Yorkshire-based owner swoops for one of France's top three-year-old colts

Amid headlines of big-money purchases of horses in training by the likes of Wathnan and Amo, Bond Thoroughbreds – the racing entity of the late Reg Bond – has pulled off a major coup with the private acquisition of Maranoa Charlie, the second-highest rated three-year-old colt in France.

Trained by Christopher Head for Australian owner Peter Maher, the son of Wootton Bassett has established a reputation for his blistering front-running style, and this season has added Group 3 victories over 7f in the Prix Djebel and the Prix Paul de Moussac to last season's eight-length success in the Prix Thomas Bryon.

Based at Yapham Mill Stud near Pocklington in East Yorkshire, the Bond Thoroughbreds team turned its attention to Maranoa Charlie as it sought to bolster the ranks of its horses in training with a view to complementing its growing broodmare band down the line.

"We saw him win in France and then looked into Christopher Head and his training and were very impressed on that front," said Charlie Bond, under whose stewardship Paddy Twomey has been added to the roster of trainers.

"We then looked at the pedigree and Wootton Bassett is on fire at the moment, while he’s out of a Galileo mare who is a half-sister to Tiggy Wiggy. The deeper we went into the breeding the more we thought 'wow', so we decided to enquire.

Charlie Bond (pink tie, third right) with his late father Reg (front row)

Bond added: "From that point, once we’d got to the number everyone was happy with, I flew my vet out there straight away and got everything sorted within a couple of days. They were very good to deal with."

Bond's black and gold silks became synonymous with speedy horses such as Monsieur Bond and Captain Gerrard – both trained by Bryan Smart – and Ladies Are Forever with Geoff Oldroyd.

Monsieur Bond: Group 2-winning sprinterCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

More recently, Bond Thoroughbreds has gone about sourcing well-bred fillies for Yapham Mill including a trio at Arqana in August 2023, all of whom were sent to Twomey.

"We’ve got about 20 broodmares of top quality now around the stud and with a stallion pedigree like he’s got, and with our strongest team yet and more firepower to come, we just decided it was the right time to add a top-class horse along with the two and three-year-olds coming through. While we’re going at a good pace we wanted to add to the squad.

"I’ve already spoken to a couple of studs that would love to stand him at the end of his career. He’s a powerful horse now and I’m so excited to see what he’ll do at four when he grows into that frame.

"He won a Group 3 at two and two Group 3s at three, including when carrying a penalty and in a very fast time relative to the conditions on his last start, so he’s pretty much there already, especially with his pedigree."

Christopher Head and Aurelien Lemaitre are all smiles after Maranoa Charlie's win in the Prix Paul de MoussacCredit: Racing Post/Burton

Maranoa Charlie will be staying in Chantilly with Head, who is aiming for the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over the straight 7f at Deauville on July 5, with the possibility of a run in the newly promoted City of York Stakes at the Ebor meeting the following month.

"I saw him do a piece of work yesterday and I nearly got whiplash," said Bond. "The Jean Prat and then the City of York is Christopher’s plan. We don’t tell the trainers where to run them but we like York, it’s on our doorstep and it’s part of the plan that Christopher put to me.

"Last time we were in France we won the Abbaye with Moving Times, who was a homebred by our own stallion Monsieur Bond, so there's history there."

Maranoa Charlie's win in the Paul de Moussac earned him a rating of 113, just three pound behind Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Cualificar.

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