First Foals By Brilliant Blackbeard Debut At Goffs

The first foals by No Nay Never’s top-class juvenile Blackbeard will make their sales debut next week at the Goffs November Foal Sale.

Of the Blackbeard foals catalogued, seven are siblings of Stakes horses and four are out of black-type mares. An expected highlight is Grange Hill Stud’s Blackbeard half-sister to Group 3 winner Zihba (Choisir), who finished fourth in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

Stanley Lodge offer a Blackbeard half-brother to this year’s Listed-winning juvenile Benevento (Wootton Bassett). The pair are out of Group 2 winner and Group 1 performer Pollyana.

The Castlebridge Consignment’s draft includes two Blackbeard siblings of Stakes horses, including Group 3 winner and Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes runner-up Marshman. The consignment also features a Blackbeard colt out of the Grade 2-placed Karakatsie.

One of Blackbeard’s first foals in the ring is Boherguy Stud’s colt out of an own-sister to Telescope (Galileo). He is followed by Rochestown Lodge Stud’s half-brother to Group 3 performer Abrantas, out of an own-sister to the dam of Bayside Boy.

The Blackbeard filly from Graigue Stables boasts another attractive pedigree, her dam Princess Sinead having placed in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. Baroda Stud later offer a half-brother to dual Group winner Eternal Hope, out of a Dubawi sister to Rio De La Plata. Annshoon Stud continues the trend with a Blackbeard half-sister to two Stakes horses.

Blackbeard himself is well-bred, being one of two black-type horses out of his dam, while his juvenile full-brother Tunbridge Wells looks sure to add to the page with his current rating of 101. Their dam, Moyglare Stud Stakes fourth Muirin, is out of Group 3 winner Girouette.

Blackbeard sold for 270,000gns as a foal and went on to win his first three starts, two of them Stakes races. He added the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin to his CV next, before recording back-to-back Group 1 wins in the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes. He was the only dual Group 1-winning juvenile in Europe that year.

160 mares were scanned in foal to Blackbeard in his first season, including no less than 50 Group/Stakes performers or dams of Group/Stakes performers.