By Emma Berry
The Derby can often take its toll on young Thoroughbreds and, according to William Haggas, it “knocked the stuffing out of” Young Rascal (Fr) (Intello {Ger]), who finished seventh at Epsom after winning the G3 Chester Vase.
Bernard Kantor, for whom a Derby win would have been extra special as sponsor of the race for 10 years through Investec, gained some compensation in seeing his colt return in encouraging fashion at Newbury, where he won the G3 Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup, formerly known as the Arc Trial, in testing conditions.
Bred by Elisabeth Fabre, Young Rascal may now return to his home country on Arc weekend, though not for the Arc itself. Haggas has the G2 Prix Chaudenay in mind as long as the ground stays soft.
There was further cheer for Kantor at Newbury on Saturday when his homebred Politicise (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) made all to win a novice race on just his second start.
The juvenile hails from a family which is well known at Haggas's Somerville Lodge stable. Four of the offspring of the Barathea (Ire) mare Politesse—an unraced daughter of Group 1 winner Embassy (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB})—have been trained there, the best of them to date being the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner King's Apostle (Ire) (King's Best), who stood for a time at Klawervlei Stud in South Africa.
King's Apostle won seven races during a 22-race career, while Kalk Bay (Ire) (Hawk Wing) won 10, three for Haggas before switching to Mick Easterby, and Cape Classic (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), who remains at the stable as a hack, won four. Politicise has some catching up to do but he looks more than capable of doing so.
Llety's Good Year Continues
There have been plenty of decent horses bred in Wales in recent years, including the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Saoire (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) at Louise Parry's Pantycoed Stud, but it is the Hodge family's Llety Farms keeping the Welsh dragon to the fore this season.
Soldier's Call (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) has never been out of the first three in his six starts, with three of his four victories coming at Royal Ascot in the listed Windsor Castle S., the G3 Prix d'Arenberg in Chantilly and, most recently, the G2 Flying Childers S.
Another of the farm's 2-year-old graduates, Dave Dexter (GB) (Stimulation {Ire}) kept the black type rolling in with victory in the listed Harry Rosebery S. at Ayr on Friday to notch his third win of the season.
As we mentioned in yesterday's TDN, the updates have been coming thick and fast for the Tattersalls October Sale and Dave Dexter provided yet another, as his half-sister from the first crop of Brazen Beau will be offered for sale as lot 1476 in Book 3.
“She's a correct, hardy filly with a great attitude,” said David Hodge, who admits he has had to “pinch himself” over the success of the Llety-bred horses this year.
“Dave Dexter was our 33rd winner of the year and 12th 2-year-old from just 19 foals that year,” he added. “Week after week after week they've been winning and we're making sure we enjoy every minute of it.”
It's a wise policy to adopt, as anyone who spends time around horses will know that where there's triumph, tragedy is so often lurking around the corner. Indeed, in the case of Soldier's Call's dam Dijarvo (GB) (Iceman {GB}) that was borne out when the 9-year-old mare died just 10 days after foaling a colt by The Last Lion (Ire) on Mar. 14.
“Dijarvo was actually bred here by Barry Minty. She was sold for £3,000 at Doncaster as a yearling and went on to be a stakes horse and sold on to America. Chad Schumer and Nancy Sexton had been tracking her for me and we bought her back at Keeneland,” Hodge recalled.
There is some consolation to this sad loss in the fact that in the Llety paddocks are two of her daughters—a 3-year-old by resident stallion Stimulation (Ire) named Saria (GB) and a yearling by Canford Cliffs (GB). Both will be retained for breeding.
“The yearling is the spitting image of her mother, a real tank of a thing,” Hodge noted. “I imagine we will sell the colt as a yearling next year and fortunately we still have Dijarvo's dam Thicket (GB) here too, and she's in foal to Stimulation.”
