Seven Days: The Best is Yet to Come

Let's not think in terms of the best ever – we all have our personal favourites – or even the best  this season, not yet anyway. Let us instead relish the fact that across the next six weeks, as long as they all remain hale and hearty, we can look forward to seeing Calandagan take on his Japan Cup runner-up Masquerade Ball once more in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, followed by Bow Echo potentially clashing with Notable Speech in his first outing against his elders in the Qatar Sussex Stakes, and Constitution River going toe to toe with Ombudsman in the Juddmonte International Stakes. 

These contests, by the way, at Ascot, Goodwood and York, are respectively worth £2 million, £1.5 million and £1.5 million. Who says British prize-money is rubbish? At the top end, it is far from it.

Calandagan (Gleneagles) and Constitution River (Wootton Bassett) were the undoubted stars of last weekend's action and for once the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud eclipsed the Eclipse. It wasn't just the appearance of Calandagan in the line-up. He was given a proper race by last year's Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Cualificar (Lope De Vega), who came within a neck of being the first top-level winner for the new training partnership of Andre and Lavinia Fabre, and by stable-mate Sunly (Night Of Thunder), both of whom are surely Group 1 winners in waiting. 

The Coral-Eclipse may be informative in hindsight by the end of the season but it wasn't quite the spectacle it can be. We expected Constitution River to win and he did so. He's clearly the best middle-distance three-year-old we've seen so far this season, while Bow Echo (Night Of Thunder), rated 3lbs higher by Timeform on 131p, prevails among the milers. How they each progress from here is where it starts to get really exciting.

It was a 1-2-3 for the three-year-olds, with the Prix du Jockey Club form holding up well in the Eclipse. A Boy Named Susie (Starspangledbanner) posted a terrific performance for Donnacha and Ana O'Brien, who had to settle for second to their most competitive of competitive dads. The consistent Hawk Mountain (Wootton Bassett) – who would be the star in almost anyone else's stable – maintained the O'Brien trifecta, having previously finished second to Constitution River at Chantilly.

Francis Graffard and Princess Zahra Aga Khan all smiles after Calandagan's sixth Group 1 win | Racingfotos

We discussed the dearth of older challengers from home and aboard in last week's column so we won't bang on again, other than to say let's hope this is a mere blip for the Eclipse regarding its strength in depth. As time goes on, we will see if this year's running really has thrown up a proper champion.

A Starspangledbanner on the Fourth of July

It was 16 years ago that Starspangledbanner won first the Golden Jubilee Stakes then the July Cup after being transferred from Australia to Ireland, and from Leon Corstens to Aidan O'Brien. The Ballydoyle maestro has had plenty of good stallions through his hands but the son of Choisir must by now be one of the favourites of the entire O'Brien clan.

First Joseph trained State Of Rest to win four Group/Grade 1 races in four different countries. Aidan hasn't done too shabbily this year with the Classic-winning duo of Gstaad and Precise, the two champion juveniles of 2025. But it was Donnacha who provided the most fitting winner of the weekend when sending out Starspangledbanner filly Kensington Lane to win the Belmont Oaks at Saratoga on the Fourth of July, only hours after A Boy Named Susie had finished second in the Eclipse. The latter could now attempt to emulate State Of Rest in Australia's Cox Plate later this year.

Previously fifth behind Precise in the Irish 1,000 Guineas after winning the G3 Athasi Stakes, Kensington Lane initially ran in the colours of Annemarie O'Brien before Mark McStay brokered a deal to buy her on behalf of the partnership of Medallion Racing, Agave Racing Stable and Evan Trommer. Her dam Almost Always, an unraced daughter of two brilliant parents in Galileo and Ramruma (Diesis), was bought as a nine-year-old by Joseph O'Brien for €23,000 at Arqana when carrying to Threat. The resulting foal, One Horse Town, won a juvenile hurdle for Harry Derham last October and was second in the G2 Adonis Juvenile Hurdle.

Kensington Lane wins the Belmont Oaks | Sarah Andrew

In association with Philip Shelton of Medallion Racing and others, McStay has ploughed a successful furrow in buying horses privately from Donnacha O'Brien and his parents, and Kensington Lane joins the top-class Porta Fortuna (Ten Sovereigns) in this regard, while her Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf winner Balantina (Ten Sovereigns) was bought as a yearling at Arqana.

