MIDDAY (by Oasis Dream) was an outstanding racemare whose tally of nine wins and over £2.2 million in earnings came from a 23-race career that was spread over four seasons.
She did not get off the mark until the third attempt, narrowly winning a mile maiden at Newmarket and she was only fourth when stepped up to listed company several weeks later.
Although the daughter of a star sprinter, it was not until stepping up to middle-distances that the bay excelled, her six-length Listed Oaks Trial success preceeding a narrow loss to Sariska in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom.
When she eventually retired to the paddocks she did so as winner of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks and as the first triple winner of the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.
Midday’s first foal is Midterm, a son of Coolmore Stud’s multiple champion sire Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) and now an unbeaten ante-post market leader for the Group 1 Investec Derby.
The Juddmonte Farms homebred won a mile maiden at Newbury in late October and an eye-catching feature of his length and a half defeat of Algometer in the Group 3 bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown was that the pair pulled eight lengths clear of the third.
He looks guaranteed to stay the extra quarter mile at Epsom, his parents both handled that venue’s unique contours, and it is entirely possible that this January-born colt could be a classic or Group 1 star in the making.
Midday’s second foal is a juvenile named Mori (by Frankel), her third is that filly’s yearling full-brother, and their new full-sister arrived in February.
EXCITING BROODMARE
It is not just her superb racing record that makes Midday such an exciting young broodmare, but also that hers is a famous family that is no stranger to producing Group 1 horses.
A half-sister to Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes winner and Group 1 Nassau Stakes third Hot Snap (by Pivotal), she is out of Midsummer (by Kingmambo) and that mare is, in turn, one name on a long list of blacktype horses out of the unraced Modena (by Roberto).
Modena’s daughter Reams Of Verse (by Nureyev) was the Group 1 Oaks heroine of 1997, that chesnut’s quartet of pattern wins also featured the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Ascot, and she has also done well at stud.
Reams Of Verse is the dam of the blacktype winners Eagle Poise (by Empire Maker) and Many Volumes (by Chester House), and her pattern-placed daughter Ithaca (by Distant View) gave us Group 2-winning miler and New Zealand-based stallion Zacinto (by Dansili) who got off the mark as a freshman sire earlier this month.
Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and Group 1 Phoenix Champion Stakes hero Elmaamul (by Diesis) was Modena’s best son and his progeny include the multiple Group/Grade 1 scorers Muhtathir and Sweet Return.
His stakes-winning half-sister Modesta (by Sadler’s Wells) has done her part for the family as her blacktype earners include last year’s Churchill Downs Grade 3 scorer Button Down (by Oasis Dream), while lightly-raced listed scorer Novellara (by Sadler’s Wells), who also stayed 14 furlongs, is responsible for Disclaimer (by Dansili), an 11 furlong stakes winner in England before going on to Group 3 success in Australia.
Modena was out of the speedy and multiple pattern-placed eight-times scorer Mofida (by Right Tack) and that made her a half-sister to Zaizafon (by The Minstrel), the juvenile Group 3 winner who was third in the Group 2 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes before going on to become the dam of Zafonic (by Gone West) and Zamindar (by Gone West).
The former is the brilliant Group 1 2000 Guineas hero whose progeny include Xaar, Zee Zee Top, Zafeen, Count Dubois and Iffraaj, while Zamindar, a dual Group 1-placed juvenile pattern scorer, has given us Darjina, Coquerelle, Timepiece, Zenda (dam of Kingman) and the mighty Zarkava.
There are many other notable winners in the various branches of this family, including Mofida’s great-grandson and dual Group 1 sprint star Regal Parade (by Pivotal), but just those already mentioned here are more than sufficient to illustrate what a superbly bred colt Midterm is and the potential he may have.