RAINBOW QUEST SHINES ON
With the publicity glare focused squarely on Giant's Causeway
after the 2,000 Guineas, it was easy to overlook the fact that the
victory of his unbeaten son Footstepsinthesand also represented a
major triumph for the veteran RAINBOW
QUEST, sire of Footstepsinthesands's Group-winning
dam Glatisant.
The result meant that the daughters of the Banstead Manor
stallion have now produced Classic winners in each of the last four
years. Rakti initiated the sequence with his 2002 victory in the
Derby Italiano, with Kris Kin and North Light maintaining the
sequence with their wins in the 2003 and 2004 Derbys.
RAINBOW QUEST's
daughters had another five northern hemisphere Group 1 winners -
Marotta, Meteor Storm, Rebelline, Polish Summer and Powerscourt -
during the same period, plus a strong supporting cast of Group 2 or
Group 3 winners.
Although these successes were spread far and wide, including
Dubai, the USA and Japan, RAINBOW
QUEST still decisively landed the domestic title of
Champion sire of broodmares in both 2003 and 2004.
Coincidentally, both titles were gained at the expense of
Darshaan and Sadler's Wells. The only time these three met on the
racecourse, they filled the first three places in the 1984 Prix du
Jockey Club, with Darshaan winning from Sadler's Wells and
RAINBOW QUEST.
RAINBOW QUEST owes
his success as a broodmare sire partly to stallions from the Danzig
male line, with North Light being by Danehill, and Rakti and Polish
Summer by Polish Precedent. Remarkably, there are four stakes
winners among Danehill's first eight foals out of
RAINBOW
QUESTmares.
His daughters also suit the Sadler's Wells male line, producing
Group winners to Barathea, El Prado, In The Wings and Saddlers'
Hall, in addition to Sadler's Wells himself. Perhaps it is only a
matter of time before Sadler's Wells sires a Classic
winner from a RAINBOW
QUEST mare, as Powerscourt was third in the Irish
St Leger, Day Flight fourth in the Prix du Jockey Club and Tycoon
third in the Irish Derby and St Leger.
Perhaps his daughters are also going to do well with the Storm
Bird male line. Macaw, winner of the Group 3 Elkhorn Stakes at
Keeneland the day before the 2000 Guineas, is by Storm Bird's son
Bluebird, while Footstepsinthesand is by a grandson of Storm Bird
in Giant's Causeway. There is also a Listed winner by Storm Bird's
Mujadil.
Bearing in mind that RAINBOW
QUEST himself did very well with daughters of
Roberto, it is hardly surprising that his daughters produced the
Group 1 winners Kris Kin and Rebelline to sons of Roberto.
RAINBOW
QUEST's prowess
as a broodmare sire wasnt unexpected. He has, after all, been
a highly dependable source of stakes winners, while his
Classic pedigree was strong enough for him to fetch $950,000
as a yearling as long ago as 1982. HIs sire Blushing Groom
has also proved very effective in the role of broodmare sire,
with his daughters also coming up with two Derby winners
(Kahyasi and Lammtarra). Other Group 1 winners out of his
daughters include Awesome Again and Stravinsky.
Date:
16 June 2005