GAY and DEREK VEITCH, Ringfort Stud

Anmaat (Ire), 2018 g. by Awtaad out of African Moonlight, by Halling

A MEMBER of the first crop by Shadwell’s Awtaad, who stands at Derrinstown Stud, his son Anmaat became the sire’s first Group 1 winner when he won the Prix d’Ispahan last year. He doubled his Group 1 haul on British Champions Day when he captured the Champion Stakes at Ascot.

Anmaat is a firm favourite of the Shadwell team. He has won nine of his 15 starts, been runner-up four times and third once. He is consistency personified. Bred by Derek and Gay Veitch at their Ringfort Stud, where they also bred Derrinstown’s Minzaal, Anmaat was sold as a foal for 140,000gns. He has now won in excess of €1.2 million

The gelding’s dam African Moonlight beat one other runner in two outings as a two-year-old. That apparent lack of racing ability has been no hindrance to her as a producer, and eight winners have come from her first nine foals, all of which have run. The odd one out was placed, and the mare’s tenth is a yearling filly by Palace Pier.

Her eight winners include Syntax, by Haatef, a €12,000 yearling purchase. He was sold to the USA where he won at Grade 3 level and was placed in a couple of Grade 2 races.

African Moonlight will hopefully equal the record of her own dam, the stakes-placed African Peace. The latter mare had 11 foals, all of which raced and nine won. She too is the dam of two stakes winners, notably African Moonlight’s full-brother Mkuzi, successful in the Group 3 Curragh Cup twice.

ANNEMARIE O’BRIEN

Tennessee Stud (Ire), 2022 c. by Wootton Bassett out of In My Dreams, by Sadler’s Wells

WHILE Aidan and Annemarie O’Brien breed most of their horses under the name Whisperview Trading, this Group 1-winning juvenile is registered as being bred by Annemarie in her own name.

Trained by her son Joseph, Tennessee Stud is one of four two-year-old Group or Grade 1 winners for his sire this year. He followed up his second-place finish to Hotazhell in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes with success in the 10-furlong Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

This is a family that is closely associated with Annemarie and her late father, Joe Crowley. In My Dreams is the dam of five winners, Tennessee Stud by some way being the best, and she is a half-sister to seven-time Group 1 winner and champion miler Rock Of Gibraltar.

Crowley bought Rock Of Gibraltar’s dam Offshore Boom, a stakes-placed winner, from Moyglare Stud for only IR11,000gns at Goffs, and not only did she produce a champion, but she is the grandam of two Group 1 winners, her granddaughter Intricately (Fastnet Rock) having won the Moyglare Stud Stakes in 2016.

This is yet another highlight year for Wootton Bassett, leading to an increase in his fee for 2025 to €300,000. That is a 50% jump from this year’s price, itself a career high, and reflects a season in which his first Irish-conceived crop has enjoyed incredible success. He is the sire of Breeders’ Cup winner Henri Matisse, as well as Camille Pissarro and Twain.

EVA-MARIA BUCHER-HAEFNER, Moyglare Stud Farm

Kyprios (Ire), 2018 c. by Galileo out of Polished Gem, by Danehill

WHAT a very special horse Kyprios is, and a credit to a previous Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Flat Breeder of the Year winner, Moyglare Stud.

One of just three horses ever to regain the Group 1 Gold Cup crown at Royal Ascot, Kyprios took his tally of wins to 15 in 19 starts when he added the Group 1 Goodwood Cup for a second time, as well as the Group 1 Irish St Leger and Group 1 Prix du Cadran, each for a second time, rounding out his year with a win on British Champions Day. His winnings are over £2.6 million.

Kyprios is the third Group 1 winner for Polished Gem. Prior to Kyprios, her best offspring were the dual Group 1 Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song, and Group 1 winner and Anngrove Stud sire Free Eagle.

You can add to that list Group 2 winners Custom Cut and Sapphire, Group 3 winner Valac, and stakes winners Falcon Eight and Amma Grace. From a family that has a long history with Moyglare Stud, almost matching the time since the farm was founded. Polished Gem has an impeccable record as a producer – 10 foals, runners and winners. Eight of these won stakes races.

Polished Gem is a winning daughter of Danehill and the classic winner Trusted Partner. Both Trusted Partner and her dam, Talking Picture, produced 11 winners each. Talking Picture was champion two-year-old filly in the USA and won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes and Grade 1 Matron Stakes.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED,

Godolphin

Desert Flower (Ire), 2022 f. by Night Of Thunder out of Promising Run, by Hard Spun

NIGHT Of Thunder’s Desert Flower took her unbeaten run to four when she added the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile to an earlier win in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes. She stamped her superiority when powering clear to a five and a half-length victory at Newmarket’s Future Champions Festival. She looks a top prospect for next year’s 1000 Guineas.

Following two impressive performances on Newmarket’s July course on her first two starts, including a six and a half length win in August, Desert Flower headed to Doncaster in September where she successfully stepped up into pattern company to land the May Hill Stakes by a length and a half. Owned and bred by Godolphin, Desert Flower is the second foal out of the Group 2-winning Promising Run, and she is also responsible for Aablan who landed the Group 3 Solario Stakes.

Promising Run was quite a global traveller. Twenty-one of her 24 starts were in blacktype races. She won twice at two, including the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes, and all her subsequent wins were abroad. She was successful three times in Group 2 races in the UAE, and in Turkey she won their valuable Group 3 Istanbul Trophy.

Promising Run is the best of nine winners out of Brazilian Group 1 winner, Aviacion. That mare was the most important winner for Arbulus, whose other winners include Cerutti, four of his eight wins being at Group 3 and listed level, and Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Persane. Arbulus is also grandam of the Group 1 Argentine winner Eddington.