The Weekly Wrap: Johnston’s Vintage Selection

[Wandering Eyes]

It’s surely only a matter of days now until Mark Johnston passes Richard Hannon Sr’s record tally of 4,193 winners. The Scotsman is way out in front in the trainers’ table by individual wins this season—30 clear of his Yorkshire rival Richard Fahey on 164 at the time of writing—and he teamed up with another winning machine, champion jockey Silvestre de Sousa, to great effect at Goodwood last week.

The G2 Vintage S. was a Hannon benefit between 2010 and 2013, when King Torus (Ire), Chandlery (Ire), Olympic Glory (Ire) and Toormore (Ire) each took their turn, but Johnston has a similarly impressive record in the juvenile contest, winning it first with Mr Baileys (GB) in 1993 and later in consecutive years with Lucky Story and Shamardal.

Twenty-five years after he first struck, Johnston was off to a great start at the meeting he loves most with bargain yearling purchase Dark Vision (Ire) (Dream Ahead) scoring impressively for the Kingsley Park 10 to remain unbeaten in three runs. Bred by SF Bloodstock, Dark Vision certainly has a pedigree to warrant more than the 15,0000gns paid by Johnston for him at Book 2 of the October Sale and his Lope De Vega (Ire) half-brother being sold by Ecurie des Monceaux in just under a fortnight at Arqana’s August Sale (lot 94) will surely benefit from such an important update.

With juvenile success for owners outside the major stallion operations often comes the dilemma of whether or not to sell. Dark Vision will certainly be on the radar for plenty of stud masters and he is now one of the early favourites for next year’s 2,000 Guineas, the race which Mr Baileys won for Johnston the year following his Vintage success, while Shamardal went on to be a dual Classic winner in France, albeit for Saeed Bin Suroor after switching to the Godolpin blue.

A difficult decision will doubtless have to be taken eventually and in the meantime the 19 members of the Kingsley Park 10 syndicate will hopefully continue to enjoy what has already been a vintage season in more ways than one. The three youngsters owned by the partnership have all won, and just three days before Dark Vision struck at Goodwood, Victory Command (Ire) (War Command) brought up his hat-trick of wins in the listed Pat Eddery S. at Ascot.

Johnston paid just 6,000gns for that colt at Tattersalls’ December Sale, while the third member of the trio, Seductive Moment (Ger), who won on debut at Windsor, was an extraordinarily inexpensive yearling by his old friend Shamardal, bought for 12,000gns 24 hours before Dark Vision joined the team.

If Johnston ever gets bored with the training lark, an equally successful career as a bloodstock agent awaits.

To Race Or To Sell?
The dilemma of racing on or selling is a growing factor of modern-day racing, particularly in Britain, which remains the poor relation to its principal European racing neighbours. In theory it’s a nice problem to have: one either cashes in or lives the dream. I suspect, however, that things are rarely that simple.

Such great demand, especially for colts with early promise, has given rise to a number of boutique sales connected to race meetings, with sales companies understandably eager to stake a claim against a strong private sales market. The Goffs Goodwood Sale, held after racing last Wednesday, is the latest addition to the calendar.

The dream for anyone who sets out to breed or own a racehorse will doubtless be to race a champion, and it’s a little disquieting to find so many parties eager to snatch that dream away before it’s fully realised. But, with horses, we all know how quickly a dream can be shattered and the temptation to sell and put some money into the pot for future investments is fully accepted. It seems likely that auctions of this nature will grow in number and popularity.

Regal Flourish For Cheveley Park Stud
Camelot (GB) is so far the stand-out second-crop sire in Europe but Intello (Ger) is steadily laying down markers to suggest that he too is of a superior quality. His latest stakes winner came at Goodwood last week and it is perhaps the most pleasing of all for Cheveley Park Stud, which ‘shares’ the son of Galileo (Ire) with Haras du Quesnay, as he was bred by David and Patricia Thompson out of a mare by the retired Medicean (GB) from an established Cheveley Park Stud line.

The G3 Bonhams Thoroughbred S. winner Regal Reality (GB), a great grandson of the G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Regal Rose (GB) (Danehill), is the fourth generation of his family to be bred at the farm.

The Thompsons’ week was made even more special by another Glorious Goodwood victory for a homebred with Pilaster (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}). The winner of the G2 Qatar Lillie Langtry S. who is now unbeaten this season and provided the first major victory for 18-year-old jockey David Egan, the reigning champion apprentice who elected to finish his apprenticeship early and take out his senior licence only last week.

Llety’s Stand-Up Comedy
Llety Farms, one of the few stallion studs in Wales, had great fun promoting resident stallion Stimulation (Ire) during his first season in 2011, though the Viagra-themed advertisements drew disapproving comments from some of the more prudish members of the bloodstock community.

The amusing campaign has given rise to some equally amusingly named offspring. For fear of causing further offence, I won’t name my personal favourite but it was pleasing to see Stimulation’s Llety-bred daughter Under The Covers (GB) win at Goodwood for Ron Harris.

It’s been a good season for graduates of the Hodge family’s Llety Farms, which also bred Royal Ascot-winning juvenile Soldier’s Call (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who went on to be third to Rumble Inthejungle (GB) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) in the G3 Markel Insurance Molecomb S.

