King's Best colt, Ancien Regime took another step up the sprinting ladder on Saturday when winning the G3 Champagne Lanson Sprint over five-furlongs at Sandown Park, beating the Bertolini colt Prime Defender by a neck.
The only three-year-old in the field, he has shown great improvement since reverting back to sprint distances and took the step up from handicap company in his stride. His trainer afterwards mooted the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes as a possible target.
Bred by Deer Forest Stud, he is out of the seven-time winning mare Sadalsud and from the family of top sprinters Royal Applause, Lyric Fantasy and In Command.
Three races later, the Cadeaux Genereux filly Rosaleen gained her first Stakes success when winning the Listed Distaff Stakes. Running with credit on her previous start at Royal Ascot, she has now won three of her nine races.
Bred by Alan Dargan, she is out of the Darshaan mare Dark Rosaleen and related to top Hong Kong performer Man Of Honour.
It was also another good day for Darley first-season sires with new winners for Kheleyf and Reset. At Nottingham, Jargelle took Kheleyf’s winners' tally to eleven when winning the five-furlong maiden. Kheleyf has now sired five new winners in the last week and heads the first-season sires' table in Britain and Ireland by number of individual winners.
Earlier in the day at Leicester, Reset sired his second European winner when Meydan Groove ran out an easy seven-length victor. The Paul Cole-trained filly is a daughter of Champion three-year-old filly In The Groove, who won four Group One races in an exceptional career. Meydan Groove's win completed a very good week for the Darley Australia-based stallion after his first winner, Saxford,made all the running to win the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury on Thursday.
