READERS of this column will be well familiar with the term ‘blue hen’ as it relates to broodmares. Eight mares in history have the distinction worldwide of breeding four or more Group or Grade 1 winners, and one of them is Darara.
Winner of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, this daughter of Top Ville (High Top) produced a total of 10 winners, among them the quartet of Group 1 winners. They are Dar Re Mi (Singspiel), Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Dubai Sheema Classic winner Rewilding (Tiger Hill), Hong Kong’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes hero Diaghilev (Sadler’s Wells), and Darazari (Sadler’s Wells) who achieved his Group 1 success in the Ranvet Stakes in Australia.
It could be argued that Darara should be correctly attributed a fifth Group or Grade 1 winner as her son Dardjini (Nijinsky) won the Grade 1 Denny Gold Medal Novice Chase at Leopardstown back in 1997 and was placed in the Grade 1 AIG Europe Champion Hurdle at the same venue.
Two of Darara’s sons were placed in Group 1 races, stakes winner Dariyoun (Shahrastani) finishing third in the Prix du Cadran, while Rhagaas was third in the Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby.
Dar Re Mi was bred and raced by the Lloyd Webbers and five of her six career successes were in stakes races. Three of these were at the highest level as she triumphed in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh, the Dubai Sheema Classic and the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, the latter a race in which she was also runner-up.
She earned nearly £2.7 million while racing.
OUTSTANDING START
At stud Dar Re Mi has made an outstanding start, three of her four winners landing stakes races and the other being a multiple group-placed horse. So Mi Dar (Dubawi) started the ball rolling when she won both the Group 3 Tattersalls Musidora Stakes and a listed race at Yarmouth, while also running third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera.
However, it is this year that offspring of Dar Re Mi have really been making headline news.
Her three-year-old daughter Lah Ti Dar (Dubawi) is unbeaten in three starts, including the Listed Galtres Stakes at York and the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket.
She has won the three by an aggregate of more than 19 lengths and a step up to Group 1 is likely for her next outing.
Not to be outdone, her juvenile full-brother Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) is also unbeaten, his second success being gained in the Group 3 Solario Stakes at Sandown at the weekend. His two wins have been by an aggregate of 11 lengths.
Happily for the Lloyd Webbers Dar Re Mi has a yearling colt and a filly foal, both by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium).
Dubawi is the only British-based stallion to ever sire 100 group winners and that list includes 35 Group 1 winners so far.
He is unquestionably one of the top five stallions in the world and commands a fee of £250,000. One mare guaranteed a lifetime covering with him must surely be Dar Re Mi.