Descendants of the late champion Giant’s Causeway more than made their mark in major races around the world on Saturday.
Giant’s Causeway horse Not This Time (whose dam Miss Macy Sue was sired by the Drakenstein Stud based Trippi) came up with his fourth Gr1 winner when his son Sibelius claimed Saturday’s Gr1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan.
Sibelius and Ryan Moore hold off the late challenge of Switzerland in Saturday’s Meydan action (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
If you thought Ryan Moore couldn’t leave a winning challenge any later than that he executed on Broome in the Gr 2 Dubai Gold Cup, then the final lunge up the rail aboard Sibelius in the Gr1 Dubai Golden Shaheen was even more of a heart-stopper as he denied last year’s winner Switzerland by a nose
Five-year-old Sibelius, one of 24 stakes winners for his sire, has now won seven of 19 starts including the 2022 Gr3 Mr Prospector Stakes. He joins Princess Noor, Just One Time and the now Ashford based Epicenter as G1 winners for Not This Time.
Third home in the Dubai Golden Shaheen was 2021 Gr1 Hopeful Stakes winner Gunite, who is inbred to Giant’s Causeway.
Watch the replay here:
Gunite’s sire Gun Runner, who is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Quiet Giant, added to his broodmare sire’s memorable (albeit posthumous) day when responsible for Saturday’s Gr2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner up Disarm.
The same Meydan card saw Lord North, who is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Najoum, claim the Gr1 Dubai Turf. It is the third year in a row that Lord North has claimed the Dubai Turf, having triumphed in 2021 before dead-heating for first place last year. He is one of nearly 200 stakes winners produced by daughters of Giant’s Causeway thus far.
Giant’s Causeway’s grandson Lope De Vega added to his ancestor’s achievements when his son Arapaho won Saturday’s Gr1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill. In the process, Arapaho became Lope De Vega’s 18th individual Gr1 winner. A dual French classic winner, Lope De Vega, sire of 106 stakes winners, is also the sire of Saturday’s Paddy Power Irish Lincolnshire winner Lattam.
Lope De Vega is also the sire of a number of promising three-year-olds this season, including Carl Spackler and Algolia, both of whom were named TDN Rising Stars this year while his son Belardo is the sire of this year’s Gr1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes winner Gold Phoenix.
Lope De Vega
Lope De Vega’s late sire Shamardal, whose 160 plus stakes winners include 27 Gr1 winners, is the sire of Saturday’s Gr2 Godolphin Mile runner up Law Of Peace, and Gr1 Dubai World Cup second place finisher Algiers.
Mariah’s Storm, the dam of Giant’s Causeway, also features as the granddam of 2000 Guineas winner Gleneagles, whose daughter Insinuendo captured the first group race on the flat in Ireland this year when victorious in Saturday’s Gr3 Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express Stakes. It was a third group winner for Insinuendo, who herself is one of 25 stakes winners for her Coolmore based sire.
Giant’s Causeway, broodmare sire of South African champions One World (Captain Al) and Soft Falling Rain (National Assembly) also made his presence felt in South Africa on Saturday -he is broodmare sire of Seeking Peace (What A Winter), who won the ninth and final race at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
