New baby

A new member of the string arrived on Monday when Veiled Beauty finally foaled down a filly.  We hadn’t known what sex to expect – generally colts are preferred as they are more valuable but I was very happy to have another filly.  She was a good size and appears to be a very nice foal.  I have three filly foals now, all boarding at Dukes Stud in Newmarket.  I had photos taken yesterday;

The Veiled Beauty foal is the first shown – she’s a good size and they like her.  The second is ex Baldovina – again she’s good looking.  The third, by Park Acclaim, is the least attractive at the moment – small and weak and looks more like a llama than a horse.  A lot can change as time goes on.

Shawhill has been scanned in foal to Bahamian Bounty.  It isn’t the mating I had wanted for her, but Selkirk is shooting blanks now and by the time we went looking for an alternative most of the stallion books in England were full.  Bahamian Bounty is a highly respectable sire but is the other end of the speed spectrum to Shawhill – she probably needs an injection of speed but I wouldn’t have gone quite that far.  It is an extremely clean match though, and with Northern Dancer and Roberto so prominent on her page it’s nice to end up with so little duplication.

I’ve always believed that breeding is more about the dam than the sire, and the Guineas on the weekend back that view up – the winners of both the 1,000 and 2,000 came from exceptionally well bred mares.  Sea the Stars is out of Urban Sea,  winner of the Arc and dam of a host of top class performers including Galileo.  Ghanaati is out of Sarayir, a half sister to Nashwan, Nayef, Unfuwain and others out of that great broodmare Height of Fashion.  Neither Height of Fashion nor Urban Sea have ever produced a horse that has not achieved black type and a Racing Post rating north of 100 – they are special animals.

I have a lot of runners declared over the next week or so – so many that instead of my normal email Mick sent me a spreadsheet today.  In the 4:50 at Warwick next Tuesday I currently have three runners declared – Pansy Potter, Bea Menace and Tikka Masala.  Hector Spectre goes in a claimer at Windsor tomorrow – I spoke to Brian this morning and asked if he thought him worth a bet.  He said no – he was disappointing last time.  I’m more willing to overlook his last run and I think he has a squeak.

The highlight for me is Max One Two Three going for a listed race at Nottingham on Saturday – it would be nice to win that one.