While run in extraordinary circumstances, last week’s Royal Ascot meet provided racing enthusiasts with some magnificent races, with many contests set to live in the memory for years to come.
As usual, a handful of mares and stallions’ progeny dominated the traditional meeting, with top sires, once again, well to the fore.
- Dark Angel
One of Ireland’s premier sources of speed and precocity, 2007 Gr1 Middle Park Stakes winner, Dark Angel had a fantastic Royal Ascot this year both as a sire, and sire of sires.
Sarah Whitelaw writes that Dark Angel, whose Middle Park Stakes winning grandsire, Royal Applause, sired Saturday’s Silver Wokingham Handicap winner, Chiefofchiefs, supplied a trio of winners at this year’s meeting.
His sons, Battaash, Mountain Angel, and Art Power, won the G1 King’s Stand Stakes, Listed Wolferton Stakes and Palace Of Holyroodhouse Handicap respectively, while his sire sons, Heeraat and Lethal Force, were both responsible for Royal Ascot winners this year.
The G3 Hackwood Stakes winner, Heeraat, is the sire of Tuesday’s Buckingham Palace Handicap hero, Motakhayyel, while former G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes victor, Lethal Force, is the sire of the very impressive G1 Commonwealth Cup winner, Golden Horde.
- Kodiac
A half-brother to the world class stallion, Invincible Spirit, sire of Tuesday’s impressive Ascot winner Nazeef, and whose once beaten son, Kingman, is the sire of Saturday’s G1 James’s Palace Stakes victor, Palace Pier, Kodiac proved the toast of Royal Ascot on Saturday.
The non stakes-winning Kodiac (Danehill) totally dominated the final day of Ascot, with his progeny, Campanelle, Nando Parrado and Hello Youmzain, landing the G2 Queen Mary Stakes, G2 Coventry Stakes and G1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes respectively. Kodiac’s G2 Norfolk Stakes winning son, Prince Of Lir, also made his mark with his first crop winners including Friday’s Norfolk Stakes victor, The Lir Jet. Kodiac, who began his stud career at a fee of 5000 euros, now stands for a stud fee of 65 000 euros.
- Half-brothers shine again
The outstanding half-brothers, Galileo and Sea The Stars, as has become the custom, once again both enjoyed Royal meetings.
However, Galileo, unusually, was over shone by his half-brother, with Sea The Stars supplying three Ascot winners, to his half-sibling’s two.
Sea The Stars and Galileo sons, Stradivarius and Nayef Road finished 1-2, albeit a long way apart, in the G1 Gold Cup, while Sea The Stars also supplied G2 Hardwicke Stakes winner, Fanny Logan and King George V Stakes hero, Hukum.
Alpine Star
Sea The Stars is also the sire of promising sire, Sea The Moon, whose daughter, Alpine Star, pictured above, was a such an impressive winner of Saturday’s G1 Coronation Stakes.
Galileo enjoyed success as a sire, sire of sires and broodmare sire, with his sons, Circus Maximus and Russian Emperor, landing the G1 Queen Anne Stakes (where Circus Maximus ironically enough beat a daughter of Sea The Stars into second) and G3 Hampton Court Stakes. Galileo is also damsire of Chesham Stakes winner, Battleground, while his unbeaten son, Frankel, sired Tuesday’s brilliant G2 Ribblesdale Stakes heroine, Frankly Darling.
- Dubawi to the fore
Darley’s flagship stallion, Dubawi, came up with his 42nd individual G1 winner when his gelded son, Lord North, pictured below, romped to a hugely impressive win in Wednesday’s G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
A second Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner for the triple G1 winning Dubawi (also sire of 2013 winner, Al Kazeem), Lord North was one of three Royal Ascot winners this year for his consistently outstanding sire.
Lord North
Dubawi, represented in South Africa by the G1 winning sires, Erupt and Willow Magic, was also responsible for Onassis (Sandringham Stakes) and Khaloosy (Britannia Stakes), while his daughter, Handassa, is the dam of G2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes winner, Nazeef.
Dubawi’s 2000 Guineas winning son, Night Of Thunder, also got into the act at Royal Ascot, with his son, Molatham, landing the G3 Jersey Stakes and another son, Qaader finishing second in the G2 Coventry Stakes. (Another son of Dubawi, Makfi, is broodmare sire of Windsor Castle Stakes winner, Tactical.)
- SA connections
Former Riethuiskraal resident, Daylami (Doyoun), continues to make waves as a broodmare sire, and his Cheshire Oaks winning daughter, Hidden Hope, is the dam of the 2020 Ribblesdale Stakes winner, Frankly Darling.
Frankly Darling
The Drakenstein Stud based, Trippi, is another who goes from strength to strength as a maternal grandsire and the son of End Sweep’s Royal Ascot winning daughter, Jealous Again, is the dam of Saturday’s G1 Diamond Jubilee third-placed Sceptical (Exceed And Excel).
Trippi’s stablemate, Lancaster Bomber, is a half-brother to triple G1 winner, Excelebration, who, in turn, is the sire of Saturday’s Wokingham Stakes victor, Hey Jonesy.
The blue blooded Judpot (A.P. Indy) is from the family of Royal Ascot winners, Molatham and Alpine Star, while Commonwealth Cup winner, Golden Horde, hails from the same family as Cape sire, Noble Tune.
