THE classics are generation-defining events, for the horses themselves and for their sires and dams.
Some of the winners fail to make an impact at stud, for some it’s their grandsons, granddaughters or more distant descendants who hit the Group 1 target, but for a select bunch their glory days on the track precede fame at stud.
Sheer numbers of offspring lower the odds of a classic-winning colt going on to sire at least one classic winner at stud, but what about the fillies?
They can only have one foal per year, they may have anywhere from eight to 16 offspring in their lifetime – if long-lived – so getting any type of Group 1 winner is a more difficult feat, and a classic star even more so.
However, there are quite a few classic-winning fillies who have gone on to produce a classic winner at stud.
Stacelita (by Monsun; 2009 Prix de Diane) added her name to the list when her daughter Soul Stirring (by Frankel) landed the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) in 2017, and the tremendous influence wielded by Miesque (by Nureyev; 1000 Guineas & Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in 1987; dam of 1993 Poule d’Essai des Poulains star Kingmambo, by Mr Prospector, and dual 1994 French classic heroine East Of The Moon, by Private Account) and Colorspin (1986 Irish Oaks; dam of 1998 & 1999 Irish St Leger scorer Kayf Tara, by Sadler’s Wells) has been widely covered over the years.
So, let’s take a quick look at 10 other classic heroines who have achieved that special feat in Europe.
Al Bahathri (USA)
ch.1982 - Blushing Groom - Chain Store, by Nodouble
A classic that produces a multi-way photo is one that often fades in significance, but not the 1000 Guineas of 1985.
The unbeaten Oh So Sharp would go on to trounce her rivals in the Oaks and add victory in the St Leger before becoming a Group 1 producer and classic grandam at stud. Third-placed Bella Colora also went on to prove herself to be a high-class racehorse and influential broodmare.
Al Bahathri split the pair. She had won the Group 2 Lowther Stakes at two, landed the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and Group 2 Coronation Stakes after her Newmarket defeat, and her star son Haafhd (by Alhaarth) won the 2000 Guineas in 2004.
He was a Group 1-placed stakes winner at two, rounded off his three-year-old campaign with an impressive score in the Group 1 Champion Stakes, and the Batsford Stud stallion has compiled a useful record as a dual-purpose sire.
Al Bahathri’s relations include the top-level scorers Spanish Fern (by El Gran Senor), Heatseeker (by Giant’s Causeway), Forever Together (by Galileo), Lord Shanakill (by Speightstown) and Together Forever (by Galileo).
She is also the dam of the Group 2 Challenge Stakes winner Munir (by Indian Ridge) and her descendants feature the Group 1 stars Gladiatorus (by Silic), Military Attack (by Oratorio), Big Orange (by Duke Of Marmalade) and Red Cadeaux (by Cadeaux Genereux).
Al Bahathri died at her long-time home, Derrinstown Stud, in 2014, at the age of 32.
Aryenne (FR)
b.1977 - Green Dancer - Americaine, by Cambremont
The Group 1 Criterium des Pouliches (Prix Marcel Boussac) is long-established as a potential classic pointer and Aryenne took the prize in 1979. The granddaughter of Nijinsky (by Northern Dancer) was out of a half-sister to 1962’s Poule d’Essai des Poulains scorer Adamastor (by Norseman), she won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at three and was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix de Diane.
Ten years later, her son Quest For Fame (by Rainbow Quest) landed the Derby at Epsom. He went on to add the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Handicap and achieved some success at stud, getting seven top-level scorers, including several champions, among 43 stakes winners, mostly in Australia.
Aryenne’s offspring also include the Group 1-placed US Grade 2 scorer Yenda (by Dancing Brave) and her relations include the top-level winners Antheus (by Northern Dancer), Indian Danehill (by Danehill), Poliglote (by Sadler’s Wells), He’s Your Man (by Cape Cross) and Special Ring (by Nureyev).
Aryenne died in the summer of 2007.
Dumka (FR)
b.1971 - Kashmir - Faizebad, by Prince Taj
The Poule d’Essai des Pouliches of 1974 was one of just two races that Dumka won but she went on to have a notable stud career for the Aga Khan’s team.
She was out of a half-sister to 1969’s Champion Stakes heroine Flossy (by Spy Well) and, in 1988, her son Doyoun (by Mill Reef) won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket before going on to finish a close third in the Derby at Epsom.
