It all began with a pretty innocuous suggestion. Little did Craig Bernick know at the time but his mother Carol's plan to go and try to buy some colts instead of concentrating solely on fillies at the breeding stock sales would bear fruit at Royal Ascot less than two years down the line. But in Nola Soul, one of five colt foals that Bernick purchased in the winter of 2024, the family now has a potential stallion prospect on their hands after the son of Justify backed up his impressive Leopardstown success with victory in the Chesham Stakes.Bernick couldn't be in attendance at Royal Ascot for the crowning of Nola Soul, who he purchased at Keeneland from Glenwood Farm for $220,000. A long-planned family holiday meant that he watched his debut Royal Ascot winner from Colorado rather than the royal enclosure. But that didn't make the achievement any less special.Bernick joked, “We had a family vacation planned for a long time so I didn't think I could stay married and go to Royal Ascot so I am here in Colorado!”Explaining the backstory to the success, the successful owner-breeder, who operates from Glen Hill Farm, added, “It's an interesting one because my Mom, Carol, whose father Leonard Lavin started our farm, said to me that we needed to buy some colts a couple of years ago and she was absolutely right. So my trainer in America, Tom Proctor, and I picked out five foals at the sales and raised them in Ocala. Two of the five were by Justify and I just thought that Nola Soul looked the type who would do well in Europe.”He continued, “Tom was completely supportive of that. Fozzy had only ever had one other Justify for us and that was Aspen Grove, who won a Group race in Europe before coming over and winning her Grade I in the Belmont Oaks. I thought it made a lot of sense to send him over to Fozzy. He's a big horse but he's not weak – he looked like he would run well at two and I thought he'd work well with Fozzy.”Bernick's relationship with Stack extends far beyond your usual owner and trainer dynamic. They pair are friends, first and foremost, and for that reason, Thursday's victory means that bit more to Bernick. He explained, “For me, he was always going to do well at Fozzy's place. You know, they did very little with him before he ran at Leopardstown. Fozzy called me one day to say they just did a half speed with him and that he loved him. So he just got him ready to run on debut at Leopardstown and he won and then everything has gone well for the Chesham as well. It's nice to have a good horse with Fozzy. As I have said before and, as I have told TDN before, with the right ammunition, Fozzy is very, very capable. He mostly trains horses that he buys himself or horses on behalf of friends who maybe didn't manage to sell as yearlings. So, with the right horse, he's a very capable trainer.”On future plans, he added, “Looking at him physically, you'd hope that he has the potential to develop into a three-year-old. At the same time, he is doing well now so we will have to be pretty judicious with where we place him. I will need to talk with Fozzy but I would say that the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh would be a pretty logical race. He's won twice over seven furlongs and that race is over seven so it could work well. We have plenty of time to figure it out.”As well as having a fleet of classy horses in America and France, Bernick has become a massive supporter of Irish racing in particular in recent years. The majority of horses in that country are based with Stack, but he has also had success with Jessica Harrington. However, the majority of that success has been enjoyed with fillies, making Nola Soul's achievement a little different.Speaking about the magnitude of the achievement, he said, “I have been watching Royal Ascot all of my life. I have only run two horses at Royal Ascot – one was fourth in the Coronation Stakes and then I was part of a horse that was fourth in last year's Queen Mary – so we are not just trying to run horses there for a day out. I am obviously not there this year, which is disappointing, because I love the event, but we really only send a horse there if we think it's the right thing to do. But it's very nice. It's the first Royal Ascot winner for us and frankly only the second winner we have ever had in England. It's a thrill to win and, really, a lot of the Royal Ascot two-year-old races, that is really the goal for the horse's life. But with the Chesham, it is more forward-thinking as it's over seven furlongs, and most of the horses running in that race are ones for the future. If he had just run well today, we would have been delighted. For him to win is a real thrill and we're all really excited.”On the prospects of the unbeaten Nola Soul developing into a stallion prospect, Bernick replied, “That would be exciting. I have been involved in the investing and managing of stallions for many years quietly. Usually, we are the ones bidding on the stallions, so it is very nice to have a horse who could potentially be a stallion. He's got to do more but this was really in the back of our mind when my Mom first said we need to go and buy more colts. This is the first one to hit the track and he's now two-from-two and a Royal Ascot winner so you can't do much better than that.”Mothers, eh? They always know best.The post Why Bernick Has His Mother To Thank For Breakthrough Royal Ascot Scorer Nola Soul appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.