Tasleet another notable sprinter for Showcasing

TASLEET (GB) - 2013 bay colt

Talented sprinter Showcasing (by Oasis Dream) has made a promising start to his stallion career. His first crop includes the Group 1 star Quiet Reflection, his second features Tasleet, and, to date, he has come up with 18 individual stakes winners, including several from his time shuttling to New Zealand.

Tasleet was bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud – where his sire stands – he made £52,000 in Doncaster as a yearling, and he is trained by William Haggas for Hamdan Al Maktoum.

​He was fourth over six furlongs at York on his juvenile debut, was a three-length winner over the same trip at Chepstow 17 days later, and then added the Listed Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury before chasing home subsequent Group 1 star Shalaa in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Goodwood.

Three weeks later he took the valuable DBS Premier Yearling Stakes at York and then, on his final outing of the year, he stepped up to seven furlongs at Newmarket, failing by just a nose to beat Sanus Per Aquam in the Group 3 Somerville Tattersall Stakes.

FULL REPLAY & REACTION: William Haggas and Jim Crowley jubilant as Tasleet springs surprise in Duke of York >>> https://t.co/gQWDmyvNkW pic.twitter.com/8U1G9irl7m

— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) May 17, 2017

The colt's three-year-old season was cut short due to a setback after his narrow winning reappearance in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes, which was run at Chelmsford, but the horse he short-headed that day was Knife Edge, subsequent winner of the Group 2 Mehl-Muhlens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas). That rival was later gelded, sent to Hong Kong and renamed Encounter.

Tasleet's only other start came in October, when he finished down the field behind Aclaim in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket, also over seven furlongs, but his four-year-old debut was in the Listed Leicestershire Stakes over the same trip in late April and, having chased home Home Of The Brave, he showed enough to suggest that he could be set for a good year.

Since then he had run three times, all over six furlongs. First he beat Magical Memory by two and a half lengths in the Group 2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes, then failed by a neck to beat The Tin Man in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

On the strength of those two efforts, the Timeform 125-rated bay was sent off at 9/1 for the Group 1 Darley July Cup at Newmarket but this time he disappointed, coming home last behind Harry Angel. He holds entries in both the Group 1 32Red Sprint Cup Stakes at Haydock and the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot.

Transferred from @NewburyRacing to @ChelmsfordCRC, the Greenham goes the way of Tasleet in a tight finish https://t.co/0PcrDgzURa

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 16, 2016

Tasleet is the best of three winners out of Bird Key (by Cadeaux Genereux), a mare who was unplaced on her only start. Two of her half-brothers and two half-sisters are blacktype horses, including the Group 2 Champagne Stakes winner and Group 1 July Cup third Etlaala (by Selkirk), but the relation who catches the eye is the son of one of her lesser siblings.

Anna Law (by Lawman) ran a few times as a juvenile, without troubling the judge, but her three-year-old son Battaash (by Dark Angel) is one of the most exciting sprinters we have seen in recent years.

Also owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum, the Charles Hills-trained bay is a triple blacktype scorer in 2017, earned a massive Timeform rating of 135+ after an impressive victory in the Group 2 King George Stakes over five furlongs at Goodwood, and tomorrow is due to take on the brilliant filly Lady Aurelia for what could be a Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes for the ages.

These most recent generations of the family are all about speed and yet this is a branch of one that is also associated with a different type of talent.

Krakow (by Malinowski) is the fourth dam of both Tasleet and Battaash, she earned her blacktype when third in the Listed Montrose Handicap at Newmarket, her son Adam Smith (by Sadler's Wells) was a multiple Grade 3 scorer in the USA, and his full-brother Braashee was a stayer who took both the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak and Group 2 Yorkshire Cup.

Krakow's daughter Ghariba (by Final Straw) was speedier, winning the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes and finishing fourth in the Group 1 1000 Guineas, and her descendants include the Group 3 Autumn Stakes winner and Group 1 Racing Post Trophy runner-up Fantastic View (by Distant View), plus the Group 1-placed and pattern-winning sprinter High Standing (by High Yield).

Tasleet is a highly talented sprinter from the Green Desert branch of the mighty Danzig (by Northern Dancer) line, which will make him an attractive prospect as a future stallion, especially as his 'cousin' Battaash is a gelding with the potential to continue advertising the family's talent for the next few years.