Any owner would be forgiven for believing that deep pockets are needed to play at Royal Ascot given the number of runners who changed hands privately in the weeks leading up to the meeting, culminating in the very public \u00a32 million acquisition of Ghostwriter by Kia Joorabchian\u2019s Amo Racing at the Goffs London Sale. Yet when it came down to it, the meeting happily lent itself again to a melting pot of winners, with independent owner breeders, bargain hunters and smaller stallion farms revelling in success alongside the traditional heavyweights.<\/p>\n
Docklands immediately set the scene when nosing out Rosallion to secure his Group 1 breakthrough in the first race of the meeting, the Queen Anne Stakes. Whether on account of his \u00a316,000 yearling price tag, when bought by Blandford Bloodstock, the fact he\u2019s by a \u00a33,500 sire in Massaat or is yet another durable product of Richard Kent\u2019s Mickley Stud, Docklands embodies the notion that with a bit of luck and hard work, success can still come the way of anyone regardless of the level at which they operate.<\/p>\n
King Charles III Stakes winner American Affair and his connections are cut from a similar cloth. A homebred for John and Wendy McGrandles, he is the first Group 1 winner for Washington DC, a fast, tough horse for the Coolmore partners who struck at the royal meeting in 2015 in the Windsor Castle Stakes and now stands for \u00a33,500 at Bearstone Stud in Shropshire (also the breeders of Palace of Holyroodhouse Handicap winner Adrestia). It was also a popular first Group 1 for trainer Jim Goldie, who most likely took real satisfaction in the fact American Affair is out of a mare by his former talented sprinter Orientor, who held his own at a high level over 79 starts in his eight-year career.<\/p>\n
As for Joseph Murphy, he has been a\u00a0 stalwart of the Irish training ranks for the best part of 50 years, his Tipperary yard making the most of the opportunities that come its way. By Murphy\u2019s own admission, it was Cercene\u2019s diminutive stature that allowed him to pick her up from her breeder China Horse Club for \u20ac50,000 as a Tattersalls Ireland September yearling. But this relation to Mohaather and Prize Exhibit wouldn\u2019t be the first from her family to be on the smaller side and the stockman in Murphy obviously saw something in the daughter of Australia; nearly two years on and connections are in possession of a Coronation Stakes winner.<\/p>\n
And what about those breeders who took advantage of Australia\u2019s cut in fee this season? By all accounts, the Coolmore stallion has had a busy spring at his new career low of \u20ac10,000. That figure was already pretty enticing for a proven Group 1 stallion but it will likely be back on the rise following a June that yielded dual Derby winner Lambourn in addition to Cercene. There is also his burgeoning broodmare sire record Gstaad: another high for Maywood Stud to consider, an aspect that was also showcased at Royal Ascot by the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes winner Lazzat.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth Cup heroine Time For Sandals, meanwhile, was sourced by her trainer Harry Eustace and DPA Racing, aka David Appleton, for \u20ac35,000 on behalf of owners David and Laurie Bevan from her breeder Ballyhane Stud at the same Tattersalls Ireland September Sale as Cercene.<\/p>\n
The filly is a major flagbearer for her sire Sands Of Mali, but she isn\u2019t the only member of his first crop to advertise his merits, with last year\u2019s Windsor Castle Stakes winner Ain\u2019t Nobody and\u00a0 recent Ballycorus Stakes heroine Copacabana Sands among those to suggest that he was a steal this season at \u20ac5,000 at Ballyhane Stud.<\/p>\n
Sands Of Mali has been among the news recently for the wrong reasons as the centre of a High Court dispute. Away from the drama, his background as a son of the obscure Miswaki stallion Panis from an Indian Rocket mare means that he has the potential to become a valuable outcross. Having said that, Time For Sandals is inbred 3\u00d73 to Miswaki; interestingly, one of Panis\u2019 best horses, the fast Group 3 winner Out Of Time, was also closely inbred to the stallion.<\/p>\n
Other inexpensive purchases to score at the meeting included Wolferton Stakes winner Haatem, now a Wathnan Racing colour-bearer having once been a 27,000gns yearling, and Windsor Castle Stakes victor Havana Hurricane, a 9,000gns Tattersalls Somerville yearling bred by Lady Cobham who is another showcase for the shrewd eyes of trainer Eve Johnson Houghton and Highflyer Bloodstock\u2019s Anthony Bromley.<\/p>\n
And while Coventry Stakes winner Gstaad was one of the highlights of the 2023 Tattersalls December Foal Sale at 450,000gns, he is out of a mare, Mosa Mine, who was bought by his breeder Kelly Thomas for just \u00a3800. Gstaad\u2019s valuation was partly reflective of a page dominated by the Group 1 achievements of his half-brother Vandeek and judging by his Coventry win, Gstaad won\u2019t be long in emulating his sibling\u2019s success at the top level. Regardless of the future, he is another feather in the cap for Kelly Thomas and her Maywood Stud.<\/p>\n
Nor would it have cost the earth to produce Amiloc. From the fourth crop of Postponed, David and Vimy Aykroyd\u2019s likeable homebred maintained his unbeaten record in the King Edward VII Stakes to continue a remarkable season for the owner-breeders that also covers Dante Stakes winner Pride Of Arras and classy handicapper Old Cock.<\/p>\n
There was also homebred success for Fiona Carmichael with her Queen\u2019s Vase winner Carmers. It took a stretch to \u20ac1.1 million for the owner to secure his dam Signe as a yearling but in return she gained access to the Green Room family represented to such good effect recently by City Of Troy. Carmichael is relatively new to the breeding side of the game and in the unbeaten Carmers, she couldn\u2019t have made a much better start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any owner would be forgiven for believing that deep pockets are needed to play at Royal Ascot given…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-12637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}