Emotions run high as Mohaather writes a Whitsbury Manor Stud fairytale

Emotions were running high at Whitsbury Manor Stud after Mohaather delivered a thrilling success in the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on Wednesday.

And no wonder, as not only is the Marcus Tregoning-trained four-year-old colt by the operation's star sire Showcasing, but he also became the first Group 1 winner sent out from the racing stables situated on the farm since Look Here landed the Oaks for previous tenant Ralph Beckett in 2008.

Stud director Ed Harper watched the race at home with parents Chris and Nicky and was audibly choked up as he reported afterwards: “It was very emotional, watching with mum and dad, and because Marcus is a trainer we so enjoy having at Whitsbury – he's just a nice guy at the end of the day, and it's a pleasure to have him in the village.

“It's a close-knit community. We want the best for the trainer and he wants the best for us. So for that relationship to come together in such a high-profile race is just something else.

“I grew up in the days of Desert Orchid and Persian Punch being trained at Whitsbury, and that was exciting, but this is on another level because it's the two businesses coming together.”

Indeed, in an unusual turn of events, the stallion and his highest rated runner are near neighbours.

“Mohaather's box and Showcasing's stable are only a matter of yards from each other,” Harper said. “I can see Mohaather's box from my kitchen window, and I see and hear him going past my house with Marcus's string every day.

“We'll have to organise a socially distanced party at the weekend now.”

Mohaather, who defeated Galileo's three-time Group 1-winning son Circus Maximus and the hitherto undefeated First Defence colt Siskin to land the Sussex Stakes, becomes the third top-level winner for Showcasing after the crack sprinters Advertise and Quiet Reflection.

Showcasing has been nothing short of a phenomenon for Whitsbury Manor Stud. A Gimcrack Stakes winner for Juddmonte in his racing heyday, the son of Oasis Dream was acquired by the Hampshire operation in 2011 and spent the first four seasons covering there at chickenfeed fees.

However, it soon became apparent he was upgrading his mares and he is now credited as the source of 20 Group winners and a further 21 Listed scorers, including results from his shuttle trips to New Zealand. His northern hemisphere fee has stood at £55,000 for the past two years.

“Mohaather brings a new dimension to Showcasing's profile, and allows breeders and trainers a whole range of new races to aim his progeny at,” said Harper.

“Mohaather is from a fast family, so it proves Showcasing can get a top-class miler without needing a mare with stamina, and I hope breeders still keep sending their faster mares.

“I have to pay tribute to Gaie Johnson Houghton for sending her mare Roodeye to Showcasing twice, which was a brave move, but she got Prize Exhibit and then Mohaather.”

Mohaather and dual US Grade 2 winner Prize Exhibit are among eight winners out of Roodeye, a Listed-placed daughter of Inchinor. Other siblings include stakes-placed Harbour Master and Roodle, the dam of Johnson Houghton's own Royal Ascot hero Accidental Agent.

Mohaather is the final foal out of the mare, who died in 2016. She was a half-sister to four other stakes performers, including Prix Morny third Gallagher, and hailed from the family of high-class sprinting two-year-olds Astaire, Bannister and Dead Certain.

Mohaather races in the colours of Hamdan Al Maktoum after being bought for 110,000gns from the Hillwood Stud draft at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

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