Weekend Wrap - Enable Wins, but is the Breed in Trouble?
Galileo - a stallion machine Photo: coolmore.com
This week we head to Goodwood Racecourse - a stunning venue on the Sussex Downs - for Glorious Goodwood, my favourite week of racing at my favourite course.
But first, it would be wrong of us not to look back on another great weekend of racing, headlined by the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (Group 1, 1m 4f) - Ascot
King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes is an historic race and considered by many to be the most prestigious event on the British calendar outside of the Derby.
This race was born in 1951 out of the amalgamation of two separate races at Ascot. The first was the King George VI which was a 2 mile contest for 3yo’s and the second was the Queen Elizabeth, a 1m 4f race held in July. It was created with a desire to stage a leading international race over the classic mile-and-a-half distance for 3yo’s and over. It has certainly fulfilled that objective over the years.
Winners down the years have included Nijinsky (1971), Mill Reef (1972), Brigadier Gerard (1973), Dahlia (1974 & 1975), Shergar (1981), Generous (1991), Opera House (1993), Pentire (1996), Montjeu (2000), Galileo (2001), Golan (2002), Azamour (2005), Dylan Thomas (2007), Duke Of Marmalade (2008), Harbinger (2010), Nathaniel (2011), Highland Reel (2016) and Poet’s Word (2018).
There were a disappointing four entries this year, and when last years Derby Winner Antony Van Dyck (Galileo) was withdrawn on Friday it left only three.
Two of them were Aidan O’Brien runners in last years Irish Oaks winner Sovereign (Galileo) and lasts years Juddmonte International winner Japan (Galileo). Both very classy horses.
The other was a mare shooting for an historic treble in the race, she goes by the name of Enable (Nathaniel).
It would be a battle of tactics for the John Gosden trained 6yo mare. Sovereign was a runaway winner of last years Irish Derby and so a repeat of Serpentine in the English Derby was something that had to be considered. Japan is a horse with a high level of stamina, with a high cruising speed and sharp concluding turn of foot.
The rain came down in buckets 20 minutes prior to the race and that quickly changed the situation with the track, which wasn’t going to be to Japan’s liking.
It was a track gallop for Enable Photo: Bloodhorse
The race really was no more than a track gallop as Frankie Dettori had Enable in second throughout the contest, keeping a keen eye on the leader. When Sovereign was off the bit and under pressure 4f from home, the only danger would come in the form of the horse behind him. Dettori peered back at the 2f pole and saw Ryan Moore hard at work on his charge, and from there it was a procession as she never got out of third gear to stride to the line in fine fettle.
She looked a totally different horse from the one we saw last time out at Sandown, where John Gosden described her as only being 85% fit. She had trained on from that re-introduction to the racetrack to look like the mare of old in confirmation.
This win gave her three successes in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes, as well as her 11th Group 1 success to take her tally to one more than the great Frankel.
The win gave Frankie Dettori his seventh success in the race, which drew him level with the great Lester Piggott.
The fact there were only three entrants was of course a let down and has thrown up some debate as to the state of this once powerful division.
I see there are three possible factors: 1) The breed; 2) The nature of this Covid interrupted season; and 3) The inevitable dodging of a champion horse. In reality, a combination of these factors is at play.
Something that is becoming ever-more noticeable is a shift of focus towards breeding horses for more speed. A more precocious 2yo that will train on in the aim of picking up at Guineas and perhaps having one speculative crack at a Derby.
The fact of the matter can be boiled down to the absolute dominance and sheer brilliance of the sire Galileo, a sire who year after year keeps producing these high class middle distance horses at an almost robotic rate. In terms of prizemoney and group success, for so many years now he has sat at the top of the table in terms of his offspring’s performances at 1m 2f and beyond.
He has been so successful that he is now a ‘breed shaper’ in the most unorthodox of definitions. He is shaping the breed away from distances over a mile-and-a-quarter courtesy of the sheer weight of his dominance.
With few exceptions, these horses are owned by Coolmore and trained at Ballydoyle and they tend to spread themselves around a number of Group 1 contests, meaning others look elsewhere for success and that is available at shorter distances.
