Fresh Frontier for LNJ Foxwoods

It is not a bad way to introduce yourself to a new theatre of operations. When the Roth family gave 700,000 guineas for his yearling sister at Tattersalls 18 months ago, they could only hope for the best from Zoffany (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) as an unproven stallion then standing at €7,500. In the event, the remarkable achievements of his first crop last year not only earned Zoffany a sixfold increase in his 2014 fee, but also gave an immense boost to the value of the filly who this weekend opens a fresh frontier for one of the international bloodstock market's most purposeful new investors.

Landikusic (Ire) (Dansili {GB}), trained by Jim Bolger, is set to make her debut at Gowran Park on Sunday–and the beauty of the situation, for the Roths' LNJ Foxwoods Partnership, is that anything she achieves on the racecourse, whether in this maiden race or down the line, can be treated more or less as pure “gravy.” In common with all the foundation stock found for the Roths by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt, Landikusic is already a priceless prospect for the paddocks, no matter how things play out in her first career.

Named for the Lexington-based equine artist, Katherine Landikusic, she was bought–and left–in Europe to help provide a better centre of gravity for the bloodlines assembled by Solis and Litt for Jaime Roth and her parents, Larry and Nanci, in a whirlwind assault on the sales since 2012.

While most of LNJ's initial investment was in their native USA, and soon produced a Grade I winner in Nickname (Scat Daddy), they also bought mares in Australia and France–notably half-sisters to Goldikova (Fr) and Shamardal respectively, in Gold Round (Ire) (Caerleon) and Diamond Necklace (Unbridled's Song).

“We've always talked about how a lot of the great US pedigrees have actually been taken out of America,” Solis explains. “And we just wanted to balance everything out as much as possible. We've been very lucky, we've been allowed to travel the world to find the right horses for the high-end operation the Roths want to build: a boutique band of broodmares with really big pedigrees.”

Gold Round's daughter Golden Valentine (Fr) (Dalakhani {Ire}) has already laid down a marker as an LNJ home-bred in Europe. Winner of a Chantilly maiden for Freddy Head last autumn, she finished fifth on her reappearance at Compiegne on Thursday. In addition Head will soon be welcoming her half-sister by Redoute's Choice (Aus) to his yard, while last month he gave a debut to an Oasis Dream (GB) filly out of a sister to Sir Percy (GB).

Head trained Goldikova, of course, but it also helps that his family have been raising stock of their own at the Haras du Quesnay for over half a century. By the same token, his experience as a breeder underscored Bolger's eligibility to assist LNJ's expansion into Europe. “Jim understands everything we're trying to do,” Solis says. “I went over to Ireland a couple of times and one day some friends took me down to his yard. So there we were, checking it all out, and I just thought it was really neat, I was so impressed with Jim himself and the technology he uses. He's a pleasure to work with.”

It is Bolger, in fact, who will be receiving the son of War Front purchased by Solis and Litt for $675,000 at the OBS March Sale– a conspicuous departure from LNJ's first-phase emphasis on fillies and mares. Son of a champion sprinter in Maryfield (Elusive Quality), this colt clocked a breeze bettered, over two eighths, by only three others in a 600-strong catalogue. But he is being given the chance to confirm their sire's adaptability by following in the hoofprints, over European turf, of Air Force Blue.

Unraced at two, Landikusic herself has not been quite so precocious. “She has just been a little backward and immature,” Solis explains. “But she's a May foal, and Jim has just taken his time with her. He knows what we paid for her and, with Zoffany doing so well, just wanted to be sure that he gave her every shot. She's not going to be 100% Sunday, but Jim's happy that she's ready for a run. Obviously her brother has been unbelievable since we bought her. With each of those three Royal Ascot winners, last summer, we were getting more and more excited. Now we just hope he goes on and becomes a sire of good 3-year-olds, as well. But this filly was always a really nice type, before all that: a lovely physical, as well as a lovely page.”

Quite apart from their first Irish runner's potential contribution to the overall breeding strategy, the Roths are evidently not indifferent to the Turf's colourful Old World heritage. “We're all sportsmen,” Solis stresses. “That's why the War Front colt is going to Jim. We're definitely intrigued by European racing.”

And that sense of adventure pervades the whole enterprise.

“Every time we've pitched an idea to the Roths, they've never said no,” Solis says. “They've put us in a very special spot. While the plan is to sell the majority of colts, we're liable to race anything–including colts–so we'll be breeding first and foremost for the racehorse. We'll always be hoping to produce athletes, because the only way you're going to advance a family is to get them out on the track.”