Bucanero Fuerte Heads To Winter Quarters With The Guineas In Mind

Group 1 winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will not race again this season and be trained with an eye to either the G1 2000 Guineas or the Irish equivalent, according to trainer Adrian Murray.

A winner of the G1 Phoenix S. in fine style earlier in the year, the colt was unplaced in the G1 National S. during the Irish Champions Festival. He also claimed the G2 Railway S. at the Curragh in the colours of AMO Racing and Giselle De Aguiar.

“Nothing came to light, it just looked to me like it was a race too many for him,” said Murray of his charge's National performance. “He's on a break now, he won't run again until next year. I've given him an entry in the Irish Guineas and he'll also get entered in the English Guineas. Hopefully he'll have a prep run before going for one of those.

“He's had five races now so he's got plenty of experience at two if we're thinking of a Guineas. That's the plan anyway.”

Murray also shed light on the plans for his G2 Norfolk S. surprise winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon), who is bound for the Breeders' Cup in California next month. The colt was a late scratch due to the ground prior to the G2 Flying Childers S. on Friday.

“Valiant Force is going to go straight to the Breeders' Cup,” said Murray. “The plan for him is for him to then stay in America after that.

“I'm not sure yet which race he'll run in over there, I'll have to talk to Kia [Joorabchian, owner], he'll have a few options.”

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Ramatuelle in Deep Against the Boys in the Morny

One of only two French-trained juveniles in Sunday's G1 Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville, Infinity Nine Horses' TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) will need to draw on a significant amount of her abundant talent to maintain her sequence in one of the best renewals of the six-furlong feature in recent years. Out on her own at the end of Chantilly's G3 Prix du Bois and G2 Prix Robert Papin, the Christopher Head trainee now has to stand up to a collective of the best sprinting colts from Britain and Ireland on ground softer than she has encountered so far.

“We can't wait to go to the Morny with her and it has been part of the plan since the beginning,” Head said. “I think she's the type of horse who can box with this calibre of horse at this time in the season. There are going to be two fillies, two French horses and lots of good opposition, but she's doing fine and all the lights are green for the Morny.”

With the track hit by significant rain on Friday, ability to get through tacky ground is going to be a bonus and while race-fitness may be an issue following his minor setback, Ballydoyle's G2 Coventry S.-winning TDN Rising Star River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has at least proven that easy going is not a problem having won by 10 lengths on debut on soft at Navan in April.

Aidan O'Brien has his concerns, however. “He's good, I'm worried that he missed 10 days so he will run with a cloud over him,” he said. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did get tired. We are taking a chance on running him back, because if he doesn't run now he won't be out until the autumn. He came sounder quicker than we thought he would, he did a piece of work and that's why we let him take his chance, but there is a cloud over him. If he did run disappointing I wouldn't be surprised. He was lame for seven days, he came back sound but he missed all the work.”

It was soft when KHK Racing's Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) won the G2 Richmond S. during a rain-afflicted Qatar Goodwood Festival and there is a concern that Clive Cox withdrew Al Mohamediya Racing's G2 July S. winner Jasour (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) from that race due to the ground. Karl Burke will have less worries about conditions for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Elite Status (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who bounced out of a third in the G2 Norfolk S. won by Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) to take the course-and-distance G3 Prix de Cabourg from the other French runner Sajir (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).

Chris Wall, racing manager for KHK Racing, said of Vandeek, “We're not kidding ourselves, we know we're in at the deep end, but he's done nothing but improve and physically he is getting stronger all the time. The ground at Goodwood last time was very soft and while he coped with that, I think he will be better on a sounder surface. I think he's going to run a nice race.”

Clive Cox said of Jasour, “We were unhappy to run at Goodwood with a penalty in what was effectively heavy ground and with this race on the horizon it was a sensible manoeuvre not to run him there. We've been placed in the race since winning it with Reckless Abandon. Nando Parrado and Golden Horde ran well in the race, as well as Tis Marvellous. I'm just thrilled I have a horse of this calibre to be running in the race again and of course it would mean the world to be getting involved in the finish, which we hope he will.”

