Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer) was one of the greatest stallions of all time, a prolific champion sire whose influence is carried on, around the world, by his many male and female descendants. A total of 294 of his progeny won at least one blacktype contest, but of them one achieved something unique.
His offspring were milers, middle-distance horses and stayers, some were notable two-year-olds, but among three-year-olds and upwards only one was a sprinter. The David Wachman-trained filly began her career with three juvenile starts over seven furlongs, was unplaced each time she tried further, and in an 11-race career she made the frame just twice. The first time was her victory in the prestigious Birdcatcher Nursery over six furlongs at Naas and the second was her neck win in the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes over six furlongs at Leopardstown the following summer. This race record made Evie Stockwell's filly Liscanna a fascinating broodmare prospect. Such pace was rare in a son or daughter of Sadler's Wells, and those for whom the eight to 10 furlong range was optimal, speed was strongly evident in the distaff side of their pedigree. The Irish 2000 Guineas and Breeders' Cup Mile hero Barathea, for example, could have won good sprints if asked to try them after his close fourth to Owington in the Group 1 July Cup, but aside from his two winning runs over seven as a two-year-old, it was the only time he raced over less than a mile. Liscanna is a daughter of Lahinch, an Aidan O'Brien-trained Danehill Dancer (by Danehill) filly who won three of 11 starts. She made her debut in the Group 3 Debutante Stakes over seven furlongs, finishing last, was then fourth in a six-furlong listed contest, and got off the mark at the third attempt, a maiden over five furlongs. She was a well-beaten fourth behind Queen's Logic in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes the following month, won a listed contest by four lengths over the minimum trip at Tipperary just five days later, and was then beaten by just a head in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket. A listed success over the same trip at Leopardstown the following April was the only time that she made the frame in five starts that season. Her half-brother Perugino Bay (by Perugino) won twice over the minimum trip as a juvenile, was third to Pipalong in the Redcar Two-Year-Old Trophy over six furlongs, and then failed by a neck to take the Listed Doncaster Stakes over the same trip on his final start that season. The 107-rated colt was third to Enrique in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes over seven furlongs the following spring. Liscanna's half-brother The Bogberry (by Hawk Wing) stayed further than she did, getting his best win in the Group 3 Kilternan Stakes over 10 furlongs. He was runner-up in the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt over the same trip, third in the Group 2 Prix Dollar over a half-furlong less, and was only beaten by about a length when fourth to Doctor Dino in the Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase over a mile and a half. Her half-sister Lahinch Classics is a little more closely related to her than he is, because she is a daughter of Galileo (by Sadler's Wells); they could be described as being three-parts sisters. That filly did not race beyond the 10 and a half furlongs of her maiden success at Dundalk and she earned her blacktype when a neck runner-up to Volume in a 10-furlong listed contest at Newbury, and again when short-headed by Mango Diva in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes over nine at the Curragh. Liscanna has five progeny of racing age and her three-year-old, two-year-old and yearling are all by Claiborne Farm's star stallion War Front (by Danzig), which makes them inbred 2x5 to Danzig, 3x3 to Northern Dancer and 4x5 to Forli. The eldest of that trio is the unbeaten Grade 1 winner Hit It A Bomb and his juvenile sister is the recent Group 3 Albany Stakes heroine Brave Anna, both of whom are trained by Aidan O'Brien. Hit It A Bomb made his debut over seven furlongs at the Curragh in late September, followed-up with an easy listed success over the same trip at Dundalk and then took the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile at Keeneland in late October. He has not been seen in action yet in 2016, but his string of big race entries includes next month's Group 1 Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, for which he is available at around 12/1. Timeform rate him 119p. Brave Anna was unplaced in the five furlong maiden won by Roly Poly at Naas in April, but won over six furlongs at the Curragh before her short-head pattern success at Ascot. She is quicker and more precocious than her brother, which raises a question as to how far she will stay. He appears to be a miler who could stay 10 furlongs, but she may be a sprinter, perhaps a potential Group 1 Commonwealth Cup candidate in 2017 rather than a classic one. Timeform have Brave Anna on 105p, her entries feature the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, and it is going to be interesting to see how the careers of both siblings turn out.
