Dansili son Convey won first UK pattern race of 2017

CONVEY (GB) - 2012 bay gelding

The first English pattern event of 2017 was the Group 3 Betway Winter Derby Stakes over 10 furlongs on the polytrack at Lingfield last week and it provided the Juddmonte Farms-bred Convey with a second blacktype success.

The five-year-old was a multiple pattern-placed mile listed race winner in 2016 and his recent success came on his first start since being gelded in November. He was rated 111 before Lingfield, down from a peak of 113, and it will be interesting to see how the Sir Michael Stoute-trained bay performs throughout the year.

Convey is a 67th pattern winner, among 116 individual stakes winners, for Banstead Manor Stud's outstanding stallion Dansili (by Danehill) and he is one of three blacktype scorers for his dam, Insinuate (by Mr Prospector).

She won a mile listed contest at Ascot, her son Stronghold (by Danehill) won the Group 3 Supreme Stakes over seven furlongs at Goodwood, and her daughter Take The Hint (by Montjeu) won the Listed Pretty Polly over 10 furlongs at Newmarket.

Imroz (by Nureyev), a Grade 3-placed half-sister to Insinuate, is the grandam of the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat scorer Mutual Trust (by Cacique), and the talented sisters are out of the Group 1 star All At Sea (by Riverman).

That chestnut got her top-level success when beating Brief Truce by a neck in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp, her stamina gave out when chasing home User Friendly in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom, and she also had to second for second place against Rodrigo De Triano in the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

All At Sea's half-brother Over The Ocean (by Super Concorde) won the Group 3 Prix Gontaut-Biron and Group 3 Prix Perth, her listed-winning half-sister Full Virtue (by Full out) is the third dam of the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes heroine Hilda's Passion (by Canadian Frontier), and her winning half-sister Quack A Doodledoo (by Quack) is the grandam of champion and prolific Grade 1 star Banshee Breeze (by Unbridled).

The most notable of her siblings, however, is Quandary (by Blushing Groom). She won the Listed James Seymour Stakes at Newmarket as a four-year-old before becoming the dam of seven winners, two of whom have become important broodmares.

Double Crossed (by Caerleon) won the Listed Oaks Trial at Lingfield and her major contribution is her top-class son Twice Over (by Observatory). His dozen wins included the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, Group 1 Eclipse Stakes, and two editions of the Group 1 Champion Stakes, and he took up stallion duties in South Africa.

Quandary's daughter Clepsydra (by Sadler's Wells) won just once but is the dam of the Breeders' Cup-placed Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Passage Of Time (by Dansili), of Group 1 Falmouth Stakes heroine Timepiece (by Zamindar), and of Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes scorer Father Time (by Dansili) among four stakes-winning offspring.

Passage Of Time, of course, is the dam of the high-class Time Test (by Dubawi), the Group 2 York Stakes and Group 2 Joel Stakes winner who finished third to Hawkbill in the Group 1 Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown last July.