THE period under review has been full of quality performances from a host of juveniles, many of whom we will most certainly be hearing more about. For now, I will summarise their pedigrees.
Pride of place has to go to Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), responsible for a pair of Group 3 winners in Simmering and Hotazhell. The former built on her runner-up finish in the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot to snatch her main success in the Princess Margaret Stakes at the same track.
Bred by Lofts Hall Stud, Simmering sold to Ollie Sangster and Justin Casse for 70,000gns in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale, and she now sports the silks of Al Shaqab Racing.
Simmering is the second winner for Cashla Bay (Fastnet Rock), and she is one of five winning offspring from Rose Blossom (Pastoral Pursuits). A 2,000gns foal purchase by Joe Foley in Ballyhane Stud, she developed into a smart racemare who won a Group 3, and then sold as a four-year-old for 115,000gns, having amassed £130,000 in prizemoney.
Rose Blossom and her granddaughter Simmering are the only two stakes winners in the first three generations of this female line.
Hotazhell
Bred by Blue Diamond Stud Farm, Hotazhell realised 70,000gns as a yearling when sold to Linehan Bloodstock, and was a profitable 200,000gns sale this year at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, purchased by Silverton Hill Partnership. He runs in their colours.
Favourite for a Leopardstown maiden on his debut, in which he finished fourth, he won next time up at the Curragh, building on that when readily landing the Group 3 Japan Racing Association Tyros Stakes.
Hotazhell is one of four winners out of Azenzar (Danehill Dancer), and she was sold for export at last year’s December Sale for 16,000gns, in foal to Blackbeard (No Nay Never) whose stud fee was €25,000! What a bargain that is now. Azenzar was a winner and her dam Dashing (Sadler’s Wells) is a half-sister to the outstanding racemare Alexander Goldrun (Gold Away) and the classic-placed sire Medecis (Machiavellian).
What a performer Alexander Goldrun was. Her racing career took her and connections around the world, and she won 10 races, among them two editions of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp, and her most valuable win in the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup in Sha Tin. She was runner-up in five Group 1 contests and third in the same number of such races.
Bedtime
Remaining unbeaten after three starts, Bedtime Story (Frankel) franked her stupendous Royal Ascot victory in the Listed Chesham Stakes with a comfortable success in the Group 3 Jockey Club of Turkey Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown. A Group 1 challenge will surely be next for the Coolmore-bred juvenile filly.
Visits to Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) by Mecca’s Angel (Dark Angel) produced last year’s Group 2 Silken Glider Stakes winner Content, and this year she has run second in the Group 1 Irish Oaks and third in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes. Bedtime Story is by Galileo’s son, and this year Mecca’s Angel foaled a full-sister to Bedtime Story.
Dual Group 3 winner Markaz (Dark Angel) and his full-sister Mecca’s Angel are the first two progeny from the listed-placed Atraf (Clantime) mare Folga. They were bred in partnership by father and son, Gay and David O’Callaghan.
Mecca’s Angel sold as a yearling for 16,000gns and went on to become the European champion older sprinter in 2015. She won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes twice and eight other races, and was acquired privately by Coolmore at the end of her racing career.
Earthlight’s first
Darley’s Kildangan Stud-based first season sire, Earthlight (Shamardal), sired his first stakes winner when his two-year-old daughter Daylight easily landed the Group 3 Prix de Cabourg at Deauville on Sunday.
Making her third career start, this was a second victory for the filly who won by four and a half lengths on her debut at Chantilly before finishing third in the Group 3 Prix du Bois.
Bred by Haras Du Cadran, Daylight was an €85,000 Arqana yearling purchase by Peretti Bloodstock. She is the second foal and winner out of the Toulouse listed-winning mare Latita (Silver Frost). They, and the Group 3 Prix du Petit Couvert winner Manzor (Cricket Ball), are the only stakes winners in four generations of this family.
Earthlight was champion two-year-old in France, and that season won the Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, in the latter case setting a juvenile course record. Earthlight has made an impressive start at stud, and has so far sired seven individual winners.
No Nay Never
Three listed races for two-year-olds have been staged in this period, and No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) sired two winners. Godolphin’s Al Qudra, bred in Ireland by Michael O’Flynn’s Rockfield Stud, was only a length behind the winner in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, and he got back to winning ways when returning to Ascot for the Listed Pat Eddery Stakes.
O’Flynn raced Al Qudra’s dam Piece Of Paradise with Sue Magnier and Linda Shanahan, and Fozzy Stack saddled her to win the Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes at Ayr at two. Al Qudra is her first foal and he sold for €330,000 at Goffs as a foal, and resold for 425,000gns as a yearling. Piece Of Paradise and her half-sister Magical Dreamer (Acclamation), a stakes winner in Nantes, are granddaughters of the Group 2 German 1000 Guineas winner Dakhla Oasis (Night Shift).
Dakhla Oasis is a full-sister to Grade 1 Starlet Stakes winner Creaking Board (Night Shift), and the Group 3 winner and sire Dyhim Diamond (Night Shift).
Celestial Orbit
Sue Magnier and Linda Shanahan are involved in the ownership of the Sandown EBN-sponsored Listed Star Stakes winner Celestial Orbit (No Nay Never), and she is now winner of two of her three starts. Bred by Ben Sangster, she sold for 260,000gns as a yearling, and already she has great broodmare value.
Celestial Orbit is the sixth winner for Rose Bonheur and she was trained by Kevin Prendergast. A smart sprinter, she won four times at three and her headline wins were in listed races at Fairyhouse and Naas.
Rose Bonheur’s star performer to date has been the stayer Nayef Road (Galileo), winner of the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes and Group 3 Gordon Stakes, and his placed efforts included being runner-up in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup and third in the Group 1 St Leger.
Rose Bonheur is a daughter of Red Feather (Marju), a Group 3 winner who was trained by Eddie Lynam for Lady O’Reilly. She was beaten a length by Necklace in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes 21 years ago.
Miss Lamai
Fourth in the Group 1 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot, Miss Lamai picked up the winning thread again when she won the Listed Arqana Irish EBF Marwell Stakes at Naas in fine fashion. This was her second, and most important, win, and she was denied a previous listed win at York by half a length. From the fifth crop by Mehmas (Acclamation), she is her sire’s 31st stakes winner, and the first for her winning dam, Tough Spirit (Iffraaj).
Bred by Denis McDonnell, Miss Lamai sold as a foal at Goffs for €90,000, and returned a minor profit when reselling for 115,000gns as a yearling. She is repeating a family history, as each of her first four dams have all bred a single stakes winner. Perhaps Tough Spirit (Invincible Spirit) can do better, as she is responsible for three winners with her first three foals, and her three-year-old daughter Spirit Of Camelot (Camelot) has been stakes-placed in Australia.
Miss Lamai’s Naas win followed a listed victory there for her grandam One Spirit (Invincible Spirit), and she was also placed many times in group company. One Spirit’s best winner is One For Bobby (Frankel), a Group 3 winner in France, listed winner in England, and placed in a Group 2 in Ireland. Miss Lamai’s fourth dam bred Diktat (Warning), the best runner in the family. He was the best older sprinter in Europe 25 years ago and won the Group 1 Haydock Sprint and Prix Maurice de Gheest.