THOUGH she has featured before on these pages, it would be remiss not to pay tribute to a brilliant racemare who ended one half of her career with victory last weekend in the Group 1 Japan Cup.
Almond Eye now heads to the breeding shed after a distinguished career on the track which saw her win 11 of her 15 starts, nine of them Group 1s.
She only raced outside her native Japan once, travelling to the UAE to win the Dubai World Cup, and she retires with earnings of more than €15 million.
Horse of the Year and champion filly at three in Japan when she won her first Japan Cup and the Fillies Triple Crown, two years later she captured the Japan Cup again - this time defeating two 2020 Triple Crown winners, Contrail and Daring Tact.
A further piece of history was also written at the weekend as this eighth Group 1 win in Japan puts Almond Eye in a class of her own. Heavyweights such as Deep Impact, Vodka and Gentildonna had all won seven.
From the first crop of her sire, Almond Eye provided Lord Kanaloa (King Kamehameha) with his first Group 1 winner and she is now one of four. The champion older sprinter and champion miler in Japan at the ages of four and five, he proved his worth on the international stage and twice won the Hong Kong Sprint.
Lord Kanaloa stands at Shadai Stallion Station and this year his stud fee was a new high of 20 million yen (about €170,000).
On the female side of the pedigree, Almond Eye is the best of eight runners and winners for her dam, the top-class racemare Fusaichi Pandora (Sunday Silence). She won the 11-furlong Listed Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, and two years later was placed in the same race when it was recognised as a Group 1 contest. She was also runner-up in the Japanese Oaks.
Galop Marin is a millionaire - twice
WITH so much high-class racing in Ireland and Britain at the weekend it was easy to overlook a great Grade 1 hurdle win in Auteuil for an Irish-bred. Galop Marin not only won the Grand Prix d’Automne, he did so for the third consecutive year.
Bred by Mark Molloy of Crossogue Stud and Mark Fleming, the eight-year-old is a son of Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells) who is a full-brother to Galileo and a half-brother to Sea The Stars (Cape Cross).
Winner of the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at four, Black Sam Bellamy is the sire of multiple Group 1 flat winner Earl Of Tinsdal, while over jumps his big race winners include Sam Spinner and The Giant Bolster.
This latest win takes Galop Marin’s record to 13 wins in 42 starts, and 10 of these wins have been in graded or listed races. He has been placed 22 times.
His latest win will be another reason to go and look at his half-brother by Walk In The Park (Montjeu) who is Lot 685 at the upcoming Tattersalls Ireland National Hunt Sale.
He is being consigned by Katie Rudd’s Busherstown on behalf of breeders Mark Fleming and Tom Westropp Bennett.
A millionaire twice? Well, Galop Marin has won €1,250,000 and that equates to more than a million sterling.
Credit where it is due
LAST week I highlighted the achievements of Grade 2 winner Imperial Aura, and credited Kim Bailey (KB) with purchasing him at the Goffs Land Rover Sale. This was because he trains the horse and the Goffs website used the initial KRB/Imperial Racing as the purchaser. I am delighted to correct this misassumption and say that KRB stands for Kevin Ross Bloodstock. Yet another big race winner for Kevin and Anna Ross, and well done to them.