'I'm so happy' - Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami a first for delighted Oppenheimer

Anthony Oppenheimer knows a thing or two about producing champions, but breeding his first winner of the Gold Cup at Ascot still gave the Hascombe and Valiant Stud owner a tremendous sense of pride. 

His white and black silks with red cap have been made famous through the likes of 2015 Derby and Arc hero Golden Horn and dual Champion Stakes winner Cracksman, and Courage Mon Ami's three-quarters of a length triumph in the royal meeting showpiece on Thursday added another string to his bow. 

Oppenheimer owned the Frankel gelding until his recent private purchase by Qatari-backed Wathnan Racing, for whom he was a second Frankie Dettori-ridden winner of the week after Gregory in the Queen's Vase on Wednesday. 

Courage Mon Ami battles to Gold Cup glory at Royal AscotCredit: Edward Whitaker

Oppenheimer said: "He's my first Gold Cup winner. He's a big horse and we weren't sure whether he would stay that far, he'd never gone beyond 14 furlongs, but he was really going like a bomb at the end. I'm so happy."

Courage Mon Ami won his first three starts for Oppenheimer, on the all-weather at Kempton and Newcastle last season, and then a Class 2 handicap at Goodwood last month. 

The four-year-old hails from a fine Oppenheimer family. A third Group 1 winner in as many days for his red-hot sire Frankel, he is the seventh foal out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Crimson Ribbon, who is herself a sister to a Royal Ascot winner in Hardwicke Stakes victor Bronze Cannon and half-sister to another in King Edward VII Stakes winner Across The Stars, by Sea The Stars. Crimson Ribbon is also a full-sister to American Grade 3 winner Valiant Girl.

The quartet are out of the winning and stakes-placed Mark Of Esteem mare Victoria Cross, a half-sister to Grade 2 San Marcos Handicap and Dee Stakes winner Prize Giving, top-class hurdler Pridwell and Cesarewitch winner Inchcailloch. Another half-sister, Roberts Pride, is the dam of Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Invitational and Beverly Hills Handicap winner Alpride.

Anthony Oppenheimer: breeder of champions and now Gold Cup winner Courage Mon AmiCredit: TBA

Courage Mon Ami is one of four black-type horses foaled by Crimson Ribbon to sons of Galileo , most notably Chalice Stakes winner and Pinnacle Stakes runner-up Crimson Rosette, by Teofilo. 

A stablemate at the Gosdens' Newmarket yard is his Oppenheimer homebred three-year-old half-brother Lion's Pride, by Roaring Lion, who was a half-length second on his debut at Newcastle in May.

Crimson Ribbon also has a two-year-old filly by Cracksman named Danielle, a yearling filly by Golden Horn and a filly foal by Time Test. 

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