Tag: Whitsbury Manor Stud

Seven Days: Bring on the Classic Trials 

I love Paris in the springtime, sang Ella Fitzgerald, and I'm pretty sure it was a thinly-veiled reference to her secret passion for heavy ground three-year-old maidens at Saint-Cloud.

What Classic clues may we glean there? Well, maybe none. But I liked the look of Narkez (Fr), who gave his rivals a six-length walloping in the Prix Comrade last Tuesday, picking up where he left off after winning at Clairefontaine last October. Bred by Nurlan Bizakov under his Sumbe banner, the colt represents that magic Siyouni (Fr)-Galileo (Ire) cross, though let's face it, Galileo mares work well all over the place. Narkez, trained by Andre Fabre, has helped to give his owner a great start to the season following the Listed win of Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the Doncaster Mile. 

One person who is entitled to love Siyouni more than most is Peter Brant, who celebrated his first European Classic victory when Sottsass (Fr) won the Prix du Jockey Club before going on to deliver the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for Brant as well. We're looking forward to seeing his first runners emerge this season, but in the meantime Brant looks to have another decent prospect by Siyouni on his hands in the form of Louise Procter (Fr). Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, she became the second TDN Rising Star of the week for her sire when remaining unbeaten in her third start in the Prix du Belvedere at Chantilly on Thursday. She looks smart and has the entries to match. 

Making Dreams (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) kept up her trainer Karl Burke's great strike-rate in French stakes races by winning the G3 Prix Penelope by six lengths on her seasonal debut at Saint-Cloud. She is another who should enter considerations for the Classics, as should the Prix Caracalla winner Mister Gatz (Fr), who was born in the spring in which his sire Adlerflug (Ger) died. The flashy chestnut colt was somewhat reminiscent of his father as he bowled around the lush Parisian turf looking like he was having a mighty time before putting his head down to stride clear of the field by five lengths. Trained in Deauville by Stephanie Nigge for a collection of owners which includes his breeder Mathieu Boutin and Gerard Augustin-Normand, Mister Gatz holds an entry for the Deutsches Derby. 

O'Shea Shines on Dubai's Big Day

Of course last week, or more specifically Saturday, was really all about the Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan which could certainly be considered a triumph for internationalism. The trophies for the eight Group races were shared between horses trained in America, Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Britain and Dubai (x2).

It was also a great advertisement for keeping classy horses in training beyond the age of three. The winners of the five Group 1 contests were aged between five and seven, with Jerome Reynier's Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval (Ire) (Ribchester {Ire}) being the youngest of those, and the wide-margin Golden Shaheen winner, the former Russian-trained Tuz (Oxbow), enjoying his finest hour as a seven-year-old on his fourth appearance on Dubai World Cup night. 

Tuz and the Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River (Into Mischief) won their races in a manner which must still have their trainer Bhupat Seemar and jockey Tadhg O'Shea blinking in disbelief. By six and a half and eight and a half lengths respectively, they each set a new record for the winning distance, with Laurel River, who broke from the outside gate, overturning that held by Dubai Millennium (GB) for 24 years. 

O'Shea, now 42, has been champion jockey in the UAE 11 times and he is in pole position to claim his 12th title this season. But despite that consistent success, the Irishman had a sole Group 1 victory to his name until Saturday.

A modest and loyal grafter, O'Shea praised Laurel River's owner Juddmonte for keeping him on the horse, saying, “They could have any jockey in the world on him and they kept the faith with me. I'll be forever indebted to them.”

Juddmonte didn't need any other jockey to claim a second Dubai World Cup after Arrogate's victory in 2017. O'Shea, bold from the outset from the number 12 stall, simply rode his rivals ragged and very much deserved his night in the spotlight. 

The Auguste Enigma

The last three winners of the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) were all in action over the weekend, with Shahryar (Jpn) a good second in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, which also featured the last two Japanese Oaks winners Liberty Island (Jpn) and Stars On Earth (Jpn), while Do Deuce (Jpn) was not beaten far when fifth in the G1 Dubai Turf. Lest we think that Japan is completely depleted of its best runners during the big meetings in the Middle East, then look no further than Sunday's G1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin. It featured last year's Japanese Derby and 2,000 Guineas winners, Tastiera (Jpn) and Sol Oriens (Jpn), along with Geoglyph (Jpn), who beat Equinox (Jpn) to win the Guineas in 2022, and the G1 Shuka Sho winner of that same year, Stunning Rose (Jpn).

