FIRST GROUP 1 WINNER FOR ZOFFANY
Group 1 scorer and Coolmore Stud's star second-crop stallion Zoffany (by Dansili), got his first winner at the highest level when Ventura Storm justified favouritism in the Group 1 Premio Jockey Club over 12 furlongs at San Siro on Sunday.
The Richard Hannon-trained three-year-old, who won the Group 3 Prix de Reux in August and was runner-up to Harbour Law in the Group 1 St Leger last month, was sold by his breeder, Laurence Kennedy, for €54,000 in Goffs as a foal.
Since then then colt changed hands for €50,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale and then for 110,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale, when he was bought by Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock.
He is the second foal and second winner out of Sarawati (by Haafhd), who is a half-sister to Sahool (by Unfuwain) and Nasanice (by Nashwan). The former won a 12-furlong listed contest at Newbuty after being runner-up in both the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes and Group 2 Lancashire Oaks, and the latter is the dam of the Group 1-placed dual Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes star Maraahel (by Alzao).
Zoffany's notable runners also include the Group 1-placed Group 2 scorers Foundation, Illuminate and, in South Africa, Zodiac Ruler. His son Knife Edge won the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) earlier in the year, and Washington DC, another first-crop son, is a multiple Group 1-placed triple listed scorer.
His 10 stakes winners do not include the dual classic-placed filly Architecture.
---
EQUIANO'S FIRST GROUP 1 STAR
Dual Group 1-winning sprinter and young Newsells Park Stud stallion Equiano (by Acclamation) notched up his first Group 1 winner when The Tin Man emulated his half-brother Deacon Blues (by Compton Place) by winning the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
The race carried Group 2 status when his Timeform 130-rated sibling won it.
The Tin Man, who represents his sire's first crop, is a James Fanshawe-trained gelding, he was bred by Elizabeth Grundy, and he is an 80,000gns graduate of Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Now rated 126 by Timeform, up from 120 in 2015, the four-year-old is also a half-brother to the stakes-placed filly Holley Shiftwell (by Bahamian Bounty), to four-time scorer If So (by Iffraaj), and to recent juvenile winner Hilario (by Sepoy).
His winning dam, Persario (by Bishop Of Cashel), is a full-sister to the highly-rated mile handicapper Heretic and she could be described as being a three-parts sister to the prolific pattern and stakes winner Warningford (by Warning).
His grandam, Barford Lady (by Stanford), is a half-sister to the five-furlong listed race winner and prolific scorer Ansellman, whose final career win came at the of 10, and as this is a family whose best tend to do well at the ages of four and upwards, there is reason to hope that The Tin Man could be even better in 2017 than he is now.
Equiano's double-digit tally of stakes winners includes the Group 1-placed, Group 2-winning juvenile Medicine Jack, US graded winners Baciami Piccola and Belvoir Bay, former juvenile pattern scorers Dark Reckoning and Fly On The Night, and the Group 1-placed Group 3 winner Strath Burn, who takes up stallion duties at Bridge House Stud next year.
---
GRADE 1 WINNER FOR RODERIC O'CONNOR
Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Roderic O'Connor, who spent four seasons at Ballyhane Stud before joining the team at the National Stud in Newmarket in 2016, became the latest stallion son of Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) to sire a winner at the highest level when El Shaklan justified favouritism in the Grade 1 Grande Premio Linneo de Paula Machado at Gavea, in Brazil, on Sunday.
The colt, who was previously dual Grade 1-placed, won that 10-furlong contest by a neck and there was a further length back to third-placed Emperor Roderic, another stakes-winning son of the same stallion.
El Shaklan is trained by Ad Menegolo, he was bred in Brazil by Haras Anderson, and he is out of the graded-placed mile stakes winner Odilessia Espacial (by Dodge), a grand-daughter of the four-times Grade 1 star Uneasy Plum (by Present The Colors).
Roderic O'Connor comes from the family of the Group 1 stars Durtal (by Lyphard), Gildoran (by Rheingold), Magicool (by Fastnet Rock), Detroit (by Riverman) and Carnegie (by Sadler's Wells).
He is a second-crop sire whose global first two crops include seven stakes winners, of whom Biz Heart won last year's Group 2 Gran Criterium, Great Page won the 2015 Prix du Calvados and has been stakes placed in 2016, and Haalick won a listed contest at Lingfield earlier in the year.
The Galileo stallions with at least one Group/Grade 1 winner to their name include the classic sires Teofilo and New Approach, former Oak Lodge Stud stallion Heliostatic, Group 1 scorers Cima De Triomphe and Rip Van Winkle, plus runaway Irish Derby hero and dual-purpose sire Soldier Of Fortune, whose daughter Amie Noire won a listed contest at Bro Park, in Sweden, on Sunday.
---
DUBAWI'S PURPLE PATCH
Dalham Hall Stud's outstanding stallion Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) was one of the stars of last Saturday's Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot, supplying two of the big winners, and this success was just part of a recent purple patch for the classic-winning miler.
His Grade 1-winning son Sheikhzayedroad, whose step up to staying trips has yielded three major wins in 2016, got the Ascot card off to a good start with victory in the Group 2 Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup over two miles.
