Seven Days: Tribalist the Latest Star for Wiener Wald Family

It's been a while, hasn't it? We can only apologise for the onslaught of the sales and some extra international travel pushing the Seven Days beat on to the back-burner, but we're home now, almost jetlag-free, and ready for this week's round-up.

Quite a lot of Sunday mornings are spent trudging along the Devil's Dyke which separates Newmarket's Rowley Mile from the July Course. The dogs love it, but this walker felt a little wearier this past weekend at the thought that we've now switched back to the Rowley Mile for the autumn without it feeling like summer ever properly arrived.

There were some good days on the July Course this year, of course, especially the celebration of the 80th birthday of legendary bloodstock writer Tony Morris in early August, but we're back across the ditch now, for what always feels like the more business end of racing, with the autumn maidens and group races for juveniles giving us some serious pointers towards next season's Classics.

Let's not wish our lives away just yet, though. We've the St Leger and Irish Champions Festival to come this weekend, not to mention a good opportunity for a little flag-waving on Saturday night during the Last Night of the Proms, if that's what floats your boat.

William Haggas will be hoping that it will be a case of Rule Britannia at Leopardstown as the exciting Economics (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) steps into his first Group 1 contest in the Royal Bahrain Champion Stakes. Though bred and trained in Britain, he is of course Bahraini-owned, and undoubtedly it would be extra special for Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa to win the race sponsored in his country's name. 

The Irish Champion Stakes will be boosted by the intriguing presence of Japan's Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who had a warm-up for his first European start with a racecourse gallop at Longchamp before racing on Sunday. Following his Irish foray, he will head back to Paris in a bid to emulate his brother Sottsass (Fr) by winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

His ever-intrepid trainer Yoshito Yahagi is not content simply with launching a raid on Europe's premier weight-for-age contest but he is also planning to take aim at the Breeders' Cup Classic with Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Impact {Jpn}). What an extraordinary double that would be, and Forever Young, who was plainly hampered when finishing such a close third in the Kentucky Derby, is a colt who should be taken seriously when he returns to American soil at Del Mar.

The Hundred Club

That's all to come, however, and in the immediate rear-view mirror there has been plenty to get excited about over the last week. First of all, let's hear it for Kodiac (GB), the hard-knocking hero of Tally-Ho Stud, who reached the notable milestone of 100 stakes winners on Saturday.

Symbol Of Strength (Ire) brought up the century in the G3 Sirenia Stakes and, fittingly, the Adrian Keatley-trained filly was bred by the O'Callaghan family of Tally-Ho, where Kodiac has stood since retiring to stud in 2007.

When TDN visited Tally-Ho Stud back in early 2023 we couldn't persuade Tony, Anne, Roger or Henry O'Callaghan to pose for a picture with their star resident, who is now 23. “We don't do that sort of thing” was very much the message given in reply to this request, but there was no doubting the fondness and regard in which the son of Danehill is held in Mullingar.

“He'll always be king,” said Tony at the time. “He would be our king, anyway. We'll be forever grateful.”

Eight Group 1 winners feature in Kodiac's Hundred Club, with his most recent of those coming only last month when the Juddmonte homebred Babouche (GB) got the better of Whistlejacket (Ire) in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes. Trained by Ger Lyons, the filly is entered for this weekend's G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, and the form of her most recent success was boosted when Whitslejacket went on to win the G1 Sumbe Prix Morny eight days after he had finished second on the Curragh.

Kodiac has been joined at Tally-Ho by his son Good Guess (GB), the winner of the G1 Prix Jean Prat who has just completed his first covering season. Elsewhere Kodiac's sons Hello Youmzain (Fr), Ubettabelieveit (Ire), Best Solution (Ire), Nando Parrado (GB), Ardad (Ire), Prince Of Lir (Ire), Kodi Bear (Ire) and Coulsty (Ire) are among those populating other studs in Britain, Ireland, France and Germany. Which one will carry the torch through the next generation is anyone's guess, but they have big shoes to fill.

Wiener Wald Legacy Continues to Grow

The Forman Hardy family's Car Colston Hall Stud may be famed in one sense as the breeder of the small but mighty Soldier Hollow (GB), who was twice Germany's champion sire, but it is another family which has provided the stud with some spectacular results for decades.

Almost 30 years ago, Alex Scrope bought the Woodman mare Wiener Wald, then three and in foal to Silver Hawk, for $210,000 on behalf of Nicholas and Jane Forman Hardy at the Keeneland November Sale. The foal she was carrying became known as Argent Du Bois, who later found fame as the dam of dual Grade 1 winner Ticker Tape (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}) and G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Brando (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), while her daughter Saint Elena (GB) (Efisio {GB}) is the dam of Reckless Abandon (GB) (Exchange Rate), who pulled off the Middle Park-Morny Group 1 double. 

Five black-type-earning siblings of Argent Du Bois include the G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Crowded House (GB) (Rainbow Quest), but it is the unraced mare, Fair Daughter (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who has provided this high-achieving family with its latest Group 1 winner, Tribalist (GB) (Farhh {GB}).

