BEAT HOLLOW AND OASIS DREAM ARE SIRES TO WATCH
BEAT
HOLLOW
When the Irish betting firm Cashmans
released their ante-post prices for the 2006 leading first crop
sires by winners, Beat Hollow figured somewhere near the bottom of
the market at 66-1. The multiple Group One winner wasn’t expected
to make much of an impact with his first juveniles.
Beat Hollow himself made just one appearance as a two year old,
although he won that Yarmouth maiden in a canter. In keeping with
his pedigree, he later excelled over middle distances. But when he
retired to stud, breeders were apparently not impressed with a
profile lacking in blistering speed and precocity, and Beat Hollow
had just 37 foals in his first crop.
Fast forward to the end of this season, where Beat Hollow is the
sire of four juvenile stakes performers, with indications that the
stallion is significantly upgrading his mares.
Beat Hollow’s first major winner came in the shape of Charlotte
O Fraise, who won the Prix Calvados Gr.3. The filly was beaten only
once all season, when denied by three-quarters of a length in the
Gr.3 Prix de Cabourg.
Also on Beat Hollow’s roster is the progressive Streets Ahead,
who culminated his European season with a win in the Listed
Stonehenge Stakes.
Other smart types include the Gr.3 placed Donoma and Hollow
Ridge, who was beaten only narrowly on her second start in the
Listed Radley Stakes. Princess Valerina ran away with a Newmarket
maiden on her second start, while Khalid Abdullah’s Hum The Tune is
a highly regarded colt.
OASIS DREAM
A number of outstanding athletes have their first two-year-olds in
2007, including Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Dalakhani, dual
Breeders’Cup Turf and Derby hero High Chaparral, classy
two-year-old and miler Dubai Destination, and the superbly built
treble Group 1 winner Hawk Wing.
None of those has a profile as snugly fitting that of a leading
freshman sire as Oasis Dream, though. The Juddmonte homebred won
the top sprint event for two-year-olds, the Middle Park Stakes,
followed by two of the most prestigious sprint races for older
horses, the July and Nunthorpe Stakes Gr.1 at three.
Oasis Dream appeals for the long term, too. A strongly built,
neat-sized horse, he is from a family deep in quality runners,
including, under his second dam, Irish Oaks heroine Wemyss Bight
and her multiple Gr.1 winning son Beat Hollow whose first
two-year-olds performed surprisingly well considering he is a
stamina-laden son of Sadler’s Wells.
On top of that, Oasis Dream has been well supported by breeders
and his first foals and yearlings were equally well received at the
sales-although the latter doesn’t always count for much in the long
run. Finally, the July Cup has proved one of the best sources of
sires over the last two decades, its winners including Anabaa,
Cadeaux Genereux, Royal Academy, Soviet Star and
Stravinsky.
Date:
07 December 2006