Royal Musings

[Bustino74]

Anyone who gets Horses in Training may have been surprised to see the Queen had virtually no 2yos in training. There were a couple with Hannon (Free Verse and Traveller’s Tale) and another with Balding (Autumn Fire) but other than that nothing like the numbers of 2yos she normally has in training. But new names are beginning to appear in the entries.

That aside the Queen prizemoney-wise is having her best year for sometime. That will be no surprise to anyone with the Dante win of Carlton House. In terms of races won she is just behind her best strike rate of the last 10 years, having won 13 races year to date. Usually all the winners come from homebreds but this year is a little different. People will know about Carlton House (bred by Darley) but she also has two other purchased yearlings that have won races this year. Like Carlton House Abergeldie is by Street Cry and won an 8f maiden and appears reasonable. What she is without doubt is well-bred, being out of the Green Desert mare Camlet who is a half-sister to Barathea, Free at Last and Gossamer. Whatever she does from now, she will be a welcome addition to the Sandringham mares. Perhaps more interesting is thursday’s listed winner Set to Music.

This Danehill Dancer filly was spoken of positively by Bell last year but after a fair introduction did very little and some comments were made in the press that she showed little scope for improvement. How wrong could they be as she has not been unplaced this year and has now won 4 races on the trot culminating in thursday’s emphatic win. This was her first attempt at 12f but she would have won the race if it had been over a mile. A quick glance at her pedigree is very revealing. Her great, great grand dam is the legendary Petite Etoile, and traces from the Aga Khan’s Z-line which produced the brilliant Zarkava. If the deal with the Aga Khan was that she kept Set to Music then she has a real treasure in her as a broodmare. I’d be surprised if we’ve heard the last of Set to Music’s racing career as I’m sure she can go on from this. Bell may be tempted to point her at the Vermeille, a big jump I know, but an improving filly at this time of the year can go a long way. At the very least she should pick up a Group3 or Group 2 somewhere.

What of the homebreds? Tactician is her only 4yo winner and this Motivator son out of Tempting Prospect appears to have improved and could go for the Ebor. Regarding the missing 2yos Tempting Prospect has a 2yo Galileo colt called Galleon who is likely to turn up one day and most probably be trained by Stoute. This mare’s half-sister is Fictitious (had a good 3yo last year in Quadrille) who is the dam of the 2yo Windsor winner Free Verse (by Danehill Dancer) who for some reason flopped when put back to 5f last week at Newbury. Another broodmare half-sister to Tempting Prospect is Flash of Gold who has had a 3yo winner in Audacious (by Motivator but this gelding appears a bit of a rogue) and has a 2yoGalileo colt called Moidore (entered for the Racing Post already and in training with Charlton). A full sister to Fictitious, and already dam of an Oaks 2nd, is Phantom Gold. She has another Galileo 2yo colt called Glittering Gold. One winner for the family this year has been Wayward Glance (by Sadler’s Wells), who after appearing distinctly disappointing in his races was allowed to lead last time out and sluiced up. He also runs today over 4f more than he has run over before. Although there are other 2yo members of this family the only one sighted so far is Price List (Red Ransom out of the Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Film Script, herself a granddaughter of the Nassau Stakes winner Starlet).

The other family of the Queen’s is the Feola family which over the years produced Aureole, Highclere and Height of Fashion for her and Nashwan and other countless Group 1 winners for Sheikh Hamdan. They have had had only one winner this year in the shape of Caraboss (by Cape Cross) and her unraced 2yo Oasis Dream half-sister Dawn Glory is also in training with Charlton. A mare who has thrown winners from this family but rarely gets sent to good sires is New Assembly (by Machiavellian). Anyone who has gone on to Bell’s website will have read that he quite fancies the Motivator 2yo he has out of this mare called Sign Manual (entered for the Royal Lodge). Where the other 2yos from this family are, namely Bank Bonus (c Motivator out of Small Fortune: great piece of naming!!) and Elevator (c Exceed and Excel out of Celtic Cross), is anyone’s guess. One question that always occurs to me is why when this is such a top family she chooses to send the better sires she uses to the Phantom Gold/Starlet family. I wonder sometimes on the advice she is given.

