Straight Up – No Angels, but destination of rising 2YOs key to Godolphin’s new reality

In this edition:

• Run The Numbers – Bjorn’s babies shine as Gai and Adrian juvenile fortunes decline
• Rowe On Monday – In Flight follows a Proven path, the Middle East’s influence on Europe, Aussies in Japan, Seoul winner for Pierata
• The chosen nine – Godolphin unveils its post-Cummings Australian training roster 
• Yankee Rose and Mosheen progeny sought after at Japan Select Sale
• Olentia follows Espiona’s Magic route 

Among a host of future training arrangements from Godolphin announced recently, it was confirmed that Anthony and Sam Freedman would take over the training of dual Group 1 winner Tom Kitten.

Tom Kitten, a Group 1 Spring Champion winner at three, along with Arkansaw Kid and Stretan Angel, helped launch the southern hemisphere stud career of their sire Harry Angel who stands at Godolphin’s stallion arm, Darley.

Their stakes-winning performances came before the emergence of this year’s Stradbroke Handicap winner War Machine, also from the first southern hemisphere crop of Harry Angel, and that of second crop sprinter Private Harry.

The Galaxy-winning colt, whose stud career is assured with Yulong buying a 50 per cent share in him earlier this year, is being aimed at The Everest this spring by trainer Nathan Doyle.

As the fortunes of Harry Angel’s progeny have risen, so too has his service fee, climbing from $16,500 (inc GST) in his second to fourth season to a new peak of $66,000 this year.

But such are the vagaries and uncertainties of breeding that Godolphin won’t have any Harry Angels among their two-year-old crop next season. 

They sent 10 mares to him in 2022, his fourth season just as his first crop were showing glimpses of talent in early season two-year-old races, but none of the matings resulted in a foal.

That said, Godolphin still has every right to be optimistic about what’s to come in 2025/26 with more than 70 rising two-year-olds to go into work by sires such as Too Darn Hot, Street Boss, Snitzel and pensioned champion Exceed And Excel. 

Arguably one of the more intriguing aspects of Godolphin moving to a public training model in a post-James Cummings era will be who is selected to train which untried young horses given the racing portfolio exists to develop stallions for the Darley roster and broodmares to support it.

The Freedmans have trained Daumier and Lyre to win Blue Diamonds for Godolphin and finished second with Street Boss colt Hanseatic in the past six years. 

Gary Portelli, with a comparatively small team, has trained two Golden Slipper-winning fillies She Will Reign and Fireburn, so does he get more of Godolphin’s precocious-looking fillies?

Then there’s three Dundeels in the Godolphin crop of rising two-year-olds. Will Chris Waller, who trained Dundeel’s son Militarize to win a Group 1 Sires Produce, Champagne and Golden Rose, be the recipient of one or all of those?

Joe Pride, whose mentor John Size rarely if ever ran his horses at two, is also part of the mix. Pride will train older Group 1-winning gelding Golden Mile for Godolphin.

This week’s Run The Numbers breaks down the two-year-old winners for this season and who trained them. Five of the top 10 two-year-old trainers will prepare horses for Godolphin next season.

Pride, meanwhile, has a Proven formula in partnership with syndicator Jamie Walter which reaped rewards once again last Saturday with In Flight in the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes

That success leads off this week’s Rowe On Monday column.

In sales news, progeny of Australian mares have set the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale alight, with a Kitasan Black colt out of Fastnet Rock mare Mosheen topping the yearling session at A$4.34 million in Hokkaido. 

Back on home soil, it’s been confirmed that Zoustar mare Olentia will be the star attraction at next month’s Magic Millions Virtual Sale where she’s certain to command attention from the breeding industry’s biggest names.

Elite Australian Zoustar mares have sold for $5.25 million (Zougotcha), $4.2 million (Sunlight), $3.5 million (Platinum Jubilee) and $2.1 million (Climbing Star) in recent years.

On Tuesday, the northern hemisphere-bred Zoustar Group 1-winning mare Lezoo (sold off the track for 2.2 million guineas) had her first foal, a colt by Kingman, sell for A$1.393 million at the JRHA Select Foal Sale. Meanwhile, the first foal of Golden Slipper winner Fireburn, a colt by Kizuna, sold for A$3.3 million to Tetsuhide Kunimoto.

It won’t be long and the next crop of southern hemisphere foals will be born and the hopes and dreams of breeders on show.

Enjoy your racing week.

Regards

Tim Rowe

Senior Journalist

The Straight