SENSE OF HIGH CHAPARRAL'S LOSS REKINDLED
Dual Derby and dual Breeders' Cup hero High Chaparral (by Sadler's Wells) was a leading member of Coolmore Stud's shuttle stallion team and the loss to the industry that came about due to his premature death was further advertised this past week.
On Saturday, his David Payne-trained three-year-old Ace High became a dual Group 1 winner when he took the AAMI Victoria Derby by two lengths at Flemington, just over two hours after five-year-old Cismontane won a Group 3 handicap over the same course and distance.
The latter, who is trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, turned out again just three days later, but although he finished down the field in the Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup, that most famous of Australian races went to the Joseph O'Brien-trained High Chaparral colt Rekindling.
Ace High won last month's Group 1 Moet et Chandon Spring Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs at Randwick, he was bred by Bruce Reid Racing, and he is out of Come Sunday (by Redoute's Choice).
She is an unraced half-sister to the stakes-winning sprinters Kneeling (by Encosta De Lago) and That's A Good Idea (by Flying Spur), and her star son is inbred 5x5 to Spring Adieu (by Buckpasser), the grandam of classic-placed Group 1 star and dynasty-making stallion Danehill (by Danzig).
Cismontane was bred in New Zealand by Windsor Park Stud and is out of Viviane (by Volksraad), a half-sister to Group 1 stars Nimue (by Star Way) and Smiling Like (by Star Way).
The Joseph O'Brien-trained Rekindling, on the other hand, was bred by the Pocock Family, he is out of the one-time winner Sitara (by Salse) and that makes him a full-brother to Group 3 Chester Vase winner and Group 1 Irish Derby runner-up Golden Sword, who went to stud in South Africa.
He comes from a branch of the family of Group 1 Irish Oaks and Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine Alexandrova (by Sadler's Wells), Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Magical Romance (by Barathea), Group 2 Prix Kergorlay scorer Alex My Boy (by Dalakhani), Group 1 Irish Oaks star Chicquita (by Montjeu), and ill-fated Group 2 winner Somehow (by Fastnet Rock).
The stallion's recent purple patch also included Listed Songline Classic success for Pas De Secrets at Bro Park in Sweden on Monday.
The Wido Neuroth-trained gelding won that 10 and a half-furlong contest by a neck, he was bred by the Quiet Waters Syndicate and his dam is a half-sister to Summertime Legacy, the Group 3-winning dam of Group 1 scorers Mandaean (by Manduro) and Wavering (by Refuse To Bend).
This is a branch of the family of 1982's Group 1 Derby hero Golden Fleece (by Nijinsky).
High Chaparral now has 20 individual Group 1 winners among an overall tally of 107 blacktype scorers (to Wednesday night) and his legacy is in the hands of those of his offspring who are at stud or will go there in time.
His European-based sons include the Group 1 stars Free Eagle (Irish National Stud), Lucky Lion (Gestut Graditz) and Toronado (Haras de Bouquetot from 2018) – all at early stages of their stallion careers – plus German-based pattern winner Tai Chi who was represented by juvenile Group 3 scorer Poldi's Liebling at Krefeld on Sunday.
His Australian Group 1 scorer Tivaci will be shuttling to the National Stud, in Newmarket, for 2018.
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NEW GROUP 1 PAIR FOR FASTNET ROCK
Coolmore's Australian champion sire and outstanding reverse shuttle stallion Fastnet Rock (by Danehill), whose most recent new European Group 1 scorer, Laganore, was examined here last week, added two more top-level winners to his tally on Saturday, both of them within the space of an hour at Flemington.
First strike went to Merchant Navy, a six-furlong Group 3 scorer who, on his first start for Aaron Purcell, narrowly won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes over that same trip.
His Group 2-winning full-sister Jolie Bay was runner-up in that same contest five years before, and they are two of the blacktype horses out of Legally Bay (by Snippets), a pattern-winning half-sister to Bonaria (by Redoute's Choice) who got her top win in the Group 1 Myer Classic at Flemington three years ago.
The 2017 edition of that mile event was the race that brought up Fastnet Rock's big double thanks to his daughter Shoals who came out in top in what was not far off being to a four-way dead-heat: there was just a short-head between each of the first four placings.
Shoals, the only three-year-old in the field, was a Group 2 scorer over six furlongs at two and, on her most recent outing, had been runner-up to Aloisia in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield.
She was bred by Arrowfield Pastoral Pty Ltd, she is out of The Broken Shore (by Hussonet) and that mare is a winning half-sister to Group 1 star and outstanding sire Redoute's Choice (by Danehill).
The influential stallion is a full-brother to Group 1 winner Platinum Scissors and half-brother to Group 1 scorer and successful sire Manhattan Rain (by Encosta De Lago), and they all come from one of the most famous Group 1-producing families in the stud book, the one that goes back to Grade 3 winner Best In Show (by Traffic Judge).
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RAVEN'S RISING STARS
Kildangan Stud's Breeders' Cup Classic hero Raven's Pass (by Elusive Quality) has had a good year and came close to getting a first Group 1 winner when Via Ravenna was pipped by Roly Poly in the Prix Rothschild at Deaville during the summer.
Sadly, that pattern-winning three-year-old died not long after that top effort.
