The 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf champion Newspaperofrecord was back to her best on Saturday with a scintillating three-length success in the G1 Just A Game Stakes at Belmont Park reminiscent of her 2-year-old performances.
The Chad Brown-trained filly, raised near Malpas in Cheshire, England, at Richard and Sally Aston’s Goldford Stud on behalf of her Lancashire-based owner-breeder Allan Belshaw, was burdened with huge expectations heading into her 3-year-old season after three devastating victories at two, but something looked amiss when she delivered a disappointing last-place performance in the G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational after a brace of second places at G3 level.
After an 11-month break, her she produced an encouraging pillar-to-post comeback victory on June 6, winning the G3 Intercontinental Stakes by three lengths over seven furlongs at Belmont. Could she be back to her best?
Yesterday’s win over a mile looks to have confirmed that she may well be, with beaten rivals including G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile champion Uni.
Newspaperofrecord’s breeder, Allan Belshaw, operates under the banner of his engineering company Times Of Wigan Ltd and boards his mares at Goldford Stud with the Astons. The dual G1 winner is the most successful filly so far from a dynasty established by Belshaw’s foundation broodmare Simply Times.
“It’s nice to have her back. It was great to see her win the race at the beginning of the month after the disaster that was her 3-year-old year, but she’s just confirmed that it was not a flash in the pan,” said Richard Aston.
“Simply Times boarded here and a lot of her offspring were born and raised here. She was an amazing mare – she had ten runners, ten winners from I think 12 foals. It was an incredible record. Everything that ran out of her won and she’s responsible for all of these – she’s the mother of Forever Times, who's the mother of Sunday Times and also the mother of Question Times, who’s the mother of [Irish Derby winner] Latrobe, [Epsom Oaks runner-up] Pink Dogwood and [G3 winner] Diamond Fields. It’s a family that has exploded into brilliance.
Lone furrow
“There’s nobody more deserving of all the success than Allan, because he’s ploughed a lone furrow in many respects. He loves to choose the stallions. For however long, 30 or 40 years, he’s been racing and breeding horses and to create such a dynasty is extraordinary.”
Newspaperofrecord was sold to Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown for 200,000 guineas at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2017.
The filly’s subsequent success has played its part in the burgeoning American interest in the prestigious yearling sale. Eleven months on from her Breeders’ Cup victory, a number of American buyers joined Brown in making the journey across the Atlantic to last year’s renewal of Book 1, where they together purchased 58 horses for a combined outlay of 13,450,000 guineas. This was double the previous year’s total of 29 yearlings bought for a total of 6,775,000 guineas.
“This year’s foal is a full-sister [to Newspaperofrecord, by Lope De Vega]. I don’t think that there would be any chance that she will be sold,” Aston said. “Allan will put her into training.
“Sunday Times is in foal to Kingman and the 3-year-old filly, Daily Times, she’s in foal to Blue Point. Allan’s got lots now of the immediate family and we’re in a very favourable position, I’d say.”