WHAT did Wathnan Racing pay for Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot) a year ago when they acquired the classic winner from Clipper Logistics? We will perhaps never know, but it is odds-on to have been a seven-figure sum.

Successful in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at two, and adding the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas last year, she was bought in time to run in the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown, her first start after her Curragh classic win, and she finished a creditable length second to Porta Fortuna. Fourth when favourite for her three-year-old swansong in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, Fallen Angel made her reappearance this year in the Lockinge Stakes, finishing sixth, and was third at Royal Ascot in a Group 2 behind Crimson Advocate and Cinderella’s Dream.

Fallen Angel is back on track after the weekend’s Group 1 Prix Rothschild, and success at that level in each of her first three seasons racing places her among an elite group. It seems that she will try to go one better than last year, and challenge again for the Matron Stakes on Irish Champions Weekend in mid-September. Fallen Angel was homebred by Steve Parkin at his Branston Court Stud.

There are a number of firsts about the Rothschild winner. Fallen Angel was the first juvenile winner, first Group 1 winner and the first classic winner for Too Darn Hot (Dubawi). She is the best of four winners for her dam Agnes Stewart (Lawman), that mare’s only offspring before she died at the age of nine. Agnes Stewart herself was a €23,000 Goffs yearling purchase by Eddie Lynam, and sported the Clipper Logistics silks to victory in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at two, and was runner-up to Together Forever in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket, just half a length in arrears.

Agnes Stewart was bred in partnership by friends, John O’Connor of Ballylinch Stud and Joe Foley at Ballyhane Stud. Lawman (Invincible Spirit) stood at the time at Ballylinch. Another of Agnes Stewart’s winners, three of which were fillies, is the group and multiple listed-placed Divine Jewel (Frankel), a 300,000gns yearling. Her other winning daughter, Celestial Queen (Dark Angel), sold for 200,000gns as a yearling, won twice, and her first produce is the two-year-old Goodwood Galaxy (Kodi Bear), a winner on his debut and fourth in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood last week.

Rejuvenated

Agnes Stewart and her English listed winner and US graded stakes-placed half-sister Sorrel (Dansili) have totally rejuvenated this branch of a smart family. Their dam Anice Stellato (Dalakhani) is one of seven winners out of Summer Spice (Key Of Luck), and that successful juvenile mare was also one of seven winning siblings.

The fourth dam of Fallen Angel is Summer Fashion (Moorestyle), a six-time winner responsible for a trio of good performers. Definite Article (Indian Ridge) won the Group 1 National Stakes at two and was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Derby, while other victories included the then Group 2 Tattersalls Gold Cup. He enjoyed success as a sire. His half-brother Salford Express (Be My Guest) had his best win in the Group 2 Dante Stakes, while their sibling Salford City (Desert Sun) had big wins on the flat and over hurdles.

Sire of three-time Group 1 winner Fallen Angel in his first crop, and Group 1 winners Hotazhell and Tornado Alert from his second, Too Darn Hot is also responsible for the champion juvenile and leading three-year-old Broadsiding from his first Australian crop.

Dubawi’s best juvenile when he was the unbeaten European champion, Too Darn Hot is out of the three-time Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi (Singspiel). His third-crop yearlings commanded massive prices, led by a 1,500,000gns top lot, and he has five yearlings in the upcoming Goffs Orby Book 1 Sale and 16 in Tattersalls Book 1.

GODOLPHIN’S homebred three-year-old filly Silent Love continued her upward progression when, on just her fourth start, she won for the second time and landed her first stakes success in the mile and a half, Listed Chalice Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday. She won going away by half a length.

Her victory took to 20 the number of blacktype winners sired this year by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) and Silent Love is his 306th such winner overall. Nearly two-thirds of that figure is made up of pattern winners, with a staggering 62 winners having visited the winners’ enclosure after a Group or Grade 1 triumph. Little wonder that he has some 15 or more sons at stud in Europe, while the tally of his daughters who have bred a top-level winner is now in double figures.

Dubawi’s excellent year is headlined by success in the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes for Delacroix, in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes for Lead Artist, and the Group 1 Al Maktoum Challenge for Walk Of Stars. His leading earner with more than €13 million in stakes is Rebel’s Romance, and he recorded his 18th win in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Silent Love is the second foal out of the lightly-raced, Newmarket stakes-winning mare Hadith (New Approach). Her first is Whispering Words (Dubawi), a full-sister to Silent Love, and she was sold for 280,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls July Sale to BBA Ireland, though it was Charles Shanahan who bid and signed for her, acting for his father Paul and Timmy Hyde.

Whispering Words was sold in foal to Kingman (Invincible Spirit), and this year her dam Hadith welcomed a first colt, and he is another by Dubawi. Hadith has a two-year-old daughter, as yet unnamed, by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).

Hadith only raced five times, and gained her stakes win at two. Her dam Discourse (Street Cry) raced even less, starting on just three occasions, but her second win came in the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket. Three of Discourse’s five winners won a blacktype race, while three of the five were sired by Dubawi. She bred the Group 3 Jebel Ali Mile winner Blown By Wind (Invincible Spirit), and the German listed winner Discursus (Dubawi). The last-named mare herself is dam of another listed winner in Germany, Nano Nagle (Frankel).

Winners abound

Group and Grade 1 winners abound under Silent Love’s third dam, Divine Dixie (Dixieland Band). She was stakes-placed, and 20 years ago was a sale headliner when realising $2 million at Fasig-Tipton. Her value was boosted by the fact that her son Bandini (Fusaichi Pegasus) won that year’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Since then, two daughters of Divine Dixie, both among her dozen winners, have added further glory to the family.

My Mammy (Came Home) was placed in a listed race at Belmont, but has proven to be a better matron, with three stakes winners. The best of these is Keeneland’s Grade 1 Ashland Stakes winner Out For A Spin (Hard Spun). The latter was foaled in the same year as Lord North (Dubawi), and he is the best of the offspring from another of Divine Dixie’s daughters, Najoum (Giant’s Causeway).

Lord North is the third largest earner by Dubawi, after Rebel’s Romance and Benbatl. Lord North’s 10 wins were worth more than €7 million, and in addition to his prestige win in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, he landed the valuable Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan on three occasions.