Insider

I don't think any one of the above won the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes which is what the article is about.

Got mine in Porirua yesterday afternoon. It was the last one because I was a bit late. No need to hurry at the moment as not in the current competition. I am out spelling waiting to return in top condition during the Spring, just like the better quality horses

Berkshire-based readers: I beg you to do a raindance before the weekend so that the going at Ascot isn’t so firm that it rules Bluestocking out of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The Ralph Beckett-trained, Juddmonte-bred and owned four-year-old is rapidly becoming my favourite filly in training, and I think she stands a good chance of beating the colts if she gets her ground on Saturday. Bluestocking’s pedigree makes her easy to love, being by thwarted Triple Crown seeker and Montjeu sire-line saviour Camelot out of the impressive Matron Stakes winner Emulous, but she has endeared herself to me even more with the class and consistency she has shown on the track. Having won a Salisbury novice stakes on her sole start at two, she achieved top-four finishes in six runs in black-type company last year, including when finding only Savethelastdance too good in the Irish Oaks and just failing to reel in Poptronic when second in the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes. Bluestocking has displayed significant improvement this year, careering away with the Middleton Stakes at York by six lengths and taking the scalp of Emily Upjohn in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh. She looks tailor-made for the King George test. If Bluestocking were to prevail, she would become the ninth female winner of Ascot’s midsummer showpiece in its 73-year history, joining the great racemares Dahlia, Time Charter and Enable. It got me wondering how the previous eight had fared at stud, and so I did some research. Here are the results, from least accomplished to most. In eighth place . . . Enable 2014 b m Nathaniel-Concentric (Sadler’s Wells) Juddmonte’s wonderful homebred mare, the only horse to win the King George on three occasions, brings up the field in this particular competition only because she hasn’t been represented by any progeny on the track yet. That will hopefully change this year or next, as her first produce is a two-year-old colt by Kingman named Encompass who is in the care of her former handlers John and Thady Gosden. She also has a yearling filly and colt foal by Dubawi, and visited the former champion sire for the third year in a row this season. If Enable’s progeny inherit only a fraction of her talent, or that of her ancestors – the peerless mare is, after all, by Nathaniel out of Listed winner Concentric, who in turn is by Sadler’s Wells out of Group 3 scorer Apogee, who for her part was by Shirley Heights out of Oaks runner-up Bourbon Girl – she will rocket up this list of the best King George-winning broodmares. Check back in ten years’ time. In seventh place . . . Park Top 1964 b m Kalydon-Nellie Park (Arctic Prince) Park Top was unfashionably bred, cheaply bought and closely related to the brilliant sprinter Pappa Fourway, but became an immensely popular middle-distance filly by winning a host of big races in the late 1960s. Lester Piggott was poetry in motion when he won the King George on her, making rapid headway along the rail two furlongs from home and easing her down for a comfortable victory over Crozier. Sadly, Park Top (pictured below) was blighted by bad luck in her second career at stud for her owner the Duke of Devonshire. Her first foal, a Tudor Melody filly named Willow Song, was born more than two months early with a twisted off-hind leg and grew to little more than 14 hands. She finished second in a Nottingham maiden at two, her only season to race. Her next foal, the winning Sharpen Up filly Uppark, arrived four years later, and her third produce, the Bay Express filly Bay Betty, was also her last as she encountered reproductive problems and was retired to her birthplace of Buttermilk Stud. The diminutive Willow Song reinforced Park Top’s fragile legacy by producing three winners of her own including Sing Willow, a daughter of Sharpen Up who was sold across the Atlantic and has single-handedly kept Park Top’s name in pedigrees. Sing Willow has built a bit of a dynasty in Argentina, where her descendants Glory Seattle, The Great Day and Wooden Girl have won Grade 1s. Her line hasn’t been seen much in Europe, although it made a comeback when US-bred Shang Shang Shang won the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2018. In sixth place . . . Danedream 2008 b m Lomitas-Danedrop (Danehill) Danedream edged out Enable’s sire Nathaniel after a titanic final-furlong battle at Ascot in 2012, a year after she had won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by five lengths in a record time. No doubt about it, she