Apple's making a forever impact as a broodmare

Apple's For Forever was no wonder as a racehorse, she won five races from twenty one career starts and was pulled up in stakes races over jumps in France, her record as a broodmare though is what has brought this seventeen year old mare by Nikos into the limelight. From her retirement to the paddocks in the autumn of 2007 to 2014 , she was sent exclusively to rising jumps stallion Saddler Maker, who sadly died in 2016. It was her fourth consecutive filly foal by the ill-fated sire that produced six time Grade 1 hurdler Apples Jade owned by Gigginstown House Stud and trained by Gordon Elliott. Her previous engagements with the sire yielded minor winners Apple's Maely, Madame Apple's and Le Sete For Forever, the exploits of their full sisters have since established them as premier broodmare prospects. The five-year-old Apple's Jade first exploded onto the scene when she ran out a forty one length winner of the four-year-old hurdle at Aintree following that up with success in the equivalent race at Punchestown. She has since added the Mares hurdle and Hattons Grace to her resume and looks set to defend her mares hurdle crown next March. Apple's For Forever did not produce a foal until 2014, that resultant produce was a full sister to Apple's Jade. Susequently named Apple's Shakira she was sent to Nicky Henderson in June of this year and won her british debut by seventeen lengths in the Grade 2 JCB Triumph Trial and at the time of writing is the current market leader for that race in March. The future looks very exciting for their dam, her latest offspring include Grisy Apple, a juvenile colt by Montmartre, Apple's Du Pont, a yearling brother to Apple's Jade and Apple's Shakira. Her latest is Apple's Pierro a weanling colt by Martaline. With two of her offspring clear favourites for their respective Grade one targets the 2018 Cheltenham Festival could yet prove a very fruitful one for Apple's For Forever.

Potential sires for Enable

Enable has firmly established herself as one of the best race-mares seen in recent years, her emphatic Arc win was enough to cement her up with the likes of previous stars such as Zarkava, who retired after her Arc victory unbeaten in eight starts. Enable's owner/breeders Juddmonte Farms announced shortly after that their star filly would stay in training for a four-year-old campaign with a repeat Arc victory firmly etched into their minds and a potential middle season clash with Australian wonder mare Winx before retiring to Juddmonte's already illustrious broodmare band. Being a daughter of Nathaniel, a grandson of Sadler's Wells and Concentric a daughter of Sadler's Wells thus creating 3Sx2D to Europe's breed-shaping stallion, sires such as Galileo and his sire sons would have to be ruled out. The following is a list of potential sires that would be suitable for Enable.

Dubawi

- Dubawi Millenium - Zomaradah (Deploy)

Dubawi must be etched within the minds of the people of Juddmonte as a potentially good first mate for Enable or even in later years. He's currently the third leading sire in Europe behind only Galileo and Nathaniel. Dubawi represents a lovely cross for Enable, through him a foal would be in bred 4Sx4D to Shirley Heights, 5Sx4Dx5D to Northern Dancer and 5Sx5D to Mill Reef, physically Dubawi also seems like he would be suitable. Dubawi's produce record with middle distance mares is also encouraging having produced Group 1 winner Zarak and Group winner So Mi Dar from top mares Zarkava and Dar Re Mi. Dubawi also mixes well with Galileo mares and it should be no different with his granddaughters. 

Kingman

- Invincible Spirit - Zenda (Zamindar)

It’s highly possible that Enable will be bred to a sire on Juddmonte's own roster and Kingman must be the number one candidate. A top class miler he would inject some speed and precocity which would be interesting on a middle distance mare. Like Dubawi, Kingman presents a nice cross for Enable with inbreeding not visible until the fifth generation with inbreeding to Northern Dancer 5Sx4Dx5D and Mill Reef 5Sx5D. Invincible Spirit/Galileo and vice versa has produced stakes horses so has proven to work although it is still relatively early days for the cross there is no reason to suggest the next generation on from these sires would not also click. 

