New Century First Top-Level Winner For Kameko With Summer Stakes Victory At Woodbine

New Century became Kameko’s first top-level winner with a victory over Godolphin’s Al Qudra in the Summer Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday.

New Century, dressed in the Qatar Racing cloth that saw his sire successful in the 2,000 Guineas and the Futurity Trophy, had already tasted stakes success when he won the Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury last month.

Andrew Balding’s colt has now won three of his five starts, finishing fourth on his debut at Lingfield in June and second to Al Qudra in the Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot in July.

Bred by the Potent Embrace Partnership out of the winning Street Cry mare Potent Embrace, he is a half-brother to Group 3 Glorious Stakes scorer Passion And Glory, by Cape Cross. Potent Embrace, a dual winner at a mile to an extended mile and a quarter for Mark Johnston, sold to David Redvers for €150,000 from Godolphin at the Goffs November Mare Sale in 2016. She has a yearling Kameko brother by New Century.

New Century wins in Salisbury last monthCredit: Edward Whitaker

After the race, Murphy told BloodHorse: “It was a brilliant performance. I’m delighted for his stallion, Kameko, his first Group 1 winner.”

The Summer Stakes was also a qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, with New Century eligible to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

“It made sense timing-wise for the Breeders’ Cup,” Murphy added. “Now he’s got to be sharper at Del Mar, but he’s got the class and hopefully he can step up again.”

The two-year-old is one of ten individual winners for his sire in the first season, who stood for £15,000 at Tweenhills this year. The son of Kitten’s Joy is also the sire of Group 3 Acomb Stakes runner-up and Group 2 Superlative Stakes third Wimbledon Hawkeye. His daughter, Ghost Run, struck in a valuable nursery at the St Leger meeting at Doncaster on Thursday.

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