Quantum hope Tamfana leap of faith reaps dividends again

Quantum Leap Racing are surging forward again as their star mare Tamfana remains in training having rewarded their foresight in spades.

The syndicate purchases around five yearlings a season and since their inception in 2017 have set themselves a high bar in having at least one of the intakes each year rated over 90 on the Flat.

Bloodstock agent Jeremy Brummitt is responsible for these purchases, and the syndicate’s method of searching for overlooked stallions and exercising their own convictions on which bloodlines will come to hand over middle distances is clearly an effective one.

This is exemplified perfectly by the successes of Tamfana, who was purchased for €20,000 from the Baden-Baden yearling sale in September 2022 and is the result of a match between Soldier Hollow and a Zoffany mare called Tres Magnifique.

She was placed in training with David Menuisier and patiently handled, with a three-run juvenile career culminating in victory at Group Three level in the Prix Miesque at Chantilly.

That run was enough to mark her out as a potential top-level performer, although connections had to endure disappointment as a troubled run cost her dearly when fourth in the 1000 Guineas before she was beaten only three-quarters of a length when third in the Prix de Diane.

Moving back to a mile proved key though, with a triumph in the Atalanta Stakes at Sandown supplemented by Group One glory as Tamfana defeated distinguished names such as Inspiral, Elmalka and Nashwa in the Sun Chariot at Newmarket.

“It’s a tremendous story for racing, she was brilliant. A syndicated Group One winner,” said Eamonn O’Connor, managing director of Quantum Leap Racing.

“She didn’t run a bad race, and we gave her a few challenges. She ran over trips from a mile to a mile and a half and no matter what the form looks like in terms of numbers, the actual effort in those races was tremendous.

“She thoroughly deserved a Group One at the end of the year.”

Since Tamfana’s three-year-old season ended, there have been movements around her in the bloodstock world, with her half-sister The Palace Girl selling for over 1.5million guineas at the Tattersalls December Sale and then Tres Magnifique was bought for €1.4m by MV Magnier in December.

Tamfana’s exploits can be credited for these large sums, as can the insight of Brummitt in buying a filly whose potential was perhaps cloaked by the fact her dam had only run once.

Quantum Leap decided not to cash out and will keep their filly in training instead, with more Group One glory the aim now her value as a broodmare is secured by her existing form.

“We took the brave man’s route and decided to keep her in training and under our ownership, we’re hoping to be rewarded for that this year,” said O’Connor.

“There are no guarantees, of course, but our objective would be to hopefully get another Group One or two under her belt. It would be an absolutely tremendous outcome if we could achieve that.

“We haven’t sat down and had a chat about her exact plan yet, so we haven’t got any clear plans in terms of the races, but I suppose one of the benefits of having a nice Group One-standard horse is that the races tend to suggest themselves.

“The overall plan will be to start her at a mile and keep her at a mile for a little while, but I’m almost certain we’ll want to step her up and try a mile and two again.”

Tamfana ran just once over 12 furlongs, finishing fourth in the Grand Prix de Paris, and a move back up would not be “absolutely ruled out”.

O’Connor said: “The time she ran in a Group One over that distance, she was up against colts and she wasn’t beaten very far. She was keeping company with some very high-class colts in a race where, if I recall, a filly hadn’t won it for about 80 years.

“Given another year and more time, she might prove versatile enough to do something good over a mile and a half. That said, we’re not in a hurry and it’s not where she’ll be starting, it’s just where she might end up.

“There are some obvious races to look at – the Dahlia Stakes at Newmarket, the Lockinge, maybe a race in Paris or the Queen Anne. Those are all around a mile, which we’d be interested in to start with.

“Once we step her up to a mile and two, we’ll look at the Nassau, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

“The plan is to enjoy the season. We’ve kept her in training, and like last year we hope she’ll take us to all the big events. We’re going to make the most of it and enjoy the ride.”

Of the decision not to sell Tamfana, O’Connor added: “Looking at the horses that she was keeping company with last year, she’d have gone for an awful lot of money if we had decided to sell her.

“We made the decision, even before she won a Group One, we were going to keep her in training for another year and we weren’t going to sell her.

“Once she won a Group One, it became a little bit of a no-brainer. That win under her belt gave her a floor to her value, so it gives us a little comfort.

“Of course, we’ll do our best this year to add to her prize-money and her value. Honestly, it wasn’t just about the money, horses at that level don’t come around very often, so we decided we’d enjoy having her.”

Tamfana will not be the only horse flying the flag for Quantum Leap Racing next season, with a new cohort of juveniles purchased under the same convention-defying principles as the star filly.

“With the sort of budget we have, we buy five or six yearlings a year and we’ve got to think differently,” said O’Connor.

“We can’t follow the herd and go for all the big stallions. We’re not buying yearlings from the likes of Dubawi or Frankel, so we have to look for patterns on the mare’s side of the pedigree page that others might overlook.

“If you looked at Tamfana’s page when we bought her, it looked very light. If you skimmed it, you’d think there wasn’t much black type in the second and third dams.

“On closer inspection, we saw there just weren’t many horses there in the first or second dams – there weren’t many statistics to go on. Roll forward a year or two and that page looks very different now.

“To the extent that we might’ve priced ourselves out of her if we were trying to buy her family now!

“That’s very much our philosophy, to find things in the market that others might miss.”

He added: “We bought six yearlings last year – we’ve got another Camelot, a Starspangledbanner, a Victor Ludorum, who we quite like, a Galiway, an Isfahan and a Grey Gatsby.

“We’re looking forward to those, that are all either in pre-training or with the trainers now. They’re typical of the horses we buy, we won’t see them until the latter part of the season.

“We’ve also got a nice horse called Zachary Hickes with Roger Varian, who ran well on debut in December at Kempton. He came fourth and we’ll be taking plenty of time with him.

“He’s a very nice horse in the making, and we’re looking forward to him and seeing what he can do. We’ve lots to look forward to and we’re hoping for another good year.”