Juddmonte’s sharp shooting at the sales, a small breeder aiming high and Galileo’s enduring influence among the key Guineas plotlines

Juddmonte’s sharp shooting at the sales paying dividends

Juddmonte’s broodmare band is rightly the envy of breeders the world over. The herd is packed with blue hen mares, with many of the prolific families having been cultivated for numerous generations. Moreover, the broodmare division is backed up by a stallion roster that packs a punch well beyond its select numbers. It is not by chance that the operation has bred well over 100 individual top-level winners. 

However, a more recent development that has perhaps flown a little under the radar is just how savvy the outfit’s judicious public auction purchases have proved. Juddmonte do not invest at the sales anything like as frequently as other operations of a similar scale, but that has not stopped the buying team unearthing a string of notable talents. 

Field Of Gold will bid to enhance an already impressive record when he lines up as favourite in Saturday’s Betfred 2,000 Guineas. The son of Kingman was recruited from Roundhill Stud at a cost of €530,000 at the Goffs November Foal Sale, and looked a Group 1 winner in waiting when streaking clear of Wimbledon Hawkeye in last month’s Craven Stakes. 

Should Field Of Gold triumph at Newmarket on Saturday, he would be the second 2,000 Guineas winner in three years that Juddmonte have picked up at the sales. 

He would follow in the footsteps of Chaldean, who was purchased as a foal from Whitsbury Manor Stud at a cost of 550,000gns in 2020. The son of Frankel rewarded that outlay by not only winning the 2,000 Guineas but the Dewhurst as well. He now stands on the Banstead Manor Stud stallion roster at a fee of £25,000. 

According to the Racing Post’s sales results database, Juddmonte have signed for just 115 lots since the start of 2015. When American results are taken out of the equation, it leaves only 67 European acquisitions in the last ten years. Four of those were broodmare prospects and 11 of those purchases were made so recently that the horses in question are still to make their two-year-old debut. All this means that Chaldean and Field Of Gold are from a sample size of just 52 yearling or foal buys. 

Chaldean was another of Juddmonte's purchases who was successful in the 2,000 GuineasCredit: Edward Whitaker

But that pair are far from the only noteworthy names among the list. Others include dual Group 3 scorer Arrest, a €440,000 signing who also finished second in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud and the St Leger before finding a spot on the Boardsmill Stud roster. Arrest’s Wootton Bassett half-brother Detain (€340,000) looked every inch a Pattern performer in winning three of his four starts. The John and Thady Gosden-trained three-year-old holds entries in the Dante and St James’s Palace Stakes. 

The roll of honour also features Amneris (€900,000), who struck in a Baden-Baden Listed contest; Flaming Stone (425,000gns) won at the same level at Saint-Cloud and was last seen finishing second in the Group 3 Prix Vanteaux; Natavia (600,000gns) won a Newbury Listed race and later bred Group 3 winner and St Leger fourth Haskoy; while Ottery (800,000gns) won the Group 3 Prix de Royaumont. 

Juddmonte’s American division has more than held its own in this respect too, with three-time Grade 1 winner and US champion sprinter Elite Power added to the fold at $900,000 in 2019. He now stands at Juddmonte’s Kentucky farm at a fee of $50,000. If we look a little further back in history, the ill-fated Arrogate also came from the sales ($560,000) before winning four Grade 1s, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup. 

Admittedly the operation has had the advantage of some significant budgets to play with. But, considering the thousands of foals and yearlings that come under the hammer each year, money alone does not guarantee success, especially when you buy as selectively as Juddmonte have. 

But there is a world of difference between investing heavily and investing wisely. Win, lose or draw on Saturday, Field Of Gold’s latent talent serves as a reminder, as if it were needed, that Juddmonte are just about the best in the business. 

Galileo’s influence still going strong

The late, great Galileo has three 2,000 Guineas winners on his virtually incomparable stud record, along with four winners of the fillies equivalent. 

He struck in the colts’ Classic with Frankel, who demolished the field in 2011, Gleneagles (2015) and Churchill (2017). The 1,000 Guineas heroines he bred are Minding (2016), Winter (2017), Hermosa (2019) and Love (2020). 

Unfortunately the breed-shaping son of Sadler’s Wells won’t have the opportunity to add to his roll of honour in the Newmarket Classics, as none of his final truncated crop of just 13 foals have made the line-up in either of this year’s contests. 

Galileo's influence is on both sides of the pedigree in this year's renewal of the Newmarket Classic Credit: Patrick McCann

But that is not to say he can’t have a bearing on the result one way or another, as his influence is felt in a major way throughout both fields. 

He is the broodmare sire of two 2,000 Guineas runners, namely Ballydoyle’s sole representative Expanded and Marc Chan’s homebred Green Impact, both of whom are by Wootton Bassett. 

Galileo’s son New Approach is the damsire of two other 2,000 Guineas contenders in Godolphin’s Shadow Of Light and Scorthy Champ, while another son, Teofilo, is the broodmare sire of Shadwell’s 1,000 Guineas hopeful Elwateen. 

His sire sons are, somewhat surprisingly, notable by their absence only in the 2,000 Guineas, but the fillies’ race sees Frankel represented by Lake Victoria and Red Letter. 

Galileo is the damsire of Night Of Thunder, whose unbeaten daughter Desert Flower is a short-priced favourite in the 1,000 Guineas. 

The same stallion is also the damsire of 2,000 Guineas outsider Yah Mo Be There. Galileo Gold is another stallion who boasts Galileo as broodmare sire, and he is represented by his son Seagulls Eleven. 