Rain Welcome For Via Sistina…

Connections of the G1 Pretty Polly S. heroine Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) were delighted to see the heavy rain ahead of the G1 Sumbe Prix Jean Romanet as she steps back up from a mile having been third in the G1 Falmouth S. at Newmarket's July Festival. In light of subsequent events, her six-length defeat of Al Husn (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in Newmarket's G2 Dahlia S. in May looks even better than it did at the time and trainer George Boughey is approaching Sunday's race with confidence. “She had a little break after the Falmouth and I slightly regret running her back over a mile in hindsight,” he said. “She's a filly who hit the line really well in the Pretty Polly and arguably might get further, but she was an even-money shot and it was definitely worth a go. She added another bit of group one black-type to her pedigree and I think you will see the real Via Sistina back up at 10 furlongs.”

Testing ground would probably not have been what Andre Fabre wanted for Baron Edouard De Rothschild's G1 Prix Rothschild winner Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), who is back up in trip having relished that mile trip. The Aga Khan's Darkaniya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) had beaten her in Chantilly's 10 1/2-furlong Listed Prix de la Pepiniere last month and may be better suited to this test, while TDN Rising Star Above The Curve (American Pharoah) had Mqse De Sevigne two lengths in arrears in the G2 Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud in May. The trouble for her is that she failed to land a blow on Via Sistina in the Pretty Polly and couldn't handle Al Husn in Goodwood's G1 Nassau S. so like everything else is up against it tryin again to stop the Hillens' star mare.

Jannah Rose Back In Action…

Also at Deauville, the 10-furlong G2 Sumbe Prix Alec Head sees the G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Jannah Rose (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) re-emerge following her disappointing effort in the G1 Prix de Diane. That also applies to the G3 Prix Penelope-winning TDN Rising Star Pensee Du Jour (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), one of the first of the Wildenstein-bred horses to run in the Wertheimer colours following their acquisition of the organisation's bloodstock.

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Seven Days: A New Force Emerges at Ascot

Pack away your hats and spend a joyful week in jeans and trainers. Royal Ascot was fabulous, as it always is. Though we may have tipped into the meeting being padded with too many handicaps, the results throughout the five days provided plenty of great storylines, even beyond the headline-hogger that is Frankie Dettori. 

Unquestionably, though, the best race anywhere in the world in the last week came at Hanshin on Sunday. In the Takarazuka Kinen, Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) ran the kind of race that few horses can get away with, making his move when nine wide on the turn, but then few horses have his boundless talent. In these parts we will have to console ourselves by watching him on screen rather than in person, but even if Japanese runners couldn't be persuaded to Ascot this year, there was still plenty of international participation to savour. 

Owners from 11 different countries celebrated success at the meeting, including Japan's Tohsihiro Matsumoto, whose Duke of Edinburgh H. winner Okita Soushi (Ire), trained in the increasingly international stable of Joseph O'Brien, was one of two Ascot winners for his trainer, as he was for his sire, the late Galileo (Ire). Though there was no joy for the Australian horses who had travelled, Australia was represented by Terry Henderson's OTI Racing, owner of Docklands (GB) (Maassaat {Ire}), who gave Harry Eustace his second Royal Ascot winner in just two years as a trainer.

Docklands was ridden by Hayley Turner, who in 2019 became only the second woman to ride a winner at the royal meeting after Gay Kelleway. Times are a-changing so fast that only four years later it barely counts as news to say that Hollie Doyle rode three winners at the same meeting, all trained by her main boss Archie Watson, and was third in the jockey rankings behind Ryan Moore and Dettori. Doyle may have outshone her husband Tom Marquand, but he had a memorable day of his own on Thursday when riding a double, the highlight of which was providing the King and Queen with their first Royal Ascot winner in the William Haggas-trained Desert Hero (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

Driven to Success 

The feisty little homegrown hero Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) was one of the feelgood stories of the week in the G2 Hardwicke S. on his first start in 11 months, along with that of Shaquille (GB) (Charm Spirit {Fr}), who came from a long last to first when blasting past favourite Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never) to take the G1 Commonwealth Cup for Julie Camacho and Steve Brown.

Pyledriver should return to Ascot next month in an attempt to defend his King George title, and there he could meet his fellow Coronation Cup winners Hukum (GB) and Emily Upjohn (GB), not to mention up to three Derby winners.