Another member of that same crop could be a pattern winner in 2018 and a challenger at the highest level as she, Tocco D'Amore, became her sire's 25th individual blacktype winner when easily winning the Listed Finale Stakes over 12 furlongs at Naas on Sunday.
Moyglare Stud's bay is trained by Dermot Weld, she was a six-length winner of a 10-furlong Naas maiden on her only other start, and she is a €2 million graduate of the Goffs Orby Sale.
She was bred by Pat O'Kelly's famous Kilcarn Stud, she is a sixth blacktype horse for her dam, and those siblings include Group 3 scorer Echo Of Light (by Dubai Millennium), dual middle-distance stakes winner Akarem (by Kingmambo), Group 1 Coronation Stakes third Irish History (by Dubawi), and Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes runner-up Flame Of Gibraltar (by Rock Of Gibraltar).
They are all out of Group 2 Blandford Stakes runner-up Spirit Of Tara (by Sadler's Wells) and she is a full-sister to Group 1 1000 Guineas, Group 1 Oaks and Group 1 Irish Derby heroine Salsabil, as well as being a half-sister to mile Group 1 scorer and Group 1 Derby runner-up Marju (by Last Tycoon).
Salsabil produced the pattern winning daughters Alabaq (by Riverman) and Bint Salsabil (by Nashwan), and Marju became a sire of Group 1 winners, of successful stallions and of notable broodmare daughters.
The grandam of Tocco D'Amore is, therefore, Group 2 Coronation Stakes winner and Group 1 Champion Stakes runner-up Flame Of Tara (by Artaius) and that star was a half-sister to the dams of Group/Grade 1 scorers Northern Spur (by Sadler's Wells) and Second Empire (by Fairy King).
There are many other notable performers to be found in the branches of just those first few generations of the family and all of this augurs well for the eventual future broodmare career of their promising young relation.
Raven's Pass also struck in Japan when the Kazuo Fujisawa-trained juvenile Tower Of London was an odds-on two-length winner of the Grade 2 Kei Hai Nisai Stakes over seven furlongs at Tokyo on Saturday.
The colt was bred by Darley Japan, he is the first foal out of Snow Pine (by Dalakhani) and that half-sister to Lake Toya (by Darshaan) – the stakes-winning dam of Group 1 star Sobetsu (by Dubawi) – is out of Shinko Hermes (by Sadler's Wells).
That mare is, in turn, a full-sister to classic star Imagine (dam of ill-fated Group 1 winner Horatio Nelson, by Danehill) and to classic-placed stakes winner Strawberry Roan, as well as being a half-sister to Timeform 139-rated superstar Generous (by Caerleon), the runaway dual Derby hero of 1991.
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NEW APPROACH DOUBLE
Darley's juvenile champion and Derby hero New Approach (by Galileo) was out of luck at the Breeders' Cup when his pattern-winning son Masar finished well but was out of the frame in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf – sixth to Mendelssohn – but he still notched up a blacktype double at the weekend.
On Saturday afternoon, Godolphin's homebred juvenile Hadith took her record to two wins from three starts when justifying favouritism in the Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Montrose Fillies' Stakes over a mile at Newmarket.
The Charlie Appleby-trained bay holds entries in next season's Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Darley Irish Oaks.
She is the second foal of Group 3 winner Discourse (by Street Cry), her three-year-old half-sister Discursus (by Dubawi) ran away with a mile listed contest at Hanover in September, and her dam's half-brother Bandini (by Fusaichi Pegasus) was a wide-margin winner of the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes over nine furlongs at Keeneland before going to stud.
Hail Atlantis (by Seattle Slew), who is the third dam of Hadith, won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks and this daughter of multiple stakes winner Flippers (by Coastal) is also responsible for listed scorer and stallion Stormy Atlantic (by Storm Cat), whose son Stormy Liberal sprang a 40/1 surprise in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Saturday.
The following afternoon, four-year-old Veneto sprang a surprise when taking the Group 3 Grosser Preis von Rondo Food – Niederrhein-Pokal over 10 furlongs at Krefeld in Germany.
The Andreas Suborics-trained colt, a €160,000 graduate of the Baden-Baden September Yearling Sale, is out of Venia Legendi (by Zinaad) and that makes him a half-brother to the prolific Vanjura (by Areion).
Her double-digit tally featured Group 2 wins in Germany, Italy and Turkey, she was only beaten by a short-neck when runner-up to Rio De La Plata in the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua, and her blacktype placings also include third to Dick Turpin in another edition of that same one-mile contest.
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GROUP 2 FOR MASTERCRAFTSMAN
Coolmore Stud's Group 1 star and classic sire Mastercraftsman (by Danehill Dancer) added to his tally recently when Luvaluva won the Group 2 G.H. Mumm Wakeful Stakes over 10 furlongs at Flemington.
The John Sargent-trained three-year-old was bred by C R Grace in New Zealand, this was her first group race success, and she is another for Galileo (by Sadler's Wells) as a broodmare sire as she is out of his unraced daughter Wanesesingyee.
That mare is out of half-sister to middle-distance stakes winner Luvuelo (by Galileo), there are some speedy stakes winners to be found in the first few generations of the pedigree, and if you go back to the fourth dam, Luv Luiana (by Roberto), then you find that she was an unraced half-sister to dual US classic star Little Current (by Sea Bird II).