Short rations this year for these 3 owner-breeders. Mark Dixon leads on numbers this year but has no 2yos. In 2020 4 yearlings went to the sales. The most interesting of these 4 was Aerospace, who’s a Sea the Stars daughter of Oaks winner Talent and is in training with John and Thady Gosden. So it’s the 3yos that are of most interest, but only one of them ran last year that being the Siyouni filly Fiesty. Trained by Beckett, her debut was acceptable but she then ran a poor follow-up. She has been moved to France to be trained by Thomas-Demaulte. It was this trainer who received the frowned-on (such that Mark Dixon sold out of her) Ambition as an unraced 3yo and who turned her into a Group1 placed and Group 2 winner. The hope is the trainer can do some of the same with Fiesty. By the way Ambition remains in training as a 5yo with the hope she can pick up a Group 1. She missed by only a neck last year to win her Group 1 at Deauville and the winner went on to win at the Breeders Cup. Unraced was another filly Pretty Fair (by Dubawi), who is a full-sister to Ambition. She is in training with Crisford and should be seen April/May (actually entered Friday). For Dixon she is a very valuable filly and future broodmare. Almost as valuable is another filly Sibling, who is a full-sister to Talent. I’d expect to see her later in the year as she was taken out of training at the end of 2020 and hasn’t returned to trainer Ed Walker. Other 3yos are Captain Lara (who is with Osborne), Deep Water (with Hughes) and Luisa Casati (only a quarter owned with Tom Ward). One should also not lose sight of the yearlings sold in 2019 who are now 3yos. These include Buxted Two and Just Jacob that could both win races (in fact Buxted Two won today: I started this thread 10 days ago!). (The other star from this family is surprisingly My Drogo, who could develop into a useful chaser. Not the first time this family has had NH success as Bindaree is related to Dixon’s horses). Gillian, Lady Howard de Walden keeps few mares and has few racehorses these days. Last year she had two runners but 3 wins. Again this year she appears to have only two runners, both with Hannon. Genuflex won a mile maiden last year and could be capable of picking up a small handicap over 8-10f. Her 2yo this year is the Havana Gold colt Gaius. He is the first foal of a sister to Genuflex called Gemina, who ran only twice but appeared very useful. I’d expect to see her midsummer over 7f+. He is the first horse I’ve seen with 3 X 3 in-breeding to Galileo. As for Cliveden Stud it’s all about sold horses sadly this year. They have no 2yos or 3yos in their own names as far as I know. I’ll keep an eye on the sold horses as the season progresses. Yearlings include the first foal of Horseplay by Kingman, she is to foal to Dubawi hopefully. Brevity has a yearling colt by Zoustar and visited Too Darn Hot so should have a foal by him.
Runners have been few and far between for these outfits. Tomorrow Mark Dixon has what is probably an important runner at Salisbury tomorrow with the second start of Pretty Fair. She's by Dubawi out of the Oaks winner Talent, and so a full-sister to Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Ambition. Significantly Murphy is booked to ride her and she should show well. Talent's 2yo is a filly called Aerospace who was sold as a yearling and is in training with Gosden. There is no yearling but there is a colt foal by Lope de Vega and apparently she's in foal to Too Darn Hot.
Mark Dixon must have been very pleased to have Pretty Fair live up to her name today. 5-1 this morning she was backed into 2-1 favourite and led nearly all the way to win by admittedly only a neck. However the first two pulled clear of the field and the filly did idle in the final furlong. What was to like was the authorative way she won with Murphy riding her very confidently. She should pick up black type and maybe the Lancashire Oaks could be a target.
A good week for Dixon as he has a 2nd winner with the victory of Punting at Chelmsford. She was relatively disappointing on her starts this year and after her April Newbury run she was sent to Without Parole to get her in foal. Fortunately she got in foal with the first covering and the decision was made to put her back in training. Generally unconsidered this week she was much more the resolute Punting of last year and gained her 4th victory for Dixon. The question now is will she improve more? She probably has until some time in August to prove herself. No sign of entries for Pretty Fair yet and maybe they'll consider getting some black type in France. As a daughter of Talent and a full-sister to Group winner Ambition she's a valuable mare. As Ambition became a much better horse at 4 maybe she'll stay in training. Dixon still has two other 3yo fillies. Feisty is in training in France and was due to run but pulled out stiff. She's apparently over that. Sibling, the third 3yo filly, is in training with Ed Walker but is apparently quite backward. She's a full-sister to Talent. I had missed mentioning Away to Sea who is in training in Ireland and ran a good race when 2nd over 14f recently. As a half-brother to Thomas Hobson he may still win a race or two. Gillian, Lady Howard de Walden's Genuflex has run this year but another victory may need to be worked on. She does have a 2yo colt by Havana Gold called Gaius being entered. She is out of Gemina who may have been the best horse she's had in the last 10-15 years. Hopefully her son will give her some fun.
