It's a rare Jeff Smith colour-bearer that has not been bred at his successful Hampshire nursery of Littleton Stud, but shopping around for new blood can pay dividends for breeders, and in the case of Alcohol Free (Ire), there have been handsome dividends indeed.
Four years ago, the weanling daughter of No Nay Never caught the eye of Littleton Stud manager David Bowe at the Goffs November Sale, where she was bought from her breeder Churchtown Stud for €40,000. By the time the four-time Group 1 winner exits from her second turn in the sales ring, this time at the Tattersalls December Sale, it is easy to predict that she will have made many times that figure.
While other yearlings were meeting their own sales engagements, the young Alcohol Free had only to appear in the Littleton Stud yearling parade, where one of Smith's trainers was quick to put his hand up in hope of training her. Recalling the day he first set eyes on his subsequent stable star, Andrew Balding says, “You don't know quite what you're going to get [sent], but you get an opportunity to have a whisper in David Bowe's ear and say, look, I really like the No Nay Never filly. And thankfully I did and she ended up coming our way. She was actually one of the later ones of Jeff's yearlings, but as soon as she came in, it took about two pieces of work and she was ready to run.”
By August, Alcohol Free was off to Balding's local course, Newbury, to make her debut.
He continues, “She was hugely impressive, having shown some good ability at home. But we'd only really scratched the surface with her homework.”
Stepping straight into group company, Alcohol Free ran a close second to Happy Romance (Ire) in the G3 Dick Poole Fillies' S. on her next start, before delivering what her trainer describes as “a perfect end to her two-year-old career” by winning the G1 Cheveley Park S.
That transpired to be just the first of Alcohol Free's four Group 1 victories, with a further two coming her way as a three-year-old, in the Coronation S. and later in a particularly strong renewal of the Sussex S. at Goodwood, where she beat 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare (Ire) and G1 Falmouth S. victrix Snow Lantern (GB).
Many owners might well have taken the view that a treble Group 1 winner at two and three was more than enough for a filly to have shown her merits to be a coveted addition to any broodmare band but, sportingly, Smith decided to roll the dice and keep Alcohol Free in training at four. It was an inspired decision, because not only did she win again at the top level, but in so doing, she displayed great versatility and a killer turn of foot when dropping back from a mile to win the July Cup. In behind her were Godolphin's Naval Crown (GB) and Creative Force (Ire), and Australian raider Artorius (Aus), who had filled the first three places in the G1 Platinum Jubilee S. a month earlier, giving the form a rock-solid feel.
“I think for Alcohol Free to have won Group 1s at two, three and four is unusual, but to have won four majorly significant ones, and not just obviously the Cheveley Park and the Coronation Stakes for fillies only, but then add to that a Sussex Stakes and a July Cup–I mean, that's a rare group of races,” says Balding. “And I don't think there's another horse who has achieved the four of those. It's an extraordinary achievement.”
Looking ahead to the next stage of her career, he adds, “I think what makes Alcohol Free a particularly attractive broodmare proposition is the fact that she's obviously been incredibly sound throughout her training career. Her race record shows that. She's just the most beautifully athletic horse, with that deep girth and wonderful shoulder to her, and a great walker. And she's she's got real presence, so with all those things combined, I think you couldn't wish for a more exciting prospect as a as a broodmare.”
He continues, “She's the daughter of probably one of the most exciting young sires in in the world, whose progeny statistics just get better and better each year, as well as being out of a Hard Spun mare. She's a half-sister to a very good group-class horse in France, and it's a good family going back. All of those things make it a very attractive page to look at in the catalogue.”
There will no doubt be plenty of potential buyers who agree with Balding's sentiment when going through the catalogue, and her appearance in the ring as lot 1904 during the Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares' Sale, provides one last opportunity for Alcohol Free to shine for Balding, as she is consigned by his Park House Stables on behalf of Littleton Stud.
“It's been just a pleasure to have anything to do with her,” he says. “And she's just a brilliant workhorse. I mean, seeing her work in the morning was demoralising for whoever had to work with her. But it is always so rewarding to watch really good horses work well, and she very rarely put in a bad piece of work. She was always showing her natural ability in her work and doing it so easily. So we'll miss that, and we'll have a job to replace her.”
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