Top-level winner number 14 for Wootton Bassett as Royal Patronage lands Canterbury Stakes

Coolmore Stud’s shuttle stallion Wootton Bassett sired his 14th Group 1 winner on Saturday when northern hemisphere-bred entire Royal Patronage defeated an elite field in a strong edition of the Canterbury Stakes at Randwick for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Originally a 62,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale buy for John and Jake Warren from the New England Stud draft, Royal Patronage was subsequently sold to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, with bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever, for 300,000gns from the WH Bloodstock draft at the 2023 Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale.

Bott said after the Group 1 Saturday success: "He's an incredible horse. To do what he did first start in Australia and first preparation, I thought he was one of the most forward Europeans we've had over. 

"We always had a big circle around the Doncaster for him. We felt kicking off here and through the George Ryder [Stakes] would be a nice style of preparation.

"We were open minded about how far to stretch him last time, but I feel the mile is his real sweet spot."

Royal Patronage won the Group 2 Royal Lodge and Group 3 Acomb Stakes for Mark Johnston and Highclere Racing as a juvenile. Second to subsequent Derby hero Desert Crown in the Dante Stakes the following year, he also won an allowance race at Keeneland the following season when transferred to Graham Motion.

He is the first foal out of the winning Dalakhani mare Shaloushka, an Aga Khan-bred close relation to Irish Derby third Shalapour. It is a family which traces back to Shahrastani, winner of the Derby and Irish Derby as well as the Dante and Sandown's Classic Trial. 

Wootton Bassett, who stands at Coolmore this year for €300,000, broke the record for number of individual juvenile Group winners last year with ten on the board. That easily bettered the previous record of seven held by Danehill and Galileo. Among them were four Group/Grade 1 winners in Tennessee Stud, Henri Matisse, Twain and Camille Pissarro.

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