MYSTERY ANGEL

  This filly was purchased from the 2020 Craven 2yo Breeze Up sale for 22,000 Guineas. With an additional £1,000 fee to qualify for a £15,000 breeze-up bonus.

The Tattersalls Craven Sale carries the picture of Donjuan Triumphant who Nick purchased from the Craven Sale in 2015 for just 30,000 Guineas.

This filly produced an impressive breeze, travelling strongly throughout and quickening throughout the breeze. There was a total of 148 horses who breezed on the day from the combined Craven and Ascot sales. This filly recorded splits which ranked her 111th in the first furlong, 51st in the second furlong and 11th in the final furlong. She had a great breeze and a very good gallop out and was getting quicker and quicker as she travelled up the Rowley mile incline following the dip. 

Both Nick and George see her as a 7-furlong filly who should be ready to run in 4-6 weeks. Her dam, Angel Grace won over 8.5 furlongs on Heavy ground as a 3yo in April.  Kodi Bear was precocious 2yo, finishing 2nd on debut to Adaay in a Newbury Maiden. He then finished 5th in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot before going on to win at Listed level a month later over 7 furlongs.

In a depressed market due to Covid-19 we found ourselves with an opportunity to secure a high-quality animal to race in 2020.  This is a very good-looking filly who passed all aspects of the veterinary examination barring one. She was found to have a slight heart murmur grade as 2-3 on the scale of 1 to 6, 6 being the most severe.

Had she not had this slight murmur she would have sold for around 50,000 Guineas. Nick researched this issue and after reading the media shown below decided that this factor very much fits his Moneyball theory which he looks for at the sales. For anyone not aware of the Moneyball theory, this is based on a 2011 film which Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane who managed the budget funded Oakland A's to the longest winning streak in baseball history. He selected players for the roster who essentially had 'defects' which made them buyable but had no relevance on their ability to play baseball.

Studies have clearly found that heart murmurs do not influence the career of racehorses but do influence their price at the sales ring. When Nick purchased Donjuan Triumphant in 2015, he had front legs which were very unsightly, and agents and vets couldn't pass him. Has lightning struck twice?

https://ker.com/equinews/heart-murmurs-often-dont-affect-performance-horses/

She will be campaigned as a 2yo and then we will look to make a decision in September regarding whether we want to keep her in training as a 3yo or cash her in at the Tattersalls HIT Sale.

Nick has shown time and time again that he can source horses who can compete at the highest level without spending the mega prices at the Sales ring. The 2020 Royal Ascot Group 3 Albany winner was sourced for just 22,000 Euros and our four horses who ran at Royal Ascot were sourced for less than £60,000 combined!!!!