MIGHTY Bandit made an impressive debut in a three-year-old maiden hurdle at Punchestown for owners Caldwell Construction, trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Jack Kennedy. They had almost 10 lengths to spare over the favourite Lark In The Mornin (a two-year-old winner), with Harsh (a Curragh runner-up), Durtal (a winner in France) and more trailing in their wake.

The extra significance of this win is that Mighty Bandit is the first winner for Order Of St George (Galileo), and just his second starter in Ireland and England. His first, Gore Point, was runner-up in an 11-runner three-year-old bumper at Ludlow early last month.

However, the stallion has also had a pair of runners overseas, and one of them, George Of Beaumont, was placed on his sole outing in Italy. With these runners showing such early ability, the omens are good for the Castlehyde Stud stallion who stands under the Coolmore banner.

Bred by the Kennedy family at their Mountain View Stud in Tipperary, Mighty Bandit was sold as a foal to present connections privately. In fact, he is the only produce of his dam, the unraced Akalara (Masterofthehorse), who has not been sold at public auction.

The most recent to do so is the two-year-old full-brother to Mighty Bandit, and he cost Glenvale Stud €30,000 at the recent Springhill Dispersal Sale at Tattersalls Ireland.

Akalara has only had one other runner, her first foal, and the five-year-old Mont Beuvray (Mount Nelson) was placed in a bumper during the summer at the Curragh. Akalara is a daughter of Akilara (Kahyasi), and that winning mare joined the Kennedy broodmare band after her sale for €87,000 at Goffs in 2005. The Aga Khan-bred was carrying Akadora (Dr Fong), and she went on to win four times and was runner-up in a couple of listed chases in France.

Had appeal

When she was sold, Akilara already had appeal as a potential National Hunt mare, her son Akilak (Charnwood Forest) having won a Grade 2 hurdle at Cheltenham and returned there to finish third in the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle. Akilara was a half-sister to Group 2 winner Akbar (Doyoun), Grade 2 Listowel hurdle winner Akasian (Alzao) and a listed winner. Akilara is a granddaughter of the European champion filly of 1982, Akiyda (Labus), and that was the year she won the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

A European champion stayer in three consecutive years, Order Of St George retired to Castlehyde Stud in 2019 and has commanded a fee of €6,500 for every one of his first five seasons. A son of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), Order Of St George won 13 races including the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup and two editions of the Group 1 Irish St Leger, and was only once unplaced in 25 starts.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Order Of St George won at Leopardstown as a two-year-old. The next season enjoyed with a five-length romp in Her Majesty’s Plate at Down Royal before the first of three victories in the Group 3 Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh by seven lengths, and ending that year by running away with the Group 1 Irish St Leger with 11 lengths to spare.

Stormed home

He began the following season winning the Listed Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown, only two weeks before the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup in which he stormed home three lengths clear of 16 high-class stayers. He just failed to catch Wicklow Brave in the Irish St Leger, with the third horse 16 lengths away. Then came what was probably his best effort of all, when he was a close third to Found and Highland Reel in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, finishing ahead of Postponed, New Bay and Harzand.

Order Of St George’s five-year-old season saw him again win the Saval Beg Stakes, before suffering a short head defeat to Big Orange in the Ascot Gold Cup after a titanic battle. He landed the Irish St Leger Trial by four lengths from Rekindling, who later won the Melbourne Cup, and then had nine lengths to spare when scoring in the Irish St Leger for the second time.

Making another attempt on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Order Of St George was a very creditable fourth to Enable, and then won the Group 2 British Champions Long Distance Cup at Ascot, earning the European champion stayer crown for the third time.

Order Of St George’s final racing season was brief, but he won the Group 3 Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan by five lengths and again took the Saval Beg Stakes, before ending with a very respectable fourth to Stradivarius in the Ascot Gold Cup, taking his earnings to just short of £2 million.

Playing God

is having one storming season

I HAVE to admit that the name Playing God was unfamiliar to me before now, but he came to my notice after he had a good weekend with his runners.

A dual Group 1 winner, Playing God (Blackfriars) stands in Western Australia and his fee is A$33,000 (€20,000). He has been at stud since 2014, but has only sired 157 runners, though 107 of them are winners, and he has an impressive tally of 16 stakes winners. He is on something of a winning streak at present, and 2023 has yielded six new stakes winners, in addition to Bustler.

At the weekend Bustler won the Group 1 Railway Stakes in Perth, his seventh win in 14 starts, and this was his third and most significant stakes victory. Prior to this he won the Group 3 Belmont Spring and was runner-up in the Group 2 Western Australian Guineas. Coincidentally, another son of Playing God, Zipaway, won this year’s Western Australian Guineas, and this race was on the same card as Bustler’s triumph last Saturday!

Winner of eight races, Playing God himself won the Group 2 Western Australian Guineas in a magical second season that was crowned by his victory in the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic over nine furlongs, a race he was to win for the second time 12 months later, and finish fourth in as a six-year-old. He was a consistent performer at the highest level, running second in the Group 1 WATC Derby and placed in Group 1 races such as the Australian Guineas, Turnbull Stakes and the C.F.Orr Stakes.

Playing God’s breakthrough as a stallion came when his daughter Kay Cee, a five-time stakes winner, followed in her sire’s hoofprints and won the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic. Now Bustler is a second Group 1 winner or Playing God, while his tally of pattern winners also includes 2022 Group 2 WATC Derby winner Alaskan God, Group 2 Karrakatta Plate winner Ex Sport Man, Group 3 Belmont Sprint winner God Has Chosen, and 2023 Group 3 winner Mojo Rhythm who was fifth behind Bustler on Saturday.

Stakes-placed dam

Pedigree-wise, Playing God is a son of the Group 1 Victoria Derby winner Blackfriars (Danehill), and he is one of the stars of that sires’ 39 stakes winners. Playing God is the best of nine winners from his stakes-placed dam Dolly Will Do (Rubiton), and the best of the rest is his full-brother God Has Spoken (Blackfriars), winner of the Group 2 Cox Stakes and placed second and third in the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic.

Bustler is one of two foals from the Oratorio (Stravinsky) mare Cosmah Domination. She won three times at up to a mile, and her second produce is A Lot Of Good Men (A Lot), a winner three times at two last season and runner-up in the Group 2 Western Australian Guineas at the weekend. As you can see, horses born and bred in Western Australia dominate in their own region.

The winner of that classic, Zipaway, is a full-brother to a winner, and they are two of the three foals born to Boutique, a winning daughter of Discorsi (Galileo). Boutique is a half-sister to a pair of pattern winners, Quilista (Scandal Keeper) who won the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes in Sydney, and Group 3 Melbourne scorer Red Can Man (Gingerbread Man).