FINDING prospective new additions to a farm’s stallion team can be tough, especially with major owner-breeders’ horses unavailable and often multiple parties chasing the same selection of colts.

Buying into one when he has only listed or Group 3 form comes with the obvious risk that he may fail to enhance his profile sufficiently to prove worth the investment, and going for one who has not yet even tried blacktype company has even greater potential to backfire.

In early July, Cheveley Park Stud took the gamble of buying a majority share in a colt who had just extended his unbeaten record to four with victory in a valuable six-furlong handicap at York.

The three-year-old, a son of their Group 1 star and successful sire Kyllachy (by Pivotal), won both his starts over the same trip as a juvenile, and his York win saw his rating jump to 104.

It was a bold move, and it is one that has proved inspired as the Henry Candy-trained Twilight Son, still part-owned by his breeder Godfrey Wilson, extended that perfect streak to five when short-heading the Equiano (by Acclamation) colt Strath Burn in the Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock last Saturday.

Magical Memory (by Zebedee) was third and this trio of three-year-olds finished clear of last year’s winner G Force.

Kyllachy, whose famous Group 1-winning sons Sole Power and Krypton Factor are geldings, now has a top-level winner for whom a stallion career awaits. He also has his Group 2-winning sons Arabian Gleam and Dragon Pulse at stud, and the latter’s first crop were popular at the recent Premier Yearling Sale in Doncaster.

Twilight Son is out of Twilight Mistress (by Bin Ajwaad) who won at Warwick, Southwell, and Bath, achieving a career peak mark of 78, and it is likely that she will not have just one stallion son.

All six of her racing-age progeny have won at least once and they include Music Master (by Piccolo) who, like his sibling, holds an entry in next month’s Group 1 Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot.

He too is bred by Wilson and trained by Candy, and although unplaced in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes last time, he won the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes last year before finishing third in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock.

He was third in the Group 3 Abernant Stakes in April, third in a listed sprint in France six weeks ago, and although it does not count for blacktype, he was fourth in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ascot in June.

Twilight Mistress is also the dam of Music Master’s prolific full-brother The Confessor and of the six-times scorer Shaded Edge (by Bold Edge), and her yearling Assertive (by Bold Edge) filly is lot 2099 in Book 3 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, in addition to being a full-sister to the winner Spring Fling. The mare’s eighth foal is a Bahamian Bounty filly.

Although a capable racehorse and grand-daughter of the influential stallion Rainbow Quest (by Blushing Groom), the emergence of Twilight Mistress as a Group 1 producer is something of a surprise.

If it were just Music Master on her record then you might look at the fourth generation of the family and think yes, one pattern winner in the sprint division could happen here.

With two of them, however, one of whom has won at the highest level, and both by different sires, along with two other progeny who have outperformed her on the track, it would seem that this mare may have received a better genetic mix from her ancestors than did some of her relations. Go back far enough and it is the family of a classic star.

There are small numbers of representatives in parts of her family and that too may be a factor in the surprise, making the talent seem to skip a generation or two.

Twilight Mistress is one of only four winners from 11 foals out of By Candlelight (by Roi Danzig), and they include the seven-time scorer Miss Flirtatious (by Piccolo) and the stakes-placed Romantic Evening (by Dr Fong) who won at York as a juvenile and later added to that abroad. Her strike rate is very low, but that of the classic producer in the family was even lower!

By Candlelight is the only foal out of Penny Candle (by Be My Guest) and that dual scorer was, in turn, among just four foals out of an unplaced mare called Pennyweight (by Troy). Two others among that quartet were winners including the Group 3 Queen Mary Stakes scorer On Tiptoes (by Shareef Dancer), who also won the Listed Bentinck Stakes.

She was just about the fastest representative of her sire, and although none of her progeny shared her level of talent, her descendants include the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes winner Violette (by Observatory), the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes and Listed Albany Stakes heroine Silca’s Gift (by Cadeaux Genereux), and the stakes winner Virginia Hall.

These are the horses that you will see on the catalogue page of Twilight Son’s half-sister, but if you go back one more generation you will find that Pennyweight was out of the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes winner and Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes third Hayloft (by Tudor Melody).

Only three of that mare’s 11 foals were winners, but they included Wassl (by Mill Reef), the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas victor of 1983. He also won the Group 3 Greenham Stakes, dead-heated with the excellent Cormorant Wood in the Group 3 Lockinge Stakes, and was runner-up in the Group 1 Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes at Leopardstown. Sadly, as with most of the Mill Reef (by Never Bend) stallions, he disappointed at stud.

So, Twilight Son is the second Group 1 star within the first five generations of his pedigree, he is a half-brother to a Group 1-placed pattern scorer, and he comes from the family of some very quick fillies.

He looks sure to be a popular new addition to the team when he takes up residence at Cheveley Park Stud.