The other Royal family is that of Humdrum (by Dr Fong), who won her first race of the year like a really good filly. No doubt she will go to the paddocks to replace her dam Spinning Top who has no 2yo this year. Humdrum runs today at Sandown in the listed Atlanta Stakes after following up her win with a 5th at Royal Ascot.

The other question I must ask about the 2yo is which ones are to be trained by Stoute. I think everyone identifies Stoute as the leading Royal trainer and he usually seemed to have the pick of the bunch. There is no clue as to which ones he will train for the Queen, if any?

Together with those without trainers mentioned above here are others unaccounted for:-

Dealings c by Motivator out of Daralbayda (mare bought from the Aga Khan),
Special Agent c by Invincible Spirit out of Flight of Fancy (2nd Oaks),
Momentary f Nayef out of Fleeting Memory (daughter of Flight of Fancy),
Border Legend c Selkirk out of Bonnie Doon (heavens knows why Warren bought this mare!!),
and possibly
Filly by Zamindar out of Rainbow’s Edge (daughter of Film Script),
Colt by Medicean out of Well Hidden (full sister to Flight of Fancy).

If Stoute is choosing from just these then they don’t seem the first division. Is there an upcoming split with Freemason Lodge? No doubt he’ll now go and train Galleon or Glittering Gold to win the 2012 Derby!

 

[Janabelle13]

Set to Music looked a really nice sort wining at York.

Many moons ago I got a rather nice book called "All the Queen's Horses" which was published in the late 70's and gave a superb history and info on the Royal Studs and the racehorses.

 

[Ron]

Another informative and well researched article Bustino.

 

[rainbowview]

Fantastic article really enjoyed the read

 

[Bustino74]

'All the Queen's Horses' was a nice book and written in '78 came at the end of her purple patch (just about) as she had just won 4 classics in 4 years. In the early 80s things started to go horribly wrong.

There's another book called Royal Racing which is a little grittier. A couple of things from it 1. Ian Balding (not my favourite trainer) comes out of as a real man of principle. He did some admirable things which must have put his own position of training for the Queen at risk. (well it did because he stopped and only started again when the Queen Mother died). That's why I'm pleased to see Andrew getting two 2yos this year. 2. Porchester is pretty roundly castigated for his handling of Hern and the sale of Height of Fashion 3. Despite that fount of all knowledge on 606 (we cannot mention his name) strongly rounding on anyone who dared say the Queen had a better horse than Aureole, the Racing Manager at the time says fairly clearly that Dunfermline was the best horse she owned and she was followed by Highclere. So our sage despite being the grand old age of one when Aureole was running appears to know something the insiders don't.

Worth getting a copy of, because it is about the QM and Q from their start in Racing.

Agree on Set to Music. I decided to invest a small amount for interest and spent the last 6 furlongs wondering what was wrong with me. As they pointed out her time was only half a second slower than Blue Bunting (but she was carrying markedly less weight) and she won with a ton in hand.

 

[Janabelle13]

Agree the sale of Height of Fashion was in hindsight a tragedy for the Queen when you think of what HoF produced. Its not as though she was a bad racemare - she was champion 2yo filly and the best produce of her dam Highclere.

 

[Bustino74]

Yes I agree. And Balding's comment on that was effectively here was the Queen selling a horse to buy a stable (Herns) when her interest was in breeding winners not owning stables. Even today people defend it, but it was a complete horlicks by Porchester.
But that wasn't all of it. Yes she had had the second known success with Queens Hussar ( Highclere after Brigadier Gerard) but she kept sending mares to him. Then because Porcheter bought Town and Country (by Town Crier) mares were sent to Town Crier and Town and Country when he went to stud. She could easily have sent mares to Northern Dancer and to Blushing Groom, instead they were sent to a bunch of ordinary sires. I think there was a maverick streak in Porchester that made him believe he could magic something out of nothing.

Bank Bonus is also with Balding: so he has 3 not 2.
Charlton has drawn the short straw and is training Border Legend (so 3 for him as well).

