THERE are so many smart juveniles about at present, and I would like to be writing about more and more of them. One story that is unmissable is the success being enjoyed by Whitsbury Manor Stud’s Havana Grey (Havana Gold), by some distance the leading first-season sire at present based on numbers.

He may not yet have a stakes winner, though he has seven juveniles who have been placed in blacktype races, but Havana Grey’s 26 individual winners so far is a staggering total, and more than half of his first crop have actually run. I should warn you that these figures are correct at the time of writing, he has sired a first-time winner on each of the three past days, and he could have added more by the weekend.

His 25th winner was Eminency, bred at Awbeg Stud in Liscarroll, Co Cork by Paddy Fleming, and this was a good week for the breeder, who also saw the Starspangledbanner (Choisir) colt Defence Of Fort win first time out at Ascot, and in the style of a good horse. He is one to keep a close eye on.

Potential

Paddy certainly has an eye for spotting a young mare with potential. He paid 30,000gns to purchase the dam of Eminency, Kendamara (Kendargent), in 2018, quite a reduction on the €100,000 she brought as a yearling Though catalogued in foal, Kendamara’s first live produce is in fact Eminency, and he has given her a perfect start. Eminency sold for €36,000 as foal to Eddie O’Leary, and that pinhooker benefited when Clive Cox parted with €85,000 for the colt at the Orby Sale.

Next up, Paddy has a yearling filly out of Kendamara by Starspangledbanner (Choisir). One of the key attractions for Paddy when he bought Kendamara was surely the fact that her full-brother Kenfreeze (Kendargent) was a listed winner at two, while, even better, their full-sister Kendam won the Group 3 Prix Eclipse at two and was placed in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret.

Now, Kendam is herself dam of the Group 3 winner and multiple listed winner Kenway (Galiway). This is a young family going places.

Signals

What about the impressive Ascot winner, Defence Of Fort? Paddy bred him from the Kodiac (Danehill) mare Signs And Signals, and she was purchased as a newly-turned four-year-old at the 2016 Tattersalls February Sale for 23,000gns. Though she had shown little on her visits to the tack, she had a pedigree page that read well. However, Paddy has had to show some patience and Defence Of Fort is her third foal and first winner.

Excitingly, Signs And Signals had a yearling colt by Showcasing (Oasis Dream), and he will be a fine sale prospect in the autumn, more so now that his half-brother has done so well. Signs And Signals has seven winning siblings, the best of whom was Razkalla (Caerleon). He was a listed winner, but ran second in the Group 1 Sheema Classic and had Collier Hill and Powerscourt behind him.

Razkalla is out of Larrocha (Sadler’s Wells), and again she was a listed winner three times, in Britain and the UAE, and she was placed in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille. She was a half-sister to the champion Ardross (Run The Gantlet), and this is a family steeped in history, especially for the Prendergast family.