Ar Diddy Dum Dum

Deva Racing has recently purchased the two-year-old Ardad filly Ar Diddy Dum Dum, who is now based with leading Newmarket trainer James Owen. She appears to be nicely handicapped and can win races in the near future.

Bred in Ireland by Paul Callan, Ar Diddy Dum Dum is out of the placed Oasis Dream mare Flirtare. Her second dam is the Gr.3-placed multiple winner Federation, who is in turn a half-sister to the brilliant miler Attraction, who won five times at Gr.1 level, including the 1,000 Guineas, before going on to a successful career as a broodmare.

It was immediately apparent that Ar Diddy Dum Dum had inherited a fair degree of her family’s talent when she was third over 6f on her debut at Ripon in July, with the only two to finish ahead of her going on to win more races later in the season. She was then beaten just a length and a half at Windsor on her second start and took fourth behind a subsequently Gr.2-placed rival on her third outing at Nottingham.

By now qualified for handicaps, Ar Diddy Dum Dum was outpaced when dropped to 5f at Lingfield in August but has since demonstrated that she is more than capable of winning from her current rating over longer distances. Lining up from a mark of 64 in a 7f nursery at Haydock in early October, she was always prominently placed and looked sure to take the spoils a furlong out, only to be beaten by a short head in a desperately tight finish.

Now rated 67, it seems only a matter of time before Ar Diddy Dum Dum gets her head in front, particularly as she has joined a trainer with an almost unparalleled ability to extract improvement from his new recruits. James secured his first century of winners on the Flat this season and is quickly ascending to the very peak of the training profession.