queen was just 25 when she acceded to the British throne in February 1952. Her coronation took place the following June, on what would have been Derby day, with the great race moved back to the Saturday to allow for the royal festivities. The celebrations within the royal household would have been greater still had the Queen's Derby contender Aureole (GB) not been beaten into second by Pinza (GB). More recently, the Queen's colours have been carried in the Derby by the Darley-bred Carlton House, a gift from Sheikh Mohammed, who was third behind Pour Moi (Ire) in 2011. Who would begrudge racing's greatest patron a Derby winner in the year she celebrates her extraordinary longevity as monarch?

Bred on the Sea The Stars-Sadler's Wells cross, Reach For The Moon's pedigree echoes that of the former Gosden trainee and Oaks winner Taghrooda (GB), and the Solario has good form of late for being won by some pretty special horses, including the Gosden-trained trio of Raven's Pass, Kingman (GB) and Too Darn Hot (GB), not to mention the 2018 Derby winner Masar (Ire).

Next June is an awful long way off in racing terms, but the prospect of Reach For The Moon giving the sport widespread publicity during the year-long jubilee celebrations is an enticing one.

The form of the Chesham S. now has a pleasingly solid look to it, with Reach For The Moon and Great Max (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who finished second and third to Point Lonsdale (Ire) (Australia {GB}), each finishing one place better in the Solario, while the Chesham winner continued his unbeaten passage with victory in the G2 Galileo Irish EBF Futurity S., having previously landed the G3 JRA Tyros S. The Chesham fifth Masekela (Ire) (El Kabeir) has gone on to win the Listed Denford S., and the seventh-placed New Science (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) subsequently returned to Ascot to win the Listed Pat Eddery S.

Power Play

Fillies filled four of the first six places in the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S., and while Suesa (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) was favoured to follow up on her Goodwood triumph, it was Winter Power (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) who went the early pace with Wesley Ward's Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), surging straight as an arrow down the centre of the track. As the American raider weakened and wobbled from his early blitz, Winter Power continued to blast home unchallenged to set the seal on a memorable week for her trainer Tim Easterby at one of his local tracks.

There was doubtless much celebration across the Irish Sea in various households of the Burns family, too. For her breeder Patrick Burns it was both a wonderful triumph and huge update for the full-brother to Winter Power that his Newlands House Stud is preparing to send to the Goffs Orby Sale. And for Patrick's brother Maurice, Winter Power became the first Group 1 winner for her speedy sire Bungle Inthejungle, who stands at the family's Rathasker Stud.

Good Week For Coolmore Clan

Wootton Bassett, who lent his name to the Nunthorpe, also enjoyed some success on the Knavesmire with two stakes-winning juveniles. Royal Patronage (Fr) may have been the least fancied of the quintet who lined up for the G3 Tattersalls Acomb S. but he has progressed nicely from his novice win at Epsom to give trainer Mark Johnston back-to-back wins in the race following the victory of Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) last year.

On Saturday it was the turn of Steve Parkin's homebred Attagirl (GB), conceived while Wootton Bassett was still standing in France but born and trained in Yorkshire. She bounced out of her narrow defeat the previous week in the listed St Hugh's S. at Newbury to land the listed Julia Graves Roses S., doubtless giving her breeder extra cause for celebration at his favourite meeting of the year.

Wootton Bassett's week was just a nostril away from ending on a high when his star daughter Audarya (Fr) was denied her second win in the G1 Darley Prix Jean Romanet when Grand Glory (Fr) (Olympic Glory {Ire}) snatched victory from her on the line in Deauville.

Caravaggio moved from Coolmore's Irish base to Ashford Stud for the most recent stud season but he is creeping up the freshman sires' table in Europe with three stakes winners to his name already, including Saturday's smooth G2 Debutante S. winner Agartha (Ire).

He's not the only son of Scat Daddy on a roll as No Nay Never is enjoying a terrific season, with Alcohol Free (Ire) as his 3-year-old poster girl and the increasingly impressive G2 Lowther S. winner Zain Claudette (Ire) the star of his juvenile crop.

