Baaeed and Inspiral both remain undefeated

IT IS DIFFICULT to choose between the two performances as the stand-out of the week at Royal Ascot – Baaeed’s scintillating opening Queen Anne victory or Inspiral’s domination of the Coronation Stakes on her seasonal debut.

For the wider press the difficult week that Frankie Dettori and trainer John Gosden had endured overshadowed the brilliant performance of the daughter of Frankel, winner of the Coronation Stakes by four and three-quarter lengths, with press members just after quotes from Dettori and Gosden on their week and their current relationship which seems to be in some strife.

But the daughter of Frankel, homebred by Cheveley Park Stud, put in a dominant performance over an incredibly classy field that included the 1,000 Guineas winner Cachet, the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) heroine Discoveries, the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) winner Tenebrism, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner Pizza Bianca, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1) winner Mangoustine and the US Grade 2 winner Spendarella.

A delighted Richard Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud said: “Inspiral has been off the track since last October. We missed the English and Irish Guineas, but patience is a virtue and we have got to see her win like that!

“She won the Fillies’ Mile and has won the Coronation Stakes here in the style of a true champion. The Guineas is a long time ago now, but the Coronation Stakes is here and we have won it!

“For Cheveley Park Stud to win a Group 1 like this today is marvellous; she can go over a mile or a bit further, she is unbeaten, she is by Frankel, and she has won us two Group 1 races – it doesn’t get much better.

“Coming out of the stalls, I thought she is not going to get the right position and is going to be a bit far behind coming around the bend, but goodness me!”

Spendarella’s trainer Graham Motion said: “She ran great – I could not be more proud of her. William [Buick] had her in the perfect spot; she was very brave to hang on for second, I thought. The winner’s very good.

“I think Spendarella is a Grade 1 filly and she proved that today. She’ll go back to the States now. I don’t come over here just for the hell of it. I have to feel good about it to come. We’ve run second a couple of times now [in this race], so I feel like I know what it takes.

“We don’t have many opportunities in the States, which is kind of why this race made sense, this early in the season, and I think she’s really a miler, so we didn’t miss out on much in the States.”

After Godolphin, it was Cheveley Park Stud who came out with the breeding farmstallion farm honours courtesy of the results of its sires Twilight Son (Twilight Call, second King’s Stand Stakes (G1), Ulysses (Holloway Boy, winner Chesham Stakes (L)), Mayson (Rohann, winner Wokingham Handicap) as well due to the efforts of its homebreds – Inspiral, Inver Park, winner of the Buckingham Palace Handicap, and Holloway Boy.

The last-named is out of Sultry, a mare by the late, great Pivotal, who was also broodmare sire of a further four placed runners through the week.

Baaeed the best in the world

BAAEED CONFIRMED himself the “best horse in the world” after the Group 1 mile success, which saw him out in fractionals to rival that of Nature Strip.

William Haggas said: “He travels well and settles well. That is a really important part if we are going to go further.

“I will speak to Sheikha Hissa and Angus Gold, but I think we are all quite keen to give it a go [step up in trip] and that will be at York. It’s whether we slot Goodwood in, in the meantime. It’s potentially Goodwood next.

“He is obviously a good miler and is bred to get further. I think we’d like to try it and I think it would be remiss of us not to. The easy option is to stay at a mile, but I think we will give it a go. He relaxes well and he is good – he’d be more interesting in a July Cup!”

Jim Crowley said: “There is a big crowd here today and he is just so relaxed. He has a great mind. I had a nice bit of cover and could go when I wanted to go. It was just the perfect race really.

“It’s the pinnacle. You spend your whole life waiting for a horse like this to come along. Everyone says to enjoy it, but there is a lot of pressure. But I love it and I enjoy it. It’s why we do it.

“Baaeed will have sterner tests ahead, we know that. He is just doing everything perfectly at the moment. He gallops out very well over a mile and has a serious turn of foot over a mile – it’s unnatural really. I don’t see 10 furlongs being a problem.

“This horse is a superstar. I’m sure we’ll keep testing him, but I’m pretty sure he’ll keep finding. You wait a lifetime for a horse to come along like this. The only way I can explain the feeling is when you go to the funfair and you’re waiting in the queue for a fast ride, that’s the feeling before you get on him.”

The son of Sea The Stars holds entries in the Eclipse Stakes (G1), the Sussex Stakes (G1) and the Irish Champion Stakes (G1).

Charlie Appleby reported after Coroebus’s St James’s Palace Stakes (G1) victory, a slightly messy race without much pace and not one to suit the 2,000 Guineas-winning three-year-old son of Dubawi, that he was keen to take on the older horse at Goodwood.

“I felt it was class and determination which got us over the line there. Going forward, we’ll have discussions, but I think the Sussex Stakes is an option along with the Prix Jacques Le Marois,” said Appleby.