Dansili

- Danehill - Hasili (Kahyasi)

Enable's pedigree allows her access to the Danzig sire line considering she is free of Danzig in her pedigree. Dansili looks a solid choice, he's proven himself an outstanding sire and a genuine replacement to Danehill in Europe. A foal by Dansili would be in bred Northern Dancer 5Sx4Dx5D, IIe de Bourbon 5Sx5D, Neartic 5Sx5D, Natalma 5Sx5Sx5D and Roberto 5Sx5D. Galileo crossed with Danehill needs little introduction having produced many stars most notably Frankel so it makes sense that this cross would be used in the future.

Dark Angel

-          Acclamation – Midnight Angel (Machiavellien)

This would be a fascinating but it is unlikely that Dark Angel will be chosen as Enable’s first mate however I certainly would not rule him out down the line. He’s been building a progressive profile among the European sires. Northern Dancer would appear once through the sire line in the fifth generation so Dark Angel presents almost a complete outcross. It has to be noted that his daughters seem to mix well with sons of Galileo with Havana Grey being a prime example being a great grandson of Galileo. There is every reason to believe the same success can be repeated with this cross. 

Sales Review 2017: Tattersalls Book 1

Tattersalls Book 1 has established itself as Europe's premier sale for quality yearlings. Over the years the sale has boasted some record prices and this year was no exception with a record seventeen seven figure yearlings. The star attraction at this years renewal was  the already named Gloam, a daughter of Galileo out of the dual Grade 1 winning Dansili mare Dank. Consigned by Norris Bloodstock she went the way of Godolphin after a lengthy battle with Coolmore for 4 million guineas. The filly boasted an extravagant page with her dam being a three parts sister to the top class Eagle Mountain and being a half sister to former champion juvenile Sulk. She was one of three Galileo's that finished within the top 10 of what was a phenomeal three days trading. The other two also fillies was a half sister to leading sprinter Garswood who was knocked down to Coolmore for 1,6 million. The same connections are reportedly also the part owners of the third seven figure Galileo, lot 281 a full sister to this years Irish derby and Leger winner Capri for 1,5 million. The docket was reportedly signed on behalf of the Zayat family who are known to be partners with Coolmore in America. 

The sale was also a resounding success for Dubawi who had eight yearlings sell for seven figures, the most for any sire at Book 1. His highest lot was Meon Valley studs colt out of dual Group 1 winner Izzi Top at 2.6 million guineas. Roger Varian signed the docket reportedly for the same connections as Dubawi's star middle distance colt Postponed who joins his sire on Darley's roster for 2018. Juddmonte Farms Kingman also had a fruitful sale with his first yearlings having been warmly received at Arqana and Goffs. He was the only freshman sire to post a seven figure yearling on the board with a filly from the acclaimed Ballymacoll stud selling to Moyglare stud for 1,7 million guineas. Kingman's stud companion Frankel who has made a solid start to his second career was also in demand with a half sister to Oaks heroine Talent fetching 2,5 million guineas and a half sister to Grade 1 winner Sarah Lynx fetching 1,4 million. Leading sire Invincible Spirit was also in the limelight with a filly out of star producer Cassandra Go selling to Coolmore for 1,6 million. This filly was always destined to attract a big price as she is a half sister to the high class pair of Halfway To Heaven and Theann. Even more encouraging is both these mares have produced Group/Grade 1 winners in Rhodedendron and Photo Call, both being by Galileo, this filly looks destined for a meeting with the perennial champion sire once her racing career is over. Coolmore also swooped for the Dubawi colt out of Sky Lantern. The first produce from the mare who needs little introduction having won the Moyglare stud stakes and 1000 guineas. This colt would be a welcome addition to Coolmore's roster once he can establish himself as a potential sire on the racecourse. Another Dubawi that undoubtedly was on many minds was the Dubawi out of Arc and King George heroine Danedream. Consigned by Newsells Park and billed as a potential star he was knocked down to Shadwell for a cool 1,6 million.  One of the feel good stories at Book 1 was undoubtedly Yeomanstown stud's homebred filly by Kodiac selling for 925,000 to Coolmore, her dam Queenofthefairies was previously bought for just 32,000, she proved a very shrewd purchase producing the Group winning Now Or Never.  

