CLASSIC trial season is well under way and Leopardstown hosted a listed contest and two pattern events on Sunday.

Although much of the current focus in on the Guineas races and their equivalents, the Group 3 P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes is over 10 furlongs and it is for the middle-distance classics that its winners tend to aim.

Idaho (by Galileo), who created a favourable impression on his debut at the Curragh in mid-October only to disappoint when fourth behind Robin Of Navan in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud three weeks later, moved to the front a furlong and a half from home and looked likely to score.

But then the Dermot Weld-trained Harzand got going, passed him in the final half-furlong and won by a length and a quarter. Idaho finished seven and a half lengths clear of the third and both colts remain live classic prospects.

Should the Aga Khan’s homebred go on to win at the highest level then he will not be the first in his family to do so, or to make the frame in a classic.

The 12th pattern winner among a total (to Monday night) of 24 stakes winners by Gilltown Stud’s proven sire Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross), he is by a stallion who already has two Group 1 classic scorers to his name – Sea The Moon and Taghrooda – and whose other progeny include last year’s Derby third and Irish Derby runner-up Storm The Stars.

Harzand is the fourth blacktype horse from the first five foals out of Hazariya (by Xaar) and that makes him a half-brother to the Listed Finale Stakes winner Hazarafa (by Daylami) and to Harasiya (by Pivotal), the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes scorer who was favourite when beaten a neck in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh and then finished third to Sky Lantern in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

The other member of the talented quartet is Haziyna (by Halling), a dual 10-furlong handicap winner who earned her blacktype when placed in the Group 3 Give Thanks Stakes, in the Listed Lenebane Stakes and in the Listed Nijinsky Stakes, beaten by just a neck there.

Their dam’s only other runner is Hazaraba (by Oasis Dream) who was third in a seven-furlong Naas maiden on her only start as a juvenile and then not seen out again after winning a maiden by two lengths over that course and distance the following summer.

She, like Hazarafa and Haziyna, is a member of her owner-breeder’s powerful broodmare band. Hazariya’s success shares a feature in common with that of Ridge Pool’s descendants reviewed here last week (third dam of Zhukova) in that the racing career of both mares ended when pulled-up injured at a major track.

Unlike the chesnut, who had been just a maiden winner, Hazariya won the Group 3 Athasi Stakes, was runner-up in the Group 3 Blue Wind Stakes, and added victory in the Listed Victor McCalmont Memorial Stakes at Gowran Park, in which she beat Ridge Pool’s grand-daughter Mermaid Island by a length.

She was sent then off at 10/1 for the Group 1 Irish Oaks at the Curragh but was injured and dismounted about a quarter of a mile from home, her future looking uncertain as that of her owner’s five-length winner Shawanda looked bright.

Hazariya’s sixth foal is a juvenile colt named Haripour (by Shamardal), he is trained by Dermot Weld and has been entered in the 2017 Investec Derby at Epsom.

Both Harzand and Idaho were available at around 20/1 for the 2016 edition of that race, at the time of writing, and the pair are also entered in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.

The grandam of Harzand is the dual winner Hazaradjat (by Darshaan) and that makes Hazariya a half-sister to listed-placed Hidden Brief (by Barathea), to a mare whose descendants include a Group 1 star, and also to Hazarista (by Barathea).

That latter filly won the Group 3 Blue Wind Stakes at Cork, was only beaten by one and three-quarter lengths when third to Ouija Board and Punctilious in the Group 1 Irish Oaks on fast ground at the Curragh and then filled the same position behind runaway winner Quiff in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks, this time on soft ground.

Her two-year-old is a Lope De Vega (by Shamardal) colt who has been named Haroon.

That other sibling of note is Handaza (by Be My Guest), a winner who gave us the Group 3 Concorde Stakes winner Hamairi (by Spectrum), the pattern-placed stakes winner Hanabad (by Cadeaux Genereux), stakes-placed dual-purpose gelding Handazan (by Nayef), and Hannda (by Dr Devious), dam of 2013’s Group 1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Seal Of Approval (by Authorized).

Hannda’s daughter Gale Force (by Shirocco) won a 15 furlong listed contest in heavy ground at Saint-Cloud in November, and her triple winner Instance (by Invincible Spirit) got her blacktype when finishing third in the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes at Goodwood on her final start.

The mare is also responsible for Fly (by Pastoral Pursuits) whose three starts, all last autumn, produced a seven-furlong success on heavy ground at Lingfield and a pair of mile wins on the polytrack at Kempton.

Hazaradjat was out of Group 2 Prix de Royallieu runner-up Hazy Idea (by Hethersett), which made her a half-sister to the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes and Group 1 Flying Childers Stakes winner Hittite Glory (by Habitat), and her more distant relations include the top Australian mare Streama (by Stratum), whose most recent of four Group 1 wins, from eight to 12 furlongs, is the 2014 running of the 10-furlong Doomben Cup.

Harzand, who was a short-head behind Sunday’s listed scorer Black Sea when the pair finished fourth and fifth in a mile maiden on their debuts at Gowran Park in September, was a 16-length maiden winner over 10 furlongs at Cork last month which came on heavy ground.

With part of what we know about Sea The Stars as a sire being that most of his progeny show a preference for much sounder underfoot conditions, these winning performances become more impressive and it is possible that Harzand could be one of top Group 1 horses of 2016.