NEW GROUP 1 STAR FOR GALILEO
Multiple blacktype scorer Decorated Knight (by Galileo) advertised his future stallion potential again when taking the Group 1 Jebel Hatta Sponsored by Emirates Airline over nine furlongs at Meydan on Saturday.
The five-year-old is owned and bred by Saleh Al Homaizi and Imad Al Sagar, he is trained by Roger Charlton, and he is out of Pearling (by Storm Cat), a full-sister to prolific Group 1 hero and multiple champion sire Giant's Causeway and also to Group 2 scorer and notable broodmare You'resothrilling.
That speedy performer is, of course, the dam of the classic stars Marvellous (by Galileo) and Gleneagles (by Galileo), the latter a popular young member of the Coolmore stallion team.
His grandam is the high-class Mariah's Storm (by Rahy), whose offspring also include pattern-placed sprinter Freud (by Storm Cat), a long-time leading sire in New York and whose roll of honour includes several Grade 1 winners.
---
SECOND GROUP 1 WINNER FOR SO YOU THINK
Prolific international Group 1 star So You Think (by High Chaparral) notched up a second top-level winner from his global first crop when Inference narrowly won the one-mile Group 1 Girwan Waugh Randwick Guineas on Saturday.
The win comes a week after his daughter La Bella Diosa won a Group 2 contest at the same venue, adding to her prior success in the Group 1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas.
Inference was bred by G P Ingham, he is trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, and he is out of Pontiana (by Redoute's Choice), a Group 2-placed daughter of the pattern-placed stakes winner Liberty Rose (by Royal Academy).
His fourth dam is the Group 3-winning sprinter Freedom Fields (by Bluebird), while fifth dam Lady Liberty (by Noble Bijou) won the Group 1 South Australian Oaks.
---
BIG DOUBLE FOR EXCEED AND EXCEL
Australian champion sire and Darley shuttler Exceed And Excel (by Danehill) notched-up a big-race double at Meydan on Saturday, supplying the winners of the Group 3 events over six furlongs and a mile, both of them on dirt.
Morawij won the former, the Mahab Al Shimaal Sponsored by Emirates Skywards. It was a first pattern success among five blacktype victories for the gelded seven-year-old who was bred by Dunchurch Lodge Stud Co.
He is out of the pattern-placed Sister Moonshine (by Piccolo) and comes from the immediate family of Big John (by Gift Card), a multiple pattern scorer from six furlongs to a mile in France in the early 1980s.
The double was completed by Heavy Metal, a Darley-bred son of the Kildangan Stud stallion. The gelding has now won 11 times, the tally includes the Group 2 Richmond Stakes as a juvenile, and he is out of South African Grade 1 scorer Rock Opera (by Lecture).
Darley also bred Prize Money, the Saeed bin Suroor-trained son of Derby hero and Haras du Logis stallion Authorized (by Montjeu) who pipped an unlucky Postponed in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold Sponsored by Emirates SkyCargo on the same card.
That 12-furlong turf event gave the four-year-old gelding his fourth win from 10 starts, he is out of juvenile sprint winner Dresden Doll (by Elusive Quality), and his dam is a half-sister to classic and multiple Group 1 mile star Crimplene (by Lion Cavern).
---
NEW STAKES WINNER FOR KODIAC
Tally-Ho Stud stallion Kodiac (by Danehill) added another stakes winner to his tally when Second Thought, a colt bred by that farm, won the Listed 32Red Spring Cup Stakes over seven furlongs at Lingfield on Saturday.
The William Haggas-trained three-year-old has now won three of his four starts, with his only loss being a one-length second over five furlongs at Salisbury on his debut last May.
He is a 70,000gns graduate of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, he is a full-brother to the multiple scorer Forever Red, and he is out of Bobby Jane (by Diktat), a mare whose dam is a half-sister to classic heroine Sky Lantern (by Red Clubs).
That star filly, who was also bred by Tally-Ho Stud, won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes as a juvenile and each of the Group 1 1000 Guineas, Group 1 Coronation Stakes and Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes at three.
Sky Lantern's first foal is a Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) colt born 14 months ago.
---
CHASER HAS 2YO GROUP 1 RELATION
Seldom Inn took his record over fences to two wins from seven starts when coming home clear of the odds-on Tenor Nivernais in the Listed totepooliveinfo.com Premier Chase over two miles, seven and a half furlongs on heavy ground at Kelso on Saturday, a first blacktype success for the Sandy Thomson-trained chesnut.
The gelding was bred by W A Walker, he is a son of the top-class and popular flat stayer Double Trigger (by Ela-Mana-Mou), he is out of the point-to-point scorer Portland Row (by Zaffaran), and he comes from the immediate family of a former two-year-old Group 1 star.
His siblings include the hurdles winner and Grade 2-placed dual bumper scorer Touch Of Irish (by Kayf Tara), his grandam is a flat-placed mare called Espadrille (by Hotfoot), and she was a full-sister to Count Pahlen, the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (now Racing Post Trophy) winner of 1981, a grey whom Timeform rated 127.
