Moyglare homebred a Polished Gem

THE Comer Group International Irish St Leger was the final of six Group 1 contests held during the two-day extravaganza that is Irish Champions Weekend, and the 14-furlong test – the last of 13 top-level events to be held in Ireland in 2019 – was won in fine style by Search For A Song, a Moyglare Stud homebred trained by Dermot Weld.

She is the first three-year-old filly to win the race since Petite Ile in 1989, and she was chased home by the Ballydoyle four-year-olds Kew Gardens and Southern France.

Remarkably, only one of the 10 runners did not descend from Galileo, but that horse, last year's Group 1 Irish Derby scorer Latrobe (by Camelot), is a great-grandson of the Coolmore colossus's great sire Sadler's Wells (by Northern Dancer).

Galileo had the one-two-three as well as the unplaced full-brothers Capri (10th) and Cypress Creek (eighth), his sons were responsible for Cross Counter (by Teofilo; fourth), Master Of Reality (by Frankel; fifth) and Twilight Payment (by Teofilo; seventh), and one of his daughters gave us the high-class Salouen (by Canford Cliffs; ninth).

This highlights once again the growing need for a greater variety among the stallions who can provide us with top-class middle-distance and staying horses, but it was not the only significant pedigree angle in the race.

Broodmares who can produce two or three stakes winners are of considerable value, especially if there is a Group 1 performer among them, but Polished Gem is a standout who is now just one big step away from achieving 'blue hen' status ­– usually reserved for a dam of three Group 1 winners who also gets at least one other pattern scorer among her offspring.

Moyglare Stud's homebred had her only track success as a two-year-old but as a full-sister to their Grade 1 star Dress To Thrill (by Danehill) she was always a shade of odds-on to come up with at least one smart runner at stud.

Her first foal is the Group 2 Qipco British Champions Filly & Mare Stakes heroine and Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes runner-up Sapphire (by Medicean), number two is the popular triple Group 2 scorer Custom Cut (by Notnowcato), and her third is the minor winner Amber Romance (by Bahamian Bounty).

That already surpasses what most mares will achieve in a lifetime at stud, but Polished Gem's fourth foal was the Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes star Free Eagle (by High Chaparral), now an Irish National Stud-based freshman sire who is among those already with their first stakes winner on the board.

Her fifth born is the Australian Group 3-winning gelding Valac (by Dark Angel), then came the multiple Qatari scorer Rich History (by Dubawi), this year's stakes-winning stayer Falcon Eight (by Galileo), and the newly crowned Group 1 heroine Search For A Song.

That chesnut also has last month's Listed Galtres Stakes to her name, missed out on classic placing when fourth in the Group 1 Irish Oaks, and looks set for a rewarding season at the highest level in 2020.

Amma Grace (by Galileo), the ninth foal, showed promise when staying on well to finish third in the maiden won by Capri's full-sister Passion over a mile at Cork recently, and although she has a mountain to climb to get to the top, she looks a promising middle-distance prospect.

Polished Gem had a mid-May-born chesnut Galileo colt last year.

It is a top family that Moyglare Stud has had since it acquired 1973's US juvenile filly champion Talking Picture (by Speak John), a mare who had four high-class daughters on the track and whose many notable descendants include the dual Group 1 star Gallante (by Montjeu), notable stayer Forgotten Rules (by Nayef), and US Grade 2 scorers Dixieland Gold (by Dixieland Band), Lisieux Rose (by Generous), and Amira's Prince (by Teofilo) – the latter a Florida-based freshman sire.

They also include her classic-winning daughter Trusted Partner (by Affirmed), and in addition to being the third dam of the juvenile Group 1 scorer Vert De Grece (by Verglas) – a young Australian-based stallion whose first offspring are now yearlings – 1988's Irish 1000 Guineas star is, of course, the dam of Polished Gem.

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Iridessa a triple Group 1 star from World's first crop

IT was always a shade of odds-on that Group 1 Investec Derby winner Ruler Of The World, a Galileo half-brother to Duke Of Marmalade (by Danehill), would get at least one Group 1 star to his name as a stallion.

He has had smaller crops and so much fewer runners than have many of his cohorts, and it is true that his early winners have, with one exception, been unremarkable, but when a regally-related stallion can produce a triple Group 1 winner from his first crop, there is no reason to rule out the possibility of him getting at least one other top-level star, if not two or three more in time.

Disappointing sale results made it likely that an initial star would be homebred. Iridessa was bred by Aidan and Annmarie O'Brien's Whisperview Trading Ltd, is trained by their son Joseph, and changed hands privately after her winning debut at Killarney.

Last year's Group 1 Fillies' Mile heroine has added both the Group 1 Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes and Group 1 Coolmore 'Fastnet Rock' Matron Stakes in 2019.

She is the best winner out of Senta's Dream (by Danehill) – Aidan O'Brien trains Iridessa's unraced Dewhurst and Derby-entered half-brother Order Of Australia (by Australia) and they got a Camelot (by Montjeu) half-sister in March 2018 – and her grandam is the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes heroine Starine (by Mendocino).

Some mares will produce good horses by almost any stallion but that's evidently not the case here, so something clicked between Iridessa's sire and dam, just as it did in her grandam. This will make her a fascinating broodmare prospect.