Vandeek Heads KHK Racing’s Class of 2024

Chris Wall, racing manager for owners KHK Racing, has issued a positive bulletin on last year's star juvenile Vandeek (GB) and dual Classic winner Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) as the countdown continues to the start of the Flat season on turf.

The yellow-and-black-striped colours of KHK Racing have been carried to notable success since they first appeared on British racecourses in 2020 and the latest campaign was arguably the operation's best yet following the emergence of the unbeaten Vandeek, who proved himself a high-class sprinting two-year-old for Simon and Ed Crisford when signing off with back-to-back Group 1 victories in the Prix Morny at Deauville and Middle Park S. at Newmarket.

By Havana Grey (GB) and out of a mare who raced exclusively at five furlongs, Vandeek looked all speed in his four starts as a juvenile and his connections have no plans to step him up in trip for a tilt at the G1 2,000 Guineas, with all roads instead leading to the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot on Friday, June 21.

“Vandeek has wintered well so far and everybody is very happy with him,” Wall said of the exciting colt. “He's just started cantering away and the Sandy Lane at Haydock [on Saturday, May 25] is hopefully where we'll make our seasonal debut en route to the Commonwealth Cup. It's so far so good and hopefully the old British weather won't interfere too much with him.

“It's exciting and hopefully he can build on what he achieved last year. You'd be thinking that he'd be capable of doing that looking at the type of horse he is. Physically, you'd be expecting him to strengthen and improve as a three-year-old, so we'll hope that proves to be the case.”

Vandeek's big target in the first part of the season, the Commonwealth Cup, was in the news on Tuesday when it was announced that the Group 1 event was in danger of being downgraded in 2025, depending on its performance this year.

Wall, who retired from the training ranks in 2022 after 36 years in that career, was clearly taken aback by the news as he said, “I would be very surprised if that was to be demoted. All races have cycles and some years where they perform better than others. I would have thought overall that the Commonwealth Cup has performed very well. I can't believe that it would be demoted just yet.

“I was on the racing committee when I was still training, back in the day when that [the introduction of the Commonwealth Cup] was actioned, and we always thought it was a positive move. It hasn't been going that long, but it's had some pretty good winners in that time. You can't take too short-term a view of a race like that, you've got to give it time to work. I think it's worked well so far and I was very surprised to hear that they were thinking of demoting it.”

One of the leading contenders for the 2023 running of the Commonwealth Cup was KHK Racing's Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), who failed to meet expectations in the race itself and hasn't been seen in competitive action since.

An emphatic winner of the G2 Mill Reef S. at Newbury as a two-year-old, Sakheer has stayed in training with Roger Varian according to Wall, who is hopeful that the team's patient approach will pay off when the colt returns to the track in 2024.

“Sakheer just wasn't thriving last year,” said Wall. “The couple of runs he had were disappointing to say the least. We gave him a break after Ascot and tried to get him ready for an autumn campaign, but he still wasn't thriving. We couldn't find anything amiss, so we decided we'd give him time and freshen him up.

“He's done well physically and another one who has strengthened and put on weight. He looks very well, but we haven't decided yet where he might go. To start with we need to get him back on the track and performing well. Then we can develop a plan from there.”

More concrete plans are in place for fellow Varian trainee Eldar Eldarov, who has been a terrific servant to his connections having won the G1 St Leger at Doncaster in 2022 before doubling his top-level tally with victory in last year's Irish equivalent.

Eldar Eldarov has been off the track since that success at the Curragh in September, but that has all been part of the plan, reported Wall, as the five-year-old gears up for a potential trip to Dubai next month.

“Eldar Eldarov has done very well this winter and put on a lot of weight,” said Wall. “If he's performing well enough at home he may well go for the Dubai Gold Cup on World Cup night. If the weather interferes and we can't get him ready for that, then he'd make his debut like last year in the Yorkshire Cup.

“There was nothing wrong with him [after the Irish St Leger]. We had pretty terrible ground everywhere and Roger Varian took the view that the horse's optimum trip is a mile and six furlongs. Although he stays two miles, he's probably better at a slightly shorter trip. The only other race he could have run in was the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day, but that was always going to be very testing ground.

“We thought if we were going to have him ready for Dubai it made sense for him to have his break a bit earlier, so that he could come into training earlier in the year to get him fit enough for that, if everything goes right.”

