Blue Point - sprinter or miler?

BLUE POINT (IRE) - 2014 bay colt

Juvenile champion and dual classic star Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway) wasted no time in establishing himself as a top-class international sire and the Kildangan Stud ace gets leading two-year-olds, high-class sprinters, and top-notch milers and middle-distance runners.

His many notable performers in 2016 included Godolphin's good colt Blue Point, and the Charlie Appleby-trained bay ended his season with a third-place finish to Churchill and Lancaster Bomber in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.

It is certainly possible that he will prove effective at a mile, but a combination of his overall juvenile record with a reading of the distaff side of his pedigree suggests that his best prospects of success at the highest level may come from six to seven furlongs.

Each of his first five starts was over six furlongs and he won three of them, including a novice event by 11 lengths at Doncaster and, more notably, his three-length defeat of Mokarris in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York, a performance that saw his official rating increase to 115. Timeform have him on 118.

He lost his unbeaten record when a neck runner-up to Mehmas in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood the previous month and lost out again at Newmarket in late September when The Last Lion sprang a 25/1 shock in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, winning by three-parts of a length.

Blue Point, who was raised to a mark of 116 after his Dewhurst performance, was bred by Oak Lodge Bloodstock. He made 110,000gns in Newmarket as a foal and 200,000gns from Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at the same venue, and he is the best of several winners out of Scarlett Rose (by Royal Applause).

Those siblings include a lowly-rated mile winner, but he is also a half-brother to the Group 2 Railway Stakes winner and Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes runner-up Formosina (by Footstepsinthesand). Indeed, he and Formosina could be described as being three-parts brothers as both are by sons of the prolific Group 1 star and multiple US champion sire Giant's Causeway (by Storm Cat).

Their dam was only placed, as was their grandam Billie Blue (by Ballad Rock), but Scarlett Rose is a half-sister to seven winners, two of whom are of particular note.

The track star among them is Tumbleweed Ridge (by Indian Ridge), a prolific seven-furlong specialist whose 10 wins included the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes, the Group 3 Prix de la Porte Maillot, and three editions of the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes.

The other sibling one made her name at stud because she, the lightly-raced triple sprint winner Tumbleweed Pearl (by Aragon), is the dam of Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes heroine Gilded (by Redback) and grandam of the pattern-placed multiple sprint stakes winner Fort Del Oro (by Lope De Vega), a grand-daughter of Shamardal.

Blue Nose (by Windjammer), the third dam of Blue Point, won a listed nursery and earned three other pieces of blacktype, one of which was her fourth-place finish to Monteverdi in the Group 2 National Stakes at the Curragh in 1979. It is, of course, a very long time now since finishing fourth in a listed or pattern event awarded any blacktype.

Blue Point holds an entry in the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh and he is available at between 16/1 to 33/1 for the Group 1 Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, but it would not be a surprise to see him become a leading candidate for the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup at Ascot the following month.