“It's very much a joint effort and Philip Shelton deserves a lot of credit as he's very knowledgable in being able to appraise the European form and how it might convert to America,” said McStay.  “He has a group of loyal clients who value his opinion and trust him. One of the main things about Medallion is that it's attached to a commercial enterprise in Taylor Made and it has to make commercial sense.”

The agent added, “A long time ago someone said to me that racing is a people game and it's so true. I'm lucky to be dealing with very good people, including Donnacha, who is a gent to deal with.”

Oppenheimer breeding to the fore

With Ireland snatching the first of Saratoga's two Grade 1s on Saturday – albeit for American owners – England took the other, the Belmont Derby, with the Simon and Ed-Crisford-trained Title Role (Too Darn Hot), who gave the Coolmore triumvirate of Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor their second top-flight win of the day.

Title Role was continuing a successful season for his breeder Anthony Oppenheimer of Hascombe & Valiant Studs. His dam Valiant Girl (Lemon Drop Kid) is a sister to Crimson Ribbon, whose offspring include the Gold Cup winner Courage Mon Ami (Frankel) and Danielle, by homebred stallion Cracksman, who won the G3 Bronte Fillies' Cup in May and has an entry back at York for the Yorkshire Oaks.

Their dam Victoria Cross (Mark Of Esteem) has been a mainstay of the Hascombe & Valiant broodmare band and had a particular affinity with Lemon Drop Kid, having also produced the G2 Hardwicke Stakes and G2 Jockey Club Cup winner Bronze Cannon by him. 

Another of the Oppenheimer families has been seen to good effect this season through the G2 Ribblesdale Stakes winner Earth Shot (Time Test), a daughter of Precious Ramotswe (Nathaniel). The Irish Oaks hopeful represents six generations of Oppenheimer breeding and traces back to the yearling purchase Lora (Lorenzaccio), the dam of Sir Philip Oppenheimer's 1,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes winner On The House (Be My Guest).

Soldier still on parade

Thirty-six years after In The Wings won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud for Andre Fabre, his influence is still hanging in there, most notably in Germany, where his sons Soldier Hollow and Adlerflug have each been champion sire. Alas, they are both gone now – Soldier Hollow died two years ago at the age of 24 while Adlerflug was taken cruelly early at just 16, in the spring of 2021, while he was reigning champion. 

In The Wings was a neat and well balanced rocking horse of a stallion with a super temperament and, as a son Sadler's Wells and the terrific race mare High Hawk (Shirley Heights), winner of the Premio Roma, Ribblesdale and runner-up in the Irish Oaks, he did pretty much as he was expected to do. He became his illustrious sire's first ever winner and developed into a top-class mile-and-a-half performer, also winning the Coronation Cup and Breeders' Cup Turf in addition to the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

In The Wings will be best remembered for his brilliant globetrotting son Singspiel. A half-brother to Rahy (Blushing Groom), Singspiel also won the Coronation Cup along with the Juddmonte International, Japan Cup, Canadian International, and the Dubai World Cup.

If In The Wings was on the small side, his son Soldier Hollow was another size down again and could nearly have had a career on the pony racing circuit had he not been such a good racehorse himself. Bred in Britain by Car Colston Hall Stud, he was bought as a yearling by Helmut von Finck and was trained throughout his career in Germany by Peter Schiergen. Though he missed his own chance at Deutsches Derby success when injury ruled him out of the remainder of his three-year-old season after he finished fourth in the G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2,000 Guineas), he made up for it by racing for four subsequent seasons, his ten Group victories including three Group 1s.

As a sire, he has cast a fair shadow over the German Classics, and on Sunday the outsider Dardanos became his third 'home' Derby winner following Pastorius (2012) and Weltstar (2018). Another Group 1-winning son, Dschingis Secret, was third in the race, while Soldier Hollow's daughter Serienholde won the Preis der Diana (German Oaks). Fittingly, he is also the broodmare sire of von Finck's homebred German Derby winner Sammarco (Camelot). 

