We’re looking at a broodmare sire punching above his weight, a mare that hit the target with her fifth foal and Melbourne Cup contender with a serious stallion pedigree.
Spring racing produced more fascinating results on Saturday with a pair of newly minted first time Group I winners and a pair of three year-olds that also tasted Black Type success for the first time, so let’s take a look at the pedigrees.
The $1million Group I MRC Underwood Stakes (1800m) produced a great tussle between last year’s winner of this race Buckaroo (GB) and Frankel stallion Sir Delius (GB), who got his nose in front on the line, read about it here.
Sir Delius is a blue-blood son of Frankel and as such made 675,000 guineas when bought by MV Magnier at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale and then he subsequently topped the Tattersalls Horses in Training Sale last year when he made 1.3million guineas to the bid of De Burgh Equine / McKeever Bloodstock / Go Bloodstock.
He is the 40th G1 winner for Frankel and is his fourth in Australia where the champion son of Galileo has had some great results with 20 SW’s in total from 111 runners here.
Sir Delius is the best of three SW’s from his dam Whatami, a placed grand-daughter of blue hen Eljazzi, who has had a profound influence in Australia through her grand-son Invincible Spirit (sire of our champion sire I Am Invincible ) and also another of her descendants Pride of Dubai.
It’s an outstanding female family and will make Sir Delius a stallion prospect when his racing days are done, but for now in terms of pedigree the big question from a Melbourne Cup perspective is can he even run two miles?
Sir Delius is yet to race beyond 2400m and is from a female family that has quite a bit of brilliance, but his first two dams are by noted 2400m G1 winners in Daylami and Generous, adding some stamina to the mix so if a Frankel is going to win the Cup it could well be him.
Also worth noting is the Frankel x Daylami nick which has produced six winners from seven starters and five of those horses are SW’s with Sir Delius the second G1 winner joining English St Leger winner Logician.
The $1million MRC Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) was won by lightly raced 4YO Sepals, who has the impressive record of five wins from seven starts, read about him here.
Sepals is the first G1 winner for ill-fated Kingman stallion Calyx (GB), who shuttled to Coolmore Australia for two seasons and is the fifth as a broodmare sire for Casino Prince, who is proving very influential in this department.
Apart from his first season when he stood at a fee of $38,500, Vinery Stud based Casino Prince has never had the advantage of being an expensive stallion covering big books packed with Black Type mares, so his burgeoning success as a broodmare sire is quite eye-catching.
He has sired the dams of 12 SW’s and his other G1 winners are Nepotism, You Wahng, Jungle Magnate and Shadow Hero with his SW to runner strike rate as a broodmare sire now 6% which is nearly double his 3.5% SW to runner as a sire.
A feature in his pedigree and one made mention of by his breeder Greg Perry (read more here) is his 4 x 4 double cross of the influential Juddmonte mare Hope and also Green Desert. The doubling up of these two comes from a pair of closely related Juddmonte sires in Kingman and Oasis Dream, who appear in his pedigree.
The Group III MRC Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) for colts was won by progressive Extreme Choice colt Estremo, read about him here.
Estremo is the 16th SW for Extreme Choice and is the 183rd as a broodmare sire for the mighty Street Cry, who is a powerful presence in a pedigree.
He is the fifth foal from Tree of Jesse, whose four previous foals all raced and won, but none had been able to get Black Type which explains why she was sold earlier this year online for just $18,000!
Extreme Choice is three winners from three runners out of mares by Street Cry and his sire Not a Single Doubt produced Golden Slipper winner Farnan from a daughter of Street Cry.
Estremo is headed for the Caulfield Guineas so will be stepping out to 1600m and he is from a female family that is all about speed with third dam Kincay winning a G3 Gimcrack Stakes (1000m) which does raise a small question. However stallions of the quality of Extreme Choice and Street Cry can transmit their elite ability over all distances (both have sired Melbourne Cup winners!!) so am thinking the mile will be more than doable.
The Listed MRC Jim Moloney Stakes (1400m) for the fillies was won by Yum, who made a bit of history to become the first Australian SW for her sire Ghaiyyath (IRE), the 2020 European Horse of the Year, read about her here.
By Dubawi from a daughter of Galileo, Ghaiyyath achieved greatness as an older horse over ground up to 2400m so there would be expectation we will see a lot more from his first Aussie runners as this season unfolds and beyond.
Yum has a neat mix of speed and stamina through her female family with first two dams by Snitzel and Melbourne Cup winner Jeune (GB), so it’s hard not to think she’ll be suited again over further with the VRC Oaks mentioned as a possible target.
She is the 48th SW as a broodmare sire for Snitzel, whose daughters are playing an increasing role to the point where he finished third on the Australian Broodmare Sire List last season behind only Fastnet Rock and Redoute’s Choice.
