Speightstown’s stakes-winning son Hathal earned his second added-money victory with a hard-fought victory in the Superior Mile S. (G3) Saturday at Haydock Racecourse in Great Britain.
Run in a driving rainstorm, Hathal was well-positioned in fourth for most of the contest until Frankie Detorri set the 4-year-old down for the final two furlongs. He caught the leader Convey (GB), then denied Mitchum Swagger (GB) the win by a head (VIDEO).
“(Trainer William Haggis) always loved this horse and his patience has paid off,” said Alison Begley, representing owner Al Shaqab Racing. “William said when the horse was coming back (off the layoff), the Queen Elizabeth II [G1, at Ascot Oct. 15] would be an end-of-season target. It’s probably getting extreme out there, but he does like a bit of cut in the ground.”
Hathal, winner of the Dubai Duty Free Cup at Newbury last year, is now 3-2-0 in seven starts and has earned $102,082. Bred in Kentucky by Tenth Street Stables, LLC, Hathal was a $275,000 purchase at the 2013 Keeneland September Yearling sale.
Hathal is one of Speightstown’s nine black-type winners in 2016, pushing his progeny earnings past the $5.2 million mark.
Pedigree notes courtesy of TDN
A son of the G1 1000 Guineas heroine Sleepytime, Hathal is a half-brother to four black-type performers headed by the G3 Winter Derby-winning sire Gentleman’s Deal (Ire). The second dam Alidiva was broodmare of the year in 1997 courtesy of the exploits of Sleepytime and also of her sire sons Ali-Royal (Ire), winner of that year’s G1 Sussex S., and Taipan (Ire), who captured the G1 Premio Roma, G1 Europa-Preis and G2 Grand Prix de Deauville in the same season. Her daughter Oonagh Maccool (Ire) (Giant’s Causeway) was later of the GII Louisville Breeders’ Cup H. and GII Rampart H. before producing two stakes performers herself. Sleepytime’s unraced full-sister Sometime (Ire) also established herself as a broodmare of distinction with four black-type performers headed by the G2 Ajax S., G3 Liverpool City Cup and G3 Neville Sellwood S. scorer Somewhat (Dynaformer) and G3 Dee S. winner Art Deco (Ire) (Peintre Celebre). Alidiva’s most notable half-sibling is the G1 Prix d’Ispahan and G1 Prix Lupin-winning sire Croco Rouge (Ire). The dam has a yearling colt by Bernardini and a colt foal by Distorted Humor to follow, while she has been bred to Mineshaft for 2017.
