By Tom Frary
Only the second runner in the Juddmonte silks to emerge from Joseph O'Brien's Owning Hill stable, Monogram (Kingman) gave all the right vibes on Saturday to become the sire's 39th TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard.
Heavily-backed into 4-6 for The Curragh's Coolmore Stud St Mark's Basilica Irish EBF Maiden, the son of the Prix des Reservoirs and Athenia Stakes winner Pocket Square (Night Of Thunder) was slowly away from his wide stall and forced to race in rear throughout the early stages under a visibly confident Dylan Browne McMonagle. Still with plenty to do two out, the homebred took off to reel in Amo Racing's Salt Lake (Persian Force) in the final stride.
At the line, there was a short head between the winner and that half-brother to West Acre and Lady Iman, with a healthy 3 3/4-length gap back to Ballydoyle's Noble Exhibit (Frankel), a son of Prize Exhibit (Showcasing).
“He looked nice. It was a good debut for a big, strong, good-looking and well-bred colt,” O'Brien said. “It was obvious from his homework that he was a nice horse–he has been very natural and Colin [Keane] really liked him, but we hadn't really looked. We wanted him to relax early, but you don't expect him to do that after he fell out of the gates.”
“He was by no means squeezed for today, so I'd like to think there will be plenty of improvement as he even looked green off the bridle,” he added. “When Dylan put him into gear, his response was very good and his last furlong was very impressive. He has the raw materials. We'll see how pulls up and discuss things with the Juddmonte team. Him and the filly that ran the other day [Zenith Blaze] looked like they had Stakes potential, so it's nice to say that they both probably do after their debuts.”
The new connection with Juddmonte is symbolic of the rise of the Piltown yard this year and O'Brien was quick to give thanks to the famed breeding operation. “It's just really nice to have a good horse for the Juddmonte team and for the family,” he said. “It's a real privilege to have their horses in the stable.”
Impressive!
Monogram (Kingman) comes from last to first to strike on debut, a first winner in the famous @JuddmonteFarms silks for @JosephOBrien2 since being added to the roster @curraghrace pic.twitter.com/aSfF7Acp4a
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 22, 2026
Pedigree Notes
Monogram is the second foal out of the aforementioned Pocket Square, whose first is the three-year-old full-sister to the winner Life Study who also won first time out this term. She is a daughter of the dual Listed-placed Shared Account (Dansili), a full-sister to the operation's Grand Prix de Paris hero Zambezi Sun who was also responsible for the Prix Imprudence and Prix de Lieurey winner Better Together (Oasis Dream), the Listed-winning Park Hill Stakes third Yesyes (Camelot) and the May Hill Stakes runner-up Sand Share also by Oasis Dream.
Aside from Zambezi Sun, the third dam Imbabala (Zafonic) also produced the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano winner Kalabar (Kahyasi) and Dansili's Listed scorer Zero Gravity. As well as throwing a champion steeplechaser in Scandinavia in Reinvent (Oasis Dream), she is also responsible for the operation's kingpin Kalpana (Study Of Man), already the winner of two renewals of the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes before moving up another level this summer with victories in the King George and Yorkshire Oaks. Pocket Square's third Kingman is a yearling colt, while she also has a colt foal by Mehmas.
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