An agent and ownership entity putting together a powerful Royal Ascot squad

Good Morning Bloodstock is Martin Stevens' daily morning email and presented here online as a sample.

Here he speaks to Oliver St Lawrence about Victorious Racing and Fawzi Nass's powerful team - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

All you need do is click on the link above, sign up and then read at your leisure each weekday morning from 7am.

Asadna, the 12-length winner on debut at Ripon on Sunday who featured in Wednesday’s Good Morning Bloodstock, isn’t the only two-year-old to have punched his ticket to Royal Ascot.

Born To Rock, a filly by flying first-season sire Soldier’s Call bred by Equos Ltd and Troy Cullen, will surely also have connections dusting off their top hats and fascinators after bolting up by four and a quarter lengths at Yarmouth on her first outing for trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam and owner Laurence Holder on Wednesday.

A pair of debutants bought by Oliver St Lawrence for Victorious Racing and Fawzi Nass, carrying the predominantly red silks of last year’s Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell, suggested they might also be well above average on the same afternoon.

Army Ethos, trained by Archie Watson, scooted clear in what had looked like a trappy six-furlong maiden at Ayr made up entirely of newcomers, and not long after, the George Scott-trained Watch My Tracer took the scalps of some better fancied rivals with a decisive success in a six-furlong novice stakes at Yarmouth.  

St Lawrence was thrilled by the quickfire double of exciting new winners for his clients, but also more than a little relieved.

Army Ethos strides clear in a six-furlong maiden at AyrCredit: John Grossick

“I’m delighted for everyone involved,” he said. “I bought a heap of more forward two-year-old types at the Goffs UK Premier and Tattersalls Somerville yearling sales last year, in the hope of unearthing a Royal Ascot two-year-old or two, as a lot of our more expensive horses need a mile-plus, with the Classics the aim. We’d hardly had a runner out of them yet, though, so I was beginning to sweat.

“Army Ethos was no surprise as I knew Archie has always thought an awful lot of him, but Watch My Tracer was more unexpected. I knew George liked him, but I didn’t think he’d win that easily. He’d been a little bit naughty in the spring, and George was keen to make him concentrate and get on with it, so we gelded him. He’s also a slightly heavier type, so the operation served two purposes, as it'll keep the weight off.”

Both winners were bought from the Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale. Army Ethos, a son of Shalaa and the winning Dream Ahead mare Dream Dana from the family of Prix de l’Abbaye heroine Wizz Kid, cost 120,000gns from breeder Plantation Stud, while Watch My Tracer, by Dandy Man out of the Dark Angel mare Heavenly Angel, was bought from Castledillon Stud for 75,000gns. Bred by Donnchadh Higgins, he was originally a €36,000 Goffs November foal pinhook.

St Lawrence is better known for his shopping at the pointy end of the yearling market in recent years, giving 2,700,000gns for a Kingman half-brother to Galileo Gold and €2.5 million for a Dubawi half-sister to Sistercharlie and Sottsass in 2020 alone. 

 It made me wonder whether he gets more intellectual satisfaction out of buying good horses with less obvious profiles.

“Yes, it really does give you great pleasure,” he said. “I know Army Ethos and Watch My Tracer are only maiden winners, for all that they allow us to dream of finishing first and second in the Coventry Stakes, and that they were hardly cheap in the grand scheme of things, although they are compared to some other purchases. 

“But it definitely gives you a buzz. I’ve always loved the puzzle of trying to work out which are the good horses at those sales where pedigree isn’t all important. Hopefully it shows a bit more skill than just ladling out money for the obvious nice horses.”

So, for instance, securing Army Ethos required St Lawrence to pay around £50,000 more than anyone else in Europe last year for a fourth-crop yearling by the generally disappointing sire Shalaa.

“He was a gorgeous looking horse and wasn’t difficult to spot, but we did need to pay a little too much for a Shalaa to get him,” he said. “It looks like he might work out, though, hopefully.”

Dandy Man: "He's a good, solid sprinting stallion"Credit: Ballyhane Stud

In the case of Watch My Tracer, by the dependable Dandy Man, it was the dam that might have looked weaker – at the time of the sale at least. She was a non-winner who ended her career in a Class 6 handicap, albeit she had run third in a smart Newmarket maiden at two, and she had produced just one winner at that point, although she is now three from three, with son Prospering also having broken his maiden in an Ascot handicap this month.  