This success from this years Book 1 sale will undoubtedly be remebered for years to come. The aggregate was an impressive 102,290,000 up from 88,398,000 the previous year. The median and average also jumped significantly to 293,095 and 165,000. 

Potential sires for Minding

The 5.50pm fillies maiden at Leopardstown on Thursday centred around one filly, Conquest a juvenile filly by Galileo. Though any progeny of Galileo attract attention on debut, Conquest was one of the more publicised debutants. This is mainly due to the fact that she is a full sister to the brilliant seven time Group 1 heroine Minding whose retirement was announced by Coolmore earlier that day. Conquest eventually finished fifth.

Minding had established herself as probably one of the best European race mares in recent years. A glittering two-year-old campaign yielded wins in the Moyglare and Fillies mile. She returned the following season as a stronger type and got her classic campaign off to another successful start winning the 1000 guineas at the same venue where she won the Fillies mile. After a shock short head defeat in the Irish equivalent she lined up weeks later at Epsom as the heavily backed favourite for the oaks. There were doubts about whether she would see the trip, although her sire needs no introduction as an influence of stamina, her dam Lillie Langtry was quite effective at a mile winning the coronation stakes and matron stakes. Stamina doubts were quickly put to bed when Minding cruised home under Ryan Moore, it was a hard fought victory with the filly losing her position and been whipped in the face yet she still showed courage and tenacity to win. She finished her three-year- old season out with two classics and wins in the Nassua stakes, Pretty Polly stakes and beating leading miler Ribchester in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on British Champions day, it proved her final start in group 1 company. She returned in her four-year-old campaign easily seeing off her rivals in the Group 2 Mooresbridge stakes, it was a victory that suggested Minding would undoubtedly have added to her group 1 haul. Unfortunatly she suffered a setback and although connections were optimistic she would return in the Autumn, time sadly ran against her.

Now Minding begins her next phase from champion race-mare to broodmare. In the ideal world Minding would produce many Group 1 winners and champions, however breeding over the years has shown this is often not the case. However that is not to say Minding will not be a success as a broodmare, her own dam was a dual Group 1 winner, though not in the same league as her illustrious daughter, Lillie Langtry has been a very good investment for Coolmore, her first foal Kissed By Angels a sister to Minding was a Group 3 winner who produced her first foal this year, a colt by Japanese sire sensation Deep Impact. The question on many enthusiasts minds now is which sire will get the illustrious honor of being her first cover. Minding is by Galileo out of a Danehill Dancer mare so many of Coolmore's current sires seem to be out of bounds, so she may be likely be covered overseas.
The following is a list of sires whom I believe would be very highly likely candidates

1. War Front (Danzig - Starry Dreamer by Rubiano) USA
War Front must be the obvious choice for Minding, Coolmore have not been shy about supporting him as he made a blistering start to his career going from a $10,000 sire to $150,000. A foal by War Front out of Minding would be inbred 2x5 to Danzig sire of Coolmore's former champion dual shuttler Danehill. War Front also seems to have clicked with daughters of Galileo, the two standouts from the earliest mating's of War Front/Galileo being full siblings Roly Poly and US Navy Flag, both out of triple Group 1 winner Misty For Me who have won or placed at Group and Group 1 level at two and three. Since War Front first came to prominence in 2013 Coolmore have sent a substantial amount of their best Galileo mares to him, with the first major batch currently two-year-olds and yearlings. The next three years will give a better indication on whether the War Front/Galileo cross will be a success or flop but the earliest indications are very encouraging.

2. Fastnet Rock (Danehill - Piccadilly Circus by Royal Academy) IRE
If Minding is to be covered in Ireland than Fastnet Rock has to be very high on the list. He has established himself a multiple champion in Australia where his best progeny have been Atlantic Jewel among others. Since he first shuttled to Ireland he has since added a further four Group/Grade 1 winners to his already impressive tally of Group 1 winners. Hes proved he can sire two-year-olds, classic winners and older horses with Intricately and Rivet providing him with two individual juvenile Group 1 winners last season and Qualify winning the Epsom Oaks and Zhukova winning the Grade 1 Man O'War. Even more encouraging is these Group 1 winners are all out of daughters of Galileo thus making the Fastnet Rock/Galileo nick the most successful in terms of Group 1 winners. A foal by Fastnet Rock would be in bred 2x3 to Danehill and 3x4 to his sire Danzig.

