Our man at Newmarket Adam Houghton hails the success at stud of Mehmas, a colt who was strutting his stuff when the England football team was at its lowest.
A lot can happen in five years. Just look at the England football team who last night qualified for the final of the European Championships on Sunday, doing so exactly five years and 10 days after suffering a humiliating defeat to Iceland at the last 16 stage of the same tournament.
The victory of Mehmas in the July Stakes, five years to the day yesterday, isn’t quite so easily recalled, but it was brought into sharper focus this afternoon after son Lusail followed in his footsteps with a narrow success in the latest renewal of that Group 2 prize.
It may have been only five years ago but, in truth, Mehmas’ racing career is unlikely to resonate with many people. He was boldly campaigned as a two-year-old, winning four of his eight starts and filling the runner-up spot behind The Last Lion (of three, naturally) in the Middle Park Stakes, but the decision to then retire him to stud, without giving him the opportunity to show what he can do as a three-year-old, was inevitably greeted with a degree of dismay.
However, just like the decision to replace Roy Hodgson as England manager with Gareth Southgate - via Sam Allardyce - subsequent events have shown that to be a wise move indeed.
Mehmas has proved a total revelation at stud, notably siring 55 individual winners in Europe in 2020 to make him the most successful first-season sire in history. There has been plenty of quality to compliment the quantity, too, with Supremacy (Richmond Stakes and Middle Park Stakes) and Minzaal (Gimcrack Stakes) both winning in pattern company last season before Lusail became the latest to add his name to that list on Thursday.
In total, Mehmas has already sired eight horses who have achieved a Timeform rating of 110+, which is particularly impressive given that his first crop is still aged just three. His other star progeny include recent listed winner Line of Departure, who will clash with Supremacy in Saturday’s July Cup, and Mehmento, who is also set to bid for Group 1 honours in Sunday’s Prix Jean Prat at Deauville.
As for Lusail, he went into the July Stakes with a Timeform rating of 98p and it will be interesting to see just how close he gets to that 110-marker when the Timeform handicapper has his say on this performance. He is clearly a colt to be keep on the right side and, unlike his sire Mehmas, there could be plenty more big days in him yet, with trainer Richard Hannon remarking “I don’t think he’s just a two-year-old”.
There are countless people on the Sporting Life staff who are better placed than me to discuss the foundations of England’s success at the Euros, but a defensive unit which has conceded just one goal – and none from open play – in six games has clearly played no small part, with a strong Yorkshire influence running right through it.
Three of the back four who started the semi-final were born in Yorkshire, as well as holding midfielder Kalvin Phillips, whose tireless efforts protecting the back line have earned him plenty of plaudits during the course of the tournament.
Of course, Leeds United’s Philips is the only one of that quartet who still plays his club football in the White Rose county, with Kyle Walker and John Stones (both Manchester City), along with Harry Maguire (Manchester United), all having moved on to pastures new some time ago.
Anyway, back to my preferred area of expertise and it was arguably racing’s most famous export from Yorkshire, Newmarket-based trainer William Haggas, who was expected to win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes, with Al Aasy starting the 2/1-on favourite to go one better than when beaten so narrowly in the Coronation Cup on his previous start.
In the event, however, it was Mark Johnston, a man born in Scotland but based in Yorkshire for more than 30 years, who plundered the Group 2 prize, doing so for the second time in three years and the sixth time in total courtesy of Sir Ron Priestley.
It was a welcome tonic for Johnston after the injury to Gold Cup winner Subjectivist – one which has ruled him out for at least the rest of the season – and the front-running Sir Ron Priestley demonstrated the same resilience which had seen Johnston’s homeland hold England to a 0-0 draw in the group stages of the Euros.
Al Aasy moved up to challenge entering the final furlong, but Sir Ron Priestley was not to be denied, digging deep all the way to the line to win by a neck and earn lavish praise from jockey Franny Norton, who dubbed his willing partner “a proper warrior”.
Despite Al Aasy’s agonizing defeat, Haggas didn’t leave what is his local course these days empty-handed as Baaeed produced arguably the most impressive performance of the day to win the Sir Henry Cecil Stakes, showing speed that Raheem Sterling would be proud of to sprint clear inside the final two furlongs.
Baaeed is now unbeaten in three starts and this four-length defeat of Maximal, a good fourth in the St James’s Palace Stakes on his previous start, identifies him as potentially a colt right out of the top drawer. He would need to be supplemented for the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, which is perhaps unlikely given that the race is now less than three weeks away, but that is almost certainly the sort of company he will be keeping in the not too distant future.
“He’s an exciting horse,” conceded Haggas afterwards. “I thought it was a really good listed contest today, so to do that, come from the back and show a nice turn of foot, is a good sign. I don’t know where we’ll go, but I won’t miss a good entry.”
Win, lose or draw for England on Sunday, it’s horses like Baaeed who will ensure that lovers of both sports have plenty to look forward to in the weeks and months to come.
