The Weekly Wrap: Field Of Dreams

[Wandering Eyes]

When Paul and Marie McCartan looked out at their two Dark Angel (Ire) foals sharing a paddock back in 2014, they would scarcely have let themselves dream that even one of the colts would go on to be one of the best sprinters in the world, let alone both of them.

Born two days apart, Harry Angel (Ire) and Battaash (Ire) went their separate ways as the yearling sales approached, the former heading to Doncaster for the Goffs UK Premier Sale, where he was bought by his trainer Clive Cox for £44,000. Less than two months later at Tattersalls October Book 2, Battaash was bought by Angus Gold for Shadwell at 200,000gns. Both winners at two, they each recorded their first group victories within weeks of each other as 3-year-olds and by the end of 2017 they were both Group 1 winners—Harry Angel landing the Darley July Cup and Battash the Prix de l’Abbaye.

“They were together all the way through their time here at Ballyphilip. They were even weaned on the same day,” Paul McCartan recalled.

While Harry Angel, who added wins in the G1 32Red Sprint Cup and G2 Duke Of York Clipper Logistics S., is now at Dalham Hall Stud, the gelded Battaash has become the gift who keeps on giving for his breeder, winning the G1 Coolmore Nunthorpe S. in record time on McCartan’s birthday.

“I remember well when Dayjur broke the track record and everyone said it would never be broken, so it was fantastic to be there to see it, especially as it was the third time I’d gone to York to see him run in the Nunthorpe,” said McCartan.

It’s not just Battaash who has kept the McCartans in the limelight this year. On Saturday, Harry Angel’s half-brother Pierre Lapin (Ire) became the first stakes winner for his freshman sire Cappella Sansevero (GB) in the G2 Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef S. on only his second start, four months after he had posted his impressive winning debut. He provided a major update for his dam Beatrix Potter (Ire) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), whose yearling daughter by Dark Angel heads to next week’s Goffs Orby Sale (lot 156), though that is now to the benefit of consignor Baroda Stud.

“We sold the mare to the China Horse Club and I’m delighted for them. When you sell a horse for that much you want them to do well for their new owners,” said McCartan.

But there is some reflected glory still to be gleaned from Pierre Lapin. His dam’s half-sister Our Joy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) remains in the Ballyphilip broodmare band and has a filly by Dark Angel’s son Markaz (Ire) heading to Book 2 at Newmarket. The mare is currently in foal to Starspangledbanner (Ire) following the success of Godolphin’s debutante winner Chasing Dreams (GB), by the same sire and out of another half-sister A Huge Dream (Ire) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}).

“I bought their dam Great Joy (Ire) and she started it all,” said McCartan of the mare whose third foal, Xtension (Ire) (Xaar {GB}), earned more than £2.5 million on the track, winning the G2 Vintage S. at Goodwood, also for Clive Cox, before landing two Group 1 contests in Hong Kong for John Moore.

The McCartans still have Battaash’s dam Anna Law (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}) and the sprinter’s sister is in Book 1 of the October Sale as lot 166, while also among the yearlings heading to Tattersalls is a first-crop son of Kodi Bear (Ire)—a McCartan foal pinhook—out of Tiggy Two (Ire) (Bated Breath {GB}). His dam is an unraced half-sister of another famously fast Ballyphilip graduate Tiggy Wiggy (Ire), who shares her sire Kodiac (GB) with Kodi Bear. The first foal of Tiggy Two sells as lot 674.

Palace To Paris
Roger Varian will bide his time before making a decision on where we will next see Pierre Lapin, and while plenty of trainers will think twice about taking on Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal) in the G1 Darley Dewhurst S., it looks as though Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) will be among John Gosden’s raiding party heading for the Bois de Boulogne on Arc weekend. Now two from two after wide-margin wins at Sandown, the latest at odds of 1/8, the young colt has paid a posthumous tribute to the Duke of Roxburghe, who bred him in partnership with Highclere Stud, as they did his dam Beach Frolic (GB) (Nayef) and grandam Night Frolic (GB) (Night Shift).

John Warren bought the colt’s third dam, Miss d’Ouilly (Fr) (Bikala {FR}), from Jean-Luc Lagardere back in 2000, so his likely next outing in the Group 1 contest bearing the great owner-breeder’s name would be a fitting way for Palace Pier to complete his exciting juvenile campaign.

Dubawi Line On The Up
As the 2-year-old season really kicks into top gear, it wasn’t just Cappella Sansevero who recorded a first stakes success at the weekend but also Ballylinch Stud’s Make Believe (GB). The G3 William Hill Firth of Clyde S. winner Rose Of Kildare (Ire) was another notably inexpensive yearling purchase exactly this time last year for the Mark Johnston Racing team, who bought her for €3,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale. She has also been notably busy, which is not unusual for a Johnston runner, with four wins from 11 runs since April 30.

The filly, bred by Wansdyke Farms, is helping to put her young sire on the map just as her dam Cruck Realta (GB) did for Sixties Icon (GB) in his first season. She won her maiden in June and bounced straight into the Chesham S. at Royal Ascot, finishing runner-up to Tha’Ir (GB) (New Approach {Ire}). Cruck Realta then won the listed Lord Weinstock Memorial S. at Newbury the following spring.

Make Believe, a son of Makfi (GB) bred by Simon and Mags Hope at their Aston Mullins Stud, now has nine winners from his 30 runners to date, and his sireline is featuring prominently in the freshman sire table in Europe thanks to Night Of Thunder (Ire), whose star continues to rise. The Darley sire boasts an extremely encouraging strike-rate of 63% as well as three stakes winners, including Molatham (GB), winner of the listed Flying Scotsman S. at Doncaster for Sheikh Hamdan.

