Cover image courtesy of Inglis

With a smaller catalogue than in 2024, the 2025 Inglis Great Southern Weanling Sale being held at Oaklands on June 13 is the final opportunity for pinhookers and weanling buyers to attend an in-person sale on the eastern seaboard to purchase 2024 born foals at auction for the year. For the first time in a decade, the Great Southern Sale will only include weanlings and will held on one day rather than two.

“It’s an evolving market,” said Inglis CEO Sebastian Hutch. “The traditional broodmare sale has contracted in size. We saw that in Sydney, and last year we catalogued a small broodmare session at the Great Southern Sale but it was very disappointing, so we didn’t want to do that again.”

The 2024 sale saw 72 broodmares catalogued but only 35 sold, while the 2025 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale in Sydney recently had 106 entries, down from 219 in 2024.

“Digital is a better platform for broodmares. It means mares carrying pregnancies don’t have to travel, which is much more attractive to vendors, and our buyers are familiar with the digital platform for trade now. The evolution of the market where buyers are happy to purchase broodmares online but still want to see young stock in person has been evident over the past few years.”

“The Great Southern Sale is a natural progression of that evolution and it’s pragmatic to stick with weanlings only.”

The weanling market this year

While the numbers of weanlings for the Great Southern Sale, at 320, are down on 2024’s catalogue of 436, Hutch didn’t see that as a trend.

“I’m happy with where the catalogue number is for the sale. We have a capacity for more, but we had a massive weanling sale in Sydney earlier in the month with several Victorian vendors coming north for that, such as Yulong who took 40 to the Great Southern Sale last year, but none this year as they brought them to Sydney instead.”

The Inglis Australian Weanling Sale in Sydney saw 581 weanlings catalogued with a clearance rate of 78 per cent. Last year’s Inglis Great Southern Sale weanling section also had a similar clearance rate at 76 per cent.

“The clearance rate of a sale matters to us more than the average. One or two big lots can skew the average and if we were motivated by average, we wouldn’t bother trying to get the passed in lots sold post-sale. But we care about clearance rate and getting horses sold.

“As far as the numbers, we try to work with vendors to ensure there is sufficient quality of stock to warrant buyer’s interests. Our team have worked constructively with vendors in both Victoria and NSW to pull together a strong catalogue and with 15 weanlings by Toronado, a group of Too Darn Hots as well as sires like Ole Kirk, Wootton Bassett, and Justify, we have plenty of progeny by stallions that people are keen to buy.”

Of the 15 weanlings by Toronado (Ire), 11 are colts, while there are five weanlings by Too Darn Hot (GB), five by Alabama Express while other leading stallions represented include I Am Invincible, Zoustar, Wootton Bassett (GB), Siyouni (Fr), Justify (USA), Ole Kirk, Street Boss (USA), Dundeel (NZ), Exceed And Excel, Capitalist, Savabeel, Bivouac, Farnan, Super Seth, Harry Angel (Ire), Castelvecchio, Hellbent, and Lucky Vega (Ire).

Second season sires such as Home Affairs, and Stay Inside are joined by a strong selection of first season sires with progeny represented being Anamoe, Artorius, Best of Bordeaux, Bruckner, Daumier, Diatonic (Jpn), Hitotsu, In the Congo, Jacquinot, Paulele, Profondo, Sejardan and State of Rest (Ire).

Quality of local vendors

With the 320 weanlings spread across 42 different vendors, the largest drafts at the sale are led by Eddington based Stonehouse Thoroughbreds and Blue Gum Farm who both have 24 lots catalogued each. Rosemont Stud and Crossley Thoroughbreds each have 19 lots, while NSW farm Twin Hills Stud will bring 18 lots south for the sale.

“There are many vendors who have specifically held back their best weanlings for this sale so before spending any money elsewhere in coming weeks, I strongly urge buyers to look through the Great Southern Weanling Sale catalogue and consider their options first,” Inglis’ Victorian Bloodstock Manager James Price said.

“This is a mighty fine collection of weanlings. Having key support from the likes of Yulong, Rosemont, Yarraman, Twin Hills, Three Bridges, Supreme, Stonehouse, Noorilim, Musk Creek, Longwood, Gilgai etc has ensured the strength out of the sale will be as good, if not better, than previous years and it’s very exciting to be offering this outstanding catalogue to buyers.”