3. Deep Impact (Sunday Silance - Wind In Her Hair by Alzao) JPN
This cross certainly sounds fascinating and it is also a good outcross with Northern Dancer not appearing in a few generations. Coolmore have already experimented with the cross with Kissed By Angels producing her first foal this year. The cross is not extensively used but it has produced Japanese Group 2 winner Vanquished Run Coolmore's first experiment with Deep Impact resulted in the placed Pavlenko, a daughter of champion juvenile Maybe she also has a two-year-old named Saxon Warrior. The reason Deep Impact is mentioned is that Coolmore have pledged to further support him as he represents a good cross for many of their mares plus they also having a very exciting juvenile daughter in September, out of their champion filly Peeping Fawn who is now unbeaten in two races, thus prompting the operation to bring new bloodlines.

4. Dubawi (Dubai Millenium - Zomaradah by Deploy) GB
Personally for me Dubawi would be the number one European candidate for Minding, he represents a lovely outcross and is the second best sire in Europe behind only Galileo. It is well-known that relations between Coolmore and Darley have been on the rocks with both operations rarely supporting each others sires however Coolmore have bought a select few Dubawi's at public auction and likewise for Darley. Dubawi has also clicked with daughters of Galileo in the past with the best being Night Of Thunder who won probably the best renewal of the 2000 guineas in the last four decades. Another representative of the cross has been Dartmouth a multiple Group winner. Due to the phenomenal rise of Dubawi he has covered some outstanding quality books of mares and he will sure further enchance his reputation.

5. Caravaggio (Scat Daddy - Mekko Hokte by Holy Bull)
Caravaggio has yet to retire to the stallion ranks but he looks a very exciting stallion prospect. Although it is not usually Coolmore's policy to send a high class mare such as Minding to a first year sire, Caravaggio would certainly be deserving of such an illustrious mare. As of writing he is unbeaten in six starts, two of them at Group 1 level and he is certainly earning a reputation as being one of the best European sprinters in recent history. He would be a lovely outcross for Minding being by the ill-fated sire sensation Scat Daddy with Nortnern Dancer appearing once in his pedigree back in the fifth generation. A resultant foal would be 5x4x6 to the breed shaping sire. Presumably Caravaggio will retire to Coolmore's Irish base so that he can accomade the many mares that would visit him. At the time of writing he is bidding to extend his unbeaten run to seven in the Group 1 july Cup tomorrow. After his impressive victory in the Commonwealth cup at Royal Ascot, Coolmore supremo John Magnier stated that Caravaggio could not have come at a btter time to facilitate that many mares who are from the Danhill/Sadlers Wells line.

Coolmore: the race to find the heir to Galileo

Coolmore needs little introduction having stood Britain and Ireland's most successful sires for the last twenty consecutive years. Sadler's Wells and Danehill both proved to be a collossus. Both have come and gone and with their passing have left a huge legacy at Coolmore, not just for the number of sire championships won between them but the sire talent they handed down. Danehill has provided multiple Australian champion Fastnet Rock as well as leading juvenile sire Danehill Dancer and former world champion Rock Of Gibraltar. Sadlers Wells supplied Coolmore with Montjeu, sire of four epsom derby winners and Galileo, a multiple champion sire since his first classic crop debuted in the spring of 2006.

Each of these stallion sons have performed admirably but perhaps none more so than Galileo. A stallion blessed with raw talent on and off the racecourse, his dam is the outstanding matriarch Urban Sea. Galileo has been champion sire in consecutive years since 2010, his only blop when just losing out to stud companion Danehill Dancer in 2009.

This year marked Galileo's nineteenth birthday and he bids to again become champion having supplied last years European champion two year old colt and filly in Churchill and Rhodedendron. He also became the first stallion to ever sire the first three home in the Arc de triomphe. There is an endless supply of other smart Galileo's at Ballydoyle including champion Minding.

