PEDIGREE INSIGHTS - YOUNG PRETENDER
Article taken from the TDN, by Andrew Caulfield
Over the next few weeks, the hammer will come down on over 5,500 yearlings at Keeneland, another 1,100-odd at Goffs and 2,200 at Tattersalls, with plenty of them coming from the second crops of their young sires. For the breeders and consignors of many of these yearlings, the last few months have represented an anxious time. Rather like beleaguered pioneers hoping to hear the cavalry bugle as they huddle under the wagons, owners of second-crop yearlings are always looking to the horizon, in the hope of seeing a wave of first-crop winners coming to their aid at just the right time. If not a wave of winners, an impressive stakes winner or two will do.
I'm pleased to say that a good number of 2007's first-crop sires have managed to impress before the sales merry-go-round reaches full speed. Labor Day saw Van Nistelrooy come up with his second graded winner when Set Play took the GI Del Mar Debutante. Bearing in mind that Van Nistelrooy started out at only $7,500, vendors of his second-crop yearlings can surely expect plenty of interest, and the same applies to Posse. Off a $10,000 fee, the imposing son of Silver Deputy has a highly impressive total of six stakes winners, with Kodiak Kowboy and Lantana Mob taking graded stakes at Saratoga and Monmouth Park, respectively.
Another American stallion who has beaten the deadline is Vindication, America's champion two-year-old of 2002. Several of the horses weighted just below Vindication on the 2002 Experimental have also been quick to make an impression at stakes level, including Whywhywhy, Kafwain and Hold That Tiger; all of whom have had a pair of stakes winners in the last few weeks
Airdrie's clients who have used Harlan's Holiday and Proud Citizen also have solid grounds for optimism (with Proud Citizen likely to appeal to British buyers). Harlan's Holiday already has a graded winner to his credit and so does Macho Uno, one of several Florida-based freshman sires with stakes winners to their credit. Empire Maker and Mineshaft, two of the most sought-after new stallions at last year's sales, aren't the sorts to sire a lot of precocious winners, but Empire Maker has a stakes winner among his handful of runners, while Mineshaft has a graded-placed filly.
The situation is also very encouraging over in Europe, the scene of weekend group success for Captain Rio and OASIS DREAM, who rank alongside Acclamation and Choisir as two of the most prolific sires of winners. When Godolphin's high-priced acquisition Keep Discovering made a winning debut at Folkestone yesterday, he became OASIS DREAM's 17th individual winner.
A lot was expected of OASIS DREAM. After all, he had been the top-ranked European juvenile of 2002 and the top-ranked European sprinter of 2003. These championships resulted in his becoming England's joint-highest priced new stallion of 2004, with his fee of £25,000 being the same as Dubai Destination's.
OASIS DREAM's high profile continued when his weanlings reached the sales in 2005, when his average price was the best achieved by a new stallion. Although Dalakhani overtook him at the 2006 yearling sales, OASIS DREAM again proved very popular, to the extent that expectations were almost dangerously high for his first runners. I use that phrase because first-crop stallions who enjoy considerable popularity risk a rapid backlash if they don't instantly fulfil the buyers' (sometimes unrealistic) expectations.
Fortunately, that won't happen to OASIS DREAM. Thanks to Young Pretender's very encouraging victory in the G3 Prix La Rochette, OASIS DREAM now has four stakes winners--more than any other European freshman sire--and he's the only one with more than one group winner. That said, OASIS DREAM still has plenty of work to do if he is to end 2007 as the year's most successful new sire in terms of prize money, as the earnings of the current leader Acclamation were boosted to the tune of £187,000 when his son Dark Angel won a rich sales-linked race.
American racegoers didn't see OASIS DREAM at anything like his best when he contested the Breeders' Cup Mile on his last appearance, with his Santa Anita performance being in sharp contrast to his excellent British efforts over five and six furlongs.
At two, he was at his most eye-catching in the G1 Middle Park S., when he became the first horse to take less than 1:10.00 to cover six furlongs on Newmarket's Rowley course, and at three he went close to setting another record in the G1 Nunthorpe S., having earlier dipped under 1:10.00 in taking the G1 July Cup over Newmarket's July course.
In gaining these Group 1 successes, OASIS DREAM showed similar speed to his sire Green Desert, winner of the July Cup in 1986. However, his speed was at odds with the bottom half of his pedigree, with his first three dams all being daughters of outstanding 10 to12-furlong performers. His dam Hope, by Dancing Brave, was a sister to an Irish Oaks winner, while his second dam Bahamian, a daughter of Mill Reef, once crossed the line first in a group race over 1 7/8 miles. And his third dam Sorbus, a daughter of Busted, was a disqualified Irish Oaks winner.
With a background like this, OASIS DREAM is sure to get a wide range of winners, and this is already becoming evident.
Sometimes his speed is dominating all his staying blood, the perfect example being Visit, who became his first group winner when she landed the G3 Princess Margaret S. Remarkably, this filly is out of a Kahyasi mare who set track records over 11/2 miles and nearly 1 7/8 miles. However, that Kahyasi mare, Arrive, is a sister to the phenomenal Hasili, so Visit is bred along similar lines to Hasili's excellent Green Desert filly Heat Haze. Visit should eventually be suited by a mile, but she will first seek a Group 1 success in the Cheveley Park S. over six furlongs.
Other examples where OASIS DREAM's speed has proved dominant include his very speedy Listed winner Captain Gerard, who is out of a mile-and-a-quarter winner, and his nippy French Listed winner Wilki, who is out of a Group 3 winner over nine furlongs. Another of his speedy black-type performers, Starlit Sands, is out of a daughter of the Derby winner Slip Anchor.
On the other hand, it looks as though the staying sections of his pedigree will occasionally help him sire milers, perhaps even mile-and-a-quarter performers, when he is mated to mares with staying blood. He has already been represented by his first winner over a mile and it is encouraging that he has some very promising debut winners over seven furlongs, including Lady Jane Digby (out of a Niniski mare) and Perfect Stride (whose broodmare sire Highest Honor was a Group 1 winner over a mile and an eighth).
The unbeaten Young Pretender--who will next tackle the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere--also has stamina on his dam's side. He is out of Silent Heir, a mare bred in Australia, but there is nothing Australian about her bloodlines and she raced in England, where she scored over 11/4 miles. This well-connected mare is by that great Japanese stallion Sunday Silence, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and her dam Park Heir¬ess is by Sadler's Wells, a renowned source of stamina.
One fascinating aspect of Young Pretender's pedigree is that his third dam, the champion middle-distance mare Park Express, also figures as the dam of another of this year's leading European juveniles. Her Galileo colt New Approach--foaled when Park Express was 22 years old--has won his first three starts so impressively that Darley have already stepped in to secure his stal¬lion services. New Approach is a three-parts-brother to Young Pretender's second dam. I should also mention that Park Express visited Green Desert to produce Shinko Forest, a Group 1-winning Japanese sprinter who has shown distinct talent as a stallion in Ireland.
Young Pretender's family has flourished at Seamus Burns' Lodge Park Stud, which will be offering one of the numerous Oasis Dream yearlings in Book 1 of Tattersalls' October Sale. This youngster is a half-sister to Seazun, winner of the G1 Cheveley Park S., and also on offer are a half-brother to the Group 1-winning Mount Nelson, a half-sister to the top sprinter Cape of Good Hope. Watch out too for a filly out of Grail, who is related to Visit and who is a sister to King of the Nile, an Aidan O'Brien trainee who holds Group 1 engagements next month.
Date:
11 September 2007