July started with the big Newmarket Race Meeting on the July course. We had hoped for a big run from Queen Mary second Shumoos in the Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes. She ran well enough to be a decent third but she broke too well for her own good and couldn’t find cover. The Distorted Humor filly has done us proud – we just need a bit more luck!
Consistent St Moritz was third in the Listed Pomfret Stakes, Black Spirit was third in the Gala Stakes and Mediplomat was second in a rough Hungarian Derby. From the paddocks, broodmare purchases have been flying led by Forever Bond who is turning in to a proper mare. Her 3yo Ladies Are Forever added her first Group 3 win in the Summer Stakes and rising star Hoof It added a third big handicap for the year when blowing his rivals away in the prestigious Stewards Cup at Goodwood. He is looking like one of the very top sprinters in Europe – fingers crossed for breeders Reg & Charlie Bond! Pinnacle Bloodstock’s two mares keep bringing home the bacon with Compradore’s Beyond Desire adding a Group 3 third and Group 2 fourth to her growing record and Burn Baby Burn’s One Clever Cat taking fourth in a Group 3.
The Tattersalls July Sale lacked any stars and though we bid on horses for Bahrain/Dubai it was hard to pay top Dollar for anything. I bought one mare that had slightly hidden updates for a new young breeder whose hoping to invest more in the breeding side.
Holiday time – My long suffering wife, two growing daughters and I went off for two well-earned weeks of holiday to Puglia in Italy. The weather was very kind, some of the company we kept was dubious but a really lovely break – I could do it all year long!
As it does every year. August marks the start of the busy sales season and I hope to attend –
Doncaster August Horses-in-Training Sale (Tuesday 2nd & Wednesday 3rd August)
– in 2010; 262 horses sold for a median of £4,000)
Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale (Monday 8th & Tuesday 9th August)
in upstate New York (in 2010; 118 yearlings sold for a median of $240,000)
Arqana August Yearling Sale (Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th August)
in France (in 2010; 284 yearlings sold for a median of €70,000)
Doncaster Premier Yearling Sale (Wednesday 31st August & Thursday 1st September)
– in 2010; 360 yearlings sold for a median of £20,000)