Captain Al – 7 winners over the weekend
It was a case of pedigree power on Saturday, when blue bloods shone both on local tracks and abroad.
Saturday, 18 October 2014 saw 11 South African races captured by the progeny of five of the country’s leading stallions – Captain Al (Zingzilla, Captain Alfredo, and Miss Saigon), Dynasty (Bruno, Line Break and Study The Stars), Silvano (Scent), Trippi (One Fine Day, Trip To Rio and Jeweller’s Joy) and Var (American Pie). In fact, Captain Al made it a stunning seven winners on a day, when no fewer than four of his offspring won in Mauritius on Saturday.
The above mentioned sires, regular top dogs on South Africa’s various sire lists, stand for fees of R150 000 (Captain Al, Dynasty and Var), R200 000 (Silvano) and R120 000 (Trippi).
Trippi
And, arguably the bluest blooded of all the above mentioned winners was the day’s most eye catching victress. The exciting filly One Fine Day, second in the Gr1 Golden Horseshoe last time out at two, has the pedigree to match her burgeoning talent. Clearly one of the best fillies of her generation, One Fine Day is not only by a top class stallion in Trippi but also hails from one of the finest female lines in the stud book, being out of the Kingmambo mare, Peace Bell, a full sister to top class European campaigner, Campanologist.
Campanologist
A former Godolphin flag bearer, Campanologist (who is bred on the famed Kingmambo/Sadler’s Wells cross), won 11 times in the famed blue silks and earned over GBP1 million in stakes. His major triumphs include four Gr1 victories, with Campanologist’s tally including wins in the Gr1 Gran Premio Jockey Club Italiano and Gr1 Preis Von Europa. Campanologist is now a resident stallion at Gestut Fahrhof.
One Fine Day’s third dam is the great champion racemare Glorious Song, Canada’s Horse of the Year in 1980. An equally outstanding broodmare, Glorious Song (an own sister to champion Devil’s Bag and champion sire Saint Ballado), produced international champion and world leading sire Singspiel (In The Wings), outstanding sire Rahy (also broodmare sire of Giant’s Causeway) and Rakeen – sire of Jet Master, the greatest stallion ever bred in South Africa.
Noble Mission holds off Al Kazeem
Blue blooded horses also shone on the world stage, most notably at Ascot, where Frankel’s full brother, Noble Mission, emulated his famous sibling by capturing Saturday’s top line event, the Gr1 Qipco Champion Stakes.
Other siblings to have captured the Champion Stakes previously include the brilliant half brothers Lemberg and Bayardo – who between them won the race three times (Lemberg scoring in 1910 and 1911, and Bayardo one year earlier).
Galileo
It is hard to deny that Noble Mission sports one of the great pedigrees of the modern era. An own brother to arguably history’s greatest horse, Noble Mission is by one of the great sires in history (Galileo) out of a great broodmare, in turn by a truly legendary sire (Danehill) whose descendants continue to dominate major races in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Kind, the dam of Noble Mission, Frankel and two other stakes horses to date, has truly lived up to her pedigree at stud. A daughter of Danehill, she is a half sister to Gr1 Arlington Million hero, Powerscourt (Sadler’s Wells), and is out of the top class racemare Rainbow Lake, whose wins included the Gr3 Lancashire Oaks.
Rainbow Quest
Rainbow Lake is, in turn, by the hugely underrated sire Rainbow Quest (Blushing Groom), a superb classic sire, and now one of the great broodmare sires of our time. Broodmare sire of back to back Epsom Derby winners in Kris Kin (Kris S) and North Light (Danehill) respectively, Rainbow Quest is also maternal grandsire of such outstanding performers as Footstepsinthesand (2000 Guineas), Rakti (6 time Gr1 winner), Elusive Wave (French 1000 Guineas), Look Here (Epsom Oaks), and Kingston Hill (St Leger).
Frankel and Noble Mission trace back to the great broodmare Samovar, whose offspring include the exceptional Zabara, winner of 1000 Guineas.
Together Forever
Another superbly bred horse sired by Galileo to triumph at the highest level this weekend was Together Forever. A €680,000 buy as a yearling, Together Forever became her sire’s 8th Group/Gr1 winner in 2014 alone, when landing Friday’s Dubai Fillies Mile to stamp herself as a leading contender for the European classics in 2015. The talented filly is equally well bred on her female line, being out of Theatrical mare Green Room – and thus a half sister to Gr1 Prix Jean Prat hero, and promising sire, Lord Shanakil (Speightstown). Her half brother had a smart winner on Friday’s card when his first crop daughter, Little Lady Katie, won Newmarket’s first race.
Green Room, in turn, is a half sister to ill fated Gr1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes heroine Spanish Fern and hails from the same family as classic winners Al Bahathri (Blushing Groom) and Haafhd (Alhaarth) as well as 2014 Gr1 winner Tom’s Tribute (Lion Heart).
A Sea The Stars half sister to Lord Shanakill and Together Forever sold for €1.1 million at the 2014 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale, so clearly, this family remains one likely to stay in the headlines for a long time yet.
Charm Spirit
Another exquisitely bred horse to triumph this weekend was Charm Spirit, who earned the third Gr1 win of his career when successful in the Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. One of ten Gr1 winners sired by Invincible Spirit (also one of the world’s most exciting young sire of sires), Charm Spirit is out of a winning Montjeu mare, whose dam Machaera, is a half sister to five stakes horses. Given that he is by Invincible Spirit, with his dam by Montjeu and second dam by Machiavellian, Charm Spirit certainly looks like a potentially very exciting sire prospect – and his commercial appeal is unlikely to be dampened given the fact that Charm Spirit’s relatives include the successful sires Holy Roman Emperor, Night Shift, Flying Spur and Encosta De Lago. The latter, a multiple Champion Sire in Australia, is also sire of the ill-fated sire sensation, Northern Meteor.