On a day when one prolific Group 1-winning daughter of Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) added to her tally on the track, another one became the dam of her first blacktype earner. Both happened at the Curragh yesterday, and about 35 minutes before dual classic star Minding made it five wins at the highest level with an odds-on success in the Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes, Roly Poly won the Group 3 Grangecon Stud Stakes.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained juvenile is a daughter of Claiborne Farm's excellent stallion War Front (by Danzig) and this was her first attempt at six furlongs. She was a short-head debut winner over the minimum trip at Naas in April, was beaten by almost eight lengths when fourth behind Caravaggio in the Listed Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh a month later, and then finished only eighth behind the stunning Lady Aurelia in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Ascot. That defeat came just 11 days before her pattern success, and as her entries include the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, we can expect to see her being stepped up in grade before long. Roly Poly is the second foal out of Misty For Me (by Galileo), the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine who beat Midday by six lengths in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes in 2011 and whose prior form features wins in both the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. She finished third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf over 11 furlongs at Churchill Downs on her final start. Her progeny are listed as being bred by the Misty For Me Syndicate and her first foal is a three-year-old named Cover Song. That American-born bay is a daughter of Australian champion sire Fastnet Rock (by Danehill), whose shuttle seasons to Ireland have yielded the Group 1 stars Diamondsandrubies, Fascinating Rock and Qualify, she is a $450,000 graduate of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and is a winner from two starts. Roly Poly's sire can count the European Group 1 winners Air Force Blue, Declaration Of War and War Command among his progeny, each of whom has been trained by Aidan O'Brien, his other seven top-level winners include their undefeated stablemate Hit It A Bomb, who won the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf almost eight months ago. The stallion's current juvenile crop also includes recent Group 3 Albany Stakes winner Brave Anna.
Misty For Me, whose yearling and current foal are also full-siblings to Roly Poly, is out of an unraced mare called Butterfly Cove (by Storm Cat) and that makes her a full-sister to two fillies of note. One of the pair is Twirl, who won the Listed Hurry Harriet Stakes at Gowran Park, was runner-up in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes and in the Group 3 Park Express Stakes, when trained by O'Brien, and had a War Front colt last year.
The other sister is Ballydoyle, one of the top juvenile fillies in Europe in 2015. She was short-headed in the Listed Chesham Stakes on her second start, then won a maiden at Newmarket before beating Minding by two lengths in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh. She then chased home that star in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes before beating Turret Rocks in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac – Criterium des Pouliches. Ballydoyle also chased home Minding in the Group 1 1000 Guineas on her seasonal reappearance, and although only sixth in a dramatic edition of the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) eight days ago, she holds a string of top entries and is one of the ante-post market leaders for the Group 1 Tattersalls 250th Year Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket on Friday week. Butterfly Cove's two-year-old is a colt named Limited Edition (by Galileo). There are no guarantees with any mare, no matter what she did or didn't achieve as a racehorse or how she's bred, but it is not really any surprise that Butterfly Cove became a broodmare of note. Some have better prospects than others, a higher chance of success, and she has fulfilled that promise and support. In addition to being a full-sister to the Group 3 winner Kamarinskaya, she is a half-sister to Fasliyev (by Nureyev), who was Europe's juvenile champion of 1999. He won the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, Group 1 Prix Morny and Group 3 Coventry Stakes, retired to stud in the spring of his three-year-old season, and has sired winners at all levels without making a strong impact. Their dam, Mr P's Princess (by Mr Prospector), was also unraced, but in addition to being a full-sister to the Grade 2-placed Excavate, her siblings include the multiple US Grade 1 stars Desert Wine (by Damascus) and Menifee (by Harlan), both of whom enjoyed some success as stallions. She is also a half-sister to Arsaan (by Nureyev), who won a mile listed contest at Kempton before becoming the dam of the dual Chilean Grade 2 scorer Rock Star Show (by Lear Fan) and grandam of Blueridge Mountain (by Giant's Causeway), an Argentine-born filly who won the Group 1 Majorca Stakes over a mile at Kenilworth, in South Africa, in 2013. Dame Sybil (by Elocutionist), who was an unraced half-sister to Mr P's Princess, also did her part for the family. Her stakes-winning pair Never Speaking (by Foolish Pleasure) and Princess Sybil (by Cormorant) won a total of 27 races between them, and her dual Grade 2-winning son Alannan (by Conquistador Cielo) was third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and in the Grade 1 Forego Stakes. Her string of successful runners also includes four-times scorer La Sarto (by Cormorant) and that filly became the dam of the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes and Group 1 July Cup hero Les Arcs (by Arch). This is an outstanding family, and although the bare form of what Roly Poly has achieved so far leaves her with quite a bit to find if she is to be up to emulating so many of her relations by winning at least once at the highest level, the possibility that she could progress to that degree cannot be ruled out.
