Like mother, like daughter at Ascot as Valiant Stakes winner Jumbly emulates dam

There's an old Irish saying that translates as 'trot mare, trot foal' and that was certainly the case at Ascot on Saturday as four-year-old Gleneagles filly Jumbly emulated her dam Thistle Bird with victory in the Longines Valiant Stakes.

Now a Group 3 contest, the mile race held Listed status when Thistle Bird was successful a decade ago for Roger Charlton, who trains her daughter in partnership with his son Harry.

By Selkirk, Thistle Bird improved with age and developed into a top-class performer at five and six, when she was beaten just a neck in both the Nassau Stakes and Prix de l'Opera. She finally got a deserved Group 1 victory in her swansong, the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.

Bred by Lord Rothschild out of the triple Listed winner Dolma, by Marchand De Sable, Thistle Bird raced in the colours of the late Lady Rothschild.

She retired to their Waddesdon Stud and began her breeding career in 2015 and is now the dam of five winners from five runners. Three-year-old Jumbly is the best of Thistle Bird's offspring to date and was successful in the Listed Radley Stakes last season.

Jumbly runs in the colours of her owner-breeder Emmy Rothschild, daughter of Lord Rothschild and the late Lady Rothschild.

Thistle Bird's two-year-old son by Kingman, Epictetus, made quite the impression when successful in a Newmarket maiden on his debut earlier this month for John and Thady Gosden.

He was sold in utero at the 2019 Tattersalls December Mares Sale by the Castlebridge Consignment as part of the Waddesdon Stud dispersal following the death of Lady Rothschild earlier that year. London Thoroughbred Services secured Thistle Bird and her unborn colt for 750,000gns on behalf of George Strawbridge, for whom Epictetus races.

Jumbly is a daughter of Coolmore's Gleneagles and is Group winner 11 for the dual 2,000 Guineas winner by Galileo. The result was an excellent one for the stallion, who was also the sire of third-placed Novemba, who won the Group 2 German 1,000 Guineas and was fourth in the Coronation Stakes last season for her owner-breeder Gestut Brummerhof.

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