LADY BLYTH BECOMES GROUP 1 WINNING OWNER-BREEDER AT GOODWOOD

A delighted Lady Blyth became a Group 1 winning owner-breeder on Tuesday afternoon, as QUICKTHORN (GB) proved his Group 2 Lonsdale Cup success in 2022 was no fluke with a similarly blistering front-running display to land the Goodwood Cup.

Sent off by jockey Tom Marquand into a lead that stretched to around 25 lengths midway through the race, Quickthorn was successful in putting enough daylight between himself and his rivals to hold them off during the closing stages and register a commanding six-length success at the wire.

The gelding is now a four-time Group race winner, having also won the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil and the Group 3 Henry II Stakes last term for trainer Hughie Morrison. His career prize money after Tuesday’s win is now approaching £800,000.

Speaking with ITV Racing in the aftermath of the race, Lady Blyth reflected:

“We’ve never had a Group 1 ever, not ever, so it’s absolutely fantastic.

“I didn’t even think he’d like going here. I didn’t think he’d like the up and down bits, I thought he only wanted it flat. I didn’t want to run him, Hughie wanted to run him, my husband was keen to run him. I was afraid of the track, but there was no need to be.

When asked about her long-time quest to breed top-class racehorses, Lady Blyth humbly added:

“Forty, fifty years now, since before I was married to my husband. We’ve been married for 50 years, so before that. They were my mother’s colours, originally.

“We have a friend who’s also a great breeder, and she was saying the other day, ‘you’ve been lucky’. And we have been lucky, it’s about luck, isn’t it.”

Bred at the Blyths’ Lemington Grange Stud, Quickthorn is one of five winners from six runners out of DAFFYDOWNDILLY (GB), an OASIS DREAM (GB) mare who was acquired as a yearling by Kern/Lillingston Association at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 in 2009 for 72,000 guineas, and went on to win on three occasions in the Blyths’ blue and tartan silks.

For Newsells Park Stud sire NATHANIEL, who stood for a fee of £15,000 this year, Quickthorn represents a seventh individual Group 1 winner, joining the likes of ENABLE (GB) and DESERT CROWN (GB).