Hutch agreed, “There’s plenty of merit in having successful Victorian farms like Rosemont, Gilgai, Blue Gum, and Stonehouse represented in the catalogue. They appeal to the buying bench and it helps enhance the profile of the sale.”

Close relations to group performers

On paper the stand out lot is being offered by Noorilim Park. Lot 6 is a huge opportunity for buyers, being a filly by proven sire Blue Point (Ire) out of G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Catchy (Fastnet Rock) who is the dam of this season’s Listed winner Floozie (Zoustar). The chance to buy a filly out of a proven broodmare who had so much class a race mare should have all investors looking for residual value paying attention.

Formality (Fastnet Rock)’s half-brother by Too Darn Hot (GB) is being offered by Fairhill Farm as Lot 110. Not only is he a half-brother to a Group 2 winner, but his dam, Jolie’s Shinju (Jpn) (Jolie’s Halo {Jpn}) was Horse Of The Year in Singapore with nine wins including the Singapore Derby.

Stonehouse Thoroughbreds will offer Lot 189, a St Mark’s Basilica (Fr) half-brother to Group 2 winner Konasana (Dundeel {NZ}), while Twin Hills Stud’s Lot 250 is a Daumier half-brother to Group 2 winner Tango’s Daughter (Redoute’s Choice). Ponderosa Park have Lot 56, a half-sister by Wooded (Ire) to Kiwi Ida (Squamosa) who won 14 races up to Group 2 level.

Another eight weanlings are half or full siblings to Group 3 winners and a further ten to Listed winners.

The last chance to pinhook

Timed with only six weeks until the weanlings turn one, the Inglis Great Southern Sale is the last in-person weanling sale on the eastern seaboard. This sale has seen strong pinhooking results. Last year’s sale saw results like $70,000 into $380,000, $100,000 into $320,000, $30,000 into $240,000, $52,500 into $220,000, and $70,000 into $230,000.

“There’s a nuance (to this sale). People have a variety of motivations for selling,” said Hutch. “Often the bigger farms are making practical decision. They might have a lot of progeny by a certain stallion and want to move some on now so they have a better balance in their 2026 yearling drafts.

“For buyers, there are opportunities to pinhook into other markets. The Kiwi buyers do it very well, buying horses who will sit well in the Karaka catalogue. We see NSW farms buying stock by Victorian based sires to take to our Classic sale.

“Timing matters too. Horses that might not necessarily be hot today will end up being flavour of the month in six-seven months time when they sell as yearlings. Those who bought weanlings by Ole Kirk, Farnan, Bivouac last year have done very well selling them as yearlings this year.

“There’s an opportunity screaming to be taken if you can pick weanlings by promising sires who turn into the potential Champion Sire of the future by the time you on-sell them.”

And if you are an end-user, the sale has a list of graduates that includes Saturday’s Listed Straight Six winner Title Fighter (Lean Mean Machine) who was bought for $24,000, plus recent group winners Magic Control (Sioux Nation {USA}), and Bases Loaded (Deep Field).

Cover image courtesy of Kenton Wright (Race Images)

Do You Just (So You Think) proved to be a shrewd pinhook sale for Carlaw Park, the 2-year-old gelding leading from start to finish in a stunning 6.5l victory in the $100,000 Listed Champagne Stakes.

Carlaw Park, based at Ohaupo, near Hamilton in New Zealand, made a tidy $100,000 profit on the galloper who ran a very impressive time of 1:36.89 in the 1600-metre feature.

They paid $150,000 to Yarraman Park Stud at the 2023 Magic Millions National Weanling Sale, and sold him for $250,000 to Wexford Stables at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka National Yearling Sale.

Saturday was his maiden victory, and big things are now expected of Do You Just, who has earned his spell, and is expected to run further than a mile when he returns.

But Fairweather downplayed his knack for spotting horses with pinhook sale potential: “If you find the answer to that, can you let me know? There are so many variables!”

“You’ve got to have the right sire, but more importantly you’ve got to have the type. We put a lot of emphasis on type.”

“If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s sort of like breeding. We like our sires and broodmare sires, and we like type.

