THE stallions who make a quick start in their freshman season tend to be those who were themselves sprinters or milers, sometimes precocious sorts, and almost always horses who showed talent when they were juveniles. Almost always.

In 2012 Norman Court Stud’s Group 1 star Sixties Icon took high early rank with Listed Woodcote Stakes and Group 3 Premio Primi Passi success for his son Chilworth Icon.

The son of Derby hero Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) and Oaks star Love Divine (by Diesis), Sixties Icon won the Group 1 St Leger, and not only did he never race over a trip shorter than 10 furlongs, but he did not made his debut until April of his three-year-old season. His tally of stakes winners is up to four, three others have earned blacktype, and his string of those who are multiple winners includes a Group 1-entered filly who beat the boys in the bet365 Esher Cup over a mile at Sandown eight days ago.

Norman Court Stud bred and own the three-year-old, she has won two of her three starts, is engaged in both the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Coronation Stakes, and her name is Czabo.

The second foal of Fiumicino (by Danehill Dancer), a mile handicap scorer who was only beaten by a neck in the Listed Masaka Stakes, Czabo’s grandam was unplaced in her only two starts, which may not sound notable, but those two races were seven furlong Group 3 contests at the Curragh.

IRISH ST LEGER

One might have expected that she, Valhalla Moon (by Sadler’s Wells), would fare better over middle-distances, especially as she is a grand-daughter of the Group 1 Irish St Leger heroine Dark Lomond (by Lomond), but she didn’t run at three.

Valhalla Moon is a half-sister to four blacktype earners, including Scandinavian listed scorer Demeanour (by Giant’s Causeway) and the 105-rated gelding Sugar Ray (by Danehill) who chased home Sixties Icon in the Group 3 Cumberland Lodge Stakes.

A half-sister to the Group 2 Blandford Stakes winner South Atlantic (by Mill Reef) and to Group 3 Silken Glider Stakes winner Forlene (by Forli), Dark Lomond was out of the dual Oaks-placed Group 3 Athasi Stakes scorer Arkadina (by Ribot) and the best of her progeny was Gothic Dream (by Nashwan).

That filly was runner-up in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes and third in the Group 1 Irish Oaks, her dual stakes-winning son Pugin (by Darshaan) was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish St Leger and her daughter Chartres (by Danehill) is the stakes-winning dam of Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup scorer Certerach (by Halling).

There are many other blacktype horses in the family, including Gothic Dream’s Group 1-placed Group 2-winning juvenile sprinter and Rathbarry Stud stallion Lilbourne Lad (by Acclamation), and with the impression that she created at Sandown recently, it seems a fair bet that Czabo will join them before long.