READERS with a good memory might recall some pieces we have published previously from the intrepid Eoin Sullivan concerning his travels in places such as China, Borneo and Kazakhstan.

Well, he has been in touch again with a story of success, and it is no less exotic than some of his previous pieces.

“Perhaps some of your readers might be interested in hearing about an Irish connection to the recent winner of Malaysia’s premier Group 1 race, the Piala Emas Sultan Selangor, on Sunday last in Kuala Lumpur”, Eoin writes. The race enjoys listed status in international catalogues, but it is a local Group 1.

The race was won by the six-year-old Teller, though the gelding was renamed when he moved from Argentina to Malaysia, and any search on databases still list him as the Argentine-bred Jolly Good.

Eoin continues: “The winner was purchased privately from Argentina by myself for a local Chinese Malaysian owner, and happens to be by an Irish-bred stallion in Heliostatic. I also purchased the third-placed horse, Skydance Eclipse, an Australian-bred, for a long-established client who now has horses in training in Ireland”.

Best race

The Piala Emas Sultan Selangor (The Kings Gold Cup) over 10 furlongs is Malaysia’s best race, and the last leg of the Malaysian Triple Crown. Preceding the Piala Emas in the Triple Crown are the Tunku Gold Cup over six furlongs and the Selangor Gold Cup over a mile. During the early 2000s when racing was flourishing in the country, the Piala Emas was worth 1,500,000 MYR (approximately €350,000), whereas now it is worth 400,000 Malaysian Ringit. However, its prestige is unrivalled amongst local owners.

Heliostatic was bred and trained by Jim Bolger, and raced for his wife Jackie and the late John Corcoran. A son of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), his is a full-brother to Soldier Of Fortune. Winner of the Group 3 Meld Stakes, Heliostatic stood for a few seasons in Ireland before moving to France. He sired the Group 3 juvenile winner in his first crop, but he has been very successful in Argentina.

Group 1 sire

There he is the sire of Group 1 winners Fanciful (Gran Premio Gilberto Lerena), Hole In One (Gran Premio San Isidro), Touch Of Pink (Gran Premio de Potrancas), and He Runs Away (Gran Premio Nacional and Gran Premio Jockey Club), Group 2 winners Our Little Girl, Dancing Again and Carta De Amor, and the Group 3 winners Tivoli Park and Que Pesto.

A stakes winner himself in Argentina, Teller (or Jolly Good) is out of Jolie Joan (Giant’s Causeway), a half-sister to Joe Louis (Lode), winner of the Group 1 Gran Premio Clasico dos Mil Guineas, and Johnny Guitar (Lode), also successful in the same race but with the added kudos of also being successful in the Group 1 Gran Premio Estrellas Mile.

New stallion for Northern Ireland

BREEDERS in Northern Ireland, and elsewhere for that matter, will have an opportunity next spring to access one of the best-bred horses likely to go to stud anywhere in 2023.

Though he is unraced, Foment has all the other attributes needed to be a success as a stallion. A Juddmonte-bred son of Frankel (Galileo), Foment has seven winning siblings, but most significantly his two full-brothers are stakes winners. Collide (Frankel) won six times, including a listed race in France, but it is their other brother that will make people sit up and take notice of Foment.

He is Logician (Frankel), winner of the Group 1 St Leger and the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes. This year he covered 183 mares in his first season at Shade Oak Stud at a fee of £4,000. Such popularity is sure to rub off on Foment and he will cost only a fraction of his brother’s fee which is again set at £4,000 next year. This is a real stallion family. Foment’s dam Scuffle (Daylami) is a half-sister to two successful sires in Cityscape (Selkirk) and Bated Breath (Dansili).

Frankel, the sire of Foment, will cover next year for £275,000, up from £200,000 this year. No wonder, as he is simply one of the best sires anywhere in the world. His daughter Alpinista won the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe this year, his son Chaldean is the best two-year-old in Europe and a likely classic winner next year, Homeless Songs was an Irish classic winner, and the list of stars goes on and on.

The sire of 26 Group 1 winners, Frankel had a memorable 2022 and eight of his sons and daughters won at this level in the past 12 months.

Foment will be the first sire at the recently established Universal Stud near Newry. Bernard Havern is the man with all the information and he is happy to take enquiries at +44 7592383828.

Earl Of Tinsdal recalled

HAVING been placed on all three of her starts over jumps in France back in March, April and May, the three-year-old Dixon Cove was sent to the Arqana Summer Sale. Connections had a strong valuation on her, and she failed to sell at €190,000.

Not seen afterwards until early November, she reappeared in new ownership and with trainer Paul Nicholls, and ran out a 13-length winner of a juvenile maiden hurdle at Hereford. Stepped up in class at the weekend, she contested, and won, the Listed Fillies’ Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree.

Bred in Germany by Gestut Aesculap, she is the first blacktype earner of any kind by Earl Of Tinsdal, a son of Galileo’s full-brother Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells). Earl Of Tinsdal was a smart racehorse, winning a Group 1 in his native Germany and a pair of such races in Italy. At three he was runner-up to Waldpark in the Group 1 German Derby.

Lack of support at stud has produced lack of opportunities to sire winners, and therefore Earl Of Tinsdal is relatively unknown. It is a different matter on the dam side of the family. Dixon Cove is one of four winners from her unraced dam, Dakara (Dansili). Her dam Divisa (Lomitas) was a Group 3 winner and bred six successful runners.

Notably, the best of that half dozen is a son of Black Sam Bellamy, The Giant Bolster. A smart chaser who liked Cheltenham, he won at Grade 2 and 3 level over fences, and was twice placed in the Grade 1 Gold Cup. Runner-up to Synchronised in 2012, two years later he was back to run Lord Windermere to a length in the same race, and still only finish third in that blanket finish.