THE phrase greased lightning is used to describe things that are fast. While precocity is not a word you would immediately associate with Lightning Spear, one of four sires on the current roster at Tweenhills Stud in Gloucestershire, it is good to see him off the mark with a winner before the end of June.

The Irish Derby winning trainer, Ralph Beckett, saddled Lightning Spear to win on his debut, and only juvenile start, at the end of August. He then moved to Olly Stevens, won on his only outing at three, and at four extended his winning streak to four before meeting defeat for the first time, running second to Arod in the Group 2 Summer Mile at Ascot.

Lightning Spear ran until the age of seven, his last three seasons with David Simcock, and he won once each year. At five and six he won back-to-back editions of the Group 2 Celebration Mile at Goodwood, beating Zonderland each time, while his career reached a pinnacle at seven when he accounted for Expert Eye, Lord Glitters and more in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, again at Goodwood.

A feature of almost every one of his placed efforts in Group 1 races was the quality of the horses who beat him – Minding, Ribchester, Tepin and Rhododendron among them. Sadly, his race record, admirable though it is, was not sexy enough for most breeders, and the son of Pivotal (Polar Falcon), sire of Siyouni and Farhh, has only 21 juveniles to represent him. His four runners have yielded a winner now and a placed horse.

Whatton Manor

The winner is Greased Lightning, bred by Whatton Manor Stud and Robert Cornelius, and he is the eighth successful offspring from the unraced How High The Sky (Danehill Dancer). Perhaps this 26,000gns yearling purchase by Highflyer Bloodstock can do something that none of the other seven winners have done so far, and that is to earn a little blacktype.

How High The Sky has nine winning siblings, a third of them being stakes winners. One of her half-sisters bred Silver Frost (Verglas), the 2009 Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas winner. While he went to stud at a fee of £8,500, the fee for Lightning Spear quickly dropped to £5,000, though this did not lead to a big increase in coverings for 2020 or 2021.