Glorious start for Arakan
Richard Hannon established himself among the leading trainers in England when, aged only 27, he prepared Mon Fils
to win the 2,000 Guineas at 50/1 under Frankie Durr in 1973. He has
subsequently trained two more winners of Britain’s first colts’ Classic
(Don't Forget Me in 1987 and Tirol in 1990) and, while he has trained a few good stayers such as Assessor (winner of the Prix du Cadran, Prix Royal-Oak and Yorkshire Cup) and Churlish Charm
(winner of the Yorkshire Cup), he is now revered as a master-trainer of
sprinter/milers. In particular, his record with two-year-olds is
consistently superb, notwithstanding the fact that very often he finds
himself working with young horses whose pedigrees would not be seen as
coming from the very top drawer, writes John Berry.
It could be argued that Hannon will never train a better two-year-old than the ‘pocket rocket’ Lyric Fantasy,
the tiny filly whom he sent out to beat her elders at weight-for-age
when justifying 8/11 favouritism in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes
under Michael Roberts in 1992. However, in recent years his production
line of high-class two-year-olds has reached unprecedentedly prolific
levels, and this year his stables appear to be blessed with an
embarrassment of juvenile riches. Canford Cliffs
was a brilliant winner of the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, while
Glorious Goodwood provided further confirmation of the strength in
depth among the young horses under Hannon’s care.
Glorious Goodwood, which generally takes place during the first week of
August, is one of England’s most special summer race-meetings.
Traditionally the Richmond Stakes (six furlongs) is its juvenile
highlight, but nowadays two other two-year-old races – the Molecomb
Stakes (five furlongs) and the Vintage Stakes (seven furlongs) – tend
to be equally interesting. Hannon this year trained the winners of the
Richmond (Dick Turpin) and the Molecomb (Monsieur Chevalier); and even the result of the one which got away, the Vintage, must have pleased him, as the winner Xtension had been routed by Canford Cliffs in the Coventry Stakes, in which he was a 6-length runner-up.
As sons of Tagula, Chevalier and Arakan, Hannon’s three headline
juveniles Canford Cliffs, Monsieur Chevalier and Dick Turpin are all
sons of relatively unfashionable sires. Of the three, Arakan
finds himself in a particular happy position, because Dick Turpin is a
member of his first crop, and it can do this young sire no harm at all
to have produced such an exciting colt from a cheaply conceived first
batch of juveniles.
Now aged nine, Arakan retired to Ballyhane Stud in Co. Carlow, Ireland,
in 2006, at a stud fee of 5,000 Euros, after a four-season racing
career in which he had proved himself to be a good, tough horse, albeit
not a top-class one. Bred by the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Holdings
Ltd, Arakan merited a place at stud as much courtesy of his pedigree as
of his form, because he comes from an outstanding family, albeit from a
lesser branch of it.
Arakan’s seventh dam Almahmoud, a daughter of Mumtaz Mahal’s Derby-winning grandson Mahmoud,
ranks as one of the greatest broodmares in history, courtesy of having
produced three blue-hen daughters. The least distinguished of these was
Bubbling Beauty, the dam of Sea-Bird’s Prix Ganay-winning son (now best remembered as the sire of Prix du Jockey-Club winner Bering).
Good broodmare though Bubbling Beauty was, though, her record pales
into insignificance behind those compiled by her two half-sisters Cosmah and Natalma. Cosmah’s main claim to fame is as the dam of Sunday Silence’s sire Halo, while she is also the ancestress of the likes of 9-time Grade One winner Flawlessly, Kentucky Derby winner Cannonade, Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner L'emigrant, dual Grade One winner Stephan's Odyssey and Middle Park Stakes winner Balmont. Natalma’s place in the history books is even more secure, courtesy primarily of her Kentucky Derby-winning son Northern Dancer,
whom many regard as the greatest sire in history. She is also the
ancestress of such extremely successful racehorses and/or stallions as Danehill, Machiavellian, Exit To Nowhere, Bago and Orpen.
The late Stavros Niarchos, as one of the world’s shrewdest and
wealthiest breeders, acquired several descendants of Almahmoud, and
thus he or his family rank as the owners and/or breeders of such as
L’Emigrant, Prix Morny winner Machiavellian and Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe winner Bago. Arakan,
too, is one of the products of the Niarchos’ investment in this line,
even if his branch of Cosmah’s family has been in recent generations a
relatively unproductive one.
Arakan’s dam Far Across, therefore, came from a very good family, and thus she deserved the chance to be covered by as good a stallion as Nureyev,
the son of her distant relative Northern Dancer who had carried Stavros
Niarchos’ colours when finishing first (subsequently demoted) in the
1980 2,000 Guineas. Arakan was the result of this mating, and he duly
went into training as a yearling in 2001 with Sir Michael Stoute in
Newmarket. Thus began a career in which he proved his durability and
honesty by running 24 times and finishing in the first three in 17 of
those outings. Placed in both his starts at two, Arakan got off the
mark first time out as a three-year-old, beating the subsequent Royal
Ascot winner New Seeker
in a mile maiden at Warwick in April 2003. Thereafter he spent the rest
of the year showing continued improvement, winning a handicap at the
York May meeting before running second in the Group Three Jersey Stakes
at Royal Ascot, second in the Group Two Lennox Stakes at Glorious
Goodwood and, finally, third in the Group Two Challenge Stakes at
Newmarket in the autumn.
Arakan was similarly consistent as a four-year-old in 2004. Although he
only ran five times that year, they were all good performances,
including a first-up Listed win over six furlongs at Newmarket in the
spring, Group placings over the same distance in both the Duke Of York
Stakes at York and the Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh, and a Group
win over seven furlongs in the Criterion Stakes at Newmarket, in which
he beat a good field headed by Desert Destiny, Trade Fair and Court Masterpiece. His only unplaced run that year was no disgrace, because it came behind Refuse To Bend in a Group One mile race, the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Arakan’s five-year-old campaign was even more honourable. He ran ten
times in 2005, with the highlights being a Group Three win over seven
furlongs in the Supreme Stakes at Goodwood and a Listed victory over
the same distance in the City Of York Stakes at York.
Having retired to Ballyhane Stud for the 2006 covering season at a fee
of 5,000 Euros, Arakan has so far covered largely undistinguished
mares. His fee had dropped to 4,500 Euros in 2008 and, having last
autumn established a median auction price of merely 3,858 gns with his
first crop of yearlings, his fee was understandably further reduced
this year to 3,000 Euros. Dick Turpin, a son of the non-winning Sharood mare Merrily,
realized 26,000 Euros at Fairyhouse last September, which suggests that
he was something of a stand-out as regards the Arakan yearlings on
offer. As the winner now of his three starts to date, Dick Turpin has
clearly proved a bargain for his connections and a wonderful
advertisement for his sire, who has so far been represented by four
individual winners in Britain and Ireland.
This column last week highlighted the prowess of Dalakhani,
stating that his first crop had so far thrown up ten individual
winners. The day after that statement appeared, Dalakhani’s record was
further improved by his four-year-old daughter Armure
winning the Prix du Carrousel at Maisons-Laffitte to become the
eleventh individual Stakes winner from her sire’s first crop. Arakan’s
connections will be hoping that this week’s feature acts as a similar
spur to the offspring of their stallion. Even, though, if it does not,
Arakan is still doing well to have come up with a good horse so early
in his career, and we can now expect Dick Turpin to provide further
advertisements for this well-bred and admirable young stallion.
