Author Archives: news-team

Northern Meteor 2YO in the zone at Canterbury

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The Bart Cummings-trained colt Eurozone (Northern Meteor – Miss Vandal, by Don’t Say Halo) scored a vital win for his sire Northern Meteor in Wednesday’s Become an ATC Sponsor Maiden Plate (1100m) at Canterbury.

 

Widden Stud resident Northern Meteor and Glenlogan Park’s Real Saga have staged a terrific battle for the Leading Australian First Season Sire by earnings title with a slender margin separating the pair before the day’s racing started.

 

Real Saga’s son Choose A Saga (Real Saga – Choose A Star, by Choisir) notched an early win for his sire at Doomben before Eurozone restored Northern Meteor’s advantage at Canterbury.

 

Eurozone trialled well before his race debut but had plenty to do early in the straight when the Darley youngster Suit edged clear inside the 200 metres but the winner knuckled down to his task late to score by a neck.

 

“This horse is just going to get better and better,” Cummings’s stable foreman, his grandson James, said.

 

“I loved the way our horse really got his head down at the 100 (metres) and he showed a really good turn of foot, covering a bit of ground.

 

“A really promising horse and he’s done it on debut. Hopefully he is the real deal.”

 

DGR Thoroughbreds paid $110,000 on behalf of Eurozone’s owners, including Cummings’s long-time supporter Dato Tan Chin Nam, at the 2012 Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale.

 

Eurozone is a half-brother to the Group 2 winner Miss Marielle (Encosta De Lago – Miss Vandal, by Don’t Say Halo) while his dam Miss Vandal (Don’t Say Halo – Zabatac, by Zabaleta) won the Group 3 WATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) in 2001.

 

A brother to Miss Marielle fetched $150,000 out of the Carramar Park Stud draft at the 2013 Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale.

Animal Kingdom’s great run ends at Royal Ascot

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ARROWFIELD STUD RELEASE – Perfect finales are hard to achieve in life, never mind racing, and yesterday Animal Kingdom joined a long list of outstanding horses whose records miss that last triumphant flourish.

 

As trainer Graham Motion tweeted later, “There was no fairytale ending but no one said racing was meant to be easy. We’ve had a great run.”

 

Motion and Animal Kingdom’s owners were perplexed by the Dubai World Cup winner’s well below par performance in yesterday’s Queen Anne Stakes G1 at Royal Ascot.

 

John Messara, Chairman of Arrowfield Stud, said, “The next 24 hours may tell the story.”

 

“It was clear to anyone who watched the race that Animal Kingdom’s run was too bad to be true.”

 

“Either way it was his last run before retirement to stud.”

 

Before Ascot Animal Kingdom had won five and placed in five of his 11 starts from two to five, and finished first or second in five of the Group 1 races he contested: Kentucky Derby & Dubai World Cup (1st), Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Mile, Gulfstream Turf Handicap (2nd). His only previous unplaced run was in the 2011 Belmont S. G1 where he sustained an injury that kept him away from racing for several months.

 

The imposing chestnut entire started favourite in the Queen Anne, despite the sizeable history against him: he had raced only on flat turning tracks, a US-trained horse has never won a Group 1 race at Royal Ascot and the last Kentucky Derby winner to turn up there was Omaha in 1936.

 

Yet the possibility of adding a major English prize to Animal Kingdom’s triumphs in the 2011 Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup was an irresistible challenge for his adventurous owners, Arrowfield Stud, Darley & Team Valor International. To their credit they committed to it whole-heartedly, while recognising the immensity of the task in front of Animal Kingdom.

 

John Messara said, “Of course, it’s disappointing because it is so difficult to find a horse good enough to be a realistic chance of winning a Royal Ascot Group 1 and Animal Kingdom was undoubtedly good enough. So it’s a personal goal that has to stay on the bucket list for a bit longer!

 

“I’m very excited and proud to have Animal Kingdom join the Arrowfield roster and we all look forward to welcoming him to Australia in the Spring.”

 

Animal Kingdom will begin his stud career Arrowfield at a 2013 fee of $38,500 inc. GST.

16 to run in Tatts Tiara at Eagle Farm

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A field of 16 fillies and mares will assemble at Eagle Farm on Saturday for a final chance at a Group 1 win this season in the Tattersalls’ Tiara (1400m).

