Pedigree expert Chris Hill brings us his weekly review of the bloodstock world
By Chris Hill
Last Updated: 23/10/14 8:56pm
Our pedigree expert Chris Hill brings us his weekly review of the bloodstock world and latest news from the sales ring.
In an enthralling QIPCO Champion Stakes, Lady Cecil’s stable star Noble Mission (Galileo) narrowly saw off the dogged Al Kazeem (Dubawi) following a protracted duel up the Ascot straight to record a third success at the highest level and complete a remarkable family double for connections that sparked rapturous scenes in the Ascot winner’s enclosure.
The full brother to Sir Henry Cecil’s ten-time Group One winner Frankel (Galileo), who received a similar reception having brought the curtain down on an unbeaten fourteen-race career in the very same race two years earlier, Noble Mission was bred by Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte operation out of the dual-Listed winning sprinter Kind (Danehill), making him a half-brother to the Group Three Lingfield Derby Trail winner Bullet Train (Sadler’s Wells) and the dual-Listed winner Joyeuse (Oasis Dream).
Kind is herself a half-sister to the 2004 Tattersalls Gold Cup and 2005 Arlington Million winner Powerscourt (Sadler’s Wells), the triple Grade/Group Two winner Riposte (Dansili) and last year’s Group Three Prix de Barbeville winner Last Train (Rail Link) out of Rainbow Lake (Rainbow Quest), Sir Henry Cecil’s 1993 Lancashire Oaks heroine.
The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes went to France with the Freddy Head-trained Charm Spirit (Invincible Spirit) proving half-a-length too good for his 2000 Guineas conqueror Night of Thunder (Dubawi) and last year’s Champion European Two Year-Old Colt Toormore (Arakan), ensuring jockey Olivier Peslier got off to the best possible start with his new retainer for owner Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Thani.
A €140,000 purchase by Head at the 2012 the Arqana October Yearlings Sale in 2012, Charm Spirit is the first winner out of the two-time French winner L’Enjoleuse (Montjeu), a half-sister to the Group Three Athasi Stakes-placed Megec Blis (Soviet Star) and Grade Two Finesse Novices’ Hurdle-placed Squadron (Sakhee) and hails from the further family of Champion Canadian horses La Voyageuse, L’Enjoleur and Medaille d’Or and sires Encosta de Lago, Flying Spur and Holy Roman Emperor.
Following his victory in the Ascot Group One it was revealed that Charm Spirit had been retired and, in a joint deal with Qatar Bloodstock - run by Sheikh Abdulla’s sons Sheikh Fahad and Sheikh Hamad - and the Aga Khan’s Studs, would stand the 2015 season at Tweenhills Farm and Stud in Gloucestershire before transferring the following year to Haras de Bonneval in Normandy. Under the same agreement, Makfi, winner of the 2010 2000 Guineas and Prix Jacques le Marois, will move from Tweenhills to Haras de Bonneville for the 2015 covering season.
Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky is set to welcome last year’s dual Group 1 winner Declaration of War whilst another former Aidan O’Brien-trained stallion, the 2010 Irish Derby hero Cape Blanco (Galileo) is to relocate to Hokkaido in Japan.
Barely a week on from the Group Three success of her juvenile filly Alea Iacta (Invincible Spirit) in the Prix Thomas Bryon, Kirsten Rausing was represented with distinction by another Lanwades Stud homebred when her three year-old filly Madame Chiang (Archipenko), from the first crop of resident stallion Archipenko, claimed the Group One QIPCO British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes under a strong ride from Jim Crowley. What must have made the success even more pleasurable was that the victory was a first at the highest level for Madame Chiang’s sire, the winner of the 2008 Group One Audemars Piquet Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Sha Tin.
Trained by David Simcock, for whom she had earlier this season won the Group Three Musidora Stakes, Madame Chiang is the fifth foal and third winner out of Robe Chinoise (Robellino), a two-time winner at three years and fourth in three Listed contests who is herself a half-sister to the German Listed winner Kiswahili (Selkirk) being a daughter of the 1985 Group Three Lingfield Oaks Trial winner and Group One Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Kiliniski (Niniski).