“I’m sure it’s a discussion we would like to have in the coming weeks [Sussex Stakes clash with Baaeed]. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and team Godolphin have never shied away from a challenge, and it will be a good healthy conversation.”

Tasleet off to a flyer with first Royal Ascot runner

IT WAS A SPECIAL START to Royal Ascot for the team at Shadwell Stud with Baaeed enhancing his reputation even further through victory in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and Tasleet, the operation’s first-season sire who has made a flying start to his stud career, responsible for the Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner.

Bradsell trained by Archie Watson and ridden by Hollie Doyle was also a first winner at the Royal meeting for his enthusiastic owner Sheikh Nasser bin Khalid Al Khalifa, a member of the Bahraini royal family.

Bred by Deborah O’Brien, he was one of the week’s winners with a more modest price tags. He was sold by his breeder through Bearstone Stud, where the Yorkshirewoman boards her seven mares, for 12,000gns at the Tattersalls Somerville Sale last September to Highflyer Bloodstock and Harry Dunlop.

The former jump jockey, now breeze-up consignor Mark Grant, took a half-share in the colt and prepared him for the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale where he was purchased by Tom Biggs of Blandford Bloodstock for £47,000.

He is the third foal out of Russian Punch, a daughter of Archipenko who won the Listed Radley Stakes and was fourth in the Listed Star Stakes for James Given and Lovely Bubbly Racing, in whose silks his three-year-old Mayson half-sister May Punch also runs for Tim Easterby.

The Coventry success was a triumph for breeder Deborah O’Brien as he is the fourth generation of the family she has bred.

As well as breeding Russian Punch, she bred his second dam, the winning Beat Hollow mare Punch Drunk and his third dam, the dual winner Bebe De Cham by Tragic Role. O’Brien got into the family through part-owning his fourth dam Champenoise during her racing career and buying her outright as a broodmare.

Speaking to Great British Racing International after Bradsell’s success, O’Brien commented: “I have bred two Listed winners in the past including Russian Punch and the whole family is just hardy; they race and race and try and try, but to get a winner at this level is fantastic.

“I fell in love with Champenoise, and although she never won anything other than a seller at Yarmouth, she was the only horse in Michael Bell’s yard never to be visited by the vet and we always thought she was a good deal better than she showed.”

Russian Punch has a yearling colt by Ulysses who is due to sell at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale but sadly lost her foal, a filly by Twilight Son, this year.

Queen Mary Stakes: Showcasing success

Owner Steve Parkin celebrated the first Group winner for his Branton Court Stud in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) and the owner of Clipper Logistics was also involved in the ownership group of the third home, Maria Branwell, a Listed winner from the first-crop of Rathbarry Stud’s James Garfield.

The winner Dramatised is a daughter of Showcasing, also the sire of Parkin’s Windsor Castle Stakes winner Soldier’s Call, and out of the Listed Empress Stakes winner Katie’s Diamond, a daughter of Turtle Bowl who was sourced in France by Karl Burke, who also trains her Group 2-winning daughter.

“We started in racing 20 years ago and, through a guy called Joe Foley, I started a breeding operation and this is our first big winner in terms of something we have bred. She has come from the farm and it is a huge thrill,” remarked an emotional Steve Parkin.

“We saw her as a baby, watched her develop on the farm and to watch her come through like that is very special and very emotional.

“This is a five-to-ten-year plan, and to come here and have a homebred winner so early in the stud’s life is a massive thrill. It is the biggest thrill in my life, apart from having my children,” he added.

Dramatised is Group winner 27 for Whitsbury Manor Stud’s son of Oasis Dream and the first out of a Turtle Bowl mare.

Katie’s Diamond was bought by Burke for just €18,000 at the Osarus September Yearling Sale and went on to win her maiden on debut at two before she was bought privately by Qatar Racing and Barbara Keller. Katie’s Diamond remained in training with Burke and went on to her Listed win on her next start before finishing third in in the Group 3 Prix Du Calvados and pulled her chance away when fifth in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac.

She is a half-sister to the dam of Listed Blue Norther Stakes winner and Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes third Quatroelle. Her dam Aaliyah is an Anabaa half-sister to Prix Miesque (G3) winner Aquatinta and Listed German Derby Trial winner Amazonit.

Joe Foley purchased Katie’s Diamond for 190,000gns on behalf of Parkin at the 2017 Tattersalls December Mares Sale from Tweenhills Farm and Stud. She was carrying her first foal, who turned out to be a son of Charm Spirit. Named Bright Apparition, he was sold for 30,000gns to Burke at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Yearling Sale.

Katie’s Diamond’s second foal is a winning three-year-old daughter of Dark Angel and she has a yearling filly by Night Of Thunder.

