Aiming for further Glory

By any standard, Cotai Glory’s first year with runners in 2021 was an unqualified success. By season’s end the Tally-Ho stallion had amassed 35 individual winners which put him in a select group six stallions that had got to the 35-winner mark and beyond. Since then, that group has swelled to eight after Sioux Nation (44) and Havana Grey (43) became the second- and third-best sires behind Mehmas (56) after their stellar performances last year.

Of course, winners alone will not cut the mustard as his career progresses. He’s unlikely to repeat the feat, at least not until the runners produced from the mares he attracted last season reach the racecourse in 2026. No, what breeders will want to see now is some quality to back up his ability to get winners. And, if his first two sets of runners are anything to go by, there may well indeed be some classy runners around for the son of Exceed And Excel.

Take The Platinum Queen for example. From her sire’s second crop, she’s now with a new handler in Roger Varian, who will be trying to build on her not inconsiderable feat of being the first two-year-old for 43 years to land the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. Nobody could argue that The Platinum Queen is anywhere near as good at the brilliant Sigy, who beat a top-class field by three lengths and more in the 1978 renewal to earn a Timeform mark of 132. But adding another Group 1 success to her tally as a three-year-old, something incidentally Sigy failed to do, would be a dream come true for connections of The Platinum Queen.

The Platinum Queen, who became the first 2yo to win the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp for 43 years.

Cotai Glory was a 72,000gns yearling purchase at Tattersalls October Book 2. He hails from the seventh northern hemisphere crop of the influential Exceed And Excel and is the second foal of the unraced Elusive Quality mare Continua. She traces back to the very useful Diesis filly Eternal Reve, his third dam, who earned a Timeform rating of 116 when winning the Matron Stakes, in the days it was only a Group 3 contest, and who finished a short head second to Kissing Cousin in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes. The Cotai Glory branch of the family has been relatively quiet in recent years, save for New Bay’s fine Group 1 Sun Chariot and Group 1 Prix Rothschild winner Saffron Beach (Timeform 121), who is out of a three-quarter sister to Cotai Glory’s dam.

The Tally-Ho sire shares his maternal grandsire with none other than No Nay Never and the Exceed And Excel/Elusive Quality cross has produced a total of 10 Group winners from just 59 runners. That’s a world-class strike rate of 17% and it also features the Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint scorer Mischief Magic and four-time Australian Group 1 winner Guelph, both owned appropriately enough by Sheikh Mohammed whose stallion division Darley managed the stud careers of both Exceed And Excel and Elusive Quality.

Now permanently based in New South Wales, Exceed And Excel has been a juggernaut among speed sires in both hemispheres. That said, it’s hard to argue that his stock were not better suited to the racing set up in Australia. From almost an identical numbers of runners, Exceed And Excel has sired 9.6% Stakes winners down south compared with 7.5% in the northern hemisphere. Moreover, his numbers of southern-hemisphere foaled Group winners (62) and Group 1 winners (12) trump his 45 Group winners and five Group 1 winners sired from his Kildangan base. Remarkably, he’s still having an impact in Australia with a couple of Godolphin colts – Cylinder (TF115) and Barber (TF110) – rated among the top ten two-year-olds this season.

One of Australia’s leading 2yos, Cylinder recently completed a Group 2 double in the Silver Slipper (above) and Todman Stakes.

Cotai Glory retired as a Group 3 winner but was about to go one grade higher when well clear in the Group 2 Flying Childers only to swerve and lose his rider just before the line. So, officially he is a Group 3 Molecomb winner, who repeated his Group 3 success as a four-year-old in the World Trophy at Newbury, again over the minimum trip. But the Exceed And Excel colt was well capable of mixing at Group 1 level too, as his second to Profitable in the King’s Stand and third to Marsha in the Nunthorpe would suggest. 

Having retired at a fee of €6,000, but now trading at €12,500, it tells us all we need to know about Cotai Glory’s current career trajectory. Furthermore, yearling buyers were more bullish than ever purchasing his current two-year-olds last year, ensuring many year-three investors made plenty of money. He recorded his highest yearling average of €48,500 and an even more impressive €128,000 at the main sales.

Tally Ho have given Cotai Glory every opportunity to continue to supply nice sprint two-year-olds that will train on. There is certainly consistency in his first two crops, with three Stakes winners emerging from his first set of runners and four from his second. Moreover, there is just as much quality in crops three, four and five. This level of consistency will no doubt help bridge the gap until the runners from his €12,500 crop reach the races in 2026. The goal now for Cotai Glory is produce the some of the same consistency and longevity demonstrated by his own sire, as there will many distractions for mare owners in his price range along the way.

COTAI GLORY'S BLACK-TYPE HORSES