Fastidyah, a daughter of Cracksman
Race entries
Operation Epsom Oaks, and trainer Michael Bell, at the helm
Without wishing to be rude to the racing industry, arguably the easiest of the Five Classics to target is the Epsom Oaks, for it’s a race restricted to fillies only, and fillies who stay the 12f distance of the race in question fully. Given the vast majority of horses in training are male and given the vast majority of horses, these days, are bred for precocity and speed, fillies who stay well are slight outliers. Very often, black type, middle-distance fillies’ races attract small fields and earning valuable black type can prove most lucrative vis-à-vis residual asset value for the paddocks. Furthermore, there is often very little strength in depth in races like the Epsom Oaks, where, often, outside the winner, horses rated in the late 90s or low 100s can feature prominently. Given the huge success of MPR with this year’s Epsom Derby runner-up LAZY GRIFF, we thought we’d earmark a place for a filly amongst our 2yo purchases for Lazy Griff’s female equivalent race - and here she is, purchased on a very reasonable budget of 42,000gns. (£44.100)
Pedigree
There’s a case to be made that Cracksman, a son of the mighty Frankel, is the most underrated young stallion on the entire sires’ roster - He’s already sired a French Derby & Arc de Triomphe winner lest we forget, he was himself a 4 time Group 1 winner at middle distances including being a dual winner of The Champion Stakes as well as finishing 3rd in The Epsom Derby. He’s making up into a tip top stallion - his son Ace Impact ran out as one of the most impressive winners of The Arc this Century.
The dam of this filly FEEDYAH was a dual-winning black type performer rated 101 by Timeform. She has already produced, at stud, three horses with Timeform ratings in excess of 100 themselves, so she’s clearly passing all that ability on to multiple examples of her progeny, offspring who have proven fully effective at distances ranging from 8f-16f. She looks ideal for distances up to a mile as a 2yo and for middle distances as a 3yo.
On the subject of our filly’s siblings, many have been trained by Simon & Ed Crisford and have coincidentally all been ridden in their respective home works by Katharina Irmer, who is an integral part of the Crisford team, riding out there each morning - Katharina is also MPR’s Website & Marketing Manager. She reports that all Feedyah’s progeny have “possessed a really high level of ability alongside super temperaments too”.
Who better to send this wonderful filly to than Michael Bell, in Newmarket? - who just happens to be an Epsom Oaks winning trainer with Sariska - an Epsom Derby winner with Motivator - in addition to an Ascot Gold Cup winner with Big Orange and a Nunthorpe winner with Margot Did.
If we’re fortunate enough to line up in the 2027 Epsom Classic, that in itself would be an achievement; however, even if we fall short of the objective, there are still numerous winning opportunities for a regally bred filly such as this. She’ll be brought along steadily in 2026 with a mid-season debut in mind, very possibly in one of those nice Newmarket fillies’ maidens on the July course, and we’ll take it from there. Potentially, the sky’s the limit.
Training Update: Her race entries and declarations will show on this page.
She is just a very classy, beautifully bred individual. See and listen for yourself:
Reason behind the Naming, Fastidyah: "Named by Norma and Phil Lea: Fastidyah ""The stimulus for the name Fastidyah is taken from The Psychology of Safecracking and The Great Diamond Heist of 2003. Considered one of the most intricate heists in history, a group of skilled cracksmen targeted the Antwerp Diamond Centre. After months of fastidious planning and observation, they stole over 100 million dollars worth of diamonds. The modification of fastidious to Fastidyah pays tribute to her dam, Feedyah."