Sexton Files: Young damsires make their mark

This article first appeared in the September edition of Owner Breeder

The revival of Australia has been one of the key themes of the Flat season so far, the Epsom and Irish Derby wins of Lambourn and Coronation Stakes victory of his diminutive daughter Cercene the driving forces behind his current seasonal earnings of £2.7 million, which is enough to place him in the top five British and Irish sires and within breathing distance of Frankel in fourth. Both are Group 1-winning and producing sons of Galileo but while it would cost you £350,000 to use Frankel this year, Australia stood most recently for €10,000.

Frankel is obviously the superior sire,  as underlined by the fact that he was the British and Irish champion of 2021 and 2023 and has close to 170 stakes winners to his credit.

He is also an increasingly positive influence as a broodmare sire. That’s not a surprising development given the quality of mares he has covered throughout his stud career. In response, there are  already 19 stakes winners in that department for the 17-year-old, 11 of whom have arrived in the current season. They include a pair of Group 1 winners in Lockinge Stakes scorer Lead Artist and Zarigana, who was awarded the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, alongside the stakes-winning two-year-olds Tadej, Nighttime and Kimi Rey and a pair of homebred Listed winners for Prince A A Faisal’s Nawara Stud in Eydon and Nahraan.

When a younger horse starts to crop up with frequency, then it often pays to take notice

The Kingman – Frankel cross is again proving productive – perhaps understandably given the location of both stallions – yielding Lead Artist, Kimi Rey and Zanzoun, who hasn’t been seen since winning the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket for Juddmonte.

As a result, Frankel heads into late summer having sneaked into the top 15 European broodmare sires, a collection that contains only a select number of active veterans (Dubawi, Oasis Dream, Sea The Stars, Holy Roman Emperor and Kodiac).

By its nature, the broodmare sires list focuses on the older and deceased names. So when a younger horse starts to crop up with frequency, then it often pays to take notice.

Australia, who is three years younger than Frankel, is one such horse. Coolmore’s Mark Byrne remarked in the aftermath of Lambourn’s Derby win in the July edition of Owner Breeder that such has been the early success of some of his daughters at stud that they ‘will shortly command a premium’.

Much of that burgeoning reputation rests on Lazzat

Much of that burgeoning reputation rests on Lazzat, this summer’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner, and Lockinge Stakes runner-up Dancing Gemini. However, there are also a pair of exciting juveniles in Composing and North Coast, who landed the Silver Flash and Tyros Stakes on the same Leopardstown card in late July. Both are first foals out of talented mares; Composing, yet another good one for Wootton Bassett, is the first foal out of Australia’s Group 2-winning daughter Epona Plays while North Coast, another feather in the cap for leading first-crop sire Starman, is the first foal out of US stakes scorer La Australiana.

Godolphin’s Words Of Truth was also winner the following day at Ascot of the traditionally competitive two-year-old maiden on the King George undercard. By Lope De Vega, he is out of  Australia’s Group 3-winning daughter Beyond Reason, whose first two foals are the well-rated but short-lived pair Ancient Truth (winner of last year’s Superlative Stakes) and Great Truth.

Australia isn’t too dissimilar to Frankel in that his early crops were expensive and well-bred, something that is likely aiding him now as a broodmare sire. However, it probably also helps that his stock are generally sound and good tempered, both assets that obviously stand broodmares in good stead.

Never Better

No Nay Never retired to Coolmore in the same year as Australia. Yet despite always being well regarded by breeders, his early crops wouldn’t possess the same firepower. As such, his growing presence as a broodmare sire should be recognised in a positive light; his daughters, the oldest of which are nine and were bred off a €20,000 fee, are already responsible for Big Mojo, the standout performer sired so far sired by Mohaather who recently supplemented his win in last year’s Molecomb Stakes with a second in the July Cup, and Irish Oaks runner-up Wemightakedlongway, a daughter of Australia.

There’s also been a Graded stakes placed performer in the US in Yougottahavehope (by Twirling Candy) while two-year-old Underwriter has been highly tried this season off the back of his two wins in novice company. A step up in class also likely beckons for Juddmonte’s homebred Kingman colt Publish, who justified short odds to break his maiden at Sandown in July for John and Thady Gosden. In all, it’s a bright start for a stallion who has the added advantage of lacing his progeny with the desired commercial speed.

The first stakes winner arrived last year

That same 2015 intake of sires also contains Kingman, for whom another excellent season is headed by the Classic-winning miler Field Of Gold. There’s plenty to suggest that he should make a mark through his daughters, notably via the strong backing he has received throughout his stud career, in particular from Juddmonte, and he’s duly starting to get going.

The first stakes winner arrived last year in the Italian Group 3-winning two-year-old Korisa, a daughter of Kodiac and therefore inbred to Rafha. New Zealand Listed winner Opening Address (by  So You Think) subsequently followed ahead of a  breakthrough stakes win in late July for the Frankel filly Sand Gazelle in the Lyric Fillies’ Stakes at York.

