Textiles wraps things up at Sandown

Defeating Street Sense, Any Given Saturday and Curlin (twice) during his career, G1 King’s Bishop Stakes winner Hard Spun registered his first southern hemisphere winner, in fact going one-two, on March 28 at Sandown over 1000m.

Jumping away well from the gates the two-year-old first-starter Textiles sat in fourth position on the outside, while the other Hard Spun, a filly named Vicario, travelled in the lead. As the field headed for home, the Anthony Freedman-trained Textiles set out after Vicario and with 200m to go, the gelding claimed the lead and held on to record a three-quarter length victory.

Out of the G3 Adrian Knox Stakes placegetter Alberghetti (Carnegie), Textiles was bred by Darley and comes from the family of Champion South African filly Hoeberg. Alberghetti currently has a yearling colt and a weanling colt both by Street Cry and was covered by Hard Spun in the latest breeding season.

One of the best of his generation, Hard Spun was an impressive Stakes-winning juvenile, winning his three starts by almost 22 lengths before going on to claim the G1 King's Bishop Stakes at three over 1400m, a race won in the past by fellow Darley stallion Henny Hughes, More Than Ready and Tale Of The Cat.

Already the sire of seven Stakes winners in the northern hemisphere including Midnight Transfer, Glinda The Good, Sweet Seventeen as well as Red Duke, who contests this weekend's G2 UAE Derby at Meydan, Hard Spun has two yearlings catalogued for the forthcoming Inglis Easter yearling sale. Both consigned by Yarraman Park, lot 290 is a chestnut filly out of the Rahy mare Mizzle, the dam of recent Stakes winner Soft Sands, while lot 571 is a bay filly out of the dual G2 winner Bridie Belle.