The Weekly Wrap: Our Hope For Years to Come

The magnificent duel fought between Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Crystal Ocean (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in Saturday's G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth QIPCO S. was everything one could hope for, not least because the first four horses across the line in Britain's premier weight-for-age race are all aged five. In racing, the biggest stars are the horses; and it is a problem for the sport if and when the best horses have careers so short that they do not have time to become household names. It is very encouraging that such a great race could be dominated by four horses each in his/her fourth season of racing.

What was also encouraging was the sight of so many members of Prince Khalid Abdullah's family in the winner's enclosure, most notably with his son Prince Saud collecting the trophy. The Prince ranks as one of the great owner/breeders of this or any other age, having from the late 1970s onwards built up Juddmonte into a racing and breeding operation which arguably has given more pleasure to more race-goers than any other in the modern era. As with any great bloodstock enterprise, the issue of succession looms large after a while. Prince Khalid Abdullah is now in his early 80s and it has never been clear to the outside world whether his heirs will share the passion for the sport which has been Juddmonte's driving force. On the evidence of Saturday, the desire to maintain Juddmonte in subsequent generations may well exist.

Juddmonte, of course, is not racing's only empire whose future is uncertain. The Royal Studs have been flourishing uninterruptedly under successive generations of the Royal Family since the future King Edward VII reinvigorated the royal connection with the Sport of Kings while still Prince of Wales during the 64-year reign (1837 to 1901) of his mother Queen Victoria, who showed no interest in the sport. Subsequently King Edward VII's grandson King George VI was a true racing enthusiast; and the latter's daughter Queen Elizabeth II has proved herself to be one of the most passionate owners in racing history. Worryingly, though, it has been hard to determine whether any of Her Majesty's children or grandchildren will have the commitment to the sport required to maintain the Royal Studs at their current level.

This month has been an encouraging one from this point of view. One of the debutants in a recent juvenile novices' race at Newbury was the Ralph Beckett-trained Golden Cygnet (GB) (Cable Bay {Ire}), owned and bred by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. Equally encouraging was the presence of Prince Andrew in the unsaddling enclosure after Enable's great victory at Ascot, the Queen's second son looking entirely at home in the middle of a great racing celebration.

The Name's Bond
Without wishing to downplay the eminence of Concentric (GB) (Sadler's Wells) or Crystal Star (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}), the dams of Enable and Crystal Ocean, Broodmare of the Day on Saturday was surely Reg Bond's 19-year-old mare Forever Bond (GB) (Danetime {Ire}). She came up with two good winners on Saturday afternoon, her 4-year-old son Rise Hall (GB) (Frankel {GB}) winning the Heath Court Hotel 'Be Our Guest' H. at Newmarket two hours before her 5-year-old daughter Ladies First (GB) (Monsieur Bond {Ire}) took the Skybet Supporting New Beginnings British EBF Fillies' H. at York.

In general, breeders tend to stick within the same price-bracket when booking the nominations for their mares. Rise Hall and Ladies First, however, provide a perfect reminder that this is not always the case. Monsieur Bond's stud fee when Ladies First was conceived in 2013 was £5,000; the cost the following year of the Frankel nomination which yielded Rise Hall was £125,000. However, while one would rarely see such a difference in status of a mare's mates in consecutive seasons, each stallion was the obvious mate for the mare.

Reg Bond, the delivery trucks of whose tyre business are a frequent sight on British roads, has enjoyed great success during the current century with horses trained mainly by Bryan Smart and Geoff Oldroyd. Forever Bond was trained for him by Smart but she was not one of his stars. She never raced but Monsieur Bond (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), her Bond-owned contemporary in Smart's stable, did really well, winning six of his 23 starts including the Fortune S. at Epsom in 2003 and both the G3 Gladness S. at the Curragh and the G2 Duke Of York S. at York in 2004.

Forever Bond came from a family packed with fast horses so clearly was worth retaining for stud despite her failure as a racehorse. Monsieur Bond was the obvious mate for her when Reg Bond retired him (initially to Whitsbury Manor Stud for five seasons and then to Norton Grove Stud) in 2005. The result of Forever Bond's visit to Monsieur Bond during his first season was Forever's Girl (GB), winner of six of her 41 races.  (Forever Bond had been at stud for one year by this time, producing the seven-time winner Chosen Forever (GB) (Choisir {Aus})).

Subsequent visits to Monsieur Bond in 2006 and '07 yielded two superb sprinters: Hoof It (GB) and Ladies Are Forever (GB). The former became a folk hero when proving himself one of the fastest as well as one of the biggest horses in the land, winning 11 races headlined by a memorable wide-margin triumph under 10 stone in the Stewards' Cup at Goodwood in 2011 for the redoubtable (part-)owner/trainer/jockey team of Lee Westwood, Mick Easterby and Kieren Fallon. The latter, trained by Oldroyd, scored eight times including, memorably, taking the G3 Summer S. over six furlongs at York in 2011, '13 and '14.  Further visits to Monsieur Bond for Forever Bond were therefore a no-brainer, resulting not only in Ladies First (GB) (whose tally of victories currently stands at three) but also her current 3-year-old Airwaves (GB), who is trained like Rise Hall by Martyn Meade and who has won two of her four races to date.

