The European-Breds Capturing Memorial Day Grade 1s

Although the holiday weekend featured a lot of racing, the three days included just two grade 1 events that were both on turf, at Santa Anita Park on Memorial Day, and won by European-bred runners.

The nine-furlong Gamely Stakes (G1T) was dominated from start to finish by Be Your Best , who hit the wire with a comfortable 2 3/4 lengths to spare after cutting out some sharp early fractions.

Although she was foaled in Ireland, Be Your Best has spent her entire racing career in the United States. After winning an 8 1/2-furlong Saratoga Race Course maiden special on her debut at 2, all but one of her subsequent 19 starts have come in black-type events, 18 of those in graded stakes. Prior to the Gamely Stakes, she had won three of her last four outings: the Long Island Stakes (G3T), Suwannee River Stakes (G3T), and Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G2T). She also took the P. G. Johnson Stakes at 2, and her four graded placings include seconds in the American Oaks (G1T) and Del Mar Oaks (G1T).

Although she has won over distances as far as 11 furlongs, Be Your Best, is the daughter of a sprinter, in fact, a very good one. Her sire, Muhaarar, earned honors as 2015 champion European sprinter at 3, after capturing the Commonwealth Cup (G1), July Cup (G1), Prix Maurice de Gheest (G1), and British Champions Sprint Stakes (G1). A son of 2003 English champion 2-year-old colt and European champion sprinter Oasis Dream (by Green Desert), Muhaarar stood as a Shadwell stallion at the Nunnery Stud in Newmarket, England, from 2016 to 2021, moving to Haras des Faunes in Arveyes, France. 

After a slowish start, Muhaarar has turned out to be a very effective sire, and he’s responsible for 30 stakes winners from his first six crops, with Be Your Best being joined at the highest level by the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French Two Thousand Guineas, G1) captor Marhaba Ya Sanafi, and Eshaada, who was successful in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes (G1). His offspring seem to be well-suited to North American racing conditions and Be Your Best is joined as a graded stakes winner on this side of the Atlantic by Motorious , Bran , and Evening Sun .

Be Your Best is out of the unraced Medaglia d’Oro   mare, Kamakura, a full sister to the Alydar Stakes winner Bay of Plenty. Her second dam, Kotuku, is by A.P. Indy out of Flagbird, a Nureyev mare who earned a group 1 victory in the Premio Presidente della Repubblica (G1), and was also a group winner in Ireland and France, and two-time grade 1-placed in the U.S. Kotuku’s half sister, Dubai Belle, produced Ashland Stakes (G1) scorer Little Belle (by A.P. Indy), and in turn, Little Belle is dam of grade 1 winner Dickinson , who is by Medaglia d’Oro, and so very closely related to the dam of Be Your Best. Little Belle’s stakes-winning full sister, Dubai Dancer, is granddam of Munnyfor Ro , the Canadian champion 3-year-old filly of 2021. 

Flagbird’s A.P. Indy half sister, Runup the Colors , captured the 1997 Alabama Stakes (G1) and produced the 2013 Louisiana Derby (G1) scorer Revolutionary . Another half sister to Flagbird, Prospectors Delite, winner of the Ashland Stakes (G1) and Acorn Stakes (G1), produced a trio of A.P. Indy stakes winners, including 2003 Horse of the Year and champion older male Mineshaft   and two-time grade 1 scorer Tomisue’s Delight. A little further back, this family hails from the Striking branch of La Troienne.

King of Gosford  won his grade 1, the Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1T) in a different style to Be Your Best, closing from off the pace to score by a neck and a nose, and he’s traced a very different career arc, too. 

One win in six starts at 2, and that by a neck in a Nursery Handicap at Dundalk, seemed to stamp him as a fairly modest performer. A move to the U.S., however, marked a significant transition, and at 3 he took a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming test at Santa Anita, on his stateside debut, and then followed up with wins in the John Shear Stakes and Desert Code Stakes at the same venue. He continued the good work through the rest of his sophomore campaign with wins in the Mathis Mile Stakes (G2T) and Let It Ride Stakes, seconds in the Hollywood Derby (G1T) and La Jolla Handicap, and a third in Eddie D. Stakes (G2T). His only previous outing this term saw him take second, beaten just a half-length in the American Stakes (G3T).

King of Gosford is from a Northern Hemisphere crop sired by the Australian stallion Zoustar . A group 1-winning sprinter, Zoustar is by Northern Meteor (AUS), a brilliant sprinter and 2013 leading Australian freshman sire, who was represented by 24 stakes winners, six stakes winners from just four crops prior to his premature death. This male line comes down to Northern Meteor from Northern Dancer, via Fairy King—a full brother to Sadler’s Wells—and his son, twice leading Australian sire Encosta de Lago. Zoustar has rapidly emerged as one of Australia’s top sires and he’s already responsible for 60 stakes winners, eight of them grade 1. He’s been less impactful in Europe with four European shuttle crops producing only eight stakes winners, but they also include 2022 European champion 2-year-old filly Lezoo and last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) captor Starlust .

King of Gosford’s dam, Miss Sugars, broke her maiden at 2 in England and won the Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita the same season. She also took second in the Sweet Life Stakes and was third in the China Doll Stakes at 3. The granddam, Three Sugars, was a winner in England at 2, and is half sister to French listed scorer Kissing the Camera, and to Love And Laughter, who is the dam of both Wigmore Hall —whose successes include back-to-back wins in the 2011-12 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes (G1T)—and, Ocean Road , who captured the 2022 Gamely Stakes. Note that Wigmore Hall and Ocean Road are from the Sadler’s Wells line, so all three grade 1 winners from the immediate family are from the sire line of either Sadler’s Wells or his brother Fairy King. King of Gosford’s third dam, Hoh Dear, was another to race on both sides of the Atlantic, earning black-type in England with a win in the Empress Stakes, and adding graded laurels by taking the 1999 Natalma Stakes (G3T) at Woodbine.

King of Gosford’s grandsires, Northern Meteor and Harbour Watch, are both Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector crosses. In addition, he has the three-quarters related Fairy King and Nureyev 4×5, while Northern Meteor’s granddam, Scuff, is extremely closely related to the famed mare, Thong, who is the great-granddam of Fairy King and granddam of Nureyev.