WINNERS HIGHLIGHT OASIS DREAM'S VERSATILITY
Article taken from the TDN, Pedigree Insights by Andrew Caulfield
Last month British racing had the unusual experience of seeing a mile-and-a-half Classic being fought out by daughters of Pivotal and OASIS DREAM - two stallions who triumphed in Britain’s premier five-furlong test, the Gr.1 Nunthorpe Stakes.
These versatile stallions were back in the news last week. Pivotal’s Oaks winner Sariska boosted her championship credentials with her facile victory in the Darley Irish Oaks, while OASIS DREAM enjoyed a fantastic run of success, which included four Grade/Group 2 winners (Misheer, Arcano, Aqlaam and Tuscan Evening) in the space of four days.
Pivotal and OASIS DREAM now rank fifth and seventh, respectively, in an Anglo-Irish top 10 list which, enlighteningly, features three sons of Green Desert (Cape Cross, OASIS DREAM and Invincible Spirit), three sons of Sadler’s Wells (Montjeu, Galileo and High Chaparral) and two sons of Danehill (Danehill Dancer and DANSILI), plus the retired Sadler’s Wells and Pivotal.
OASIS DREAM'S exceptional week showed how versatile he is and how durable some of his stock can be.
His sequence of Group 2 victories began when his diminutive daughter Misheer took the six-furlong Cherry Hinton Stakes, her success being followed a day later by Arcano’s victory in the colts’ equivalent, the July Stakes (a race won by OASIS DREAM'S sire Green Desert back in 1985). No other stallion has managed to pull off this double in at least the last 30 years.
We shouldn’t be too surprised that OASIS DREAM has accomplished this rare double. He was, after all, a champion two-year-old as well as a champion sprinter, and his previous two crops had wasted little time in confirming his prowess as a sire of two-year-olds. He took high rank as a first-crop stallion, with four group winners among a total of over 20 winners, and then sired a record total of 38 individual two-year-old winners in his second crop.
One possible danger of such a record is that breeders might pigeonhole OASIS DREAM as just a sire of two-year-olds. Fortunately, his achievements this year have highlighted that he is much more than that.
Last week alone, we saw victories by five of his first-crop four-year-olds, increasing his number of four-year-old winners to 18. And several of these weren’t any old winners. Three of them - Aqlaam, Tuscan Evening and Main Aim - have scored at group level this year, and two others - Lady Jane Digby and Perfect Stride - have won at listed level. The progressive Main Aim, of course, was a fine second after being hampered in last week’s G1 July Cup.
Two four-year-olds which have yet to win this year are Captain Gerrard and Visit, but both have proven they have held their form. Captain Gerrard was runner up in the City Wall Stakes three days ago, having earlier finished fourth in the Gr.1 King’s Stand Stakes, and Visit finished fourth behind Tuscan Evening in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Mile, having earlier been beaten a neck in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes.
Altogether this crop, which numbers around 105 named foals, has produced 11 stakes winners. This is over 10 percent stakes winners - an excellent figure for a busy stallion in today’s industry - and his seven group winners from this crop also represents a notable achievement.
His second crop’s figure isn’t as high, yet, but this crop contains the Group 1 winner Naaqoos and Midday, who went so close to winning the Gr.1 Epsom Oaks, and - with more than 30 three-year-old winners from this crop – there’s good reason to expect the stakes-winner figure to climb substantially from its present total of five.
The Group 2 winners Misheer and Arcano come from a total of only around 21 runners from OASIS DREAM'S third crop, which also includes the unbeaten Italian listed winner Field of Dream. The promising Showcasing, who ran Arcano to a head when the pair made their debut, could bid to become stakes winner number four from this crop at Newbury later this week.
OASIS DREAM already has 19 stakes winners to his credit, and he’s still only nine years old.
One fascinating aspect of OASIS DREAM'S racing career was the way the speed of his sire Green Desert totally dominated the stamina in the bottom half of his pedigree. But, bearing in mind that his first three dams were sired by Dancing Brave, Mill Reef and Busted - all three outstanding performers at up to a mile and a half - there was always a chance that OASIS DREAM would sire some European middle-distance horses when mated to mares with some stamina. This theory took an early knock when he sired the very fast filly Starlit Sands from a mare by the Derby winner Slip Anchor. However, three of his 2009 stakes winners - Midday, Lady Jane Digby and Perfect Stride - have enjoyed stakes success over a mile and a quarter or more.
Six of his 2009 three-year-old winners are also winners over 10 furlongs or more, so OASIS DREAM, like Pivotal, is likely to continue to sire the occasional stayer, but there is no escaping the fact that the majority of his stock are going to prove most effective at a mile or under.
Arcano is likely to fall into that latter category, even though his broodmare sire is Daylami, who stayed well enough to win the Coronation Cup, King George and Breeders’ Cup Turf. Arcano is the first foal of Tariysha, who never made it to the racecourse. Despite having no form, Tariysha made €140,000 when sold by the Aga Khan as a three-year-old, on the strength of being a member of a highly successful family. She is the fourth daughter of the two-year-old Group 3 winner Tarwiya to produce a stakes winner and her predecessors include Tarbela, whose two-year-old son Big Audio won this year’s Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Tahara, who had already been represented by the two-year-old Group 2 winner Godfrey Street by the time Tariysha came on the market. Tarwiya was herself a half-sister to Blue Dakota, who matured quickly enough to win the Gr.3 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.
By now you will have got the message that this is a family adept at producing fast two-year-olds, such as Arcano. In the circumstances, it is worth mentioning that his seventh dam is Texana, France’s champion two-year-old of 1957. This remarkable filly won 11 consecutive sprint races in her first season, which culminated in victory in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp. Several years later Texana’s sister Texanita was similarly successful, improving her two-year-old record to eight wins from her last nine starts when she won the Prix de l’Abbaye - a race she also won as a three-year-old.
Texana and Texanita were by the American import Relic, and Arcano’s fifth dam, Tremogia, was inbred 3x3 to Relic. Tremogia enjoyed considerable success as a broodmare, producing three group winners, plus two daughters, Tarikhana and Tadkiyra, who produced Group 1 winners. One of these Group 1 winners, Damson, was fast enough to win the Phoenix Stakes over six furlongs, but Tiraaz had the stamina to win the French St Leger.
Arcano is inbred 4x4 to the great Mill Reef, and has three lines to Never Bend in the fifth generation. Other good OASIS DREAM winners with two lines of Mill Reef are the fast filly Starlit Sands (4x4), the speedy Eastern Romance (4x5) and the Group 3 two-year-old winner Sri Putra (4x5).
Date:
14 July 2009