Near 50 per cent strike rate sets Authorized apart

August has been a tremendous month for Authorized, with 15 winners, including three Listed winners

Such continued success means the Dalham Hall resident is flying high in the European second-crop sires’ table for 2012 with a total of 40 winners from 81 runners. That impressive near 50 per cent strike rate is the best of any stallion in the table’s top ten.

Ambivalent is a smart performer from the Roger Varian Stable. Darley-bred, the three-year-old filly out of the Darshaan mare Darrery, runs in the colours of Abdullah Saeed Belhab, from whom she has won three of her five starts.

Ambivalent’s last two runs have seen her take third in the Listed Newsells Park Stud Stakes at Newmarket, and just over two weeks later she claimed her first Stakes win, beating The Queen’s Set To Music – already a dual winner and Group-placed – in the Chalice Stakes over a mile and a half at Newbury. Such promise has earned her an entry for the G2 QIPCO British Champions Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes on Champions’ day at Ascot in October.

Another Authorized three-year-old worth following is Tenenbaum, who got the better of dual Group winner Brigantin when winning the Listed Prix de Reux over 2500m at Deauville on 2 August.

Bred in Britain by Brick Kiln Stud, Tenenbaum is out of Al Hasnaa (Zafonic), an unraced half-sister to Group One winner Labeeb. He is trained by Andre Fabre for Godolphin and has been beaten only once in four starts whens second on debut in Deauville.

Earlier in the year, Authorized celebrated yet another new Stakes winner when Castello Aragonese won the Premio Giuseppe de Montel at San Siro, while his daughters Colima and Estrela took second and third in the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

Toruk Macto remains Authorized’s biggest earner, with £185,902 in prize-money to his name. He has been a consistent campaigner in Turkey, winning six of his nine starts, including back-to-back Listed victories this summer.

Among August’s notable winners are Authora, a half-sister to G1 winner Scintillo; the unbeaten Surprise Moment, Godolphin’s half-sister to Ribblesdale winner Flying Cloud (Storming Home) from the family of Halling’s Opinion Poll; and Ace Of Valhalla, a half-sister to G3 winner Trick Or Treat, whose string of second-place finishes gave way to victory at Ripon on 6 August for Sir Henry Cecil, Tom Queally and owner/breeder Iain Wilson. Ace Of Valhalla is set to line up for the Melrose Stakes at York on Saturday.

Authorized has also sired a trio of juvenile winners in August. Sugar Boy won over a mile at Galway for Paddy Prendergast, while Authorship, a half-brother to Shamardal’s dual G3 winner Dubai Prince, and 170,000gns breeze-up purchase Altruism won for Godolphin at Haydock and Newmarket.

Authorized’s victory in the 2007 Derby remains one of the most thrilling runnings of the Classic for his sheer dominance that day. It’s easy to recall what a great racehorse Authorized was as he strode imperiously down the hill at Epsom to record his emphatic five-length win. Now it’s easy to see just what a good sire he’s becoming.