Ho Ho Ho

Tally-Ho Stud is an unstoppable force this season, both as breeder and stallion master. Having had the record-breaking champion first-season sire of 2020 in Mehmas (Ire), who was represented by another top-flight winner over the weekend in the Nicky Hartery-bred GI Del Mar Oaks winner Going Global (Ire), Tally-Ho must now be odds-on to have this year's leading freshman sire.

Whether it will be Galileo Gold (GB) or Cotai Glory (GB) is hard to say. The latter is forging ahead with 23 winners, but Galileo Gold was the first of his peers to notch that all-important Group 1 winner. His leading son Ebro River (Ire), winner of the G1 Keeneland Phoenix S., was bred by Tally-Ho Stud, as was Lusail (Ire), who gave Mehmas back-to-back winners of the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Gimcrack S. and is owned, like Ebro River, by Al Shaqab Racing, which also campaigned the sires of both youngsters.

Further top-level success came on Sunday in the G1 Darley Prix Morny with the Tally-Ho-bred Perfect Power (Ire), who became a first Group 1 winner for his sire Ardad (Ire). Though Ardad is not a Tally-Ho stallion–he stands at Overbury Stud in England –he was however bred by the O'Callaghan family and reflects further glory on the Tally-Ho team as he is a son of its headline stallion Kodiac (GB).

The latter in turn is the sire of the Tally-Ho-bred G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Campanelle (Ire), who was also the winner of last season's Prix Morny. It is a race which has been a particularly successful one for Tally-Ho Stud, which also bred the 2008 winner Bushranger (Ire) and Unfortunately (Ire), who landed the 2017 running of the Morny. Those two colts were also by Tally-Ho stallions, the late Danetime (Ire) and Society Rock (Ire) respectively.

The post The Weekly Wrap: It’s Good To Be Back appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Weekly Wrap: The Best And Worst Of Times

To borrow from Charles Dickens, the past week can be encapsulated in one line: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Actually, let's face it, when it comes to bad times it hasn't just been this week, has it? Events of this year in particular have made it harder to love racing as we rock from one unsavoury incident to the next courtesy of some of the sport's leading trainers in Europe and America.

The image that can now just be described as 'that photo', cast a pall over the Cheltenham Festival and it continues to harm the sport. Without it, there would almost certainly not have been a Panorama programme entitled The Dark Side of Horse Racing. Whether it was deemed to be fair or not, the programme's makers were able to draw a line straight from the shame and horror of seeing racehorses being slaughtered in an abattoir in the most distressing manner straight back to that photo, as the former trainer of three of the horses featured in the documentary was the same as the one sitting astride a dead horse on his gallops.

It was made clear that Gordon Elliott was not the person who sent these horses overseas to the abattoir in the UK, and he was not the only trainer named in the programme: another horse had also been identified as formerly being in training with Gavin Cromwell. While the latter declined to comment, a response from Elliott in the programme stated that two of the horses had been sent to a nearby dealer upon retirement from racing and another had been rehomed with one of his riders. A subsequent quote in the Racing Post from Caren Walsh, the owner of the mare Kiss Me Kayf who also sits on the Horse Racing Ireland board and its Welfare Council, appeared to contradict this. While fully supportive of Elliott, she expressed shock that her mare had ended up in Britain rather than the Irish abattoir to which Walsh thought she had been sent. Yes, it was shocking, but not for that reason.

Euthanasia, however upsetting it may be for the individuals directly concerned, is undoubtedly the kindest thing for a horse who may never be sound or pain-free again. But there are guidelines for this set out by the Horse Welfare Board, and they include the line: “Whenever possible, euthanasia should be performed at home or in suitable surroundings, exceptions would include on a racecourse and in veterinary clinics.”

For all the excellent and extensive work being done in the rehoming and retraining of racehorses for other disciplines, even one horse ending up in the circumstances shown last Monday night undoes all of that in the time it takes someone to watch such a programme and decide that racing is cruel.

