Persuasive dam on the mark with another winner and in foal to Dark Angel

As three-year-old filly Improve – an Iffraaj half-sister to last season's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes heroine Persuasive – broke her maiden on her second start at Haydock on Friday, the breeder of the pair John Tuthill has revealed the dam produced a colt by Dubawi this year and reported her cover for 2018.

Choose Me, a 12-year-old daughter of Choisir who won the Tattersalls Ireland Sales race and Listed Fairy Bridge Stakes for Tuthill, has now produced four winners from her first four foals.

First came Amazour, a six-year-old son of Azamour who has won six races and earned a best Racing Post Rating of 106; then the year-younger Persuasive, a Dark Angel mare who also has six victories to her name and signed off her racing career by beating the colts to take the QEII last October.

Persuasive was retired by her owners Cheveley Park Stud this year and sent to the mighty Frankel for her first cover.

Tisbutadream, Choose Me's four-year-old daughter by Dream Ahead, scored in the Listed Coral Distaff and was Group 3-placed last year after being bought for £400,000 at the Goffs London Sale.

The dam's latest winner Improve – trained by William Haggas for Yvonne Jacques, having been bought by Brian Grassick Bloodstock for €150,000 at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale in 2016 – showed a stunning turn of foot to run on and lead near the finish in Friday's mile novice stakes at Haydock, to win by a neck.

Trainer's wife Maureen Haggas said after the race: “Improve will improve, I guess! She was a bit lost for most of the race and the penny just dropped late on. There will be no rush – it's up to William but I imagine she'll run in another novice race.”

Choose Me's next runner is set to be her two-year-old colt by Slade Power, who was sold to Sackville Donald for €100,000 at last year's Goffs Orby Yearling Sale and named Songkran.

The dam has no yearling but is now the proud mother to a chestnut Dubawi colt foal born in late March.

“He appears to be very nice, although it's rather early to say too much about his physique, but as you can imagine he'll be kept in bubble wrap,” Tuthill said.

The foal is likely to be offered for sale as a yearling in 2019.

Also next year, all being well, Choose Me is set to deliver a full-sibling to Persuasive as she has been covered by Dark Angel again.

“I've sent her to Dark Angel for obvious reasons,” Tuthill added. “I'd dearly love a filly to keep and to be able to breed from.”

Tuthill's homebred Ballyogan Stakes winner last year, Penny Pepper, was also covered by Dark Angel this year after delivering a Dragon Pulse filly that the daughter of Fast Company was carrying when triumphant in the Curragh Group 3 contest.

Dragon Pulse was bred by Tuthill with his late aunt, Averil Whitehead, and sold as a yearling before winning the Futurity Stakes and Prix de Fontainebleau, and eventually joining the stallion roster at the Irish National Stud.

The son of Kyllachy has quietly been assembling a respectable progeny record, with a high winners-to-runners strike-rate in particular. His recent representatives include progressive handicapper Original Choice and Listed-placed two-year-old filly Chicas Amigas.

Tuthill paid tribute to the sire power of the graduate of his Owenstown Stud, saying: “He probably needs a really big horse at a meeting like Royal Ascot but if you're trying to breed a proper racehorse, he's the perfect choice.

“If you want to breed a horse someone will get a lot of enjoyment out of, to have a winner and have a bet on, and give you a bit of fun, he fits the bill.

“He's also a very good stallion to start a mare off with, as generally he'll give you a foal who is robust and correct, and the chances are it'll be a winner.”

If you enjoyed reading this, you might also like...

The modest man of modest means who has bred two QEII winners

An epic book of mares for Ulysses as Cheveley Park changes course

Yet another two-year-old crop of incomparable quality for Galileo