Since Soldier Hollow's demise after long and honourable service at Gestut Auenquelle, he has also been represented by the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes winner Tamfana. She had been picked up at the BBAG Yearling Sale for €20,000, which in hindsight was a terrific bargain, and Dardanos was even more so, having been bought for just €10,000 from his breeder Barbara Holubova. 

Perhaps one of the keys to Soldier Hollow's success in Germany, along with the fact that he was plainly a sound and durable racehorse, was that he provided a good outcross option. Among his seven Group 1 winners, Tamfana carries the closest inbreeding of 3×4 to Sadler's Wells, while Dschingis Secret is inbred 4×4 to Northern Dancer. For the remaining quintet you have to go back to the fifth generation or even farther to find any replication. Dardanos has two helpings of Sharpen Up in his fifth generation through Kris, sire of Soldier Hollow's damsire Common Grounds, and Selkirk, whose daughter Independence is the dam of Dardanos's broodmare sire Mount Nelson.

Easy for Al Aasy

Our golden oldie of the week award must go to Al Aasy (Sea The Stars). He may have to fight it out with Hamish (Motivator) to be the best golden oldie in his own stable, but while the heatwave means that the ten-year-old mud-loving Hamish is largely confined to barracks, Al Aasy has been adding to his rather impressive stakes record.

Now nine and reportedly not the easiest of characters, the Shadwell gelding took Saturday's Listed Charlie Wood Stakes at Beverley almost six years to the day since he notched his first black-type win in the G3 Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket. Though he has never struck beyond that level he has nonetheless compiled a fine record by winning at least one stakes race every year between 2020 and 2026. Even when he ran only once in 2022, he collected a win in the Listed Buckhounds Stakes. From 30 starts, his 12 victories now include eight Group 3s and three Listed wins. Al Aasy, we salute you.

Sunlit and on the up

Rae Guest is much missed in the Newmarket training ranks but it was great to see his name, along with that of his wife Rachel Flynn, feature among the list of Group-winning owners over the weekend. 

Upon Guest's retirement from training, he sent the 94-rated filly Sunlit Uplands (Sands Of Mali) to the stable of his neighbour Stuart Williams. Can there be anything more stressful in the racing world than training for a trainer? Fortunately, Guest is one of the nicest men on the planet and even if things had gone awry it would be hard to imagine him tearing a strip off the hugely capable Williams. As it is, after the filly picked up her first bit of black type when second in a Listed contest in Milan last month, things have continued to go swimmingly on her European tour and she won the G3 Hamburger Stuten Meile on Sunday's German Derby undercard. 

Sunlit Uplands puts her best foot forward | Racingfotos

Along with the trainers past and present, it is Flynn who deserves much of the credit as, while Guest had been struck down with a chest infection during the 2023 yearlings sales, it was she who selected the filly for 16,000gns from Book 3, sold by pinhooker Harry Dutfield.

If Sunlit Uplands was named with a nod towards Guest's impending retirement, she is certainly playing her part in ensuring that it is a deservedly happy and prosperous one.   

Goodwood and York publish strategy for reform

The aforementioned 'big three' independent tracks of Ascot, Goodwood and York are increasingly playing a more public role in attempting to shape the future structure of British racing. In May, the Ascot team stated its intention to withdraw from the Racecourse Association (RCA) at the end of this year because “sufficient progress has not been made” when it comes to overhauling that organisation's governance structure. Ascot's chief executive Felicity Barnard said that the decision had been made “in the interests of the long-term health of the sport”.

Officials at Goodwood and York clearly share some of these concerns and have co-published a paper titled Governing British Racing, which outlines their view of how the sport should be shaped while the BHA awaits a new chair to replace Lord Allen.

The six-page document, which calls for three specialist panels to oversee 'Elite Flat' and 'Foundation Flat' racing as well as jump racing, outlines three key changes that Goodwood and York would like to see brought in amid significant proposed structural reform: 

1. The RCA returns to being a true trade body — representing racecourses on standards, services and lobbying, and out of fixtures and funding.
2. A strong, independent BHA Board — with the racecourse block vote removed, so decisions reflect contribution rather than headcount.
3. A clear, written mandate for the incoming BHA Chair — broadly supported across the industry — to take up on appointment.

Broad support across the industry has proved to be something of a sticking point in British racing for many years now, and it surely needs to start with the urgent appointment of a BHA chair in whom the participants can place their faith.