Mega Mares of 2012
With the year 2012 fast drawing to an end, it is a good time to take a look back at some of racing’s stars, who tend to be overlooked – the broodmares. Only a handful of mares ever produced one G1 winner, much less two, and the mares capable of this are rightfully considered as elite producers. Here are some of the matrons who starred during the 2012 racing year.
Helsinge
A daughter of Desert Sun, Helsinge never raced – but from three registered foals, she has produced one superstar, one stallion and one classic winner. Her first foal is unbeaten champion Black Caviar – whose 22 wins from as many starts include 12 G1 victories. Helsinge’s second registered foal, Moshe, is an own brother to Black Caviar, now standing at stud at Eliza Park in Australia. He made only five starts, but won three of them. Helsinge’s three year old son, All Too Hard, won the G1 Caulfield Guineas and ran second in the G1 Cox Plate earlier this year, and should go on to greater things, before retiring to stud. Helsinge is back in foal to Bel Esprit – sire of Black Caviar and Moshe.
Regard
Regard won two minor races, before retiring to stud, but, remarkably, her only two registered foals both won G1 races during 2012! A daughter of Zabeel, Regard is the dam of two Australian 1000 Guineas – with her unbeaten daughter Atlantic Jewel winning the MRC Thousand Guineas in 2011 and Regard’s Commands filly, Commanding Jewel, lifting the same race in 2012. Atlantic Jewel (Fastnet Rock) captured the G1 All Aged Stakes in 2012, giving her dam a pair of G1 winners in a single year.
Magnificent Style
She is without doubt one of the greatest broodmares of the past decade. In 2012, Magnificent Style was represented by the G1 winning siblings, Nathaniel (Galileo) and Great Heavens – winners of the G1 Eclipse Stakes and Irish Oaks respectively. Another daughter of Magnificent Style, the Gr3 winner, Changing Skies (Sadler’s Wells),sold for $4.2 million at the 2012
Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Changing Skies’ full sister, G1 winner Playful Act, set a new record for a broodmare sold at auction, when she sold for $10.5 million at the 2007 Keeneland November Sale (when not in foal at the time). In total, Magnificent Style (herself a high-class racemare) has bred eight individual stakes winners (of which three are G1 winners), and her daughters Playful Act and Echoes In Eternity have themselves now produced stakes winners.
Yes She Can Cancan
Yes She Can Cancan achieved the extremely rare feat of producing two Gr1 winners on two different continents in one year. The daughter of Golden Slipper winner Canny Lad produced the 2012 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Gimmethegreenlight (More Than Ready) and G1 Coolmore Classic winner, Ofcourseican (Mossman). Yes She Can Cancan’s first three foals are all winners, and also include the stakes placed filly La Goulue. She has a 2yo colt, named Longma, by Sebring, and has a filly foal by Nadeem.
Both her G1 winning progeny, Gimmethegreenlight and Ofcourseican, are now at stud, with the former based at Varsfontein while his G1 winning half-sister has been covered by the five times G1 winner Dream Ahead. Other mares with two or more G1 winning descendants during 2012 (albeit a generation or two removed) include Glatisant, Brooklyn’s Dance, Sunset Service, while the great mare Hasili had two G1 producing sire sons in 2012.
Another mare whose descendants really hit the big time in 2012 was the G1 winning Ahonoora mare Park Express. Her Derby winning son, New Approach, became the hottest first crop sire in the world, when represented by three stakes winners at Royal Ascot. At the time of writing, New Approach’s son, the unbeaten, multiple Gr1 winner, Dawn Approach, is a warm favourite to win next year’s 2000 Guineas.
Park Express is also the second dam of 2012 Investec Oaks winner Was – herself, like New Approach, by Galileo. She is also the ancestress of high-class SA performer Castlethorpe, and Quiet Oasis – runner up in the 2012 Gr1 Gamely Stakes.
Another mare to make her presence felt on the world stage in 2012 was Oatsee (Unbridled). She was responsible for three individual stakes winners during 2012 – G1 winner Shackleford (Met Mile), G3 winner Afleeting Lady (Turnback the Alarm Hcp) and Stephenoatsee (Barbaro Stakes).
The late Prix de l’ Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea has seldom been out of the headlines in the past few seasons. She is the dam of the world’s number one sire, Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), while another son, Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells), was responsible for the German G1 winner Earl of Tinsdal in 2012. Urban Sea’s final foal, Born To Sea (Invincible Spirit), was second in the Irish Derby, while her outstanding son, Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), proved a commercial hit in the sales ring, where represented by his first crop of yearlings.
One of the greatest mares in the modern day stud book is Courtly Dee (Never Bend). A four time winner on the race track, Courtly Dee is the third dam of the 2012 Breeders Cup Juvenile runner up, and leading Kentucky Derby winner, He’s Had Enough (Tapit). Courtly Dee’s prime influence this year, however, has come through her descendants Arch and Green Desert – both of whom have made their presences felt in 2012. Arch, broodmare sire of 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another, had no fewer than 11 stakes winners in 2012, including the G1 winners Hymn Book (Donn Hcp) and Love theway youare (Vanity Hcp).
Green Desert, however, made his presence felt through his outstanding sire sons Invincible Spirit, Oasis Dream and Cape Cross. The son of Danzig is also broodmare sire of Was.