So much of the Sheema Classic build-up had centred on the clash between Liberty Island and Auguste Rodin (Ire), but the latter, who won last year's Derby and Irish Derby before going on to land the Irish Champion and Breeders' Cup Turf, added to his enigmatic status by finishing last of the 12 runners. 

Don't despair. When 12th in the Guineas on debut last season, Auguste Rodin bounced back to win at Epsom, and he put his last-place finish in the King George behind him to triumph next time out on Irish Champions Weekend. This column, at least, still holds the faith that when he's good, he's very, very good. 

Epsom's honour was however upheld in Sydney over the weekend, where the 2020 Derby winner Serpentine (Ire) claimed his second consecutive stakes win for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott in the G3 Neville Selwood S. 

It's Whitsbury's World

It is important not to get too carried away with the early two-year-old races. Despite the annual hullabaloo over Royal Ascot, nothing really matters until the autumn, right? But it's impossible not to watch the early skirmishes with interest and Whitsbury Manor Stud's Sergei Prokofiev was represented by his second winner from just two runners when Flicka's Girl triumphed at Wolverhampton on Easter Monday. The David Loughnane-trained filly was also bred by Whitsbury Manor and sold, as is the stud's usual practice, at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale for 22,000gns.

Britain's other juvenile race on Monday over at Kempton went the way of Pont Neuf (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), a winner on debut for Eve Johnston Houghton, who also struck with the two-year-old Tanager (GB) (Havana Gold {Ire}) at Chelmsford on Good Friday. 

The trainer has a well established partnership with bloodstock agent Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock when it comes to working the sales and the pair has once again unearthed a couple of useful looking prospects for 24,000gns (Tattersalls Somerville) and €22,000 (Tattersalls Ireland) respectively.

Johnson Houghton has made a flying start to the new season with four winners and three placed horses from nine runners since the official 'start of the Flat'.

Jack Came Back

It was announced last week that Ben Curtis, who was been riding at Fair Grounds in New Orleans over the winter, would remain in America for “the foreseeable future” after riding 43 winners and netting more than $1.5 million in prize-money.

Last September, Curtis had ridden his 1,000th winner aboard Merrijig (GB) (Schiaparelli {Ger}) and as that horse resumed on Good Friday, the absent Curtis was replaced in the saddle by Jack Gilligan, who has recently returned after a decade in the US and now has Curtis's former agent Simon Dodds representing him.

Merrijig was the first of two winners for Gilligan from three rides on Good Friday, and the jockey struck again 24 hours later on his sole ride at Wolverhampton. 

Not to be confused with the Irish conditional of the same name, Gilligan was born in Newmarket but left Britain at the age of 17 with his parents Pat, a racing writer and trainer, and Vicky, a barn foreman at WinStar Farm. With more than 400 wins in America, including two Grade III victories aboard Silver Dust (Tapit), he has been making the most of the opportunities handed to him since returning to his home town.

There are not many names in the jockeys' table with a better strike-rate than Gilligan so far this year. He is currently operating at 20% winners to rides. Backing all of his 45 mounts would have yielded a profit of almost £43 to a £1 stake.

Pecheur Swaps Roles for Rottgen

German Classic-winning jockey Maxim Pecheur retired at the end of last season to succeed Markus Klug as the trainer at Gestut Rottgen near Cologne. He had previously ridden Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) in the famous Rottgen colours to win the 2017 G1 Deutsches Derby. The colt was trained by Klug, as was Pecheur's G1 Preis der Diana winner, Diamanta (Ger) (Maxios {GB}), for Gestut Brummerhof. 

Pecheur is clearly adjusting well to his new role at the historic training centre and he could well have a Derby contender of his own this year after his first runner, Anspruch (Ger) (New Bay {GB}), won on debut at Cologne on Monday. The Rottgen-bred colt is out of the Group 3 winner Anna Katharina (Ger) (Kallisto {Ger}).

 

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Freshman Sergei Prokofiev Off The Mark In Curragh Opener

Monday's curtain-raising Curragh card saw Whitsbury Manor Stud's first-season sire Sergei Prokofiev register his opening salvo as his son Arizona Blaze (GB) captured the five-furlong Castle Star And Alkumait At Capital Stud Irish EBF Maiden. Representing AMO Racing Limited and Giselle De Aguiar and the Adrian Murray stable, the £82,000 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale graduate was always on the sharp end under David Egan. Asserting from Rowdy Yeats (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) inside the final furlong, the 5-4 favourite eked out a professional 1 1/4-length success.

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Kelly Thomas Q&A: ‘Some Breeders Have Told Me That I Am Their Inspiration’

Kelly Thomas enjoyed a banner year with Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who she bred at her Maywood Stud, going unbeaten in a spellbinding two-year-old campaign that featured Group 1 wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park S. 