Foley, bloodstock advisor for Clipper Logistics, said: “This is fantastic – it is what you do it for.

“Her dam Katie’s Diamond ran away going to the start in the Boussac, she ran away in the race, and was still in front 50 yards from the line. She was highly talented but a bit crazy.

“She is a beautiful looking mare. She has a beautiful colt foal by Pinatubo, he is gorgeous, and she is in-foal to Showcasing”

Windsor Castle: Little Bear wins Big

Little Big Bear became the third Royal Ascot winner sired by 2013’s Norfolk Stakes winner No Nay Never following on from Arizona in Coventry Stakes and the success last year of Alcohol Free in the Coronation Stakes (G1).

Little Big Bear’s Windsor Castle win was the first of the meeting for the Coolmore behemoth and Mandore International’s €320,000 Arqana’s August Yearling Sale purchase shares his damsire Bering with Stradivarius.

“He just got beat the first time and won well the second time. Ryan rode him work in the week and was happy with him. He should get further in the future too and is in the Phoenix Stakes,” said trainer Aidan O’Brien of future targets for Little Big Bear.

“He is a big horse. It is obviously a very fast race and horses need to know a lot in it and be very educated. He had only had the two runs, so we were a bit worried about that, but we’re delighted really.”

Nabbed on the line by Tough Talk on his debut at The Curragh over 6f in April, Little Big Bear was dropped down to 5f on his second start and that appears to be the key to success for him as he ran out and easy 3l winner over Alexis Zorba. The 14-year-old is the dam of five winners from seven runners with her best offspring, prior to the emergence of Little Big Bear, was the Group 3 Hobart Cup second Andrea Mantegna, whose sire Giant’s Causeway is a son of Storm Cat, from whose sire line No Nay Never comes.

Bred by Tim Hyde’s Camas Park Stud with Summerhill Bloodstock he is out of Adventure Seeker, who was bought by Brendan Bashford Bloodstock for €160,000 from the Wildenstein Dispersal at the Goffs November Mare Sale in 2016.

Adventure Seeker won the Prix de Liancourt for Alain De Royer-Dupre and was second in the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre.

She is a Bering half-sister to Along Again, a daughter of Elusive City who was third in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes and they are out of American Adventure, a Miswaki half-sister to Listed winner and Group 3-placed Arnaquer and a half-sister to Along All, successful in the Group 2 Prix Greffuhle and Group 3 Prix des Chenes. Their dam is the brilliant All Along, heroine of the Prix de l’Arce de Triomphe (G1) as well as the Turf Classic (G1), the International at Woodbine and the Washington DC International Stakes.

The Ridler swerves to Norfolk Stakes glory

The Ridler’s dramatic late swerve across the track in the Norfolk Stakes resulted in a ten-day ban for jockey Paul Hanagan but the son of Brazen Beau kept the victory in the stewards’ room, much to the delight of his emotional owner-breeder Steve Bradley.

“We bred him. We use the National Stud to breed most of our horses, along with Deauville and in Ireland. It is fantastic. I have been involved heavily in the last 10 years in racing. It’s amazing. This is the best day of my life along with getting married and having children,” Bradley remarked.

The Ridler, whose dam Colorada by Lope De Vega was bought by Hilary Fitzsimons for just 2,500gns at the Tattersalls February Sale, was named after a character from the Batman franchise, which was popular with Bradley’s son Leigh.

The name was an obvious one to anyone familiar with the caped crusader from the distinctive marking on the colt’s face.

“The Ridler has got a reverse question mark on his face, and The Riddler on every outfit has loads of question marks, including in reverse.

“As soon as he was born, it was a no-brainer,” the ecstatic Welshman explained. “Weatherbys didn’t like it with two ‘d’s so we settled for one, and the rest is history. My son Leigh is a Batman fan more than me!

“Weatherbys were worried about the copyright – they didn’t want to take on whoever owns Marvel Comics these days and they got a sweat on about that! I think Marvel Comics have got more money than I have!’

The Ridler is the seventh northern hemisphere stakes winner by Darley’s former shuttle sire Brazen Beau and the first at Group 2 level in Europe for the son of I Am Invincible .

Meditate makes all in the Albany

The similarities between No Nay Never’s third and fourth Royal Ascot winners were striking: both owned by Coolmore and trained by Aidan O’Brien, they were purchased for similar amounts at last August’s Arqana Yearling Sale in Deauville.

However Meditate, who at €360,000 was the pricier of the two, is now an unbeaten dual Group 3 winner following her all-theway success in the Albany Stakes for Ryan Moore.

A delighted part-owner Michael Tabor said: “We did expect that, very much so. I spoke to Aidan a couple of times and he said Meditate had improved from her first couple of runs. Everybody in the yard seemed to fancy her, so I wasn’t surprised at all.