was one of the most important German mares in history alongside Nereide, Schwarzgold and Borgia. The Peter Schiergen-trained mare, who also won three Group 1s at home, sadly wasn’t as successful in the breeding shed for Teruya Yoshida, who purchased her before the Arc and raced her with original owner Gestüt Burg Eberstein. For eight years she was covered by the cream of the European stallion ranks, but has produced only three winners from the matings. Faylaq, by Dubawi, was the only one to collect black type when third in the Magnolia Stakes. Danedream was exported to Japan in 2020, and died last summer. Her final produce, the only one conceived in Japan, is a Lord Kanaloa filly who was foaled in February 2023. There has been an early sign that she might turn out to be more influential in the second generation with Rouge Eveil, a Just A Way filly who is the first produce of Nothing But Dreams, Danedream’s unraced debut foal by Frankel, finishing placed in Grade 1 company in Japan on multiple occasions. In fifth place . . . Taghrooda 2011 b m Sea The Stars-Ezima (Sadler’s Wells) Taghrooda was a class apart in the King George a decade ago this weekend, easing to a three-length victory over a decent field that included Group 1 scorers Magician, Mukhadram and Trading Leather. She was also a wide-margin winner of the Oaks and finished a gallant third behind Treve in the Arc. The Shadwell homebred’s broodmare career hasn’t been as straightforward, though. Her first foal, the Kingman filly Jahafil, was unraced, she was barren to Muhaarar in her third season and her Dubawi four-year-old colt Takeed has never seen a racecourse. A decade after she raced, she has been represented by only two runners, but they have at least been useful. Almighwar, a seven-year-old by Dubawi, won a brace of Kempton novice stakes and recorded a peak RPR of 108 for his placed efforts in handicaps, while Israr, her five-year-old by Muhaarar, has won five races including last year’s Princess of Wales’s Stakes and last month’s Wolferton Stakes. Taghrooda has a three-year-old filly by Kingman, named Taraneem and in training with the Gosdens, and a two-year-old colt by Lope De Vega. She was covered by Mohaather in 2023 and was sent to Wootton Bassett this year. In fourth place . . . Aunt Edith 1962 ch m Primera-Fair Edith (Hyperion) Aunt Edith was by the dual Princess of Wales’s Stakes winner Primera and out of the beautifully bred Fair Edith, a daughter of Hyperion and Oaks, Champion Stakes and Gold Cup runner-up Afterthought. She wasn’t the most consistent performer but was brilliant on her day, especially when beating Irish Derby hero Sodium to become the first female King George winner in 1966. Aunt Edith was sold at the end of her racing career to Ogden Phipps and exported to the US. She produced seven winners, headed by My Great Aunt, a daughter of Bold Ruler who scored in the Prix de Flore for Souren Vanian, and Critical Cousin, a Reviewer filly who took stakes races at Meadowlands and Atlantic City. Several of Aunt Edith’s daughters became useful producers. Our Relation, by Ribot, came up with French black-type winners Manguin and Our Account; Legitimate, by Honest Pleasure, became the dam of Natalma Stakes scorer Miracles Happen; and A Foreign Relation, by Damascus, bred dual Aqueduct Grade 3 victor True Affair. Aunt Edith enjoyed a fairly distinguished breeding career, then, but she has to give best to three outstanding all-rounders in this particular competition. In third place . . . Pawneese 1973 b m Carvin-Plencia (Le Haar) Daniel Wildenstein’s homebred, by Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Carvin and out of Saint-Cloud Listed winner Plencia, lit up the summer of 1976. She put her raking stride to good use by cruising to a five-length victory in the Oaks, having taken the lead a mile from home, and then became the first filly since Fille De L’Air in 1864 to double up in the Prix de Diane by making most of the running and seeing off the late charge of Riverqueen. Not long after she burnt off male rivals including Bruni and Orange Bay in similar fashion in the King George. Pawneese produced five winners, although none gained black type, and she was outshone at stud by her Group 3-winning half-sister Petroleuse, the ancestress of the Wildenstein family’s stars Peintre Celebre, Planteur and Persian King. Instead, she owes her lofty position in this chart to Poughkeepsie, her 1992-foaled winning daughter by Sadler’s Wells. One of Poughkeepsie’s daughters, Private Life, became the dam of legendary stayer Stradivarius, and another, Parisienne, is the maternal granddam of Melbourne Cup hero Protectionist. In second place . . . Time Charter 1979 b m Saritamer-Centrocon (High Line) Robert Barnett’s homebred, the only runner of any consequence by top sprinter but disappointing sire Saritamer and out of Lancashire Oaks winner Centrocon, became one of the most popular fillies of the early 1980s thanks to her