THIRD in the Group 1 Derby at Epsom, Beat Hollow (Sadler’s Wells) won that year’s Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris for his owner Khalid Abdullah.

However, the colt truly blossomed two years later in the USA where his victories included three at the highest level, the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont, the Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs, and the Arlington Million. He spent the early part of his stud career at Banstead Manor Stud, transferring to and ending his stallion reign at Ballylinch Stud.

On the flat, Beat Hollow sired just three Group 1 winners, the Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Proportional, the Doomben Cup winner Beaten Up in Australia, and the wonderful dual purpose performer Wicklow Brave, successful in the Irish St Leger. The latter also won the Grade 1 Punchestown Champion Hurdle, while over jumps Beat Hollow is also responsible for the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo, Cinders And Ashes, Hollow Tree and No So Sleepy.

Of all those Group and Grade 1 winners, only three won more than once at the highest level. Minella Indo did so three times, Wicklow Brave twice, and at the weekend Not So Sleepy became the third, as his victory at the age of 11 in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle was the second time he took the honours in the race.

Two years ago Not So Sleepy dead-heated with Epatante in the race, though the races have been run at different venues.

Lord Blyth

Bred by Lord Blyth and racing in the colours of his wife, Not So Sleepy won the Listed Dee Stakes at Chester as a three-year-old, but he was not up to classic standard.

He has now won 11 races, six over hurdles and earned in excess of £560,000, but he has kept his high-class performance to just a handful of occasions, as he has raced 65 times on all.

One of two winners out of the unraced Marju (Last Tycoon) mare Papillon De Bronze, his third dam Troyanna (Troy) raced in an era when finishing fourth in the Group 1 Irish Oaks earned you blacktype in a sales catalogue. Troyanna bred the Group 2 Great Voltigeur winner Air Marshall (In The Wings) and Group 3 winner Break Bread (Bering).

Slade shows nerves of Steel at Navan

CONDITIONS were tough at Navan where the feature was the Grade 2 Tote Navan Novice Hurdle, but the Henry de Bromhead-trained Slade Steel showed guts and determination to win, and continue his upward trajectory.

This win will have been cheered loudly at Peter Hockenhull’s Shade Oak Stud where Slade Steel’s sire Telescope (Galileo) stands. Bred by Barronstown Stud and raced by Highclere Thoroughbreds, Telescope won the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot by seven lengths from Hillstar, the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York, was runner-up to Taghrooda in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and placed behind Australia and The Grey Gatsby in the Group 1 Juddmonte International.

His first crop are six-year-old, Slade Steel is from his second crop, and Telescope has one other runner who was placed in a listed hurdle race. Slade Steel is very much his poster boy, but given his race performances, and an exceptional pedigree, much more would be expected of Telescope.

Slade Steel himself would not have been out of place winning at Royal Ascot himself, given the depth of his dam line. However, he is the first foal of the Dr Fong (Kris S) mare Mariet who won a couple of times over hurdles, and three of her eight winning siblings were also successful over the smaller obstacles.

Bred by Pollards Stables, who also bred Mariet, Slade Steel is followed by a host of young stock, the most recent of which, a colt foal by Old Persian (Dubawi), sold to Kevin Ross Bloodstock last month at Tattersalls Ireland for €60,000. Slade Steel was himself sold as a foal to Gerry Hogan at Goffs for €12,500, and resold at the age of three for €30,000. After winning his only point-to-point at Dawstown for Pierce Power, he sold privately to Robcour.

Potential

Winner of a Punchestown bumper and placed at the Festival meeting there in April, Slade Steel opened his winning account over hurdles first time out at Naas, and doubled up at the weekend in Navan. He is without doubt a horse with lots of potential and ability. His dam Mariet is a daughter of Medway (Shernazar), and she was a half-sister to a star in Hong Kong and the dam of a Japanese runner of quality.

Medway’s half-brother Indigenous (Marju) won a host of races in Hong Kong that today are Group 1 contests. A champion there, he won 16 races in all, including the then Group 2 International Vase and the Hong Kong Gold Cup twice. He travelled outside Hong Kong and ran second in the Group 1 Japan Cup. His half-sister bred Fenomeno (Stay Gold), triumphant twice in the Group 1 Tenno Sho in Japan.

Japanese champion-elect come with Irish roots

ASCOLI Piceno, an incredibly elegant city in Italy, is also the name of the leading juvenile filly this year in Japan. She took her unbeaten record to three wins when posting a gutsy victory in the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies last weekend.

The daughter of Daiwa Major (Sunday Silence) lowered the stakes record for the mile race, and was just 0.3 seconds off the course record. The win came in a race that is a big indicator of potential stardom, as previous winners include the likes of dual Horse of the Year Vodka, Horse of the Year Buena Vista, and this year’s Triple Crown winner Liberty Island.

Ascoli Piceno clung tenaciously to a narrow advantage and won by a neck from Stellenbosch. Out of the Danehill Dancer (Danehill) mare Ascolti, Ascoli Piceno was bred by Northern Farm and races carrying the silks of Sunday Racing. She opened her account with a victory in a newcomer’s race in mid-June at Tokyo before stepping up in class to contest the Group 3 Niigata Nisai Stakes in late August.

Ascoli Piceno’s 22-year-old sire stands at Shadai Stallion Station, and she is one of his nine Group 1 winners, and they are among 46 stakes winners he has sired. She is the third winner of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies that Daiwa Major has sired, while his best known winner is Admire Mars, winner of the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile, two Group 1 races in Japan, and now at stud and with his first yearlings.

French racegoers will be familiar with Daiwa Major’s son Double Major, successful this year in the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak.

Champion

Daiwa Major was a champion sprinter and miler in his native Japan at the ages of five and six. He also won the first leg of the Japanese Triple Crown, their 2000 Guineas.

He is a son of the American stallion Sunday Silence (Halo), a major figure in Japanese breeding and the sire also of Deep Impact. Daiwa Major went to stud in 2008.

Ascoli Piceno’s dam Ascolti won a couple of times in Japan and her first four foals to race have all been successful, including the stakes winner Ascoltare (Duramente). Ascolti is a half-sister to Touching Speech (Deep Impact) and Satono Lux (Deep Impact, Group 2 and listed winners respectively who were both placed in Group 1 contests. They are all out of Listen (Sadler’s Wells).

Prominence

This is a female line that has enjoyed prominence for many years. Winner of the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile and runner-up in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, Listen is a daughter of Brigid (Irish Rover), a winner who bred three blacktype winners, including a second Group 1 winning two-year-old filly, Sequoyah.

Successful in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in 2000, she is the dam of two noteworthy offspring in Henrythenavigator (Kingmambo) and Queen Cleopatra (Kingmambo).

Winner of the Coventry Stakes at two, Henrythenavigator won four times at three, all at Group 1 level. He beat New Approach to win both the 2000 Guineas and the Irish equivalent, and then added the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Sussex Stakes to his roll of honour, beating Raven’s Pass each time.

Queen Cleopatra was a Group 3 winner and she was placed in two classics, the Irish 1000 Guineas and the Prix de Diane. She has been a multiple stakes producer.