By Adam Houghton
Described by trainer William Haggas last week as being “eminently more sensible than me”, owner-breeder James Wigan is nonetheless allowing himself to dream of bigger and bigger things with star filly Lilt (Lope De Vega), the impressive winner of Friday's Listed Sky Bet Fillies' Stakes at York.
“I was really pleased with her,” added Haggas on Friday, watching on from afar at Newbury. “I'm really thrilled for James, he puts such a lot in. I've put her in the Coronation, so I suspect we've got nothing to lose by having a go at that. But James is eminently more sensible than me, so we'll talk about it.”
Three days on, Wigan reveals that no such conversation has taken place thus far, whilst giving little indication that he'll be the one to temper Haggas's ambition, should the Somerville Lodge handler remain inclined to roll the big dice and pitch Lilt into the G1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
“William has always held her in quite high esteem and it was just very exciting to see it confirmed on the racecourse,” Wigan says of Lilt, whose six vanquished rivals on the Knavesmire included four last-time-out winners, with the only exceptions being last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up Pacific Mission (Lope De Vega) and April's G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes third Act Of Kindness (Siyouni).
“It was only her second race and it looked rather a good field for a Listed race, but we were hopeful because she'd always shown herself to be a nice filly at home,” Wigan continues.
“She ran a bit green and took a bit of time to get the hang of things. I thought that the leader [So Regal] was gone beyond recall, but she won nicely in the end, once she got going. She's obviously still learning, but I would have thought that the race will bring her on quite a bit. It's an exciting time ahead.”
Now unbeaten in two starts, having made a winning debut in a Doncaster maiden last October, Lilt was already an important filly for Wigan, long before she ever stepped foot on a racecourse. The final foal out of his homebred champion Dank (Dansili) – the winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and GI Beverly D. Stakes in 2013 – Lilt is said to be the spitting image of her dam, who died of colic a matter of weeks after this filly was weaned.
“She certainly did, very much so,” Wigan confirms when it's put to him that Dank must have held a special place in his heart. “And I've always loved her [Lilt] because she looks very much like the mare. She was much more like her than any of the others.
“The two girls that looked after Dank at Sir Michael Stoute's, they both rang [Wigan's wife] Anita after the race and said that they couldn't believe how similar she was. It's extraordinary.”
Equally extraordinary is the success that the team at West Blagdon Stud continues to enjoy with this family, an involvement spanning more than three decades since Wigan bought the unraced Darshaan mare Masskana for 48,000gns at Tattersalls in 1994.
Herself a daughter of the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Masarika (Thatch), Masskana went on to produce three top-level winners, with Dank being joined on that illustrious roll of honour by the Hong Kong Cup scorer Eagle Mountain (Rock Of Gibraltar) and the Prix Marcel Boussas heroine Sulk (Selkirk).
“She was a lovely mare. She bred three Group 1 winners and we were very lucky to have her,” Wigan adds of Masskana. “People always say that you shouldn't buy the produce of an old mare, but Masskana was 21 when she foaled Dank. Sulk was quite a lot earlier – she was the champion two-year-old in France in 2001.”
As for the young mares coming through the ranks at his Dorset base, Wigan is already breeding from two of Lilt's half-sisters, including the dual Listed winner and G2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes third Doom (Dubawi).
He continues, “We have Doom, who William Haggas also trained. She's got her first foal at foot, a Frankel colt, and she is back in foal to him. We've got her and we've got a Galileo filly called Dusk, who didn't manage to win a race but was placed a few times. She's got a Too Darn Hot filly at foot and is in foal to Ghaiyyath.
“Luckily, I've learned my lesson about letting fillies go, then finding that something happens to the mare and you haven't got any daughters. I do tend to make sure now that one covers that base.”
There, Wigan somewhat betrays the sensible streak that Haggas was talking about. In fairness, it rather comes with the territory when you've spent decades in the sport as an owner-breeder, even for a husband-and-wife combination currently going through a golden spell. Indeed, Wigan's wife, Anita, was the proud breeder of another big-race winner in her own name recently, namely the G3 Derby Trial Stakes hero James J Braddock (Zarak).
“We all know that you can be brought down to earth very quickly,” adds a realistic Wigan, before allowing himself to dream again. “But one is always dreaming of the future. That's the great thing about racing, isn't it?
“Where we go next [with Lilt], I honestly don't know. Apart from getting a text from William to say that she was fine after arriving home, I haven't had chance to speak to him to discuss the next step.
“She was obviously staying on very strongly at York. I would have thought that a mile and a quarter would be her trip, but she's obviously got the speed for a mile, too. The options are open at the moment. We just have to not rush things too much, but she's certainly big enough and strong enough to hope that she'll continue to improve.
“Hopefully, there will be a few nice races that we can look at.”
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