DARAIN is unbeaten in two starts, earning Qatar Racing and Watership Down Stud the paltry sum of £6,986. It is no reward, yet, for the 3,500,000gns (£3,675,000) invested in the three-year-old colt when he sold in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale two years ago to David Redvers. However, his career is being no doubt carefully cultivated by trainer John Gosden, given the colt’s impeccable pedigree, and the trainer seems pleased with him based on his post-race comments.

A son of multiple Group 1 winning parents in Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) and Dar Re Mi (Singspiel), Darain is a full-brother to champion Too Darn Hot, Group 2 winner Lah Ti Dar, and the Group 3 winner So Mi Dar. Too Darn Hot has just completed his first season at stud after a racing career that netted three Group 1 wins and the title of best juvenile in Europe.

Lah Ti Dar was unlucky not to win a Group 1 but her placings at that level included being runner-up in the Group 1 St Leger. So Mi Dar showed that she was up to Group 1 level when she claimed a placing in the Prix de l’Opera at Chantilly.

This is one of the very best female lines in the stud book, and Darain’s potential stallion value is immense if he can keep his career going forward. His dam was a Group 1 winner in Ireland, England and the UAE and she is one of four winners at the highest level out of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner Darara (Top Ville). The others are Hong Kong champion Diaghilev (Sadler’s Wells), dual Group 1 winner Rewilding (Tiger Hill), and Australian Group 1 winner Darazari (Sadler’s Wells). Oh, you can also throw in a Grade 1 National Hunt winning son in Dardjini (Nijinsky), winner of the Denny Gold Medal Novice Chase at Leopardstown.

Darara was one of a pair of Group 1 winners, among 12 successful offspring, from the French group-placed winner Delsy (Abdos). The other was the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby winner Darshaan (Shirley Heights), an influential sire later at stud.