All told, ten of 21 runners engaged between the two races have Galileo in the immediate generations of their pedigree in some shape or form. Galileo may be gone, but he won’t be forgotten any time soon. 

Showcasing showing up

While the depth of Galileo’s Guineas influence is impressive, it is not a complete surprise given his considerable body of work in Group 1 company. One name that does not necessarily trip off the tongue when talking about the Classics, however, is Showcasing. 

The Whitsbury Manor Stud resident is a fine source of talent, as proven by a record that boasts 147 stakes performers. But speed has tended to be more of Showcasing’s stock in trade, with his most notable offspring including Group 1-winning sprinters and top-level two-year-olds. 

But that has not stopped the son of Oasis Dream popping up not once, not twice but three times across the pedigrees of the Guineas fields. He is, most notably, the sire of 1,000 Guineas hopeful Duty First, who has been supplemented for the race after romping away with the Fred Darling Stakes on her seasonal return. 

Lake Victoria is out of Quiet Reflection, one of Showcasing's best daughtersCredit: Edward Whitaker

The Plantation Stud-bred filly is as short as 10-1 for Sunday’s contest, but is not the shortest-priced runner to carry Showcasing’s blood through her pedigree. 

That distinction belongs to Lake Victoria, who is generally second favourite at around 3-1. The Coolmore-bred Frankel filly is out of Showcasing’s first real flag bearer in Quiet Reflection. 

She was bred by Springcombe Park Stud when Showcasing was standing his second season at just £4,500, but helped establish her sire as a noted source of speed by winning the Commonwealth Cup and the Haydock Sprint Cup. Quiet Reflection joined the Coolmore broodmare band in 2017 after she was bought through Blandford Bloodstock at 2,100,000gns. 

Several years after Quiet Reflection burned up the racecourse, Mohaather highlighted that Showcasing’s offspring are capable of carrying their class over further by winning the Sussex Stakes in impressive fashion. 

The Shadwell stallion is represented by the aforementioned Yah Mo Be There, highlighting that Showcasing’s influence is being extended in both sides of pedigrees. 

The small breeder bidding for an unlikely Classic double

The Classics are so often the preserve of racing’s elite, with names like Coolmore, Godolphin and Juddmonte, as well as their kingpin sires Galileo, Dubawi and Frankel, front and centre in the recent Guineas roll of honour. 

But one man looking to punch well above his weight this weekend is small breeder Stuart McPhee. The Lincolnshire resident has already scaled the Classic heights courtesy of Metropolitan, who struck in last year’s Poule d'Essai des Poulains. 

The Group 1 winner, who now stands at Haras d'Etreham, is by Zarak and is out of the Halling mare Alianza, who McPhee famously unearthed for just 800gns from the Darley draft at Tattersalls in February 2015. Although Zarak is now established as a high-end, Metropolitan was bred when the Haras de Bonneval resident was available at only €12,000. 

McPhee will be looking to pull off an unlikely budget breeding Classic double on Saturday as he is the co-breeder of 2,000 Guineas contender Yah Mo Be There, along with Nigel Kelly. 

McPhee was back at the February Sale in 2021, and sourced the dam, Shurakaa, for the slightly more believable sum of 13,000gns. The Shadwell castoff then visited Nunnery Stud resident Mohaather when the Sussex Stakes winner was standing at £20,000. 

Stuart McPhee co-bred 2,000 Guineas contender Yah Mo Be There

Both Metropolitan and Yah Mo Be There showed McPhee to be a savvy operator even before they proved they possessed above average ability on the track, as the former sold to Alessandro Marconi for €78,000 and the latter made £95,000 to the bid of Anthony Bromley.

The Listed-winning Yah Mo Be There may be a big price for the 2,000 Guineas but his owner, Phil Cunningham, is no stranger to springing surprises in this race. His colours were also aboard Cockney Rebel, who took out the 2007 renewal at odds of 25-1. Stranger things have happened. 

Lope De Vega and Too Darn Hot out to complete race brace

Galileo was the last sire to complete the rare Newmarket Guineas double, with Churchill and Winter annexing their respective races in 2017. 

Sixteen different sires have a runner this year, with Wootton Bassett the most heavily represented with three. However, that trio – namely Benevento, Expanded and Green Impact – are all in the same race, meaning Wootton Bassett won’t be winning the 1,000 Guineas this year. 

This means the only two stallions with a chance of doing the double are Lope De Vega and Too Darn Hot. The former is responsible for Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes hero Shadow Of Light, the mount of Mickael Barzalona, and the once-raced Salisbury novice stakes winner Chantilly Lace. 

This pair are among the best-bred in this year’s fields, with Shadow Of Light a three-parts brother to Earthlight, while Chantilly Lace is a half-sister to Ten Sovereigns, who finished fifth in Magna Grecia’s 2,000 Guineas before reverting to sprinting. 

Too Darn Hot is represented by one runner apeice in both the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas this SaturdayCredit: Edward Whitaker

Too Darn Hot’s runners are both bigger prices, with Godolphin’s Tornado Alert around 66-1 for the 2,000 Guineas and Al Shaqab Racing’s Simmering a 50-1 chance in the 1,000 Guineas. 

Neither stallion has supplied a winner of the 1,000 or 2,000 Guineas before, although both have had successes in the Irish equivalents. Too Darn Hot’s three Group 1 winners include Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Fallen Angel, while Irish 2,000 Guineas scorer Phoenix Of Spain is among Lope De Vega’s 24 elite winners. 

Winning both Classics might be asking a lot, but given the trajectories Lope De Vega and Too Darn Hot are taking, success in either race would be no great surprise. 

Goffs London Sale 2025

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