Away from the well-established names in the KHK Racing ranks, My Cloud (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) and True Cyan (Ire) (No Nay Never) also came in for a positive mention from Wall, both three-year-olds who showed plenty of ability on their respective debuts.

True Cyan looks set to step up in grade having impressed when beating a pair of next-time-out winners at Newmarket in September, while My Cloud–a half-brother to the multiple Group 1-winning miler Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB})–was beaten only narrowly when having his first start at Newcastle earlier this week.

“We'll probably start her off in one of the Classic trials if all is well,” Wall said of True Cyan. “We'll see what that tells us. She did win well on debut and she's a filly who, physically, you'd expect her to be a better three-year-old. She remains an exciting prospect and all the reports so far are positive.

“My Cloud did everything right at Newcastle bar getting the win. It was just his lack of experience which got him beaten. He came to win his race and when he was challenged he had no idea what was expected of him until the penny dropped a bit too late.

“He remains a nice prospect and he's clearly got talent. He's a big horse and you'd expect him to improve through this year. I think Roger may not throw too much at him early on, but we'll see what he can do, how he progresses, and work a plan out as we go.”

The KHK Racing team earned total prize-money of £685,623 in Britain last year and that came from only 17 individual horses who carried their colours on the racecourse. Wall confirmed that there is no plan to massively expand their boutique team for 2024, preferring to focus on quality over quantity.

“I don't think KHK is ever going to be about large numbers,” said Wall. “I think we'll probably be around the 20-mark for horses this year and I'm sure that Shaikh Khalid [bin Hamad Al Khalifa] will be wanting to restock at the breeze-ups where he's had quite a bit of success in the past.

“We have a nice, exciting team and one or two horses still to run who are three-year-olds now and well-bred. You never know whether something might pop up out of those as well. It's an exciting time and we've got some nice horses to go to war with.”

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Justify’s City Of Troy Tops 2YO Classification

Aidan O'Brien hailed City Of Troy as the most exciting two-year-old he's trained as the son of Justify was named Europe's champion juvenile for 2023 when the classification was released on Tuesday. He becomes the 13th European champion two-year-old to have been trained by O'Brien, with only Johannesburg (126) achieving a higher rating among the previous 12.

A Coolmore homebred out of the G1 Fillies' Mile winner Together Forever (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), City Of Troy went unbeaten in three starts as a two-year-old, culminating with a dominant display when winning the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket by three and a half lengths. It was that effort which earned him his rating of 125, five pounds clear of the next best juvenile, G1 Phoenix S. winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

“We've probably never had a horse as exciting as City Of Troy as a two-year-old,” said O'Brien. “I suppose from the first time he ran he looked like he was something different. What makes him different is the tempo he's able to go in a race and then he just kicks into another gear at halfway.”

Noting the differences between City Of Troy and Johannesburg, O'Brien added, “Johannesburg was more of a two-year-old. He was a small horse, but City Of Troy is a bigger horse with a massive, long stride. He looks like he'll have no problem going up in distance and he's a horse who should go forward from two to three.”

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) handicapper Mark Bird said of the champion juvenile, “City Of Troy proved himself the cream of the two-year-old crop in Europe with three impressive performances between July and October. His rating of 125 places him alongside high-class horses such as Zafonic and Fasliyev at the same stage of their careers and behind only four-time Group 1-winning juvenile Johannesburg (126) among his own stable's illustrious roll call of European champion two-year-olds.”

Two of the top four colts were trained at Ballydoyle by O'Brien. Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was just behind Adrian Murray's Bucanero Fuerte with a rating of 119 having emulated City Of Troy by winning each of his three starts as a two-year-old, including an impressive five-length victory in the G1 National S. at the Curragh. He looks another leading Classic contender for his stable as a three-year-old, with a trip to France reportedly first on the agenda.

O'Brien said, “Obviously it can all change, but we're thinking of starting City Of Troy at Newmarket [in the G1 2000 Guineas] and we're thinking of maybe starting Henry Longfellow in France [in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains].”

G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. winner Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) was ranked joint-third with Henry Longfellow. He also emerged as the best of the British-based two-year-olds ahead of three other top-level winners, namely Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}), who earned a rating of 117 for his victory in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp; Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), rated 116 after her win in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. at the Curragh; and Ancient Wisdom (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was awarded a rating of 115 after his wins in the G3 Autumn S. at Newmarket and G1 Futurity Trophy at Doncaster.

