Vino Veritas (Chief’s Crown-Wild Vintage (Alysheba))
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arankel was the undisputed horse of the year in 2011, lighting up the season with a string of fantastic achievements. For those who competed against him however, the enjoyment must have been somewhat tempered by continually watching him power ahead. Unsurprisingly, named the Best Racehorse in the World, Frankel stood above his rivals, but once the champion is removed from the equation, plenty of smart performers emerge from his shadow. One such now is Slim Shadey, who twice chased home the champion, once at a distance of 15l in the Royal Lodge Stakes (G2) at two, and again in the 2,000 Guineas when fourth at 200-1, 17l in arrears of Frankel. Transferred across the Atlantic into the care of ex-pat trainer Simon Callaghan, Slim Shadey opened his US account with ninth place in an allowance race at Santa Anita on January 2 before scoring over 1m2f ten days later. It was a big leap into graded company, but the son of Val Royal proved that he can mix it with the best when triumphing in the San Marcos Stakes (G2) in February. Bred and owned by Phil Cunningham of Cockney Rebel fame and out of the Chief’s Crown mare Vino Veritas, Slim Shadey may not have seemed the most obvious choice for graded glory. Offered at the Brightwells Ascot Sales in December 2009, he failed to find a buyer at £1,000 – though his trip through the ring did qualify him to run in the lucrative Weatherbys Insurance £300,000 2yo Stakes – and he was put in training with Stan Moore.
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Vino Veritas was also sold in foal to Val Royal, a son of Bullish Luck’s sire Royal Academy, and, of course, the sire of Cockney Rebel
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Mare of the month
mare of the month
Slim Shadey: is a descendant of Margarethen, the dam of Doff The Derby, the dam of Generous
Debuting in a maiden in June, he finished mid-division when challenging for the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, but broke his maiden on his next start at Ascot over 7f. Another stakes assault saw him finish second in the Listed Washington Singer Stakes before scooping a decent prize when fourth in the Weatherbys sales race. After his two clashes with Frankel, Slim Shadey seemed to lose his way, finishing last or second last in his next five starts, including the Irish 2,000 Guineas. On what would be his final start in Britain, he could manage only sixth of 11 in a handicap at Newmarket. A change is a good as a rest and having received both, Slim Shadey looks set for a successful campaign in the US. But the colt’s success will not be a surprise to connections as his is a family that traces to some of the best thoroughbreds ever bred. Vino Veritas was trained by James Fanshawe for owner-breeder Car Colston Stud and was well beaten in two starts. Offered at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2000 she failed to find a buyer in the ring at 9,500gns, but produced her first foal, a colt by Efisio, the following year for breeder Catherine Hurley. Fillies by Bahhare and Desert Sun followed, with the former, named Nora Christie, winning two minor handicaps in Ireland. Vino Veritas made her second trip to the sales in 2003 when sold for €3,500 at Goffs November, in foal to Fath. The resulting filly was unplaced on her only start in the UK before being exported to Hungary. Vino Veritas’s already ordinary breeding record was not enhanced by two barren
years to Val Royal and Noverre, but when she reappeared at the Tattersalls December Mares’ Sale in 2007, Cunningham had to go to 30,000gns to secure her, nearly ten times her previous price tag. The reason was simple. When Vino Veritas was offered at Goffs, her younger half-brother Al Moughazel had won two minor starts. But by December 2007, he had been re-named Bullish Luck and had won five Group/Grade 1 victories in Hong Kong and Japan as well a third in the Dubai World Cup (G1). Vino Veritas was also sold in foal to Val Royal, a son of Bullish Luck’s sire Royal Academy, and, of course, the sire of Cockney Rebel, who had that season won both the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas for Cunningham. The allure of Vino Veritas was obvious to Cunningham, and now looks to have been a very shrewd investment, given that he was also purchasing Slim Shadey in utero. Since foaling Slim Shadey in 2008, the mare has been in a monogamous relationship with Cunningham’s Guineas hero, producing a filly by Cockney Rebel in 2009, who, as Na Zdorovie, broke her maiden at Chester last August. Vino Veritas went on to foal a colt in 2010, a filly last year and is once again due to Cockney Rebel this year. Slim Shadey’s victory in the US was a homecoming of sorts – the family’s US roots date back to the 1920s when the Celt mare Marguerite, Slim Shadey’s eighth dam, was foaled at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. That mare earned her place in the record books as dam of the 1930 US Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox, still the only US Triple Crown winner to sire another achiever of that feat, as well as the Middle Park Stakes winner Foxbrough, and two outstanding US handicap performers in Fighting Fox and Petee-Wrack. Slim Shadey’s fifth dam, Margarethen (Tulyar), was also a top-class performer who also proved her worth at stud, in the broodmare band of Nelson Bunker Hunt. Her progeny included the blue hen Doff The Derby, dam of the Classic winners Generous and Imagine, as well as the Prix Ganay (G1) heroine Trillion, who was named the US champion grass mare of 1979 and champion older mare in France. She also, of course, went on to produce the mighty Triptych, winner of nine Group 1s in France, Britain and Ireland.
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