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BREEDER OF THE MONTH – AUGUST
CHEVELEY PARK STUD Even by their own high standards, August was an outstanding month for David and Patricia Thompson’s Cheveley Park Stud. At the start of the month, their colours were carried to victory in a brace of Group races at Goodwood; Pilaster in the Group 2 Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes and Regal Reality in the Group 3 Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes. The latter is by Intello, one of eight stallions currently standing at Newmarket’s oldest stud farm. Their greatest stallion, Pivotal, sired his 28th individual Group 1 winner when Lightning Spear won the Sussex Stakes. Since purchasing the stud, the Thompsons have made a massive investment in every sector of the industry. As well as standing stallions and owning 140 broodmares, they keep more than 100 horses in training with 15 different trainers and are both buyers and sellers at bloodstock sales in Europe and North America. The stud’s policy is to sell some of their yearling colts and, inevitably, this can result in a Cheveley Park-bred horse achieving Group 1 success for another owner. Such was the case in August when Advertise, who was bought by Dermot Farrington at last year’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale for £60,000, won the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes in the colours of Phoenix Thoroughbred Limited. On his previous start, the son of Showcasing had won the Group 2 July Stakes at Newmarket, defeating the Cheveley Park-bred colt Konchek, a son of resident stallion Lethal Force. The consolation for the Thompsons is that their Pivotal mare Furbelow, the dam
Pilaster (left) beats Maid Up at Goodwood
of Advertise, has a Dream Ahead yearling filly, a Lethal Force colt foal and is in foal to their most recent stallion recruit, Ulysses. The fifth Duke of Rutland established Cheveley Park in the 19th century and bred four Classic winners. After going through several changes of ownership, it was bought out of receivership by the Thompsons in 1975. Their first stallion was the Gimcrack Stakes winner Music Boy, who became the leading first season sire in 1980. From only 270 acres in 1975, the stud has been expanded to almost 1,000 acres today. A significant factor in the successful growth of the business has been the stability provided by the longserving management team, with Managing Director Chris Richardson joining in 1987, Senior Manager John Marsh in 1988 and Stud Manager Andrew Snell in 1990. SPECIAL MERIT AWARD – AUGUST
MRS B.A. MATTHEWS Marie Matthews, who lives in Beverley, East Yorkshire, achieved an extraordinary
breeding feat when Alpha Delphini held on by the narrowest of margins to win the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York. The winner, a seven-year-old gelded son of Captain Gerrard, is a half-brother to Tangerine Trees, a gelding by Mind Games, who won the 2011 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. Like his halfbrother, he is trained by Bryan Smart for a syndicate that includes their breeder. The dam of these two Group 1 winners is Easy To Imagine, an unraced mare by Cozzene. She has also produced four other winners from as many runners by Lujain, Traditionally, Kuroshio and Sepoy. Matthews acquired the Gainsborough Stud-bred Easy To Imagine as an unraced two-year-old for 5,200gns at the Doncaster November Sales in 2002. “I chose her on my own judgement,” Matthews recalled. “I thought she had a wonderful pedigree and, despite being unraced, had the potential to make a broodmare.” Reflecting on the choice of Mickley Stud-based Captain Gerrard, Matthews said: “We were trying to keep the size of the offspring down a bit and it was quite a nice match on pedigree.” As she breeds to sell, both future Group 1 winners went through the sales ring. Tangerine Trees was bought back for £8,000 at the Doncaster October Yearling Sales and Alpha Delphini was bought by Oliver St Lawrence for 20,000gns at the Tattersalls October Book 2 Sale. As well as being a tribute to their breeder, the half-brothers are a fine testament to the skill of North Yorkshire trainer Smart, who has transformed a pair of 70-rated four-year-old geldings into Group 1 winners.
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