 

[Bustino74]

A Royal filly sighted with Stoute.
Estimate by Monsun out of Ebayiza (by Daarshan) and again is not Royal Bred but Aga Khan bred. Same family as Ebadiyla who won the Irish Oaks.

 

[Tamerlo]

"One question that always occurs to me is why when this is such a top family she chooses to send the better sires she uses to the Phantom Gold/Starlet family. "
Bustino, could you expand on this statement- for the benefit of the uninformed like me?
Are you saying simply that the Feola family is far superior to the Starlet family?
Another question...
What puzzles me about breeding is that we often read about the 'influence' of a particular sire or dam in a horse's pedigree. Take the great Arkle...his sire Archive was a useless racehorse, but experts will point to Nearco in his bloodline. Isn't it true that you can invariably trace some top horse in innumerable horses' families- if you go back far enough?
Therefore the question is " What makes a top breeding family?"
Is it the influence of many successful horses in the bloodline, and can say one mare eg. Urban Sea produce great horses without reference to any other factor?
To be honest, I find all these breeding "cross references" confusing, to say the least.
Nonetheless, a very good Article

 

[Bustino74]

What a great post Tamerlo. I'll probably need some help from pN on some of these but I'll have a go.

The Feola family is well established and has always been a source of good racing animals. A good starting place is Aureole who was 2nd in the Derby and a champion 4yo. He was by Hyperion out of Angelola (who was 2nd in the Oaks and won the Yorkshire Oaks), and she was out of Feola (2nd in the 1000G and 3rd in the Oaks). So with a pedigree like that it was no surprise that he was a good horse and he came from a family of good horses. Because Angelola was half-sister to Hypericum (by Hyperion) who managed to win the 1000G. But they're not isolated cases as Feola's grandson was the American champion Round Table (in turn a good sire). I'm skimming this because Feola also produced Above Board (who again won the Yorkshire Oaks) and herself bred Doutelle.

The family continued in the main in the Royal Studs through Hypericum who produced a decent filly called Highlight who when sent to Queens Hussar produced the excellent filly Highclere. She won the 1000G and the French Oaks. You get the picture this is a Group 1 family as to this you then need to add her daughter Height of Fashion, Nashwan, Nayef and Ghanaati. A near cousin was that outstanding filly Pebbles (from the Above Board line).

So why do I say what I say. Well the best the other family has done appears to be the Oaks second Flight of Fancy. Nothing like the number of top horses that the Feola family has but yes some good ones like Phantom Gold. So I am saying the Feola family is better.

So then let's look at the matings of a couple of mares.
Phantom Gold c Sadler's Wells f Sadler's Wells c Montjeu rested c Galileo rested Oasis Dream
Tempting Prospect barren f Montjeu c Motivator f Galileo c Galileo f Duke of Marmalade Shamardal
Fictitious c Pivotal barren c Danehill Dancer c Dansili f Danehill Dancer c Dylan Thomas ?

So the above are 3 mares from the Phantom Gold family and the last noted sire is the covering in 2010 (so don't know where Fictitious went).

Compare those with 3 Feola family mares

Celtic Cross c Singspiel c Green Desert c Dr Fong c Tiger Hill c Exceed and Excel rested Kheleyf
New Assembly f Danehill Dancer c Cape Cross f Red Ransom c Invincible Spirit c Motivator c Kheleyf Exceed and Excel
Purple Heather f Montjeu c Selkirk dead foal f Nayef rested c Tiger Hill Medicean

Not bad sires but look at the two lists and which family seems to be getting the preferential partners? I know what I think. And I think given the ability to throw so many good horses over so many years they really ought to do a bit better and not throw everything at the Phantom Gold family.

Yes I think your comment that you can trace to some top horse in innumerable horses' families- if you go back far enough is correct but the flipside is it is amazing how horses that were indifferent sires do not appear in pedigrees. One of your favourite horses was Reform but do you see him in a pedigree? We share an affinity in the Astors and my strong belief is Jakie destroyed his stud by blindly utilising two Derby winners, Charlottown and Royal Palace as sires. Actually I shoot myself in the foot with Charlottown because he does appear in the pedigree of some Ballymacoll hoses such as North Light and Gamut through his daughter Edinburgh.

