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Ten of the Brocklesby field had been through the ring as yearlings, with their median price only 10,000 guineas, suggesting there might not have been much depth to the race.
But there was certainly a wide spread of prices, from the 1,500 guineas of the Mondialiste colt Jiffy Boy who virtually paid for himself by finishing third, to the €225,000 Amo Racing had spent on PERSIAN FORCE, who cost comfortably more than all the other auction purchases in the field combined.
The Richard Hannon-trained son of Mehmas duly proved a class apart from his rivals in pulling clear to win by almost five lengths.
Persian Force is bred to be a sharp sort as he’s a full brother to last year’s useful juvenile for the Hannon stable Gubbass who made a winning debut himself in the early weeks of the season at Leicester before going on to win the Super Sprint at Newbury.
Their unraced dam Vida Amorosa is a half-sister to the dam of smart sprinter Garrus who was fourth in the Listed Cammidge Trophy later on the Doncaster card.
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Ireland’s equivalent of the Brocklesby looked to have a bit more quality about it with three expensive yearlings in the line-up, including New Bay's son Forceful Speed, another Amo Racing purchase at 260,000 guineas, and Midnight Toker, a €330,000 son of Acclamation.
The Kingman filly Finsceal Go Deo was listed as having been sold for €500,000 at Goffs but she carries the colours of her breeder Micheal Ryan who also campaigned her very smart dam Finsceal Beo to win the 1000 Guineas both at Newmarket and the Curragh.
That trio, however, had to settle for minor honours behind the Jessica Harrington filly OCEAN QUEST who got her first-season sire Sioux Nation off to an ideal start.
She’s speedily bred too, as her fairly useful half-brother Rhythm of Zain won three times over five furlongs in Ireland as a two-year-old last year. There’s more stamina a bit further back in the pedigree as their useful grandam Zain Al Boldan contested the Oaks after winning the Lingfield Trial.
As well as Ocean Quest’s dam Gold Zain, a winner in Italy, Zain Al Boldan has produced the smart German 2000 Guineas winner Poetic Dream and the French filly Who Knows, a useful two-year-old last year who won the Group 3 Prix Francois Boutin at Deauville.
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The stand-out on pedigree in this field was the Ballydoyle filly TOY, a promising runner-up in a similar event over course and distance last October. She had to settle for second again here behind fellow Irish 1000 Guineas entry Perfect Thunder but seven furlongs is probably on the short side now for the daughter of Galileo and a step up to a mile should help her maintain her dam’s 100% record of producing winners in due course.
Giant’s Causeway proved a top-class colt for Ballydoyle before becoming leading sire in North America on three occasions. But his smart sister You’resothrilling, whose wins included the Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket, has left quite a legacy at stud too.
Remarkably, all seven of Toy’s brothers and sisters have earned a Timeform rating of at least 111, the most recent to do so being Joan of Arc who won this same maiden last year on the way to finishing second in the Irish 1000 Guineas and winning the Prix de Diane
Joan of Arc was beaten a short head in the Irish 1000 Guineas, but that classic was won by her dam’s first foal Marvellous in 2014.
Better still followed a year later when the high-class Gleneagles won the 2000 Guineas, Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes, while Group 3 winner Coolmore, Australian Group 2 winner The Taj Mahal, the Moyglare and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Happily and the Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Vatican City have all added to their dam’s impressive broodmare record.
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The first three-year-old maiden on turf of the year in Britain has thrown up some good horses in the past, including in 2019 when the first two, Bangkok and Telecaster, ended up in the Derby field after going on to win the Sandown Classic Trial and Dante respectively.
There were some eye-catching pedigrees in this year’s line-up, notably Togai, a son of Germany’s Arc and King George winner Danedream, Almuhit, a brother to the Oaks and King George winner Taghrooda, and General Idea, by Galileo out of the Australian Group 1-winning sprinter Sweet Idea.
The latter pair were making their debuts and reached the frame but victory went to form-horse GROUNDBREAKER for Bangkok's trainer Andrew Balding, a German-bred colt whose pedigree combines speed and stamina. He's by sprinter Oasis Dream while his dam Guajara is by Montjeu and was a useful winner at up to a mile and a half, including in a Listed race at Milan.
Groundbreaker becomes his dam's third winner after the fairly useful six/seven-furlong winner Gambon (by Dutch Art) and useful mile and a quarter winner Jaramillo (also by Oasis Dream) who was placed over hurdles last month.
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