Friday 13 July 2018

Goddess, a potential queen for Camelot

Yesterday's maiden at Leopardstown for two-year-old fillies featured one particular intriguing runner who was having her second start. The aptly named Goddess crossed the line ten lengths ahead of her nearest pursuer Munees Gemini, a daughter of first crop sire Australia who like the other five runners in the field was making her debut. Bred in Kentucky by Orpendale and Chelston, Goddess was equipped with a pedigree worthy of her name. She is by Europe's leading second crop sire Camelot, himself a triple classic winning son of Montjeu. Her dam is Group placed Cherry Hinton, who hails from undoubtedly the most successful female family in the stud book. Cherry Hinton is out of Arc winner Urban Sea, thus making her a half-sister to outstanding multiple champion sire Galileo as well as classic placed and Group producers All To Beautiful, granddam of Oaks placed Alluringly and Melikah, herself a great grandam to this years Epsom derby winner Masar. Cherry Hinton is a daughter of Green Desert, thus she is closely bred to the outstanding race horse and leading sire Sea The Stars. Further back in this outstanding family is Group 1 winner and sire Kings Best.

Cherry Hinton is quickly rising through the ranks of Coolmore's broodmare band. She has produced two individual Group/Grade 1 winners since retiring to the the paddocks, her first classic winner was Irish Oaks heroine Bracelet, by Camelot's sire Montjeu followed by Belmont Oaks heroine Athena, a three-year-old sister to Goddess. Another three-parts sibling is Wading, a sister to Bracelet who won the Group 2 Rockfel stakes as a juvenile and Simply A Star, stakes placed juvenile daughter of Giants Causeway. Cherry Hinton is currently residing in Kentucky where she produced a filly foal by triple crown winner American Pharoah this year. Following her recent success with Camelot, it is a good bet that this outstandingly bred mare will be crossing the Atlantic Ocean for another date with the triple classic winner. Following her impressive win yesterday, Goddess has been installed by some firms for 16/1 for next years Oaks, a race which sounds destined for her. She has an entry in the Group 1 Moyglare stud stakes on Irish champions weekend.

Monday 12 March 2018

Cheltenham sires to follow

With the famous Cheltenham Festival beginning tomorrow, here is a look at some stallions who could produce a festival scorer.

Saddler Maker
A lightly raced son of Sadler's Wells. Saddler Maker is no stranger to Cheltenham success having sired Grade 1 winning hurdler Apple's Jade as well as Stayers runner up Alpha Des Obeaux. This years festival could be a prominent one for the ill fated stallion with full sisters Apple's Jade and Apple's Shakira lively contenders for their respective Grade 1 engagements in the Mares Hurdle and Triumph Hurdle. Some other progeny that could be each way shouts include Discorma (20/1 for the Martin Pipe), Chef Des Obeaux (5/1 for Albert Bartlett) and Bouvreuil (Brown Advisory H'cap chase 16/1).

Authorized
Another french based sire who sired stayers champion Nichols Canyon last year. Authorized is by the ever popular Montjeu sire line. His best chance of a winner is Tiger Roll in the Cross Country Chase who has also been tipped by his trainer Gordon Elliott who can be back at 5/1. Another potential each way shout in the Mares Novices hurdle is Woolstone One at 16/1 who has a Grade 1 entry in the Fairyhouse Easter Festival. Another runner best watched is Paul Nicholls Zubayr, who has quotes of 33/1 in both the Martin pipe and Randox Health County H'cap hurdle.

Yeats
The four time Ascot Gold Cup winner is still searching for his first festival scorer and this years renewal could see him breaking that duck. In recent months he has supplied exciting Grade 1 novice winner Shattered Love who has been given good reviews by her trainer Gordon Elliott in the JLT on Thursday. Mossback, owned by Gigginstown also has solid each way claims in the Amateur Riders Novices Chase tomorrow for which is a best priced 5/1. Another potential shout may be Thomas Campell whose form at Cheltenham reads three victories from five starts, and he hasn't been beaten too far. He's available at 16/1 for the Pertemps Hurdle.


Kings Theatre
The much missed Kings Theatre proved a phenomenal jumps stallion for Ballylinch Stud. He died in 2011, but his legacy on Cheltenham is still very much alive. He has a couple of chances this week with his best being the star pair of Cue Card and The New One who run in the Ryanair Chase and Stayers Hurdle respectively. Diamond King in the Coral Cup looks a solid each way chance while L'ami Surge has good course form.


Kayf Tara
Kayf Tara has been one of the leading sires of chasers at the festival for the last three years. The son of Sadler's Wells has cemented himself as one of the best jumps stallions in Britain. He is well represented but I reckon one of his best chances should be useful Novice chaser North Hill Harvey in the Grand Annual Cup. He is available to back at 9/1.

Milan
A leger winning son of Sadler's Wells and no stranger to festival success. Milan has two solid claims in Grade 1 races courtesy of Monalee in the RSA and the highly tipped Accy Milan in the Champion bumper. Santini also looks exciting in the Albert Bartlett and Mall Dini should have plenty of support in the Kim Muir.

Beneficial
Another top class sire who is sadly no longer around is Beneficial. De Plotting Shed could get him off to a good start tomorrow in the Close Brothers H'cap chase. Maria's Benefit also has a lively chance in the Grade 2 Mares Novices hurdle. A Hare Breath, a full brother to De Plotting Shed is also fancied in the Randox Health H'cap Hurdle.

