Alcohol Free's Sussex win completes glorious week for No Nay Never

Alcohol Free's fabulous victory in the Qatar Sussex Stakes completed what might just have been the best week of No Nay Never's seven-year career as a stallion.

A third Group 1 win for the filly who had become the third of the Coolmore Stud resident's collection of top-level scorers in last year's Cheveley Park Stakes was not even his only notable success on the card, as the exciting Armor had come home clear in the Markel Molecomb Stakes just over half an hour earlier.

No Nay Never had also added to what are now 17 worldwide Group/Graded winners when another juvenile, Zain Claudette, earned a narrow verdict in Saturday's Princess Margaret Keeneland Stakes at Ascot.

These sorts of results will serve to encourage breeders towards the stallion despite what was still a lofty covering fee of €125,000 during the most recent covering season in which he covered a reported 175 mares. His price was just down from €175,000 in 2020 on the back of his trailblazing son Ten Sovereigns winning the July Cup in 2019.

No Nay Never: three winners have kept his name in lightsCredit: Coolmore

All three of his newest stars were actually picked up for considerably less than either of those sums.

Alcohol Free was bought for just €40,000 by Jeff Smith's Littleton Stud from her breeders Churchtown House Stud at the Goffs November Foal Sale.

Armor, meanwhile, was knocked down to Al Shaqab Racing for €55,000 at Arqana last year. He was bred by Chris Stedman out of High Chaparral mare Hestia, a winner over a mile in France, and looks just the type to have a go at emulating his sire in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville.

Ismail Mohammed's Zain Claudette, very nearly a winner of all her three starts, was cheaper still. She was picked up for just £20,000 by Rabbah Bloodstock at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale.

No Nay Never, who won at Royal Ascot and Keeneland for Wesley Ward, has assembled quite a body of work for a stallion who is still only ten as stints shuttling to Chile and Australia have meant he has sired winners all around the world already.

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