Continuing our series, Heather Anderson will be paying particular attention to the form of the 2024 Moyglare Stud Stakes as the new turf season opens in the spring. Two of her selections were first and second in that Group 1 contest.
Horse of the Year: Lake Victoria
The great ones find a way to win. They make their own luck. The surface doesn't matter, the venue doesn't either. An even rarer accolade: unbeaten. Not an adjective that just any horse can claim, and with Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Lake Victoria (Ire), she has, so far at least, emulated her sire, Frankel (GB), who retired without tasting defeat after 14 starts.
As a juvenile, Lake Victoria, just like her sire, was named a 'TDN Rising Star', albeit in Ireland. She also has a win in the G3 Sweet Solera Stakes at HQ, having changed courses (and countries) in all five of her starts.
Lake Victoria has already bettered her sire's record at two–with three individual Group 1 wins to his Dewhurst Stakes strike back in 2010. These came in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh, the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket defeating G1 Phoenix Stakes heroine Babouche (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) among others, and overcoming a difficult trip to victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in the US.
The daughter of dual six-furlong Group 1 winner Quiet Reflection (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), has a way to go to emulate Frankel's 10 Group 1 wins, but she is a tantalising prospect to dream about over the winter. Could a Classic laurel be within her reach as well?
One to Watch: Simmering
That brings me to my horse to watch for 2025: the Too Darn Hot (GB) filly Simmering (GB), who was second to Lake Victoria in the Moyglare. Her rise towards stardom has been a more gradual climb than Lake Victoria's imperious ascent, but she still exits 2024 a multiple group winner.
Not just any horse warrants a chance at Royal Ascot while still a maiden, but Simmering was a close second in the G3 Albany Stakes for Lucy Sangster, Justin Casse and Dr Jeffrey Berk at second asking. The bay was sold to Al Shaqab Racing after Royal Ascot. That investment paid immediate dividends with a win in the G3 Princess Margaret Stakes. A three-length winner of Deauville's G2 Prix du Calvados later that summer, the Ollie Sangster trainee was not disgraced behind Lake Victoria in the Moyglare and when fourth in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac over boggy ground.
I have every reason to believe there is a Group 1 ring waiting for her next year, or possibly in the next few years. It is still early regarding Too Darn Hot's prowess as a sire of older horses as his eldest crop is rising four, but Simmering is out of a Fastnet Rock (Aus) mare. One could imagine she might prove half as effective as current Australian top-liner Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), a six-time Group 1 winner, who didn't win her first elite-tier race until she was five. Hopefully time will bring Simmering forward to a boiling boil.
Stallion to Follow: Dream Ahead
Frankel overshadowed every horse he ever came across, and it is easy to forget that current Bearstone Stud stallion Dream Ahead was rated his equal at two. That eventual five-time Group 1 winner did his best work at six and seven furlongs, but that hasn't prevented him from siring a Group 1 winner at a mile in Prix Jacques le Marois hero Al Wukair (Ire), although the majority of his progeny favour sprint distances. After stints in Ireland (Ballylinch Stud), France (Haras de Grandcamp) and some shuttle trips to Australia (Aquis Farm), the 16-year-old son of Diktat (GB) has spent the past three seasons at Bearstone Stud in Britain. Dream Ahead has accrued 35 stakes winners worldwide including his best known progeny–GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint heroine Glass Slippers (GB), who is now a broodmare at Bearstone.
Intriguingly, Dream Ahead, the former Cartier Champion Sprinter, covered 82 mares in his initial season in Britain which has resulted in plenty of recruits to go to war with in 2025. This racehorse sire (77% runners from foals and 59% winners from runners) is available for the reasonable fee of £6,500 next term.
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