Kodiac lights up final day of Royal Ascot with a famous Group race treble

Tally-Ho Stud stalwart Kodiac pulled off one of the biggest breeding exploits seen at Royal Ascot in recent years with a stunning Group race treble on the final day of the meeting on Saturday.

Campanelle initiated the treble by scorching to victory in the Queen Mary Stakes, and Nando Parrado made it two winners for the sire half an hour later by springing a 150-1 surprise in the Coventry Stakes.

The treble was completed by Hello Youmzain, who secured his second Group 1 success with a determined victory in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

"It's like a dream," said Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan after the 19-year-old stallion's three-timer. "For one of our sires to produce three Group winners in one day at Royal Ascot is a once in a lifetime thing, it'll likely never be repeated.

"A few years ago Kodiac had Ardad and Prince Of Lir win two-year-old races in the same week at the meeting but this is something else.

"He's the gift that keeps on giving and what he's done at stud has been beyond our wildest expectations. His offspring are fast, genuine and sound. What more could you want?

"His success is testament to the hard work of Mum and Dad over the years [Anne and Tony O'Callaghan]. They've deserved it."

He added: "Kodiac just hurt himself at the start of the year so he went down to the Fethard Equine Hospital and Ger Kelly and Jim Schumacher performed surgery that got him back up and running and able to cover. Without them he wouldn't have covered any mares at all this year, so we're deeply grateful to them."

Kodiac: 'His offspring are fast, genuine and sound'

Campanelle – trained by Wesley Ward for Stonestreet Stables, the team behind 2016 Queen Mary scorer Lady Aurelia – was an easy winner of a Gulfstream Park maiden special weight last month.

She was bred by Tally-Ho Stud and is the fourth winner but first black-type scorer out of Janina, a daughter of Namid who won the Marygate Stakes and finished sixth in the Albany Stakes for Hamdan Al Maktoum.

Janina, who was bought by Tally-Ho for just 39,000gns as an 11-year-old from a cull of Shadwell mares at the Tattersalls July Sale of 2016, is out of Group 3-winning sprinter Lady Dominatrix.

The mare has no yearling progeny but was covered by Kodiac's studmate Mehmas last year.

Ben McElroy bought Campanelle for 190,000gns from the Tally-Ho Stud draft at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last autumn.

Nando Parrado had finished a never-dangerous fifth in a Newmarket maiden on his sole previous start but trainer Clive Cox felt he would improve for the run and with more ease in the ground, and so it proved as he become the biggest-priced winner ever at the royal meeting in the Coventry Stakes.

He defeated Sheikh Hamdan's Night Of Thunder colt Qaader by a length with Saeiqa, a colt from the first crop of Shalaa, a length and a quarter back in third.

Nando Parrado was bred by Anita Wigan out of Chibola, an Argentinian-bred daughter of Roy who was a Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed in her native country.

Since her import to Britain the mare, a sister to Argentinian Grade 1 winner Chollo, has produced two other winners – Muntadab, a runner-up in the Listed Ben Marshall Stakes, and Dubai Horizon, who was Group 3-placed in Meydan.

She has a yearling filly by Aclaim, who was was a vendor buyback at just 16,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, and she was covered by Showcasing last year.

Nando Parrado: sprang a 150-1 shock in the Coventry StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Nando Parrado carries the silks of Marie McCartan, who with her husband Paul bred this week's King's Stand Stakes winner Battaash at their Ballyphilip Stud in County Limerick.

Ballyphilip Stud has enjoyed tremendous success in recent years, having also bred other Group 1 winners Harry Angel and Tiggy Wiggy – another by Kodiac.

The McCartans gave 165,000gns for Nando Parrado as a foal and put him back on the market 12 months later at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale, but bought him back at 200,000gns.

Hello Youmzain, successful in the Haydock Sprint Cup last year, defeated Dream Ahead gelding Dream Of Dreams by a head in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes with Denis Hogan's bargain basement runner Sceptical – a son of Exceed and Excel out of Queen Mary Stakes winner Jealous Again bought by owner James McAuley from Godolphin for £2,800 – back in third.

One of four Group 1 winners for Kodiac, he was bred by previous owner Jaber Abdullah out of the unraced Shamardal mare Spasha, an emerging blue hen who has also produced black-type scorers Royal Youmzain and Zuhoor Baynoona as well as Grade 2-winning hurdler Saglawy.

Hello Youmzain's future lies in the breeding sheds at Haras d'Etreham in Normandy and at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand after the two operations joined forces along with partners including SF Bloodstock and Voltaire Stud to buy the Kevin Ryan-trained colt last summer.

Kodiac, a Danehill half-brother to Invincible Spirit, has long been established as a brilliant source of two-year-olds and sprinters. In fact, he smashed the world record for number of juvenile winners in a single season in 2017 with a dizzying tally of 61.

His previous Royal Ascot two-year-old winners include Prince Of Lir, whose own first crop of two-year-olds yielded Friday's Norfolk Stakes scorer The Lir Jet.

Kodiac had also been near the bullseye at Royal Ascot this week with Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Yazaman and Albany Stakes fourth Undertake.

Campanelle and Nando Parrado make it 27 Group winners for Kodiac, who covered his 14th book of mares at Tally-Ho Stud in County Westmeath at a fee of €65,000 this year.

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