The Kieswetter family’s Barnane Stud celebrated an eyecatching feature winner at Windsor on Saturday when their homebred Candleford won the Listed Weatherbys Digital Solutions August Stakes for his fourth career victory.
The son of Kingman is maturing as a stayer to reckon with, and having his third start after returning from a seven month break from track action, the talented Candleford was always in contention in the 2200m contest and stayed on really well under Pat Dobbs to beat the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Solid Stone by a convincing three quarter lengths.
Candleford charges clear under Paul Dobbs (Pic – Supplied)
The victory came as no surprise after the 5yo’s impressive third-placed finish behind stablemate Hamish, an entry for the Irish St Leger later this month, in the Gr3 l’Ormarins King’s Plate Glorious Stakes at Goodwood on 4 August.
He is a family favourite as he holds the distinction of being the Kieswetter’s first homebred winner and first Royal Ascot winner when capturing the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes at the world-renowned racing festival in 2022.
By Invincible Spirit’s illustrious son Kingman, Candleford is out of the Norse Dancer Listed Pretty Polly Stakes winner Dorcas Lane, who is also dam of the useful Atty Persse.
A direct descendant of legendary broodmare Horama, Dorcas Lane’s third dam is Irish Oaks winner Give Thanks.
Weatherby’s Nick Craven and the winning team (Pic- Supplied)
Kingman has sired two new Gr1 winners in 2023 in Australian 2YO King Colorado and Grand Prix de Paris winner Feed The Flame, as well as Group winners Habana (German 1000 Guineas), Royal Ascot Group winner Age Of Kings, Schnell Meister and Remarquee, amongst others.
He is already the sire of 19 individual stakes winners in 2023, 13 of which are three-year-olds, making him the leading Northern-Hemisphere-based sire of 3YO stakes winners
He is the sire of 68 stakes winners and 42 Group winners and is the second fastest stallion to 50 Northern Hemisphere-bred stakes winners behind only Frankel. He reached this milestone faster than Galileo, Deep Impact, and Dubawi.
Paul Dobbs receives his trophy from Weatherby’s Nick Craven (Pic – Supplied)
As to plans for Candleford, Ridgemont’s Craig Kieswetter told the Sporting Post that he would be leaving the race programming in the hands of their top trainer William Haggas.
“He certainly is maturing, as stayers tend to do. And when they have that stamina they also have a good range of race options. William, along with Maureen, and the whole team at Somerville Lodge always do a fantastic job and we are more than happy to go along for the ride,” he concluded.
