Saturday’s Listed Merson Cooper Stakes at Sandown gives fans the first chance to see a son of that mighty little warrior Dundeel in battle.
The Team Hawkes-trained Irukandji will carry the Spendthrift Farm colours in a race which roll call of winners includes Pago Pago, Star Affair, Storm Queen, Quezette, Biscay, Vain, Dual Choice, Vivarchi, and Rancher.
Irukandji was purchased for $500,000 out of the Musk Creek Farm draft at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
That made him the second most expensive yearling from the first crop of Dundeel after the $900,000 colt out of Miss Finland.
Like the champion Pierro, Irukandji was another successful pinhook for Musk Creek Farm, which snapped him up for a not insignificant $240,000 from the Riversdale draft at the National Weanling Sale.
A half-brother to the 3-time winner Deanna Jean, Irukandji is the third foal of the stakes-placed General Nediym mare Cerberus Gal who was a more than useful performer for trainer Garry Kennewell.
She was stakes-placed four times most noticeably when second to Champagne Harmony in the Group II Yallambee Classic (1200m) at Morphettville.
Cerberus Gal is out of Idesa Bay (Civic Hope), a 3-time winner for her trainer/breeder John Zielke, whose dam Western Beauty (Best Western) was a half-sister to the stakes-placed Kaoru Star mare Confidentially.
Bred by the late Tony Freedman, Confidentially became the dam of Danzero, a first crop son of Danehill, who won the 1994 Golden Slipper, setting his sire on the road to fame and fortune, before carving out a successful career at stud in his own right.