Eyes had been diverted by the presence of Charyn (Ire) and Notable Speech (Ire), both Group 1 winners on their last start, in the Prix du Moulin, but one can never completely rule out horses carrying the white cap of Godolphin's second colours. The five-year-old Tribalist, already a Group 2 winner, both this year and last, for Andre Fabre, slipped the field when sent on to make the running under Mickael Barzalona, and is likely now to take in the Prix de la Foret en route to the Breeders' Cup Mile. 

He joins Cape Cross (Ire) and Summoner (GB) on the list of horses to have won Group 1 mile races for Godolphin in the white cap with royal blue jacket. 

Tribalist's win completed a memorable weekend for the 10-year-old Fair Daughter, whose three-year-old filly Fair Point (GB), also by Farhh, won the British EBF Premier Fillies' Handicap at Ascot off a mark of 87.

Wiener Wald, herself a granddaughter of Terlingua, the dam of Storm Cat, died earlier this year at the age of 32. Her legacy during her own extraordinary lifetime was already immense and it will undoubtedly only continue to grow in the years to come.

Champions Day Next for Montassib 

It has been quite the year for the older geldings, and Montassib (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) added his name to the list of Group 1 winners when getting the better of the youngster Kind Of Blue (GB) (Blue Point {Ire}) in the Haydock Sprint Cup. 

The six-year-old has had a bit of a stop-start career, having won on debut at two and then disappearing from action for more than a year until returning 598 days after this first triumph to win his next two starts at four. 

“He missed all of his three-year-old season with a heart condition,” said Montassib's trainer William Haggas, who also trains the close third in the Sprint Cup, Unequal Love (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}).

“He's still lightly raced for his age and he's an absolutely charming horse. He's rare in that he's an Exceed And Excel who wins on soft ground.”

He added, “We also had his dam Felwah and [her sire] Aqlaam.”

Felwah (GB) was bred and raced by Khalil Al Sayegh, an associate of the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, and it was in his same colours that Montassib started his own career before being switched to his present ownership group after treatment and rest for his heart problem, which thankfully appears to have been resolved.

Haggas confirmed that Montassib will head straight to the QIPCO British Champions Sprint at Ascot in October. 

Worth Studying Man

With leading performers Rosallion (Ire) and Big Evs (Ire), last season's champion first-season sire Blue Point (Ire) has rightly been the recipient of much praise, but another reminder to keep an eye on his contemporary Study Of Man (Ire) was served on Saturday when Kalpana (GB) romped home in the G3 September Stakes to win by almost five lengths.

Champions Day seems to be the Juddmonte filly's next port of call after she became the third group winner from the Lanwades resident's first crop which numbered just 55. He had 66 foals the following year. Those three group winners from 58 runners put him at the head of his class on a 5.2% strike-rate and Study Of Man now has a total of nine black-type performers (15.5%).

Kalpana has done little wrong in seven starts for Andrew Balding. She has won four of those races, including the Listed Glasgow Stakes one run before her group win. Those two stakes victories have each been posted with a winning margin of more than four lengths, though visually her most impressive win to date was at Newmarket with a 10-length strike in a handicap in the spring. The runner-up that day was Align The Stars (Ire) who is now rated 102. Kalpana has never been out of the top three, and took third behind Port Fairy (Ire) in the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. Her dam is the Listed winner Zero Gravity (GB) (Dansili {GB}), a full-sister to the G1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Zambezi Sun (GB).

Two of Study Of Man's busiest performers have been The Crafty Mole (GB) and Allonsy (GB), rated 75 and 87 respectively, with the former having won five of his 11 races and Allonsy having won four from 10 starts. And it doesn't take a genius to work out that, as they are out of mares by Archipenko and Sir Percy (GB), both The Crafty Mole and Allonsy were bred by Kirsten Rausing, who is also the owner-breeder of his Listed winners Francophone (GB) and Lingua Franca (GB).

Of that intake of stallions, Calyx (GB) is another to note, in particular for his high winners-to-runners strike-rate, which currently stands at almost 59%. He's had two Group 2 winners in Europe — Persian Dreamer and Classic Flower — plus the GIII Jimmy Durante Stakes winner Zona Verde (Ire) at Del Mar, while Purple Lily (Ire) was runner-up in the G1 Irish Oaks. 

Charlie in Charge 

“I can say that he is the best I have trained so far, no doubt.” These are bold words from the man who, in his relatively short training career to date, has already had the multiple Group 1 winners Big Rock (Ire) and Blue Rose Cen (Ire) through his hands, not to mention Ramatuelle.

But this is Christopher Head's opinion of Maranoa Charlie (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who confirmed the early impression of his Arqana Series de Poulains win in Deauville last month with an eight-length rout in the Prix des Aigles at Chantilly on Saturday. Admittedly the latter was conducted in very soft ground and with only four runners, so we'll see how well this particular race works out in due course, but it was hard not to be impressed anew by the winner. 

Maranoa Charlie, who is out of a Galileo (Ire) half-sister to Group 1 winner Tiggy Wiggy (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), remains engaged in Thursday's G3 Prix des Chenes but also holds an entry for the G1 Criterium International at the end of October. 

Last Word

We can't leave without mention of Quinault (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}), the undisputed king of Stuart Williams's stable. The four year-old has won three consecutive Listed races since August 4, most recently picking up Sunday's Garrowby Stakes at York. That takes his tally to 1o wins in just 19 starts. The one-time runaway is now very much a reformed character and is fast becoming a favourite of this column.