H.H. Aga Khan
Tarnawa (Ire), 2016 f. by Shamardal out of Tarana, by Cape Cross
TARNAWA, having doubled her Group 1 tally when she won the Prix de l’Opera on Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp, brought her season to a fitting climax with victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs. Prior to these victories she won the Prix Vermeille for her owner-breeder, His Highness the Aga Khan.
Last year the Dermot Weld-trained Tarnawa won the Group 2 Blandford Stakes, and she has also been successful in three Group 3 races. Winner of more than €2.4 million, Tarnawa stays in training in 2021, which is very welcome news.
Tarnawa is the first foal of Tarana who won a Moyglare Stud-sponsored maiden over a mile at two, was runner-up in the Listed Trigo Stakes at three and, kept in training with John Oxx at four,justified the decision with victories in listed races at Galway and Limerick. This year Tarana was covered by Frankel and she has a filly foal by Siyouni who stands at the Aga Khan Studs in France.
Tarana is a daughter of the Listed Galtres Stakes winner Tarakala and the best of her four winners, while Tarakala herself was the best of nine winners from her dam Tarakana who was runner-up at Galway in the listed race won by her granddaughter. This is a family that has a long association with the Aga Khan, while some branches have produced the likes of Group 1 winners Damson and Gilt Edge Girl for others.
Jim Bolger
Twilight Payment (Ire), 2013 g. by Teofilo out of Dream On Buddy, by Oasis Dream
TWICE winner of the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year, Jim Bolger is in contention again. This time it is with Twilight Payment who won the Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup.
In winning the race he provided Jim Bolger, still a part-owner, with a third Group 1 winner in just over a week as a breeder, following victories for juveniles Mac Swiney and Gear Up.
This latest success was an eighth for Twilight Payment, his first at Group 1 level, and brought his winnings to a staggering €3.2 million. Twice a Group 2 winner, Twilight Payment was bred by Bolger from Dream On Buddy, a half-sister to Banimpire whom Bolger bought as a yearling for just €52,000, won the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes with and sold for €2,300,000 as a three-year-old in 2011.
The week after selling Banimpire, Bolger reinvested some of his takings when paying 240,000gns for Dream On Buddy.
Dream On Buddy won a couple of races when trained by Barry Hills and is one of five winners from My Renee. That filly was bought as a yearling by Miss Pat O’Kelly and she won listed races at Ascot and Cork and was group-placed. She was the best of seven winners from the unraced Mayenne, a half-sister to Carnegie, winner as a three-year-old of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. In landing the Arc, Carnegie emulated a feat also achieved by his dam Detroit.
Aidan And Annemarie O’Brien, Whisperview Trading Ltd
Order Of Australia (Ire), 2017 c. by Australia out of Senta’s Dream, by Danehill
A WINNER at Dundalk and the Curragh, Order Of Australia was a rank outsider for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile. He only got into the race at the last minute, and had never finished in the first three in a stakes race. As the field flashed past the winning post he led home a 1-2-3 for Ballydoyle.
There was double delight for his trainer Aidan O’Brien and Annemarie as they bred the colt who is out of the unraced Senta’s Dream, and continued an amazing run of success for her breeders at the top level of racing. Picked up for a mere 14,000gns as an in-foal broodmare, Senta’s Dream is now the dam of two Breeders’ Cup winners.
Last year her daughter Iridessa added the Filly and Mare Turf to victories in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile Stakes, Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes and Group 1 Matron Stakes.
Order Of Australia and Iridessa are two of the five winners to date for their dam and the future looks bright for their two-year-old Camelot half-sister Santa Barbara. She was an impressive winner of her only start at the Curragh in late September and is one to watch for 2021.
Senta’s Dream is a daughter of the outstanding racemare Starine. Successful at listed level in her native France, Starine transformed herself when sent to the USA where her victories included the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.
John O’Connor, Ballylinch Stud and Ecurie Des Charmes
Aunt Pearl (Ire), 2018 f. by Lope De Vega out of Matauri Pearl, by Hurricane Run
AUNT Pearl put the Irish breeding sector centre stage when she led home an Irish 1-2-3-4 in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Bred in partnership by Ecurie des Charmes and Ballylinch Stud, she is a daughter of the latter’s outstanding stallion Lope De Vega. Her victory made her the 12th Group/Grade 1 winning son or daughter of the dual classic winner.
Aunt Pearl sold for 280,000gns as a yearling and she prefaced her latest win with success in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes. Unbeaten in three starts, Aunt Pearl is the second foal and winner for her dam Matauri Pearl who was crowned the champion three-year-old filly in Scandinavia where her four victories included the Norwegian 1000 Guineas. That is not a blacktype race but she was runner-up in a couple of listed races. Having been sold as a yearling at Arqana for €52,000, she went back carrying her first foal and sold for €400,000.
This huge increase in her value was helped by the emergence in 2015 of Matauri Pearl’s full-sister Wekeela who won the Group 3 Prix Chloe that year and ran second in the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary. At the Arc Sale Wekeela sold for €1.1 million and went to race in the USA.
There she was a Grade 3 winner and came close twice to landing an elusive Grade 1, settling for second-best in both the Gamely Stakes and the Jenny Wiley Stakes. Wekeela sold three years ago to David Redvers for 1,800,000gns.