ELARQAM (GB) - 2015 bay colt
Banstead Manor Stud's Timeform 147-rated great Frankel (by Galileo) has made an exciting start to his stallion career and his 21 stakes winners, from his first two crops, include Elarqam. Hamdan Al Maktoum's colt ran only twice in 2017 but took those seven-furlong contests by a combined margin of six lengths, earning a Timeform rating of 112p.
His York maiden success was followed by a two-and-a-quarter-length defeat of Tip Two Win in the Group 3 Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket just 18 days later. That Roger Teal-trained runner-up, a two-length listed scorer at Doncaster on his previous start, has easily won his only two races since, both at Doha in Qatar, and the second of those was in the Al Biddah Mile, a local Group 2 contest. That Dark Angel colt's next outing is due to be in the Group 1 Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. That classic is also the intended target for Elarqam, whose entries also include the Group 2 Betfred Dante Stakes, Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas, Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club, and Group 1 Investec Derby. The latter is, of course, over 12 furlongs which, if he stays, is likely to be the outer margin of his stamina.
Frankel's progeny can be sprinters, milers or middle-distance horses, which is hardly a surprise given his pedigree and race record, and the variety of mares that have been sent to him. Both his Group 1 stars – Cracksman and Soul Stirring – stay 12 furlongs, and although it is possible that Elarqam might be able to handle that trip too, there is also a good chance that about 10 and a half furlongs may be as far as he really wants to go.
He is the latest talented performer out of star miler Attraction (by Efisio), Europe's juvenile filly champion of 2003 and who went on to take the Group 1 1000 Guineas, Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas, Group 1 Coronation Stakes, Group 1 Matron Stakes and Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes, earning a rating of 125 from Timeform. Each of her first seven foals to race has been a winner. Her daughter Cushion (by Galileo) has been runner-up in a pair of nine-furlong Grade 3 contests in the USA and was previously listed-placed at up to 12 furlongs in England – where Timeform rated her 103 – and her sons include Fountain Of Youth (by Oasis Dream). He was Timeform-rated 103p at two and 111 at three, he was fourth (no blacktype) in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot as a two-year-old and earned his blacktype when beating Extortionist (who won that Ascot race) by a head in the Group 3 Sapphire Stakes over five furlongs at the Curragh the following year. Fountain Of Youth, a 420,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale graduate, was unplaced on his only attempts at seven furlongs and a mile, even though his sprint-champion sire is a proven source of horses who can excel at a mile to 12 furlongs – in addition to his star sprinters, of course. He stands at Bearstone Stud, had 70 foals in his first crop, and those offered in the auction ring fetched up to 45,000gns in Newmarket in late November.
Attraction's considerable talent was something of a surprise. There are some talented horses in her family, but they are quite distantly related to her, and hence to her offspring. Her younger half-sister Federation (by Motivator) has since been Grade 3-placed over nine furlongs, and two of her siblings have produced blacktype horses.
Aunty Mary (by Common Grounds) is the dam of Mary's Daughter (by Royal Applause), who was runner-up in the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes over six furlongs at Ayr as a juvenile, and Titivation (by Montjeu) is the dam of Titi Makfi (by Makfi), a listed winner over 12 furlongs on the polytrack at Kempton in November. Carmita (by Caerleon), a half-sister to Attraction's unraced dam Flirtation (by Pursuit Of Love), was a capable middle-distance performer who won the Listed Grand Prix du Sud-Ouest and took third in the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu, and their siblings also include Malaya (by Last Tycoon), the dam of Group 3 Polar Cup scorer You Never Know (by Diaghlyphard). If you go back to the fourth dam, the thrice unplaced mare Land Ho (by Primera), then you will find that descendants of some of her daughters and granddaughters include Group 1 Prix de la Salamandre winner Lord Of Men (by Groom Dancer), lightly-raced Japanese filly champion and dual Group 1 mile star Major Emblem (by Daiwa Major), and several horses who have won at the highest level in South America. All of those horses are between distantly to remotely connected to Elarqam, as are his Timeform 121-rated, July Cup-winning fifth dam Lucasland (by Lucero), her 12-furlong Group 3-winning daughter Lucent (by Irish Ball), and her outstanding great-granddaughter Sonic Lady (by Nureyev), a Timeform 129-rated mile star of the 1980s. Elarqam, who was bred by Floors Farming and was sold for 1,600,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, could be anything. Attraction's current two-year-old, who is also trained by Mark Johnston for Hamdan Al Maktoum, made 1,350,000gns at the 2017 edition of that famous sale and he has been named Maydanny (by Dubawi). Comments are closed.
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