In this week's Q&A, Thomas revealed how some people in the industry have shared with her that she has become an inspiration for smaller breeders. She also lifted the lid on her own hopes and dreams for Vandeek this season and explained her philosophy to breeding. 

You have had lots to dream about over the past few months. Where is the ceiling with Vandeek?

Gosh, who knows? Everybody is excited about what could be. What he has shown so far, if he can carry on the same trajectory for a little bit longer, you don't know where he will end up. 

In your heart of hearts, could you see him staying a mile or is he pure unbridled speed?

I think that, if a race was run to suit, the mile wouldn't bother him. If he is dilly-dallying at the back, he's not going to waste an ounce of energy and, then if it came down to a turn of foot at the end, you could almost see him doing it. He's a tall horse, has a really good stride and he relaxes in his races so I suppose you could say, from that perspective, he might be able to do it. His grandmother won over a mile in France so it's in the pedigree. But, what's he best at? Probably the distance he has been racing at, which is over six furlongs. 

There's nothing wrong with fast horses.

There's not. I like speed horses and that excites us. It seems to be what we have managed to do quite well with over the years so we stick to it. That's not to say we don't look outside the box as well when it comes to stallion choices and to buying mares. But speed is generally the way we tend to go and we try to breed commercially as well. You need to be able to bring something to the sales that will be attractive to buyers; something that is precocious, early and fast. That's the way we have been heading. 

The big thing I would say about your success story with Vandeek is that it would have given a lot of smaller breeders huge encouragement to keep going despite what was a very difficult year.

Absolutely. I've had so many text messages and phone calls from some people that I have never even met before. Some people have told me that I am their inspiration! All I could say, was, 'thank you very much.' It definitely has given a lot of people hope. But it's very difficult. Financially, it's a hard thing to do. We do all of the work ourselves and it's only recently that I have managed to get somebody in to help with the mucking out on the days that I am not here. That will help to take the pressure off my husband a little bit. We've always done it on a bit of a shoe-string. I did my Masters in Equine Science and I tend to draw on that knowledge a lot as well. I think it helps in keeping horses healthy and in their best condition which, in the long run, makes them more efficient. The biggest gamble you are ever going to take in this industry is breeding because you never know what you are going to get. If you are lucky, you get a nice foal but, if you are unlucky, you might get something that won't even make it through the sales ring. My Dad is in a different business to us and often says that this is the only profession where, often the product you produce might not be worth what went into producing it. That can put you in a very difficult position, especially if you have invested heavily. 

And given the current economic climate, have you made any changes to how you run your operation with regards to reinvesting in the broodmare band or maybe not putting some of your mares in foal?

We try to be economical and efficient in everything we do and we've never really spent a lot of money on stud fees. If we have wanted to use some of the more expensive stallions, we have tended to do foal shares. But, with regards to covering and not covering mares, when you only have five mares like we do, you have to keep plugging away. If you don't breed anything you don't have a chance of making any money. You have to keep the wheel turning otherwise you will have nothing to sell. If you were to leave one mare off for a year, you are guaranteed that one of the mares you did choose to breed from won't go in foal, so then there's two mares who aren't producing for you in a year. 

And Mosa Mine (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), the dam of Vandeek, could be viewed as a triumph for perseverance with regards to giving your stud a major payday given her Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt sold to Coolmore Stud for 450,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale last year.

The triumph of that is for a little stud like ours to produce a horse that will be trained at Ballydoyle. I think that is amazing. For us to have a horse trained at Ballydoyle and the prospects of Vandeek becoming a stallion in the same year, it's a dream come true really. A result like that is nice because we can invest a bit into facilities and look at buying our next broodmare. I haven't really felt the rain on my back this winter. It does put a spiring in your step, that's for sure. 

Remind us how Mosa Mine joined your broodmare band?

We bred Mosa Mine to begin with. She was a beautiful foal; in fact, we named her Bonny because she was a bonny wee thing. It was back in the days when we had just moved to this property and we had no stables at the time. She was a May baby and we foaled her in the field because the weather was kind. We sold her as a yearling but she probably didn't reach her potential on the track. We loved her and decided that we wanted her back. We thought she wouldn't make much money at the horses-in-training sale, and she didn't [£800], so that was great for us. 

And what does the future hold for her?