“Type has taken us a long way. That’s our strategy. A lot of research is done.”

It was Carlaw Park which also sold 3-year-old colt Public Attention (NZ) (Written Tycoon) for $160,000 to Coolmore at the 2023 NZB National Yearling Sale.

Public Attention saluted in the G3 Eskimo Prince Stakes at Randwick on February 8, and now has over half a million in prizemoney, with two wins from eight starts.

“We put a lot of time and effort into our pinhooking. We’re just very fortunate that we’ve had some very good judges buy them as yearlings,” Fairweather said.

“He (Do You Just) is closely followed by Public Attention, so we’ve had a pretty good past few months.

“We've had some nice horses bought by some nice stables, and that’s all we can do at the end of the day.

“If we can pinhook and make a bit of money, and they go to the right stables, it gives us the highest confidence they can buy off us and produce a good racehorse on the track.”

Ideal type for Wexford

Fairweather noticed some early natural athletic traits about Do You Just, and he was delighted top New Zealand training partnership Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott acquired him into their Wexford Thoroughbred Racing operation.

“To be fair, throughout his prep he was a lovely, strong forward-walking horse, which I think that suits Wexford Stables,” Fairweather said.

“They tend to like those sorts of horses. He had a bit of a hind on him.

“He’s by a cery good sire in So You Think, when they bought him, they happened to come across Mark Chittick after they purchased him.

“Mark and the team at Waikato Stud looked at him, and bought the majority share in him.

“He was a very straightforward, easygoing horse.

“Colts tend to have little quirks in them. But what he did (on Saturday) looked like raw ability, and I’m really excited to see how he continues on as a 3-year-old.”

Fairweather added Do You Just’s dam, Estijmaam (Exceed And Excel), was capable of developing into a quality broodmare.

Her gelding Zestiman (Zoustar) winning his first start, the $148,000 All Jockeys Dash 2YO Handicap at Flemington on January 13 last year, was perfect timing before Carlaw Park sold Do You Just a fortnight later.

Estijmaam now has four winners from four starters, with Do You Just her first to salute at stakes level.

“She had a winner just before we sold him, and it looked very promising,” Fairweather said.

“He was a factor when we sold him because Lance and Andrew were aware of the brother. Little things like that help, so you can get a little bit of current form when you’re selling.

“It sounds like Estijmaam is a lovely-bred, beautiful mare. We underbid on one of her other foals last year. She throws good type.”

First signs of maturity in big win

For all his raw talent, O’Sullivan said Do You Just showed genuine maturity for the first time with his big win on Saturday.

“He’s a horse we do like, and it was probably the first time he’s ever got his act together, to be fair,” he said.

“I’ll be honest – what he did, it didn’t surprise us. I’m not just saying that.

“We thought to get him running in a mile, we gave him a couple of runs early on. He went to the paddock for six weeks, and came back out.

“It was very pleasing to see him do that. But we weren’t surprised.”

O’Sullivan said when Do You Just returns from his spell, he will be challenged to run further than a mile.

“He kept up a good gallop... He’s run close to two seconds quicker than the other grade horses over the trip," he said.

“It certainly looked like he’s going to run a lot further. That was what it looked like to us.”

O’Sullivan said majority-owners Waikato Stud would have loved for Do You Just to remain a colt.

But after recently gelding him, he added Do You Just now has the ability to develop into a consistent racehorse.

“They (Waikato Stud) took most of the horse with the idea of keeping him a colt,” O’Sullivan said.

“See what happens. It’s everybody’s pipedream, and for every one in a thousand you might get it right. That was the plan but he gave us the impression early on that he wasn’t going to make it as a colt.

“To be fair to the horse, he still hasn’t learned what it’s about. He’s got a long way to go.

“He’ll go to the paddock now, have a nice spell and he’ll be one of those 3-year-olds who can run a mile and further.

“It’s a matter of getting his act together. But he’s certainly got a lot of raw ability.

Just give Do You Just some time

When O’Sullivan first laid eyes on Do You Just, he saw plenty of physical potential, but knew he’d have a steep learning curve in front of him.

“He’s just a very athletic horse. He’s a very big, tall and lean horse,” he said.

