Tamayuz bags another top-flight win as Blond Me claims EP Taylor

Derrinstown Stud resident Tamayuz sired his third top-level winner on Sunday as his daughter Blond Me stormed to success in the Grade 1 EP Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, Toronto.

The Andrew Balding-trained mare was waited with in the rear by Oisin Murphy, but having made headway around the home turn was soon in hot pursuit of Kitten's Roar, a daughter of Kitten's Joy, as the race entered the closing stages. The five-year-old took the lead entering the final furlong, and despite drifting right asserted her dominance to claim victory by a length.

The mare, who also landed the Group 2 Middleton Stakes earlier in the year, was bred by Wardstown Stud out of Holda, a winning daughter of Docksider offloaded by her breeder Ballymacoll Stud for just 30,000gns back in 2006. In turn, Holda is a daughter of Spring Symphony, which makes her a half-sister to the Australian Group 1 winner Glass Harmonium and dual Group 3 scorer Arab Spring.

Blond Me is a half-sister to two minor winners, and also has a Holy Roman Emperor yearling half-brother who was signed for by Witold Miedzianowski at €60,000 at the recent Goffs Orby Yearling Sale.

Blond Me joins Haydock Sprint Cup winner G Force and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Precieuse as a top-flight winner supplied by Tamayuz, who has sired 28 stakes performers, including ten Group/Graded winners and eight Listed scorers. He stood his ninth season at Hamdan Al Maktoum's Irish stallion base at a fee of €8,000 earlier this year.

The 2017 season has been a fruitful one for Tamayuz, with the likes of French Classic heroine Precieuse, Doncaster Cup Stakes winner Desert Skyline - who is due to line up in Saturday's Long Distance Cup - and progressive Strensall Stakes scorer Mustashry all flying the flag for their sire with major wins.

Such taking results have also seen Tamayuz's sales ring popularity rise, with Shadwell going to 330,000gns and 325,000gns for two of his sons at the recent Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. In terms of Tamayuz's sales record, those prices are bettered only by the 340,000gns paid by Brightwalton Stud and Anthony Stroud for the Listed winner Best Regards as a broodmare prospect in December 2014.

It will be fascinating to see if Blond Me finds herself entered in the sales, as her owner, Barbara Keller, did with her other Group 1-winning mare Odeliz. A tough daughter of Falco, Odeliz was bought privately for 1,000,000gns by Michael and Reiko Baum of the Kentucky-based Man O'War Farm before being covered by Dubawi earlier this year.

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