SHADAI Farm and Northern Farm, the two major powerhouses in Japan, shared the honours when they each bred a pair of group winners on the Saudi Cup undercard.

Shadai was responsible for Stay Foolish and the Group 3 Riyadh Cup winner Dancing Prince. The seven-year-old Stay Foolish was running for the 30th time, while the year-younger Dancing Prince was only starting for the 13th time, and this was his ninth success.

All nine wins have come over six furlongs, and his latest triumph nudged his winnings just over £1 million. He has had limited stakes form in Japan, winning last year’s Group 3 Capella Stakes and a listed race, and also being placed in the former. While he can claim some famous names on his dam side of the pedigree, he is by a little-known stallion.

The 15-year-old Swept Overboard (End Sweep) Group 3 winning sprinter Pas De Trois was runner-up in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes, but he has had limited support at stud, his first four crops yielding 65 winners, and Dancing Prince is his sole stakes winner. He had one other daughter who was stakes-placed.

On the dam side Dancing Prince he can claim to be well-connected. One of seven winners from Little Blessing, a daughter of Bubble Gum Fellow (Sunday Silence), one of his siblings is the stakes winner, and very closely-related, Princess Memory (Swept Overboard).

Now 20 and retired from stud duties (could she make a comeback?), Little Blessing is a half-sister to a three-time Japanese champion, as a sprinter and a miler, Durandal (Sunday Silence), twice successful in the Mile Championship, a Group 1 race.

Meadow Court

Little Blessing’s grandam was a half-sister to Kesar Queen (Nashua), winner of the then Group 2 Coronation Stakes and placed in the Group 1 1000 Guineas, and the next dam’s siblings included Bing Crosby’s Irish Sweeps Derby winner Meadow Court (Court Harwell).

Northern Farm’s second stakes winner in Saudi was the four-year-old Kizuna (Deep Impact) filly Songline. Her victory in the Group 3 Turf Sprint took her winnings to nearly £1.2 million, and she was successful for the fourth time in a nine-race career to date. In her homeland she won the Group 2 Fuji Stakes over a mile and was runner-up in the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup in Tokyo.

Kizona stands at Shadai Stallion Station and this year he will cover for the equivalent of about €95,000. The Group 1 Japanese Derby winner won the Group 2 Prix Niel in Europe and his first three crops include just one Group 1 winners, Akai Ito, 10 group winners and 17 stakes winners. The valuable racing programme means that he can still command the high fee that he does.

Deirdre

Songline is the first foal of her dam Luminous Parade (Symboli Kris S), a four-time winner over six and seven furlongs. Her year-younger half-brother Teegarden (Duramente) won twice last year. Songline is not the only racemare of note from the immediate family in recent years.

Her grandam is a half-sister to the dam of Deirdre (Harbinger), a Group 1 winner in Japan who also captured the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

The fourth dam of Songline is none other than Sonic Lady (Nureyev), the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas, Group 1 Sussex Stakes and Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp heroine who was rated the best filly of her year at three in Europe.