From tailor-made breeding to a bargain buy: all the Phoenix Stakes angles

Two months after Irish racing resumed normal service as we know it, the first of its three juvenile Group 1 races is already upon us with a ten-strong field lining up in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

As confirmed by the likes of Danehill Dancer, Mastercraftsman, Holy Roman Emperor, Zoffany and most recently Advertise, it is a race with stallion-making heritage, with last year's winner and now Classic hero Siskin set to be the latest to head to those pastures when his racing career finishes.

Bred for success

They don’t come better qualified than Giorgio Vasari, who is not only the son of a Phoenix Stakes winner but the sibling of one too. Aidan O’Brien’s colt is from the first crop of Air Force Blue, who delivered a convincing performance in the 2015 renewal on the way to securing champion European juvenile honours.

Two years later, the same trainer supplied Giorgio Vasari's Scat Daddy half-brother Sioux Nation, who backed up a win in the Norfolk Stakes by fighting off Beckford. Both were bred by John Halley’s Fethard Bloodstock out of his Oasis Dream mare Dream The Blues, who won her only start for Halley and Kevin Ryan in a Redcar maiden.

Giorgio Vasari, named after the Renaissance artist, has come to the fore in recent weeks and emboldened his Coolmore connections to supplement him for €20,000 following his best effort yet in a conditions race at Naas on Monday.

First-season promise

Another stallion to have managed to get one of his maiden crop into elite company is Prince Of Lir, whose son The Lir Jet should keep breeders interested at Ballyhane Stud.

The Lir Jet follows in his father's footsteps at AscotCredit: Edward Whitaker

Prince Of Lir won the Norfolk at Royal Ascot in a fleeting career and this juvenile has very much flown his flag, supplying his first winner at Yarmouth in early June and following in his father’s footsteps in the same Royal Ascot race before a narrow defeat to the reopposing Ventura Tormenta in the Prix Robert Papin.

From a speedy family, The Lir Jet was bred by Donal Boylan and bought for just £8,000 at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale as a breeze-up prospect by Robson Aguiar. He headed straight for the track instead, first running in the colours of trainer Michael Bell’s son Nick before moving to the ownership of Qatar Racing.

Bargain buys

Laws Of Indices was an inspired purchase by agent Dermot Farrington when he picked up the son of narrow 2011 Phoenix Stakes runner-up Power for just €8,000 as a yearling at the Goffs Autumn Sale. He has already recouped that outlay many times over under Ken Condon’s care, with a maiden and last month’s Group 2 Railway Stakes up his sleeve.

Equally well-found was Steel Bull, the Clodovil colt obtained for £28,000 at the rearranged Goffs UK Breeze-Up who had landed the Molecomb Stakes within a month of arriving. Racing Post Bloodstock revealed earlier this weekthat he had changed hands again in a private purchase by Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez but would remain with Michael O’Callaghan.

Record price tags

Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien’s other two representatives are both public auction purchases. Its interest in the progeny of Kingman began with the acquisition of the breeding rights to Calyx and continued when setting a new Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale record of £440,000 for Hillwood Stud’s son of the sire sensation.

Admiral Nelson set a Goffs UK record at £440,000Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

He has become the handsome Admiral Nelson, while St Mark’s Basilica is Siyouni's most expensive yearling to date, having cost 1,300,000gns from the Tattersalls draft of Norelands Stud and breeder Bob Scarborough. Coolmore knew the family well, having bought his half-brother and last year’s 2,000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia from the same vendor as a foal.

Up for grabs

It is fair to say Aloha Star is already a fine breeding prospect with the potential to do more on the track first, having outpointed Frenetic as the 33-1 rank outsider in the Group 2 Airlie Stud Stakes.

Time waits for no man and Fozzy Stack and Aloha Star’s owners elected to pay the supplementary fee just a week ahead of the Starspangledbanner filly being offered for auction at the Tattersalls Online August Sale.

A victory here could, of course, prompt a rethink, but some Group 1 black type will make her a valuable commodity indeed when bidding begins at midday on Wednesday. As the sales season prepares to begin again, it was also announced that Collegelands Stud would be consigning her Mastercraftsman half-brother at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.