“He’s a very, very immature horse. If you looked at him now, you’d say ‘how the hell are you running him in a 2-year-old race?’

“He certainly doesn’t look like a 2-year-old. He looks like he’s going to make a nice racehorse when he’s four.

“So what he’s doing at the present time is just pretty much on raw ability.

“He’s certainly not a 2-year-old. If you went through our whole yard and looked at all our 2-year-olds and I said ‘that’s the one running a 2-year-old race next week’, you’d say ‘you’re kidding’.

“He looks like he just wants time now.”

O’Sullivan reserved praise for Carlaw Park for presenting Do You Just in top shape at the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.

“Thrilled for them. They always produce a nice horse. And for quite a while now, they’ve been presenting their horses in fantastic condition,” he said.

“You can buy horses off them with pretty good confidence. They’re hiding nothing, and they were very genuine when we purchased the horse.

“They certainly liked him a lot.”

Cover image courtesy of Trackside Photography

Bred by Newhaven Park Stud who stand Group 1 winner Cool Aza Beel (NZ), a son of Champion NZ Sire Savabeel, Cool Archie became his sire’s first stakes winner when winning the Listed Dalrello Stakes at the start of May and followed it up with a strong win in Saturday’s G2 Spirit Of Boom Stakes.

Trained by father and son partnership Chris and Corey Munce, he’ll head to the G2 BRC Sires’ Produce Stakes, then the G1 JJ Atkins Plate.

“It's on to the Sires' next and then the JJ Atkins. I'll have to have a chat with Martin (Harley) to see if we take the blinkers off,” said Chris Munce after the win yesterday.

“He's a really nice colt, you wouldn't think he's a colt because he's so laid-back and casual. He's got a heart as big as he is, which is all you can ask for.”

A bay dominant sireline

Newhaven Park Stud bred and sold Cool Archie for $100,000 at the 2024 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale to Mick Malone Bloodstock, and he races in the ownership of Max Whitby’s Whitby Bloodstock who also had racing shares in Cool Archie’s grandsire Savabeel.

Cool Archie is the fifth winner for Aware (Tale Of The Cat {USA}) who won three times at 1200 metres and was fourth in the Listed Oakbank Stakes. Cool Archie is her first stakes horse, and she went back to Cool Aza Beel to produce the yearling filly named Sentient, and a colt foal. She is a daughter of G2 Magic Night Stakes winner Media (Gilded Time {USA}) who was four-times Group 1 placed including in the G1 Golden Slipper.

“He was a nice yearling. He’s a very typical Cool Aza Beel who really stamps his stock. They all come out the same, all one colour as he’s bay dominant and they are basically all the same.

“You don’t get small ones or very big ones, just nice medium sized horses with good temperaments,” said Newhaven Park’s John Kelly.

“I think that’s why they are showing precocity, as they are reasonably set looking horses. Chris (Munce) said what a lovely nature Cool Archie has and that’s typical too. All the trainers who have them have commented on how good they are to handle.”

When asked if Cool Aza Beel was also like that, Kelly was understated. “He’s a normal stallion to handle, a good horse.” But expanding on the comment of stamping his stock, Kelly pointed to Cool Aza Beel’s damline.

“It’s not really a Savabeel trait (to stamp them). We’ve got two here, Cool Aza Beel and Mo’unga and they are two completely different looking horses. Cool Aza Beel is a very solid sprinting looking type and Mo’unga is a bigger horse with more scope and not as thickset as Cool Aza Beel.

“Cool Aza Beel has a lot of fast stallions in his dam line, he’s out of a Testa Rossa mare out of a Red Ransom mare out of a Bletchingly mare, and he has all the good attributes of Savabeel too.”

Cool Aza Beel won on debut as a September 2-year-old in New Zealand and ended his juvenile season with a win in the G1 Diamond Stakes (currently named the G1 Sistema Stakes). His dam, Cool ‘n’ Sassy (Testa Rossa) first won as an early 3-year-old and added a couple more wins after that. Savabeel, a son of Champion Sire Zabeel (NZ) and dual Group 1 winner Savannah Success (Success Express {USA}), won on debut as a February juvenile, going on to place in the G1 Champagne Stakes before returning at three to win the G1 Spring Champion Stakes and G1 Cox Plate.