 “Dandy Man is a good, solid sprinting stallion, who year after year gets lots of winners at a decent level, so we were happy to take a chance on a nice-looking son of his,” said St Lawrence.

Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Bahrain royal who is behind Victorious Racing, is reportedly looking forward to seeing if Army Ethos or Watch My Tracer can add to his haul of Royal Ascot winners, which includes not only Bradsell but also Albany Stakes scorer Daahyeh under his own name.

“He was very much watching, and we exchanged a lot of WhatsApp messages during the racing,” said St Lawrence. “He’s really excited about Royal Ascot and he’ll be coming over, so hopefully we can find a winner to help keep the ball rolling.”

It could be a big week for Victorious Racing, as it also has credible chances in black-type races heading into the weekend. Sisyphus Strength, who ran no sort of race and was pulled up in the Cheshire Oaks a few weeks ago, has been declared for the Height Of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood on Friday, while Bradsell, who ran a cracking third in the Commonwealth Cup Trial at Ascot this month on his first run after a long spell on the sidelines, is in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.  

Bradsell: last year's Coventry Stakes winner heads to Haydock at the weekendCredit: Edward Whitaker

“We have no idea why Sisyphus Strength ran so shockingly at Chester, bar blaming the ground,” says St Lawrence of the Andrew Balding-trained Sea The Stars filly, who cost €575,000 as a yearling at Arqana. “She was never really going at any stage, but she travels well in her work at home, so it’s all a bit of a mystery.“

Even if she had got her act together, she probably wouldn’t have got any closer than the others to Savethelastdance, who looks a very special filly, but we might have been in the place money at least. We’re expecting her to run a bigger race at Goodwood.”

As for the Archie Watson-trained Tasleet colt Bradsell, who was bought privately after hosing up by nine lengths on debut at York, he adds: “We’ve got Little Big Bear to contend with again on Saturday. He beat us in the Phoenix Stakes last year, but Bradsell literally fell out of the stalls, stumbled twice and came back with a fractured tibia, and that’s why he had such a long time off. Little Big Bear won incredibly well, though, and whether we’d have given him a fight I don’t know.“

Bradsell didn’t grow height-wise over the winter, but he filled out well, and he’s pleasing Archie. We felt he tired in his prep race at Ascot the other week; he was showing that he hadn’t been out for a while, but it was an encouraging effort and we’re expecting him to run well on Saturday. He’s being aimed at the Commonwealth Cup and hopefully this will be a stepping stone to Royal Ascot.”  

All that and we haven’t mentioned another top-notcher bought by St Lawrence for Bahrain connections: the KHK Racing-owned St Leger hero Eldar Eldarov, vying for favouritism in the Gold Cup after finishing a gallant second in the Yorkshire Cup on his four-year-old bow last week.

At this rate, the agent and his clients in the middle-eastern island kingdom could have live hops in races from the minimum trip to two and a half miles at Royal Ascot, and plenty in between.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

“The race remains available as things stand and we'd be happy to hear from organisations who would be keen to have their brand associated with one of Europe's premier sprint races,” says the Jockey Club as Darley ends its sponsorship of the July Cup.

Pedigree pick

The six-furlong maiden at Haydock (3.00) on Thursday looks like a competitive heat that should throw up plenty of useful sorts.It features a couple of placed performers and several expensive buys by leading sires, but the one whose pedigree has caught my eye was actually a cheaper acquisition.

Shagraan, an £80,000 purchase by his trainer Clive Cox from the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale, hails from the second crop of top two-year-old and promising sire Sioux Nation, and is the first foal out of the intriguingly bred Kilboy Estate Stakes third Annie Fior.The dam is the best performer by Finsceal Fior, an unraced son of Galileo and brilliant filly Finsceal Beo, out of Annamanamoux, an unraced daughter of Leroidesanimaux and multiple US Grade 1 winner Annoconnor from the family of Melbourne Cup hero At Talaq.

Did you miss Good Morning Bloodstock Live?

Martin Stevens talked to Watership Down Stud's Simon Marsh about Too Darn Hot’s first two-year-olds, the operation’s history and mating plans for its outstanding broodmares in Good Morning Bloodstock Live. You can find it on Instagram @rpbloodstock or YouTube @racingpostbloodstock4646

Don’t miss ANZ Bloodstock News

Subscribe for the latest bloodstock news from Australia, New Zealand and beyond.