Evidenced here with Nathaniel, his sons are now coming through to produce these types as well and they also fall into a small pool of connections.
Something to look to is an emergence of a sire free from Galileo blood that can come up and compete.
The established Sea The Stars has a phenomenal stud record and has produced the likes of Crystal Ocean, dual Irish & English Derby winner Harzand, King George winner Taghorooda , Arc runners-up Sea Of Class and Cloth Of Stars and dual Group 1 winner Star Catcher as examples of his progeny who have excelled at this distance. He is of course has a stud record that is out of this world, but unbelievably not quite that to match Galileo at the distance!
Camelot
Kingman
Night Of Thunder
Camelot is a sire who relatively early in his stud career is proving high class. With the likes of English King and Irish Oaks winner Even So, he has a very promising profile in this regard.
Being by Invincible Spirit, out of a mare adept at a mile, and himself being a high class horse at a maximum of a mile, you’d expect the offspring to mainly perform at shorter distances, but the outstanding Kingman also looks to have potential in this division. When you look at horses like Palace Pier - who so far has performed at a mile but looks as though he’d eat up further ground - it gives a strong indication that his progeny will excel with regularity at further distance. Given his breeding, he was peered with sprinting and mile mares early on, but as time progresses and the trend develops he will be bred to more and more staying mares. In his short time at stud, this once outstanding racehorse has established himself as one of the top stallions in Europe and indeed the world.
The last would be exciting young Darley stallion Night of Thunder (Dubawi). With only two crops to be seen on a racetrack, he is fashioning a superb early record. With horses like this years Dante winner Thunderous in the mix, he is a real sire of middle distance horses to watch in the coming years.
I have a tremendous amount of admiration for the Coolmore operation and the success of their sire Galileo. The plethora of talent that has spread it’s tentacles around the highest level of racing is remarkable. However a big part of me is looking at one of the sires above to come and really take them on!
The retirement to stud of top class horses such as Cracksman (Frankel), Crystal Ocean (Sea The Stars), Poet’s Word (Poet’s Voice), Waldegeist (Galileo), Ulysses (Galileo), Sea Of Class (Sea The Stars) from the division in the last two seasons then you point to the fact that we are in a rebuilding stage. The aforementioned clocked close to 20 Group 1 victories between them.
The second factor is of course the nature of this strangest of years. Like the Coral Eclipse of a fortnight ago, the King George has often featured high class 3yo’s out of the Derby who add real competition to the race. To have added the Derby winner in Serpentine (Galileo) as well as promising Derby runners such as Khalifa Sat (Free Eagle), English King (Kingman), Mogul and Russian Emperor (both Galileo) at low weights to the mix would’ve added real spice to the contest. Most of these head to Goodwood next week and the Gordon Stakes in particular looks a cracking race.
The third factor is something that will inevitably happen, with horses looking to dodge a battle with Enable. This is the case with a horse like Magical (Galileo), who must be sick of encountering the great mare and instead this weekend opted to stay in Ireland and pick up a Group 1. Others in that bracket include the likes of the French horse Sotsass (Siyouni) who picked up a Group 1 at Chantilly in June.
As long as we still have Galileo (and indeed his sire sons), we will still get to witness top class thoroughbreds in this division. I hope the current lull in depth from elsewhere we are experiencing at present will soon be filled by offspring from the likes of Kingman, Camelot and Night Of Thunder.
Others of note…..
We’ll take a brief run through of other races and performances of note from the weekend.
Magical continued her brilliant record Photo: hri.ie
The super-impressive mare Magical (Galileo) gained her second success in the Tattersalls Gold Cup (Group 1, 1m 2f) at The Curragh on Sunday. This wasn’t the most conventional of renewals of this race, as it is usually run two months earlier. Magical has trained on so well that they have skipped the breeding barn for another year to send her on another campaign. This is now her sixth Group 1 success to go along with three at Group 2 and one at Group 3. She has also been runner up in a Group 1 three times to Enable and once to Crystal Ocean. What a record for this often underestimated 5yo. Her full sister Rhododendron (Galileo) was a twice Group 1 winner and her mother Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal) was a triple Group 1 winner. She will now look to possibly the Juddmonte International or the Irish Champion Stakes as her next test.
