The influence of legendary broodmare Fall Aspen was felt in various big races over the past weekend.
Fort Wood (Sadler’s Wells – Fall Aspen)
Brilliant sprinter Nature Strip (whose sire Nicconi is a son of Fall Aspen’s son Bianconi) made it Gr1 win number five when he lifted Saturday’s Gr1 Black Caviar Lightning in Australia, while in South Africa, Fall Aspen’s Gr1 Grand Prix De Paris winning son Fort Wood made his presence felt at Turffontein on the same day.
Nature Strip
Fort Wood’s great granddaughter War Of Athena showed her class when accounting for champion Anything Goes (whose granddam is the Fort Wood sired Broodmare Of The Year Akinfeet) in Saturday’s Gr2 Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas.
Interestingly enough, Fort Wood appears in the pedigrees of four of the seven runners in the 2021 Gauteng Fillies Guineas.
Fort Wood, Champion Sire in South Africa in 1998-1999 and Champion Broodmare Sire four times to date, also made his presence felt in Saturday’s Gr2 WSB Gauteng Guineas.
He is broodmare sire of the 1-3-4 finishers in the Guineas (his stakes winning daughter Justthewayyouare is dam of Guineas hero Malmoos), while Fort Wood’s champion son Elusive Fort is the sire of Guineas second Catch Twentytwo.
WSB Gauteng Guineas finish (Pic – JC Photos)
Nature Strip’s sire Nicconi, one of two Gr1 winners sired by Gr2 Diadem Stakes winner Bianconi (Danzig), is the sire of 20 stakes winners to date, with Nature Strip his sire’s standout performer.
Fall Aspen, North America’s Broodmare Of The Year in 1994, rates as one of the finest of the modern era. She produced nine stakes winners, with her four Gr1 winners headed by US champion Timber Country, the aforementioned Fort Wood and both Northern Aspen and July Cup winning sire Hamas.
The daughter of Pretense, and Gr1 Matron Stakes winner, also ranks as the dam of the likes of Bangkok (Australia) and Matterhorn (Raven’s Pass).
The former, whose granddam is Fall Aspen’s Irish 1000 Guineas winning granddaughter Mehthaaf (Nureyev), recently won the Betway Winter Derby Trial Stakes for a second consecutive year, while Bangkok’s older half-brother Matterhorn won last year’s Gr1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3.
Dubai Millenium
Fall Aspen’s once beaten grandson Dubai Millennium ensured his lasting legacy through his outstanding sire son Dubawi, with the latter continuing to make his presence felt as one of the world’s leading stallions.
Her legacy could well be felt still further this year, with Fall Aspen’s four time Gr1 winning descendant Ribchester (Iffraaj) set to have his first runners in 2021.
Ribchester, a group winner in each of the three seasons he raced, is out of the Marju mare Mujarah -a half-sister to the aforementioned pair of Bangkok and Matterhorn.
