NIMROD was a very significant man in ancient times, the grandson of Ham and great-grandson of Noah. Nimrod is also the name of an Irish/German-bred two-year-old colt who could develop into a horse that we will hear more about in 2016.

On pedigree Nimrod is born to be a good one. It has taken him time to visit the winner’s enclosure, but he did so at the fourth attempt last weekend in Bremen. He had been runner-up on his first three outings and he is in the care of trainer Peter Schiergen who will presumably place him to best advantage after a winter break.

Bred and raced by Jurgen Imm, Nimrod is a son of High Chaparral and the Peintre Celebre mare Night Of Magic.

He is the mare’s second produce and is following in some very impressive hoof prints. His year older half-sister is Nightflower, the 2015 Group 1 winning and classic-placed daughter of Dylan Thomas.

Nightflower also races for the same owner/trainer combination that has Nimrod and in September she won the Group 1 Preis von Europa.

She deserved a success at the highest level and had previously finished second in both the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) and the Grosser Preis von Baden. Nightflower and Nimrod are followed by a Lawman yearling colt and an Invincible Spirit filly foal. Their dam visited Australia this year. Night Of Magic is a permanent boarder with Joe Hernon at his Castletown Stud in Cork.

Night Of Magic won just once but it was an important victory in the Group 2 Oaks d’Italia. Back in Germany she also displayed classic form and was runner-up in the St Leger.

This form was befitting a filly who comes from a particularly successful female line in Germany and has also been responsible for the year’s German Derby winner.

The Platini mare Night Teeny is the dam of Night Of Magic and she is the best of her seven foals and six winners to date. I say to date as Conor O’Dwyer trains a four-year-old High Chaparral son of Night Teeny and he is the only produce of the mare yet to win.

The three-year-old, and last produce of the mare, is the Medicean gelding Melon and he won for Nicholas Clement this year but has now joined Willie Mullins.

Night Of Magic has made the best start possible at stud but she will be looking enviously at the record of her full-sister Neele. That mare won a couple of races and was group-placed but she has made a sensational start at stud and two of her first three winners did so at Group 1 level.

The first was the Dylan Thomas filly Nymphea who won the Grosser Preis von Berlin as a four-year-old in 2013. The second is this year’s German Derby winner Nutan, a son of Duke Of Marmalade.

Nuit Polaire is a winning Kheleyf half-sister to Night Of Magic and she is an interesting prospect. Her first foal, a two-year-old son of Elusive City named Elombo, was disqualified after winning this year and has been tried in listed company. He is obviously well thought of by connections. The mare’s second offspring is a Dutch Art yearling filly who sold for €450,000 at the Arqana Yearling Sale in August.

With classic and Group 1 winners Night Petticoat, Next Desert and Next Gina all close up in the family, it is not fanciful to imagine Nimrod making waves in 2016.