FOOTSTEPSINTHESAND enjoyed his most successful year yet in 2014, when he was fifth on the table of Leading Sires in Europe, both by number of winners and by number of races won, with 120 of his sons and daughters carrying off 195 races. All the four stallions above him stand at fees seven times or more his modest fee.

If he had not injured a foot soon after his success in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, which prevented him from racing again, who knows what Footstepsinthesand might have gone on to achieve?

This extremely well-bred son of Giant’s Causeway retired to stud as the winner of all his three starts in Ireland and England and some of the horses which he defeated in the 2000 Guineas, notably Oratorio and Dubawi, were double Group 1-winning champions that season and among the best of their generation.

Footstepsinthesand, who was trained by Aidan O’Brien for Michael Tabor and Mrs John Magnier, was unbeaten as a two-year-old in Ireland and he had four and a half lengths to spare on his debut against 19 rivals in the Tifrums Maiden Stakes over six furlongs at Naas in mid-October.

Only eight days later, he lined up again in the Group 3 Killavullan Stakes at Leopardstown, this time over seven furlongs, and he scored very comfortably by two lengths. Timeform’s Racehorses of 2004 rated him as the equal third best two-year-old in Ireland.

Both of Footstepsinthesand’s two wins in his first season had been on soft ground, but he proved himself even better on firm going when he reappeared in 2005 in the Group 1 Newmarket 2000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile.

He was never more than a couple of lengths behind the leaders, going to the front a furlong and a half from home to score by a length and a quarter from group winners Rebel Rebel and Kandidate, who finished just ahead of Oratorio and Dubawi.

Footstepsinthesand has made a brilliant start to his stud career, with over 300 individual winners of 842 races from his first six Irish crops, earning more than €16,000,000, while his southern hemisphere foals have won another 530 races.

His fillies include Chachamaidee, winner of the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown and two group races at Goodwood, and Barefoot Lady, who added the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine to her success in the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket and was also third in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Two other group scorers for Footstepsinthesand in Ireland were the Group 2 Railway Stakes heroine Formosina and Steinbeck, now a Group 1 star in New Zealand as Pure Champion.

Shamalgan, who won the Group 1 Premio Vittorio di Capua at Milan and the Group 2 Oettingen Rennen at Baden-Baden, was a French-bred son of Footstepsinthesand.

Argentina has also derived a huge benefit from his seasons spent there, which have produced two Group 1 scorers in Sand Bijou and Infiltrada, as well as three Group 2 winners.

Giant’s Causeway, the sire of Footstepsinthesand, was an outstanding European champion who was never out of the first two in 13 starts.

This son of Storm Cat scored six times in Group 1 events, including the Eclipse Stakes, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Juddmonte International, while all four of his second places were also in Group 1 races, among them the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Among Giant’s Causeway’s 143 stakes winners are European champion Shamardal, Intense Focus and the brilliant American miler Aragorn.

Footstepsinthesand is one of five winners produced by his dam Glatisant, a daughter of Rainbow Quest who was a high-class two-year-old, when she won the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood. His half brother Pedro The Great, a son of Henrythenavigator, won the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes, while half-sister Belle d’Or is a listed winner at Sandown Park.

Glatisant is also the grandam of Power, a son of Oasis Dream who won the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas in 2012 and is also now standing at Coolmore, and Thakafaat, an Unfuwain filly who scored in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. The next dam Dancing Rocks won the Group 2 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

FOOTSTEPSIN-

THESAND (GB)

Race record: Winner of three races and £226,451, from 3 starts at 2 and 3 years, 6-8 furlongs, inc. 2000 Guineas, Newmarket, Gr.1, and Killavullan Stakes, Leopardstown, Gr.3

Stud record: Retired to stud in Ireland in 2006. Sire of over 300 winners of 842 races and more than £16,000,000, inc. Chachamaidee (Matron Stakes, Leopardstown, Gr.1, Lennox Stakes, Goodwood, Gr.2), Shamalgan (Premio Vittorio di Capua, Milan, Gr.1), Barefoot Lady (Canadian Stakes, Woodbine, Gr.2, Nell Gwyn Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.3), Formosina (Railway Stakes, Curragh, Gr.2), Infiltrada (Premio Joaquin de Anchorena, San Isidro, Gr.1), Steinbeck (Windsor Park Plate, Hastings NZ, Gr.1, Solonaway Stakes, Curragh, Gr.3), etc. Also sire of winners of over 530 races from his crops in the Southern Hemisphere.

Stands at: Coolmore Stud, Fethard, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Ireland. Enquiries to (353) 52 6131298, or visit www.coolmore.com.

Fee: €10,000.