Tuesday 18 August 2009
HH Aga Khan’s champion racehorse has made a promising debut to his stallion career with three individual winners to date and a Listed third among his first crop of juveniles. His son AZMEEL added to these honours on Saturday when taking the Listed Usk Valley Stud Stakes at Newbury.
The talented Elsdon Farms-bred colt had won his maiden in impressive fashion at Sandown in late July and progressed nicely to take a first black-type victory for his sire on his second outing. AZMEEL impressively justified favouritism in the seven furlong contest, quickening away from the field two furlongs from home to record a winning margin of three and a half lengths. John Gosden’s charge is held in high esteem and he is entered in all the top juvenile events including the Gr 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes and Racing Post Trophy. His Newbury victory earned him a place in the early 2000 Guineas reckoning and he received a 16-1 from bookmakers for the Newmarket Classic.
Progeny of the Gilltown Stud sire were well-received at Deauville’s yearling sale, with his three youngsters selling for an average of 136,667 Euros, well above the average for the sale as a whole. Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock acquired Lot 50, a son of Gr 2 Prix de l’Opéra winner Clodora (Linamix) and half-brother to Poule d’Essai des Poulains scorer and sire Clodovil, for 170,000 Euros and Lot 145, a half-sister to another French Guineas winner in Vahorimix, reached the same amount from trainer David Smaga. A pair of Azamour yearlings feature in Book 1 of Tattersalls October yearling sale whose catalogue will be published shortly. The sire will certainly be well-represented in the Goffs yearling catalogues this autumn, and AZMEEL was picked up for 65,000 Euros at their Million yearling sale last year.
Updated on 18/08/2009
