The Weekly Wrap

[Wandering Eyes]

By Tom Peacock

Different siblings managing to make their mark in life is hardly a novelty but Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) is currently demonstrating the sort of matriarchal influence which would impress a Kardashian. Let us not forget that the broodmare was a three-time G1 winner herself and a product of the Lloyd-Webber family’s Watership Down Stud, as well as the dam of G1 Prix de l’Opera S. third So Mi Dar (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). The Lloyd-Webbers have proceeded with the same formula in using Darley’s star stallion and sending the offspring to John Gosden. Just a few days ago So Mi Dar’s three-year-old sister Lah Ti Dar (GB) lit up York’s Ebor meeting in running away with the Listed Galtres S. and may yet enter contention for the G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp.

This weekend it was her 2-year-old brother Too Darn Hot (GB) who stepped up to the plate at Sandown, building on his ultra-promising winning maiden debut at the same course three weeks earlier in the G3 Solario S. It was not simply that the ‘TDN Rising Star‘ beat a field including Royal Ascot winner Arthur Kitt (GB) (Camelot {GB}) and Victory Command (Ire) (War Command) by upwards of four lengths which suggests he is something out of the ordinary, it was that there appeared to be an awful lot left to come and he ranks as one of the most exciting juvenile prospects seen out this season.

As Too Darn Hot heads off towards top-level assignments, Dar Re Mi’s Dubawi yearling colt has been catalogued in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. Her other two progeny to have been through the ring were multiple group-placed De Treville (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who realised 850,000gns, and the unfortunately-named Erdogan (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the only member of the family who disappeared without trace but who nonetheless made 750,000gns.

One suspects that although the Lloyd-Webbers are not likely to be in need of any urgent financial assistance, the proceeds from lot 325 after so many more pedigree updates might be enough to open up a West End show or two.

Ballydoyle Juvenile Backs Up In Style…

Too Darn Hot was not the only ante-post Classic favourite to reveal themselves within ten minutes, let alone during the course of Saturday afternoon. A brief interlude earlier at the Curragh, Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (No Nay Never) had skipped to the front of the queue in the 2000 Guineas market by landing the G3 Round Tower S. Aidan O’Brien’s colt is not wasting any time in imposing himself, having alerted the clock watchers a week earlier on his debut over the same six furlongs. Although he looks a sharp sort from his leading first season sire, bred in a Coolmore fashion by Camas Park, Lynch Bages & Summerhill, it is the introduction of Darley blood which gives him hope of staying a little further. His dam Seeking Solace (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) was handy over a mile and a quarter and was bought from Darley by BBA Ireland for just 65,000gns seven years ago.

The two nascent talents both have names deriving from songs; Too Darn Hot being penned by Cole Porter and Ten Sovereigns, like No Nay Never, making an appearance in the lines of The Wild Rover. The notion of the pair meeting in the G1 Dewhurst S. with their reputations intact would be music to the ears of all racing enthusiasts.

Evergreen Pensioners Calling It A Day…

The ongoing yearling sales season is the time when owners assess their stock and decide whether they need to reinvest. Whilst the offerings of the latest precocious sires promise imminent reward, there were some timely reminders this week of how patience can provide lasting pleasures. Neither David Griffiths nor John Bridger are trainers who feature regularly in this publication’s pages. At the opposite ends of their respective careers, they lack both the Book 1 orders and strings of group horses to command the major headlines. However, their care in preserving the enthusiasm of two old stagers who are finally bowing out of the action is as commendable an achievement as any by the marquee yards.

Former jockey Griffiths has worked hard to establish himself in Bawtry, South Yorkshire, and only received Take Cover (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) as a lightly-raced 5-year-old in 2012. Although his owner-breeder Andrew Hollis of Norcroft Park Stud thought he would be a mile and a half horse and named him Take Cover owing to his unpredictable nature, he became a sprinter who won his 15th race in defending his title in Saturday’s Listed Beverley Bullet S. He is likely to have his swansong in another G3 event at Newbury later this month as Hollis, who has continued to breed from Take Cover’s dam Enchanted (GB) (Magic Ring {Ire}), explained he “couldn’t bring him back at 12” and would prefer the veteran to have an honourable retirement.

Bridger, meanwhile, gave Megalala (Ire) (Petardia {GB}) his debut as a 4-year-old in a National Hunt ‘bumper’ at Fontwell back in 2005. He went on to strike 20 times from 148 appearances, usually in lowly mile and a quarter handicaps before the trainer announced last week that he had run his last race. I paid a visit to Bridger’s Hampshire premises a couple of years ago, when the venerable gelding had become the oldest horse since wartime to have won a British Flat race. With a restless Megalala steadfastly refusing to stand still for a picture and Bridger, who will be 77 in October, admitting reluctantly that he had only recently had to stop riding out himself, it was hard not to view the pair as kindred spirits united by the desire to keep busy. Hopefully they will continue to wear each other out at home for many more years to come.

Saeed Has The Solution For Flemington…

There is no halting the international allure of the G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup, with overseas entries climbing to 50 among the 183 received for the great Australian challenge. This will cause no shortage of domestic chagrin and competition has never been higher between those arriving from Europe, with a place in the Werribee quarantine centre not even guaranteed, let alone a spot in the starting gate at Flemington on November 6.

No-one would like to win the race more than Saeed Bin Suroor, 14-times a visitor with three runner-up spots to boot, and the Godolphin trainer should be in no danger of being balloted out with Best Solution (Ire) (Kodiak {GB}), who took his second German G1 in succession in Sunday’s Grosser Preis Von Baden. He will head off to Australia to contest not only the Melbourne Cup but the G1 Stella Artois Caulfield Cup, a race which Bin Suroor did manage to achieve a first place in with All The Good (Ire) (Diesis {GB}) in 2008. Should the Cup love affair continue to grow, some longer-term European thinkers might have noticed that there is now even an option to produce a direct copy on home soil. Dunaden (Fr) (Nicobar {GB}), the 2011 hero, is standing at Overbury Stud in Gloucestershire with his owner Sheikh Fahad offering generous breeding premiums to those who use him. Dunaden has already sired a winner in the Czech Republic from his first 2-year-old crop and Sheikh Fahad’s own Sweet Pearl (GB) became his second when taking a mile novice event at Kempton.

 

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