Pretty Fair skipped the Newbury Listed race two weeks ago but ventures to France tomorrow for some black type at Longchamp. Soumillon has the ride.
Not much happening here and Pretty Fair's cross-channel escapade was a huge disappointment. Cliveden Stud have had a raw time recently. Their flagbearers have been the 7yo Saaheq who has won twice this year (8 wins altogether) and Keep ib Brief who won his second race last week at 50-1. 2020 yearling sales were disappointing. And 2020 foalings were disappointing with it appears only 4 foal from 7 broodmares. Of course the quality may be high with a colt by Kingman out of the Lancashire Oaks winner Horseplay probably the most eyecatching pedigree. This year's foallings look much better numberwise, with, so far, 6 reported and one unreported. The highlight may be a Dubawi colt out of Horseplay, while a Too Darn Hot filly, who is out of that useful filly Brevity (dam of Saaheq), may be one to keep. In all 4 of the 6 foals are fillies so while some will go to the sales there is the chance we may see one or two in Cliveden colours in 2023. I sincerely hope so. The 4 fillies are all the result of matings with sprinter/milers, which is probably the right course at the moment (Zoustar, Cable Bay, Iffraaj and Too Darn Hot). The unreported mare was covered by Advertise, while the other foal is a colt by Territories. My hope is these set of foals are the start of better days.
In 2013 Mark Dixon found himself scrambling around after some bad luck. The upshot was that as the result of a few sales and a death of a mare his family members were depleted. Yesterday a result of one of those sales, Dreamloper got her black type when winning a Group 3 at Ascot. Dixon sold her dam Livia's Dream to Olivia Hoare for 45,000gns as a yearling. She improved as she got older and won 4 races, including a listed event over 12f. Dreamloper (Lope de Vega) is her second winning foal and with that pedigree it's surprising she doesn't stay further but that may have something to do with the granddam (Brindisi by Dr Fong) and great granddam (Genoa by Zafonic). Brindisi was sold but the same year Genoa died. Dixon's solution was to keep Brindisi's last foal La Marchesa and to buy back a daughter of Genoa he'd sold, called Bari. La Marchesa was unraced which is always a difficult position but her first two foals have won. Neither were world-beaters but the first foal by Markaz won a listed race in Italy, while the second foal by Vadamos (Luisa Casati) has won her maiden and may win again. There is no 2yo, but there is a yearling colt by Zarak and a colt foal by New Bay. She is in foal to Masar. Bari did run and Lucy Wadaham eventually got her to win a race as a 4yo. Her first foal Maud Gonne Spirit was purchased as a yearling by Olivia Hoare, and as a 3yo won twice. She's still in training so may add to that. The second foal was sold cheaply and is a 3yo maiden with Haggas called Just Jacob. Bari has no 2yo but does have a yearling filly (by Time Test) and is in foal to Zarak. It's more than likely these yearlings and foals will be sold so the victories of Dreamloper are a real positive for these relations. Hopefully it will put a few thousands on their prices and help Dixon retain the strength of these families.
I'd gauge Lot 62 at Newmarket today is a pretty important sale for Philip Freedman. a Kingman colt out of his good racemare Horseplay, this first foal will hopefully get a decent price. Next year's produce is a colt by Dubawi.
I'd say Freedman should be reasonably pleased with a sale at 350,000gns for Horseplay's first foal. He followed the unsold Roaring Lion into the Ring and it was immediately obvious in comparison that this was a well made colt with lots of scope for physical improvement. Let's hope he lives up to his price and gives Freedman even more hope for when he sells his Dubawi half-brother next year (which he's likely to do). Godolphin purchased this Kingman yearling. In the coming weeks he'll sell a few more yearlings. Mark Dixon has a Time Test filly up for sale in a few weeks time and as a 3rd living foal, with the first two being winners (Maud Gonne Spirit and Just Jacob), could have some interest.
