RALPH Beckett has a real Group 1 Oaks contender in his yard, the Waldgeist (Galileo) filly Forest Fairy. She will always be fondly recalled by the team at Ballylinch as she accorded her sire his first stakes winner.
Bred by Philip and Orla Hore, this €78,000 yearling purchase by Alex Elliott at the Goffs Orby Sale has won both her outings, and Forest Fairy kept her perfect record at Chester when landing the Listed Cheshire Oaks. All roads now lead to Epsom.
Philip operates from Mount Eaton Stud, a nursery for both high-class National Hunt and flat runners. What value Philip obtained when he paid €24,000 for the winning Lope De Vega (Shamardal) mare Bahama Girl at Goffs in November 2020, carrying her first foal, the now stakes winner Forest Fairy.
Having made a killing on the sale of the filly, it was another good result last year when Peter and Ross Doyle spent €88,000 on Bahama Girl’s second offspring, the now two-year-old colt Raedwald (Saxon Warrior).
That colt, yet to start, will carry the colours of Michael Pescod, and he has raced a number of smart performers, most recently Chindit. Richard Hannon will handle the colt’s racing career. Following on is a yearling filly by Circus Maximus (Galileo).
Bahama Girl is one of three winners to date for Bahama Bay (Dansili), one of these being Bahama Bay’s full-brother Bahama Moon (Lope De Vega).
German Derby
Borgia (Acatenango), the third dam of Forest Fairy, won the Group 1 Deutsches Derby-German Derby, the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, and the Group 2 Hong Kong Vase (now Group 1). She was runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf and third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Borgia’s half-brother Boreal (Java Gold) also won the German Derby, four years after his half-sister, and he went on to land the Group 1 Coronation Cup at Epsom.
A granddaughter of Borgia, Baltic Baroness (Shamardal) won the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, surpassing the achievements of her son Bermuda Reef (Oasis Dream), a Group 3 winner in Germany. Borgia was a champion in Germany and France, and she was out of another champion in Britannia (Tarim). This is a female line rich in blacktype.
Waldgeist is building now on the solid start he made with his two-year-olds last year. In addition to a great pedigree, he compiled an outstanding race record.
His juvenile season saw him beat the multiple Group 1-star Best Solution in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud and he was short-headed by Brametot in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby at three.
Waldgeist won four pattern races in a row as a four-year-old, all over 12 furlongs, including the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
At five, Waldgeist ended his career in a blaze of glory with victory in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. That final season included a wide-margin defeat of Study Of Man in the Group 1 Prix Ganay over 10 and a half furlongs.
Los Angeles
Last weekend, Los Angeles maintained his unbeaten record in the Group 3 Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial Stakes, a race favoured to a huge degree by trainer Aidan O’Brien. One of 11 Group/Grade 1 winners by Camelot (Montjeu), Los Angeles last year rounded out his first season with victory in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 10 furlongs.
Godolphin sold the unraced Dansili (Danehill) filly Frequential, the dam of Los Angeles, at the 2017 Tattersalls February Sale to BBA Ireland for 48,000gns. She is a daughter of Violante (Kingmambo) who, in addition to her single success, was placed on no fewer than 13 occasions. A full-sister to the stakes winner Reunite (Kingmambo), Violante was a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby winner Anabaa Blue (Anabaa), and to the dam of the dual Group 1 winner Tamayuz (Nayef).
At the time of her sale, there were six stakes winners under the filly’s grandam Allez Les Trois (Riverman), a Group 3 winner and a half-sister to none other than Urban Sea (Miswaki). The female line is just about one of the most famous in the world.
Camelot
Frequential moved to Tipperary and was covered on a number of occasions by Camelot (Montjeu), producing her first three foals. The first pair are both group-placed winners, and the third is Los Angeles. Her fourth produce is Front And Centre (No Nay Never), sold last year for 150,000gns to Avenue Bloodstock.
Bred by Paul Shanahan’s Lynch Bages and Longfield Stud, Los Angeles already possesses the pedigree of a great stallion prospect. His Group 1 success last year, and Derby trial win this season, are far from the only major updates in the family since Frequential was acquired.
Her dam Violante was sold by Godolphin, again to BBA Ireland, but this time she cost 330,000gns, as her son Impulsif (New Approach) was then a Group 3 winner. Now Violante is responsible for three winners, as last year her daughter Veil Of Shadows (Frankel) won and was second in the Group 3 Pride Stakes at Newmarket.
While there were six stakes winners under Allez Les Trois six years ago, now there are an incredible 21. They include the likes of this year’s Group 1 Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval (Ribchester), Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes winner Eshaada (Muhaarar), and the Group 1 Irish Derby winner Santiago (Authorized).