As a Classic-winning son of Sadler’s Wells who went on to win the Queen Anne and the Eclipse as a four-year-old, Refuse To Bend can be expected to sire stock who will emulate their father by improving with age. It was heartening, therefore, when he sired several Stakes horses among his first crop of two-year-olds last year – and even more heartening that he has kicked off his second season with runners with an excellent sprinting performance from his three-year-old son Croisultan.
The winner of two races as a two-year-old, Croisultan looked to have been thrown in at the deep end when he lined up in the Navan Sprint Stakes over five furlongs, 182 yards at the end of April. It is notoriously hard for three-year-olds to take on their elders in Stakes company in the spring, but Croisultan, the only three-year-old in the field, ran a tremendous race, finishing second to the six-year-old Jumbajukiba, a half-brother to Fantastic Light’s Group One-winning son Scintillo and the winner himself of three Group Three races at the Curragh last season. Croisultan is clearly a most progressive colt, and can be expected to be one of many smart three-year-olds to represent Refuse To Bend over the coming months.
Refuse To Bend was, of course, an unbeaten G1-winning two-year-old, but he clearly got even better as he got older. Winner of the G1 National Stakes at the Curragh as a juvenile, Refuse To Bend maintained his unbeaten record when winning the 2,000 Guineas in 2003, defeating Zafeen by three-quarters of a length with the remaining 18 runners following the pair home at intervals. Lack of stamina proved his undoing when he was unplaced in the Derby, but he bounced back in his next start when justifying odds-on favouritism in the Group Three Desmond Stakes at the Curragh.
Transferred to Godolphin, Refuse To Bend was even better as a four-year-old, taking two of Europe’s toughest G1 weight-for-age races: the Queen Anne Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot and the ten-furlong Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. It is, therefore, fair to expect that his stock will be similarly progressive. Looking at the entries currently held by some of his progeny, the next months could be very exciting for this promising young sire.
Liberation is one colt in particular from whom much is expected. An astonishingly facile five-length winner at Ascot last September, he confirmed his class on his next outing by running an excellent fourth of 24 to Donativum and Crowded House in the Tattersalls Betfair Million at Newmarket. Now in the care of Saeed bin Suroor, Liberation started his three-year-old campaign with a close second to City Style at Nad Al Sheba, and currently holds entries in all of the summer’s top three-year-old races – the Dante, Derby, St. James’s Palace and King Edward VII – as well as in the Eclipse.
Liberation is one of two Godolphin Refuse To Bend colts engaged in the Derby, the other being the lightly-raced Taarab, a possible dark horse to note for the future. Runner-up to his better-fancied stablemate Al Marmoon in a 15-runner Yarmouth maiden last October, Taarab represents the ultra-successful cross of a Sadler’s Wells sire over a Darshaan mare, and is definitely a name to remember.
Refuse To Bend similarly has two daughters engaged in the Oaks. The less exposed of this pair is the lightly-raced Say No Now; while Grace O’Malley, trained by Dermot Weld for his mother Gita, showed her class last year when winning a 19-runner Curragh maiden last September. She too is a daughter of a Darshaan mare, and her trainer’s high opinion of her was made abundantly clear last month when he saddled her for the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown, in which she was the only filly up against some of the most promising colts in Ireland. Her shrewd trainer looks certain to place her to further advantage, and victory for her in a big race would surely give him particular satisfaction as he trained her sire for both his two-year-old and three-year-old campaigns.
The respect which Dermot Weld and his mother hold for Refuse To Bend is made clear when one looks at the entries for next year’s Derby. Among the three Refuse To Bend two-year-olds holding an entry for the 2010 Derby is an unnamed colt from the Indian Ridge mare Caumshinaun. This mare is the jewel of the Weld family’s breeding operation, having already produced for them the 2006 Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Nightime. It is a big compliment to Refuse To Bend that Mrs Weld selected the stallion as Caumshinaun’s mate that year, and the resultant produce, a three-quarter brother to Nightime, fetched 200,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls October Sale. He now holds several interesting entries in addition to the Derby, including this year’s Tattersalls Timeform Million.
With Refuse To Bend having arguably got his stud career off to a more explosive start than did either of his paternal half-brothers Galileo or Montjeu – he currently has 17 sons or daughters rated 80 or above by Timeform (i.e. 37.8% of his runners) which outstrips the totals which they had achieved at the same stage of their careers – it is no surprise that there seems to be a general feeling of optimism among the trainers for the prospects of his young sons and daughters.
