IT is appropriate that the 2023 Group 1 Betfred Derby winner, Auguste Rodin, is by arguably the greatest sire ever to stand in Japan where he was a multiple champion, and out of one of the best runners sired by arguably the greatest sire we have ever seen.

Breeding the best, Rhododendron, a daughter of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), to the best, Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), gave us the weekend’s classic hero, and he is one of just a handful of foals born in 2020, following the death of his sire at the age of just 17. In his last year at stud in Shadai Stallion Station, difficulties with his neck meant Deep Impact was restricted to covering some 20 mares – at a fee of €330,000 – and about half of them went in foal.

Two of that final crop were born in Ireland, bred by John Magnier and partners, and they are Auguste Rodin, and the recent Group 3 Gallinule Stakes winner, Drumroll, who is out of the wonderful Maybe (Galileo). Drumroll is a full-brother to Saxon Warrior, while another high-class winner bred on the same cross is Snowfall, winner of the Oaks at Epsom, the Curragh and York.

Most exciting

After his success last autumn in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity, Aidan O’Brian said of Auguste Rodin that he was “probably the most exciting horse we have ever had”. Beaten on his debut by the subsequent Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner, Crypto Force, Auguste Rodin made no mistake next time out, winning a maiden at Naas. Victory on Irish Champions Weekend in a Group 2 at Leopardstown preceded his win at Doncaster,

Disappointment on his seasonal return in the 2000 Guineas led to some questioning whether he is all that his trainer said he was, but his performance at Epsom sees him back on track, and hopefully Irish racegoers an opportunity to see him again in the flesh if he lines up for the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby next month. With a name that suggests greatness, and with as good a pedigree as there is about, Auguste Rodin has all the ingredients needed for stardom.

Deep talent

Deep Impact was born four years after Galileo. He was twice champion racehorse in Japan, he won their Triple Crown, and was champion every year from 2012 to 2020. In that final championship year his son Contrail also became a Triple Crown winner. Deep Impact took on the mantle of his sire, Sunday Silence (Halo), who died at the young age of 16. Sunday Silence was champion sire in Japan 12 times.

Deep Impact’s dam, Wind in Her Hair (Alzao), was a Group 1 winner in Germany and finished second in the Group 1 Oaks to Balanchine. Wind In Her Hair was out of Burghclere (Busted), a daughter of the dual classic winner Highclere (Queen’s Hussar), who was owned and bred by Queen Elizabeth II. Burghclere was a three-parts sister to top filly Height Of Fashion (Bustino), sold by the Queen to Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and subsequently the dam of the Group 1 Derby winner Nashwan (Blushing Groom), leading sire Unfuwain (Northern Dancer) and multiple Group 1 winner, and Group 1 sire, Nayef (Gulch).

Racing career

When Deep Impact was defeated as a three-year-old by Heart’s Cry in the 2005 Group 1 Arima Kinen, he suffered the first of two losses in his 14-race career. The other was a third-place finish in the following year’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but he was subsequently disqualified and demoted to last place due to a positive drug test.

Successful in a 10-furlong race for newcomers on his only start at two, Deep Impact’s victory from Admire Japan in the Listed Kikuka Sho in October 2005 saw him become the first horse since Narita Brian 11 years previously to complete the Japanese Triple Crown. At that time the races, restricted to horses bred in Japan, did not carry international Group 1 status. Deep Impact was also the first unbeaten Triple Crown winner in more than two decades, but he lost that unsullied record on his final outing of the season, The defeat didn’t stop him from being named the champion colt of his year.

Champion again

His third season racing turned out to be no less successful. On his second start he won the Tenno Sho (Spring Emperor’s Cup), and in doing so set a new world record for a race over two miles. Next time out he was back running over 11 furlongs, and was victorious in the Group 1 Takarazuka Kinen.

A long-held wish in Japan is to win the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and in 2006 they looked to have an outstanding chance with Deep Impact. With enormous support from the betting-mad Japanese public, he was the well-backed favourite for the eight-runner race, and was beaten less than a length by Rail Link into third place. However, after a positive test for the illegal drug Ipratropium, Hurricane Run was promoted to third.

Connections announced that their colt would retire to stud after the season’s end, and he went out in a blaze of glory, winning both the Group Japan Cup and Listed (Japanese Group 1) Arima Kinen. His 12 wins earned his owners almost £7.3 million.

When Auguste Rodin won at Group 1 level last year, he became his sire’s 57th top-level winner. The Ballydoyle star is one of many such winners to appear on the dam side too of the pedigree page. He is the first foal of the triple Group 1 winner Rhododendron, and she has since produced a colt foal this year by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium).

Eclipsed

Rhododendron won a Group 1 race in all three seasons she raced, the Fillies’ Mile at two, the Prix de l’Opera at three and the Lockinge Stakes in her final season. As admirable as her achievements were, Rhododendron was eclipsed by her full-sister Magical (Galileo). Foaled a year after the dam of Auguste Rodin, Magical’s seven Group 1 wins, among a dozen lifetime victories, puts her among the elite trained at Ballydoyle.

Aidan O’Brien, for whom Auguste Rodin was his 401st Group/Grade 1 winner under all codes, has also saddled Highland Reel, Magical, Minding, Rock Of Gibraltar and Yeats to win seven times at the highest level on the flat.

Rhododendron and Magical, along with their group-winning own-brother Flying The Flag (Galileo) are the best of the five winners from the Trevor Stewart-bred Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal), a three-time Group 1 winner following victories in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Nassau Stakes and Sun Chariot Stakes. She, in turn, is the best of 10 winners produced by Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes (now Group 1) winner Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge). Casandra Go is the grandam of the US Grade 1 winner photo Call (Galileo), and last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Victoria Road, a son of Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact).