BRITISH Champions Day at Ascot lived up to expectations, even though some results did not go as expected. Nonetheless, there were plenty of great stories, and plenty to cover in this week’s Breeding Insights round-up.

Pride of place has to go to the Group 1 Champion Stakes winner Anmaat, as it gives me an opportunity to write about my favourite stallion, the Irish classic winner and Derrinstown Stud resident Awtaad (Cape Cross).

He stands for a bargain fee of €5,000, alongside Minzaal, and both Group 1 winners were bred at Derek and Gay Veitch’s Ringfort Stud. Awtaad’s sire career has been a rollercoaster, covering just 16 mares in 2021, resulting in eight potential juvenile winners, but he bounced back to cover 79 mares last year, and had a book of 128 this season.

Anmaat is from the first crop by Awtaad, and he became his sire’s first winner at the highest level last year when he took the honours in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan. Incredibly, his two wins at Group 1 level have been on his only starts in such races. A 140,000gns foal buy by Shadwell, Anmaat now has nine wins under his belt, earnings of £1.23 million, and he is one of eight winners from his twice-raced dam, African Moonlight (Halling). She beat just one other runner in those two starts.

No hindrance

African Moonlight’s 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 is the four-year-old Spain Moonlight (Invincible Spirit), who was placed twice at two, and the mare’s tenth and most recent offspring, a yearling filly by Palace Pier (Kingman), would look to be quite a bargain purchase by Hamish Macauley who paid just €30,000 for her at the Goffs Orby Sale recently.

The eight winners for African Moonlight include Syntax (Haatef), a €12,000 Goffs yearling purchase by Johnny Murtagh. He was sold to the USA after finishing fifth on his debut to Gleneagles and runner-up on his second start to Jack Naylor in Roscommon. After his transfer stateside, Syntax won at Grade 3 level and was placed in a couple of Grade 2 races.

African Moonlight will hopefully one day equal the record of her own dam, the stakes-placed African Peace (Roberto). The latter mare had 11 foals, all of which raced and nine of them won. She too is the dam of two stakes winners, notably African Moonlight’s full-brother Mkuzi (Halling), successful in the Group 3 Curragh Cup twice, and they were among his eight career victories.

Fine record

Eleven stakes winners in his first three crops represents a fine record for Awtaad, especially given the sizes of his books, and in addition to Anmaat, his standout performer is the four-year-old Anisette. She is a leading filly in the USA and already has chalked up three Grade 1 successes, namely the Del Mar Oaks, American Oaks and the Gamely Stakes.

Awtaad’s son Al Qareem won the Group 2 Prix Chaudenay, and he is sire of the Group 3 winners Diamil (in Australia) and Create Belief (in Ireland). His listed winners are Bellosa and Primo Bacio in England, Ebeko at Santa Anita in the USA, Prichi and Calithea in Italy, and Maktoob in Australia. Waterford was runner-up in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes in Australia, while Austrian Theory placed in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at two. Awtaad’s haul of blacktype earners is completed by the Group 3-placed Naomi Lapaglia and a pair of stakes-placed winners in Ireland.

Charyn’s British farewell as he heads to stud

CHARYN is well on course for some accolades at the end of this year, and he is one of the favourites for a Cartier Award next month.

The son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) continued his exceptional season with a third top-level success in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, propelling the four-year-old to the head of the points standings for this year’s Cartier Horse of the Year.

Charyn recorded an ultimately comfortable two-length victory in the mile highlight of British Champions Day, adding to his wins in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville

With his latest victory, Nurlan Bizakov’s star has leapfrogged Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Bluestocking at the head of both the Cartier Horse of the Year and Cartier Older Horse divisions. Trained by Roger Varian, Charyn has raced every month this season apart from July, with his only defeats coming when finishing second in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes and Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. He may not be finished for the year, with a trip to Japan under consideration.

Charyn’s year of success fuelled even more interest recently when his yearling full-sister sold in Book 1 at Newmarket for 2,900,000gns. It was a dream result for Grangemore Stud’s Guy and Serena O’Callaghan, who bred Charyn and the full-sister, and the farm’s previous best at Tattersalls was the 850,000gns given by Sumbe for the two-year-old Shinara (Dark Angel) last year, another sibling. A bidding duel between Anthony Stroud for Sheikh Mohammed, and Amo Racing resulted in this year’s jackpot price.

Special day

“It is the stuff of dreams, and as a breeder it is what you always hope could happen,” said Guy O’Callaghan after the sale. “I was not at Royal Ascot when Charyn won, but it is so very difficult for a horse to win there, it takes a great performance and that was a special day - and days like this can’t happen without that first.” If I am correct, Guy and Serena made it to Ascot at the weekend.

Guy purchased the dam Futoon (Kodiac) at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale for 100,000gns, and she has a Dark Angel colt at foot and is in foal to Blue Point (Shamardal).

Futoon once traded for just 3,000gns. That was as a two-year-old, and the following year she won twice and was runner-up in a couple of listed races. She is the best of four winners from five runners out of Vermillion (Mujadil), a dual winner at two and a full-sister to Galeota (Mujadil). The latter gelding rounded out his juvenile season with a win in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury, and he was runner-up, beaten just a head, in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at three.

Female line

There is no shortage of stakes and pattern winners in the female line, though Charyn is easily the best runner in four generations. His third dam Refined (Statoblest) won twice at two, and her eight runners had six winners among them. Joining Galeota as a stakes winner is Loulwa (Montjeu), a 370,000gns yearling who won a listed race and afterwards bred a stakes winner.

Loulwa was one of three daughters of Refined to breed stakes winners. The unraced Fine If (Iffraaj) was responsible for the US stakes winner Illegal Smile (Camacho), but this was bettered by another sibling, Lady Livius (Titus Livius). A three-time winner, Lady Livius is the dam of two Group 3 winners, Burnt Sugar (Lope De Vega) whose six successes were headed by the Sirenia Stakes, and Brown Sugar (Tamayuz), the Molecomb Stakes hero.