Group 1 victories in the Oaks, Champion Stakes, King George and Coronation Cup. Joe Mercer donned Barnett’s historic cherry silks with black sash and primrose and white quartered cap to deputise for the filly’s injured regular jockey Billy Newnes in the King George, and steered the four-year-old to finish strongly down the outside and soundly defeat Diamond Shoal and Sun Princess. It was a comeback for both the veteran rider after a fallow few years and the horse after finishing a disappointing sixth behind Solford in the Eclipse three weeks earlier. Time Charter carried her brilliance into her breeding career, as she produced seven winners including Zinaad (by Shirley Heights) and Time Allowed (by Sadler’s Wells), both of whom won the Jockey Club Stakes, and the Listed-placed By Charter (by Shirley Heights), Illusion (by Green Desert) and Generous Terms (by Generous). By Charter produced three stakes-winning and Classic-placed colts in Anton Chekhov, First Charter and Private Charter, and is the maternal granddam of Barnett’s champion two-year-old filly Best Terms, who in turn produced another hgh-class two-year-old filly in Star Terms. Not Before Time, an unraced daughter of Polish Precedent and Time Charter, bred Prix de Diane place-getters Time Away and Time Ahead, the former becoming the ancestress of top-level winners Cursory Glance and Digital Age; while Time Saved, a winning daughter of Green Desert and Time Charter, produced stakes winners Jira, Lay Time and Plea Bargain. Time Charter’s female descendants have done a fine job of keeping her name in pedigrees, then, and for good measure Zinaad sprang a surprise by coming up with 1,000 Guineas and Oaks heroine Kazzia during his spell as a stallion in Germany. In first place . . . Dahlia 1970 b m Vaguely Noble-Charming Alibi (Honeys Alibi) Nelson Bunker Hunt’s homebred by Vaguely Noble out of the prolific stakes winner Charming Alibi compiled a long list of achievements. She gained 11 top-level victories in Britain, Ireland, France, the US and Canada, became the first racemare to earn more than $1 million in prize-money and broke new ground by winning the King George for a second time 50 years ago this weekend. She scored by six lengths in record time over a high-class field that included Hard To Beat, Rheingold and Roberto in 1973, and slammed Highclere by two and a half lengths on the bridle when successfully defending her title in the following season. Dahlia was just as impressive in the breeding shed. Her eight winners included four who struck at the highest level – Dahar (by Lyphard), who took the Prix Lupin and three Grade 1s in the US; Rivlia (by Riverman), who also secured a hat-trick of top-flight races in America; Delegant (by Grey Dawn), who landed the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita; and, after her sale to Allen Paulson for $1.1m when Bunker Hunt had to disperse his stock in 1988, Dahlia’s Dreamer (by Theatrical), who prevailed in the Flower Bowl Handicap at Belmont Park. Dahlia went close to matching the accomplishment of Chaldee, Eight Carat and Hasili in producing five individual elite winners, with Decadrachm (by What A Pleasure) and Wajd (by Northern Dancer) both finishing placed in Group/Grade 1s. Furthermore, two other offspring of Dahlia gained black type. Llandaff (by Lyphard) won the Grade 2 Jersey Derby and Grade 3 Lexington Handicap, while Dahlia’s Image (by Lyphard) finished second in the Prix de Lieurey. Wajd was undoubtedly Dahlia’s best broodmare daughter, producing St Leger hero Nedawi and Group 3 winners Fitful Skies and Wall Street, and featuring as ancestress of Prix Hocquart victor Nocturnal Fox and New Zealand Group 1 winner Mission Critical. But Dahlia’s Image was also pretty good, featuring as maternal granddam of Gold Cup hero Rite Of Passage, through her Listed-placed daughter Dahlia’s Krissy. This branch also includes Steel Of Madrid, successful in the Earl of Sefton Stakes, and Electrolyte, a narrow second in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. All of Dahlia’s sons were given chances at stud around the world, with varying degrees of success. The most significant were probably Dahar, who sired Washington International hero Buckhar in the US and Group 1 winners Daacha, Des’s Dream and Stony Bay in Australasia, and Rivlia, who got a smattering of smart horses in Japan including the 2,000 Guineas scorer Narita Taishin. Llandaff left a surprising legacy in Europe. From limited opportunities he supplied the Prix Jean Prat and Grand Prix de Paris winner Vespone, who in turn made the best of his inexpensive books in France by delivering Doomben Cup scorer Pornichet, US Grade 1 runner-up Goldy Espony and Prix du Jockey Club third Pain Perdu. Enable might eventually make her way into the top five King George-winning mares in the breeding shed, but it’s hard to imagine her dethroning Dahlia. What a mare. P.S. Copy and pasted from the Racing Post, my usual source.

