PEDIGREE SPOTLIGHT- JUDDMONTE’S STAR BROODMARES

Taken from the EBN

By Tony Morris

Twenty or so years ago, when Lyphard flourished as one of the best sons of Northern Dancer at stud, few would have predicted that in the early years of the 21st century his male line would seem to be fading fast in the northern hemisphere. Such appears to be the case, as we are reminded by the death last week of Commander in Chief, the best son of his best son, Dancing Brave.

While the Danzig, Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev branches all thrive to some degree, the Lyphard line, like that of Nijinsky, is not the potent force that we might have hoped and expected it to be when he had numerous active and popular sons at stud. But that is the way of male lines; outstanding sires may get outstanding sons, seemingly creating a scenario where proliferation seems likely, yet very often, as with such as Hyperion and Bold Ruler, within a few generations there may be only one or two viable direct descendants. Commander in Chief, the dual Derby winner of 1993, spent his entire stud career at the Yuushun Stallion Station on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and though he started quite well, he could not sustain his early promise. It is true that he has many sons yet to run, and perhaps 50 yet to be born, so we cannot be certain that he has failed to extend the Lyphard line, but chances are that if he is to feature in prominent pedigrees of the future, it will be on the distaff side.

Commander in Chief, of course, was bred by Khalid Abdullah, who has developed a number of successful stallions at his studs in England and Kentucky, and his own racing operation has regularly profited from the exploits of their progeny. The Saudi prince got Commander in Chief from his own Dancing Brave, and likewise Warning from his own Known Fact, the pair being half-brothers out of Slightly Dangerous, a daughter of Roberto who was one of Juddmonte’s foundation mares.

But a private breeder can scarcely hope to produce a dynasty of successful sires, and it is through his development of female lines that the racing side of his business stands or falls. The fact that Abdullah has rarely felt the need to get involved in the yearling market since his stud became established illustrates just how well he and his team have fashioned the progress of the families.

In the case of Slightly Dangerous (bought not much more than a month before her second place in Time Charter’s 1982 Oaks), most of her best offspring were colts. Along with Warning and Commander in Chief, there were Deploy (Shirley Heights; second in the Irish Derby) and Dushyantor (Sadler’s Wells; second in the Derby). But there were also fillies retained for the broodmare band, most notably Irish Oaks runner-up and US Grade 1 winner Yashmak (Danzig), though her stud contribution to date does not amount to much. Better results have come from her Listed-placed halfsister Shirley Valentine (Shirley Heights), whose five stakes-calibre runners include Group 3 winners Memorise (Lyphard) and Multiplex (Danehill). Group 3-placed Jibe  (Danzig) has thus far proved no more successful than her sister, but the youngest of the siblings, Return (Sadler’s Wells) already has the US Listed winner To Sender (King’s Best) to her credit. It would seem folly to bet against the Slightly Dangerous family yielding more stars in the years to come.

Two other Juddmonte families, tracing to early purchases for the stud, have been making waves in 2007, and we must give pride of place to that of 1978 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Sookera (Roberto), acquired from Robert Sangster in the early 1980s. From Sookera’s daughter Kerali  High Line) came Hasili (Kahyasi), just a minor winner herself, but as a broodmare a legend in her own lifetime. Any mare whose first six foals win at any level is a rarity, but Hasili has surpassed most in the history of the breed by delivering six who have succeeded in Pattern company, four of them in Group/Grade 1. And the first of them,DANSILI (Danehill) was France’s champion sire in 2006.

The odd one out of the sextet is Heat Haze (Green Desert), twice a Grade 1 winner in the States, the others all being full siblings to DANSILI – the fillies Banks Hill and Intercontinental, and colts CACIQUE and Champs Elysees. The last-named, with no Group 1 form on his CV, might be counted a comparative failure, but he broke through for Pattern success when lifting the Group 3 Prix d’Hedouville at Longchamp last month.

The other Juddmonte family earning great distinction this year is that descending from Flare Pass (Buckpasser), who joined the stud in the 1982 acquisition of the breeding stock formerly owned by Kentucky’s Belair Farm. Flare Pass’s daughter Proflare (Mr Prospector) was a smart winner and Listed-placed in France, and while her brood does not quite match up to that of Hasili, she does have six offspring who have succeeded at Listed level or above.

True Flare (Capote) was a Grade 2 winner in the States, as was Apple of Kent (Kris S). River Flare (Riverman) won twice in Listed company at three, having been Group 3-placed at two, and her achievements were exceeded by three who followed her. Capital Secret (Capote) was a Group 3 winner in Germany, War Zone (Danzig) won a Group 3 in France and a Grade 3 in America, and Set Alight (Hennessy) collected a Group 3 in France.

But it does not end there, because True Flare is now a notable broodmare. Her first son Art Master (Royal Academy) was twice a Group 3 winner in France before reaching a place at Grade 2 level in the States, and her second, the now four-year-old Latent Heat (Maria’s Mon), was successful in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes last December.

On his first start in 2007 Latent Heat won the Grade 2 San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita, and on Sunday True Flare became one of only two mares to have produced a brace of Graded winners this year when her five-year-old daughter Indian Flare (Cherokee Run) took the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park. Indian Flare goes next for Grade 1 glory in the Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga, and as her dam has colts by Storm Cat (two-year-old), EMPIRE MAKER (yearling), and Giant’s Causeway (foal) in the pipeline, it seems safe to predict that this is another Juddmonte family which will continue to prosper.

Date:  20 June 2007