Newsells Park Stud's dual Group 1-winning sprinter Equiano (by Acclamation), who was reviewed here last month, has made a promising start to his stallion career with four Group 3 winners, four listed scorers and three others with blacktype to their name before this weekend.
Today the sire of Group 1-placed, pattern-winning sprinter Strath Burn got his biggest winner to date when the Ger Lyons-trained colt Medicine Jack beat Peace Envoy by half a length to take the Group 2 GAIN Railway Stakes over six furlongs at the Curragh. He won a maiden over the same trip at Navan a month ago, was third and sixth on his two prior outings, and given the trend of juvenile pattern winners being earmarked as future stallions, this young chestnut may now have his name on some lists. After all, not only is he by a sprint star son of Dark Angel's sire Acclamation (by Royal Applause), but he comes from the family whose string of notable sires is headed by the Japanese sensation Deep Impact (by Sunday Silence). Medicine Jack, the twelfth foal of his dam, was bred by Downfield Cottage Stud and he made just 10,000gns in Newmarket as a foal. Lyons secured him for €28,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, both amounts somewhat surprising for a half-brother to a long list of winners. Those siblings include the prolific pair Doctor Hilary (by Mujahid) and Only If I Laugh (by Piccolo), the Tom Dascombe-trained miler Captain Revelation (by Captain Rio), and that gelding's more highly-rated full-sister Agony And Ecstasy, who matched her brother's total of wins and won the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' Stakes over a mile at Kempton five years ago. That smart filly is the dam of the three-year-old Danish mile winner Secret Emotion (by Dutch Art), her second foal is a son of the classic sire Paco Boy (by Desert Style), and her third is a Medicean (by Machiavellian) colt who made just 12,000gns in Newmarket in November.
Loch Clair (by Lomond) is the grandam of Medicine Jack, but despite being a half-sister to a Group 1 winner and from the immediate family of various others who have won at the highest level, she was unplaced in three starts. Her tally of just three winners from eight foals was also disappointing.
That star among her siblings is Wind In Her Hair (by Alzao), the Group 1 Aral-Pokal winner and dual listed race scorer who chased home Balanchine in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom and finished third behind Pure Grain in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks the following summer. Both of those rivals also had Irish classics on their records as Balanchine beat the colts in the Group 1 Irish Derby, and Pure Grain was a six-length winner of the Group 1 Irish Oaks. Wind In Her Hair is the dam of US Grade 3 scorer Veil Of Avalon (by Thunder Gulch) and of two Japanese stakes winners, she is the grandam of the late Group 1-placed, Group 2-winning miler and notable dual-purpose stallion Jeremy (by Danehill Dancer) and, of course, she is most famous as being the dam of the aforementioned Deep Impact. A Triple Crown hero who won seven times at the highest level, his only two defeats in a 14-race career were a half-length loss to Heart's Cry in the Arima Kinen at Nakayama in December of his three-year-old campaign and the following year's Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe when he passed the post a neck and half a length behind Rail Link and Pride, a position from which he was disqualified. Deep Impact stands at Shadai Stallion Station and his 25 Group 1 winners include this year's classic stars Makahiki, Dee Majesty and Sinhalite, plus the runaway Prix d'Ispahan scorer A Shin Hikari. Dee Majesty beat Makahiki and Satono Diamond in the Satsuki Sho (2000 Guineas), another classic 1-2-3 for their sire, and when the trio met again in the Tokyo Yushun (Derby), Makahiki won by a nose from Satono Diamond, with Dee Majesty a half-length behind in third. Sinhalite lost the Oka Sho (1000 Guineas) by a nose in April but won the Yushun Himba (Oaks) in May, a race in which Biche (by Deep Impact) finished third. His prior roll of honour includes the dual classic and dual Group 1 Japan Cup heroine Gentildonna, whose earnings came to the equivalent of over £12 million, Dubai Group 1 scorer Real Steel, and Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches heroine Beauty Parlour, to name just three. In total, Deep Impact has 68 pattern winners and 14 listed scorers to his name, despite being just 14 years old, and although it is very early for him yet as a sire of stallions and broodmares, his potential to forge a dynasty, just as his own sire did, is considerable.
