Juddmonte Farms recorded their first top-flight victory since the death of their founder, Prince Khalid Abdullah, in January when British-bred Juliet Foxtrot landed the G1 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday.
Previously a juvenile winner for Charlie Hills in Lambourn, England, the daughter of retired Banstead Manor Stud sire Dansili is now based at Brad Cox’s stable in the U.S.
The victory under world #29 jockey Tyler Gaffalione for world #7 trainer Brad Cox was the most prestigious of the 6-year-old’s racing career so far (see video below). In 2019, she was runner-up in the G1 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland, and last October she won the G3 Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico.
While now a representative for Juddmonte’s American operation, Juliet Foxtrot is out of the Banstead Manor mare Kilo Alpha, winner of the listed Prix de Bagatelle in her racing days and now the dam of three black-type performers. The grand dam, Anasazi, was sold the year after Kilo Alpha was foaled to Queen Elizabeth II at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, for 48,000 guineas.
Juddmonte stud director Simon Mockridge told Great British Racing International, “That’s now 114 individual homebred Group 1 winners [for Juddmonte Farms]. Given that His Highness Prince Khalid was always a great believer in giving horses a chance to move from Europe to America, this is typical of what he was looking to achieve, and this filly has had every chance by staying in training as a 6-year-old.
“It just shows the toughness and the genuineness of the Dansilis in the first place, and in particular that Hasili family, so we were delighted that she was able to win her Grade 1, especially as she had been so close last year.
“Kilo Alpha comes from that wonderful Navajo Princess family of Dancing Brave, and really she’s the only one we have left from that family, other than some of her daughters, so it’s nice to be able to have that continuation and now having another Group 1 winner is great for the future.
“She’s got a Kingman filly this year and she’s been covered by Expert Eye, so that brings the Acclamation, Dansili back into it, the miler speed which I think she probably needs. She has a yearling filly by Bated Breath, but no 2-year-old.”
On future plans for Juliet Foxtrot, Mockridge said, “I think she’s going to race on for the moment. Garrett [O’Rourke] in America will make those recommendations to the family, but I would imagine that this stage the plan is to continue with her.
“The manner in which she won the race last evening suggests there’s a little bit more to come, I hope. We know that she’s effective on all forms of ground. It was quiet yielding last night, but she sets soft fractions and she won very readily in the end, which was encouraging. I’d guess she is going to be very competitive this year.”
Juddmonte Farms earned further notable success as breeders Stateside the same afternoon, courtesy of Delaware in the listed Danger’s Hour Stakes over a mile at Aqueduct (see video below). Delaware, a British-bred daughter of Frankel in training with Chad Brown and ridden by Manny Franco, represents the latest success story for Banstead Manor sire Oasis Dream, who enjoyed an outstanding 2020, with his tally of 18 stakes winners going unmatched by any Northern Hemisphere-broodmare sire aged 20 or under.
Mockridge commented, “Oasis Dream, at the age of 21, is still a very active part of the stallion roster here and he’s covering a very good book of mares again this year. He really has set his stall out as a broodmare sire and I think that that has been recognised by breeders, without a doubt.
“We’ve sent an awful lot of the Oasis Dream mares to Frankel just on the basis that we were trying to get a little bit more speed into him, and it seems to be working so far. Although Delaware doesn’t run in the Prince’s colours anymore, it’s nice that he’s bounced back this year. It was pretty impressive to come from the back and catch a leader who had stolen a march and gone clear, and in track record time.
“The mare [Zatsfine] is in foal to Frankel. She hasn’t foaled yet, she’s a little bit late. She is a decent mare. She’s a good stamp of a mare, she’s not overly big, she’s typical of what we expect from Oasis Dream, and we like this family very much.
“And of course Baratti, a full-brother to Finche who made a winning debut this week in France, also comes from this family, so I think it’s a family that’s working very well with Frankel.”