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Club welcomes sixth foal of 2020

05 May 2020

In foaling an attractive bay filly foal by Farhh on Saturday, 2 May, longstanding Club broodmare Affinity added a sixth representative to the Club's 2020 crop of foals.

Affinity (pictured) is currently based at Mount Coote Stud, Ireland, ahead of her scheduled covering by Zoffany. The Mount Coote team reported that all was straightforward, and described the foal as 'very nice', even at this relatively early stage. Affinity's foal also broke the stud record for being the quickest to stand from foaling this season - 55 minutes.

By the legendary stallion Sadler's Wells, Affinity is one of the Club's 100+ homebred winners, and is bred in the purple, as a half-sister to five-time Group 1 winner, Soviet Song, and Triumph Hurdle winner, Penzance. She is also a relative of the top-class Marsha and Ribbons. She has proven a successful addition to the Club's broodmare band, with three of her four offspring to race to date having won at least one race, including the Listed-class Zest (four career wins) and Harmonica, who are themselves now broodmares in the breeding programme.

Two of Affinity's offspring are currently among the Club's horses in training. The unexposed Sincerity is a well-made filly and lost her maiden tag last summer, while her handsome, unraced two-year-old half-brother, Amalfi Bay, who is by the leading stallion Lope De Vega, is in the hands of Classic-winning trainer, Roger Charlton.

There are plenty of positives for the Club's other five foals to hit the ground this year. Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of this year's crop is that four are the first foals of their mares, including: Harmonica's colt by the top French miler Tamayuz; Roubles' (a daughter of the late Soviet Song) filly by former top-class sprinter, Mayson, who is quickly establishing himself as a reliable sire of winners; an attractive filly foal by the Coolmore sire Zoffany, out of Madison, an unraced daughter of a half-sister to Soviet Song; and the Group 2-placed Tribute Act's colt foal by Lope De Vega.

The successful recent foalings are a stark counterpoint to the very sad news we received when Marlinka and her unborn foal by Showcasing died earlier this year. As one who came from the Club's breeding programme herself, Marlinka was a very speedy and talented two-year-old, winning a Listed race in France in the summer of 2010. She retired to the breeding programme at the end of that season, and her first foal, Judicial, who is still in training, is the Club's most prolific winner, having won 14 races to date. Marlinka's highest profile horse has undoubtedly been Marsha, a top-class sprinter, and her current yearling is a quality colt by Frankel.

The sad losses of Marlinka and her foal serve to underline that nothing can be taken for granted in thoroughbred breeding, and all at Elite Racing Club are keeping their fingers crossed for the safe delivery of a seventh and last foal due this year. Kind Of Hush, the first foal out of Affinity, recorded her first winner as a broodmare last year via the Julie Camacho-trained Maurice Dancer, and is set to foal shortly to her 2019 covering by Sea The Moon.

Although there are no guarantees, 2020 could be one of the most fruitful breeding seasons in the 25+ years the Club's breeding programme has been in existence, with the potential to provide many exciting days on the racecourse in the years ahead.