The David Simcock-trained seven-year-old was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock Ltd, this was his fifth pattern success among a tally of 11 wins from 36 starts, and it brought his total earnings to just short of the £1 million mark.
Sheikhzayedroad is the first foal out of Royal Secrets (by Highest Honor), a mile winner and daughter of the Grade 2 All Along Stakes and Group 3 Prix de Sandringham heroine Marble Maiden (by Lead On Time), which makes her a half-sister to the pattern-placed mile stakes winner Vernoy (by Forty Niner).
Around 70 minutes later, George Strawbridge's homebred four-year-old Journey showed an impressive turn of foot to post a four-length victory in the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes over 12 furlongs, a race in which she was the runner-up 12 months before.
The five-times blacktype scorer is trained by John Gosden and she is the best representative of her dam, the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak heroine Montare (by Montjeu).
Her grandam, Contare (by Shirley Heights), won listed contests at Longchamp and Evry and was effective from eight to 10 furlongs.
Dubawi's overall total of 122 stakes winners includes 26 who have won at least once at the highest level, as per the International Cataloguing Standards, somewhere in the world and he is currently in second place in both the combined UK and Ireland sires' championship title race and for the overall European title.
Galileo leads both by a very wide margin.
His tally also includes Sunday's Listed Clodovil European Breeders Fund Garnet Stakes winner Intimation, who is a Cheveley Park Stud homebred trained by Sir Michael Stoute, and, of course, that night's Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International Stakes hero Erupt, a Niarchos Family-homebred who won at Group 1 level in France last year.
On Monday, Godolphin's juvenile colt D'bai won the Listed EBF Stallions Bet totetrifecta at totesport.com Silver Tankard Stakes over a mile at Pontefract, a second win in four starts for the Group 2-placed colt.
He was bred by Lodge Park Stud, he is out of Savannah Belle (by Green Desert), and so is a full-brother to the classic-placed mile Group 2 scorer Dubawi Gold. His grandam, Third Watch (by Slip Anchor), was a runaway winner of the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes.
Dubawi's early stallion sons include fellow Dalham Hall Stud team member Poet's Voice, who got his third pattern winner of the season when Voice Of Love, a half-brother to classic-placed pattern scorer Time Chant (by War Chant), won the Group 3 Premio del Piazzale over nine furlongs at San Siro on Sunday.
---
FRESHMAN UPDATE
Four-time Group 1 star Campanologist (by Kingmambo), who stood at Gestut Fahrhof but died in December when aged just 10, joined the list of those with a first-crop pattern winner to their name when Langtang justified favouritism in the Group 3 Preis der Winterfavoriten over a mile at Cologne on Sunday.
Gestut Fahrhof bred the Andreas Wohler-trained juvenile, now a leading candidate for next year's German classics. His pattern-winning half-sister Lacy (by Authorized) was beaten by a nose in the Group 1 Premio Lydia Tesio two years ago, and their dam, La Vinchina (by Oasis Dream), is an unraced half-sister to Group 1 Deutsches Derby star Lavirco (by Konigsstuhl).
The colt who chased home Langtang in what is one of the most prestigious of all juvenile races in Germany, is the Andreas Lowe-trained Fulminato (by Excelebration), who was a winner at Bremen in August.
WinStar Farm's Gemologist (by Tiznow), one of three US freshmen of 2016 who have a Grade 1 winner to their name, struck again on Saturday when his Todd Pletcher-trained son Theory won the Grade 3 Futurity Stakes over six furlongs on the dirt at Belmont Park, beating the Foxwedge (by Fastnet Rock) colt Star Empire by three and a half lengths.
Foxwedge was also represented by Monday's odds-on Windsor five-furlong winner Foxcatcher and by Wednesday's seven-furlong Newmarket nursery scorer Tap Tap Boom.
Taylor Made Farm sire Astrology (by A.P. Indy) got his first graded winner when Arella Rockstar took the six-furlong Grade 3 Matron Stakes on Sunday, also at Belmont Park.
Trevanna (by Requinto) maintained her unbeaten record when taking the valuable Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Auction Race over seven furlongs at Naas on Sunday, a series finale worth €59,000 to the winner.
Anthony Oppenheimer's homebred colt Cracksman (by Frankel) caught the eye when he made a winning debut over a mile at Newmarket on Wednesday, and Cheveley Park Stud's well-related and homebred filly Loving (by Mayson) made it second time lucky when scoring over six furlongs at Yarmouth the day before.
Lodge Park Stud, who bred Monday's juvenile listed scorer D'bai (by Dubawi), was also represented this week by Perfect Storm (by Excelebration), the 80-rated Aidan O'Brien-trained colt who scored over a mile at Navan on Wednesday.
If I Say So (by Sayif) justified favouritism with a three-length score over six and a half furlongs at Deauville on Monday, as did Daronet (by Sir Prancealot) when winning over six furlongs at Kempton on Tuesday. Both of those races were run on polytrack, as was the six-furlong claimer that Ekatea (by Power) won at Deauville on Thursday.