He had a somewhat successful career at stud, getting the Group 1 standouts Daylami and Kalanisi among others of note, but died aged 17. His siblings included the Group 1-placed pattern winner Dolpour (by Sadler’s Wells), the pattern winner and blacktype sire Dalsaan (by Habitat) and the pattern-winning sprinter Dafayna (by Habitat).
Dumka’s descendants also include the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) winner and Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) runner-up Cheers Grace (by Sunday Silence).
Love Divine (GB)
b.1997 - Diesis - La Sky, by Law Society
Placed on her only juvenile start, Lordship Stud’s Love Divine won the Listed Lupe Stakes first time out at three and just 16 days before landing the Oaks at Epsom by two lengths from Kalypso Katie.
She chased home Petrushka in the Yorkshire Oaks, was fourth in both the Prix Vermeille and Champion Stakes, and went on to produce Sixties Icon (by Galileo) as her second foal.
He won the St Leger at York in 2006 and added a string of other pattern wins before taking up stallion duties at Norman Court Stud. So far, he has sired two Argentine Grade 1 stars, his European-born progeny include the US Grade 2 scorer Nancy From Nairobi and Australian Group 1-placed Group 2 winner Sixties Groove, and his others of note include Chilworth Icon, Czabo, and Epsom Icon – all pattern winners.
Love Divine is a half-sister to the dam of the eight and 10-furlong Group 1 scorer Dan Excel (aka Dunboyne Express) (by Shamardal), whereas her dam is a pattern-winning half-sister to the Champion Stakes winner Legal Case (by Alleged).
Her John Gosden-trained three-year-old Heiress (by Kingman) won her only start easily in early November and her yearling son is already named Love Down Under (by Australia).
Midway Lady (USA)
b.1983 - Alleged - Smooth Bore, by His Majesty
Midway Lady ran just six times but won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at two before completing the 1000 Guineas-Oaks double in 1986.
She was out of a stakes-winning granddaughter of the Prix Cleopatre scorer Marche Lorraine (by Blue Moon) – which made her a relation of the US Grade 1 winner French Colonial (by Tom Rolfe) and a direct descendant of the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine Sauge Pourpree (by Perth) – and in 2005, her daughter Eswarah (by Unfuwain) also won the Oaks at Epsom. A bone chip ended that filly’s track career just under three months later.
Midway Lady is also responsible for the Irish 1000 Guineas third Umniyatee (by Green Desert) and the Group 3 Princess Royal Stakes winner Itnab (by Green Desert).
Ouija Board (GB)
b/br.2001 - Cape Cross - Selection Board, by Welsh Pageant
Lord Derby’s homebred Ouija Board was a popular Ed Dunlop-trained champion whose seven Group 1 wins included both the Oaks and Irish Oaks of 2004.
The dual Breeders’ Cup heroine – who also won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, Hong Kong Vase, and Nassau Stakes and finished third in the Arc – is out of a full-sister to the Grade 1 star Teleprompter and related to the Group 1 scorers Ibn Bey (by Mill Reef), Roseate Tern (by Blakeney) and Red Bloom (by Selkirk).
With credentials like these, there was every reason to hope that she could excel at stud too.
Her first foal is the pattern scorer (Our) Voodoo Prince (by Kingmambo), her youngest runner is the Group 1-placed stakes winner and sire Frontiersman (by Dubawi; first foals in 2020), but her 2011-born son is the Juddmonte International Stakes and dual Derby hero Australia (by Galileo), who finished third to Night Of Thunder in a vintage edition of the 2000 Guineas.
The Coolmore Stud-based stallion has had nine stakes winners and six other blacktype earners so far from his first two crops and they include two who played a prominent role in the classics last year.
The Group 1-placed pattern scorer Broome finished fourth in that blanket finish to the Investec Derby at Epsom, whereas Group 3 winner Sir Ron Priestley is the one who chased home Logician in the Group 1 William Hill St Leger Stakes at Doncaster.
Sarah Siddons (FR)
b.1973 - Le Levanstell - Mariel, by Relko
Meg Mullion’s Ardenode Stud homebred Sarah Siddons was one of the stars of 1976 when the Paddy Prendergast-trained bay won the Irish 1000 Guineas and Yorkshire Oaks and finished runner-up in both the Irish Oaks and the Prix Vermeille.
