MANDURO (by Monsun) was the world’s top-rated horse in 2007, and when his first juveniles included the Group 1 winner Mandaean and the Group 1-placed Bonfire, he looked like a stallion with the potential to get classic and other Group 1 horses of the future.

Two years ago his daughter Charity Line won the Group 2 Oaks d’Italia and the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio, last year Ribbons took the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet, and that filly added the Group 2 Blandford Stakes to her tally just six days after Braco Forte won the Grade 1 Grande Premio Ipiranga (2000 Guineas) in Brazil.

That colt was Grade 1-placed over 10 furlongs last Saturday, the same day that Vazirabad impressed in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Chaudenay at Longchamp, and the afternoon before the André Fabre-trained juvenile Ultra extended his unbeaten record to three with victory in the Group 1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Grand Criterium) over a mile at that same venue.

Ultra was bred by Darley, Manduro stands for that organisation at Haras du Logis, and should the colt go on to classic success then he will be the fourth member of his immediate family to achieve that feat, one that more distant relatives have accomplished too.

His half-sister Synopsis (by In The Wings) won the Group 3 Prix Minerve over 12 and a half furlongs and was only beaten by two and a half lengths when fourth in the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes, and this suggests that Ultra may have a bright future as a middle-distance horse.

Their dam Epitome (by Nashwan) was placed over eight and 12 furlongs from just three starts, and that mare’s half-sister Calista (by Caerleon) was a Group 3-placed dual mile stakes winner in France before going on to Grade 2 success over nine furlongs in Canada.

Epitome is also a half-sister to Noesis (by Persepolis) and that dual winner is the grandam of Act One (by In The Wings), the Group 1 Prix Lupin scorer who chased home Sulamani in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) when it was still run over 12 furlongs.

Middle-distance

These horses may give an impression that this is a middle-distance family, and certainly the branch that Ultra represents suggests that he will stay the trip if turning up at Epsom in June, but what you find in its second and third generations, and related branches, is a lot of speed, and classic victories over a mile.

The grandam of Ultra is Proskona (by Mr Prospector), Italy’s sprint champion of 1984 when she won the Group 2 Premio Umbria and the Group 3 Prix de Seine-et-Oise, the latter also being one of four big sprints that her half-brother Keos (by Riverman) won.

He took the Group 2 Goldene Peitsche at Baden-Baden and two runnings of the Group 3 Prix de Ris-Orangis at Deauville, and he was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs.

Keos enjoyed only moderate success at stud but his full-sister Korveya, who won the Group 3 Prix Chloe over nine furlongs, is one of those remarkable mares who have produced at least three Group 1 winners at stud.

Shanghai

Shanghai (by Procida) won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) and that classic was among five Group 1s that his half-brother Hector Protector (by Woodman) accumulated.

That mile star was undefeated in eight starts before taking his chance at Epsom in 1991, but the trip was beyond him and, although finishing fourth behind Generous, he was beaten 12 and a half lengths.

His brilliant full-sister Bosra Sham won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at two, took the Group 1 1000 Guineas the following spring, and after losing her unbeaten record by chasing home Mark Of Esteem in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, she then beat Halling by two and a half lengths in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket.

Timeform rated her 132 that year, and although she only won two of her four starts as a four-year-old, they featured an eight-length thrashing of Alhaarth in the Group 2 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Ascot, and her end-of-year Timeform figure was 130.

Bosra Sham’s best son was Rosberg (by A.P. Indy), who won an 11-furlong Grade 3 event in Canada, but her half-sister Gioconda (by Nijinsky) came up with Ciro (by Woodman), winner of the Group 1 Grand Criterium, the Group 1 Prix Lupin, and the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes in addition to a Grade 3 handicap over 12 furlongs at Belmont Park.

He ran in two classics and was third behind the runaway nine-length scorer Sinndar in the Group 1 Irish Derby.

Proskona, Keos, and Korveya are all out of the Group 1 1000 Guineas runner-up Konafa (by Damascus), and although only one of that mare’s dozen runners failed to win, she, Cloelia (by Lyphard), made up for that deficiency by producing the Grade 1 San Juan Capistrano Handicap scorer Passinetti (by Slew O’Gold) and two blacktype-placed horses at stud.

If you go back another step in the family you find that Konafa was a half-sister to the Grade 1 scorer Akureyri (by Buckpasser) and to the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and Group 1 Gran Premio del Jockey Club heroine Awaasif (by Snow Knight), the mare whose daughter Snow Bride (by Blushing Groom) was awarded the Oaks before becoming the dam of the undefeated Derby, King George and Arc hero Lammtarra (by Nijinsky).

This is a famous family that has a long history of producing Group 1 and classic horses, and with a first top-level success now to his name, Ultra could figure prominently on the classic scene of 2016.