Ballylinch Stud enjoyed notable success on Future Champions Day when Belardo (Lope de Vega), a colt they bred using their freshman sire Lope de Vega (Shamardal), claimed the Group One Dewhurst Stakes for Roger Varian barely an hour after the same stallion was responsible for the Jonathan Portman-trained winner of the Group Three Cornwallis Stakes, Royal Razalma.
Bought by Ted Voute on behalf of Prince Faisal for €100,000 at the 2013 Arqana August Yearling Sale, Belardo is one of four winners out of Jim Bolger’s 2002 Champion Irish Two Year-Old Filly Danaskaya (Danehill), a winner over six furlongs on debut and runner-up in the Lowther Stakes and third in the Cheveley Park Stakes.
A half-brother to the Group Three Marit Sveaas Minnelop and Listed Swedish Open Mile and Chester Handicap winner Berling (Montjeu) and the 2012 Debutante Stakes third Diamond Sky (Montjeu), Belardo hails from the family of the 1996 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Kistena and the three-time Group Two winner Fruits of Love.
A half-length victory in the Fillies’ Mile by the Aidan O’Brien-trained juvenile Together Forever (Galileo) kicked off a Group One double for her sire Galileo that was completed with the emotional victory of Noble Mission in Saturday’s Champion Stakes.
Bred by Vimal and Gillian Khosla out of Green Room (Theatrical), an unraced half-sister to the Grade One Yellow Ribbon Handicap winner Spanish Fern (El Gran Senor), Together Forever is a half-sister to two winners including the 2009 Group One Prix Jean Prat victor Lord Shanakill (Speightstown) as well as to the Sea The Starts colt, subsequently named Signe, who was second top lot at the recent Goffs Orby Yearling Sale when bought by Amanda Skiffington for €1,100,000.
Godolphin secured their first domestic Group One of the season when Charming Thought (Oasis Dream) stayed on well in the Middle Park Stakes, the race his sire won back in 2002 on the way to being crowned Champion European Two Year-Old.
Together Forever herself cost M V Magnier €680,000 when purchased at last year’s Orby renewal and descends from the family of the 2009 Gran Criterium winner Hearts of Fire (Firebreak) and Grade One Santa Ana Handicap winner Heatseeker (Giant’s Causeway) and more distantly the Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Al Bahathri, the dam of the 2004 2000 Guineas winner Haafhd.
Godolphin secured their first domestic Group One of the season when the Charlie Appleby-trained Charming Thought (Oasis Dream) stayed on well to beat odds-on favourite Ivawood (Zebedee) in the Middle Park Stakes, the race his sire won back in 2002 on the way to being crowned Champion European Two Year-Old.
A graduate of last year’s Tattersalls October Yearling Sale where he was bought by John Ferguson Bloodstock for 625,000 guineas, Charming Thought is the first winner produced by the Listed Dick Hern Fillies’ Stakes winner Annabelle’s Charm (Indian Ridge) - a granddaughter of the 1988 Moyglare Stakes heroine Flamenco Wave, the dam of Group One winners Ballingarry, Starborough and Aristotle as well as Leaping Water, the dam of six-time Group One winner St Nicholas Abbey - meaning Charming Thought is bred along the same lines as the 2013 Nunthorpe winner Jwala and Listed performers Reply and Swiss Dream.
In other bloodstock related news, the New South Wales Planning Assessment Commission ruled in favour of the Hunter Valley Thoroughbred Breeders Association when denying the application of Drayton South, an Anglo American mining company, to allow mining close to the heart of Australia’s thoroughbred breeding heartland where both Coolmore and Darley have major stud farms.
Finally, Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky is set to welcome last year’s dual Group One winner Declaration of War (War Front) for the 2015 covering season whilst another former Aidan O’Brien-trained stallion, the 2010 Irish Derby hero Cape Blanco (Galileo) is to relocate to Hokkaido in Japan from their U.S. base for next year’s breeding season.
Chris Hill
Chris is a Pedigree Researcher for Weatherbys Ltd, the company that provides the majority of pedigrees for thoroughbreds sold at public auction in Britain and Ireland and who offer a range of products and services to suit your Bloodstock needs.
For further information please visit http://www.weatherbys.co.uk/bloodstock