She was out of the Pretty Polly Stakes winner and Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up Mariel and was a granddaughter of Ela Marita (by Red God), a Fred Darling Stakes-winning half-sister to the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Eclipse Stakes, St Leger and Irish Derby hero Ragusa (by Ribot), so she was an exciting prospect going to stud.
Eight years after her classic season, her daughter Princess Pati (by Top Ville) carried the same colours to victory in the Irish Oaks. That Con Collins-trained star also won the Group 2 Pretty Polly Stakes and finished third to Sadler’s Wells in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes.
Sarah Siddons’ progeny also included the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes winner and notable National Hunt stallion Seymour Hicks (by Ballymore) – sire of Cheltenham Gold Cup and dual King George VI Chase hero See More Business – and her descendants include the Group 1 Prix Vermeille heroine and Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe runner-up Leggera (by Sadler’s Wells).
Shawanda (IRE)
b.2002 - Sinndar - Shamawna, by Darshaan
The Aga Khan’s homebred Shawanda, who came from a branch of the family of Blushing Groom (by Red God), won five of her seven starts and provided France with victory in the Group 1 Irish Oaks in 2005. The Alain de Royer-Dupre-trained bay later added the Group 1 Prix Vermeille.
Seven years later, her Darley-bred son Encke (by Kingmambo) won the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster, denying Camelot the Triple Crown. Sadly, the colt’s life had an unfortunate aftermath; he was caught up in a doping scandal and then met with a fatal injury just over two years after his classic success.
Shawanda, who died in 2019, is also the dam of the Group 2-placed, 10-furlong Group 3 scorer Genius Beast (by Kingmambo), her three-year-old is an unraced Mark Johnston-trained filly named Serengeti Star (by Teofilo) and she had a Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) colt in mid-March of last year.
Snow Bride (USA)
ch.1986 - Blushing Groom - Awaasif, by Snow Knight
A daughter of the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club winner Awaasif, Snow Bride took longer to win her classic than any other three-year-old because on that day at Epsom she was easily outpointed by the Aga Khan’s homebred Aliysa who, as is well known, was eventually disqualified after a long-running process following a failed post-race test.
However, the result was never in any doubt nine years later when her son Lammtarra (by Nijinsky) landed the Derby by a length from Tamure. The colt, a listed winner on his only start at two, went on to add the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, his only subsequent starts, before going on to a disappointing career at stud.
His dual Oaks-placed daughter Melikah is a notable blacktype producer and the third dam of 2018’s Group 1 Investec Derby winner and young Dalham Hall Stud stallion Masar (by New Approach).
Snow Bride’s descendants also include the Group 1-winning Australian stayer Polarisation (by Echo Of Light) and the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat scorer Aesop’s Fables (by Distorted Humor).
Zenda (USA)
b.1999 - Zamindar - Hope, by Dancing Brave
Juddmonte homebred Zenda went from Windsor maiden winner to classic star in 20 days, and although she flopped in the Irish 1000 Guineas, the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches heroine came within a neck of beating Sophisticat in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and Riskaverse in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
The John Gosden trainee went to stud as an exciting prospect; her juvenile half-brother Oasis Dream (by Green Desert) had just been crowned champion, her close relation Beat Hollow (by Sadler’s Wells) was a Derby-placed three-time top-level winner, and the many notable members of her extended family included her dam’s full-sister Wemyss Bight, the Group 1 Irish Oaks heroine of 1993.
Since the day she stepped off the racetrack for the last time, her half-brother became European sprint champion and an influential international sire, and her relations include the Arc-placed Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club star and young Ballylinch Stud stallion New Bay (by Dubawi; freshman sire of 2020).
Of course, Zenda is the dam of the brilliant miler Kingman (by Invincible Spirit) whose only defeat in eight starts was when splitting Night Of Thunder and Australia in a vintage edition of the 2000 Guineas.
He trounced his rivals by five lengths and more in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas and extended his Group 1 tally in the St James’s Palace Stakes, Sussex Stakes and Prix Jacques le Marois.
The Banstead Manor Stud-based stallion has made such an impression with his first two crops that his fee for 2020 stands at £150,000, and his 17 stakes winners include last year’s Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains scorer Persian King.
Zenda’s blacktype sons First Eleven (by Frankel) and Remote (by Dansili) went to stud in Spain and Argentina respectively. She died last year, at the age of 20, and her final foal is a juvenile colt named Ferran Star (by Frankel).