Of Soaring Stars and One Sadly Fallen

[Wandering Eyes]

ASCOT, UK — It was a day when so many of those engaged at Royal Ascot were thinking also of a great man gone away in Ireland. Kevin Prendergast would undoubtedly have revelled in the splendid results for some of his fellow Irish trainers on Ascot Heath as they in turn paid tribute to him. And there was even a winner for his old friend Awtaad, the last of the trainer's Classic winners, whose son Ethical Diamond triumphed in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes after another, Ascending, had won Tuesday's Ascot Stakes. 

Breakthrough moments are key in any stallion's career, and there is arguably no finer place for them to happen than at Royal Ascot when all the racing world is watching. 

Sands Of Mali has been in the news for less joyful reasons this year but there can be no denying his progress in the only area that matters: siring decent winners on the track. 

The best of them to date, his first-crop daughter Time For Sandals, stepped up to the plate and hit a sensational home run to claim the G1 Commonwealth Cup – a race denied to Sands Of Mali himself when he was second here to Eqtidaar in 2018. By then he had already won the Gimcrack, Prix Sigy and Sandy Lane Stakes, and he was on his way to taking the Qipco British Champions Sprint later that year. A proper racehorse, he's starting to look like a proper stallion, too. 

As impressive as the rise of Sands Of Mali is that of his trainer Harry Eustace, who was claiming his second Group 1 of the week – and of his nascent career – as well as a second in the Royal Hunt Cup to boot. To describe the trainer's pedigree is to say that he is bred in the purple: his sire- and dam-lines both boast trainers of note, and his full-brother David is already a Group 1-winning trainer in Australia who is now cutting a swathe through the Hong Kong ranks.

Anyone who knows Joe Foley, who stands Sands Of Mali at his Ballyhane Stud, will probably not be surprised to hear that he has been “sticking my oar in” and “helping” Eustace in his placing of Time For Sandals. 

“We've both been saying she's a Group 1 filly,” said an excited Foley while on his way home from a wedding. What is it with people getting married in the middle of Royal Ascot week?

He continued, “I was involved in selling the filly through the Rathbride operation and loved her myself. David Appleton and Harry Eustace loved her. I remember encouraging them significantly to buy her and they were clever enough to appreciate the inbreeding in her pedigree. I am delighted that she has worked for them.”

That inbreeding is one of the reasons Foley was so interested in buying Sands Of Mali, a son of Panis, who is a grandson of Mr. Prospector. Time For Sandals, whose dam Days Of Summer is by Bachelor Duke, was bred under the name of Ballyhane on behalf of Sands Of Mali's co-owner Steve Parkin.

“I organised the mating for the filly, who is inbred 3×3 to [Mr. Prospector's son] Miswaki. When I bought Sands Of Mali, I was keen to duplicate Mr. Prospector in the matings and it seems to be working well. Interestingly, she's the one who is the most inbred to Mr. Prospector and she's the best,” Foley said. 

“I think Sands Of Mali is an incredible stallion. He's upgrading his mares. To be kind to the dam of Time For Sandals, she she would have been one of the lesser lights, similar to the dam of Ipanema Queen. It's encouraging to see him replicate his brilliance. He was a brilliant two-year-old and three-year-old and he was an unlucky loser of the Commonwealth Cup himself, so he deserves this.”

Foley also reported that Sands Of Mali has covered his largest book of mares to date in his fifth season at stud. 

He added, “He's had tremendous support from breeders this year and I would like to think he's going to cement his reputation into the future with the quality of mares he's had.”

Sands Of Mali is a year farther down the line in establishing a name for himself at stud but the horse riding in on his coat-tails among this year's freshmen is Starman, who provided quite the result for Tally-Ho Stud, where he stands, as the breeders of the Albany Stakes winner Venetian Sun.

Out of the Iffraaj mare Johara, the Starman filly remained unbeaten on her second start for Karl Burke, and is another smart juvenile to win for the Tally Ho team at Royal Ascot after Campanelle (Kodiac). Tally-Ho principal Tony O'Callaghan is also the owner and breeder of Starman's other group winner to date, Lady Iman, and the stallion also had the runner-up in Wednesday's Queen Mary Stakes in the Charlie Clover-trained 100/1 shot Flowerhead, for Amo Racing. 

Roger O'Callaghan was quick to praise Starman's owner-breeder David Ward for the success of the stallion and added, “Dave and his wife Sue are such good people that I think the horse is looking after them.”

O'Callaghan also paid tribute to National Hunt-turned-Flat trainer Joe Murphy, whose filly Cercene downed the colours of Zarigana to land the other Group 1 contest of the day, the Coronation Stakes. For 70-year-old Murphy, it was a deserved first Group 1 winner after 50 years with a licence, and Cercene also gave another boost to her sire Australia after the Derby triumph of Lambourn. 

“Joe Murphy deserves huge credit for that filly,” he said. “It's the day of the Joes – a brilliant day for them.”

 

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