Thursday 2 April 2015 10:31, UK
Our pedigree expert Chris Hill reflects on the Dubai Carnival and the twentieth running of the Dubai World Cup.
The Dubai Carnival climaxed last Saturday with the twentieth running of the premier event, the Dubai World Cup, being won by trainer Saeed Bin Suroor for a seventh time when the Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum-owned eight-year-old gelding Prince Bishop (Dubawi) overhauled American raiders California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) and Lea (First Samurai) to win the world’s richest race by two-and-a-quarter lengths under William Buick.
An 80,000 guineas purchase by Meadowlands Bloodstock Services at the 2007 Tattersalls December Foal Sale, Prince Bishop is one of five winners produced by the once-raced mare North East Bay (Prospect Bay), a half-sister to the 2014 U.S. Grade Two San Antonio Stakes winner Blingo (Artie Schiller) and the 2002 Listed Sandringham Stakes winner Hold To Ransom (Red Ransom), the dam of Australian dual-Group One winner Retrieve (Rahy), whilst his victory was a second in the race for his sire Dubawi, Darley’s three-time Group One winner who stands at Dalham Hall in Newmarket and is himself by a Dubai World Cup winner in the 2000 victor Dubai Millennium, following the success of Monterosso in the 2012 renewal.
In the Group One Dubai Sheema Classic, the Aga Khan’s four-year-old homebred filly Dolniya (Azamour) recorded her first success at the highest level with a comfortable two-and-a-quarter length success under Christophe Soumillon for trainer Alain De Royer-Dupre, in the process bringing her sire Azamour, who stands at The Aga Khan’s Gilltown Stud in Ireland, a second Group One Flat success as a stallion following the victory of Valyra in the 2012 Prix de Diane.
Prince Bishop's win was a second in the race for his sire Dubawi, Darley’s three-time Group One winner who stands at Dalham Hall and is himself by a Dubai World Cup winner in the 2000 victor Dubai Millennium, following the success of Monterosso in 2012.
One of two winners produced by the placed mare Daltama (Indian Ridge), a half-sister to the multiple Group One winners and champion racehorses Daylami (Doyoun) and Dalakhani (Darshaan), as well as to the Group Three winner Dalghar (Anabaa) and Listed winner Daymarti (Caerleon), Dolniya is bred along the same lines as the Group Two Jockey Club Mile winner Wade Giles (Azamour) and hails from the family of Dalkala, another Royer-Dupre-trained winner at the top level when successful in the 2013 Prix de l’Opera.
The Freddy Head-trained Solow (Singspiel) put up one of the most impressive performances on the card when running out a four-and-a-quarter length winner of the Group One Dubai Turf in the hands of Maxime Guyon. With his defeat of last year’s French Derby and Irish Champion Stakes winner The Grey Gatsby (Mastercraftsman), the five-year-old colt became the fourth Group One winner in Dubai to be sired by the 1997 World Cup winner following the victories of Dar Re Mi, Eastern Anthem and Moon Ballad.
A Wertheimer et Frere homebred, Solow is the first foal out of the three-time winner High Maintenance (Highest Honor), runner-up in the 2008 Listed Grand Prix de Lyon and Prix La Moskowa and third in that year’s Group Three Prix Gladiateur and a half-sister to the 1998 Listed Prix de la Seine winner Hostessante (Pleasant Colony), with the further family being that of last year's Group One Pretty Polly Stakes winner Thistle Bird and the 2010 Irish Guineas heroine Bethrah.
Having finished runner-up in 2012 and fourth in 2013, the Mrs Sabena Power-owned eight-year-old gelding Sole Power (Kyllachy) gained a richly deserved success in the Group One Al Quoz Sprint at the fifth time of asking when proving a half-length too good for Peniaphobia (Dandy Man) in the hands of Richard Hughes.
Now a five-time Group One winner having twice won the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, Sole Power, who was bought by trainer Eddie Lynam for £32,000 at the 2008 Doncaster St Leger Yearlings Sale, is the best of the three winners produced by the unraced mare Demerger (Distant View), the other two being the fifteen-time winner and Group Three Cornwallis Stakes runner-up Cornus (Inchinor) and the French winner and Listed Prix des Reves d’Or runner-up Sotka (Dutch Art), with the further family being that of Grade/Group Two winners Auction House and Tychonic.
In the Group One Golden Shaheen, Bob Baffert’s Secret Circle (Eddington) recorded his second success at the top level following victory in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Sprint when Victor Espinoza guided the six-year-old colt to a head victory over the Hong Kong-raider Super Jockey (Sandtrap).
Mark Johnston, fresh from preparing the winners of all 3 juvenile races on the opening day of the Flat season, paid £52,000 for a Hillwood Stud-consigned Pastoral Pursuits colt out of Bayja, a half-brother to last season’s Group Three winner New Providence.
Purchased by Smack Down Farm for $165,000 at the 2011 OBS (Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company) March Sale, Secret Circle is a full brother to Eddington Limit (Eddington), a three-time winner in Canada, out of Ragtime Hope (Dixieland Band), a triple winner in the U.S. including in the 2004 Catcharisingstar Stakes and the 2005 Noble Robyn Stakes at Calder Racecourse, who is herself a half-sister to the 1998 Grade Three Dogwood Stakes winner Really Polish (Polish Numbers).
The domestic Turf season kicked off at Doncaster earlier in the day, with Dr Marwan Koukash’s six-year-old gelding Gabrial (Dark Angel), a £46,000 purchase by Bobby O’Ryan at the 2010 Doncaster Premier Yearlings Sale, running out a neck winner of the headline race, the Lincoln Handicap, for trainer Richard Fahey in the hands of Tony Hamilton.
Having won the Listed Doncaster Mile in 2013 and been placed twelve times in black-type races including when third behind Frankel in the 2012 Sussex Stakes, Gabrial is the best of the three winners produced by the triple winner Guajira (Mtoto), a half-sister to the U.S. Grade Two winning pair Jaunatxo (Lyphard’s Wish) and Iron Deputy (Silver Deputy) as well as to Genevale (Unfuwain), a dual winner who is the dam of the 2013 Group One Premio Vittorio Di Capua winner Shamalgan (Footstepsinthesand).
In sales news, Ascot racecourse hosted the first European breeze up sale of the 2015 season on Wednesday with Brightwells holding their Ascot Breeze Up at the Berkshire track where last year’s renewal saw future Group One winner The Wow Signal pass through the ring.
This year’s renewal was headed by a two-year-old Siyouni half-brother to the 2009 Listed Martin Molony Stakes winner Ard Na Greine (Galileo) out of Alfaguara (Red Ransom), a winner at three in France, who was offered by Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Farm and purchased by Anthony Stroud Bloodstock for £90,000. Trainer Mark Johnston, fresh from preparing the winners of all three juvenile races on the opening day of the Flat season, strengthened his string when paying £52,000 for a Hillwood Stud-consigned Pastoral Pursuits colt out of Bayja (Giant’s Causeway), meaning the sale’s second top lot is a half-brother to last season’s Group Three EBF Dick Poole Stakes winner New Providence (Bahamian Bounty).
At the close of proceedings, thirty-four lots had changed hands for a total of £838,000, an extraordinary increase of 158% on the 2014 sale, with the average price of £24,617 and median of £22,000 improvements of 67% and 227% respectively.
Chris Hill
Chris is a Pedigree Researcher for Weatherbys Ltd, the company that provides the majority of pedigrees for thoroughbreds sold at public auction in Britain and Ireland and who offer a range of products and services to suit your Bloodstock needs.
For further information please visit http://www.weatherbys.co.uk/bloodstock