There may yet be some good to come out of the Panorama documentary. Britain and Ireland are two distinct nations with separate racing authorities but they are intrinsically linked in so many ways, from a shared Stud Book to the sales and the racecourse. The matter of one of the horses at the abattoir bearing the microchip of a horse who had previously been put down on a racecourse has been referred to the gardai in Ireland and talks between the British Horseracing Authority and its Irish counterpart have already begun. Hopefully they will lead to joint-legislation being imposed that means racehorses cannot suffer from someone opting to make a small amount of money from the meat man rather than paying a vet to end a horse's life if that is the only option available.

But really, we shouldn't need rules to tell us that this is an extremely suboptimal end for an animal which has been bred for our fun. For there is no doubt that if we do not put horse welfare first, always, throughout all of their lives, then we have no right to be involved in a sport which will not be allowed to continue indefinitely if we don't all wake up to the importance of this and act accordingly.

The Blue Knight

And then along came Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) to cheer us all up. The doom-mongers may have been trying to give the mile-and-a-half Derby its last rites but the great race is not for changing, not yet at least.

Twenty years after his mighty and recently departed grandsire Galileo (Ire) completed the Derby-King George double, the statuesque Adayar charged along the Ascot straight to remind us that those who conquer Epsom can and do go on to be rather special. Have we forgotten in those intervening years New Approach (Ire), Sea The Stars (Ire), Workforce (GB), Camelot (GB), Australia (GB), and Golden Horn (GB)?

Strangely, another horse who is in danger of being forgotten in the Galileo/Adayar comparisons is the rather important middle man, Frankel. Like London buses, Adayar and his stable-mate Hurricane Lane (Ire) have come along in the same year to vie with each other for the title of best 3-year-old middle-distance colt in training.

With their two Group 1 wins apiece to date, they will not only play a significant role in giving Frankel a good chance of becoming champion sire for the first time–he is currently leading Galileo, though not by much–but also in perhaps delivering a first champion trainer title to Charlie Appleby.

The trainer was unfortunately missing from Ascot on Saturday having been 'pinged' by the Covid app and forced into isolation. With typical modesty he told TDN on Sunday, “The job was done and all I was going to do was come along and put the saddle on, but it would have been nice to have seen him win. We all know that days like that don't come around too often.”

For Appleby, who was released from isolation by Sunday, those days have been coming around more frequently this year than for his colleagues. Of the trio at the top of the British trainers' table with more than £2 million in prize-money earnings, only two of them actually train in Britain. In a human version of the royal blue/navy blue duels of old, Appleby is out in front for Godolphin ahead of Aidan O'Brien, who admittedly has far fewer runners in Britain, with Andrew Balding's mighty season putting him in third place. The crucial statistic for Appleby, however, is his strike-rate for the season of 28%, with the form of his stable highlighted by the fact that all three of his runners on Saturday won, including the listed-winning juvenile New Science (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

Similarly, Frankel boasts a strike-rate of 42% winners to runners in Europe. His tally of 18 stakes winners in 2021 is bettered only by Dubawi (Ire), who has had 23.

Appleby delivered a positive update on Adayar, who is apparently growing up in mind as quickly as he is in body. He said, “He's pulled up well and, with Hurricane Lane as well, the pair of them are so similar in that they have the constitution that good racehorses must have: their work, their mindset, they're unbelievable.”

The trainer continued, “Adayar came back last night at 8pm, he ate all his hay and feed, he drank, slept, got up this morning and went on the sea walker, and you wouldn't know he'd had a race. It's the same with Hurricane Lane–his recovery rate is so good.

“Adayar has always caught the eye, but what surprised us in the Derby was the turn of foot that he showed. Hindsight is a great thing when you can go back and watch these races. At the time you are just hoping they can stay in front, but when you can go back and digest the race, he showed a great turn of foot again [on Saturday], to kick off the turn and maintain it.”

Reflecting on the form of this year's Derby, Appleby added, “You've got one horse who has come out, Hurricane Lane, and won an Irish Derby and a Grand Prix de Paris within five weeks, and Adayar has now come out and won the King George. Commercially everyone is looking at races like the St James's Palace and the top mile events, but we have to remember that Derby winners are what owner/breeders want to breed and we don't want to be going down the route of breeding just for speed. The top-class mile-and-a-half races are fantastic races to watch.”

