IT was good to see Romanised win the Group 1 Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard Jacques le Marois at Deauville on Sunday, a notable triumph for his connections and an important one for the horse’s future.
The Ken Condon-trained bay was a pattern-placed winner from four starts at two, but a shock 25/1 victory in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas was the only time he was even placed in five runs at three.
He was out of the frame on his first three starts of 2019 too, albeit two of those being encouraging fourth-placed efforts in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes and Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes, but something better was necessary to prevent him from becoming a forgotten horse.
He beat Hey Gaman by a length to take the Group 2 Paddy Power Minstrel Stakes over seven furlongs at the Curragh last month and followed that with his one-and-a-quarter-length defeat of Shaman and the fast-finishing Line Of Duty in France.
This grandson of Danehill (by Danzig) whose fourth dam is a half-sister to notable Irish stallion Taufan (by Stop The Music) is now a dual Group 1 star.
Romanised is one of 13 top-level winners among a global tally of more than 80 stakes winners for the Coolmore sire Holy Roman Emperor. Most of the stallion’s best winners have come outside of Europe, but those closer to home include last year’s Group 1 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) winner Well Timed, the classic-placed French Group 1 scorer Morandi, and runaway Group 1 1000 Guineas heroine Homecoming Queen.
His dam, Romantic Venture (by Indian Ridge), has produced three stakes winners for three different breeders, starting with the dual stakes-winning stayer Fictional Account (by Stravinsky), bred by Moyglare Stud.
That team sold the dam for €40,000 in Goffs, her new owner Brendan Corbett sent her to Rock Of Gibraltar (by Danehill) and the result was Rock On Romance, a runaway listed scorer over two miles in Germany who also landed the Group 3 St Leger Italiano over 14 furlongs at San Siro.
Romanised, on the other hand, was bred by Monica Aherne, and he is more like what you’d expect to emerge from sending a stallion like Holy Roman Emperor to a daughter of Indian Ridge (by Ahonoora).
His grandam, Summer Trysting, is by the noted stamina influence Alleged (by Hoist The Flag) and it is striking that the best of her three pattern-winning sons is Designs On Rome (by Holy Roman Emperor), who could be described as being a three-parts brother to Romanised.
Designs On Rome was bred by Moyglare Stud, chased home Dawn Approach in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh as a juvenile but excelled in Hong Kong where, although a multiple blacktype winner at eight and nine furlongs, he was a four-time Group 1 star there over 10.
His notable siblings are the former Dermot Weld-trained US Grade 2 scorer Simple Exchange (by Danehill) and Godolphin’s 10 and 11-furlong Group 3 winner Sights On Gold (by Indian Ridge) who was a half-length runner-up to Phoenix Reach in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase.
However, from the point of view of stallion potential, it is more notable that Romanised’s fourth dam is the Italian pattern winner Bubinka (by The Minstrel) whose aforementioned half-brother Taufan is the long-time Rathbarry Stud stalwart who gave us the Group 1 stars Taufan’s Melody and Tagula (sire of Canford Cliffs and Limato).
Anything beyond the fourth generation is getting into remote territory, but again with stallion potential in mind, it catches the eye that Romanised’s fifth dam, Stolen Date (by Sadair), was a half-sister to the Grade 3 scorer Best In Show (by Traffic Judge), the hugely influential mare from whom a considerable number of Group/Grade 1-siring stallions descend.
Listed success for priceless Goddess
BLACKTYPE success is a valuable commodity for any filly, but when she is a half-sister to two top-level stars and a granddaughter of one of the all-time great broodmares, that big bold type makes her priceless.
Goddess (by Camelot) is now a stakes-winning granddaughter of Urban Sea \ Healy Racing
The Aidan O’Brien-trained Goddess looked a potential Group 1 ace in the making when winning a Leopardstown maiden by 10 lengths last summer, on her second start, but she finished last in her next two outings and was well-beaten in a Navan listed contest in June.
She chased home Red Tea in a weak Group 2 at the Curragh last month, and may not have had to produce any stronger form to win at Gowran Park on Wednesday evening, but the race she won there was the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Hurry Harriet Stakes over nine and a half furlongs – she is now a stakes winner.
She was only rated 98 going into the race, the one who chased her home was rated 90, and third-placed Who’s Steph, who was a warm favourite, clearly ran well below her 108 rating.
Goddess was bred by Orpendale & Chelston, she is the 20th stakes winner for Coolmore Stud’s multiple classic hero Camelot (by Montjeu), and all but one of those has come from the European-conceived half of his global first two crops.
Last year’s Group 1 Irish Derby winner Latrobe and Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes scorer Athena represent his first crop.
Athena is the year-older full-sister to Goddess, their sibling Bracelet (by Montjeu) could be described as being a a three-parts sister, and that Group 1 Irish Oaks winner is a full-sister to Wading, dam of the Grade 1-placed Group 2 scorer Just Wonderful (by Dansili).
Their dam, Cherry Hinton (by Green Desert), was a Group 3-placed maiden but is out of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Urban Sea (by Miswaki), and that half-sister to Group 1 2000 Guineas star and classic sire King’s Best (by Kingmambo) is, of course, famous as one of the greatest broodmares in history.
Goddess is a stakes-winning daughter of a leading young sire, has star siblings, and is out of a half-sister to Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells), Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross), and many others of note. What a prospect she will be when she goes to stud!