NOEL Meade saddled the Harzand (Sea The Stars) three-year-old filly Caught U Looking to win the Listed Bluebell Stakes at Naas at the weekend, and hopefully there will be time to include this success on her catalogue page for the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

This was not the filly’s biggest victory, and that came at two when she won the Group 3 Park Stakes at the Curragh. It was at headquarters that she also placed in the Group 3 Royal Whip Stakes, and she occupied a similar place in a Group 3 at Gowran Park. While Caught U Looking has more than repaid the original €27,000 investment in her with three wins and a couple of placings, there is every possibility that she could race on before heading to stud.

She was less than a length behind the Group 1 Irish Oaks winner You Got To Me when they were fourth and fifth in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom, and she was not disgraced when fifth again in the Curragh equivalent. As her trainer points out, Caught U Looking is very consistent, runs to the same mark every time she starts, and a future racing career in the United States would have to be a serious consideration.

What is Caught U Looking worth? Her Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit) two-year-old half-sister sold last year for €50,000 to Johnny Murtagh but is as yet unnamed, while in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last week, Yeomanstown Stud sold their Supremacy (Mehmas) half-brother to Karl Burke for 220,000gns, having paid €180,000 for him as a foal.

They are all out of the unraced Wild Mix, and this year she had a filly foal by Cotai Glory (Exceed And Excel).

A plan to turn a quick profit on the resale of the Mastercraftsman (Danehill Dancer) mare Wild Mix didn’t materialise, and just as well. Purchased by Peter Kelly through his Emerald Bloodstock for 7,000gns as an unraced three-year-old in the autumn, Wild Mix was reoffered for sale at Goffs the following February but didn’t reach her valuation and was unsold at €11,000. She was covered by Harzand, and the rest is history.

Peter Nolan and Noel Meade signed for Caught U Looking who carries the colours of Tally-Ho Stud’s Tony O’Callaghan, and breeder Sabina Kelly who kept a share.

Since Peter and Sabina Kelly purchased Wild Mix, at the time a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Mix And Mingle (Exceed And Excel), the pedigree received a further significant update when the latter’s full-sister, Double Or Bubble (Exceed And Excel), became a dual Group 3 winning sprinter, successful in the Abernant Stakes at Newmarket and the Supreme Stakes at Goodwood.

When Harzand moved from the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud to Con O’Keeffe’s Kilbarry Lodge Stud, it was odds-on that it would result in him suddenly getting a good flat horse. Caught U Looking is from the dual Derby winner’s fourth crop, and while the sire’s first crop contained the Scandinavian Group 3 winner Carlras, it was not until this year that another stakes winner appeared, Shamarkand in France. He has also sired a number of stakes-placed horses, notably the Group 2 Brisbane Cup runner-up Mostly Cloudy.

Female line

A very attractive aspect of Caught U Looking is the depth of her female line. Her grandam Mango Lady (Dalakhani) won one of her three starts, and she was among seven winners from the stakes-placed Generous Lady (Generous). Racing for John McKay who owned Cleaboy Stud, Generous Lady won four races, after which she was sold for 100,000gns. She struck gold with her first foal, High Accolade (Mark Of Esteem), winner of the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, two editions of the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes, and runner-up to Brian Boru in the Group 1 St Leger in the colours of Lady Tennant.

Generous Lady was herself a half-sister to a St Leger winner, in this case the Group 3 Italian version. Jape (Alleged) also won the Group 3 Premio Guido Beradelli in Rome, and he and Generous Lady were two of the seven winners bred by the Canadian champion three-year-old filly, Northern Blossom (Snow Knight). Jape was seven times champion sire in the Czech Republic and Poland, and the leading broodmare sire in Poland on four occasions.

Azada’s win worth more than the prize money

WHAT was victory for the Aga Khan-bred Azada (Siyouni) worth at Naas?

The €29,500 winner’s purse for the Listed Garnet Stakes will pay for training fees, but the acquisition of blacktype adds a serious amount to any value the three-year-old filly had before the race.

That said, given her breeding, it is unlikely that Azada will appear in a sales catalogue any time soon.

Azada is a daughter of the unraced Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Azmiyna, and the latter spent some years in Australia where four of her five foals won, one of them being the champion three-year-old The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice). Five of his eight wins were in Group 1 races, and he stands at Arrowfield Stud, who tell the tale of his success best.

“The Autumn Sun was by turns brilliant, dominant, astonishing and heroic on the racetrack. At stud, breeders have backed him with almost 700 mares in his first five books, and he has wasted no time justifying their belief in him.

“His first crop includes 10 stakes performers, including Group 1 Oaks winners Autumn Angel and Vibrant Sun, Group 1 Derby winner Coco Sun, dual group winner Autumn Ballet, Group 1-placed Private Legacy, Tulsi and Tutta La Vita, and a number of other stakes performers.

“Buyers have responded by spending more than A$47 million for The Autumn Sun’s first three crops, including the 2023 A$1.8 million Inglis Easter sale-topper Autumn Glow, now a dual group winner. His 16 yearlings sold at Inglis Easter in 2024 averaged A$246,000, with a top price of A$650,000, and three of his Arrowfield graduate daughters have sold out of training for seven-figure sums: Autumn Angel (A$1.225 million), Autumn Ballet (A$1.6 million) and Tutta La Vita (A$3.2 million).”

As if all of this was not enough, Azada comes from one of the Aga Khan Studs’ best female lines.

Her dam is a half-sister to eight winners, and that group is led by the champion Azamour (Night Shift). This four-time Group 1 winner was an outstanding runner, and he should have been joined as a Group 1 winner by his half-brother Arazan (Anabaa). His short racing career, just four starts, saw him win a Group 2 and place in the Group 1 National Stakes at two.

Azamour’s stakes winning dam Asmara (Lear Fan) was one of 10 winners from the French listed-winning juvenile Anaza (Darshaan), and the latter’s best runner was the Group 1 Prix Ganay hero Astarabad (Alleged).

Azada is stakes winner number 83 for the Haras de Bonneval stallion Siyouni (Pivotal).