No fewer than four of the Royal Ascot winners had American owners. Wesley Ward would probably admit to having had a meeting to forget but he remains the most successful overseas trainer with 12 winners to his credit. Flying the flag for the USA was his colleague George Weaver with the demure Crimson Advocate (Nyquist). The filly was one of two juveniles he brought to the meeting but not the one who was sold for £800,000 on the eve of Royal Ascot at the Goffs London Sale. That was No Nay Mets (Ire) (No Nay Never), who finished ninth in the G2 Norfolk S.

The sale-topper, incidentally, Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {Ire}), who was bought for £1.1 million by the Sands family's Bronsan Racing, wasn't beaten far when fourth in the G2 Coventry S. less than 24 hours after he changed hands.

Trading is an ever more ubiquitous element of the racing game these days, with an actual sale, an online sale, or a pop-up sale happening almost every week of the year, along with frequent private transactions.

The Coventry winner River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) is almost a rarity in that he had been through just one sale as a yearling when sold by his breeder Pier House Stud for 480,000gns. Queen Mary heroine Crimson Advocate was a $100,000 Ocala October yearling, but a number of her owners bought into her last month after she had shown encouraging form on debut at Keeneland. 

The Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) was sold as both a weanling and a yearling and then withdrawn from the Craven breeze-up by Robson Aguiar, who also does much of the pre-training for the colt's co-owner Amo Racing. Meanwhile, Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio), winner of the Albany S., raced initially in the colours of her breeder Annemarie O'Brien before being sold privately to her American syndicate of owners after winning on debut.

The Arrival of Wathnan Racing

By far the biggest splash on the recent transaction front, however, was made by Wathnan Racing, whose presence on the main stage at Royal Ascot was almost as noteworthy as Elton John's farewell (of sorts) at Glastonbury.

The name Wathnan Racing, which was revealed last week as being owned by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, first appeared in sales results at last year's Horses-in-Training Sale at Tattersalls. The operation's Australian advisor Olly Tait spent 1.75 million gns on nine horses, including Bolthole (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}). Now four, he was subsequently twice placed for Alban de Mieulle in Doha before winning two Listed races in France in the last month, including on Saturday at Compiegne.

The most expensive of that set of horses was Inverness (Ire) (Highland Reel {Ire}), at 380,000gns, and he got off on the right foot for his new owner when winning the Khor Al Adaid Cup, a local Group 3 in Qatar, from Hamaki (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), who was bought at the same time for 260,000gns. They too are with the French-born, Qatar-based trainer de Mieulle, who has now raced seven of the nine bought at Tattersalls.

The mutterings are that Wathnan Racing has intentions of major expansion. If that is indeed the case, then that aim will likely have been reinforced by two sparkling results at the royal meeting, ably assisted by John and Thady Gosden and Frankie Dettori. 

After the win of Gregory (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) in the G2 Queen's Vase on Wednesday, the identity of the main man behind Wathnan Racing was still being guarded. By Thursday, however, when Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) leapt from being a talented handicap winner to a Gold Cup hero on just his fourth start, it was clear that the horses' ownership could not remain under the radar.

With the help of agent Richard Brown and Tait, the Emir of Qatar has secured arguably the two best staying prospects in Britain who achieved the quite remarkable feat of each winning a major group race at Royal Ascot on their first start in the Wathnan Racing colours.

Gregory and Courage Mon Ami were bought respectively from their breeders Philippa Cooper and Anthony Oppenheimer. Courage Mon Ami was gelded over the winter, and Oppenheimer confided at Ascot that at one stage he had considered retiring him unraced because he was so big. Thankfully, his patience prevailed, and the staying division has a potential new superstar in its midst. 

It is of course encouraging to witness the emergence of a major new overseas owner wanting to race horses of this profile. In Courage Mon Ami's case, no stallion career beckons for him, and even the hugely progressive Gregory, who is being aimed at the St Leger, is, sadly, of lesser appeal to commercial stallion farms and was thus perhaps a little easier to buy than a horse of a similar level racing over shorter distances. 

What could become a concern for European nations in the longer term, particularly Britain with its relative paucity of prize-money, is how much the expanding racing programmes in the Middle East will have an effect on field sizes and the general quality of racing.