“Cool Aza Beel has stayed at the same fee for his first four seasons, and the people who have got weanlings by him and mares in foal to him will be quite pleased with his success so far. It’s not just Cool Archie, he has four winners and Cobra Club was beaten a whisker from the outside barrier in the Inglis Nursery.” Cool Aza Beel stood for $16,500 including GST for each of his first four seasons at stud.

His first winner was Cool Aza Rene who won on debut in New Zealand back in October and has since added another win since. Both Gable and Don’t Tellyafather won recently to make it four winners so far for Cool Aza Beel.

Newhaven Park’s stallion roster

In 2024, Newhaven Park Stud stood three stallions, Cool Aza Beel, proven sire Xtravagant (NZ) and they introduced dual Group 1 winner Mo’unga (NZ).

“We’ll release our fees later this week,” said Kelly.

“Breeders are finding it difficult at the moment especially at the middle and lower end of the market, but when a horse like Cool Aza Beel is going well, it gives everyone hope.”

“His (Mo'unga's) first foals are due this spring and he got a great book of mares. He got great support from his shareholders, and we sent him Media, the dam of Aware who is Cool Archie’s dam, and Group 1 winner English. He also covered Frolic.” Frolic (Husson {Arg}) is a young Group 2 winner.

Mo’unga covered 88 mares in 2024 at a fee of $27,500 including GST. Xtravagant stood for $16,500 including GST in 2024 but covered his smallest book to date.

“He’s battling to find his place in the market, but is doing a good job this year with Nadal and has an impressive 3-year-old filly in New Zealand who won yesterday at Ellerslie,” said Kelly.

Celestial Wonder took her record to two wins and three seconds from six starts with the win on Saturday, and was previously placed in the Listed O’Leary Fillies Stakes during the spring. Nadal won The Meteorite during the spring to take his earnings over $670,000.

“We had a great year with his yearlings going into good stables. Ciaron Maher, Annabel Neasham, and Clinton McDonald all bought some.” Xtravagant has five stakes winners led by Group 2 winner Lavish Girl.

Newhaven’s Magic Millions draft

Newhaven Park Stud sold unbeaten Group 2 winner Autumn Glow (The Autumn Sun) as a weanling for $600,000 at the Magic Millions Weanling Sale, and they are headed back to the Gold Coast with a draft of six weanlings, as well as a strong draft of 25 yearlings for the Magic Millions June Yearling Sale including nine by Cool Aza Beel.

“We held back some yearlings for the June yearling sale with the hope this might happen. It’s difficult for a stallion to get up and going leading into the January and February sales period, but if you can wait to June, there is more time for a few 2-year-olds to show something. Being by Savabeel, we thought it might take Cool Aza Beel a bit more time to show his potential.”

Of the nine Cool Aza Beel yearlings, Kelly picked his three favourites. “The colt from Fashion, and the two fillies from Stregheria and My Choisir are all lovely types. We are keen to show them to the market and purposely held them for this sale.”

Fashion, a stakes placed daughter of Encosta De Lago, has produced four winners and her colt is Lot 1104. Fashion is out of G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner True Jewels (Brief Truce {USA}), making her a half-sister to Listed winner Villain (Carnegie {Ire}).

Lot 1222 has plenty of residual value being a half-sister to Group 2 winner Beau Rossa (Unencumbered) out of juvenile winner My Choisir (Choisir) who is a daughter of dual Listed winning mare Prancelot (Jeune {GB}).

Unraced mare Stregheria (Flying Pegasus) is the dam of Lot 1326, and she’s been a good young broodmare with two winners from her two foals to race, Xtra Gear and Xtramagic, both by Xtravagant. Stregheria is a half-sister to Hong Kong stakes winner and earner of over $1.4 million Captain Sweet (Fastnet Rock).

“We’ve been going to (Magic Millions June) for a long time, and we always happy with the results we’ve achieved there. If the horses have good x-rays and scopes and are targeted for that sale, good results are possible.

“It’s encouraging to have Cool Archie doing what he’s doing. We had The Playwright who flew the flag for us earlier in the year, and she’s one of the better 2-year-old fillies in the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable this year. The horses off the farm are racing well, and we are looking forward to getting up to the Gold Coast.”

