MASTEROFTHEHORSE only covered nine mares in his first year at stud and all went in foal. They produced four colts and five fillies. He covered 45 mares in his second season and this number grew again last year to nearly 50 mares.

That first crop have just turned three-year-olds and one of them is Zainat, winner over a mile and half a furlong recently at Wolverhampton. He is trained by Karl Burke for his owner/breeder Hassan Al Abdulmalik. The trainer put the improvement in form down to the three-year-old being gelded, after which he improved physically.

Burke predicts that he will win again.

News of the win was well received by Michael Shefflin at Annshoon Stud near Mullinavat, Co Kilkenny where Masterofthehorse stands alongside Fruits Of Love. If siring this first winner with his first runner is an indication of things to come, the son of Sadler’s Wells has plenty to look forward to in the years ahead.

Masterofthehorse is entitled to be a success. He was a very smart racehorse when trained by Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle and after winning a mile maiden at two he was third to Sea The Stars in the Group 2 Juddmonte Beresford Stakes. The next year he failed to add to his victories but he was third in the Epsom Derby behind Sea The Stars and Fame And Glory, with Group 1 winners Rip Van Winkle and Crowded House fourth and sixth.

You don’t get much better sire lines than that of being a son of Sadler’s Wells, also responsible for luminaries such as Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, while his National Hunt stallion sons include King’s Theatre, Old Vic, Kayf Tara and Milan. Add to the mix the likes of Istabraq and Synchronised and you can see why NH breeders should be pencilling in Masterofthehorse as a potential mate for their mares.

On the dam side Masterofthehorse is a full-brother to the champion and dual classic winner Alexandrova and a three-parts brother to the Group 1 winner Magical Romance. This is also the family of Chicquita, a granddaughter of Sadler’s Wells, and that classic winner sold for €6 million at Goffs in 2013.

Zainat is the first foal of the unraced Think Fast and she was bought by Rabbah Bloodstock as a yearling for 30,000gns. Think Fast is a half-sister to a number of winners and they are all out of the group-placed Think.