GALILEO (by Sadler’s Wells) recorded a remarkable Group/Grade 1 four-timer last weekend and the second leg of it was provided by Minding who beat her stable companions Ballydoyle and Alice Springs – also by Galileo – in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh.

Last month she chased home Ballydoyle in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at the same venue, she was an odds-on and wide-margin winner over six furlongs at Leopardstown in June and, on their debut, she was runner-up to Tanaza in a seven-furlong maiden at that Dublin circuit.

Tanaza, who has won the Group 3 Silver Flash Stakes, was fourth on Sunday, just ahead of the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes heroine Blue Bayou, and the first six finished clear of the rest.

The order of ranking of these fillies could change again as they mature – they all have plenty of potential – and the sixth, Taisce Naisiunta, could spring a surprise or two having shown markedly improved form since stepping up to seven furlongs.

STAMINA

Now that she is a Group 1 winner, the 2016 classics become obvious targets for Minding and with those possibilities comes the issue of her stamina. Is she bred to be a miler or a middle-distance horse, or could she be one of those who are effective in both divisions?

Any of those three categories is possible for a horse with her pedigree, with middle-distance only being the least likely of them.

Galileo can get stars from a mile and upwards, and has been evident in recent years there is no absolute guarantee that his stock will stay beyond 10 furlongs; it can depend on the mare.

It was the same with his own sire, albeit seen less often, and both Barathea and Refuse To Bend were shining examples for Sadler’s Wells (by Northern Dancer).

Gleneagles, Rip Van Winkle, and the great Frankel are Galileos for whom eight to 10 furlongs were sufficient.

Minding is a full-sister to Kissed By Angels who won a mile Group 3 contest at Leopardstown in May but then finished well-beaten in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and tailed off in the Group 1 Irish Oaks.

The sisters were bred by Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt and they are the first two foals out of Lillie Langtry (by Danehill Dancer) who, although out of a Darshaan (by Shirley Heights) mare, was a precocious juvenile that became a top miler.

She was runner-up in the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, won the Group 3 Naas Juvenile Sprint Stakes and the Group 2 Debutante Stakes, and she was third in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

CORONATION STAKES

The following year she took the Group 1 Coronation Stakes and the Group 1 Matron Stakes, and was never asked to try beyond a mile.

Her half-brother Count Of Limonade is a mile listed scorer who has been pattern-placed at 10 furlongs and runner-up in a listed contest over 11, but he is a son of Duke Of Marmalade (by Danehill) and form over middle-distances is more commonly expected of his best progeny than it is of the Danehill Dancers (by Danehill), and so he may not help in answering the question of his niece’s potential stamina.

Their half-sister Lady Hawkfield (by Hawk Wing) was well-beaten over nine and a half furlongs on her only start, which doesn’t help either, although her three-year-old Master Apprentice (by Mastercraftsman) won a Group 3 contest over 10 furlongs at Sandown in April.

He is closely related to Lillie Langtry but, although the stallion’s oldest progeny are only four, indications are that staying at least eight to 10 furlongs is something that many of the good Mastercraftsmans (by Danehill Dancer) will tend to do.

Winged Cupid (by In The Wings), the only stakes winner under the third generation of the family, was runner-up in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy at two and later a pattern-placed mile stakes winner who stayed 10 furlongs, but the two big names in the fourth generation were sprinters.

Those full-brothers, Group 2 scorers Lead On Time and Great Commotion, are sons of Nureyev (by Northern Dancer) and so would have been expected to show speed at up to a mile rather than middle-distance talent, and indeed the latter was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas.

GUINEAS FILLY

If you go back further then you find that Minding’s fifth dam, Vive La Reine (by Vienna), was a winning full-sister to the brilliant Vaguely Noble, but his presence in the family is too far back to be a likely influence on his distant relation.

Minding is the latest Group 1 winner in a notably successful family and a potential classic filly for 2016. She should have no problem with the Guineas trip, but examination of her pedigree raises doubt about her potential to stay beyond 10 furlongs.

Pedigree is a major part of a horse’s potential, but is only one of the components that go into making a top-class racehorse, and although the full Oaks distance may not be beyond her reach, it would be no surprise if she proves to be more of a Guineas and Prix de Diane (French Oaks) contender than an Epsom or Irish Oaks one.