Cover image courtesy of Coolmore America

USA

Journalism overcomes trouble to win dramatic Preakness Stakes

By Christina Bossinakis, TDN

Two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby, Journalism (USA) (Curlin {USA}) endured a difficult trip and had to settle for second behind Sovereignty (USA) (Into Mischief {USA}). The colt's connections–Eclipse Thoroughbreds, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Bob LaPenta, Elayne Stables, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith and trainer Michael McCarthy–waited for more than a week to make the decision to pull the trigger on a start in the G1 Preakness Stakes.

Heading down the Pimlico stretch Saturday evening, it appeared that the G1 Santa Anita Derby winner and jockey Umberto Rispoli were going to have to play the bridesmaid yet again after getting brutally sandwiched between rivals, not to mention having to play catch up on the free-running leader Gosger (USA) (Nyquist {USA}) who didn't appear to be stopping.

However, the intangibles that people often talk about but are somewhat abstract concepts–class and heart–were on full display as both the colt and rider reeled in the front-runner, ultimately nailing that rival by three-quarters-of-a-length at the wire.

“I still can't understand what this horse did today,” said Rispoli, who was winning his first American Classic. “I got in trouble at the quarter pole and, look, he made himself keep going. It's all about him, It's a privilege to ride a horse like him.”

Trainer Michael McCarthy, who had been quietly confident all week in the colt, was hoping for a cleaner trip for his colt in the second jewel in the Triple Crown. While the racing Gods would once again spin the wheel of adversity, Journalism did what few horses do in the face of challenge, dig deep and draw on their tenacity and athleticism to overcome an obstacle.

“It was basically more or less kind of what I thought coming to the 16th pole in the Kentucky Derby when I saw Sovereignty coming to us,” said McCarthy. “I thought it was just another fantastic effort. Couple things didn't work out well for us on Derby Saturday, but this here was a little bit more drastic than just losing some ground at the start and having to deal with an off going on a muddy racetrack. This looked a little bit ugly there for a couple of jumps.

“When I saw that (mid-stretch bumping), I thought it was another solid effort and, unfortunately, he was going to come up a little short again. For sure, he got the worst of it. Hats off to Umberto and Journalism for persevering, I think today you saw what it takes to be a champion. Today was his day. He had been telling us all along he was sort of ready for an effort like that.

“I think his Preakness win says a lot about him,” said McCarthy. “I think it's basically he has validated what we have thought about him all along. Last summer, he was getting ready a little bit faster than your average 2-year-old. We had to stop on him for some little aches and pains. When things got rolling, he was able to go ahead, annex three races in seven weeks, culminating with the Los Alamitos Futurity. I started thinking about the Classics. You certainly need the vehicle and we had it with him.”

Now the winner of five of his seven starts, the US$825,000 (AU$1.28 million) Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select yearling is by one of the elite stallions in the sport, Curlin (USA), who is the sire of eight individual Eclipse champions, 64 graded winners, and 109 black-type winners. A perennial part of the leading sires list, he stands at Hill 'n' Dale near Paris, Kentucky for US$225,000 (AU$350,000). Journalism is Curlin's only stakes winner out of an Uncle Mo (USA) mare, although his top sire son, Good Magic (USA), had multiple Grade 1 winner Muth (USA), who is also out of a mare by the late Ashford sire, and Exaggerator (USA) has graded winner West Saratoga (USA) on the same cross. Uncle Mo's 25 stakes winners out of his daughters include reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (USA) (Fast Anna {USA}).

Journalism is the first foal for 2018 G2 La Canada Stakes winner and four-time Grade 1-placed Mopotism (USA), who sold publicly as a weanling, a yearling, and a 2-year-old before going through the Fasig-Tipton November ring at the conclusion of her racing career, where she brought US$1.05 million (AU$1.63 million) from Don Alberto Corp., who bred Journalism. Mopotism has an unraced 2-year-old colt named Nitro Tap (USA) (Tapit {USA}), who hammered for US$1.5 million (AU$2.3 million) to Flying Dutchmen at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, as well as a yearling filly by Into Mischief (USA).

