Camelot coup, Stowell Hill Stud tribute and some unusual sires – a look at Derby hero Christmas Day's breeding

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Good Morning Bloodstock is an exclusive daily email sent by the Racing Post bloodstock team and published here as a free sample.

On this occasion, Martin Stevens takes a closer look at Christmas Day's breeding – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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In Friday’s email I billed the Epsom Classics as Christmas time for turf anoraks, in what was definitely an ingenious tip for the Derby winner and not at all a clumsy coincidence, oh no. 

Sadly, as festive periods go, the action on the Surrey track at the weekend ended up resembling the one in which Dirty Den presented Angie with divorce papers at the back of the Queen Vic: dramatic, but in a depressing way. If only it had as many viewers, eh?

Continual rain in the run-up to the meeting led to deep ground, probably exacerbated by watering in the week beforehand, causing uncertainty among jockeys about the optimum place to race in the straight and horses being spread across the track.

The form of a lot of the results on Saturday, when the going turned officially soft, has to be considered suspect when several leading challengers underperformed due to conditions and some of the winners benefited from canny rides in one way or another.

Then there was the debacle of Benvenuto Cellini being declared a non-runner in the Derby because he got a hind leg caught in the stalls, despite him breaking not all that badly and completing the race, all thanks to a recent rule change that might have been well intentioned but is too vague and probably unnecessary anyway.

"Happy Christmas, Ange."

The Epsom Classic cards of 2026 might have had a few family arguments and soggy sprouts, but it wasn't quite as gloomy as an Eastenders Christmas special. There were a few welcome presents, not least the impressive Oaks heroine Thundering On.

Her pedigree was dealt with in this space after she won the Salsabil Stakes at Navan in April. You will remember that the tail-female line of Shapoor Mistry’s Frankel filly is extraordinarily fragile, as she is the only foal of the short-lived Pretty Polly Stakes winner Thundering Nights, who was by Night Of Thunder, also the sole offspring of his dam, the winning Galileo mare Forest Storm. 

For good measure, Thundering Nights was the only European-foaled progeny of her dam Cape Castle, a four-time winner by Cape Cross from the Lucayan Princess dynasty, as the mare was exported to join Mistry’s broodmare band in India after the filly’s birth. 

It remains to be seen whether Derby victor Christmas Day, only third in the Dante on his previous outing, will replicate the form he showed on Saturday in different circumstances. But take nothing away from him: he handled the tricky topography of Epsom and the stamina-sapping going better than all his rivals, which alone distinguishes him as being a special colt in my book.

As I remarked on Friday as I was subliminally encouraging you to back him with my festive theme – ahem – he is a deserved first Epsom Classic scorer for his Derby-winning sire Camelot, the saviour of the Montjeu line on the Flat, for the time being at least.

Camelot sired his first winner of the DerbyCredit: Coolmore

Camelot had gone close before, with Pink Dogwood finishing a neck second to Anapurna in the Oaks and Los Angeles running third behind City Of Troy in the Derby. The Coolmore resident now has 14 Group/Grade 1 winners to his name, and he also featured as the damsire of Derby runner-up Maltese Cross, who is out of a Sea The Stars mare and so bred on the reverse cross to Christmas Day.

I would love to write that I look forward to Christmas Day one day joining Camelot on Coolmore’s Flat roster, as this sire-line is very much an endangered species in Europe. But, for all that I quote silly soap operas in breeding articles, I’m not entirely unhinged.  

If Camelot’s sons Los Angeles and Luxembourg were given jumps roles, when they were multiple Group 1 winners, including at two, and are out of mares by sons of speed influence Danehill, then a soft-ground Derby winner out of a mare by stamina source Sea The Stars surely will too. I sincerely hope the colt wins more big races and Coolmore prove me wrong, but I just can't see it happening.

A Derby hero whose sire and damsire also won the Epsom Classic might not be the height of fashion among Flat breeders but he is a rare beast. I make Christmas Day the first since Mahmoud, by Blenheim out of Gainsborough’s daughter Mah Mahal, in 1936. (He didn’t work out too badly at stud, by the way.)

Most Derby winners by Derby winners need a bit of a pace injection on the dam’s side: see Lambourn, a son of Australia and Queen Mary Stakes runner-up Gossamer Wings, by Scat Daddy, or Anthony Van Dyck, a son of Galileo and classy Australian sprinter Believe’N’Succeed, by Exceed And Excel, for proof.

Christmas Day’s double helping of stamina on either side of his pedigree probably goes to show what a searching test of endurance this year’s renewal of the blue riband was.

Mind you, his tail-female line does contain some speed. He was bred by Stephen and Becky Hillen’s Framont Ltd and is the fourth winner from as many foals of racing age – alongside three-time Santa Anita Grade 3 scorer Missed The Cut – out of Beauly, who finished second in the Lord Weinstock Memorial Stakes at Newbury for Charlie Hills and later won a restricted race over a mile and half a furlong in Indiana for Brendan Walsh.