With a superstar like this in his immediate family, it is easy to see why further pattern success, or even Group 1 placings, could book an eventual stallion role for Medicine Jack.
Wind In Her Hair's half-sister Capo Di Monte (by Final Straw) also did her bit for the family's honour, both on the track and at stud. A Grade 3 winner in North America after taking the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes and Listed Virginia Stakes in England and earning the runners-up spot in the Group 2 Sun Chariot Stakes, she is the grandam of the Grade 1-placed Grade 3 scorer Magic Mission (by Machiavellian). That filly, in turn, has a talented son running in France this season, namely the Andre Fabre-trained Talismanic (by Medaglia d'Oro), who won a 12-furlong listed contest in heavy ground at Saint-Cloud last month before finishing fourth behind Almanzor in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) at Chantilly. Burghclere (by Busted), the third dam of Medicine Jack, is also the ancestor of a variety of other stakes winners, including the Group 3 Bengough Stakes winner and Group 1 July Cup third Eastern Impact (by Bahamian Bounty), Group 1-placed stakes winner Yehudi (by Sadler's Wells), and the high-class Japanese colt Win Kluger (by Taiki Shuttle). As a racehorse she won just once and her blacktype came from a fourth-place finish in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes, which counted in those days. And despite what has been creeping into some sales catalogues in recent seasons, finishing fourth has not earned blacktype for a very long time now, and fifth place never did. Burghclere's success at stud was hardly a surprise give that she was out of the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) heroine Highclere (by Queen's Hussar), the Timeform 129-rated filly who chased home the great mare Dahlia (Timeform 135-rated) in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot before going on to become one of the most influential broodmares of all time. Her son Milford (by Mill Reef) won the Group 2 Princess of Wales's Stakes but, like most sons of his great sire, disappointed at stud, and those who descend from her Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes runner-up Highbrow (by Shirley Heights) include multiple Group/Grade 2 scorer Blueprint (by Generous), Group 1 stars Kingdom Of Fife (by Kingmambo) and Ask (by Sadler's Wells) and the high-class sprinter Astrophysical Jet (by Dubawi). Her daughter Wily Trick (by Clever Trick) is the dam of classic-placed Group 2 scorer Elegant Fashion (by Danewin) and grandam of Group 1-placed pattern scorer Star Fashion (by Street Cry), and Beacon Hill (by Bustino) is the grandam of the pattern-winning miler Banknote (by Zafonic). The most famous of Highclere's daughters, however, is her juvenile star and subsequent Group 2 Princess of Wales's Stakes winner Height Of Fashion (by Bustino), the mare who gave us the Guineas, Derby, Eclipse and King George hero Nashwan (by Blushing Groom) and top-class middle-distance stars Nayef (by Gulch) and Unfuwain (by Northern Dancer), among others of note. Each of that trio has several Group 1-winning progeny to his name, their stakes-placed half-sister Bashayer (by Mr Prospector) is the grandam of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Lahudood (by Singspiel), while their stakes-winning sister Sarayir (by Mr Prospector) is responsible for both the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Coronation Stakes heroine Ghanaati (by Giant's Causeway) and Group 1-placed pattern scorer Mawatheeq (by Danzig). Notable individuals who also descend from Height Of Fashion include Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes winner Maqaasid (by Green Desert), South American Grade 1 scorer Il Fornaio (by Orpen), Group 2 Premio Ribot winner Oriental Fashion (by Marju), US graded winners Makderah (by Danehill) and Mustanfar (by Unbridled), and the multiple Group 1-placed Group 2 Temple Stakes winner Hot Streak (by Iffraaj), who is in his first season at Tweenhills Farm & Stud. Most of those horses are remotely connected to Medicine Jack, but as a son of Equiano that comes from the immediate family of Deep Impact, and whose fourth dam is Highclere, Group 2 success has made him a very interesting individual. This bargain basement colt holds entries in the Group 1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and Group 1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, both at the Curragh, and it will be fascinating to see how highly in the rankings he can climb. The team at Tally-Ho Stud have a knack for turning non-stakes winning racehorses into Group 1 sires and Kodiac is one of their greatest successes.
