NAVAL CROWN X ALNAAS

 We are delighted to have secured Lot 227, a Naval Crown filly out of the Dansili mare Alnaas, at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale. She will join Karl Burke, one of the leading trainers of two-year-olds, as we look to build another exciting team for 2027.

Naval Crown is making an encouraging impression with his first two-year-olds on the track in 2026. The Royal Ascot Group 1-winning son of Dubawi has already produced Sea Of Rain, winner of the Group 3 Flame Of Tara Stakes, and Hell Of A Spin, who has been placed at Group 2 level. Seeing a filly achieve Group success in his very first crop is particularly encouraging for our latest purchase. 

Her dam, Alnaas, won a maiden as a two-year-old, providing evidence of juvenile ability on the female side of the pedigree. She is a daughter of Dansili, whose established quality as a broodmare sire adds further appeal. Naval Crown himself is out of a Dansili mare, underlining the influence this bloodline has had at the highest level. 

Our filly also follows Weleyff, a nice type out of the same mare who has already won twice as a juvenile and ran to a mark of 86. Nick places considerable emphasis on the view that mares can produce their best offspring in consecutive years, making the youngster following a promising sibling particularly interesting. This purchase bears similarities to Ellusive Butterfly, where the same thinking helped shape his assessment. It is an angle Nick strongly believes in and another reason for his enthusiasm about this filly.

There is an encouraging comparison with Dance A Jig, another winner from Naval Crown’s first crop. He is out of Strictly Dancing, a daughter of Danehill Dancer, while our filly’s dam is by fellow Danehill son Dansili. Dance A Jig therefore offers an early example of Naval Crown working with a Danehill-line mare. 

Tattersalls Ireland has already provided memorable success for Nick Bradley Racing. Dandalla, bought for just €22,000, won the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes for Karl Burke. She is a particularly relevant example of what this sale, our ownership team and Karl can achieve together. 

Another standout was Corazon, an £11,000 purchase from the September Sale who went on to win the Group 3 Prix d’Arenberg at ParisLongchamp. These are the types of purchases that keep us returning: fillies capable of progressing well beyond their auction price and giving owners days to remember. 

Karl also targets this sale with the valuable Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes in mind. Alparslan won the 2025 renewal at the Curragh and there has been many others who have gone over to pick up valuable prize money for a race that often lacks depth. Arkinthestars also ran in the race on debut for us picking up four figure prize money and giving her owners an excellent trip across the Irish sea.

We thank Karl for showing his support by taking a large share in this filly, we approached the sale slightly different this year looking to add quality rather than quantity and our shortlist for day one was only around ten fillies long, so we were pleased when this filly was also earmarked on the shortlist of the Burke's.

This filly is a strong, powerful individua who we expect to be ready in the summer, starting over six furlongs before making the step up to seven furlongs. We have done well in previous seasons with similiar types, targeting the lucrative £30,000 restricted novices vefore hopefully stepping onto the £100,000 Fillies Final at Goodwood, a race we have a very good record in and that record should continue in 2026 with three runners. As eluded to above, she will also be targeted at the Tattersalls Ireland Sales race so this filly is going to have plenty of opportunities to collect some good prize money.