 

The $500,000 contest has been the final Group 1 race of the Australian season for the last years with the event formerly known as the Winter Stakes producing minor upsets with both Yosei (Invincible Spirit – Fuji Fairy, by Fuji Kiseki) and Pear Tart (Dehere – Tangerine Dream, by Sadler’s Wells) winning the last two editions at $15.

 

Yosei is in the 2013 Tatts Tiara field, with connections looking for a second win in the race. The Stuart Webb-trained mare drew the inside barrier in her 2011 success but will begin Saturday’s renewal of the event from gate five.

 

Champion trainer Peter Moody will attempt to win the Tatts Tiara with New Zealand-bred mare Floria (Savabeel – Aria, by Centaine).

 

Floria recorded placings in the Group 2 Emancipation Stakes (1600m) and Dane Ripper Stakes (1400m) in her three runs for Moody but the trainer said the daughter of Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel would need things to go her way at Group 1 level.

 

“She was good the other day behind Red Tracer, she probably wants a mile but it’s the only race there so I’ve endeavoured to keep her fresh and chase a bit of Group 1 glory,” Moody told Racing Victoria.

 

“She has had three runs and has gone super on each occasion but she just strikes as a miler more than a 1400-metre type of horse.

 

“She’ll need all the breaks and all the luck, but she was very competitive the other day.”

 

Below is the field for Saturday’s Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm.

No Horse Trainer Jockey Br. Wgt. Sire
1 STREAMA Guy Walter Hugh Bowman 1 57kg Stratum
2 YOSEI Stuart Webb Ms Michelle Payne 5 57kg Invincible Spirit
3 RED TRACER Chris Waller Nash Rawiller 16 57kg Dane Shadow
4 SKYERUSH Guy Walter Blake Shinn 12 57kg Super Jet
5 SPIRIT SONG Kelso Wood Brad Rawiller 2 57kg Invincible Spirit
6 STEPS IN TIME John O’Shea Larry Cassidy 10 57kg Danehill Dancer
7 SHANNARA Peter Snowden Kerrin McEvoy 8 57kg Octagonal
8 SHE’S CLEAN Chris Waller Jason Collett 4 57kg Redoute’s Choice
9 SKATING ON ICE Les Kelly Joe Bowditch 6 57kg Bradbury’s Luck
10 ARCTIC FLIGHT Anthony Cummings Peter Robl 15 57kg Flying Spur
11 WHATEVERWHENEVER Liam Birchley Glen Colless 3 57kg Choisir
12 RISK AVERSION Michael Lakey Chris Munce 7 57kg Encosta De Lago
13 FLORIA (NZ) Peter G Moody Luke Nolen 11 57kg Savabeel
14 DIAMOND EARTH Anthony Cummings Timothy Bell 9 55.5kg Choisir
15 DOUBTFILLY Stuart Kendrick Ric McMahon 14 55.5kg Not A Single Doubt
16 PERON John P Thompson Michael Cahill 13 55.5kg Husson

 

 

Command caps grand day for War Front at Ascot

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Ballydoyle colt War Command’s (War Front – Wandering Star, by Red Ransom) finishing burst to win the Group 2 Coventry Stakes (6f) completed a wonderful opening to the Royal Ascot carnival for US-based stallion War Front (Danzig – Starry Dreamer, by Rubiano).

 

Aidan O’Brien prepared another son of War Front, Declaration Of War (War Front – Tempo West, by Rahy), to win the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1m) before War Command heralded his sire’s arrival on the European stage with a terrific performance.

 

War Command gave all of his Coventry Stakes opposition a start before passing the entire field in the final two furlongs to score a dominant six-length win in amazing fashion.

 

“This is surreal – it could not get better than this. I did not expect the first winner [Declaration Of War] because he was so disappointing on his previous run in the Lockinge Stakes, but this is a horse I have always liked,” US breeder Joe Allen, who races both Declaration Of War and War Command with members of the Coolmore group, said.

 

“He’s had a few issues – he had a splint [a cannon bone issue] at one point – but he’s come around and what he did today was scary. His dam, Wandering Star, has a US Ranger filly foal at foot – I bred and raced US Ranger with the same team [Magnier, Tabor and Smith].”

