The influence of Danehill was truly felt in last week’s Gr1 Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield. The champion sire can be found in the pedigrees of 12 of the 14 runners in the race. To boot, just one runner (Aspect) had a pedigree free of Danehill’s sire Danzig.
Danehill
The first three home in the Blue Diamond, one of the world’s richest races for 2yos, are all by sons of Danehill, with the fourth out of a mare by Danehill’s son Rock Of Gibraltar. Not that this should surprise in any way.
Danehill appears in nine of the last ten Blue Diamond Stakes winners, a race in which his son Redoute’s Choice has enjoyed particular success. The triple Australian champion sire won the race himself in 1999 and is sire of winners Undoubtedly and Nadeem, while his son Not A Single Doubt also got a pair of winners with Miracles Of Life and Extreme Choice.
The 2017 G1 Blue Diamond winner Catchy (the 27th Gr1 winner for champion sire Fastnet Rock) is one of a growing number of Gr1 winners inbred to Danzig. They include Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley), and Fastnet Rock’s high class stakes winners Albany Reunion (Gr1 Easter Handicap), Atlante (Gr1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas), and Valentia. Catchy and Albany Reunion are both out of mares by Fusaichi Pegasus, who also is damsire of Golden Slipper winner Capitalist and closer to home of SA Gr1 winning half sisters Cloth Of Cloud and Silver Mountain.
Belong To Me – winner of the Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes
Inbreeding to Danzig in South Africa is also found in dual Gr1 winner Buy And Sell, Tony Ruffel Stakes winner Belong To Me, and the smart filly Jackodore.
Equus Champions Entisaar and Harry’s Son (both Australian-bred) are also inbred to Danzig.
Danehill’s Gr1 success was not limited to the Blue Diamond this weekend, with sons Blackfriars and Holy Roman Emperor responsible for Gr1 Futurity Stakes winner Black Hart Bart and Gr1 Oakleigh Plate winner Sheidel (the first three home in the Oakleigh Plate have Danehill close up).
With a number of promising sires (notably Frankel) out of mares by Danehill, one can but speculate about how dominant this sire line could yet be. Currently three of the top five sires (Snitzel, Fastnet Rock and Not A Single Doubt) in Australia are Danehill line descendants.
Winx Gets The Nod
When champion Australian mare, Winx (Street Cry), landed Saturday’s Chipping Norton Stakes, it was the 10th Gr1 win for the mare.
Winx
To give a little perspective, since 1970 Miesque (Nureyev) and Goldikova (Anabaa) stand as the sole European trained horses to win more than 10 Gr1 races. Undefeated champion Frankel won exactly 10 G1 races during his career.
Interestingly, Street Cry’s other champion daughter Zenyatta, won 13 Gr1 races. Other horses this century to have picked up 10 or more Gr1 victories include undefeated Black Caviar (15), Azeri (11), Lonhro (11), Sunline (13) and Wise Dan (10). By comparison, US Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) won eight and champion Sea The Stars (Cape Cross) picked up six.
Broodmare of the Year Prospects
Even though the 2016/17 racing season is only halfway, already a case can be made for a few champion broodmare candidates.
One of those is Pagan Princess (Fort Wood), dam of 2016 Gr1 winners Real Princess (Trippi) and William Longsword (Captain Al).
Real Princess – top class daughter of Pagan Princess
The mare continues the great run of success of Fort Wood mares at stud – their offspring now includes three of the past five Cape Guineas winners (Capetown Noir and Noah From Goa the other two).
While she is yet to produce a Gr1 winner, the mare So Royal (Kahir Almaydan) got her fourth individual stakes winner when Royal Badge (Go Deputy) won the Cape Summer Stayers Handicap. All of her black type winners are by different stallions.
Helleborus Blue (Cee’s Tizzy) looks a shoe-in to add to her Gr1 winner The Hangman (Jallad) with another son, Trip To Heaven (Trippi), who is the highest rated sprinter this season.
Gypsy Queen (Royal Chalice) made it graded winner number three when Romany Prince (Kahal) won the Gr3 London News Stakes. He follows US Gr1 winner Gypsy’s Warning (Mogok) and Gr2 Camellia Stakes winner Surabi (Wolfhound), who has outperformed her Oaks winning sisters Noble Destiny and Royal Prophecy at stud.
Time will tell.