---
CRAPPER HAS CLASSIC RELATIONS
Thomas Crapper won the Grade 3 William Hill “High 5” Supporting Greatwood Gold Cup Handicap Chase over two and a half miles at Newbury on Saturday, a first blacktype success for the Robin Dickin-trained 10-year-old.
He was bred by Mrs J A Carr-Evans, he is a son of the Derby runner-up Tamure (by Sadler's Wells), and he is the first foal out of a dual point-to-point scorer named Mollycarrs Gambul (by General Gambul).
That mare's sire may not ring many bells, but he was a son of the high-class hurdler Sula Bula (by Midsummer Night II).
The first three generations of the pedigree fit in the top half of a catalogue page, but if you look at the fourth generation then you will find a lot of famous names.
The fourth dam of Thomas Crapper is a triple three-year-old flat winner called Katricia (by Skymaster), and although she produced only four winners from a dozen foals, one of the quartet was 1978's Group 1 2000 Guineas scorer Roland Gardens (by Derring-Do).
One of his winning siblings produced a couple of graded winners in South Africa, but he also had a half-sister called Anjuli (by Northfields) and she was the dam of 1991's Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Kooyonga (by Persian Bold).
That Michael Kauntze-trained dual champion also won the Group 1 Coral Eclipse Stakes, the Group 1 Coronation Stakes and the Group 1 Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, she was runner-up in both the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and her descendants include the classic-placed filly Princess Sinead (by Jeremy).
Anjuli was also the dam of Hatton Gardens (by Auction Ring) and that Group 2-placed stakes winner was the dam of Group 1 winner and South African champion Kundalini (by El Gran Senor) and of Group 3 Prix Minerve scorer Lime Gardens (by Sadler's Wells), and she has several other blacktype-winning descendants.
Those celebrities are remotely connected to Thomas Crapper, but they do add plenty of colour to his page.
---
EUROPEAN-BRED PAIR STRIKE AGAIN
Two European-bred horses were big-race winners on turf at Gulfstream Park on Saturday with the more valuable prize, that of the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes over 11 furlongs, going to Wake Forest.
A son of Derby hero and Lanwades Stud stallion Sir Percy (by Mark Of Esteem), the Chad Brown-trained seven-year-old was bred by Gestut Fahrhof, he was a Group 1-placed dual pattern scorer before crossing the Atlantic, and last year he won the Grade 1 Man O'War Stakes at Belmont Park.
He was a neck runner-up to The Pizza Man in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine in September, and beaten by a length and a half when third to Erupt in the Grade 1 Canadian International Stakes over the same course and distance a month later.
Wake Forest is out of Wurfspiel (by Lomitas), a stakes-placed half-sister to champion racemare and star producer Wurftaube (by Acatenango), the dam of Group 1 Deutsches Derby winner Waldpark (by Dubawi), grandam of Group 1 St Leger hero Masked Marvel (by Montjeu), and third dam of last year's Group 1-winning juvenile Waldgeist (by Galileo).
Earlier on the same card, Juddmonte Farms's homebred mare Suffused justified odds-on favouritism with a five-length score in the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes over nine and a half furlongs, breaking the track record in the process.
This is a third graded success for the Bill Mott-trained five-year-old, she was a nose runner-up in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in October, and she is a daughter of multiple Group/Grade 1 star Champs Elysees (by Danehill), the Group 1 sire who joined the team at Castle Hyde Stud earlier in the year.
Suffused is out of Scuffle (by Daylami), she is related to a host of Group 1 stars, notable sires and some promising young stallions, including last year's blacktype freshman Bated Breath (by Dansili), and I looked at her pedigree in the 4th February 2017 edition of The Irish Field.
---
TWO CLASSICS FOR FRANKEL FILLY?
Juvenile champion Soul Stirring extended her unbeaten record to four with victory in the Group 3 Tulip Sho over a mile at Hanshin on Saturday, confirming her status as the leading candidate for the Group 1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) over the same course and distance.
The first-crop daughter of Banstead Manor Stud's Timeform 147-rated superstar Frankel (by Galileo) is owned and bred by Shadai Farm, she is trained by Kazuo Fujisawa, and she is out of the prolific top-level ace Stacelita (by Monsun).
That star won the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks), Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary, Group 1 Prix Vermeille, Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet, Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational, and she is related to a variety of smart middle-distance horses, including last year's classic-placed Group 2 scorer Savoir Vivre (by Adlerflug).
If you go back far enough you will also find Group/Grade 1 standouts such as Steinlen (by Habitat), Zagreb (by Theatrical) and Sagace (by Luthier), although their connection to Soul Stirring is distant.
This exciting filly is an unbeaten Group 1 scorer with a classic trial success on the scoresheet for 2017, and there is every reason to hope that she could complete a classic double, taking both the Oka Sho and the Group 1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks).