Keeneland's Inside the Winner's Circle: Racing Royalty

“Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland” is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September Yearling sale that have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages.

Following Contributer (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire})'s win in the 2014 Listed Wolferton H. at Royal Ascot, Barbara Banke and Peter Leidel were curious to see what their friend and winning owner George Bolton's overseas racing experience was like.

“I said, 'Well, the Wolferton H. isn't Curlin winning the Preakness, but winning the Wolferton H., presented by the Ascot Racing Authority, was about as fun a day you can have in racing,” Bolton commented. “There's nothing quite like it.”

That said, the trio decided to send trainer Wesley Ward a horse for the first time together in the spring of 2016, a $350,000 Keeneland September Yearling (ring video) graduate by Scat Daddy. If she could win her career debut at the Keeneland Spring meeting, they had hopes, “one-to-five percent” to be exact, of perhaps competing in a race such as the G2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot a couple of months later.

It's pretty safe to say that this filly has exceeded their expectations.

After earning her 'TDN Rising Star' badge at first asking in Lexington and airing by seven lengths in the Queen Mary for juvenile fillies over soft ground last year, Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) was back in the spotlight earlier this week, adding Tuesday's G1 King's Stand S. at the Royal Meeting in spectacular fashion in near course-record time against a loaded field of older male sprinters.

“The last furlong was as impressive as it gets,” Bolton, Chief Investment Officer, Portfolio Manager of WestEnd Capital Management, said. “It was a great day and I'm so proud that we represented America well and I'm so proud of her being maybe the best horse that I have ever owned. And that includes [two-time Horse of the Year] Curlin, [MGISW] The Factor and [champion] My Miss Aurelia. She's definitely in the same breath.”

With jockey Johnny Velazquez subbing for the injured Frankie Dettori in the King's Stand, Lady Aurelia, the 7-2 second-favorite, was always traveling smartly towards the stand's side and blitzed home in the final furlong, reporting home three lengths to the good over last year's winner Profitable (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). The final time for five furlongs was a scorching :57.45.

“We got on our viewing stand, which was my third time in a row [following wins by Contributer in 2014 and Lady Aurelia in 2016],” Bolton said. “You could imagine that little platform when we got down to that last furlong–I don't think anybody's feet were touching the ground!”

He continued, “We've been brought to spectacular places in the world because of horseracing–Dubai, Australia, etc.–and I would say the British offering at Royal Ascot is the most fabulous raceday offered. When The Queen arrived and we had two minutes of silence (for the recent terror attacks and fatal high-rise fire in England), you wanted to cry… The countries that put up the best festivals are going to have the best racing. The United States has a wonderful series with the Derby, Preakness and Belmont, and an absolute blowout success story with the Breeders' Cup, and I view Royal Ascot as a very able competitor.”

Lady Aurelia, named after Bolton's mother, was bred in Kentucky by Banke's Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. Her dam D' Wildcat Speed, a $1-million 2005 Keeneland November purchase by Stonestreet, was a Horse of the Year in Puerto Rico and also a graded winner on these shores at Gulfstream Park. D' Wildcat Speed produced a Munnings filly this year.

“John Moynihan buys my horses, and obviously Barbara's too, and we also hooked up with Peter,” Bolton replied when asked how the partnership came together to acquire Lady Aurelia. “Barbara stayed in and everyone went in for one-third. It's a great way for us to get a horse that we know was raised beautifully, and I repeat, raised beautifully, at Stonestreet.”

Lady Aurelia also captured last term's G1 Darley Prix Morny in France and was reported to have slightly bled when concluding her juvenile campaign with a third-place finish in Newmarket's G1 Cheveley Park S., her lone blemish in six trips to the post. The bay showed a bit of a new dimension in her curtain raiser this year, coming from off the pace to post a devastating win over older fillies and mares in Keeneland's Giant's Causeway S. in April.

“She was always precocious and she was always beautifully made–we'll call her a middle weight,” Bolton said. “She wasn't the biggest horse, but she was the tightest put-together horse. And once she started speeding up once a week at the beautiful Stonestreet Ocala operation, she was just showing natural speed that was just very competitive with the other 96 yearlings on the farm.”

Lady Aurelia's future engagements include the G1 Coolmore Nunthorpe S. at York Aug. 25 and the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in the fall. But for now, Bolton and company are still celebrating their prized filly's latest accomplishment.

“I have spoken to Peter and Barbara three times already today,” Bolton said. “When you go to the winner's circle and Prince William and (Duchess) Kate are there to hand you the trophy–that may have been the most surreal handshake that I've ever had.”

Bolton concluded with a laugh, “When you catch George Bolton speechless, that's a major moment!”