Promising Kempton winner Fair Angellica opening a new chapter for Jarosa Stud

It isn't strange for a filly to win without her owners being present at a Kempton evening meeting. Some of the best maidens in the country are staged on Polytrack under the lights, often watched by only a few travelling grooms and punting die-hards.

Wendy Miller and her husband Steve were both keen to see their homebred Fair Angellica making her debut for Richard Hughes there last week, only for events to intervene. A rare holiday had been booked to begin a day earlier for Wendy, while Steve was left minding their farm near Andover and had to deal with an emergency. 

The pair are kicking themselves, as not only did the Harry Angel filly score in eyecatching style, she could be playing a pivotal role in the development of their Jarosa Stud.

"Steve's the one that loves racing," says Wendy Miller. "They're more just my babies, he says he’s fed up mucking out and wants to go racing. He was so excited but he had to call the vets for one of the mares, so he couldn't go and he was really upset. 

Watch the race replay here

"The phone just went bananas. She was pretty impressive, we didn't expect that of her."

Fair Angellica is a huge two-year-old who was asleep in the stalls but quickly learned on the job, stalking up the inside rail and going on to win by a ready length and a quarter. 

Miller continues: "We’ve seen her work, she works well and Richard’s sort of said, 'She’s nice', but obviously until they hit the track you don't know, do you?

"Mum’s big too, all of them are quite big but they seem to have these lovely powerful back ends, which I think is really important, and they’re nice and deep.

"We’ll see what happens. It's a very young family, she’s the first foal and she’s helped the mare enormously."

That mare is Fair's Fair, a daughter of Lawman out of a half-sister to Prix Saint-Alary winner Coquerelle. She was beset with problems during her time in training with Ralph Beckett, still finishing second on two of her three starts, and then in the early stages of her breeding career. It had been disheartening for her owner Larksborough Stud, and Miller, who had been keeping the mare on the farm, offered to buy her. 

Fair's Fair is a big part of Jarosa Stud's latest stage

She says: "We’d done a deal with the owner in April and come the sales one of her half-brothers made 900,000gns, a No Nay Never [the Aidan O'Brien-trained winner Forest Of Dreams], so asked if they wanted her back, but she said she'd honour it and I could keep her.

"There was no foal the first year. I thought Harry Angel was fabulous so we sent her to him, but no-one wanted [Fair Angellica] at the sales.

"We made the decision that we’d back her as we felt she was really nice and her mum needs the best chance, so that's what we've done. We met up with Richard, he said he’d take her and the rest is history."

Miller would not expect anyone to be familiar with Jarosa Stud, although it has actually been in existence since the birth of her daughter Jasmine Rose – hence the name – 22 years ago. She has produced the 15-times winning sprinter Stamford Blue, but for the most part was working for clients.

"We've not had anything in training for years and years," she says. "I’ve bred some winners, but we're just a very small family stud and I’ve been just very quietly diddling along in the background. 

"My husband does the farming, beef and arable, my daughter does the sheep and I just scream when I need some help. I muck out 14 or 15 in the winter, I do that on my own, with my daughter helping at the weekends.

"We had always felt that breeding just takes your money, but my owner had sort of retired and I ended up with her other broodmare, Kasuku [a winner by Delegator] as well. I thought, you know what, I’m going to do it for myself now, and I got myself back into it. 

"I bought two more mares this year, so we're up to four and just starting to grow. We’re loving it and when things like this happen, it makes it all worthwhile."

Fair Angellica's half-brother by Sergei Prokofiev is selling at Tattersalls Book 3

Every stud needs its flagbearer and perhaps Fair Angellica will be just that for Jarosa. Her win has certainly helped the cause of her half-brother by Sergei Prokofiev, who is being prepared by Miller's friend and near-neighbour Jenny Norris for Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

"He’s cracking but, again, he's big," says Miller. "People might look at him and think, 'I don’t know'. But they’d be silly not to take a punt on him because I think he's quite smart. We don’t expect to have a Royal Ascot winner but we all have dreams, don’t we?"

The next time Fair Angellica runs, you can be pretty sure nothing will stop a Miller or two from being in attendance. 

"I've no idea what Richard's plans are for her or where she goes next –I don’t know enough about the racing side of it to think I could ever advise him – so we'll just go with what he says and we've got absolute faith in him," she says.

"She doesn’t need to be pushed, he knew that from the start and we'd have been happy to tuck her away and come back at three. We’ve got plenty of time for her, and she'll be what she'll be."

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