Memphis, in my opinion, it was because he was told to say that by those [idiots] in power at the time. Imagine if they had got their way and closed Timaru and Oamaru for starters? Good on those southern guys for standing strong. [South Islanders have always had fibre] Anyway I digress, what a fuckin mess the upper North Island is now with what they have left. With the fees they charge and the lack of availability to race regularly, I for one wont have a horse train north of Taupo for the foreseeable future. P.S. I still have number spread between the CD [multiple], Melbourne [1] and Sydney [1] and a rising two year old trotter with Robert Dunn

miss jools welcome back under your new moniker. Firstly you have immediately given yourself away with...."Joe did not clip" That is so much you! However you being a grammarian, I would have thought that MJS would have been much more appropriate. Anyway I digress, please don't take any offence from my response, as I love your contribution and us girls should stick together.

I once had a mare go up from Bulls to run in the Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Pukekohe. It was so wet that I saw a BMW float away in a torrent of water. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Actually, generally speaking Miss Jools posts are really good. Miss J regularly posts up to date information well before any one else. Most of it is news-breaking which is great. She certainly has her finger on the pulse, but like all of us she has a weakness (or two) Weakness No 1 is to correct other people’s grammar and spelling. Her other weakness is when people pick up on here grammar and spelling mistakes she explodes!!!! I wish Miss J would simply take it on the chin and look for the next chance to poke the borax back, then the laughs could continue and really NO ONE WOULD BE HURT.

Make that two!

The 8% shareholder is delusional. Good luck to him because he still holds that percentage! It will be an interesting watch to see if he wins another $4.5/5.0 million, because that's what he will need do to break even, and that's not taking into account, the passing in fee although that will most likely be heavily discounted.

Sadly he seems to be by far the poorest Chief Stipe that we have had in my 50 years involvement in the game. Just saying.

The Post of the Year. Thank you and congratulations Pam

That values him at $1,500,000 The chances of getting your money back and making a profit are questionable in my opinion. He would definitely need to win $2.5 for it to happen.

As a 15 year old kid, my 10 shillings (or it could have been 1pound) each way on Eiffel Tower to win the Wellington Cup bought me my first car! I had the bet as I was holidaying in Southland (with my parents) and Eiffel Tower had a week or two earlier won the Invercargill Gold Cup.

At that price he will need to win about $2 million to get their money back! Even if I was rich I wouldn’t pay that.

100% correct. And they call themselves professionals.