KINGMAN, Lawman and I Am Invincible are sons of Invincible Spirit (Green Desert) who have sired several Group 1 winners apiece and, in 2020, Mayson hit the Group 1 target for the first time with July Cup scorer Oxted.
Palace Pier, Persian King and the US Grade 1 scorer Domestic Spending all won at the highest level for Kingman last year, whereas Lawman, whose six include two Group 1 classic stars, had the Fillies’ Mile heroine Pretty Gorgeous.
I Am Invincible, well-established as one of the best stallions in Australia, is in third place in the general sires’ championship title race in that country at the time of writing, and his 62 career stakes winners feature nine who have won at Group 1 level.
Cable Bay, Charm Spirit and Zebedee have sired pattern winners, and the array of Invincible Spirit stallions in earlier stages of their career include two of last year’s multiple blacktype freshmen. Shalaa, who has a pattern winner and two Group 3-placed winners in Australia, has three blacktype performers among his double-digit tally of winners here.
However, Dalham Hall Stud’s Territories shone more brightly, his seven blacktype earners in Europe featuring the Group 1-placed pattern scorer Rougir and listed winner Fulgentia, with Teresa Mendosa taking second in the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes at the Curragh.
Territories was a Group 1 runner-up on his final of four starts at two but excelled at three. He won the Group 3 Prix de Fontainebleau easily, chased home Gleneagles in the Group 1 2000 Guineas three weeks later, then landed the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat, also over a mile, before chasing home five-year-old Esoterique in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois.
His top-priced yearling of 2020 is a 160,000gns Tattersalls Book 2 graduate, and it would not be a surprise to see him sire his first Group 1 winner in 2021.
Territories’ stakes-placed dam Taranto (Machiavellian) is not only a daughter of the Group 3 scorer Magna Graecia (Warning), but she is somewhat closely related to champion sire Street Cry (Machiavellian).
The sire of Winx and Zenyatta, Street Cry was a full-brother to Helsinki, the stakes-placed dam of the leading international sire Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway). That dual classic star’s 26 Group 1 winners include last year’s classic-winning miler Victor Ludorum who, like Territories, is a direct descendant of the Group 1 Irish Oaks heroine Helen Street (Troy).
Territories looks like getting his best winners in the broad six-to-12-furlong range. His pedigree, race record and promising start suggest he could be a future classic sire.
TERRITORIES (IRE), Bay 2012. Won three races, £554,020, from 6 furlongs to 1 mile, at 2 and 3 years including, Prix Jean Prat, Chantilly, Gr.1, Prix de Fontainebleau, Longchamp, Gr.3, also placed second in P. Fresnay le Buffard Jacques Le Marois, Deauville, Gr.1, Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Gd.Crit, Longchamp, Gr.1, Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.1, and third in Prix La Rochette, Longchamp, Gr.3, Prix Messidor, Maisons-Laffitte, Gr.3, Prix du Palais Royal, Deauville, Gr.3.
Retired to Stud in 2017, and sire of the winners of 27 races, and £466,883, including ROUGIR (FR), FULGENTIA (GB), Teresa Mendoza (IRE), Gartoria (GB), Linosa (IRE), Terrible Land (GB), William Bligh (GB)
Stands at:Dalham Hall Stud, Duchess Drive, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 9HE, England.
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