Ardad

Racing Form

9 runs, three wins, one places | Best Timeform Rating: 107 | Average winning distance: 5.06f

Stakes form

AT 2 Won Pepsi Max Flying Childers Stakes, Doncaster, Gr.2, (5f. beating Legendary Lunch (IRE) and The Last Lion (IRE)), Windsor Castle Stakes, Ascot, L., (5f. beating Savannah’s Dream (GB) and Pedestal (IRE)).Gr.3, (to Taareef (USA)), Prix de Ris-Orangis, Maisons-Laffitte, Gr.3, (to Rosa Imperial (IRE)).

ARDAD was bred to be fast and that is exactly what he turned out to be – a breeze-up sale-topper, a precocious two-year-old and a Royal Ascot winner.

The son of Kodiac, who is now the sire of four individual Group 1 winners, was offered at the GoffsUK Breeze Up Sale by his breeder Tally-Ho Stud. With a strong physical resemblance to his sire and a quick breeze he made £170,000 bought by Blandford Bloodstock, making him the most expensive horse sold at the 2016 GoffsUK Breeze Up Sale.

That investment by Abdullah Saeed al Naboodah paid quick dividends as Ardad won a 5f Yarmouth maiden on debut in June and followed that with success in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot.

A step up to 6f didn’t appear to suit him, and when dropped back to 5f for Doncaster’s Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes, Ardad returned to the winners’ enclosure. He was beaten just 4l by Marsha in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye, finishing ahead of his relative Maarek.

He failed to find his juvenile spark at three and was retired to Overbury Stud, where breeders were keen to patronise him at a fee of £6,500. He covered 126 mares in his first season with mares, including North East Bay, the dam of Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner Prince Bishop, who delivered an Ardad colt in April last year.

Ardad was chosen as the first mating for Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes winner and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac third Dabyah, who was fourth in the 1,000 Guineas and ran in the same colours as Ardad. The daughter of Sepoy gave birth to a filly foal in February 2019.

By Kodiac, the king of two-year-old winners, and out of the Red Clubs mare Good Clodora, speed is Ardad’s metier. His second dam is even named Geht Schnell, which means “Go Fast” in German. She is the dam of Ruby Rocket (Indian Rocket), who won the Firth of Clyde Stakes and the Boadicea Stakes, both Listed contests.

She is best known as the dam of the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Maarek (Pivotal). Geht Schnell is also the dam of Listed winners Inzar’s Best and Alexander Alliance.

A total of 31 foals from Ardad’s first crop were sold at auction last year and they were popular with pinhookers. Conceived on an advertised fee of £6,500, the 24 foals made an average of 9,221gns.

The most expensive of those sold was a filly out of Lastuce, a daughter of Orpen who was placed in the Listed Kilvington Stakes. Consigned by Overbury Stud on behalf of breeder Jocelyn Targett at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, she made 52,000gns to Blandford Bloodstock, the highest price achieved on the first day of that sale.