Another son of Dubawi, Al Kazeem (GB), posted a first Group 1 success as a sire with Aspetar (Fr) in Germany on Sunday, which is no small achievement for a stallion with noted fertility issues but clearly not devoid of class. Pleasingly, Aspetar is trained by Roger Charlton at Beckhampton, where Al Kazeem also blossomed.

Tritonic Heads To Group Company
Anthony Bromley, better known as a purchaser of high-class National Hunt stock through his role with Highflyer Bloodstock, has been a regular buyer with trainer Alan King at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up Sale in recent years and the duo looks to have an exciting prospect on their hands with a recruit from this year’s sale.

Tritonic (GB), a Kirsten Rausing-bred son of Sea The Moon (Ger), was initially bought by Tally-Ho Stud as a foal for 14,000gns and returned to the ring in May to make 55,000gns.

Running for the partnership of the McNeill family and Ian Dale, the colt won on his second start at the end of August under a patient ride from Megan Nicholls, and then faced down some smart company at Newbury on Saturday in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions S., a race with a history of decent winners.

“Alan can’t have yearlings on the yard through the winter with all the jumps horses there, so we’ve bought the odd horse from the Craven Sale but we have targeted the Guineas Breeze-up for a number of years and we’ve bought some nice Flat horses, some of whom have become black-type jumpers as well,” said Bromley.

“We bought ten between the two sales this year. We deliberately buy staying types at the Guineas sale and this one might be the best of them. The intention is to take up the entry in the G1 Vertem Futurity at Doncaster. The owners are very excited and so is the trainer. He is a typical Alan King 2-year-old in that he is progressing with each run. The Haynes, Hanson & Clark is a prestigious race and they rolled the dice a little by going for it, but it worked out for them and it’s very encouraging.”

Sea The Moon has built on the exciting start he made with his first juveniles last year to become a stallion on the radar of a range of buyers and his excellent family was in the news again over the weekend.

G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange winner Soudania (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) not only shares her sire with Sea The Moon but the pair are out of the sisters Sahel (Ger) and Sanwa (Ger), both daughters of Monsun (Ger) and full-sisters to the German Classic-winning trio of Samum (Ger), Schiaparelli (Ger) and Salve Regina (Ger). The 3-year-old filly, trained by Freddy Head for her breeders the Wertheimer brothers, was beaten on her May 29 debut but has kept a spotless record in her four starts since then, including the listed Prix de Liancourt.

Catching Breath
With so much interest in Kingman (GB) this season and with Frankel (GB) continuing to produce a string of classy winners, it is easy to overlook their Banstead Manor barn-mate Bated Breath (GB). But the easygoing son of Dansili (GB) is having a great season and is currently lurking just outside the top ten sires in Britain and Ireland with progeny earnings in excess of £1.5 million.

Space Traveller (GB) won his second group race of the year during Irish Champions weekend, while his fellow Royal Ascot winner Daahyeh (GB) took second in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. This weekend, Bated Breath was represented by another group winner, Maid In India (Ire), in the G3 Dubai International Airport World Trophy S. The 5-year-old mare’s victory for owner-breeder Con Harrington was also a welcome return to the spotlight for Lancashire-based trainer Eric Alston, who enjoyed great success with the admirably consistent sprinter Tedburrow (GB) (Dowsing), the winner of 21 of his 92 races, including a trio of Group 3 contests. Alston’s finest hour, however, came with Gary and Lesley Middlebrook’s homebred Reverence (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}), a dual Group 1 winner in 2006.

Transatlantic Success For Doyles
It was a big weekend for the Doyle family. Congratulations to Sophie Doyle, who rode her first Grade 1 winner in America aboard Street Band in the Cotillion S. Meanwhile brother James was part of the winning team in the mounted games during Newmarket’s Henry Cecil Open Weekend, watched by their proud mother and former trainer Jacquie.

It has to be said that the Godolphin team was a little heavy on jockeys, with James Doyle being joined on the ponies by Adam Kirby and Brett Doyle (no relation), as well as Charlie and Aisling Appleby’s 7-year-old daughter Emily.

Plenty of jockeys were in action during the afternoon activities on the Severals, which included a showjumping competition controversially won by champion jockey-elect Oisin Murphy despite the fact that he took the wrong course and jumped an extra fence. Runner-up Ryan Moore clearly wasn’t worried that BSJA rules weren’t applied in this case and he grinned his way through the presentations alongside Jamie Spencer and Michael Hills, who were third and fourth.

It is of great credit to the organising committee, led by Charlie Fellowes, to have so many of racing’s big names involved in a weekend which not only raises plenty of money for Racing Welfare but also raises the profile of the sport in giving access to racing yards and events which are not otherwise available.

Visitors hoping to join the tour of Sir Mark Prescott’s Heath House Stables for the first time began queuing from 7.30am, even as Enable (GB), Logician (GB), Stradivarius (Ire) and co were making their way from John Gosden’s stable for an exhibition canter up Warren Hill.

This was the first time the weekend has been named in honour of the late master of Warren Place and a particularly nice gesture from Lady Jane Cecil was to present a Sir Henry Cecil Rose to each stable which opened its doors to the public for the weekend. The very fitting description of the rose reads, ‘A vigorous Floribunda which encompasses hardiness, great character and resilience’.

 

 

 

 

 

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