The Ballydoyle team secured another classic trial victory when their Anthony Van Dyck made a winning return to action in the Listed RaceBets Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield. A Group 2 Futurity Stakes winner who was runner-up to Quorto in the Group 1 National Stakes and third to Too Darn Hot in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, the Timeform 118-rated son of Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) is among the market leaders for next month's Group 1 Investec Derby.
The bare form of this two-and-a-quarter-length win appears some way below what's required to succeed at the highest level but he did it well and, importantly, it showed us that he stays the distance, something that was in slight doubt on breeding. Not every Galileo stays beyond ten furlongs – although most do – and this colt is out of a daughter of speed influence Exceed And Excel (by Danehill) who has produced a Group 1-winning champion sprinter in the southern hemisphere.
Bounding (by Lonhro) got that win in the Group 1 Railway Stakes over six furlongs at Ellerslie in New Zealand, she also won Group 3 contests over that trip and over seven furlongs in that country and to those she added a four-length score in a five-and-a-half-furlong Group 3 at Caulfield in Australia. There are many top sprinters who also stay a mile and Bounding is among them. She only tried the distance once but was a three-quarter-length runner-up to Costa Viva in the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock 1000 Guineas at Riccarton Park. The pair are out of Believe'N'Succeed, whose two wins at two featured a five-and-a-half-furlong Group 3 contest, and that mare's siblings include listed scorer Agulhas and the speedy Group 2 winner Kuroshio, both of whom are also by Exceed And Excel. The latter is a reverse shuttle stallion whose first juveniles caught the eye in the UK last year, and he stands at Clongiffen Stud in Ireland. Arctic Drift (by Gone West), the grandam of Anthony Van Dyck, is a winning daughter of Grade 1 Alabama Stakes and Grade 1 Test Stakes heroine November Snow (by Storm Cat) and that full-sister to graded winner and blacktype sire Scatmandu is also notable as being the grandam of Grade 1 Carter Handicap scorer Morning Line (by Tiznow). Anthony Van Dyck, who was bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, has the potential to win at the highest level. Whether or not he can make the necessary progress in time for Epsom remains to be seen, but it is worth noting that he is a May 19th foal and so has not yet reached his physical third birthday, which means that he could still be getting better in the autumn and next year despite having already raced eight times in his life.
Star filly Magical disposed of a small but select field to take the Group 2 Coolmore Highland Reel Irish EBF Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh, comfortably beating Flag Of Honour by a length and a half in the ten-furlong feature. The King was a neck back in third, the same margin separating him from last year's Irish Derby scorer Latrobe.
She also beat last year's Irish St Leger winner comfortably in last month's Group 3 Alleged Stakes at Naas, her first outing since chasing home Enable in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs in November. The Group 1-winner is daughter of prolific champion sire Galileo (by Sadler's Wells), who currently sits in second place to Danehill in the all-time list of sires of Group 1 winners and in third, to Danehill and Sadler's Wells, in the all-time list of sires of stakes winners. Some sources call him "world champion sire" but given that sire championship titles are decided by earnings, he has never achieved that feat. Deep Impact, on the other hand, has – and Japanese prize money levels make it unlikely that any non Japanese-based horse can top that annual ranking.
Magical, whose pedigree was reviewed in detail in her chapter of European Group 1 Winners of 2018, was bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, she is a full-sister to Group 1 Lockinge Stakes heroine Rhododendron and also to the ten-furlong Group 3 winner Flying The Flag. She also has a two-year-old sister who has been named Heaven of Heavens and a full-brother who was born in January of this year. Their multiple Group 1-winning dam Halfway To Heaven (by Pivotal) is a daughter of the Group 2 King's Stand Stakes scorer Cassandra Go (by Indian Ridge) and that half-sister to the classic-placed pattern winner and successful sire Verglas (by Highest Honor) is also notable as being the grandam of US Grade 1 star Photo Call (by Galileo). Rahaam (by Secreto), the third dam of Magical, is also the third dam of last year's Group 1 Melbourne Cup star Cross Counter (by Teofilo). Magical holds a long list of Group 1 entries, as you might expect, and the evidence provided by her first two runs of the year suggests that she will win at least once at the top level in 2019.
Aidan O'Brien completed a classic double when his charge Hermosa made all to win the Group 1 Qipco 1000 Guineas the day after the team's Magna Grecia landed the colts' classic over the same course and distance. This time it was Wayne Lordan in the saddle and the pair beat fellow Irish raider Lady Kaya by a length. That Sheila Lavery-trained bay was ridden by Robbie Colgan.
The unbeaten Group 3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Qabala was sent off as favourite for the mile test but had to settle for third, a neck behind Lady Kaya but a head in front of Angel's Hideaway. Each of the second, third and fourth look likely to do well anywhere in the six-to-eight-furlong range as their careers progress. Fairyland and Just Wonderful, stablemates of the winner, took fifth and sixth with both looking set for potentially different types of campaigns as the year progresses. The former, a Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine by noted speed influence Kodiac (by Danehill) holds entries in the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes but also in the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup and five-furlong King's Stand Stakes. She merely kept on in the final furlong – which could have been partly due to it being her first outing of the year – but Just Wonderful stayed on strongly, as you might expect of a Dansili-sired descendant of Urban Sea whose entries include the Investec Oaks, Ribblesdale Stakes and Darley Irish Oaks.
Hermosa also holds entries in those three races, and she is an ante-post market leader for the Epsom classic. Being a Galileo full-sister to the Group 1 stars Hydrangea and The United States gives her every chance of staying 12 furlongs, but there is also a chance on pedigree that around 10 furlongs could be as far as she wants to go. The United States got his Group 1 win over 10 furlongs in Australia and Group 2 successes there over 12 and a half furlongs and a mile. Hydrangea won the Group 1 British Champions Filly & Mare Stakes over 12 on soft at Ascot and the Group 1 Matron Stakes over a mile at Leopardstown. However, half-sister Fire Lily (by Dansili), who was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, was a triple Group 3 winner over six furlongs. Their dam, Beauty Is Truth (by Pivotal), won the Group 2 Prix du Gros Chene over five at Chantilly, grandam Zelding (by Warning) won the Group 3 Prix du Bois and finished fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp over that same trip, and that mare's siblings include the pattern-winning sprinters Nipping (by Night Shift) and Zipping (by Zafonic). The latter also finished fourth in Rock Of Gibraltar's 2000 Guineas. If you go back another step on the page then you will find that this is the family of star sprinter-miler Last Tycoon (by Try My Best). In short, Hermosa's ability to stay beyond 10 furlongs will depend on whether she inherited her dam's speed contribution or the stamina element that can appear in that line – Caerleon (by Nijinsky) and Mill Reef (by Never Bend) are the sires of her third and fourth dams. She was a Group 3 scorer over seven furlongs at two, runner-up in both the Group 1 Fillies' Mile and Group 1 Criterium International, and has now won the 1000 Guineas in promising style, so she is clearly a filly of considerable talent and potential. Hermosa has run eight times now but it should be noted that she won her classic a day before reaching her physical third birthday and that suggests there could still be plenty of improvement to come from her. She is an exciting prospect for the season ahead and has a pedigree that could also see her excel at stud when that time comes. |
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