The cycle repeats for Coolmore to find the heir apparent to Galileo. The farm has an intriguing roster for 2017 which includes five stallion sons of Galileo. Dual derby winner Australia, a son of champion mare Ouija Board, Ruler Of The World also a winner at epsom and a half brother to Duke Of Marmalade, Gleneagles, a champion miler and brother to a classic winner and new recruit The Gurkha, runaway winner of the French 2000 guineas and Magician, who stands at Ashford in Kentucky.

Galileo has proved himself a creditable sire of sires with Teofilo and New Approach both going on to sire classic winners however they both stand at Darley. Juddmonte farms homebred sire Frankel, the best horse sired by Galileo also made a promising start to his stud career having supplied a host of stakes winners. Coolmore have yet to house a sire son of Galileo with the accomplisments of the aforementioned. One of their first sire sons was Rip Van Winkle, himself a top colt over ten furlongs managed to sire one Group 1 winner among his first juvenile crop. He was expected to build highly after his sophomore year but unfortunately he slipped from breeders interest and remained in New Zealand this year.

Although Fastnet Rock has been the heir apparent to Danehill in Australia, champion sire sons of Danehill have diminished in the Northern Hemisphere. Rock Of Gibraltar has proved a consistant and durable sire but he has never had ammunition to challenge the better sires. HolyRomanEmperor, who was a replacemnt to the subfertile George Washington has too been consistant but again has never challenged. This perhaps prompted Coolmore to bring Fastnet Rock to the Northern Hemisphere in the hopes of repeating the same feat with his sire previously. Fastnet Rock has performed admirably siring classic winner Qualify as well as Rivet, one of Europes leading juveniles.

Unfortunately success can often come with downfalls and Coolmore were undoubtedly highly unlucky when they lost Montjeu, he proved a reliable source of classy two year olds that perform as three year olds. He surely had the capability to sire a few more derby winners had he not contracted septicaemia. His legacy was left to be passed down through Hurricane Run and Pour Moi, both derby winners however neither sired any high class horses. The year Montjeu died, his son Camelot came on the scene. An unbeaten winner of the racing post trophy. He proved to be an outstanding horse winning the guineas and both derbies and so narrowly missing out on triple crown glory. A big year awits Camelot as his first two year olds begin to appear. In the years since his death Montjeu has turned the table in regards to his ability to sire a stallion son. He has made a huge impact over jumps with his sire sons producing the likes of Douvan, this prompted Coolmore to switch Pour Moi to jumps after the sudden loss of Fame And Glory, yet another son of Montjeu. One also has to wonder how George Washington would have fared had he not sadly broken down mid race having proved to be in fertile in his first year at stud. He did however produce one live foal, a filly subsequently named Date With Destiny, she was stakes placed at two which makes one wonder had George Washington produced a number of live foals, would he have been a successful heir to Danehill.

Over the years Coolmore have began tapping into new blood with No Nay Never, a son of Scat Daddy who was fast becoming a sensation for Coolmore before he untimely passed away from a heart attack. Green Desert lined sires Ivawood and Most Improved both  represent that fast early speed which has been demanded by sales markets in recent years. Coolmore also heavily supported War Front, a paternal half brother to Danehill. This has brought about the likes of Declaration Of War and War Command who stand in America and Ireland respectively. American based sire Uncle Mo has been a revelation for the operation supplying derby winner Nyquist among his first crop which included a number of first crop stakes winners. While High Chaparral who sadly passed in 2014 from colic has supplied So You Think whose recent success in his native Australia has prompted a rise in his stud fee for 2017. With much talent still to come the future does look to be in safe hands.

Zarkava set for a date with stars

Unbeaten Arc winner Zarkava is scheduled for a repeat visit to Gilltown Stud resident Sea The Stars this season after she delivers to Siyouni. The seven time winning daughter of Zamindar has already produced the Group winning and classic placed Zarak from a mating with Darley colossus Dubawi. Zarkava's first mating with Sea The Stars produced the ill-fated Zarkash, who suffered a fatal injury while training at Alain Royer Dupre's base in France. She has an unnamed two-year-old filly by Frankel and a yearling colt by Invincible Spirit.