PEDIGREE INSIGHT - CHAMPS ELYSEES
Taken from the TDN
By Andrew Caulfield
A couple of years ago, when I wanted to take a photograph of
Hasili, I was reminded of that feeble joke which runs along the
lines of: Question: ‘What do you feed a 600lb gorilla?’ Answer:
‘Anything it wants.’
It turned out that the last thing Hasili wanted to do at that
particular time was to stand still while a bumbling amateur
photographer clicked away. Instead, she skilfully eluded all
attempts to catch her as she played leader of the pack in her
paddock. But then Hasili has earned the right to do anything she
wants. She could out-diva Diana Ross, Mariah Carey and Whitney
Houston and no one in the Juddmonte operation would dream of
complaining.
While Hasili still has a bit of work to do to match Fall Aspen
(eight group/graded winners, including four Grade I winners) and
Courtly Dee (seven graded winners, headed by three Grade I
scorers), this extraordinary mare has a near-faultless record.
Thanks to Champs Elysees’s stylish victory in the GII San Marcos
S., her first six foals have all scored at Grade I or Grade II
levels, with four of them achieving Grade I-winner status. It took
the great Dahlia 11 foals to come up with four Grade I winners and
a pair of Grade II scorers.
She is one graded winner ahead of Juddmonte’s recently retired
Toussaud, who also produced four Grade I winners. Coincidentally,
Hasili is currently carrying to a late cover by Empire Maker, one
of Toussaud’s Grade I winners. She also has a three-year-old, Raise
The Flag, by Sadler’s Wells and a yearling filly by Storm Cat. It
was a shame she was barren to Oasis Dream in her last season in
Europe. This tremendously speedy son of Green Desert (sire also of
Hasili’s excellent daughter Heat Haze) sired his first group
winner, Visit, from Hasili’s younger sister Arrive.
Although Arrive and Hasili share the same parents, Kahyasi and
Kerali, they showed very different talents on the racetrack. Hasili
was fast enough to make a winning debut over five furlongs at two,
before doing all her winning at up to a mile.
Arrive, on the other hand, didn’t race at two and set track
records over 1 1/2 miles and nearly 1 7/8 miles. The explanation is
that Arrive was the more typical daughter of Kahyasi, winner of the
Derby and Irish Derby, whereas Hasili clearly inherited more of the
precocious speed which made her second dam, Sookera, one of the
fastest juvenile fillies of her year.
With a background like this, Hasili was always likely to produce
a range of winners, even when mated to Green Desert and Danehill,
two Danzig line stallions which made their names as sprinters. Her
first foal, DANSILI, was straightforward, racing almost
exclusively over a mile, but Hasili’s subsequent runners have
displayed their talents over a variety of distances. Heat Haze and
Intercontinental must be considered her fastest offspring, as they
became stakes winners over 6 1/2 furlongs and seven furlongs
respectively, but they also had enough stamina to win Grade I races
over 1 3/16 miles and 11/4 miles. Banks Hill was equally effective
over a mile and 13 miles and CACIQUE was
pretty versatile too, gaining a pair of Group successes over a mile
in France before becoming a Grade I winner over 1 1/4 and 1 3/8
miles.
Champs Elysees, for his part, has already shown himself to be
the best stayer of the bunch, as he once failed by only a nose to
land the G3 Prix Maurice de Nieuil over 1 3/4 miles. However, he
doesn’t look like a stayer, as he’s a strong, robust sort with
plenty of substance and, looking at him, you could be forgiven for
thinking that he’s a miler. He was once considered the most
precocious of Hasili’s sons until a bout of coughing forced him to
miss the summer meeting at Deauville, where he had been expected to
shine.
His performance in the San Marcos suggests that Champs Elysees
is well suited by a mile and a quarter - and that he is now ready
to fulfil the promise of his immaculate bloodlines. He managed to
out-speed the opposition at Santa Anita despite having been held up
last in a race in which the commentator said they ‘couldn’ t be
going any slower--if they did they’d Start rotting.’
There’s a good chance that the firm ground at Santa Anita also
suited him. According to the Racing Post form, he never encountered
ground faster than good during his time in Europe and I wouldn’t be
at all surprised were he to prove best on ground firm enough to
allow him to use his acceleration. Although DANSILI could
handle very soft going, three of his best efforts came on the few
occasions he encountered fast ground, on which he could use his
change of gears. Champs Elysees’ victory makes him no less than
Danehill’s 16th graded winner on American turf tracks, following
Artiste Royal, Aussie Rules, CACIQUE,
Landseer, Banks Hill, Intercontinental, Dress To Thrill, Danish,
Light Jig, Luas Line, Makderah, Simple Exchange, Spring Star,
Chiming and Desert Lady.
The first 10 horses on this list all scored at the Grade I level
and it is reportedly Bobby Frankel’s ambition to add Champs
Elysees’ name to this elite list. Bearing in mind the scale of
success enjoyed by Danehill’s American turf runners, I find it a
little surprising that there is only one stallion son of Danehill
in Kentucky, with another in Florida.
However, the Kentucky-based son is the Derby-winning North
Light, whose adverts include Frank Stronach’s assertion that ‘we
have bred him to quality mares and fully expect his progeny to
excel on dirt.’ Only time will tell whether North Light can fulfil
Stronach’s prediction regarding dirt, but there is no reason why a
son of Danehill shouldn’t excel as a sire of turf and all-weather
performers in the USA. DANSILI was Britain’s champion sire of
all-weather performers in 2006 and 2007, as well as being France’s
champion sire of turf performers in 2006. Danehill took third place
behind Dansili among 2007’s all-weather stallions, with another
son, Danetime, in eighth place, so this tough male line is thriving
on the synthetic tracks. And Champs Elysees is thriving in the USA,
to the extent that he could help Hasili become the first mare to
produce five Grade I winners.
Date:
23 January 2008