She's not in foal at the moment but she is going back to Havana Grey (GB). It's kind of an obvious choice but then again, you think can lightning really strike twice? But it's a proven recipe at the highest level and Havana Grey seems to be progressing all the time so it suits. When you look at the other proven stallions, you could be looking at the likes of No Nay Never, which is at a much higher price and therefore we'd have to consider a foal share. With Havana Grey, we could possibly think of retaining the next filly out of the mare if we wanted to. 

I know you said that you have a penchant for speed but what sort of stallions are your mares in foal to?

We've got a sister to Mosa Mine by Compton Place (GB) and she is in foal to Twilight Son (GB). We've gone for speed there in the thinking that the progeny could end up becoming quite a nice breeze-up prospect as Twilight Son had quite a good time of it at the breeze-ups last year. The family is quick and it might just suit. Then we have a Medicean (GB) mare in foal to Masar (Ire), so that is something a bit different. But then again, Masar showed quite a bit of speed as a two-year-old as well, so that helps. She has already produced a lovely horse by Masar called Move On In (GB),  who is trained by Ralph Beckett, and it was off the back of him that we sent the mare back to the stallion. She had an Ardad (GB) in between and he's gone to breeze. We also have a mare in foal to Perfect Power (Ire), so speed again. We have done well with first-season sires in the past.

Could you put your philosophy towards breeding into words?

Wow. That is a tough one but you have to enjoy it. This doesn't feel like work to me. I might be mucking out all day long but it doesn't really feel like work. It's a lifestyle. You have to take the highs and the lows and you mustn't take the lows personally. If you talk to other breeders, everybody suffers the lows. Not everybody gets to enjoy the highs, but we all suffer the lows. When you get the highs, you have to enjoy them without looking at them like a pleasure plane. You have to do your best by your horses; look after them, keep them healthy and well fed. We've a good team of vets, farriers and local feed merchants and that all helps. Above all else, you need the help and support of your friends and family. When it comes to deciding on your stallions, you have to go with what you like, what you can afford and what you hope will work, and you must make your own decisions. When I first started, there were times when I took advice on stallion choices. If it didn't work out, then that person would get the blame and I don't like that. I'd prefer to live and die by my own decisions and remain positive. I'm an optimist at the end of the day.

It's a refreshing story, especially in a year where there was a lot of doom and gloom. And, who knows, maybe you can inspire one more breeder to keep going and maybe they will breed a champion like Vandeek.

You never can tell where the next one will come from. You are very lucky when it happens to you but, you must remember, you can breed the best to the best and get the worst. I was talking to John Deere before and he was explaining how, you put a bunch of genes from the stallion and the mare into a bucket and you take a handful of each and, what you're left  with, that's what you get. It's true, really, isn't it? In saying that, I have chosen the mares I want to breed from so it's not exactly random but, when you do put the ones you like together, there is no predicting what you might get.

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Chaldean Ushers in a New Age at Juddmonte

Outside the boxes of the foaling unit at Banstead Manor Stud are Juddmonte's versions of the blue plaques one sees across Britain on the former homes of famous people. Here, of course, the plaques are a subtle green, but when it comes to equine celebrities there can be no bigger name than Frankel (GB). 

He was born in one of the old brick boxes which should be granted special sporting heritage status on February 11, 2008. It is hard to believe that his 16th birthday is looming. Backing on to his foaling box is the one where Kingman (GB) entered the world, also in the month of February but three years later, and along the row is the birthplace of Dansili (GB), whose extraordinary mother Hasili (GB) is commemorated in bronze close to that illustrious foaling wing.

In almost every instance, the Juddmonte stallions go and then they come back to live across the vast expanse of lawn from where their lives began in the lavish yard that was built 100 years ago initially to house the 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner Manna (GB).

An outlier in this regard is this year's new recruit, another winner of the 2,000 Guineas, Chaldean (GB). Laying down an important marker as the first son of Frankel to retire to Banstead Manor, Chaldean was the result of a foal-share by Juddmonte with his breeders, the Harper family of Whitsbury Manor Stud. 

When the chestnut colt appeared at the December Foal Sale of 2020, the Juddmonte inspection team liked what they saw, so much so that Simon Mockridge duly bid 550,000gns to buy out the Harpers. It was a sound decision. 

Chaldean was still four days shy of his third birthday when he became a Classic winner. Still technically three, he now strides across the stallion yard like he owns the place: a proud, strong and correct young stallion. To the manner born, if not at the manor born.

As he struts his stuff before posing without the hint of a fidget, Chaldean already has the professionalism of a stallion who has been putting on such a show for years rather than months. He certainly looks the part, but then the big, bay head of his father appears over the door of his stable as if to remind us that so far the bragging rights are all his. 

