Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00He can't go back from the way at the start he said.
00:02All done at a million five, last time.
00:14Big Dibs has won the British Cup.
00:17Roza Lajan who is going to triumph next week.
00:19Rosalien and Sean Levy are up in the guineas.
00:30Well, it's time again for the News You Can Use segment
00:33that we've been doing here on the Thoroughbred Daily News
00:35brought to you by Darley.
00:37And what a better time to talk about European horse racing
00:39and sales than right now with Royal Ascot going on.
00:43We bring in now Brian Sheeran.
00:45He's the Thoroughbred Sales Editor for the TDN.
00:48And Brian, thanks for joining us.
00:50And Darley has already made some news this week.
00:53So far at Royal Ascot,
00:55they had this terrific sire, Blue Point
00:57and one of his sons, Rosalien,
00:59won the St. James Palace stakes.
01:02This is obviously a very promising sire.
01:04It has a big win today for him.
01:06Tell us more about Blue Point
01:07and where's he going with the stud career?
01:11Well, obviously Blue Point has a huge affinity
01:12with Royal Ascot, Bill.
01:14You remember he won twice in the same week.
01:16He won the King's Stand and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
01:19And I suppose if there was a worry when he went to stud,
01:22it might be that some of his progeny will be sprinters
01:25or they might just be pigeon-holed as being sprinters.
01:28But today we saw kind of a coming of age performance
01:31with Rosalien winning the St. James Palace Stakes.
01:33And that's his third Group One in three different countries.
01:36So, I mean, he followed up his Irish Classic success
01:39beating obviously the Guineas winner.
01:41And he also beat the French Guineas winner.
01:43So, I mean, it was an amazing performance.
01:45And then, you know, it was, Bill, it was a really big day
01:47because we got Big Eves running in the,
01:49what was formerly known as in the King's Stands today.
01:52He finished a gallant turn.
01:54I think he'll be better in something like a Nontop
01:56because he is all about speed.
01:58But, you know, Rosalien, it was an amazing performance.
02:01And just because I knew I was coming on today,
02:02I actually dug out a quote that his trainer,
02:06Richard Hannan, gave to me just over a year ago.
02:09And it's kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy here.
02:11He said, I love the blue points.
02:13They're pretty similar looking
02:15and you can see the shammered out coming out in them
02:17and they all go nicely.
02:19I think I won't be able to forward
02:20many of these blue points next year.
02:22He could have a big year,
02:23which would make him very expensive.
02:25You know, talk about right in the future
02:27and maybe he's a victim of his own success now
02:29with these blue points,
02:30Rosalien flying the flag for him today.
02:33Yeah.
02:34And one of the horses behind Rosalien, of course,
02:35was the 2000 Guineas winner at a notable speech
02:39who disappointed at three to five,
02:41but some good competition, obviously.
02:43But I want to, I want to hit on the say,
02:44you're a sales expert.
02:47For people that aren't familiar with this,
02:50there was a sale on Monday,
02:52the day before Royal Ascot,
02:53strategically placed called the Goff's London sale.
02:57Over the years, we've seen a lot of horses
02:59go through that sale, change hands
03:01and go on to race at Royal Ascot.
03:02But yesterday, the real fascinating story
03:07has to be the French Oaks winner,
03:08Sparkling Plenty, who went through the sale.
03:11It's just a fantastic story about what happened
03:14and the drama and all that.
03:16Tell us about what went down there, Brian.
03:18I mean, I think the Goff's London sale
03:21has been going on for 10 years now.
03:23And I mean, I suppose it started off with a novelty factor.
03:27Now it has kind of hammered in a bit of a date in the diary.
03:30Everyone kind of looks forward to it,
03:31to try and get a horse for it.
03:33I mean, talk about an update with that,
03:36with obviously the Philly winning the French Oaks.
03:38I mean, we were kind of covering it remotely.
03:41It was hard to know what was going on.
03:43Initially, she was knocked down for 8.1 million.
03:46It emerged later afterwards
03:48that the owner had bought her back.
