Another stakes win for 32,000gns purchase Meriden

Avenue Bloodstock purchase Meriden continued her rise through the ranks on Tuesday for Denis Gerard Hogan when taking the Listed Edmund and Josie Whelan Memorial Listowel Stakes at Listowel.

Bought for just 32,000gns at the 2025 Tattersalls July Sale, the Bated Breath three-year-old now boasts a record of six wins and earnings of just over £130,000 for Patrick John O’Brien and Mrs Paul Shanahan. She began her winning spree only in May when successful off 57 at Down Royal after which she rattled off wins at the Curragh (twice), Leopardstown and Killarney, where she captured the Listed Cairn Rouge Stakes.

She was winning off a mark of 104 on Tuesday.

“She has been busy with racing, but  she was entitled to do that,” said Denis Hogan. “We didn’t know if we had pushed the boat out too far today by running her too much. It was me who wanted to run as she has been so well at home, and to be fair to Patrick [O’Brien] and Paul [Shanahan], they went along with it. Chris [Hayes] had a plan to be forward, and to use the railing, as it is a frontrunners track and she also has a tendency to lean left-handed. Once she bagged the rail, she was good and straight.

“Initially, we thought she would just win at a lower level, but she has kept stepping up all season. I entered her for a Group 3 at Saint-Cloud in October, this morning, and she has an entry in a mares’ sale in December. We don’t want to lose her, but, if she makes money for her connections, that’s good business.”

Meriden was bred by Juddmonte Farms out of the Group 3-placed Motivator mare Midweek, a member of the top-class Modena family who is also dam of the Listed winner Halfway Line,