“She is obviously a very easy filly to ride. You saw her leave the gates – she strode out well and really, it’s easy to say it after the race, but she never looked in danger.

“For me – I can only speak for myself – I still get an enormous thrill. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”

Bred by Lynch-Bages and Rhinestone Bloodstock she is a half-sister to Mythological, a winning son of Galileo, and is the fourth foal out of Pembina.

She is a Dalakhani half-sister to the Group 3 winners Johnny Barnes and Albisola by Acclamation and Montjeu respectively and five of her half-sisters have produced blacktype winners. The most successful producer amongst them is the Linamix mare Tonnara, dam of Group 1 Criterium International and Joe Hirsch Stakes winner Ectot and of Most Improved, whose Group 1 wins included Royal Ascot’s St James’s Palace Stakes.

Another half-sister, Malaspina by Whipper, foaled the Group 3 winner Thiriyaat and the Nell Gwyn winner Daban who was third in the 1,000 Guineas.

Aidan O’Brien, who celebrated the 80th Royal Ascot success of a storied career later that afternoon, indicated that Meditate could head straight to the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh on Irish Champions’ Weekend following her Albany success.

Holloway Boy makes a stunning debut win in the Chesham for first-time owner

A stunning debut win for Holloway Boy, who was declared by Karl Burke to give the Ulysses colt’s owners a day out after their private box for the day had fallen through, places him alongside the likes of Chief Singer (Coventry Stakes) as one of five horses to have made a winning debut in a Royal Ascot juvenile contest.

“Time will tell how strong the form is but to do that first time out is a bit special,” said a delighted Karl Burke, who was celebrating his second two-year-old winner of the meeting after Dramatised’s Queen Mary triumph.

“Holloway Boy is a lovely horse, but he has been slightly backward. He is a horse for the future. We were going to go to Musselburgh for one of the Sunday Series races a couple of weeks ago, but he twinged a muscle.

“Time will tell how far we can take him, but he is hardly blowing there. I saw him [as a yearling] with the Cheveley Park draft and they have been very good to us in the past. I like to try and buy one off them every year… I’ll buy a few more now.”

He is the second stakes winner after Piz Badille for Ulysses, the second season sire stood by Holloway Boy’s breeders Cheveley Park Stud. Holloway Boy was sold out of their draft at the 2020 Tattersalls December Foal Sale for 60,000gns to Peter and Ross Doyle and made the same figure when purchased by Karl and Kelly Burke at Book 2 last October, from Cheveley Park.

His dam is the unraced Pivotal mare Sultry so Holloway Boy is bred on a variation of the outstanding Galileo – Pivotal cross which has produced a slew of top-class horses with a stakes winners to runners strike rate of 35 per cent. Holloway Boy is the first blacktype winner by Ulysses out of a Pivotal mare but the cross has five winners from just nine runners to date.

Sultry is a three-parts sister to the Listed Harry Roseberry Stakes third Secret Venture by Kyllachy and they are out of the winning Oasis Dream mare Resort. She is a threeparts sister to Byron, who won the Lennox Stakes and Mill Reef Stakes and was third in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains. Their dam Gay Gallanta was a Royal Ascot winning juvenile, claiming the Queen Mary Stakes, and she went on to win the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at the end of that season.

What does €1m buy?

A Jersey Stakes winner. Well €1.1m to be exact as that was the price commanded at the 2020 Arqana Select Yearling Sale by Noble Truth.

The son of Kingman was bred by Jean Pierre Dubois and sold by Haras des Capucines to Godolphin for that seven figure sum, which was achieved during the upheaval created in the sales calendar by the pandemic.

A quick glance at Noble Truth’s pedigree and some of the photos on Arqana’s website of the bay colt as a yearling reveal just what attributes he possessed to spark such a bidding war.

A handsome bay, he is the second foal out of Speralita an unraced Frankel three-parts sister to the champion sire’s first Group 1 and Classic winner Soul Stirring. Speralita is a half-sister to the six-times Group/Grade 1 winner Stacelita, dam of Soul Stirring and of the Group 3 Artemis Stakes winner Schon Glanz by Deep Impact. The Monsun mare’s Smart Strike daughter Southern Stars is the dam of this year’s Grade 1 Oka Sho and Yushin Himba winner Stars On Earth by Deep Impact.

Noble Truth’s second dam Soignee is by Dashing Blade and won the Listed Kronimus-Rennen at two. She is a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Simoun and the Listed winners Shining and Soudane, who in turn is the dam of Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville winner and Deutsches Derby second Savoir Vivre and the Listed winner Sussudio.

The Jersey Stakes winner is one of three runners and winners bred by crossing Juddmonte’s two bright young sires – Kingman and Frankel. He is the first Group winner bred on the cross.