Appleby's plan now is to keep his two star colts apart until the first weekend of October.

“To win a race, you can't always go in there with just one bullet, so if you have two potential players, as hopefully we do in Hurricane Lane and Adayar, hopefully that gives us a better shot of winning a race like the Arc,” he said. “I just want to give the operation the best chance of doing that, but until then we will keep them apart. Hurricane Lane has done his travelling, he's been to Ireland and he's been round Longchamp, so I think it's more likely that he will head to the St Leger. If he won it anywhere near as easily as he did the Grand Prix de Paris then we would send him on to the Arc. Adayar hasn't had the experience of travelling yet so we will probably head towards the Prix Niel and go that classic Arc prep route.”

And, with news to cheer those who love to see the best horses race on, Appleby added, “They are two lovely big 3-year-olds who we hope to see around as 4-year-olds as well. With the Classics you only have one chance to have a crack, but if one of them doesn't happen to make the Arc this year then hopefully they would make it next year. The main thing is that everyone is enjoying it and we're doing what we are setting out to achieve. Yesterday's result gave Sheikh Mohammed great enjoyment and brought back many memories of yesteryear and some of the Godolphin greats.”

Indeed, before Galileo, the last horse to have completed the Derby-King George double was Lammtarra, who was trained in Moulton Paddocks by Saeed Bin Suroor, though he did not race in the Godolphin blue.

Lammtarra was by Nijinsky, who is another of the 14 horses to have won both races and who features as the grandsire of yet another of that select group, Generous (GB). Nijinsky also pops up in Adayar's pedigree through his grandam Anna Palariva (Ire), who is by Nijinsky's son Caerleon. Meanwhile, Mill Reef, who did the double 50 years ago (followed by his son Reference Point in 1987) is the sire of Adayar's fourth dam Anna Matrushka (GB).

Royal Recognition For Breeders

The day before the King George, Ascot hosted a lunch for all those who bred a winner at the Royal Meeting. It was the sixth time the course had put on such an occasion, and it is an initiative greatly appreciated by the breeders in attendance, who also receive a memento.

A number of breeders made the trip from Ireland, including Roger O'Callaghan, whose Tally-Ho Stud bred Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), a victrix at Royal Ascot for the last two years, as well as G2 Norfolk S. winner Perfect Power (Ire), having also bred his sire, Ardad (Ire), winner of the Windsor Castle S. in 2016.

Hats off to Ascot–not that that's encouraged at the Royal Meeting– for recognising those who help to provide the most important ingredient for one of the best weeks of British racing.

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The Weekly Wrap: The Power And The Glory

It has been quite the week for two young stallions from Tally-Ho Stud. We barely stopped hearing about Mehmas (Ire) last season during his record-breaking assault on the freshman sires' championship, and the big question is always how a stallion will follow up on that early promise. It can be a long way to fall after a reputation is so swiftly created, but in the case of the 7-year-old son of Acclamation (GB) it looks very much as if he is consolidating his position as a stallion to follow with great interest.

He now leads the second-season sires' list in Europe and has accrued progeny earnings almost double his nearest rival, Territories (Ire). A further nine black-type winners have been added this year, including Saturday's G3 Anglesey S. winner Beauty Inspire (Ire) and Going Global (Ire), who has doubtless broadened Mehmas's international appeal by winning three graded stakes in California.

Almost certain to try his hand next in stakes company will be Gubbass (Ire), of whom we will hear more in tomorrow's TDN, the unbeaten winner of the Weatherbys Super Sprint.

Mehmas's fee rose in line with that burgeoning reputation from his 2020 low of €7,500 to €25,000 (he began his career at €12,500). By all accounts, his book was not difficult to fill at that price. Quite the opposite in fact.

Cotai Glory (GB) joined the Tally-Ho roster the following year and, of the 85 named foals from his first crop, more than half of them have already made it to the racecourse: 46 at the time of writing, of which 21 are now winners.

