CACIQUE IS HASILI'S FIFTH RUNNER AND FIFTH STAR
Dansili, Banks Hill, Heat Haze, Intercontinental, and now
Cacique.
From five named foals, Hasili has produced these five major stakes
winners, and she is certainly worthy of consideration for Broodmare
of the Year honors. All were by the late international sire
sensation Danehill (by Danzig), with the exception of Heat Haze,
who is by Green Desert (another son of Danzig).
Bred to be at his best at one mile, Cacique won the Group 2 Prix
Daniel Wildenstein (formerly the Prix du Point) at Longchamp last
weekend, and his trainer, Andre Fabre, who developed
DANSILI, Banks Hill, Heat Haze, and
Intercontinental, said Cacique was likely for the Breeders' Cup
Mile.
Cacique started his career with two straight victories, then ran
second behind Bago, who won Sunday's Arc, in back-to-back Group 1
races, the Prix Jean Prat and Grand Prix de Paris. Without Bago in
the race, Cacique won his next outing, the Group 3 Prix Daphnis at
nine furlongs, beating another well-regarded 3-year-old, Ershaad
(Kingmambo out of Insight, a group-winning Sadler's Wells mare).
Ambitiously placed in the 12-furlong Group 1 Juddmonte
International Stakes against Bago and older runners, Cacique
finished fourth, right behind Bago, over a very soft course.
Cacique is a perfect fit for the Breeders' Cup Mile. Three of
his siblings have raced in the past three Breeders' Cups, and while
Banks Hill has been the only winner, that four of Hasili's foals
have even contested the Breeders' Cup is a rare if not
unprecedented achievement.
Hasili's first foal, Dansili, was a champion older horse in
England and France. His furious late rally up the rail in the 2000
Breeders' Cup Mile, where he closed his last quarter in 22 seconds
and change, was breathtaking. Eleventh of 14 runners after a
half-mile, he finished fastest of all to be third for Fabre, beaten
just a neck and a nose by War Chant and North East Bound.
His full sister Banks Hill romped to an impressive 5 1/2-length
victory the following year for Fabre in the Breeders' Cup Filly and
Mare Turf as a 3-year-old, and also captured an Eclipse Award as
female turf champion. Although a stakes winner at 4, she was not
the same brilliant filly that she was at 3. She finished second in
the 2002 F-M Turf behind stablemate Starine, whom she had thrashed
the year before.
Multiple stakes winner Heat Haze did not fare as well in last
year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but Hasili could have two
Breeders' Cup representatives this year. Intercontinental is
probably best suited to the Breeders' Cup Mile, but full brother
Cacique is firmly pointing to that race, so Intercontinental might
show up in the longer Filly and Mare Turf.
Date:
06 October 2004