Europe

Lockinge winner adds to Dubawi’s record

By Tom Frary, TDN Europe

A renewal of Newbury's G1 Lockinge Stakes which read like a baffling puzzle beforehand went the way of Juddmonte's Lead Artist (GB), with the son of Dubawi (Ire) the one with the right mix of readiness and tactical advantage on Saturday. Supported into 17-2 for the mile feature, with the Gosdens fully expecting the regally-connected homebred to leave his latest last-of-eight in the G2 Sandown Mile way behind, the otherwise progressive 4-year-old was positioned near the steady early tempo by Oisin Murphy with the race's main fancies anchored too far back.

As the heat was turned up at halfway, it was the Sandown Mile winner Dancing Gemini (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) who attacked first of the closers and he managed to get in front of Lead Artist inside the final furlong only to pay for his hard effort near the line. There was a neck between the winner and that 2-1 favourite there, with Rosallion (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) 2.25l away on his return.

“He's got a great deal of talent and it was a beautiful ride,” Gosden Sr said of the winner, whose 3-year-old highlights had come when taking Goodwood's G3 Thoroughbred Stakes and Newmarket's G3 Darley Stakes. “It was dead ground at Sandown and he had been working at home fine, but he just plain blew up and Kieran (Shoemark) looked after him. That race brought him on a lot and he got a peach of a ride from Oisin.”

Lead Artist is the first foal out of Frankel (GB)'s Obligate (GB), whose career was defined by success in the G2 Prix de Sandringham and a third in the G1 Prix Rothschild over this trip. She is a granddaughter of the operation's outstanding producer Hasili (Ire) (Kahyasi {Ire}), responsible for five top-level winners by Danehill (USA) and one by Green Desert (USA). The latter was the Beverly D. and Matriarch heroine Heat Haze (GB), who produced Group 1 winner Mirage Dancer (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and three progeny by Dubawi including the Group 1-placed Ironclad (GB) and the Grade I-placed Forge (GB). Sadly, Obligate's 3-year-old son of Siyouni (Fr) and 2-year-old colt by No Nay Never (USA) both died but she has a yearling full-sister to Lead Artist to come.

Pinatubo has Oaks contender

By Tom Frary, TDN Europe

Paying a big compliment to her Listed Pretty Polly Stakes conqueror Falakeyah (GB) (New Bay {GB}) on Saturday, TBT Racing's Qilin Queen (Ire) booked her ticket to the G1 Oaks in Newbury's Listed Childwickbury Stud Fillies' Trial Stakes. Quickly placed on the lead by Hollie Doyle, the Ed Walker-trained daughter of Pinatubo (Ire) had to battle late to get to the line in front of the Lawn Stud homebred Revoir (GB) but proved up to the task to score by a short head as the 18-5 second favourite.

The runner-up, a daughter of Study Of Man (Ire) who also holds an Oaks entry and was having only her second start and first of the campaign, was half a length in front of the 100-30 market-leader Sand Gazelle (GB), the daughter of Frankel (GB) who had also finished behind Falakeyah in the Pretty Polly.

“The plan was to go to the Pretty Polly then the Oaks and I was actually really disappointed,” Walker revealed. “Owen Burrows' filly is very good and obviously went strong fractions which we couldn't live with, so I think if all is well we will probably roll the dice at Epsom. She is very game and she will stay well. She is very athletic and she has got speed as well. She is not a dour stayer, so I think tactically she will suit Epsom.

“She wasn't very good in the preliminaries on 1000 Guineas day and whether it was freshness or whatever, I wanted to bring her to the racetrack again and she was much better today,” he added. “She is still a bit buzzy, but that is her and her at home. Oaks day is quieter than Derby day, so she will be alright.”

Sea The Stars (Ire)'s Seagull (Ire), who has also produced the Australian Listed scorer Monbaher (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), is a half to Galileo (Ire)'s G1 Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Nightime (Ire) who is in turn responsible for the multiple Group 1-winning sire Ghaiyyath (Ire) and the GI Man O'War Stakes heroine Zhukova (Ire). The latter has produced the G2 Al Maktoum Classic winner Imperial Emperor (Ire) by Ghaiyyath's sire Dubawi (Ire), while the family also features the GI Sword Dancer Invitational hero King's Drama (Ire).