Six of those winners came in an eye-catching week for the 9-year-old stallion, which also included a second group victory for Atomic Force (Ire), who has now landed the G2 Prix Robert Papin and G3 Prix du Bois from his two French forays. Trained by Kevin Ryan for Siu Pak Kwan, the juvenile was gelded after his runner-up finish on debut at Musselburgh and has won all three subsequent starts. Naturally, he is now ruled out of a stud career himself but that only means that, like his sire, Atomic Force could potentially have a fairly lengthy career, whether he remains in Europe or heads to Hong Kong, where his owner is also heavily involved.

Cotai Glory himself raced for four years, winning the G3 Molecomb S. in his debut season. The son of top dual-hemisphere sire Exceed And Excel (Aus) had the G2 Flying Childers S. at his mercy on his next start, only to jink within the final furlong and unship his rider George Baker. An out-and-out sprinter, he raced beyond the minimum trip only five times in his 30 starts, and ran his fellow freshman sire Profitable (Ire) to a neck when second in the G1 King's Stand S. as a 4-year-old.

Over the last few years, there has been a concerted push by French racing to encourage more British owners to race in France for improved prize-money. How much the pandemic and onerous restrictions have acted as a deterrent for owners who would be unable to travel to see their horses is unknown, but undoubtedly the double whammy of Covid and Brexit has led to a significant drop in horse movements between the UK and France.

Ryan is one of those trainers who has persisted with travelling horses and now has two group wins to show for it, while Charlie Appleby landed last week's G1 Grand Prix de Paris in scintillating fashion with the Irish Derby winner Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}).

Remarkably, the Robert Papin has been won by British-based trainers in nine of the last 10 years, and has only gone to a French trainer in 11 of the last 30 years. The first three home this time around were all trained outside France, with Italy's Vincenzo Fazio sending out the runner-up Baghed (GB) (Twilight Son {GB}) and George Boughey continuing his good season with the third-placed Hellomydarlin (GB). The latter represents another young Tally-Ho Stud resident, Galileo Gold (GB), who is alone among his peers in having sired two first-crop stakes winners to date in the listed winners Ebro River (Ire) and System (Ire). Both Hellomydarlin and Ebro River were bred by the O'Callaghans at Tally-Ho, as was Saturday's Redcar novice winner Uncs (Ire)–another from the Boughey stable.

Tally-Ho Stud can also claim some reflected praise from Cotai Glory's nearest challenger in the freshman sires' table, Ardad (Ire). The Overbury Stud stallion is currently leading the British charge and has similarly encouraging statistics in that he had only 63 named foals, 31 of which have run to date providing him with 14 winners including the G2 Norfolk S. winner Perfect Power (GB). He is trained by Richard Fahey, who also has Ardad's G2 Coventry S-placed Vintage Clarets (GB). Ardad was himself bred and breezed by Tally-Ho and is a son of the stud's flagship stallion Kodiac (GB), who is now in danger of being upstaged by some of his barn-mates.

Japan's Global Outlook

On the back of a strong Tattersalls July Sale in Newmarket, the JRHA's dominant Select Sale also returned a clearance rate of 93% and some eye-watering figures for its consecutive sessions of yearlings and foals in Hokkaido. The equivalent of roughly £150 million (€175 million) was spent across the two days, and though international participation is not necessarily a theme of the sale, particularly during the pandemic, there is no shortage of global interest when it comes to the bloodlines on offer.

Even among just the top ten lots on each day, the foals and yearlings represented mares who had been recruited, usually by the Yoshida brothers, from around the world, including America, Australia, Argentina, Britain, Ireland, France and Germany.

Katsumi Yoshida also contributed last week to a new world record for the pandemic-inspired boom market of digital sales when buying the Australian Group 1 winner Funstar (Aus) (Adelaide {Ire}) for A$2.7 million. This made her the second highest-priced broodmare sold in Australia this year whether online or in person.

