IT CAN be a bit of a feast or a famine when it comes to Group and Grade 1 racing, and last weekend the sole top level contest in Europe was in Germany, where Rebel’s Romance recorded his sixth victory at that level. He has featured many times in this column.

Instead, I am going to go back to the previous weekend, where Ireland alone staged six Group 1 races, and therefore left little space to highlight some of the other major winners during that time. I want to focus on one horse, and his success in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine in Canada did not pass unnoticed, but perhaps did not get the attention it deserved.

The two-year-old feature was promoted to a Grade 1 race in 2018, and increasingly has been getting better runners. Charlie Appleby targeted it with Albahr and Mysterious Nights in 2021 and 2022, winning it on both occasions.

He did not have a runner last year, and Christophe Clement beat a host of Mark Casse-trained runners to win, a victory that earns an automatic spot at the Breeders’ Cup. While Carson’s Run did not add to his victory last November, he has gone on this year to win the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby.

Appleby was back again to try his luck this year with Al Qudra, who started favourite on the back of his success in July in the Listed Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot, and also making the trip to Canada was the horse who finished second at Ascot, the Andrew Balding-trained, Qatar Racing-owned New Century. That pair had met the previous month, when New Century made his debut, but previous racecourse experience stood to Al Qudra, who landed that all-weather novice in good style.

New Century has been kept busy since that debut at the start of June, and later in the month he opened his account at Doncaster, before finding Al Qudra too good at Ascot. A three-runner listed race at Salisbury, the Stonehenge Stakes, was instructive, given that the runner-up Luther has won a listed contest since, while Aidan O’Brien’s The Parthenon was well held in third.

Given that connections decided to tackle Al Qudra again, and make a long-haul flight to Canada, we can assume that Andrew Balding believes he has an improving sort. Next stop, the Breeders’ Cup.

All roads lead to Del Mar now, and Oisin Murphy, who has partnered New Century on all his starts, is excited about his chances. He said after the Summer Stakes win: “He’s really sharpened up from run to run and his work is like that at home too. His homework even before the Stonehenge Stakes pointed towards the Breeders’ Cup. He hasn’t missed a beat and, touch wood, that will be the same between now and the Breeders’ Cup.”

Landmark victories

New Century has now twice given his sire Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) landmark victories, his first stakes winner, and now his first Group/Grade 1 winner. The Tweenhills Farm-based stallion, who won the Group 1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas for Balding, Murphy and Qatar Racing in 2020, is enjoying a fantastic year with his first crop as a sire, and this was an emotional success for connections. A jubilant Murphy punched the air walking back into the winners’ enclosure, shouting “Go Kameko!”

The victory earned New Century a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In”. After the race, Oisin Murphy said: “It’s fantastic for Kameko to have his first Grade 1 winner. He’s had lots of success recently, but this is his flagship horse in his first season.”

Retired to stud at a fee of £25,000, Kameko’s covering charge fell by £5,000 in the following two seasons, but this year it remained at £15,000.

That downward trajectory is now at an end, as his first crop winners are in double figures, and in addition to his Grade 1 winner, his son Wimbledon Hawkeye, owned by The Gredley Family, followed up his debut success at Kempton with two placings in group company, most recently finishing second to the highly-rated Ballydoyle runner The Lion In Winter in the Group 2 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes at York.

With approaching 90 potential runners in his first crop, Kameko has slightly smaller crops of yearling and foals, but it can be expected that he will attract more support now that his runners are doing it on the racecourse. This early success for his runners should come as no surprise. After all, he was a very smart juvenile who trained on to become a very quick classic winner, clocking the fastest time ever when landing the Group 1 2000 Guineas.

Race record

Four juvenile starts saw Kameko win a maiden over seven furlongs at Sandown, finish runner-up in both the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes and Group 3 Solario Stakes, beaten a neck and a nose, and he rounded out his first season with victory in the Group 1 Vertem Trophy which had to be run on Tapeta at Newcastle.

His defeat of Wichita and Pinatubo in the 2000 Guineas was the better of his two wins at three, and he was fourth in no less than three Group 1 races, the Derby, Juddmonte International and the Sussex Stakes.

A classic victory for Kameko was appropriate for his owner Sheikh Fahad, given that he took the place of the ill-fated Roaring Lion on the stallion roster at Tweenhills. Both are among the best sons of Kitten’s Joy (El Prado), the champion turf male in the USA.

Kitten’s Joy’s greatest wins were gained at three when he won both the 10-furlong Secretariat Stakes at Arlington and the mile and a half Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park. On many occasions he has been the leading turf sire in the USA, and arguably he might have been an even greater success as a stallion had he come to Europe.

Kameko is one of 16 Group or Grade 1 winners for his sire. In Europe we are also very familiar with the performances of Roaring Lion, four-time Group 1 winner, and Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Hawkbill who, like the former Tweenhills Stud stallion, also won the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes. Kirsten Rausing found a place at Lanwades Stud for Kitten’s Joy’s son Bobby’s Kitten, winner of the six and a half furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita, beating No Nay Never. He is one of three Breeders’ Cup winners for Kitten’s Joy. Stephanie’s Kitten won the Grade 1 Filly and Mare Turf, while Oscar Performance took the Juvenile Turf.

Potent Embrace

We will revisit the female side of New Century again, but for now suffice to say that he is out of the winning Street Cry (Machiavellian) mare Potent Embrace, and she was bought at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale by David Redvers from Godolphin for €150,000. She was carrying her second foal, Line Judge (New Approach) who failed to win, but did place many times in England and France. She is the only filly out of Potent Embrace. Incredibly, she sold at the Goffs February Sale this year for the minimum bid of €1,000.

From four named produce of racing age, Potent Embrace is dam of two winners and two placed horses. Her first foal, Passion And Glory (Cape Cross), has been a durable performer for Godolphin, winning for the eighth time in his career this year at Ascot, at the age of eight. He is a Group 3 winner in England, successful in the valuable Listed His Majesty The King’s Cup in Bahrain last year, and Group 1-placed in Germany.