'Beyoncé' Takes Owner, Trainer to First Breeders' Cup

Trainer Nathan Squires knew one thing for sure when he spied a dark charcoal gray Cairo Prince   filly at last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale—he was going to find the way to get her to his stable at Woodbine.

The filly, who would be named Cairo Consort , became his top pick at the sale because he already had a grade 3-placed winner by the sire in his barn, the sale filly looked tremendously athletic, and she had been bred by Brendan and Olive Gallagher's Frankfort Park Farm, which has bred five Breeders' Cup World Championships starters over the past eight years—including two-time Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Monomoy Girl .

"To be honest, that she was bred by Frankfort Park was a major, major factor for me wanting her," Squires said. "Where these horses are bred and raised makes a difference, and I had Monomoy Girl in the back of my mind."

The trainer got an assist at the sale from William Thompson Jr., the owner of Maple Lane Farm, who had initially set a budget of $50,000 for the filly but then kept going. They ultimately went to $95,000.

"When she went past $50,000, I was looking the other way, trying to figure out how I was going to get this filly. Bill is sitting right beside me and I didn't see him still bidding," Squires said. "I didn't realize we had her until the bid-spotter brought us the ticket to sign."

Squires and Thompson's instincts about Cairo Consort proved correct and will now saddle their first Breeders' Cup starter Nov. 4 when the filly, whose barn name is Beyoncé, contests the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

Cairo Consort acquired the name Beyoncé during her early training at Big Easy Racing & Sales near Dunnellon, Fla., west of Ocala.

"She went there with a few horses and I went to check on them in December," Squires said. "All the horses had nicknames because they weren't all named yet and I asked how the Cairo Prince filly was doing. 'Oh, you mean Beyoncé?' The name stuck because it fit; she's confident, she's beautiful, and she can be a diva at times."

The trainer said 90% of the time Cairo Consort is quiet and easy-going. And then there's the 10%, when she'll let you know she's willing to put up a fight. The gritty side of her personality has served her well at the track.

"I have said it every time someone asks me to describe her, she is fearless and she has a great mind," he said.

Cairo Consort finished third in her debut on Woodbine's Tapeta main track but has only competed on turf since then.

"Cairo Prince's love the turf, and I always try any horse on the turf at least once," Squires said. "I'm a big believer in turf racing because of my background. I'm from Barbados where we run strictly on turf, and I went to university in England for two years and am an avid fan of European racing. I think turf is more natural for them."

Cairo Consort became a winner in her second start on the grass and then became a stakes winner in the 6 1/2-furlong Catch a Glimpse Stakes, which she won by  2 1/2 lengths. She next tried graded company in the Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes (G1T) and finished second to Last Call  after getting blocked and repeatedly stopped in the early going. Last Call will be competing, too, in the Juvenile Fillies Turf for trainer Kevin Attard and owners X-Men Racing and SF Racing, who also are partners (along with Madaket Stables) in Queen's Plate Stakes winner Moira , who will be competing in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T).

"In the Catch a Glimpse every gap opened. In the Natalma, the gaps all closed. That is just racing luck. By the time she had room to run, she had done too much," Squires said. "Since then she's been training forwardly. She has gotten bigger, she has gotten stronger, and she's training phenomenally. On paper, the race looks pretty open."

Joel Rosario has the mount on Cairo Consort, who is one of two Breeders' Cup entrants bred by Frankfort Park. The other is Reckoning Force , a son of Air Force Blue , who is entered in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T). The colt owned by Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel, and Fergus Galvin also was sold at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale, going for $30,000 to Magnolia Racing Syndicate.

Reckoning Force will have an equipment and rider change for the Juvenile Turf, racing with blinkers for the first time and with Tyler Gaffalione aboard. In his previous starts that included a win in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes and an unplaced effort in the Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland, he was ridden by Rosario.

"He's a pretty calm horse and, if anything, he might be a little too calm, so we're putting a set of blinkers on this Friday just to sharpen him up a little bit," said trainer Brendan Walsh. "He just, at some parts of the race, lacks a little sharpness.

"The last day we ran him here in the Bourbon, he had some trouble leaving the gate—he got pinched—and was too far back and there was a horse in front who was all over the place," Walsh continued. "We just never got any kind of a run in the race and that's why we thought we would crack on and take our chance in the Breeders' Cup."

Though Cairo Consort and Reckoning Force don't bring the same credential to the Breeders' Cup as Monomoy Girl, they are still a tremendous source of pride to the farm, according to Brendan Gallagher.

"To get horses to perform at the top level, that is what we're after. This is the toughest thing I have ever done in my life but also the most rewarding when you see them go on," he said.

Since 2015, Frankfort Park has been the breeder or co-breeder of five Breeders' Cup starters: Salama in the 2015 Distaff; The Tabulator in the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), Monomoy Girl in 2018 and 2020, and now the two juveniles this year.

"It is exciting to have 2-year-olds because you hope they have long careers ahead of them," Gallagher said.

Reckoning Force is out of the Jazil mare Alasema, who is out of stakes winner Abby Road, a daughter of Danehill. Alasema has produced three winners from as many to race and was bred this year to Ashford Stud's Maximum Security  .

Cairo Consort will be offered as a broodmare/racing prospect at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale, its select mixed sale, and her pedigree should attract some serious buyers, according to Gallagher. The filly is out of the Street Cry daughter Absolutely Awesome, who is a half sister to grade 1 winner Awesome Maria  (Maria's Mon). Cairo Consort's third dam is Alabama Stakes (G1) winner Pretty Discreet , the dam of grade 1 winners Discreet Cat  and Discreetly Mine , grade 1-placed stakes winner Pretty Wild , and grade 3 stakes-placed Discreet Treasure.

"She has a massive pedigree, really as good as it gets," Gallagher said of Cairo Consort. "And her dam is not in foal this year, so we've got a big dilemma ahead of us because she's now produced a grade 1-placed winner so her value has gone up."