By the way, Dreamloper ran a cracking race to be third in the Sun Chariot on Saturday. Reflected glory for Mark Dixon's mares: a Group 3 winner and now Group 1 placed. Her dam Olivia's Dream is a half-sister to Dixon's mare La Marchesa, though a relation to all his mares.. So far she's had two living foals that have won. Her third foal, a yearling colt by Zarak is likely to be sold this Autumn. La Marchesa has a colt foal by New Bay.
Think he learned a lot. Jumped well and economically, but seemed to lose it a bit 3 out. Might have won but for that. Though delighted to see Frankel have the 3rd top price yearling of the current Sales yesterday it was tinged with a touch of sadness that I know it's a De Walden family member. From the family of Magic Flute who won just about everything except the 1000G, the yearling is out of Qushchi, who was bred by Lady Howard de Walden and by Encosta de Lago out of her good racefilly La Persiana. Sadly the family died out in the De Walden stud 4 years ago. Looking on the bright side she does have a 2yo filly that has just gone into training with Hannon. She's called Gargle and by Bated Breath out of Gravitation, from the (imported by De Walden) G family made famous by Fame and Glory and others.
Won 2nd time out easily Stick, but looked a bit of an easy race for him. Pleasing return for Mark Dixon, with his Time Test filly out of Bari making 72,000gns at Newmarket last week.. Think he stood at about 7,000gns. Her first foal Maud Gonne Spirit continues to run well. She won over 8f a week or so ago and ran a good 4th in a listed event yesterday. Her brother Just Jacob tries to add to his Newbury win today. Sadly she has no foal but is in foal to Zarak. Time Test is making a bit of a name for himself with his first crop. Likewise Zarak is leading money-winning FSS in France.
Dixon sells his Zarak yearling colt out of La Marchesa for 42,000gns at Newmarket December Sales today. La Marchesa's first two foals have been moderate but at least have both won. Probably not a bad price for Dixon and Mount Coote who jointly own the mare. The same cannot be said for the other yearling colt who didn't sell at the opening bid of 1,000gns. Must be a bitter experience to have a Lope de Vega colt, who's a half-brother to Thomas Hobson, worth nothing. Tomorrow John Gosden runs Aerospace, who's a Sea the Stars brother of Ambition (by Dubawi and a placed Group 1, Group2 and Group 3 winner). Their dam is of course the Dixon/Ashbrittle owned mare Talent who won the Oaks and was 2nd in the St Leger. This colt is owned by Godolphin and Harley gets the mount. Meanwhile Philip Freedman's mares matings look interesting, with an emphasis on speedier sires. His prized mare Horseplay went to Too Darn Hot and a filly would be nice. Brevity went to Advertise which is an inspired choice. Brevity's daughter Brief Visit was sent to new sire Mohaather this year which is an exciting mating. Time Test (who had such a good first season) and Territories, who is a very sound sire, were the other sires used. Unfortunately the senior mare, Cut Short died this year. This leaves Cliveden Stud with 5 mares (one part-owned). There are 4 filly foals and it's likely at least one or two of the 2021 matings will result in fillies. It is to be hoped one or two of these find their way into the Cliveden colours and then onto success on the track.
For completeness Gillian, Lady Howard de Walden's Gravitation visited Expert Eye this year while Gravitation's daughter Gemina visited Ulysses. Next week the Mark Dixon/Ashbrittle partnership have two fillies in the December breeding sale. Both are by Dubawi; the first is Deft, who's a half-sister to Oaks winner Talent; while Pretty Fair is a daughter of Talent so full-sister to Ambition. Surprised they are selling both. I'd keep Deft.
Deft went for 240,000gns and Pretty Fair made 150,000. Don't know what concessions the mares got when booking Dubawi but though good prices I'd imagine any margin was slim. That leaves Dixon with 7 mares in foal and one rested. 7 of these 8 are owned in partnership. Cliveden reduced their mare numbers to 4, all of which are hopefully safely in foal. This follows the sale of Social Media (a h-sister to Horseplay) for 22,000gns. This mare does have a filly foal by Zoustar.