A multiple sprint handicap scorer who was runner-up in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury, the son of Danehill (by Danzig) is out of the 1990 Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) heroine Rafha (by Kris) and that makes him a half-brother to Group 1 Sprint Cup winner and major sire Invincible Spirit (by Green Desert). He began his career at a fee of €5,000 and such is the reputation that he has built in recent seasons that he was advertised at €45,000 for 2016. His yearlings made up to 360,000gns last season, foals up to 255,000gns, and his Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes-winning daughter Tiggy Wiggy was sold for a massive 2,100,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sales in Newmarket. That classic-placed filly is currently his only winner at the highest level, but it is surely all but guaranteed that she will not hold on to that particular accolade for much longer. Kodiac's 25 blacktype winners include four Group 2 scorers and five who have won at Group 3 level, and his latest batch of two-year-olds features Ardad and Prince Of Lir, winners respectively of the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes and Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot this week. The latter was bred by Philip and Orla Hore, he is trained by Robert Cowell, and The Cool Silk Partnership had to go to £170,000 to secure him at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale at Doncaster in April. That was a nice return on the £40,000 he fetched at the same venue as a yearling. Prince Of Lir is the second foal out of Esuvia (by Whipper), a former Bryan Smart-trainee who won once over five furlongs and twice over six furlongs, achieving a peak handicap mark of 86. Her siblings include the five-times sprint winner Matuza (by Cadeaux Genereux), the multiple middle-distance scorer Well Painted (by Excellent Art), and also Resplendent Glory (by Namid). The late Terry Mills trained that chestnut to win six of his nine starts, including Group 3 and listed sprints at Sandown, and from limited opportunities at stud the grandson of Indian Ridge (by Ahonoora) has sired several multiple winners, headed by his first-crop son Dreams Of Glory, a five-furlong specialist with 10 wins from 59 starts. Aoife (by Thatching), who is the grandam of Prince Of Lir, won twice, she is responsible for seven winners from eight foals, and is a half-sister to the Group 2 King's Stand Stakes third Funny Valentine (by Cadeaux Genereux). Her siblings also include Dame Hester (by Diktat), a stakes-placed dual winner whose son Donnerschlag (by Bahamian Bounty) won a Group 3 sprint at Hamburg, in Germany, last summer. That six-year-old is trained by Jean-Pierre Carvalho and, three weeks ago, he finished third behind Shining Emerald in the Group 3 Silberne Peitsche over six furlongs at Baden-Baden. The next dam, Aunt Hester (by Caerleon), was a winner at two and as she was out of the triple scorer Lady Hester (by Native Prince) that made her a half-sister to the Group 2-placed Group 3 Prix Daphnis winner L'Irresponsable (by Ile de Bourbon) and to Najaba (by Touching Wood), a Group 2-placed stakes winner in New Zealand who has some notable descendants. Najaba's great-granddaughter Platinum Witness (by California Dane) won the 2014 Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas and two other pattern events, she was runner-up in the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks, and finished third in the Group 1 Windsor Park Horlicks Plate in October. That filly's stakes-winning dam Chartreuse (by St Petersburg) is a half-sister to the dam of the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks runner-up and dual pattern scorer Zennista (by Zenno Rob Roy). Those top performers are too remotely connected to Prince Of Lir to be in a position to give us any sort of idea of his future potential, but as a Kodiac colt from the immediate family of Resplendent Glory and Donnerschlag, it seems clear that his bright future on the track most likely lie within the sprinters' division. |
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