An opportunity was surely missed to send the Lujain mare Foreplay (GB) to Stimulation but she’s visited Whipper twice, producing a winner each time, and has a yearling by Ivawood (GB) in the Goffs Orby Sale (lot 298). The mind boggles.

Uni and Precieuse Stick Together
Early last summer, two fillies left Fabrice Chappet’s Lamorlaye stable to join Chad Brown in America.

The G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Precieuse (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) was bought by Peter Brant ahead of her appearance in the G1 Coronation S. and up until Saturday hadn’t been seen in action for over a year. She returned with a highly promising run in Saratoga’s Fasig-Tipton De La Rose S. only to be beaten a head by her fast-closing stablemate in both France and America, Uni (GB) (More Than Ready).

The Haras d’Etreham-bred winner has been kept busier since her move and was a Grade 2 winner last September as well as taking third in the G1 Belmont Invitational Oaks on her first start stateside.

Uni, out of the Dansili (GB) mare Unaided (GB), rounded off a good week for daughters of the Juddmonte pensioner, who is also the broodmare sire of the aforementioned Dark Vision, as well as G1 Sussex S. runner-up Expert Eye (GB) (Acclamation {GB}).

Well Timed Schlenderham Success
The colours of Baron Georg Von Ullmann have been carried to victory by many a decent horse over the years, including Manduro (Ger), Shirocco (Ger) and Getaway (Ger), all sons of his family’s Gestut Schlenderhan’s famous former resident Monsun (Ger).

Though the silks remain the same, the Schlenderhan horses now race under the name Stall Ullmann, which enjoyed success on Sunday with G1 Preis der Diana winner Well Timed (Ger) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), its second domestic Classic winner of the season after the victory of Ancient Spirit (Ger) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) in the G2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen.

The victory of Well Timed—a second Classic winner for her sire this year after Romanised (Ire)—also brings reflected glory to another long established breeding operation enjoying a terrific year as her grandam Wells Whisper (Fr) (Sadler’s Wells), a half-sister to Prix du Jockey Club winner Hernando (Fr) (Niniski), was bred by the Niarchos family and bought by the baron as a yearling for 880,000gns.

It is perhaps also a well-timed resurgence on the track for the Schlenderhan horses, which are trained at the stud by Jean-Pierre Carvalho. A report in the August issue of the German-based Manager magazine stated that Gestut Schlenderhan, the country’s oldest stud farm, could be put up for sale by Deutsche Bank, which took over Baron Von Ullmann’s family-owned Sal Oppenheim private bank in 2010. Deutsche Bank later also gained control of Schlenderhan when several of the Sal Oppenheim partners had to surrender assets to cover losses sustained by the company.

The stud, claimed to be worth in the region of €50 million, could yet be bought back by the owner-breeder, whom it is believed has the right to match any offer from a third party.

Female Initiatives Increase
In his review of the week in yesterday’s TDN, my American colleague Bill Finley bemoaned the dearth of female jockeys to have followed the path of the trailblazing Julie Krone. Happily, the situation is a little more optimistic in Europe, and in fact one of our ‘exports’, Sophie Doyle, notched her 200^th winner in the US over the weekend.

It’s still a long way off parity in the weighing-room, of course, but the rise of riders such as Hayley Turner, the recently retired Cathy Gannon, and former champion apprentice Josephine Gordon, appears to have led to an increasing number of talented female apprentices being given chances.

Currently leading the way in Britain is the flying Scot Nicola Currie, who is in with a chance of lifting this season’s apprentice title with a total of 42 wins to date this year.

Hollie Doyle, who is being given plenty of decent rides by the up-and-coming Archie Watson in particular, is another in the top 50 jockeys, currently with 29 wins, the same number as Gordon, who has recently returned from a short break through injury.

Other female jockeys to have taken the eye include Rachel Richardson, Jane Elliott and Megan Nicholls, while in Ireland’s jumps table at present, Rachael Blackmore has a lead of seven wins over Paul Townend, admittedly at an early stage of the season.

In France, the introduction last year of a 2kg weight allowance for women (subsequently reduced to 1.5kg) drew a mixed response but early signs indicate that it has led to increased opportunities. Currently Delphine Santiago and Maryline Eon are in joint-20^th place in the French jockeys’ table with 35 wins apiece.

Last night, for the fifth year running Carlisle staged its all-female jockeys’ meeting, while on Sunday the second Lady Jockeys’ Thoroughbred World Championship was held at Bro Park in Sweden. The home crowd will have been delighted to cheer Josefin Landgren to two victories, meaning that she was crowned leading jockey this year over rivals from Brazil, Belgium, Britain, France, Norway and Germany.

In Britain, the Silk Series for lady jockeys is also in its second year. With four of the 13 fixtures left to run, Megan Nicholls is in pole position to retain her crown.

Much of the excitement ahead of this Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup meeting at Ascot surrounds the return appearance of Joao Moreira, who joins Corey Brown and Yutake Take in a classy ‘Rest of the World’ team. Since 2012, the Shergar Cup has featured an all-girls line-up as one of the four teams, with Hayley Turner, Sammy Jo Bell and Emma-Jayne Wilson lifting the trophy in 2015.

On Saturday, Turner is joined by Hollie Doyle and Josephine Gordon. The talented trio has my vote to show the Magic Man a few tricks.

 

 

 

 

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