Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar's homebred mare Aljazzi put up one of the most visually impressive performances of last month's Royal Ascot meeting when she stormed clear of her rivals to take the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes by three and three-quarter lengths.
This came almost two months after she had finished third to Addeybb in the Group 2 bet 365 Mile at Sandown, her prior wins included last year's Group 3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown, and that success followed her three-quarter-length second to Qemah in 2017's edition of the Duke of Cambridge. She is trained by Marco Botti in Newmarket , her career tally of five wins from 14 starts also includes a pair of listed-race victories and her total earnings figure has passed the £250,000 mark.
The five-year-old is one of more than 110 stakes winners for Kildangan Stud's leading international sire Shamardal (by Giant's Causeway), whose list of top-level scorers includes last month's Group 1 King's Stand Stakes star Blue Point.
She is the first foal out of Nouriya (by Danehill Dancer), who won listed races at Yarmouth and York, and her grandam is Majestic Sakeena (by King's Best), an unraced half-sister to two stakes winners, one of whom is a broodmare of considerable note. That is Shy Lady (by Kaldoun). She got her blacktype success in Germany as a two-year-old, and her star son Zafeen (by Zafonic), who was third in the Group 1 Prix Morny at that age, won the Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot shortly after chasing home Refuse To Bend in the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. He has had some moments of success at stud, and so has his half-sister Ya Hajar (by Lycius). She won the Group 3 Prix du Calvados at Deauville as a juvenile but her son Prince Of All (by Iffraaj) won the Listed Patton Stakes over seven furlongs at Dundalk as a three-year-old and was runner-up in the Group 3 Diamond Stakes over 10 and a half furlongs at the same venue. Shy Lady is also responsible for three listed-race winners and two others who have been blacktype placed, and in addition to Majestic Sakeena, her own siblings include two others who have produced stakes winners at stud. The most notable of their results is the Group 3 Premio Tudini success of Special Cause's son Victory Laurel (by Holy Roman Emperor). There is plenty more blacktype to be found in the fourth generation of the pedigree too as fourth dam Shy Princess (by Irish River) – a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile star Opening Verse (by The Minstrel) – was runner-up to Sakura Reiko in the Group 1 Prix Morny and later became the dam of Group 2 Diadem Stakes winner Diffident (by Nureyev), who was a successful stallion in India. Also notable is that the fifth dam is the durable and talented Shy Dawn (by Grey Dawn), a multiple Grade 3 star who notched up 19 wins and 38 placings from 95 start, back in the 1970s, accumulating over $500,000 in prize money. It will be interesting to see how the rest of Aljazzi's season turns out, and with her pedigree connections there is every reason to hope that she also has a notable broodmare career ahead of her.
Group 1-winning Australian sprinter Foxwedge (by Fastnet Rock) was a reverse-shuttle stallion to Whitsbury Manor Stud, in England, for four seasons, and although he has not yet set the world alight here, he has come up with three Group 1 winners from his global first crop.
Foxplay has won at the top level over a mile in Australia, Volpe Veloce achieved the feat over six furlongs in New Zealand in January, and Urban Fox put up the performance of her life, so far, to take the Group 1 Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday. The stallion is based at Newgate Stud in New South Wales, Australia. Urban Fox was a talented two-year-old who was third in each of the Group 1 Fillies' Mile, Group 2 May Hill Stakes and Group 3 Prestige Stakes, but she was disappointing at three, was sold for 425,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in Newmarket and left the James Tate yard to join William Haggas. She won a mile handicap on the straight course at Ascot on her seasonal reappearance in May, finished fourth to Aljazzi in the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes over the same course and distance in June, and then sprang something of a surprise with her Irish success, beating Oaks heroine Forever Together by three and a quarter lengths on her first attempt at 10 furlongs. The now Timeform 118-rated bay holds entries in the Group 1 Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes, Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes, Group 1 Qatar Nassau Stakes, and Group 1 Coolmore Fastnet Rock Matron Stakes, and it will be interesting to see how much more improvement there is to come from her, if any.
Urban Fox was bred by Mascalls Stud, who sold her for 10,000gns from Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. A half-sister to the blacktype-placed chaser Hollow Penny (by Beat Hollow), and to several flat winners, she is a daughter of the winning Nashwan (by Blushing Groom) mare Lomapamar and is not the first member of family to surprise at the Curragh.
The best of her dam's eight winning siblings was Mons (by Deploy), the impressive Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes winner who went on to be placed in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy, Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club, Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes and Group 2 Yorkshire Cup, but they also include Inforapenny (by Deploy) who finished third, at 100/1, to Petruskha in the Group 1 Irish Oaks. Their dam, Morina (by Lyphard), won once in France as a three-year-old and was a half-sister to 10 winners out of Arewehavingfunyet (by Sham), who got the best of her blacktype wins in the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes, Grade 2 Del Mar Debutante Stakes and Grade 3 Landaluce Stakes, all as a two-year-old. That star is the dam of listed scorer Have Fun (by Topsider) and ancestor of a host of blacktype-placed horses, and this daughter of listed race winner Just Jazz (by Exclusive Native) is a half-sister to a stakes-winning filly called Northern Jazz (by Northern Jove) and from a branch of an Argentine family. Urban Fox is a much improved filly this year and it will be interesting to see what other value-enhancers she can add to her record before going to stud. |
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