ONE small problem with horses going to race in Hong Kong is that their names are often changed from those with which they raced in Europe. Dunboyne Express was a smart performer in Ireland before he headed to Hong Kong where he became a multiple Group 1 winner as Dan Excel.

A son of Shamardal, he has been the best performer by his sire in that country and his performances were such that other produce by the Darley stallion would be on Mark Richards’ shopping list at the sales. One purchase he made by the former champion juvenile and miler was at the 2014 Arqana Yearling Sale and this was a German-bred colt from a renowned female line in the country of his birth.

Named Ninas Shadow when he sold for €180,000 as a yearling, the now three-year-old was renamed Pakistan Star when he arrived in Hong Kong and he was sold earlier this year at auction there for about €750,000. He has earned a large slice of this purchase price now and goes into 2017 as the winner of half of his six starts, most recently landing the Griffin Trophy at Sha Tin.

This race, while not a stakes race, is an important event and is restricted to imported horses who did not race before they arrived in Hong Kong. The winner, now gelded, will take a major step up in class for his next start, which is expected to be the Hong Kong Classic Mile in late January.

Pakistan Star is the second produce of the Peintre Celebre mare Nina Celebre. The first was the stakes-placed Tertullian mare Ninas Terz and this year she produced her first offspring, a filly foal by Sea The Stars.

Ninas Terz is now owned by the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holding Inc and she was acquired through Kern Lillingston Bloodstock as a three-year-old at Arqana for €120,000. Following on from this pair, Nina Celebre has a two-year-old Invincible Spirit filly called Networking, a 170,000gns foal purchase by John Ferguson, a yearling colt by Lawman named Legal History and a foal by Mastercraftsman. She was covered by Golden Horn this year.

Nina Celebre is owned by Gestut Wittekindshof and she was a listed winner at three and four in Germany, both times over a mile and a quarter. She was also placed in a listed race in Italy.

She is the best of the three foals produced by the Group 1 German Oaks winner Next Gina, one of the best runners sired by Perugino, the Danzig half-brother to Sadler’s Wells. In winning the classic Next Gina emulated her own dam who captured the same race seven years earlier.

That mare was Night Petticoat, a daughter of Petoski, and she came close to having a perfect record with her progeny, eight of the nine foals she produced becoming winners. She also had the distinction of having two classic-winning offspring, the other being the German Derby winner Next Desert, He was a son of Desert Style.

Night Petticoat failed narrowly to do what her own dam Nightrockette achieved, as this winner in West Germany did manage to have a full house of winners with her nine foals. The Shareef Dancer mare Nightdance was her other stakes winner, but she is grandam of the Italian Oaks winner Night Of Magic (by Peintre Celebre) and third dam of the 2015 champion filly Nightflower (by Dylan Thomas), last year’s German Derby winner Nutan (by Duke Of Marmalade) and the Group 1 winning filly Nymphea (by Dylan Thomas).

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news