Yoshida's Northern Farm is also home to Funstar's fellow Group 1-winning half-sister Youngstar (Aus) (High Chaparral {Ire}) whom he acquired for A$1.4 million. Another of their half-sisters, the minor winner Baggy Green (Aus) (Galileo {Ire}), is the dam of the treble Group 1 winner Tofane (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}), and the family traces its way back through the first two generations at least, to Ireland and Britain.

The sisters are grand-daughters of Bill Gredley's User Friendly (GB) (Slip Anchor {GB}), who won the Oaks, Irish Oaks, Yorkshire Oaks and St Leger and was second in the Arc through her outstanding Classic season. She was sold at the end of her racing career at Keeneland for $2.5 million to Kazuo Nakamura and her first two daughters, User History (Mr Prospector) and Lady Venus (Kingmambo), both ended up as broodmares in Japan. Resold four years later to Barronstown Stud for $1.7 million, User Friendly went on to produce seven winners in Europe, including Funstar's dam Starspangled (Ire) (Danehill).

The family has also been represented in Europe in recent seasons by the Gredleys' 2018 champion juvenile filly Pretty Pollyanna (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), a grand-daughter of User Friendly's half-sister Friendlier (GB) (Zafonic).

Pure Anticipation

This Friday may provide a first chance to witness the latest runner from Ecurie des Monceaux's high-class broodmare Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

The chestnut filly Pure Dignity (GB), a Dubawi (Ire) half-sister to Arc winner Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and multiple Grade 1 winner Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), topped Arqana's Select Sale last September when sold to Fawzi Nass and Oliver St Lawrence for €2.5 million. She is now in training in Newmarket with Roger Varian for her owners HH Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa and KHK Racing and has her first entry at Ascot in the John Guest Racing British EBF Fillies' Novice Stakes on the opening day of the King George meeting.

Meanwhile, ongoing changes to restrictions, particularly between France and England, continues to make planning for the early part of the sales season a little fraught. Arqana's flagship August Yearling Sale had to be delayed last year until September and was thus renamed the Select Sale. The British government's announcement on Friday that travellers returning from France will have to undergo 10 days' quarantine and PCR testing threw a spanner in the works just ahead of so-called Freedom Day.

It is possible to attend both Arqana and the Goffs UK Premier Sale, which starts a week after the end of the August Sale and six days after Arqana's V.2 if taking up the test-to-release option after five days of quarantine, which of course comes at another extra cost. However, the rules are set to be reviewed once more at the beginning of August, so there is still hope that the 10-day quarantine, which does not apply to other countries on the UK's 'amber list' of foreign destinations, is removed before the European sales season gets underway.

At least there is now free movement between Britain and Ireland. Long may that last, especially when it comes to offering some sort of stability for those sales companies and consignors trying to finalise yearling plans.

Royal Flush

The Queen may have only made it to her beloved Royal Ascot for the final day of the meeting but her horses are ensuring that she is enjoying a throughly decent season even if she cannot be on track. Tactical (GB) (Toronado {Ire}), King's Lynn (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}) and Light Refrain (GB) (Frankel {GB}) are all homebred listed winners in the royal silks this year, with the latter also winning the G3 Summer S. on her latest outing on July 9.

On Friday, The Queen was represented by three runners from three different stables at Newbury and Newmarket, and all returned victorious, including Portfolio (Jpn), a daughter of Japan's late champion sire Deep Impact (Jpn) out of the listed winner Diploma (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) who has won her last two starts for Sir Michael Stoute.

McCain Girls Chip In

Donald McCain may have trained a Grand National winner of his own and been closely connected to the most famous Grand National horse of all time through his father's training of Red Rum (GB), but a Class 6 handicap and a maiden hurdle on July 14 nevertheless combined to provide an equally special day.

McCain's two daughters, Abbie and Ella, have both pursued a career in the saddle, with Abbie currently riding as a conditional over jumps and Ella as an apprentice on Flat. Last Wednesday, the stable's two winners at Uttoxeter and Ripon were each ridden by a McCain.

The trainer tweeted, “2 daughters, 2 rides, 2 codes, flat and jumps, 2 winners!! A very proud day.” Rightly so.

The post The Weekly Wrap: The Power And The Glory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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