Ascot Pedigrees
Last week’s races at Royal Ascot were won by a host of horses from different backgrounds. All of New Zealand, Germany, USA, Irish and British bred horse were represented in the winners enclosure.
The late, great Danehill really made his presence felt at the Royal meeting. Broodmare sire of the mighty Frankel (Queen Anne Stakes), Danehill’s sons, Holy Roman Emperor and Danehill Dancer, were responsible for Ascot winners, Duntle (Sandringham Hcp) and Ishvana (Jersey Stakes). Danehill Dancer is also sire of Jersey runner up Sentaril. Danehill is also sire of Dansili – whose offspring Thomas Chippendale and Fallen For You won the G2 King Edward VII Stakes and Coronation Stakes respectively. Another Danehill son, Oratorio, sired Eton Forever, winner of the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Yet another son of Danehill, the ill-fated Danetime, is sire of impressive Wokingham Handicap winner, Dandy Boy.
Another late great Coolmore sire, Sadler’s Wells, also did well at this year’s Ascot meeting. His sons Galileo and High Chaparral are the sires of Frankel and So You Think (Prince of Wales Stakes) respectively, while Galileo’s son, New Approach, enjoyed a magnificent first Royal meeting with his first runners.
New Approach was definitely the sire of the meet, with no fewer than three juvenile stakes winners. His Dawn Approach won the G2 Coventry Stakes to maintain his unbeaten record, while New Approach filly, New Fangled, stamped herself as the most exciting 2yo filly seen in the UK this season with a facile win in the G3 Albany Stakes. Finally, New Approach colt Tha’Ir won the tightly contested Chesham Stakes.
New Approach’s feat of siring three Royal Ascot winners in his very first crop is one which has not been duplicated by many sires in recent memory.
Another son of Galileo, St Leger winner Sixties Icon, has also made a pleasing start to his stud career. Sixties Icon has no fewer than four runners in the Listed Chesham, with his daughter Cruck Realta running a cracking second.
Galileo himself is also sire of Listed Wolferton Handicap winner, Gatewood.
Another son of Sadler’s Wells represented by an impressive Ascot winner last week was the now National Hunt stallion, Beat Hollow. He is the sire of G2 Hardwicke Stakes hero Sea Moon.
In total, four sons of Sadler’s Wells had winners at the Royal meet – Doyen is the sire of the Duke of Edinburgh winner, Camborne. Four sons of Danehill got on the winners board, and it is quite clear that while both Danehill and Sadler’s Wells are deceased, their legacies look safe for many years to come.
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The Gold Cup – a race for the ages
The result of the recent Ascot Gold Cup laid further weight to the fact that a stallion is capable of siring high-class winners at any age. Gold Cup winner, Colour Vision, was sired when his sire, Rainbow Quest, was a goodly 27 years old!
Third home in the prestigious Gold Cup was Saddler’s Rock, a member of the last crop of legendary sire, Sadler’s Wells. This crop was conceived when Sadler’s Wells was also 27 years old.
The result simply underlined the fact that a great stallion does not lose his ability to sire high-class stock – even if he does lose some of the opportunities to do so.
It is also worth remembering that every sire goes through a quiet patch, regardless of age, and it is foolish to write off a stallion simply because of his age. While certain older sires suffer from declining fertility, a good stallion remains capable of siring good class horses throughout their career.
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Sire’s remarkable dominance in catalogue
Japan will host the 2012 Select Sale on July 9th to July 10th, and the catalogue is a remarkable one to say the least. The sale is divided into two sections, with 250 yearlings being catalogued, and a further 225 weanlings being catalogued.
The yearling catalogue is completely dominated by the blood of the mighty Sunday Silence. Of the 250 yearlings on offer, over a half (135) are sired by sons or grandsons of Sunday Silence. Another 71 of the yearlings are out of mares sired by Sunday Silence or his sons.
In fact, of the 250 yearlings on sale, only 22 are free of Sunday Silence. This means over 90% of the catalogue have the blood of the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner.
This is a staggering statistic, and truly shows the depth of Sunday Silence’s dominance in the land of the rising sun.
Three sons of Sunday Silence have 14 yearlings apiece in the catalogue – namely Deep Impact, Zenno Rob Roy and Neo Universe.
Sunday Silence, whose South African based son Admire Main has his first yearlings this year, is becoming an increasingly important influence throughout the world. His grandson Dabirsim was a champion 2yo in Europe last year, while this year a Sunday Silence daughter (Beauty Parlour) won the French 1000 Guineas.
Last year the Dubai World Cup was won by Sunday Silence grandson, Victoire Pisa, while in 2008, his grey granddaughter, Natagora won the English 1000 Guineas.
Pedigree of the week
While there have been many well bred horses to win recently, one stands out. Thomas Chippendale, winner of the G2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot combines many of the best names of international breeding. A son of leading sire Dansili, Thomas Chippendale’s dam is by Sadler’s Wells – which means Thomas Chippendale is bred on the reverse Danehill/Sadler’s Wells nick which produced the world’s best horse, Frankel. His dam, All My Loving, not only finished second in the Epsom Oaks, to Light Shift , but is a full sister to champion racehorse and superb sire, Galileo. Her dam is the Arc winner and legendary broodmare Urban Sea (dam of uber great Sea The Stars).
Interestingly enough, Thomas Chippendale’s sire, Dansili, is himself out of a great broodmare – Hasili, and thus the King Edward victor has two of the truly great broodmares of all time close up in his pedigree. Should he capture a G1 event, Thomas Chippendale will retire as an immensely valuable sire prospect!
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South African sire of the week
If there was an award for local sire of the week, honours would have to go to the much lamented, late Jet Master. The great stallion had two further stakes winners with Rush For John (Winter Oaks) and Master Plan (Betting World Derby) giving the Jet his 41st and 42nd stakes winner respectively.
Jet Master has a superb crop of 3yos this year. They include eight stakes horses already, and two Derby winners with Pomodoro (SA Derby) and Master Plan. Few sires, however great, are capable of producing two Derby winners in a single crop, and his latest achievement simply confirms what a superb stallion Jet Master was.