Fallen Angel was rated highest of all juvenile fillies trained in Britain, but she had to settle for the runner-up spot in Europe behind the 118-rated Opera Singer (Justify), the emphatic winner of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac on whom O'Brien also issued a positive bulletin ahead of her three-year-old campaign.

“Opera Singer was a filly who improved with every run as the year went on and she got better as she went up in trip,” said O'Brien. “We were very happy with her last two runs and we haven't seen the best of her at all. She's done well physically and we're thinking she'll probably start in the G1 1000 Guineas.”

The 114-rated Ramatuelle, another daughter of Justify, was the standout two-year-old of either sex in France having won three of her first four starts for Christopher Head, including the G2 Prix Robert Papin at Chantilly by four lengths, before being narrowly beaten by Vandeek when stepping up to the top level in the Prix Morny at Deauville. The 113-rated Vespertilio (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), runner-up to Fallen Angel in the Moyglare, and G1 Fillies' Mile winner Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}), rated 112, were the pick of the other juvenile fillies in Europe.

The Breeders' Cup was a happy hunting ground for the European raiders, with Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett) and Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point) both achieving notable ratings in winning the G1 Juvenile Turf and G1 Juvenile Turf Sprint respectively. With a rating of 114, Unquestionable shares joint-ninth with Dewhurst runner-up Alyanaabi (Ire) (Too Darn Hot) and Ramatuelle, while Big Evs sits just outside the top ten on 113, together with G2 Champagne S. winner Iberian (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), G1 Criterium International hero Sunway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}) and Vespertilio.

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Unbeaten Star Vandeek Could Return In Sandy Lane

Smart juvenile Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who races for KHK Racing, Ltd. is likely to make his 3-year-old debut in the G2 Sandy Lane S. in May, according to co-trainer Simon Crisford.

A multiple Group 1 winner in 2023, the colt won the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. in August and September, respectively.

“He's looking super, he's trotting and we'll probably start him off in the Sandy Lane at Haydock at the end of May,” Simon Crisford told ITV Racing. “One run before Royal Ascot.

“Commonwealth, July Cups–those sort of races we've got up our sleeve. The idea of not starting off in the Pavilion [S., at Ascot] is we'd have to start training him a month earlier. Quite frankly, with the weather we've got at the moment, we're wrapping him up in big, thick blankets.”

Besides his Group 1 exploits, the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained grey was a debut winner at Nottingham last July and added the G2 Richmond S. at second asking at the beginning of August prior to his Group 1 exploits. He is unbeaten in four starts to date.

He added, “He was a little bit on the leg as a 2-year-old. He was tall and lanky and never really looked like a sprinter physically. But now he's beginning to take shape as a sprinter. His temperament is great and there's so much to love about him.

“He's done exceptionally well over the winter and fingers crossed he's got a big season ahead.”

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Tattersalls December Yearling Sale Catalogue Now Online

The catalogue for the 2023 Tattersalls December Yearling Sale, set to be held Monday, Nov. 27, is out and can be viewed online. A total of 188 lots are set to sell over the one-day sale that immediately precedes the December Foal Sale, which will take place from Tuesday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Dec. 2.

Last year's sale produced a number of standouts, including dual Group 1 winning 2-year-old Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) and G1 Pretty Polly S. winner Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Ire}), purchased for 42,000gns and 5,000gns, respectively.

Overall this year there are own or half-brothers and sisters to 41 Group and Listed winners catalogued and 27 yearlings out of Group and Listed-winning dams, including five Classic/Group 1 winners and the last yearling by the late Galileo (Ire) (lot 171) to sell at public auction.

Also among the offerings this year are 11 yearlings eligible for the £25,000 Tattersalls October Book 1 Bonus Scheme, which will increase from £20,000 to £25,000 in 2024, and 18 yearlings eligible for the £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction S., as well as four yearlings eligible for the €250,000 Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction S. The catalogue also features 26 fillies already entered for the Great British Bonus and one lot qualified for French Owners' Premiums.

Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony said, “This year's catalogue has an abundance of quality, including the last ever yearling by the incomparable Galileo to be offered at public auction, as well as a large number of yearlings eligible for lucrative £25,000 Tattersalls October Book 1 Bonuses, the ever-popular £150,000 Tattersalls October Auction Stakes, and the well-established Great British Bonuses.”

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