Special Colt For Dunlop
In the week of John Dunlop's memorial service in London and the first staging of a race in his name at San Siro racecourse in Milan, it was touching also to learn that owner-breeder Cristina Patino, who has enjoyed a long association with the Dunlop family, has named a colt John Leeper (Ire) in the late trainer's honour.
And he's no ordinary colt, either. Born on Apr. 28 this year, he is the son of Frankel (GB) and Patino's six-time Group 1 winner Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab), and will eventually be trained, like his dam, by Ed Dunlop.
Having himself been named after Bobby Frankel, the Juddmonte stallion is already the sire of the Royal Ascot winner Atty Persse (GB), who takes his name from the trainer of The Tetrarch (Ire) who retired in 1954 at the age of 84.
There will surely be more trainer tributes to follow. The name Sir Henry Cecil is still available, according to the Weatherbys database.
Italy's Hopes For Revival
As Keeneland wrapped up its mammoth September Sale with some pretty eye-catching returns, the European sales tour stopped off in Italy over the weekend before rolling on to the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, which starts today.
While foal crops have risen since the recession in Britain, Ireland and France, leading us back to the dangerous overproduction zone, this is not a problem in Italy, where the number of foals bred has fallen from around 2,000 a decade ago, to approximately 650 currently. We can view that as both good and bad.
Nobody who has followed the progression of the Thoroughbred can be unaware of the role Italian breeding has played. It is over-simplifying matters merely to say that without Nearco there would be no Northern Dancer, but that's a good place to start when highlighting Italy's, and in particular Federico Tesio's, influence on the modern-day breed.
The slashing of government support for racing in Italy and subsequent failure by the authorities to pay out prize-money in a timely fashion has led to a drop in the number of foreign horses competing in the country's major races, the downgrading in status of a number of Italian Pattern contests, and dwindling support from owners.
Doubtless Italy's new 'government of change' has more pressing items on its agenda than trying to halt the decline of its country's racing and breeding industry, but there are hopes in some quarters of greater government liaison via the new Minister of Agriculture Gian Marco Centinaio and Italy's Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Cavalli purosangue (ANAC).
Massimo Parri took over as chairman of ANAC in May and was instrumental in relocating the SGA Sale, which took place on Saturday, to its new home at the La Maura trotting track in Milan. Parri's Le.Gi Stud supplied the €90,000 top lot and will sell a filly by Golden Horn (GB) during Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale (lot 263). The filly's Sea The Stars half-brother set a new Book 3 record of 850,000gns whens sold to Shadwell last year.
The Italian sale was better supported by breeders this year, with the number of yearlings catalogued rising from 98 to 168, but a clearance rate of 60% highlights the work that still needs to be done to resuscitate a demand for Italian bloodstock. A dearth of buyers, however, is not a problem faced by Italy alone.
Moore Clan Jumping To Success
It's a pretty full-on schedule for the top Flat jockeys at this time of the year so it was great to see a number of them supporting the Newmarket Open Weekend by taking part in Sunday's show jumping competition sponsored by Clipper Logistics.
It wasn't restricted to jockeys, however. Roger Varian took part on his trusty hack Gerry, along with George Scott and Francesca Cumani, who returned to defend her crown. All riders had to contend with some heckling from commentator Michael Bell, who said during Scott's round, “He used to be my assistant but I never let him ride any of my good ones, and you can see why.”
Of the weighing-room stars on show, which included William Buick, Andrea Atzeni, Josephine Gordon, Harry Bentley and Luke Morris, it was Ryan Moore (who else?) who took home the red rosette.
Despite being arguably the world's best Flat jockey, Moore's pedigree does rather lean towards National Hunt, and in fact he recorded his first winner over hurdles. His father Gary was a jump jockey before starting training, while brothers Jamie and Josh ride over jumps and sister Hayley has plenty of experience as a point-to-pointer and eventer. The Moore gene is clearly strong in this regard as Ryan's young children Toby and Sophie both took part in the show jumping class, looking every bit as polished in the saddle as the older members of their family.
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