Beauly was bred by New England Stud, Mount Coote Stud and Paddy Barrett out of Pickle, a daughter of Nunthorpe hero turned cheap and cheerful British-based sire Piccolo bought by those co-owners at Tattersalls for 115,000gns. 

Pickle had set an example for her daughter by showing decent form in Britain, in her case for Stuart Williams, before becoming a dual Grade 3 winner in California at around a mile for Sandy Shulman. She was also an accomplished broodmare, producing five winners in total including another black-type winner in Gusto, who won four Listed races over six to seven furlongs for Richard Hannon snr.

Pickle and her smart half-brother Auld Burns were bred by publisher Simon Tindall out of Crackle, who carried Tindall’s silks to win three minor races, including one over five and a half furlongs at two and another over nearly twice as far at three. Crackle and the next three mares in her tail-female line were bred by Tindall’s close associate, the racing renaissance man Bob McCreery.  

Crackle, produced by McCreery at his Stowell Hill Stud in Somerset, must have given the breeder and his wife Jeanette particular satisfaction as both her sire, the European Free Handicap winner and 2,000 Guineas third Anshan, and damsire, the Great Voltigeur and Gordon Stakes scorer Electric, were also bred by them.

Anshan and Electric are somewhat amusing names to see close up in a modern Derby winner’s pedigree as they both started out covering Flat mares in Britain but became more famous as jumps sires in Ireland. 

The King and Queen present the Derby trophy to Aidan O'BrienCredit: Carl Court (Getty Images)

Anshan commenced covering duty at New England Stud and then moved to Fawley Stud, and sired Prix Ganay hero Dark Moondancer and crack sprinter Repertory during that time, before being sold to Rathbarry Stud, where he delivered the likes of Asian Maze, Last Instalment, Powerstation, Quantitativeeasing and Savello. 

Electric’s early stint at Whitsbury Manor Stud meanwhile produced Gold Cup (Ascot, not Cheltenham) heroine Indian Queen, and he was later sold into Coolmore’s National Hunt ranks. His best jumper was Stayers’ Hurdle victor Princeful.

Anshan and Electric weren’t the only top-notchers bred by McCreery who eventually shone brightly as jumps sires, of course. He was also responsible for Prix du Jockey Club and Irish Derby winner Old Vic, one of the best sources of chasers in Ireland in recent decades.

Anyway, back to Crackle: she was a half-sister to Warwickshire Oaks winner Ronaldsay, the dam of Jersey Stakes scorer and Irish 2,000 Guineas runner-up Gale Force Ten and Upavon Fillies’ Stakes winner Rousay and the granddam of Norfolk Stakes hero Shareholder.  

The siblings were out of Crackling, who won low-grade but large-field handicaps over nine and 12 furlongs for Doug Marks and was bought back by McCreery at the end of her racing career as a broodmare prospect. McCreery generously shared the mare with his stud’s staff, including long-term stud groom David Ludlow. 

Crackling was a half-sister to four other winners including Bianca Nera, who took the Moyglare Stud Stakes and became the granddam of champion Postponed, and Hotelgenie Dot Com, who finished second in the Moyglare Stud Stakes and produced Fillies’ Mile heroine Simply Perfect.

Crackling and co were out of Birch Creek, a Group 3-placed half-sister to Ballyogan Stakes winner Great Deeds by the poor sire Carwhite, and Birch Creek was out of Deed, a winning Derring-Do half-sister to the smart sprinter Northern Circuit.

Deed was out of the 1952-foaled Aurorabella, a placed full-sister to Goodwood Cup winner and important Australian sire Double Bore by Coronation Cup hero Borealis who was gifted to McCreery by Jock Whitney. The line goes back to the legendary Pretty Polly.

Come to think of it, Christmas Day’s victory at Epsom on Saturday really was a nice little present for me. I spill so much ink on the same few sires and studs all year round that it’s refreshing to write about Piccolo, Anshan, Electric and Carwhite for a change.

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“A lot of the local detractors, who tried to stop us doing this and labelled us 'property developers' doing it for money and profit, have come down to see it and have actually apologised for objecting,” says trainer Jim Boyle about his new yard at Epsom.

Pedigree pick

Pearl Grace, who is set to make her debut for Charlie Johnston in the six-furlong two-year-old fillies’ maiden at Pontefract today (7.00), makes for a fascinating case. 

On the face of it, she is the product of two brilliant performers: her sire is the brilliant unbeaten juvenile Pinatubo and her dam is Irish 1,000 Guineas and Yorkshire Oaks heroine Pleascach, a daughter of Teofilo.

However, Pinatubo has been a little disappointing at stud, for all that he has made a bit of a comeback recently with the likes of Dickensian, Komorebi and Saddadd, and Pleascach hasn’t taken the world by storm as a broodmare, producing only two winners, albeit one is this year’s Saudi Arabian Listed scorer Thundersquall.

Johnston was therefore able to buy Pearl Grace for just 35,000gns at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. It wouldn’t be the first time the trainer or his father Mark have been rewarded for taking a chance on a bargain blueblood, including with the filly’s half-brother Explosion, who cost 5,000gns and yet won three races last year.