LAST year David Loughnane won the Jemima Howden Novice Stakes at Ascot with subsequent Group 2 winner Go Bears Go, though the race carried a different name then. Two years earlier Mark Johnston was successful in the race with another subsequent group winner, Blown By Wind.

This year Loughnane introduced his 525,000gns breeze-up purchase Walbank in the corresponding event, but had to settle for second best behind Noble Style, who coincidentally sold for the exact same amount as a yearling at Tattersalls in Book 1 of the October Yearling Sale. The son of Kingman (Invincible Spirit) out of Eartha Kitt (Pivotal) was bred by Andrew Black’s Chasemore Farm in Surrey. Kingman on a Pivotal mare has already produced the stakes winner and Group 1 runner-up Roseman.