Other sires to note with runners that have solid claims include

  • Montmartre - Bigmartre (JLT)
  • Shirocco - Mercy Mercy Me (Champion Bumper)
  • Kalanisi - Kalashinov (Supreme Novices), Brain Power (Arkle Trophy)
  • Getaway - Getabird (Supreme), Talkischeap (Albert Bartlett)
  • Motivator - Stormy Ireland - (Mares Novices)
  • Great Pretender - Benie Des Dieux (OLBG Mares Hurdle), Claimantakinforgan (Supreme)
  • Spanish Moon - Laurina (Mares Novices)
  • Black Sam Bellamy - Sam Spinner (Stayers)
  • Dubai Destination - Next Destination (Ballymore Novices)

NB Leading sire Presenting has been making a huge impact as a broodmare sire. His daughters are represented by Presenting Percy in the RSA and Might Bite in the Gold Cup. 










Sunday 11 February 2018

Getaway is ahead of the game

Having won two of Germany's premier staying contests. Getaway was subsequently crowned champion German three-year-old. With five seasons of racing under his belt and two Group 1 victories he was retired to stud and immediately sent to Coolmore's main jumps base, Grange Stud outside Fermoy at a very reasonable fee of €3,000. Getaway provided jumps breeders with a suitable pedigree to match many Irish mares and so he was unsurprisingly well liked.

A son of Monsun, undoubtedly Germany's most acclaimed stallion having succeeded in acquiring European breeders attention as an outstanding sire of middle distance types. Getaway also had a strong staying credentials from his dam, the unraced Guernica, herself a half-sister to dual Ascot Gold cup winner Royal Rebel. She is also the dam of Italian Oaks winner and Group 1 producer Guadalupe, a sister to Getaway and dam of Guiliani. Further back in the family was champion filly Alexander Goldrun.

Getaway's first crop were five-year-olds in 2017 and since then he has sired a Grade 2 Novice hurdle winner in Getabird, who looks an outstanding candidate for the Supreme Novices at Cheltenham. He has over twenty six progeny rated over 100 by Timeform including Grade 3 placed hurdler Verdana Blue and recent handicap scorer Talkischeap. A host of impressive point to point winners have also boosted his sales prices including Downtown Getaway, a 12 length P2P winner and a subsequent 350,000 buy. Another high priced son was Gallaghers Cross, a six and a half length bumper winner and a 260,000 buy. 

With the jumps season in full swing and a host of bumper winners, novice hurdle winners and point to pointers to his name Getaway looks well on his way to establishing himself as a potentially top class jumps stallion. 

Monday 29 January 2018

Coolmore beginning to reap Deep rewards with Impact

The past flat season has once again proved a very fruitful one for Coolmore. They currently own and bred both European champion two-year-olds Us Navy Flag, by War Front and Clemmie a daughter of their outstanding sire Galileo. With an abundance of mares from the same sirelines as other European stallions Coolmore are constantly looking for new international bloodlines, as was the case with American sire War Front they seem to have discovered another internationally based sire courtesy of Deep Impact having bred the second joint leading two-year-olds in Saxon Warrior and September. The former ended his juvenile campaign unbeaten in three races culminating in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy while the latter was a Royal Ascot stakes winning  Group 1 placed juvenile. They are both the early products of Coolmore support to Japan's premier sire. Although raced exclusively in Japan, Deep Impact has a truly international pedigree. He is by dual American Classic winner Sunday Silence while his dam Wind In Her Hair is an Irish bred Oaks placed daughter of Alzao, who coincidentally had previously stood at Coolmore.

Since his retirement to stud in 2007, Deep Impact has been Japanese champion sire every year since he began to have runners. His consistency to produce high class Group 1 winning juvenile's and classic three-year-olds in every racing crop was enough to get the attention of international breeders and take note of his phenomenal success. Deep Impact's European appeal first came to prominence when in May 2012, Beauty Parlour, who was from only her sires second crop won the French 1000 Guineas. In the years that followed Kizuna and A Shin Hikari, both trained in Japan won the Group 2 Prix Neil and Group 1 Prix d'Ispahan respectively.

During this time Coolmore began to ponder on the potential rewards of sending some of their former high class mares to Deep Impact in the hope that the resultant progeny can become a force in the European racing ranks. Due to a high number of recently retired fillies bred on crosses synonyms with other leading sires in Europe, Deep Impact provided a very suitable alternative. In 2013, a year after Beauty Parlour's success in France champion juvenile Maybe and champion three-year-old Peeping Fawn would be shipped out to Japan. The following year produced a filly and a colt. The filly Pavlenko out of Maybe became stakes placed as a three-year-old while the colt out of Peeping Fawn named Wisconsin won his maiden at the second attempt. Both Maybe and Peeping Fawn stayed in Japan during 2014 re-visiting Deep Impact. It was the second liaison with the stallion that proved the successor with the aforementioned Saxon Warrior and September the products. Last year also saw the introduction of Conclusion who is out of Group 3 winning mare Cherokee, he ran twice as a juvenile and finished second on his recent start.

Having produced two leading juveniles from their early partnerships with Deep Impact, it has unsurprisingly prompted Coolmore to send more higher graded mares. It is reported that the outstanding dual classic winning pair of Minding and Winter, both by Galileo were recently shipped to Japan to be covered by Deep Impact, given the recent success and the fact that Kissed By Angel's, a Group 3 winning sister to Minding has a colt foal by Deep Impact, the news of Minding and Winter's first covering comes as no surprise to a bloodstock fan. Other outstandingly bred mares from the Coolmore band due to Deep impact in 2018 include Best In The World, a sister to Arc heroine Found and Fluff, a sister to Saxon Warrior's dam Maybe. It is with great certainty that in the immediate future there will be a number of sons of daughters of Deep Impact representing him across racecourses in Ireland, Britain and France.