 

“I’ve been involved with horses for 35 years, and this is the highlight. To win two major races on the first day of Royal Ascot is a dream.”

 

Allen told respected publication Thoroughbred Daily News the two victories were made even more significant by the fact he still owns 40 percent of War Front, who stands at Claiborne Stud in Kentucky.

 

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Allen said. “A great stallion is hard to make. It’s probably the hardest thing in the world to do.

 

“It’s just one of those things where I’ve just been blessed. We’re very fortunate.”

 

 

Dawn Approach back to best at Royal Ascot

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Brilliant colt Dawn Approach (New Approach – Hymn Of The Dawn, by Phone Trick) became a dual Royal Ascot winner when the outstanding three-year-old claimed Tuesday’s Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes (1m).

 

Dawn Approach won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes (6f) last year at the fourth outing of a six-start two-year-old season that culminated with Group 1 wins at Curragh and Newmarket.

 

The son of New Approach started his three-year-old campaign with a stylish win in the Group 1 2000 Guineas (1m) at Newmarket but flopped at his first staying test when 33 lengths from the winner in the Derby (12f) at Epsom on June 1.

 

Irish trainer Jim Bolger managed to get Dawn Approach back to a mile in the St James’s Palace Stakes but the Godolphin-owned colt had to fight hard all the way down the straight to claim his fourth Group 1 win.

 

Jockey Kevin Manning did well to keep Dawn Approach balanced when he was caught in a scrimmage inside the two furlongs before holding off a determined challenge from Toronado (High Chaparral – Wana Doo, by Grand Slam) to score by a short head.

 

“Jim (Bolger) called every shot there and got it absolutely right. It was a magnificent call on his part because it is the big race of the week,” Godolphin’s racing manager Simon Crisford said.

 

“It was a high-risk strategy and he pulled it off. Dawn Approach has achieved a phenomenal amount as a racehorse – an unbeaten champion two-year-old, a Guineas win and success in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

 

“He is now destined for great things ahead at stud. I hear he got a hefty bump and knew that the stewards’ inquiry did not involve him.

 

“I am sure we will stick to this trip with Dawn Approach and we will look at the championship mile races around Europe and further afield.”

 

Dawn Approach joined Frankel, Rock Of Gibraltar, Shamardal and Grand Lodge as winners of the St James’s Palace Stakes.

 

King’s Stand to Kyllachy’s Power

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Kyllachy gelding Sole Power (Kyllachy – Demerger, by Distant View) looked set to register another unlucky run but a late surge landed the six-year-old his second Group 1 win in Tuesday’s King’s Stand Stakes (5f) at Royal Ascot.

 

Sole Power had competed in the past two editions of the King’s Stand Stakes for an eighth in 2011 and a third in last year’s race but the sprinter found himself well back in a big field at his third bid to win the feature.

 

However, jockey Johnny Murtagh eased him towards the stand side rail with 2-1/2 furlongs to run before Sole Power produced a brilliant sprint to overhaul the South African visitor Shea Shea (National Emblem – Yankee Clipper, by Jallad), winning narrowly.

 

Sole Power also won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes (5f) in 2010 but his trainer Eddie Lynam told At The Races his stable star would compete in the top English and French sprints before a trip to Asia at the end of the year.

 

“He’s not always been lucky, but he’s always been good,” Lynam said. “He’s won a Palace House, a Temple and the Nunthorpe at 100-1. He’s one of the proper ones.

 

“I’m delighted for the horse and the whole family and he’ll now go for the July Cup. He’s a year older and he might well get the (six-furlong) trip now. Then he’ll go for the Nunthorpe, the Prix de l’Abbaye and across for the Hong Kong Sprint.

 

“We might give him a couple of weeks off after that, and get him ready to go back for Dubai.”

 

Sole Power is one of two Group 1 winners sired by Kyllachy (Pivotal – Pretty Poppy, by Song), who stands alongside his sire Pivotal at Cheveley Park Stud at Newmarket.

 

Kyllachy ran third in the 2002 King’s Stand Stakes when the event carried Group 2 status.

Coolmore 4YO claims Queen Anne

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Claiborne Stud stallion War Front struck the first blow of the 2013 Royal Ascot carnival when his son Declaration Of War (War Front – Tempo West, by Rahy) took out the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1m).

