ONE thing I am sure about the Kavanagh family is that they know how to party, and I can only imagine their joy at the weekend when the father and son team of Peter and Roderick recorded a Group 1 double, with a difference.

In the instance of the Group 1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes winner Vandeek, this was a case of Roderick’s pinhooking skills being put to best use, purchasing a yearling son of Havana Grey (Havana Gold) and reselling him for a sale-topping amount at this year’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale.

Meanwhile, Peter and his wife Antoinette cheered home the four-year-old Sea Silk Road (Sea The Stars) as she ran out a convincing three-length winner of the Group 1 Qatar Prix de Royallieu at ParisLongchamp.

Let’s start with the latter. Bred in the name of the Kavanagh family’s Kildaragh Stud, Sea Silk Road races for Sunderland Holding, the trading name for the Tsui family. They owned and bred Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) and stand him at the Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud. The sire had a magical 24 hours at the weekend as Sea Silk Road was his 21st Group or Grade 1 winner, and she was immediately following up a victory in the Group 1 Metropolitan in Australia for Just Fine. Those 21 come from his first nine crops.

Sea Silk Road was sold as a yearling for 190,000gns in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale to Sunderland Holding, then represented by the late John Clarke. She had won three times in England, including the Group 3 Pinnacle Stakes at Haydock and the Listed Height of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood, while her placed efforts had seen her finish runner-up in both the Group 2 Lancashire Oaks at Haydock and the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. In addition to her weekend triumph in France, she was placed last year in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille.

Timely

The victory was more than timely, as on Tuesday at Newmarket, one of the very first lots into the ring was Sea Silk Road’s yearling own-sister, consigned from Kildaragh Stud, and she sold for 575,000gns to Godolphin. Good news is that there is yet another full-sister, born this spring, and no doubt currently enjoying her time at the Co Kildare nursery.

The first three runners out of

Oriental Magic (Doyen) are Sea Silk Road, nine-time winner Andaleep (Siyouni), and seven-time winner Vega Magic (Lope De Vega). The mare’s fourth runner is the three-year-old Indemnity (Lope De Vega), and he was beaten just a neck on his debut 10 days ago for Highclere and Roger Varian. Oriental Magic’s unraced two-year-old Next Trick (Bated Breath) is already a value buy, having cost Badgers Bloodstock 90,000gns last year. Oriental Magic won a listed race at two in Germany, was group-placed, and after her purchase and transfer to France she was runner-up in a listed race at Toulouse.

A daughter of Oriental Pearl (Big Shuffle), winner of the Listed Preis des Gestutes Graditz at Hoppegarten, Oriental Magic is one of seven winners from her dam, the best of which was Oriental Eagle (Campanologist). He won the Group 2 Gerling Preis and Group 3 Preis des Gestutes Wittekindshof St Leger in Germany, as well as the Listed Martin Molony Stakes in Ireland.

Top ranking

Vandeek’s pedigree has been well covered in these columns in recent times, as he was already a Group 1 winner of the Prix Morny heading into the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket. Unbeaten in four starts and with winnings now of more than €500,000, he is certain to be close to the top of the European rankings at the season’s end. Vandeek’s other pattern success was gained in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood.

A first Group 1 winner for Whitsbury Manor Stud’s Havana Grey, Vandeek was one of the highlights of this year’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, selling for a staggering 625,000gns from Roderick Kavanagh’s Glending Stables. He had given 42,000gns for the colt as a yearling, a price that represented a loss for Childwickbury Stud, who paid 52,000gns for him as a foal. This is only part of the fairytale story as the unbeaten grey is out of the £800 purchase Mosa Mine, a placed daughter of Exceed And Excel (Danehill).

It is proving to be an incredible 20th anniversary for Kelly Thomas, who founded Maywood Stud in Wales in 2003. She bred, reared and sold Vandeek and he is also her first Group 1 winner. Mosa Mine sold as a four-year-old to Jill Lamb for £800, the agent repurchasing her for Thomas.

In a racing career spanning 11 starts, the £9,000 yearling purchase Mosa Mine was in the care of four different trainers, and she came agonisingly close to winning for Jane Chapple-Hyam, beaten a head in a five-furlong maiden on the Kempton all-weather at three.

Breeding shed

If Mosa Mine failed to win on the track, she is proving quite the winner in the breeding shed. A half-sister to five winners from the French three-year-old winner Baldemosa (Lead On Time), Mosa Mine is herself the dam of five winners with her first five foals. There will be lots of interest in the autumn if this year’s colt foal out of Mosa Mine, a son of Starspangledbanner (Choisir), is offered for sale.

Baldemosa is a winning half-sister to the Group 1 Prix Robert Papin winner Balbonella (Gay Mescene), and she went on to become a most prolific breeder of high-class runners.

That list included champion European sprinter and successful sire, Anabaa (Danzig), Group 3 winner and Group 1 sire Key Of Luck (Chief’s Crown), and the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas winner Always Royal (Zilzal). The last-named bred the Japanese champion juvenile filly Shonan Adela (Deep Impact).