FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND is a sire whose successes worldwide are such that they probably make him more popular abroad than he sometimes is at home.

The now 22-year-old this year commanded the lowest fee he has ever stood for, €8,000 at Castle Hyde Stud, and this has generally been in decline, though with long periods of stability, since he retired to stand at Coolmore in 2005 at €25,000. He has sired Group 1 winners in France, Italy, Argentina and Australia, while the Group 1 Matron Stakes winner Chachamaidee is the only winner at that level that he has sired in Europe.

Last Sunday, Footstepsinthesand (Giant’s Causeway) sired a classic winner when Tomiko won the Oaks d’Italia-Tattersalls in Milan, though these days that race is a Group 2. Incredibly, this was a first win for the filly, though she was talented enough at two to finish second in a listed race, while she also placed at Group 3 level.

The high value of the Italian classic means that she has now amassed winnings of more than €220,000. This is a more than satisfactory return for the 20,000gns she cost bloodstock agent Marco Bozzi in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale two years ago.

Tomiko is stakes winner number 71 for Footstepsinthesand, the 2005 Group 1 2000 Guineas winner. She was bred at Awbeg Stud in Co Cork by Paddy Fleming, and I have written before about the successes the breeder has enjoyed, always from mares that were purchased at great value. The dam of Tomiko is a case in point.

Fleming paid 30,000gns for the unraced Testimony (Lawman) in 2027, carrying her first foal, the subsequent three-time winner Batraan (Camacho). Tomiko is her third produce and second winner, while she has a two-year-old Kodi Bear (Kodiac) filly and a yearling colt by Blue Point (Shamardal). The latter sold for €85,000 as a foal last year.

Added lustre

Since her purchase, Testimony’s half-brother Saltonstall (Pivotal) has added lustre to the family, the best of his 10 career wins coming at Naas where he won the Listed Glencairn Stakes. He is one of three winners from Macleya (Winged Love), another of which was Testimony’s full-sister Codicil (Lawman). She won four juvenile races from just six starts for her owner/breeders Cheveley Park Stud and trainer Sir Mark Prescott.

Macleya was a tough cookie, winning seven times in France and Germany. She was successful at up to Group 2 level in France when trained by André Fabre, landing the Prix de Pomone at Deauville with Group 1 winner Montare back in third place, and she was caught on the line and beaten a short neck in the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak. Two Group/Grade 1 winners have appeared under Tomiko’s third dam since Paddy Fleming made his purchase in 2017. Both are out of half-sisters to Macleya.

The stakes-placed Miramare (Rainbow Quest) is dam of Mare Australis (Australia), and he won the Group 1 Prix Ganay, while the unraced Mahendra (Next Desert) is responsible for Tribhuvan (Toronado). That gelding blossomed in the USA, where his victories included the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap, a race in which he was also second, and the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes.

Celtic Chieftain

As special as it is to breed a classic winner, even an Italian one, Paddy Fleming will have been even more excited about a maiden winner at Navan. Aidan O’Brien saddled Celtic Chieftain to win at the first time of asking in the Lynn Lodge Stud Irish EBF Maiden over five furlongs. It was an appropriate race for the son of No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) to win, as Lynn Lodge’s Eddie O’Leary bought the winner as a foal from Awbeg Stud for 280,000gns, and did well when selling him to M.V. Magnier and White Birch Farm as a yearling for 450,000gns.

This is another example of buying a mare well, and getting your money back quickly. Fleming spent 37,000gns for Southern Belle (Aqlaam) in 2018, carrying her first foal by Night Of Thunder (Dubawi). He sold the resulting colt as a foal for €135,000, he was named Janoodi and is now a dual winner. Lumacho (Camacho) followed, sold for 48,000gns as a yearling, and she won three times at two. Celtic Chieftain now maintains Southern Belle’s perfect record as a broodmare, and he is followed by a Starspangledbanner (Choisir) yearling colt.

Once again fate intervened for Fleming, when Southern Belle’s half-sister Bredenbury (Night Of Thunder) became a US stakes winner, and their half-sister My Lucky Liz (Exceed And Excel) bred the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes winner Twilight Jet (Twilight Son). Fleming obviously does his homework, and his ability to consistently buy quality at commercial prices at the sales is down to a great deal more than just luck.

Everlasting wins race

celebrating a star

KOOYONGA was an Irish champion who raced three decades ago. She enjoyed a highly successful three-year-old campaign, winning the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and being named European champion filly at the Cartier Awards. She stayed in training at four and became the second filly to win the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes.

Bred by Sean Collins who stood her sire Persian Bold, Kooyonga was trained by Michael Kauntze. The listed race that commemorates her at Navan was won at the weekend by Everlasting, a Coolmore homebred daughter of Kingman (Invincible Spirit), who looks likely to go on to better things.

She was showing her fondness for the Co Meath venue where she recently finished third to the recent Oaks winner Ezeliya in the Group 3 Salsabil Stakes.

Everlasting is the second foal and second stakes winner for Could It Be Love (War Front).

The first, Adelaide River (Australia), was twice runner-up in Group 1 races, the Irish Derby to Auguste Rodin and the Grand Prix de Paris to Feed The Flame. He rounded out his career in Europe with a Group 3 win at Leopardstown, and is now continuing his racing career in Australia. A Group 1 win down under beckons.

Everlasting’s full-sister, the two-year-old Circios (Kingman), was perhaps somewhat surprisingly sold last year at Keeneland to Case Clay for $625,000, and that investment already looks like being a shrewd one.

Could It Be Love was obviously something of a challenge for Aidan O’Brien. She raced 16 times over two seasons, won a maiden at Dundalk on her first start at three, and was less than two lengths behind Alpha Centauri when chasing that champion home in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas.

She placed five times more in Group 3 and listed company, without winning, and even ran third to Expert Eye in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The value of a stakes win would have been immense, as Could It Be Love is a half-sister to the champion racehorse, and serious sire, Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie). He won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at two, stands at Ashford Stud for $150,000, and has 14 Grade 1 winners, notably the Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.

If my calculations are correct, Everlasting was the 80th stakes winner sired by Banstead Manor Stud’s Kingman, and 11 of these have won a Group/Grade 1 race. Kinross, Domestic Spending, Palace Pier and Persian King are those who have won multiple times at the highest level.