 

The first race of the 2012 produced one of racing’s greatest moments when Frankel blitzed his opposition by 12 lengths while Declaration Of War produced a game performance to earn his first Group 1 win.

 

Declaration Of War was travelling midfield for jockey Joseph O’Brien when he was blocked for a run but the rider managed to find the four-year-old entire galloping room with an aggressive push with two furlongs to run.

 

Declaration Of War quickened strongly when clear, driving home late to defeat Aljamaheer (Dubawi – Kelly Nicole, by Rainbow Quest) and Gregorian (Clodovil – Three Days In May, by Cadeaux Genereux), giving his trainer Aidan O’Brien his 38th Royal Ascot win.

 

“We are delighted,” O’Brien senior told AT The Races. “We thought the world of him last year.

 

“He just had an easy win first time at Leopardstown and then he went to the Lockinge. I left him unready and he wasn’t ready for the race at the time, but he has made great progress since and has come back to what we thought and hoped he would be.

 

“He has a lot of speed, so Joseph waited as long as he could. He’s a big, powerful horse and when he asked him he put his head down and went through.”

 

Declaration Of War started his career in France before heading to the Todd Pletcher barn in the US, but wound up as part of the Ballydoyle operation after Coolmore decided Ireland was the best place to be trained.

 

The eight-start veteran became the fourth Group 1 winner for War Front, who commanded an $US80,000 service fee at Claiborne Stud in 2013.

 

Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux – Dalicia, by Acatenango) started as a short-priced favourite but turned an inexplicable performance to finish 11th of the 13 runners to the bewilderment of his trainer Graham Motion.

 

“It’s taken the wind out of our sails, I’m disappointed, who wouldn’t be,” Motion told the Racing Post. “(Jockey) Johnny [Velazquez] said he had no punch at the half mile. I was worried about the unknowns with him and unfortunately it’s caught up with him.”

 

The Queen Anne Stakes was Animal Kingdom’s last start before he travels to Australia to start his breeding career at Arrowfield Stud.

 

 

 

Arrowfield sire’s progeny almost ready to Rain winners

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ARROWFIELD RELEASE – As a son of Encosta de Lago takes charge of the First Season Sires’ table, the first runners by his only Australian 2YO Group 1-winning colt are keenly awaited.

His name is Manhattan Rain, and his first crop juveniles will race next season from the stables of trainers such as Chris Waller, Hawkes Racing, Gerald Ryan, Gai Waterhouse, Mick Price, David Hayes, Paul Messara & Bjorn Baker.

Early feedback from breakers includes this assessment of the Manhattan Rain-Magic Fingers colt passed on by Chris Ward of Triple Crown Syndications: “A real athlete with the right attitude, keen to get into his work and he moved along really well.” From the precocious Easy Date family of Not A Single Doubt, Zizou and Snippets, this colt will be trained by Gerald Ryan.

Manhattan Rain fashioned a first-class Group 1 record in Sydney and Melbourne, beginning as a brilliant and resilient 2YO when he won the Sires’ Produce Stakes and placed in the Golden Slipper & Champagne Stakes. He then trained on at three to place in both the Caulfield Guineas (to Starspangledbanner) & the Cox Plate (to So You Think).

Manhattan Rain’s genetics are as desirable as his performance. He’s by a champion sire from a family that specialises in outstanding stallions, including his half-brother Redoute’s Choice (105 SW), Umatilla (33 SW), Spinning World (43 SW) and El Gran Senor (54 SW).

It’s also a family that has a proven affinity with Danehill, who does not appear in Manhattan Rain’s pedigree. That increases his appeal for breeders, because 22% of Australian broodmares covered in 2012 have Danehill somewhere in their pedigrees.

Arrowfield and Manhattan Rain’s owner-breeder Muzaffar Yaseen (Teeley Assets) have backed him strongly from the start, sending more than 80 mares to him in his first three years at stud, with 30 mares confirmed for his 2013 book.