So to answer your second question as to what makes a top breeding family I think is that 1) they keep throwing good horses and 2) even undistinguished mares from the family can throw good horses. The Aga Khan is amazing at this.

I always look at breeding this way and that is when you breed a horse you are putting into a hat a number of influences from the pedigree you are trying to breed from and that the 16 tickets (this is an analogy) you draw out of the say 256 tickets in that hat defines the potential of the ensuing horse. So full brothers can be totally different even in colour. But some influences are more potent and it's that potency that makes a good sire or good family bloodline.

I don't think this is a good reply. Maybe I'll think more about it or someone else helps me out.

 

[Tamerlo]

Bustino, thanks for an informative reply- and one which I can grasp.
"One of your favourite horses was Reform but do you see him in a pedigree? "
By this, do you mean that Reform does not 'persist' in ensuing breeding lines? I know he sired the Oaks winner, Polygamy, and another good horse whose name eludes me.
I'll have a slow reread of your reply later- so that I'm sure I onderstand it fully.
Thanks

 

[Bustino74]

Tamerlo (Tamerlane out of Admiral's Love).
Reform started quite well and I suppose his first good horse was Admetus (Troy's half-brother) who won a number of Group Races and the Washington International. But his first big winner was, from his third crop, of course Polygamy. He also sired her full sister One Over Parr, who wasn't bad. He also sired Catalpa who won the Ribblesdale and in turn produced Strigida who also won the Ribblesdale. He also sired Lancastrian who was a pretty good colt in France.
But by the late 70s he seemed a spent force. Admetus was a gelding so couldn't help the name of Reform to persist, Lancastrian was no great shakes as a sire, Polygamy and One Over Parr either sadly died young or failed at stud, and although Catalpa/Strigida sustained for a while that family has now died out. So Reform's influence is almost nil. At the same time his family's inflence is not, because there are several fine families and animals emanating from Reform's dam. I suppose the best one this year is Fiorente, and next year's may be El Greco. A briliant family but the colts have never been good sires (Golan being an example: although North Light did produce Arctic Cosmos from his first crop and would probably do better if resident in Europe).

What of Tamerlo? Well his half-sister was the Dante filly Darlene (pretty useful (like Tamerlo) and won the Nassau). She in turn became the dam of Homeric who just may have been unlucky not to win the 1972 Arc. He was no great success at stud but his name persists in the same Country House family (Reform's) mentioned above. He sired a filly called Grecian Sea who in turn produced the superb filly and broodmare Hellenic (she produced 3 Group 1 winners: the best of which was probably Islington). So Fiorente and El Greco have Tamerlo's genes. (for completeness the other 4 'Tamerlo' 2yos are Cechetti Method, Fleur de Cactus, , Star Rating and Ruscello)

 

[Tamerlo]

Bustino, thanks ever so much for the trouble you have taken. I now understand what you mean by saying "do you see Reform in a pedigree?"
Admetus was the other horse I could not recall.
Thinking of Gordon Richards/ Michael Sobell/Scobie Breasley relationship, it's sad that they never won a Classic together, but Sobell later had much more success with Dick Hern- presumably because the distaff side of their breeding operation had much more influence than before?
Thanks again, Bustino- breeding certainly is a in-depth and fascinating subject.

 

[Bustino74]

Stoute does indeed have Galleon and he's entered for the first time at Sandown next Friday.

 

[Big Dipper]

There's another book called Royal Racing which is a little grittier...Worth getting a copy of, because it is about the QM and Q from their start in Racing.

I'm wondering if this book contains the story of how the QM came by The Rip, 13-time winner for her.

According to Brough Scott she went to the Red Cat pub at Wootton Marsh near Sandringham one day. It was her first visit to licensed premises, and whether it was planned or whether she was just passing is unclear to me. Anyway, the landlord had a horse in a stable at the back of the pub and the QM asked to take a peek at it. Obviously liking the look of the animal she bought it there and then for 400 guineas.

Nice work - the standard of writing and the research undertaken for the articles that appear on this forum is Group 1.