Urban Oaks
The finish of last Thursday’s G3 UAE Oaks was a feather in the cap of the legendary broodmare Urban Sea (Miswaki). Winner of the UAE Oaks was Khawlah – whose third dam is that 1993 Arc winner. Runner up Mahbooba is a daughter of Urban Sea’s first Epsom Derby winner, Galileo.
Khawlah is a very close relation of champion Sea The Stars. Both horses are sired by Cape Cross, and Sea The Stars himself is a son of Urban Sea.
Urban Sea’s descendants have been enjoying a highly profitable spell of late. Galileo’s daughter Igugu was a most impressive winner of the G2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas on Saturday, whilst a few weeks ago, Urban Sea’s sons, Urban Ocean (Bering) and Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells), both featured as the sires of impressive National Hunt winners.
Vagaries of breeding
Saturday’s Gauteng feature races really underlines the vagaries of breeding a top-class racehorse. Of the four feature races run on Saturday, the four winners are products of stallions whose stud fees range drastically.
Of the first three home in the G3 Acacia Handicap, all were sired by stallions standing (at the time of conception) for fees of R20 000 or less. The stud fees for Modus Vivendi and Kahal have fluctuated since then. Labeeb, sire of the Acacia runner up Goat, is deceased.
In contrast, the first three fillies home in the G2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas were sired by three of the world’s top stallions (Galileo, Street Cry, Oasis Dream), who stand for fees ranging from R950 000 upwards!
When Earl Of Surrey, winner of the G2 Hawaii Stakes, was conceived, his sire (Century Stand) was covering mares for a fee on application. Earl of Surrey, one of the finest horses ever bred in Zimbabwe, has now won over R1 million in prize money. Runner up in the G2 Hawaii Stakes was Arabian Mist, whose sire, Muhtafal stood for just R15 000 at the time of his conception.
Muhtafal, who has enjoyed a consistently successful stud career since, now stands for R30 000. The horses who dead heated for third place (Ozymandias and Miss Turbulence) in the Hawaii were sired by horses standing for fees of R65 000 and R12 000 at the time of conception ( although it’s almost impossible to remember perennial champion sire Jet Master ever standing for such a low fee!).
The Gauteng Guineas itself was won by Link Man, who confirmed his status as arguably the leading colt of his generation over distances up to a mile. A son of Toreador, Link Man’s sire stood for just R12 000 at the time the champion was conceived.
Runner up, Kavanagh, is from the first local crop of Tiger Ridge, who stood for R80 000 at the time Kavanagh was conceived.
Third placed finisher, Galileo’s Destiny, is a son of Galileo – who currently stands for a fee of over R1 million!
Mark of Esteem, sire of Saturday’s Listed Aquanaut Handicap winner Ilsanpietro, stood for a fee of approximately R160 000 (7,000 pounds). Ilsanpietro was from Mark Of Esteem sole Brazilian sired crop. Runner up in the Aquanaut was the Kahal sired Mirage Drive. He was conceived at a fee of just R15 000 in 2005 – before Kahal had established himself as a truly top-class stallion. Third place in the Aquanaut went to Dolomire, a son of Labeeb. The latter stood for a fee of R25 000 prior to his untimely demise.
All in all, the results of Saturday’s feature races surely reflect the well known adage that a good horse can come from anywhere. The old truism, mate the best to the best and hope for the best, will always have its legion of followers, but there are clearly many variables when it comes to breeding a good race horse.
Record breaking mare’s filly sells at Inglis
Perfect Promise (Caesour), the first South African bred to win a G1 race in Australia, was recently represented by a yearling to pass through the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sales’s ring. The brown colt is a son of champion Australian sire Redoute’s Choice, sire of leading Dubai World Cup hopeful Musir. He was snapped up by Paul Guy’s Heritage Bloodstock for AUS$75,000 – or R532 000.
Perfect Promise, the dam of three registered foals to date, has already been represented by a winner. Her first foal to race, a Dubawi colt named Vredefort, was victorious in Japan.
Champion filly’s classic connections
Saturday’s G2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas winner Igugu is not only one of the leaders of her generation, she is also a member of one of the most powerful families in the modern day stud book.
Her sire, Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), who has sired 19 G1 winners to date, had the winner of the Fillies Guineas and third placed Galileo’s Destiny in the colts version. Whilst Galileo showed his best form over a mile and a half, he has proven himself to be a truly exceptional sire of high-class juveniles. To date, Galileo has been represented by no fewer than five champion juveniles (of both sexes), including last season’s Equus Champion 2yo filly Mahbooba.
Igugu, who cost R1 million at the 2009 Emperor’s Palace Ready to Run Sale, is out of Zarinia – a daughter of world-champion miler Intikhab. The latter is sire of champion filly Snow Fairy. Zarinia, bred by the Aga Khan, never raced. Interestingly, prior to Igugu, there is no black type in her first two dams!
Igugu’s fourth dam, Zahra, who never won a race, is the only filly ever produced by the great mare Petite Etoile. Petite Etoile won, in modern day terms, won seven G1 races including the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and Champion Stakes. She is considered by legendary jockey, Lester Piggott, to be one of the greatest mares he ever sat on.
Her daughter, Zahra, in turn is the third dam of the unbeaten Arc winner Zarkava (Zamindar). The latter recently gave birth to her second foal – a colt by Galileo’s half-brother Sea The Stars.
Igugu herself is a direct descendant of the original “Flying Filly” – Mumtaz Mahal. The line of champions descended from Mumtaz Mahal is a long one, and includes such outstanding sires as Nasrullah, Royal Charger and Mahmoud.