Forever Bond has, though, visited other stallions occasionally.  She went to Misu Bond (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), a dual listed winner who had been trained for Reg Bond by Bryan Smart, in his first season at Hedgeholme Stud in 2008. This mating resulted in seven-time winner Bop It (GB). And when the temptation to send this superb broodmare to an 'outside' stallion grew too strong to resist, which one better to choose than the mighty Frankel, whom she visited in his second season at Banstead Manor in 2014? The result was Rise Hall, who was entered in two yearling sales in 2016 (Tattersalls' October and December Sales) but was withdrawn from both and who is now trained for Reg Bond by Martyn Meade. By winning a handicap on Saturday off a BHA rating of 96, Rise Hall looks sure shortly to become the third of Forever Bond's offspring to attain a three-figure rating.

Bargain 'Buys'
Rise Hall is merely one of several recent good winners who were entered in yearling sales but were not sold. Two particularly promising examples have been Brunelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), a winner on debut at Leopardstown, and Under The Stars (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) who took her record to two-from-two by landing the G3 Princess Margaret Keeneland S. at Ascot on Saturday. These two 2-year-old fillies, unlike Rise Hall, did fulfil their engagements at the yearling sales, but neither seemingly changed hands, even if officially they were sold.

Bred by Cristina Patino's Windflower Overseas Holdings, Brunelle was offered in arguably the least suitable yearling sale that could have been chosen for her: Tattersalls Ireland's November Mixed National Hunt Sale at Fairyhouse last autumn, where she was knocked down to the BBA Ireland for €800. Trained by Ger Lyons, she remains in Mrs. Patino's ownership and made a very taking winning debut in the red and yellow Anamoine Limited silks made famous by another Windflower-bred, Anamoine-raced filly, the mighty six-time Group/Grade 1 winner Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab).

Following in Snow Fairy's famous footsteps might be asking a bit much but one could not rule it out, particularly remembering that Snow Fairy herself was a similar BBA Ireland yearling 'purchase' for €1,800 at Fairyhouse in December 2008.

Under The Stars has a similarly convoluted background.  Bred by Rabbah Bloodstock, she was offered by Houghton Bloodstock in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Sale last autumn, when she was knocked down to her breeder for 6,000gns. That figure looks to have ludicrously under-valued her now that, trained by James Tate for Saeed Manana, she is an unbeaten Group 3 winner who is currently rated a 33-1 shot for next year's G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas.

Horan's Heroes
Under The Stars was one of two notable winners on Saturday to highlight shrewd purchases made by Paragon Bloodstock principal Jerry Horan. Under The Stars's dam Jumeirah Palm Star (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was bought by Rabbah Bloodstock as a yearling at Tattersalls in 2010 for 72,000gns. She won two races when trained by Richard Hannon but last autumn her breeding record was standing at no winners from three foals of racing age and she was offered by Godolphin at Goffs November Sale, where Horan snapped her up for merely €1,000, in foal to Slade Power (Ire). That is looking a great buy now with her 2-year-old Under The Stars a Group 3 winner, her 3-year-old Creek Island (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) also a winner and Slade Power responsible for Europe's leading 2-year-old filly Raffle Prize (Ire).

Saturday afternoon's card at Newcastle opened with the Kevin Ryan-trained Dandy's Beano (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) recording her fourth victory by taking the Collingwood Taxi Insurance Fillies' H. She is another good advertisement for Horan's ability to spot a bargain: he bought her for €1,000 in Part II of the Tattersalls Ireland's September Yearling Sale in 2016. She was subsequently sold again the following spring, fetching €20,000 at the Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale.

A Heaven-sent Triumph
There were a few tears of excitement shed at Ascot on Saturday when Enable and Crystal Ocean treated the crowd to their epic battle, but the feelings engendered by the comparebettingsites.com H., the concluding race at Chepstow on Friday evening, took emotion to a higher level still.

The week had begun tragically with the death of popular English bloodstock identity Nicky Murray, co-proprietor along with her husband Chris of Whitwell Bloodstock and Hilborough Stud. Nicky Murray passed away after a gruelling nine-month battle against terminal illness, with one ray of sunshine in her final days coming with the victory at Chepstow earlier this month of her home-bred Mick Channon-trained 4-year-old filly No Near So Farhh (GB) (Farhh {GB}). Channon sent So Near So Farhh back to Chepstow on Friday and the filly did the right thing, taking her tally to four by carrying Nicky Murray's colours to a poignant victory.

If one believes that there are occasions when a little bit of help from above is forthcoming, then it is easy to feel that the wings of angels might have been providing So Near So Farhh with some extra impetus in the Welsh twilight on Friday evening.