The significance of Juddmonte’s long-term support of Kingman can be gleaned by the fact that Sand Gazelle is the daughter of a half-sister to Matron Stakes winner Emulous, the dam of Arc heroine Bluestocking and shock Sussex Stakes winner Qirat (see panel).

Last month, meanwhile, also provided a breakthrough result for another son of Invincible Spirit in Mayson. The July Cup winner, who now stands at Oak Lodge Stud in Ireland, featured as the  damsire of Richmond Stakes winner Coppull (by Bated Breath), his first stakes winner in that department. Fittingly, Coppull carries the colours of Mayson’s owner breeder David Armstrong.

There was a time when Invincible Spirit himself wasn’t entirely convincing as a broodmare sire. However, the same can’t be said for his half-brother Kodiac.

At the same time, Kodiac has been quietly ticking away as a damsire

Kodiac has been a great success story for Tally-Ho Stud, who has developed the son of Danehill from a €3,000 stallion to top two-year-old sire. Speed is his forte, which has made a number of his  sons appealing as commercial stallion prospects, and several have gone on to reward their supporters, among them Kodi Bear and Ardad, whose current crop of juveniles (bred the season after the success of his first runners) already includes the stakes winners Tadej and Wor Faayth.

At the same time, Kodiac has been quietly ticking away as a damsire, with Charyn and Believing among those to represent him to great effect in recent seasons. And there has been more of the same this year, starting with Believing (Al Quoz Sprint) through to Garden Of Eden (Ribblesdale Stakes).

Particularly fruitful was Goodwood week where his daughters supplied Lady Iman, who landed a second Group 3 in the Molecomb Stakes, and Seagulls Eleven, who made all to take the Thoroughbred Stakes. The pair were bred by Tally-Ho, who unsurprisingly wield a great influence over Kodiac’s record as a damsire, whether as the breeders and/or vendors of fellow stakes winners West Acre and Diego Ventura or the home of Mehmas, with whom Kodiac mares have forged such a good association (Believing heads a quartet of stakes winners bred on the cross).

The farm also houses Lady Iman’s sire Starman and formerly stood Galileo Gold, sire of Seagulls Eleven, as well as Inns Of Court, whose daughter Tropical Island added to the Kodiac broodmare  sire purple patch when the narrow winner of the Corrib Fillies’ Stakes that same week at Galway.

Two of the mares in question are well on their way to become goldmines for Tally-Ho. Lady Aria is the dam of West Acre and Lady Iman, between them the winners of four Group races so far this year – quite an achievement for a mare who is still only nine-years-old. A winning half-sister to Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Union Rose, Lady Aria was a sizeable 160,000gns purchase by the farm as a three-year-old.

Not so expensive, however, was Seagulls Eleven’s dam Thrilled, whose second foal was the Prix de l’Abbaye heroine The Platinum Queen. Bred by Tally-Ho, she was sold as a yearling to the  Niarchos family for 460,000gns and bought back for €15,000 once her racing career was over.

 

The rich Juddmonte family that keeps giving

The Aspiring Diva family remains the gift that keeps giving for those associated with it.

One of Juddmonte’s most productive  lines which stems from its purchase of American Grade 2 winner Queen Of Song for $700,000 in 1989, it hit a rich vein of form last autumn when its  descendants included the Arc heroine Bluestocking alongside Merrily and Cathedral, the first two home in the Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket.

While Merrily and Cathedral have yet to advertise the Oh So Sharp form to great effect so far this year, the family continues to fill out in other areas.

Two major updates were forthcoming in late July courtesy of Qirat, the 150/1 shock winner of the Sussex Stakes, and Sand Gazelle, winner of the Lyric Fillies’ Stakes at York. The common link in  this instance is Aspiring Diva’s Group 1-winning daughter Emulous, winner of the 2011 Matron Stakes for Juddmonte and Dermot Weld. The Dansili mare has since etched her name into the history books as the dam of Bluestocking and now boasts a second – albeit surprising – Group 1 winner to her credit in Qirat.

“What a mare this has been for us, to come up with Bluestocking and now this fella,” Ralph Beckett told ITV Racing after the six-year-old gelding had become the fifth Group 1 winner for his sire Showcasing. “She’s been a hole in the wall for us, a cash machine.”

Sand Gazelle, meanwhile, is a welcome high-class performer for The Thoroughbred Corporation since its recent return to racing. The Frankel filly is the second foal out of Emulous’ winning daughter Desirous and was bred by Faisal Bin Mishref al Qahtani, who paid 220,000gns for the mare in 2020.

Another daughter of Emulous, the unraced Frankel mare War And Piece, is also dam of Cathedral and the fellow Group 3-placed filly Firebird.

Aspiring Diva, a 1998-foaled daughter of Distant View and Queen Of Song, was Listed-placed in France for Criquette Head. Emulous was the best of her 12 foals but another daughter, Emulous’ Listed-winning sister Daring Diva, has also done plenty for Juddmonte as the dam of its Ridgewood Pearl Stakes winner Brooch and Listed winner Caponata.

In turn, Brooch foaled Juddmonte’s Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun, now a young stallion at its Kentucky division whose first yearlings sold for up to $1 million at last month’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. Safe to say we’re only going to hear more of this family as time goes on.