KILDANGAN Stud stallion Cape Cross (by Green Desert), who gave us the outstanding pair Sea The Stars and Ouija Board, has been having another excellent year, largely thanks to his third Epsom classic star, Golden Horn.
A prolific provider of blacktype pretty much every year, his 2015 representatives also include the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) winner Karpino, the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes scorer Convergence, and also Agent Murphy, the runaway Group 3 Betfred Geoffrey Freer Stakes winner who may bid for Group 1 glory in next month’s Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger at the Curragh.
The Brian Meehan-trained four-year-old is among a total of 98 individual stakes winners for his sire, up to Monday night, and from a career total of just seven starts, this dual blacktype scorer has never been out of the first three.
His three outings this year have all been in stakes events and those two wins surround a third place finish in the Group 2 Grand Prix Chantilly in late May.
Agent Murphy was bred by Wellsummers Farm and he is the second foal out of an unraced mare called Raskutani (by Dansili). She has produced two other winners and her fourth foal is a Royal Applause (by Waajib) colt catalogued as Lot 1218 in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Agent Murphy could be described as being a three-parts brother to the Group 2 Superlative Stakes winner Hatta Fort (by Cape Cross) and that half-brother to Raskutani is now one of two talented horses for their dam following events at Newmarket a fortnight ago.
It was then that Oshiponga’s (by Barathea) daughter Blue Bayou (by Bahamian Bounty) won the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes.
A six-furlong debut winner at Haydock, that juvenile’s only other outing is her third place finish in the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, beaten a nose and a short-head by Illuminate and Besharah.
Blue Bayou is also trained by Meehan and bred by Wellsummers Farm, and her entries include the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Group 1 Connolly’s Red Mills Cheveley Park Stakes.
Raskutani’s siblings also include the winner Teide Lady (by Nashwan) and that mare is, in turn, the dam of Ayaar (by Rock Of Gibraltar).
His three juvenile wins for the Mick Channon team included a German Group 3 contest and the now Luca Cumani-trained five-year-old got his most recent win in a Class 2 handicap over a mile at Newbury in April.
Should Agent Murphy or his ‘aunt’ Blue Bayou win at the highest level they will not be the first in the family to achieve the feat.
His grandam, Oshiponga, is one of nine successful runners out of the mile listed scorer Ingozi (by Warning) and she is a half-sister to the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes heroine Miss Keller (by Montjeu).
One of her non-winning siblings is the dam of the Grade 2 Oak Tree Derby scorer Fantastic Pick (by Fantastic Light) and their dam Inchmurrin (by Lomond) was the Group 2 Child Stakes (now Falmouth Stakes) winner of 1988.
A stakes winner at two, Inchmurrin was runner-up in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at three, and in addition to her pattern-winning son Inchinor (by Ahonoora), who sired several Group 1 winners, those who descend from her include the classic-placed Venus De Milo (by Duke Of Marmalade) and additional pattern scorers Ursa Major (by Galileo) and Malabar (by Raven’s Pass).
Agent Murphy is bred to be a highly talented horse, he is improving and it will be fascinating to find out how good he is when he reaches his peak.