Cheveley Heritage To Shine At Tatts

CHEVELEY HERITAGE TO SHINE AT TATTS 
by Lucas Marquardt 
David and Patricia Thompson’s Cheveley Park Stud marches into Tattersalls December with an attractive, varied draft. Next week’s broodmare offerings include four daughters of Group 1 winners–two of whom are in foal to Cheveley Park’s star sire Pivotal (GB). Among 28 catalogued weanlings this week are 11 by Pivotal, as well as several weanlings from the first crop of another Cheveley Park sire, the G1 July Cup hero Mayson (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). 

But it’s a homebred colt from the first crop of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) who could steal the show for Cheveley Park. The colt, Lot 1059, is a son of the talented racefilly Red Bloom (GB) (Selkirk), who carried Cheveley Park’s red, blue and white colors to victory in the G1 Fillies’ Mile S. Red Bloom is the dam of two winners from two to race, including the 3-year-old filly Sea the Bloom (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). 

“He’s quite flashy,” said Cheveley Park Stud’s Managing Director Chris Richardson. “He’s a well-balanced, easy-moving chestnut with a white blaze and two quite tall white socks behind. I suppose he’s got a little influence from Selkirk, his dam’s sire. We have two colts by Frankel, and it was Patricia Thompson’s suggestion that we put one of the two colts in this sale.” 

The colt is one of four Frankel weanlings at Tattersalls. Four others were put before buyers at Goffs, highlighted by the €1.8 million (US$2,260,620) filly from Finsceal Beo (Ire) that set a new record for a foal in Ireland. Dermot Farrington Bloodstock made the winning bid. Another Frankel filly, out of GSW Discreet Brief (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}), made €460,000, while the other two RNA’d for €375,000 and €650,000, respectively. 

“We primarily offer yearling colts and race the fillies,” explained Richardson when asked about the decision to sell the Red Bloom colt as a weanling. “This was just an experiment, really, on the back of the success Frankel has had, and there are only four foals by Frankel in the sale here. The yearling market was very strong here, so we decided to give it a shot.” 

The Roots of Success, Aged 27 Years… 
The Frankel–Red Bloom colt could be another feather in the cap this year for Cheveley Park Stud, which is currently the seventh-ranked owner in Britain. The racing stable, based primarily with Sir Michael Stoute, has been led by the 4-year-old Integral (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire})–winner of this year’s G1 Sun Chariot S. and G1 Falmouth S. Cheveley Park-bred horses, meanwhile, included the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Garswood (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), who, it was recently announced, will join his sire at Cheveley Park for the 2015 breeding season at a fee of £7,000. 
Interestingly, the roots of the Frankel–Red Bloom colt, and of Integral, trace back to three important additions that Cheveley Park made in 1987. The first was Richardson, a smart Brit with international experience who, after five years of steering Flaxman Holdings’ interests in the States, took over as managing director. The other two additions were of the equine variety. Namely, the broodmares Exclusive Order (Exclusive Native), great-granddam of Integral; and Cerise Bouquet (GB) (Mummy’s Pet {GB}), the great-granddam of the Frankel colt. Although purchased for vastly different sums, both would make indelible marks on Cheveley Park’s legacy. 

At the 1987 Keeneland January Sale, Cheveley Park Stud’s then-bloodstock advisor David Minton paid just $16,000 for the 5-year-old broodmare prospect Cerise Bouquet. Cerise Bouquet didn’t have much going on in her immediate family at that point, but that would soon change. A few months later, her brother Ibn Bey (GB) (Mill Reef) won the G1 Gran Premio d’Italia, and three other Group 1’s in subsequent seasons. American race fans know Ibn Bey as the 38-1 longshot who ran second behind Unbridled in the 1990 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. Another of Cerise Bouquet’s siblings, Roseate Tern (GB) (Blakeney {GB}), later won the G1 Yorkshire Oaks. 

Cerise Bouquet lived up to her blossoming bloodlines. In 1994, she produced the English juvenile highweight Red Camellia (GB) (Polar Falcon), who, racing for Cheveley Park, won the G3 Prestige S. and finished third in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. Red Camellia, in turn, produced the stakes winner Red Gala (GB) (Sinndar {Ire}) and, more significantly, Red Bloom. A few months ago, at Tattersalls October, Cheveley Park sold an Acclamation yearling colt from Red Bloom to John Ferguson for 200,000gns. 

