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. Comments are closed.
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