Forbidden Love
With a second Group 1 in Saturday’s Canterbury Stakes (Gr 1, 1300m), outstanding mare Forbidden Love (All Too Hard) added another highlight to a twisting, multi-national breeding tale which has taken in England, Argentina, the USA – and even a dash of Scandinavia.
The four-year-old, who broke through at the top level a year ago in the Surround Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), also has a Group 2 and two Listed victories to her name. And with seven wins from 21 starts and just shy of $1.5 million in prize–money, she’s become one of the best performers not only from the Richard and Michael Freedman yard, but for her sire All Too Hard (Casino Prince).
Saturday’s win helped the Vinery stallion to 14th on the Australian general sires table, following the career-best tenth last term for the half-brother to Black Caviar (Bel Esprit), the brightest light among many from the rich female family stemming from the aforementioned mare Scandinavia.
It was an eighth Group 1 victory for the progeny of All Too Hard, following close behind Wellington’s second such laurel in Hong Kong last month in the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Cup (Gr 1, 1400m). Throw in two Singapore local Group 1s last year to Hard Too Think and it’s been a heady time of late for the sire of other outstanding performers such as Behemoth and Alligator Blood.
Forbidden Love also further enhanced All Too Hard’s strongest nick, with mares by his former shuttling American studmate More Than Ready (Southern Halo) having left 36 winners from 53 runners including three stakes winners, with Wellington and Sydney Group 3 winner Outrageous the other two.
But while Forbidden Love has penned an illustrious story so far, with more riches likely ahead, at the same time it’s been a saga of some frustration for her breeder Kerry O’Brien.
The South Australian septuagenarian could have taken his pick of the many More Than Ready mares on offer in Australia. Instead, he had the foresight to raid the US for one of his daughters, buying Forbidden Love’s dam, Juliet’s Princess, as a yearling in early 2010.
“There are plenty of More Than Ready mares in Australia, but most American mares who have come here to go into breeding have worked quite well,” says Mike Fleming of Bhima Stud, which handles O’Brien’s mares.
“We’ve seen it strengthened in recent years by the types of American mares being brought out here by Newgate Farm, for example, who have done very well in Australia. Any of these mares brought here from America usually have some speed in their pedigree.”
Bred by Kentucky’s Gainesway Farm, Juliet’s Princess was out of the unraced Thunder Gulch (Gulch) mare Malayan Princess, whose dam was the Riverman (Never Bend) mare Bangkok, the also unraced mother of three lower-level stakes winners.
Bangkok’s dam was Bite The Dust (Dr Fager), who was out of the simply-named Farm, who’d been imported to the US from Argentina. There, she’d been champion three-year-old filly in 1968 and champion older mare in 1970, winning the equivalent of two Group 1s.
Going back a few more generations, Forbidden Love’s female line leads to Rose Of England, winner of the 1930 English Oaks (1m 4f) and dam of St Leger (1m 6.5f) winner Chulmleigh, and a daughter of the influential French stallion Teddy (sire of La Troienne, among others).
“There was a good bit of quality to the pedigree, which is what would’ve drawn Kerry to this filly (Juliet’s Princess),” Fleming says.
Brought to Australia, Juliet’s Princess – racing in the black and lime quarters of another quality O’Brien product, Magic Millions 2YO Classic (RL, 1200m) winner Augusta Proud (More Than Ready) – made a sparkling debut with a victory over 1050 metres at Morphettville. She’d go on to finish with five wins from 29 for Adelaide’s Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas, gaining black type for a narrow Listed second at Morphettville on the day Black Caviar won the 2012 Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m).
As a former Olympic athlete, O’Brien knows something about sporting highs and lows. Born in Post Augusta (the town from which Augusta Proud derived her name, not the home of the US Masters in Georgia as many thought), O’Brien held the world record in the steeplechase between 1970 and 1972. He claimed the silver medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games (then the Empire Games), but while leading near the end of the event four years later, he fell at the penultimate water-jump and failed to finish. A nine-time Australian title-holder, O’Brien made it to the Munich Olympics of 1972, but came down there also.
Juliet’s Princess has also brought highlights and frustrations in her career in the breeding barn.
She failed to get in foal in her first two seasons – missing to Congrats (A.P. Indy), Medaglio D’Oro (El Prado) and I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) – but then threw a daughter of Foxwedge (Fastnet Rock) in Kuramae in 2016. Bought as a weanling for $25,000 by Warrnambool trainer Matthew Williams, Kuramae won three races, including two at Flemington over 1400 metres, before a strong fourth in the Rivette Series Final (1400m) over the same course and distance in 2020.
Juliet’s Princess then threw Forbidden Love – a $150,000 buy by the Freedmans at the Gold Coast Yearling Sale of 2019 – and a year later bore another offspring of Foxwedge, this time a colt, with Williams backing up as the purchaser, giving $40,000 at Melbourne Premier. Royal Fox has so far won Williams one from nine.
After three foals in as many years, however, Juliet’s Princess missed to Shalaa (Invincible Spirit) in 2018. She became one of the many mares to miss to the infertile Kementari (Lonhro) the following season, but with a quick back-up was more successfully served by Epaulette (Commands), with the resulting colt sold at Melbourne Premier last month to Avesta Bloodstock for $100,000, perhaps unluckily early as Lot 4.
Juliet’s Princess was sent back to All Too Hard in 2020 but missed, and again failed after being covered by King’s Legacy (Redoute’s Choice) last spring.
“She’s been a bit difficult to breed from,” Fleming says. “Of course we wish we could find the reason – if we could she’d be back in foal. But we’ll keep trying. When they throw a Group 1 winner, you’re not going to just give up on them.
“But Forbidden Love was a beautiful filly. She made very good money, considering All Too Hard wasn’t quite flavour of the month at the time, and she made that money on type, really. She always looked like a good sort, had a great attitude, and that generally comes through on race day.”
It’s that attitude which, Vinery believes, is one of the biggest hallmarks of All Too Hard’s offspring. But, as perversely as these things can sometimes go in breeding, it may also have counted against his reputation and results somewhat, with many a trainer convinced his two-year-olds were ready to run, and perhaps over-taxing them early.
“They’re not out-and-out two-year-olds, and that’s probably where a lot of trainers went wrong with his stock early on,” says Vinery’s bloodstock manager Adam White of the $33,000 sire.
“He was a very talented two-year-old himself, and his two-year-olds have got great temperaments, and that’s possibly why a lot of trainers thought they were a little more ready than they were in those first couple of seasons.
“But given the time and the opportunity to develop a bit more, they really come to the fore as three-year-olds, and then they train on, like Behemoth, Forbidden Love and Wellington.
“And that’s a great trait for the buying market – to buy a horse who’s going to see them through for a few seasons.
“Another Group 1 to Forbidden Love and another one to Wellington in Hong Kong last month has been indicative of how he’s been going really.
“You look at other horses like Alligator Blood and Behemoth, and you know it’s not all of a sudden. He’s been doing a tremendous job the last three or four years.”
***
Trevor Marshallsea is the best-selling author of books on Makybe Diva, Winx, and Peter Moody.