One of the plaques at Banstead Manor Stud's foaling unit | Emma Berry

Frankel became the champion sire of Britain and Ireland for the second time in 2023. The Andrew Balding-trained Chaldean, who had also won the previous year's G1 Dewhurst S., just as his sire had done, was one of his 11 Group 1 winners. That list includes the Oaks winner Soul Sister (GB), Nashwa (GB), a Classic heroine herself a year earlier, and the brilliant six-time Group 1 winner Inspiral (GB). Remarkably, all three of those fillies reside in John and Thady Gosden's stable and have remained in training for the coming year.

Chaldean's dam Suelita (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) had already dropped hints that she was something a bit special when her first two foals, The Broghie Man (GB) (Cityscape {GB}) and Gloves Lynch (GB) (Mukhadram {GB}), each earned black type. Her record improved again when her fourth foal became the G2 Mill Reef S. winner Alkumait (GB), by Whitsbury Manor Stud's home stallion Showcasing (GB), who was himself bred by Juddmonte. Alkumait is now at Capital Stud in Ireland.

Then came Alkumait's full-sister Get Ahead (GB), a Listed winner who was runner-up in the G1 Flying Five S. last season before being bought by Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavey for 2.5 million gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. By then of course she was also a half-sister to a Classic winner. The next one to look out for, and once again in the Juddmonte silks, is the mare's two-year-old filly by Kingman (GB), who topped the foal sale of 2022 at a million gns. She has been named Kassaya (GB), after a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar II, one of the rulers of the Chaldean Empire. A classy touch by a classic operation.

Shane Horan, Juddmonte's nominations manager, says of Chaldean, “He put together a very good sequence of wins following his maiden. He won three very prestigious two-year-old races in the Acomb at York, the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster and the Dewhurst Stakes. The Dewhurst is obviously the crowning race of the year for the two-year-old season, and he won that in the second-fastest time ever. And straightaway we knew we had a stallion prospect, even just based on that.

“But then obviously he trained on as a three-year-old and won the 2,000 Guineas. That solidified his stallion career, and then with the credentials of being a son of Frankel out of a very fast mare who's a proven producer of fast two-year-olds and sprinters, we knew we had an exciting package to deal with.”

 

Horan recounts how the interest in Chaldean “snowballed” as breeders came to view him during the December Sales. 

“I think just going back to people remembering what he was like as a foal and the commercial breeders, they're trying to produce foals like that. If he can throw [foals] like himself, there's the precocity on his dam side. She is by Dutch Art out of a Green Desert mare, so there's a lot of speed there,” he says. 

Horan reflects on another stellar year for Chaldean's sire in 2023, which has been followed up at the start of this new year by Inspiral winning the Eclipse Award for the Top Female Turf Horse, and Measured Time (GB) becoming his latest big winner in the G1 Jebel Hatta last Friday.

“Frankel's first big son to stud was Cracksman,” Horan says. “And from his first crop, he gets an unbeaten French Derby and an Arc winner in Ace Impact. So that's very encouraging. And then throw in the fact that Chaldean was a very good two-year-old, and that's what people really want. So it is encouraging and fingers crossed.”

However much crossing of fingers takes place, it will all be up to the magic of genetics now. Chaldean will certainly be served up a decent book of mares, even considering the competition he faces for blue-blooded females from within his own stable yard.

He stands now in the box once occupied by Rainbow Quest, and he is the charge of Elliott Body, who proudly shows him off while vouching for how easy he has been to handle since his arrival at the stud late last year. 

Once stabled, Chaldean has to his right his own imposing father and the venerable Oasis Dream (GB), still covering at the age of 24 and with a record as both sire and broodmare sire that deserves plenty of respect. To his left is Bated Breath (GB), in the stable once occupied by his late sire Dansili and with a potentially big year ahead of him, and Kingman (GB), who is swiftly compiling his own solid line-up of sons at stud. 

The competition naturally continues beyond the walls of Banstead Manor, too. In Newmarket alone there are three new Group 1-winning sons of Frankel at stud this year – with Triple Time (GB) having joined Darley and Mostahdaf (Ire) at Shadwell – as well as Onesto (Ire), from one of Juddmonte's top families, in France. Farther afield, Adayar (Ire) and Westover (GB), have joined the stallion ranks in Japan, while Hurricane Lane (Ire) has a jumps berth in Ireland. 

It is too early to be talking about succession when it comes to Frankel: he's still king of the hill and likely to be for years. But often the heir comes from within, and Chaldean has plenty in his favour to give him a chance to succeed.

 

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