Impressive three-year-old Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never) showed his class when running out an outstanding winner of Saturday’s Gr1 Darley July Cup at Newmarket.
Sarah Whitelaw writes that In capturing the July Cup – a race won previously by such star sprinters as Abernant, Pappa Fourway, Thatch, Marwell, Sharpo, Never So Bold, Stravinsky, Mozart, Oasis Dream and Muhaarar- Ten Sovereigns catapulted to near the top of the sprinters list in the Northern Hemisphere.
Ten Sovereigns (Pic – British Champions Series FB)
From the first crop of his Gr1 Prix Morny winning sire No Nay Never, who had a group race double at Newmarket on Saturday with another son Mystery Power capturing Saturday’s G2 bet365 Superlative Stakes, the dual Gr1 winning Ten Sovereigns (he also captured last year’s Gr1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes) has familial ties to a stallion currently standing at stud in South Africa.
Ten Sovereigns’s third dam is the Capote mare Darling Flame, whose progeny include the KZN based stallion Bezrin (Danzig).
The latter, a French stakes winner who ran third in the (now G3) Prix du Pin, has established himself as a somewhat underrated stallion, with Bezrin coming up with a number of talented performers in a stud career which has seen the horse stand at several different farms.
Bezrin
Best known perhaps as the sire of Gr2 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile winner Bezanova, Bezrin is also responsible for the stakes winners Jimmi Choo (Storm Bird Stakes), Too Phat To Fly (Sweet Chestnut Stakes), Tetelestai (Umngeni Hcp twice), Celtic Fire (Memorial Mile twice), All Ablaze (Ibhyai Stakes) and Thunderflash (Gr3 Champion Juvenile Cup).
Storm Bird Stakes winner Jimmi Choo
Interestingly enough, Ten Sovereigns’ dam Seeking Solace was sired by grandson of Danzig –the sire of Bezrin himself, making Seeking Solace a very close relative indeed of that stallion.
Bezrin and Ten Sovereigns both trace back directly in female line to Gr1 Fantasy Stakes winner My Darling One (Exclusive Native), whose progeny include Gr1 Yasuda Grand Prix winner Heart Lake (Nureyev).
My Darling One is a granddaughter of Coaching Club Oaks winner Marshua (Nashua). The latter herself is descended in female line from high-class filly Taps (Man O’War) victorious in both the Matron and Schuylerville Stakes.
Other notable performers to have emerged from this female line include Gr1 Oakleigh Plate winner Shamal Wind and Gr2 Rockfel Stakes heroine Al Thakhira (both sired by Dubawi), French Gr1 winner Smuggly (Caro), and 2017 Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runner up Untamed Domain (Animal Kingdom).
South African based broodmare Boreal Applause is another locally based horse descended in female line from Marshua – with Boreal Applause (Royal Applause) produced by a daughter of Gr3 May Hill Stakes winner Mamlakah (Unfuwain).
Boreal Applause’s progeny include Listed Derby Trial runner up Lee’s Pick (Philanthropist), while Boreal Applause’s stakes placed half-sister Cutty Sark (Fort Wood) is the dam of smart filly, and Gr2 Choice Carriers Fillies Championship runner up, Sail (Philanthropist) as well as impressive recent winner Sailing Ship (Duke Of Marmalade).
Ten Sovereigns’ win also completed a unique double for his broodmare sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill).
The latter is, remarkably enough, not only damsire of the 2019 July Cup winner (over six furlongs) but also of this year’s Investec Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo) –an achievement few, if any, stallions can claim to have equalled in modern times!
Other stallions whose daughters produced both an Epsom Derby and July Cup winner (albeit not in the same year) include Blushing Groom, damsire of English Derby winners Kahyasi (Ile de Bourbon) and Lammtarra (Nijinsky II), as well as July Cup victor Stravinsky (Nureyev).
Exceed And Excel
Exceed And Excel, one of a growing number of outstanding stallions closely inbred to Northern Dancer, looks set to enhance his standing as a top-class broodmare sire in the seasons to come.
Other notable performers produced by daughters of the son of Danehill include 2019 Gr1 New Zealand Derby winner Crown Prosecutor (Medaglia D’Oro), Gr1 Railway Stakes winner Bounding (Lonhro), and the Gr1 winning half-siblings Alizee (Sepoy) and Astern (Medaglia D’Oro).
Ten Sovereigns’ win on Saturday, and the ongoing success of his sire No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), also give rise to the hope that the short-lived Scat Daddy will yet leave behind a lasting male line.
A dual Gr1 winning son of Johannesburg, Scat Daddy was only 11 when he died but he has a large number of sons at stud, including unbeaten US Triple Crown winner Justify, multiple Gr1 winner Caravaggio and the very exciting UAE Derby hero Mendelssohn to name but a few.
Another son of Scat Daddy, Gr2 Eclipse Stakes winner Frac Daddy, is currently the Leading First Crop Sire (by stakes) in Canada for 2019, while his millionaire son Handsome Mike ranked among the leading first crop sires in Florida last year.
The Florida Derby/Champagne Stakes winning Scat Daddy, who left behind over 100 stakes winners in his relatively brief stud career, is also the sire of UAE Derby/Royal Lodge Stakes winner Daddy Long Legs, who was the Leading First Crop Sire in Chile and who is the sire of Chilean Gr1 winner Fallen From Heaven.
