Taghrooda, winner of the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, who was reviewed here recently, is one of two undefeated Group 1 classic stars from the first crop of the Gilltown Stud stallion Sea The Stars (by Cape Cross), a brilliant racehorse who is now leading the way among what appears to be a strong group of second season stallions in Europe.
That cohort’s recent blacktype scorers also include Jack Naylor who won the Group 3 Jockey Club of Turkey Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown recently.
Bred by Oliver Costello, and a €10,500 graduate of the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, this filly has now won two of her four starts. She holds an entry in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes and she may have the potential to become a classic contender in 2015.
Jack Naylor represents the Banstead Manor Stud’s multiple Grade 1 star Champs Elysees (by Danehill), a horse whose first batch of foals includes the dual classic-placed Group 3 scorer Xcellence, and the pattern-placed stakes winners Avenue Gabriel, Lustrous, and Regardez.
His racing and stud record, and his pedigree, give Jack Naylor every chance of staying beyond a mile next year, especially when the filly comes from a family whose standout performers include a US turf champion and several middle-distance Group 1 stars around Europe.
She is the fourth foal out of the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes winner Fashionable (by Nashwan), which makes her a half-sister to the winning pair Linkable (by Rail Link) and Seamless (by Beat Hollow), and her grandam Fine Detail (by Shirley Heights) is one of nine winners produced from the remarkably successful broodmare De Stael (by Nijinsky).
That lightly raced dual scorer is a full-sister to the Group 1 Coronation Cup winner Quiet Fling, and the best of her four stakes winning offspring is Wandesta (by Nashwan), the US turf champion whose wins include the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes, the Grade 1 Santa Barbara Handicap, and the Grade 1 Santa Ana Handicap.
The quartet also includes the Group 2 Prix du Conseil de Paris scorer De Quest (by Rainbow Quest), the listed winners Source Of Light (by Rainbow Quest) and Turners Hill (by Top Ville), and their siblings also include a mare called Valencia (by Kenmare).
She was one of three non-winners for De Stael, but she has more than made up for that at stud as she has become a prolific source of winners, several of whom have earned blacktype.
Her son Irish Vale (by Wolfhound) won the Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes at Ayr as a juvenile, and he was followed by Deportivo (by Night Shift), the Group 2 Flying Five winner whose offspring include this year’s dual French Group 3 scorer Gailo Chop.
Their half-sister Cantabria (by Dansili) was placed in the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes and the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes before going to California, where she was also pattern-placed, and their dam’s seven winners also include the nine times scorer Subadar (by Zamindar), and Affluent (by Oasis Dream), who is the dual winning dam of last year’s triple juvenile scorer Aspirant (by Rail Link).
The fourth dam of Jack Naylor is the Blue Seal Stakes winner Peace (by Klairon), and like De Stael and Valencia, her strike rate of winners to foals born is impressive.
The aforementioned Quiet Fling was her best son, and his nine winning siblings also included the pattern scorers Armistice Day (by Rheingold) and Peacetime (by Nijinsky), the Cambridgeshire heroine Intermission (by Stage Door Johnny), and a stakes-placed filly called Balabina (by Nijinsky).
The latter is the mare from whom the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes scorer Byword (by Peintre Celebre) and his four times Grade 1 winning half-sister Proviso (by Dansili) descend.
Intermission can take credit for a larger number of top performers as she is the grandam of the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap winner Midships (by Mizzen Mast), and the third dam of both the Group 1 July Cup hero Continent (by Lake Coniston) and of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris scorer Zambezi Sun (by Dansili).
This family has a long established tradition of producing highly talented racehorses and the excellent strike rates of some of Jack Naylor’s female relatives suggest that she may also have considerable potential for a notable career at stud.