THE complexion of the ante-post market for the following year’s classics can change quite a lot in the final month of the juvenile stakes race season and there was a potential 1000 Guineas candidate on show at the Curragh on Sunday.

Together Forever is certainly bred to achieve such a feat and this filly took the Listed Staffordstown Stud Stakes by three lengths, following on from a five-length success, also over a mile, at Gowran Park last month.

She finished fourth, second, and third in her previous outings, she was listed-placed behind Jack Naylor at the Curragh in August, and she appears to be on the upgrade, something else that you could expect from her pedigree.

Bred by Vimal and Gillian Kholsa, Together Forever is a €680,000 graduate of the Goffs Orby Sale, and she has joined a list of more than 170 others who are blacktype winning offspring of the phenomenal stallion Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells).

She is out of a daughter of the outstanding middle-distance horse Theatrical (by Nureyev), and so is inbred 3x4 Northern Dancer and 4x4 Special, but, more significantly, her dam is Green Room, and that makes Sunday’s winner a half-sister to Lord Shanakill (by Speightstown).

That grandson of Gone West (by Mr Prospector) was one of the top juveniles of his year in Europe, winning the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes and being placed in each of the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, Group 1 Prix Morny, Group 2 Vintage Stakes and Group 2 Coventry Stakes.

As a three-year-old he won the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly, and finished third behind Mastercraftsman in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes, and he was also a leading performer at the age of four, taking the Group 2 Lennox Stakes and the Listed City Plate and finishing third to Paco Boy in the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes.

Lord Shanakill stands at the Irish National Stud, his successful first crop juveniles include the stakes-placed Giacas, and the various stallions in his family include one who recently got his first Group 1 winner.

Green Room is out of the unraced Chain Fern (by Blushing Groom), and that makes her a half-sister to the ill-fated Grade 1 scorer Spanish Fern (by El Gran Senor), as well as to two mares from whom Group/Grade 1 winners have descended.

Dayville (by Dayjur) is the grandam of the Group 1 Gran Criterium winner and Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes third Hearts Of Fire (by Firebreak), and Rusty Back (by Defensive Play) is the dam of the Grade 1 winner and successful stakes sire Heatseeker (by Giant’s Causeway).

As one might imagine of a daughter of Blushing Groom (by Red God), Chain Fern had some fancy relations and one of the most notable of them was her full-sister Al Bahathri, the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine of 1985.

That classic star got off to a good start at stud when getting the Group 1-placed stakes winning filly Hasbah (by Kris), and although she had a comparatively quiet few years, she was saving the best until last with her sons Munir and Haafhd.

Munir (by Indian Ridge) won the Group 2 Challenge Stakes, and his blacktype winning offspring include the Group 1-placed, dual pattern winning sprinter Mariol.

Haafhd (by Alhaarth) won the Group 1 2000 Guineas and Group 1 Champion Stakes in 2004, he is developing a successful profile as a dual-purpose stallion, and he got his first Group 1 winner a fortnight ago when his multiple pattern-winning son Junoob won the 12-furlong The Metropolitan at Randwick. He got his first major star under National Hunt rules in 2012 when the popular Countrywide Flame took both the Grade 1 Triumph Hurdle and the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle and he stands at Beechwood Grange Stud.

In addition to three stakes-winning offspring, and their descendants, Al Bahathri is also responsible for a long and growing list of blacktype scorers that have descended from several of her other daughters.

Gmaasha (by Kris) is the dam of the multiple Group 1 star and successful Italian freshman sire Gladiatorus (by Silic), and of the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1000 Guineas) heroine My Sweet Baby (by Minardi).

Alyakkh (by Sadler’s Wells) is the grandam of the Group 3 scorer Snaafy (by Kingmambo), while Almaaseh (by Dancing Brave) is both the dam of the dual Grade 1 star Military Attack (by Oratorio) and multiple pattern winning sprinter Almaty (by Dancing Dissident), and she is the grandam of the globetrotting Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase star Red Cadeaux (by Cadeaux Genereux).

Al Bahathri was the best of the winners out of the smart performer Chain Store (by Nodouble), but she is not that mare’s only success story at stud.

Geraldine’s Store (by Exclusive Native), who won the Grade 2 Diana Handicap and took third in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes, is the grandam of the classic-placed Group 2 Railway Stakes scorer Democratic Deficit (by Soviet Star), a horse who has enjoyed some success at stud in Italy.

Peplum (by Nijinsky) won the Listed Cheshire Oaks and was placed in the Group 3 Princess Royal Stakes before going on to become the grandam of the Grade 2 scorers Jibboom (by Mizzen Mast) and Aviate (by Dansili), and of the Group 1-placed pattern winner Early March (by Dansili), and she is the third dam of this year’s Group 3 Athasi Stakes heroine Flying Jib (by Oasis Dream).

Then there’s Bloudan (by Damascus) who, although unraced, became the dam of the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam scorer Radevore (by Generous), and grandam of the pattern winning gelding Lateen Sails (by Elmaamul).

This is a family that has proved, again and again, that its best horses can succeed at the highest levels in international racing, and so when it comes up with an impressive stakes winning Galileo juvenile there is every reason to hope that she could be a star in the making.

At first glance one might presume that a product of Galileo and a Theatrical mare would be guaranteed to stay the Oaks trip, but with the notable exception of Red Cadeaux, the best horses in this family tend to be mile to 10 furlong stars, so it will be interesting to see how far Together Forever stays next year.