03:50But Alshacab Racing did buy part of the horse
03:54for 5 million, which is a colossal sum of money,
03:58but obviously a testament to what she has worked,
04:01not only for the rest of her career on the racetrack,
04:03but when she goes to stud.
04:04But I suppose when you move that on,
04:06I think the whole dynamic of these boutique sales
04:09has changed a lot.
04:10You've got a lot of private sales have been done
04:12in the buildup to Royal Ascot.
04:14None more so done by Wotnan Racing.
04:17They actually hit the crossfire in the Coventry Stakes.
04:19They did the second and the third.
04:21I think you'll see better from them as the week progresses.
04:23They've got Hatem in the Jersey Stakes,
04:25and I think he's going to be very hard to beat.
04:28And of course, the one who bought half interest
04:31in Sparkling Plenty, as it turned out,
04:32was Sheikh Johan Al-Thani of Qatar,
04:35and his brother, Sheikh Tamim, is Wotnan Racing.
04:38So Qatar, however you want to say it,
04:40is really, really coming on as a major player in horse racing.
04:46Exactly, and they did hit the crossbar.
04:48Obviously, they had a huge week last year
04:51with the one, the Gold Cup, in those private acquisitions,
04:54and it's just gone tenfold.
04:56I suppose the one thing you could say is
04:59they are walking around these sales grounds
05:00and in the buildup to the Royal Meeting
05:02with what is essentially a blank check.
05:06Okay, but it's one thing having the money
05:08and then producing the results.
05:09And you know, they've got the results,
05:11so you've got to take your hat off to them.
05:14Brian, so many big races to talk about,
05:16but I'd like to look at some of them
05:18that have themes that relate to American racing fans.
05:21And that would be, first and foremost,
05:23the Prince of Wales,
05:24because we have two Breeders' Cup winners,
05:26Inspiral and Auguste Rodin,
05:28coming into that race as some of the headliners.
05:31Having said that, both of them don't look like
05:33they're in the greatest form right now.
05:35Auguste Rodin was 12th in Dubai
05:37and then second as a heavy favorite
05:38in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
05:39And Inspiral ran a real clunker last time out
05:42at the Locking Stakes,
05:44but beating almost 13 lengths, finishing fourth.
05:47What's the take on those two horses?
05:49Can they rebound?
05:50Any excuses in those races I just talked about?
05:54You know what?
05:55I think Aidan has done some Phoenix from the Ashes
05:58type performances in the last couple of years
06:00with City of Troy.
06:01And who's to forget Auguste Rodin in the Derby last year.
06:05I wouldn't be betting against Auguste Rodin.
06:07I think he's going to win it.
06:09But I have to say some of the gloss of this race
06:11was taken off when White Birch was ruled out.
06:14I would have loved to seen John Murphy's horse, White Birch.
06:16He obviously beat Auguste Rodin in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
06:19I actually don't think that was a fluke.
06:21So I'll be following White Birch as the season progresses.
06:24But when you're talking about Wednesday,
06:26I think Auguste Rodin,
06:27I think he's going to be teed off for the race.
06:29I think he's going to be very difficult to beat.
06:31Inspiral is obviously, she's a dream filly.
06:33I mean, she comes back season after season.
06:35I think she's going to be a tough nut to crack,
06:37but I just, I'd fancy Auguste Rodin to edge it.
06:40But if you're talking about races as the week progresses,
06:44I think it's going to get even better for Aiden.
06:45I think the big one that we're really looking forward to
06:48is Opera Singer and the Opera Singer
06:50in the Coronation Stakes.
06:52I think that has the potential
06:53to be probably the race of the week.
06:55So Inspiral and Auguste Rodin,
06:57obviously based in Europe, Ireland and England,
07:00and came over to the United States
07:02and rated the Breeders' Cup successfully.
07:04What people have become accustomed to over here
07:07is the reverse of that.
07:08When some American-based horses come over to Royal Ascot
07:12and try to compete against your best,
07:13Wesley Ward obviously has been the trendsetter in all that
07:17with his success over there with his two-year-olds.
07:21It looks like we have four American-based horses,
07:23three from Wesley Ward,
07:25Ultima Grace, Saturday Flirt, Burning Pine,
07:27and one from the John Sadler Barn and Miss the Cut
07:30who are going to be competing
07:32during the five-day Royal Ascot meet.
07:34What's been sort of the opinion over there
07:37about some of the American horses?
07:38I have some pretty strong opinions about them,
07:40but what's the word over there?
07:43Well, do you want to know my opinion?
07:44I'm not going to give you other people's opinion.
07:46I'm going to give you my opinion.
07:47I think it's actually a bit of a shame
07:49that we don't have more American raiders.
07:52I mean, growing up, Royal Ascot to me,
07:54like Wesley Ward, I think he was the first American
07:57to actually win a race at Royal Ascot.
07:58And it's always been about Wesley.
08:00I think he said something about the rising costs
08:02was put up as one of the main reasons
08:04and maybe a lack of interest from owners.
08:07Look, we all know that the prize money at Royal Ascot
08:10is not what you go to Royal Ascot for.
08:12It's the pageantry, the whole event.
08:14And I mean, your prize money is amazing.
08:16So, you know, maybe some owners have had enough of it.
08:19I don't know.
08:20But look, he has, I think, three runners this week.
08:22I'd love to see more.
08:23Maybe you might tell me more about their chances.
08:26Well, I'll try.
08:29Wesley, we're familiar with seeing him
08:33debut his two-year-olds at Keeneland,
08:36typically in those four-and-a-half furlong dirt races.
08:38And we've seen some extremely impressive,
08:42powerful performances by Wesley Ward-trained horses
08:45who go over to Royal Ascot.
08:47Some have won.
08:48Others have been beaten pretty soundly.
08:53These three, in my opinion, are well below the form
08:58of some of the best two-year-olds
08:59that he's sent over there in the past.
09:01Ultima Grace won very impressively at Keeneland
09:06on April 18th, but it was a very slow
09:09four-and-a-half furlong time.
09:11And the horses that she beat was probably
09:13the worst maiden field of the meeting at Keeneland.
09:17So she was supposed to win that race impressively,
09:19and she did, but she's got a lot left to prove.
09:22And Saturday Flirt and Burning Pine
09:24look pretty good winning.
09:25Saturday Flirt on the turf and Burning Pine on the dirt,
09:28but still not as impressive as some
09:31of the Wesley Ward horses that we've seen
09:33come over there in the past.
09:34Missed the cut.
09:36You know, he's got proven form over here
09:39at a mile-and-a-half on the turf.
09:41His couple of races at Santa Anita were flattered
09:45by a horse that he beat that came back and ran well.
09:48Silver Knot just beat him in the Elkhorn
09:50at a mile-and-a-half.
09:51He gets that distance in the Hardwick.
09:53But it's just hard to imagine that there's not
09:56a couple over there at a mile-and-a-half
09:58that would be superior to miss the cut.
10:00But I would think he would at least be competitive.
10:04Obviously, we remember, missed the cut
10:06from his time with George Bowie.
10:07He was very much a flagship horse for him.
10:09I would give him a big chance.
10:11As for the Wesley Ward juveniles, I don't know.
10:14I'd be disappointed if we didn't have some bullets
10:16that were too hot to handle for them.
10:19So, Brian, you talked about Opera Singer
10:21as one of the big stories of the week.
10:23As we're recording this on Tuesday,
10:25so some of the races have already obviously been run,
10:28but what are some of the other main storylines
10:30people will be reading about or hearing about
10:32as Royal Ascot progresses
10:34and the bigger Group 1 races come up?
10:37Well, look, you guys, maybe you're not as fascinated
10:40about the stairs as we are over here.
10:42We've got a poncho on for them.
10:43Look, Kyprios is going to be difficult to beat
10:45in the Gold Cup.
10:47It's kind of going to be a familiar team,
10:48I think, going forward.
10:49I think it's going to be very much,
10:51some of Aidan O'Brien's big guns have yet to run.
10:53You know, you've got Opera Singer,
10:55I think is going to be difficult to beat.
10:57As I said, Auguste Rodin should be difficult to beat.
10:59If there's a filly that I would actually just put you onto,
11:02and it's actually a Blue Point filly,
11:03runs tomorrow, the Queen Mary, make haste.
11:06And you should know this filly
11:07because LNJ Foxwoods have bought into it,
11:09and so have Gainsway.
11:10So, you know, she runs in the first race
11:12and she couldn't run for a nicer guy in Diego Diaz.
11:15She's actually the favorite.
11:16So I'm not sure if there's going to be much value.
11:17They got the value of buying into the filly.
11:19So I think she's going to run a big race.
11:21And if you wanted maybe a big price horse
11:24for the betters out there,
11:25I did an interview with Russell Sullivan,
11:27who's got a small but select string.
11:30He's not a guy that many people would know.
11:33Certainly not in America.
11:34He's a small trainer here, just off the Curragh.
11:36He's got a horse running called Follow Me
11:38in the Britannia Stakes.
11:39Now this horse, Ross, is convinced
11:41is a group horse on the way up.
11:43He's running in a handicap, so he should be thereabouts.
11:45And at high-dip, double-figure digits,
11:47I think he could be valued.
11:50So your confidence in Auguste Rodin,
11:51despite the way he ran in his last start,
11:55do you just chalk that race up to his,
11:58it's sort of in the same category
12:00as some of his past inconsistencies?
12:03Yeah, I mean,
12:05and probably because he has been trained for the race.
12:08That is the thing that Aiden has been hammering home.
12:11And I'm loathe to ignore Aiden
12:12because I took on City of Troy at the Derby
12:15and I've learned an expensive lesson there.
12:17So I'm not going to do that again.
12:18And look, I don't want to diss the race,
12:20but obviously White Birch coming out,
12:22that was a small disappointment.
12:24I think obviously inspires a very good filly,
12:26but I think Auguste Rodin will have her measure
12:30outside of the top two, credible opposition.
12:33I think Auguste Rodin should,
12:35if he comes back to his best,
12:37which we're led to believe he's on the trajectory
12:39towards being delivered to, I think he should win.
12:42Brian, I actually have one non-Royal Ascot story for you,
12:45but what is the take overseas
12:48and in England and Great Britain on Frankie de Torey
12:51and this new chapter in his career
12:55where he's come over here and is just riding lights out?
13:00After talking about retiring,
13:01now it looks like the guy could go on for another 10 years,
13:04but we have been so unbelievably impressed by him
13:07and he's given us such a breath of fresh air.
13:11We're lucky to have him
13:12and I'm sorry that you guys had to lose him,
13:14but are people kind of pleasantly surprised
13:19that he's doing as well as he is?
13:22I don't think we're surprised to see him doing so well.
13:27Obviously, you've got some brilliant sports people over there
13:30that are riding well into their 50s and beyond
13:33and the same over here in Ireland,
13:34but I think in sport, Frankie has such a good legacy.
13:39He had obviously a torrid Royal Ascot
13:43the year before he retired, okay?
13:46And I just feel for a sports star,
13:47especially someone of his status,
13:51I think you should always leave them wanting more, okay?
13:55He couldn't have asked for a better send-off
13:57on British Champions Day and King of Steel.
14:00What more is there to gain?
14:02It's not money.
14:03I mean, you can go off to America,
14:05but your status, where he earned his big reputation
14:08in Britain, in Ireland, all across Europe,
14:11I think he left on the top
14:13and I think there's a lot to be said for that.
14:15He can ride away in America for another 10 years, no doubt.
14:19He's so fit, he's riding at the top of his game still,
14:23but I think it was the right time for him to leave Britain
14:25and I don't think he regrets that.
14:29Well, Brian, that was great.
14:31Got a good education on what's going on at Royal Ascot
14:33and enjoy reading your stuff
14:35in the European edition of the TDN.
14:38Thanks so much for joining us
14:39on this week's News You Can Use, sponsored by Darley.
14:43Have a great Royal Ascot meeting.
14:44Keep giving our family those winners, okay?
14:47Okay, thanks guys.
14:48Thanks, Bill.
14:49Thanks, Randy.
14:50Thanks, Brian.