Tortoiseshell

Tortoiseshell is a beautifully bred three-year-old filly who looks to have been very nicely bought at the Tattersalls July Sale.

By the exciting young sire Kameko, she is a half-sister to the Listed winner Cloud Surfing. Their dam is the Montjeu mare Hasten, a full-sister to the Gr.1-winning sire Jan Vermeer and a three-parts-sister to the US Gr.1 winner and Gr.1 1,000 Guineas second Together.

For his part, Kameko won the 2020 Gr.1 2,000 Guineas when trained by Andrew Balding. Now carrying out stallion duties at Tweenhills Farm & Stud, his first crop of two-year-olds appeared on racecourses last season to great acclaim. New Century won a Gr.1 in Canada and Wimbledon Hawkeye took the Gr.2 Royal Lodge Stakes for James Owen at Newmarket, as well as finishing third in the Gr.1 Futurity Trophy. He clearly rates a sire of great promise.

Considering her pedigree profile, Tortoiseshell could develop into an excellent breeding prospect in the future, particularly if she can burnish her CV with some wins on the track. Based on what she achieved in four starts when trained by Hugo Palmer, that looks entirely possible. 

She was only beaten five and a half lengths in a 7f Kempton maiden on her racecourse debut last October and then was prominent for a long way at Southwell in a race won by the subsequent Gr.3 Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Zanzoun, her only other start as a two-year-old. Clearly learning plenty from those first two outings, Tortoiseshell went on to finish third in a 7f Newcastle maiden in January, making the running and looking to hold every chance over a furlong out, only to hang left inside the closing stages.

Despite such wayward tendencies, this was a clear step in the right direction and a performance that signals Tortoiseshell will be winning races sooner rather than later. She had one more run for previous connections at Redcar, finishing unplaced, but that performance is easily excused as she pulled too hard and bled from the nose. Much fairer to judge her on the earlier promise, which suggests her current handicap mark of 60 is perfectly reasonable.

Tortoiseshell is a lovely specimen with a pedigree to die for and we think there is plenty more to come from her as a racehorse too.