Two new stakes winners for Oasis Dream

Two German-bred sons of Oasis Dream made their stakes breakthrough at the weekend with Columbus and Quinault scoring at Deauville and Chester respectively.

Taken from the European Bloodstock News, 4th & 5th August 2024:

The first to score was Gestüt Brümmerhof-bred Columbus at Deauville on Saturday. Stepped up markedly in trip, Columbus ran out a decisive winner of the 3000m Listed Prix Michel Houyvet. Having tracked the leader Kenstill early, the Christophe Ferland-trained three-year-old travelled strongly into the straight before an 11.14-second penultimate 200m split saw him open up on his seven rivals. Driven out, he stayed on well to win by one and three-quarter lengths from Kalet, who held off the late challenge of Coetzee(Frankel) by a nose for the runner-up spot.

On Sunday, four-year-old Quinault got his first blacktype win in the Listed Queensferry Stakes at Chester over six furlongs. After breaking keenly, the son of Oasis Dream set the pace, though he needed some encouragement to stay in front during the final two furlongs, when challengers came snapping at his heels. The gelding, however, managed to see off Andrew Balding’s Al Shabab Storm , a recent Listed winner over 7f at this course, by a length, as well as the Ralph Beckett-trained Funny Story, who finished a further length and a half behind in third.

Bred by Gestüt Fährhof, the gelding has passed through the sales ring three times. Having been knocked down for €58,000 at the BBAG Premier Yearling Sale, he was sent by Brown Island Stables to the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, where he was picked up by Godolphin for 310,000gns. He would then head to TJE Racing at that year’s Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale, fetching a price tag of 25,000gns.

Trainer Stuart Williams commented: "It's nice to get him back on track and to win a Listed race with him. He's a lovely horse, and it's not often we get to deal with horses of this quality. We were lucky to buy him when we did and he's been a star for the team."

 He added: "I'd love him to go seven furlongs round a bend somewhere if I could find the right race for him – I think that would be ideal. We wouldn't be against travelling him later in the year. We might go abroad somewhere, some of the tighter tracks, maybe in America, somewhere like that might suit him."