This performance actually happened on Wednesday at Naas when Millisle (Starspangledbanner) took out the Yeomanstown Stud Ballyogan Stakes (Group 3, F&M, 6f). A star as a 2yo when she won the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes, this 3yo filly has built quietly this season to this victory. This gave the sire, Australian champion sprinter Starspangledbanner his 3rd Group 3 success in Ireland in a week after two 2yo Group 3 victories at The Curragh. As mentioned in my last post, he has fashioned a record of producing very forward 2yo’s (five 2yo Group winners) and Millisle’s success at 3 proves they can train on.
There was success for the Richard Hannon trained Chindit (Wootton Bassett) in the 2yo Pat Eddery Stakes (Listed, 2yo, 7f) at Ascot on Saturday. A close relative to Derby winner Motivator, this £68,000 yearling purchase has now fashioned a two from two record. Equally as good in second was the China Horse Club owned Cobh (Kodi Bear), who looked very good prior to the race and went out and performed up to looks when doing it the hard way to lead them up from the front. He was caught by the eventual winner and lost nothing in defeat, which came after his debut win at Haydock. A €100,000 yearling purchase, his 3rd dam is Prix Morny winner First Waltz, so there is 2yo ability in the pedigree. This suggests he may train on and look to feature in some of the Group fixtures for the juveniles as the season progresses.
Aspetar (Al Kazeem) was a suprise winner of the York Stakes (Group 2, 1m 2 1/2f) on Saturday at York, when felling better fancied rivals. A previous Group 2 winner in France and Group 1 winner in Germany as well as being a runner up to Melbourne Cup runner-up Marmelo (Duke Of Marmalade), he is now in contention for a shot at the Juddmonte International next month. His dam Bella Qatara (Dansili) is from the very well performed English Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks winner Alexandrova (Sadlers Wells) who as well as the dam produced two Group 2 winners also.
The Valiant Stakes (Group 3, F&M, 1m) impressively went the way of Lady Bowthorpe (Nathaniel) at Ascot on Sunday. At odds of 12/1, she won like an even money favourite as she drew out to score. Her previous two wins had come on the all-weather, but she notched up her first success on turf in a Group 3 contest in great style. Her half sister Pretty In Grey is by Brazen Beau and on Friday at Newmarket in a Handicap took her record to four wins from seven starts, similar to Lady Bowthrope, it was her first success on turf also. The half brother by Excelebration in Speak In Colours is a winner of seven for Joseph O’Brien in Ireland.
Another 2yo fixture for the fillies in the Princess Margaret Stakes (Group 3, 2yoF, 6f) was taken out by Santosha (Coulsty). This horse was a good third to the impressive Dandella (Dandy Man) in a Group 3 at Newmarket a fortnight ago, and she excelled in a weaker contest here. By second season sire Coulsty, a Group 3 winning son of premiership leading sire Kodiac, this is comfortably themost notable success of his short stallion career so far. The exteremnly well bred Coolmore /Ballydoyle filly in More Beautiful (War Front) from multiple Group 1 winning mare Maybe disappointed again after her failure at Royal Ascot.
Franconia, an up-and-comer Photo: Racing TV
I had highlighted her some weeks back as a special filly when she won at Newbury, and Franconia (Frankel) did the business again at York on Sunday when she stepped up to open company to take out the Lyric Fillies Stakes (Listed, F&M, 1m 2 1/2f) in tough fashion. Not considered forward enough for an Oaks bid, John Gosden has taken his time with this Juddmonte owned filly and there will surely be more to come from her in the Autumn. Home bred out of Pivotal mare Winter Sunsrise, she is a half sister to Group 1 winning filly Winsili (Dansili). Frankel has produced two of the best 3yo middle-distance fillies this season in Frankly Darling and Franconia.