Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
It will be very early by the Australian clock on Thursday morning when the Listed Windsor Castle S. is run at Royal Ascot but, for insomniacs and diehards alike, the effort to stay up will be worth it.
Boonie, by Australian stallion Brazen Beau from the Shamardal (USA) mare Dice Game (GB), will compete for Australian interests, namely Seymour Bloodstock Principal Darren Thomas and its manager, Mark Pilkington (FBAA).
“The background to this horse, Boonie, is really through Merchant Navy,” Pilkington said. “We were the managing owners in him and, after he won the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot, we’d all had a great time, met Lizzie (Her Majesty The Queen) and agreed we wanted a new horse so that we could all come back.”
Darren Thomas and Mark Pilkington | Image courtesy of Mark Pilkington
When Merchant Navy headed to stud, Seymour Bloodstock decided to invest in Northern Hemisphere mares to support the new stallion at Coolmore, and Pilkington, along with British-based agent Hubie de Burgh and significant input from fellow agent Will Johnson (FBAA), selected Dice Game.
The mare was unraced, and a moderate 2-year-old purchase in 2017 at 6000 gns (AU$11,970). In 2018, she cost Pilkington little more than that when he bought her for 9000 gns (AU$17,955) at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
“We bought Dice Game, who was in foal to Brazen Beau, and that foal has subsequently proved to be Boonie,” Pilkington said. “Merchant Navy didn’t end up shuttling up in the Northern Hemisphere, so we suddenly had this mare to breed, and we put her to Starspangledbanner, and then Zoustar.”
“We bought Dice Game, who was in foal to Brazen Beau, and that foal has subsequently proved to be Boonie." - Mark Pilkington
Both of those foals were fillies, with Seymour Bloodstock likely to race them both in Europe and, as for Dice Game, she wasn’t covered last season.
“We left her empty thinking we were going to bring her home to Australia for a Southern Hemisphere covering,” Pilkington said. “But in the interim, we put Boonie into work, and when the horse debuted and won at Beverley about six or eight weeks ago, it’s fair to say we were very excited.”
Starspangledbanner x Dice Game (GB) (filly) at Norelands Stud
Proverbial Boon
Two-year-old colt Boonie is trained in Yorkshire by Kevin Ryan, who handled Hello Youmzain (Fr) for a Royal Ascot win in the G1 Diamond Jubilee last year.
That horse, now a stallion in partnership with Haras d’Etreham in France and Cambridge Stud in New Zealand, was loosely connected to Seymour Bloodstock, with Cambridge Stud’s Brendan Lindsay a broodmare partner with the group.
Because of that alliance, Ryan was given Boonie to train, and the colt debuted at Beverley in mid-April over five furlongs, winning convincingly by over 3l with jockey Kevin Stott in the saddle.
The pair next stepped out at Musselburgh in early June, falling short by just a neck to finish second to Mehmas (Ire) colt Secret Strength (Ire).
He will face a big field on Wednesday at the Royal meeting, with 24 horses set for the Listed Windsor Castle S. over 1100 metres. Previous winners of the race include the Queen’s horse Tactical (GB) (Toronado {Ire}) last year, and American sprinter Hootenanny (USA) (Quality Road {USA}) for Wesley Ward in 2014.
Mark Pilkington and Darren Thomas | Image courtesy of Mark Pilkington
Swings and roundabouts
Seymour Bloodstock’s Northern Hemisphere stock is kept at Norelands Stud, in picturesque Kilkenny, Ireland. The property is run by Harry and Elizabeth McCalmont, and it’s home to Dice Game for the time being.
“On the back of Converge winning the G1 JJ Atkins S. on Saturday, who is a Frankel out of a Shamardal mare, we’re now thinking of putting her to Frankel to Southern Hemisphere time, and bringing her down here,” Pilkington said.
It’s a strong plan, because the Juddmonte stallion is doing well in Australia.
“The other link is that we raced Mirage Dancer, who was Frankel’s first Group 1 winner in Australia,” Pilkington added. “We bought him off Juddmonte a couple of years ago, and he won the G1 Metropolitan last spring for us. We loved Frankel anyway, but all these weird and quirky things are connecting this story now, and it’s just making sense for us.”
Frankel (GB) | Standing at Juddmonte Farms
The group has enjoyed plenty of success.
Recent high-flyers include Fierce Impact (Jpn), who will debut as a sire at Leneva Park this season, as well as He’s Our Rokkii (NZ) (Roc De Cambes {NZ}) and Risque (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}). Each were Group 1 winners.
Seymour Bloodstock has also had a significant presence in the ring in both hemispheres, buying six yearlings by Merchant Navy this year, and an Oasis Dream (Ire) half-sister to the multiple Group 1-winning European mare Enticing (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}). She was purchased for Merchant Navy also.
“From the perspective of Seymour Bloodstock, it’s all come full circle a bit,” Pilkington said. “We were at Royal Ascot, we won the Queen’s race with Merchant Navy, and that was the catalyst to buy a few mares to send to him up there. We couldn’t do that, but the resultant progeny is now running at Royal Ascot anyway, and we’re really excited about that.”
For Seymour Bloodstock, the whole story has been a case of swings and roundabouts, and the group finds itself represented once again at Royal Ascot, as it promised it would in 2018.
Merchant Navy provided a memorable, overwhelming experience in 2018, one that Pilkington is only too happy to recall this week in verse and song.
Watch: The Merchant Navy music video