The quality of the support that Arrowfield, Teeley Assets and other leading Australian breeders have given Manhattan Rain is evident in the list of older siblings to his rising 2YOs. They include Group 1 winners Absolutely, Cheeky Choice & Redoute’s Dancer; Group 2 winners Colorado Claire, My Emotion, Quays & Vormista; Group 3 winners Impressive Jeuney & Lunar Rise; and Listed stakeswinners Burgeis, Cabernet, Come Hither, Crack A Roadie, Excuse My French, Fun in Flight, Members Joy, Shamillion & Warpath.

Manhattan Rain stands at Arrowfield in 2013 at a fee of $27,500 inc. GST.

 

Prix de Diane win for Motivator filly

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Motivator filly Treve (Motivator – Trevise, by Anabaa) settled at the back of the field but her powerful  finish proved too much for her opposition in the Group 1 Prix de Diane (2100m) at Chantilly.

Treve had won both her previous starts at Longchamp and Saint-cloud before coping brilliantly with the jump to Group 1 level in the Prix de Diane.

Treve was 12 lengths off the lead at the 800 metres but began to improve quickly to be on the back of the tiring leaders at the top of the long Chantilly straight before sprinting brilliantly at the 400 metres.

Jockey Thierry Jarnet rode Treve out hands and heels but had nothing to fear from her opposition with the runner-up Chicquita (Montjeu – Prudenzia, by Dansili) making good ground but still four lengths from the winner at the finish.

“She’s an extraordinary filly with a lot of speed which she showed today,” Treve’s trainer Criquitte Head-Maarek told the Press Association.

“They went fast but when Thierry asked her for her effort she really showed that turn of foot. She’s really nailed them at the end.

“This is a dream come true. It reminds me of my first Prix de Diane winner Harbour (Fr) (Arctic Tern), who also carried these colours to success in 1982.

“She is a lovely filly with a lot of class and I know she was stepping up from a ‘B’ race to a Group 1, but she had been working impressively.”

Below is a replay of Treve’s brilliant win in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly.

Animal Kingdom versus 12 in Queen Anne

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Arrowfield’s Dubai World Cup winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux— Dalicia, by Acatenango) will face 12 rivals in the opening race of the 2013 Royal Ascot carnival on Tuesday.

Animal Kingdom will become the first Kentucky Derby winner to race at the famous meeting in more than 70 years when he steps out in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1m).

The Australia-bound stallion is an odds-on favourite to claim his third Group 1 win and end his career with a win at the highest level.

UK bookmakers believe there are two serious contenders to provide an upset result in the shape of the Aidan O’Brien stable representative Declaration Of War (War Front – Tempo West, by Rahy) and the John Gosden-trained Elusive Kate (Elusive Quality – Gout De Terrior, by Lemon Drop Kid.

Declaration Of War won at Group 3 level last season before running fifth to the absent Farhh (Pivotal – Gondarba, by Lando) in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes (1m) at Newbury on May 13.

Elusive Kate will have her first run for the season in the Queen Anne Stakes. The four-year-old mare finished third to Excelebration in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (1m) at Ascot in October last year.

Below is the field for Tuesday’s Queen Anne Stakes (1m) at Royal Ascot.

No Runner Trainer Jockey Sire
1

Aljamaheer

Roger Varian

Paul Hanagan

Dubawi (IRE)
2

Animal Kingdom

Graham Motion

J Velazquez

Leroidesanimaux (BRZ)
3

Chil The Kite

Hughie Morrison

Ryan Moore

Notnowcato (GB)
4

Declaration Of War

Aidan O’Brien

Joseph O’Brien

War Front (USA)
5

Gabrial

Richard Fahey

Kieran Fallon

Dark Angel (IRE)
6

Gregorian

John Gosden

Tom Queally

Clodovil (IRE)
7

Libranno

Richard Hannon

Pat Cosgrave

Librettist (USA)
8

Monsieur Chevalier

P O’Gorman

Darryll Holland

Chevalier (IRE)
9

Penitent

David O’Meara

Daniel Tudhope

Kyllachy (GB)
10

Sovereign Debt

Michael Bell

Adam Kirby

Dark Angel (IRE)
11

Trade Storm

David Simcock

Jamie Spencer

Trade Fair (GB)
12

Trumpet Major

Richard Hannon

Richard Hughes

Arakan (USA)
13

Elusive Kate

John Gosden

William Buick

Elusive Quality (USA)