Vintage Clarets, one of Ardad’s earliest winners in April 2021, is proving himself to be as durable as he is speedy. He posted back-to-back wins in June, and set a new course record over Newcastle’s five furlongs on Friday when scoring in the hands of Paul Mulrennan.

Trained by Richard Fahey – who also handled the career of Ardad’s best runner to date, the treble Group 1 winner Perfect Power – Vintage Clarets has now won five of his 22 starts and has scored in each of his three seasons to race. His most recent win came off a mark of 89.

Two members of Ardad’s second crop were in the winner’s enclosure over the last week, with Ardad’s Great striking for the father-and-daughter team of Jamie and Saffie Osborne at Windsor, while the La Motteraye-bred Giorgiana won for the second time in a month in France.

Rush Queen was the first of Ardad’s current two-year-olds to strike, and she hails from her sire’s smallest crop which contained only 19 foals. Following the early success of his first crop of runners, which made him Britain’s leading freshman sire, Ardad covered 156 mares in 2021.