MANY thanks to Tony Lacy, Ed Prosser and the team at Keeneland for their hospitality on Saturday at the Curragh. On the day I had the great pleasure of sitting with, among others, Liz Barry for lunch.

Within hours, Liz, her son Luke and daughter-in-law Rebecca, will surely have been raising a toast to Fev Rover after she made another substantial part-repayment to her purchase price at the 2021 Tattersalls December Sale. Her new owner Tracy Farmer spent 695,000gns on the now five-year-old, and she has now enjoyed a pair of Grade 2 successes in Canada, in the Nassau Stakes and Canadian Stakes, both run at Woodbine. However, on Saturday he welcomed Fev Rover home as the latest winner of the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes.

As if breeding a Grade 1 winner was not enough, Team Barry at Manister House Stud in Croom will be offering a Dark Angel (Acclamation) sibling to Fev Rover in Book 1 of next month’s Goffs Orby Sale. The colt is what would in the past have been described in the catalogue as a three-parts brother, though that term is not used any more, due to it being misused in many instances. It would be best to say that the colt is very closely-related to Fev Rover.

Best runner

On the opposite page you will read much about Dark Angel. Well, Fev Rover is a daughter of his son Gutaifan, and she is by some way his best runner. Before she headed stateside she won the Group 2 Prix du Calvados and was classic-placed when running third in the Group 1 1000 Guineas. She was purchased by Lincoln Collins and Joe Miller for Farmer at Tattersalls after bidding opened at 600,000gns.

Fev Rover was bought as a yearling for £20,000 by Howson and Houldsworth at the 2019 Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, sent in to training with Richard Fahey, and raced for Nick Bradley and partners. Now trained by Mark Casse in Florida, she has earned a free shot at the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but we are certain to see her before then.

Tracy Farmer may or may not eventually add her to his broodmare band in Kentucky. “It is a possibility that the client will breed from her in future; he has a broodmare band,” said Collins at the time of Fev Rover’s purchase. “He has had success with horses he has bought, but his Belmont winner of a few years ago, Sir Winston, is a homebred. We have also had significant success with a filly we bought, Perfect Alibi. She won the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes.” Perfect Alibi later sold at Fasig-Tipton for $2 million.

Fev Rover is the third foal and third multiple winner for her two-year-old winning dam Laurelita (High Chaparral). All three have been victorious in 2023. A winner seven times abroad, Ryony (Zoffany) is numerically the most successful to date, while Fev Rover and Bill The Butcher (Starspangledbanner) have each won five times., the latter now in Hong Kong where his three wins have earned connections £375,000.

Some bargain

Bred by the late Maria O’Grady, Laurelita was sold as a yearling for 39,000gns and won over seven furlongs as a juvenile on her second outing. She was some bargain when sold on for 11,000gns in a private transaction at the Tattersalls Autumn Sale at three in a private transaction after she was led out unsold.

There is sure to be more success for Laurelita. Her four-year-old Apache Grey (El Kabeir) was placed last year and has been sold to continue racing in the Middle East.

Her three-year-old Global Resolve (Starspangledbanner) sold to Mark McStay as a yearling for 90,000gns, is unraced, but Dr Johnny Hon has him with Chris Dwyer. The mare also has a two-year-old filly from the first crop by Invincible Army (Invincible Spirit), named Leveret, yet to race, and the yearling by Dark Angel.

Seven winners

Laurelita is one of seven winners from the juvenile winner Chervil (Dansili), and she is a three-parts sister to Grade 1 winner and multiple stakes producer Light Jig (Danehill).

That mare won the Yellow Ribbon Stakes and the best of her three stakes winners is the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby winner of a decade ago, Seek Again (Speightstown).

Best fillies

Light Jig and the French stakes winners Lynton (Lyphard) and Battle Dore (Sanglamore) were among 11 winners from 14 foals produced by Nashmeel (Blushing Groom). The only other offspring that ran placed on no fewer than six occasions.

Nashmeel was one of the best fillies of her generation in France where she won the Group 1 Prix d’Astarte and was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois, having the misfortune to run into the great Miesque.

Afterwards, Nashmeel was sent to race in the USA and, though she failed to add another victory, she was runner-up in both the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Invitational at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Gutaifan has just completed his third season in France at Haras des Faunes, where his fee has fallen to just €3,000. Not surprisingly, Gay O’Callaghan attempted to copy the success enjoyed by Dark Angel, who only raced for one season, with Gutaifan. The latter retired to the breeding shed at the age of three, his four wins including two Group 2 contests, the Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster and the Prix Robert Papin at Maisons-Laffitte. He ran second in Deauville’s Group 1 Darley Prix Morny to Shalaa.

Never too old to win at the top

THE seven-year-old Juddmonte-homebred Set Piece (Dansili) may have taken until the age of seven to do so, but his 13th career win saw him land the spoils in the Grade 1 Arlington Million.

A listed winner and placed in the Group 3 Craven Stakes when trained by Hugo Palmer, he was sent to race from Brad Cox’s stables in the USA, and prior to last weekend he had won seven other stakes races, two each at Grade 2 and 3 levels. Two years ago he ran second to Get Stormy in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga, with such as Raging Bull and Casa Creed behind him. This latest win took his winnings to more than $1.6 million.

Set Piece is one of seven winners from the first eight foals and runners for his dam Portodora (Kingmambo). Her other progeny are a three-year-old unraced filly with Dermot Weld, Carrier Wave (Nathaniel), and a yearling filly by Kingman (Invincible Spirit).

This time

Another US Grade 1 winner at the weekend was Gigante, and the Secretariat Stakes hero is the sixth winner at this level for Grade 3 winner Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway).

Not This Time has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top, going from a low fee of $12,500 to $135,000 this year. Recently, a share in the Taylor Made Farms’ stallion changed hands for $2 million. With 300 yearlings and foals on the ground as a consequence of his early success, it would appear that the future is very bright for him.

The bay has quickly established himself as one of North America’s leading sires. He finished sixth in the general sire rankings in 2022, trailing only Into Mischief, Curlin, Gun Runner, Uncle Mo, and Tapit. From his first three crops to race, he has already sired six Grade 1 winners, 11 graded stakes winners, and 27 blacktype winners. His other progeny include Epicenter, the champion three-year-old colt last year; Sibelius, winner of this year’s Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen; Up To The Mark, winner of the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes and Turf Classic Stakes; Just One Time, winner of the Grade 1 Madison Stakes; and Princess Noor, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and sold for $2.9 million.

Not This Time is a son of three-time leading sire Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat). His first dam, Miss Macy Sue (Empire Maker), was a graded stakes winner and track record holder who finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Not This Time is a half-brother to three stakes winners, including Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner and successful young sire Liam’s Map Unbridled’s Song).