Cheveley Park Stud had to pay considerably more for Exclusive Order, going to $825,000 for the French Group 2 winner–in foal to Shadeed–at the ‘87 Keeneland November Sale. But in the end, she proved just as much of a bargain as Cerise Bouquet. Cheveley Park bred four stakes winners out of Exclusive Order, including the G1 2000 Guineas winner and English highweight Entrepreneur (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) and the G1 Coronation S. winner Exclusive (GB) (Polar Falcon). If Entrepreneur disappointed as a sire, Exclusive has been a top producer for Cheveley Park. Amongst her daughters is the Group 1 winner and dual champion Echelon (GB) (Danehill), who in turn is the dam of Integral, the aforementioned winner of the Sun Chariot and Falmouth. 

“It’s very satisfying,” said Richardson. “We started out trying to buy some quality mares that, hopefully, could lay a foundation on which to build. In this case, it worked.” 

Richardson confirmed that Integral, who is trained by Sir Michael Stoute, will be back to race at five. 

Quality on Parade… 
Cheveley Park’s commitment to quality female pedigrees is in evidence at Tattersalls. Amongst the mares it sells are: 

Lot 1555, the unraced 3-year-old Pivotal Era (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), a half-sister to Cheveley Park’s homebred champion Danehurst (GB) (Danehill); 
Lot 1738, the 4-year-old Maria Lombardi (GB) (Medicean {GB}), a winning daughter of Grade I winner Fabulously Fast (Deputy Minister) who sells in foal to Pivotal (GB); and 
Lot 1740, the 4-year-old Privacy Order (GB) (Azamour {Ire}), a daughter of the 2006 G1 Prix de Diane winner Confidential Lady (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) who sells in foal to Pivotal (GB). 

It isn’t just the mares that reflect that commitment. It’s also evident in the female pedigrees of the homebred weanlings Cheveley Park Stud brings to Tattersalls. That might be expected for those by Pivotal (GB), who will stand for ?45,000 in 2015. Perhaps less so for Mayson (GB), however, a £6,000 stallion who Cheveley Park has thrown its support behind. 

“We don’t have the finances to buy a lot of the progeny, but we can support the stallions by sending top-quality mares to them,” explained Richardson. “We have some very attractive foals by Mayson that we will sell next year as yearlings, including a three-quarter-brother to champion Hooray (Ire), who won the G1 Cheveley Park S.; and a half-brother to Supplicant (Kyllachy {GB}), who won the G2 Mill Reef S. at Newbury. But we also wanted to bring some nice ones to Tattersalls to show the sort of individual he can get.” 

Richardson said some of the Maysons to keep an eye on include: 

Lot 475, a colt from Abandon (Rahy), a winning half to the G1 Caulfield Cup and G1 Metropolitan H. winner Tawqeet (Kingmambo). “He’s a nice individual, and represents the shape and type that this exciting new sire is producing,” said Richardson. “Mayson himself is a good mix of his sire Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Pivotal. Being out of a Pivotal mare, he’s got that lovely head, which is typical of the Nureyev line. He’s got nice balance and good depth, and a lovely walk, and you’re really seeing that in his foals.” 
Lot 765, a colt from Cardrona (GB) (Selkirk). “The mare was a 165,000gns yearling purchase [at Tattersalls in 2009] and is a full-sibling to a very useful stakes-winning filly named Selinka (GB),” said Richardson. “We sold the mare’s first foal, a colt by Kyllachy (GB), for 30,000gns last December, and he was bought this year [at Tattersalls October] by Shadwell for 130,000gns.” 

Based on just under 1,000 acres in Newmarket, Cheveley Park Stud has become a “center of speed” for European breeders, said Richardson, who said that everyone at Cheveley Park remains committed to the product. “The Thompsons have owned Cheveley Park for 39 years, and the team around me has been here nearly as long as I have,” he said. “It’s quality and not quantity, in regards to what we’re doing. We just keep our heads down, and keep trying to be competitive with some of the bigger operations.”