It is nothing new to see strong participation from a range of Qatari owners at the European sales. The Emir's brother Sheikh Joaan Al Thani established the largely French-based Al Shaqab Racing just over a decade ago, and has been represented by the likes of Treve (Fr), Galileo Gold (GB), Shalaa (Ire) and Toronado (Ire). Their cousin Sheikh Fahad was the trailblazer for the family in Britain, and has an increasing interest in America, through his Qatar Racing operation. The 2011 Melbourne Cup victory of Dunaden (Fr), when the sheikh was still racing under the Pearl Bloodstock banner, can be credited as a major driver for his own expansion, which has included significant sponsorship through QIPCO of the British Champions Series and British Horseracing Hall of Fame. In France, the Arc meeting and the Prix du Jockey Club are both sponsored by Sheikh Joaan under the name of Qatar.

In recent years, Saudi Arabian owners have become more prolific buyers at the horses-in-training sales and it is easy to see that this will only increase given the expansion of the racing programme and boost to prize-money on offer in Riyadh and Ta'if, coupled with a small domestic breeding programme.

Dubai was of course the forerunner in the Gulf region when it came to establishing a major international race day that morphed into a carnival. The inaugural Dubai World Cup was run in 1996 with a line-up of horses from America, Australia, Britain, and Japan, as well as three trained by Saeed Bin Suroor. It took Dubai's neighbours several decades to attempt to catch up, with the Saudi Cup launched in 2020 and with $20 million in prize-money for that race alone, overshadowing the $12 million on offer in the Dubai World Cup.

With its Emir's Trophy meeting primarily, Qatar also launched a bid to attract international runners to Al Rayyan racecourse in Doha, though this hasn't really caught on in the same way. Meanwhile, Bahrain launched its own Turf Series in 2021 with a specific aim of luring overseas runners, and has ambitions to add to the limited number of pattern races currently run on the island, headed by the G3 Bahrain International Trophy. Members of Bahrain's ruling family have also become more prominent as owners in Britain in recent seasons, with St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov (GB) and G2 Mill Reef S. winner Sakheer (Ire) representing Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa's KHK Racing, while last week's G1 King's Stand S. winner Bradsell (GB) runs for his brother Shaikh Nasser's Victorious Racing. Both operations have been active at the top end of the breeze-up and yearling sales, while Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, chairman of Bahrain's Rashid Equestrian and Horse Racing Club, is the co-owner/breeder with Shaikh Abdullah bin Isa Al Khalifa of last season's G1 Fillies' Mile winner Commissioning (GB).

With various members of Dubai's Al Maktoum family and Saudi's Prince Khalid Abdullah having had long established ties to Europe and beyond as the heads of significant owner-breeder operations, Arab participation in world racing is nothing new. What is new, however, is the establishment of a significant Gulf season with a more joined-up feel, starting in Bahrain in November and with lucrative meetings in Dubai, Saudi and Qatar through to the end of March. This will not only draw more foreign-trained runners with the promise of big purses, but will almost certainly mean that more horses than ever are bought at horses-in-training sales from outside that region and exported permanently, a situation that can only exacerbate the issue of dwindling field sizes in Britain.

To say change is coming is to overlook the fact that the racing and bloodstock scene is permanently evolving. What hasn't changed is the allure of Royal Ascot, the crown jewels of British racing, with its irrepressible pulling power. Similarly precious jewels, however, are the horses at the core of this event, or more pertinently, their bloodlines. Lessons should be learned from other European neighbours with dwindling broodmare bands and fewer top-class races, that there is long-term pain to be had from the short-term gain of selling off too many prized assets.

 

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Valiant Force Sets Sights on Breeders’ Cup

Amo Racing's longshot G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) will target the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, trainer Adrian Murray revealed. The colt has already secured a spot in the starting gate at Santa Anita Park in California on Nov. 3 as the race was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series qualifier for the Future Stars Friday card.

“He's probably going to be aimed at the Breeders' Cup now in November,” Murray said. “He will more than likely run before then but having talked to the owner he is keen to go there, so that will be our big target for him.

“He's a horse with a lot of speed, so I would say we will stick to five furlongs for the time being.”

Murray sent out three runners during the Royal Ascot meeting, including Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who was third in the G2 Coventry S. He is also owned by Amo Racing.

“He's a really nice horse and I think he's going to be a really good horse down the road, there's lots of improvement to come from him yet,” Murray said. “He might go for a Group One at the Curragh, but we will need to sit down and have a discussion. He's entered for a couple of Group Ones but it might be the Phoenix Stakes for him. He's entered in all the good races anyway, but we're not going to rush him though.”

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