mehmas x diamond and gold

We are delighted to have secured Lot 1233 at Tattersalls Book Two, a daughter of Mehmas who will join Tom Clover, a trainer enjoying a tremendous season and producing outstanding results with his two-year-olds.

Mehmas is one of the most exciting sources of speed and juvenile talent in Europe. His record already includes Middle Park winner Supremacy, Sprint Cup winner Minzaal, National Stakes winner Scorthy Champ and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Magnum Force. These are horses who have delivered on some of racing’s biggest stages, establishing Mehmas as a stallion capable of producing exceptional performers.

For us, his record with fillies is particularly appealing. Going Global won the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks, Vertical Blue captured the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at two, and Believing developed into a Group 1-winning sprinter. Mehmas can produce precocious juveniles, but his best daughters also demonstrate the ability to progress and thrive beyond their first season. That combination makes owning a filly by him a very attractive proposition.

This filly is out of Diamond And Gold, a daughter of Gleneagles, bringing Galileo’s influence into the pedigree. The Mehmas–Gleneagles cross is still in its infancy, but the ratings of 76 and 99, the latter achieved by a filly, provide encouraging early evidence. It is a developing cross with plenty still to discover.

There is already stronger evidence behind Mehmas’s compatibility with the wider Galileo line. The Waco Kid, winner of the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes, is out of a Galileo mare. Through Galileo’s son New Approach, Mehmas has produced Scorthy Champ, Group 2-winning filly Malavath, and Group 3 winner Knight. These are distinct versions of the mating, but they give us sound reasons to be interested in combining Mehmas’s speed with this influential family of stallions.

Considering Mehmas stands for £75,000 per cover fee, it is amazing that we have managed to pick up a filly who is a stand out physical for less than the cover fee. As Nick mentions in his voice note above, he would have been gutted if he was the vendor but the back end of the third day had started to turn in the buyers favour with several of the big trainers and purchasers leaving the complex.

Whilst we haven't had deep enough pocket's to buy too many by Mehmas, when we have we've found a couple of nice ones, namely Listed winner Bellarchi who has won thirteen races for us and three time winner, The Resdev Scholar.

Tom Clover is having a huge year with his juveniles. His published figures show 11 wins from 37 two-year-old starts — a strike rate of almost 30% — with eight winners from 15 individual juveniles. More than half of those youngsters have won, an excellent return that underlines the strength of his team. His yard has also already surpassed its previous best annual tally of winners.

We have experienced that ability first-hand through our own Tiora Time, who overcame trouble in running to win her Doncaster maiden by three lengths for Nick Bradley Racing. Seeing Tom develop and place our horses successfully gives us every confidence in sending him this latest addition.

A daughter of an outstanding sire, an encouraging pedigree combination and a trainer getting excellent results with his young horses — there is a great deal to look forward to with this filly.