In-depth Analysis

By Andrew Caulfield

SIRE LINE

Back in 1971, a handsome colt called Sharpen Up won the Middle Park Stakes and his exciting son Diesis followed his example 11 years later, before going on to complete a very difficult double in the Dewhurst Stakes. Then, another 21 years later, Diesis’ son Three Valleys become the third generation of this excellent male line to cross the line first in the Middle Park and he again went close to following Diesis’s example when beaten a head in the Dewhurst.

If the parallels continue now that Three Valleys has retired to stud, he is sure to prove an asset to British breeders. By the time Diesis died in 2006, he had sired 84 stakes winners – some 9 per cent of his foals – including 45 Group/Graded winners. Among his dozen G1 winners, who won over distances from five furlongs to a mile and a half, were the classic winners Diminuendo, Ramruma and Love Divine and such champions as Halling and Elmaamul.

Three Valleys, who shared the title of champion British-trained two-year-old colt in 2003, is bred along similar lines to Halling, as both are out of grand-daughters of the great Nijinsky. Indeed the similarities extend to the fact that both Three Valleys and Halling descend from champion Irish fillies which won the Chesham Stakes. These parallels are very encouraging, as Halling has already sired more than 30 stakes winners, with the likes of Coastal Path, Boscobel, Harland, Hattan, Nordic Dancer, The Geezer and Chancellor among his 16 Group winners.

Elmaamul, another of Diesis’s stallion sons, was also responsible for a top-notch performer in Muhtathir and this winner of the Prix Jacques le Marois is rapidly drawing attention to himself as a stallion. Despite receiving limited opportunities, he has sired Doctor Dino and Satwa Queen, both winners of international G1 events in 2007.

Diesis, of course, was a brother to the brilliant miler Kris, who sired 40 Group winners, and the Sharpen Up male line has also been very ably represented by Selkirk, Sharpo and Trempolino. Sharpen Up’s importance has also been underlined by some of the important winners produced by his daughters. Danehill Dancer has transformed himself from bargain-basement stallion into one of the highest-priced sires in Ireland, with the title of champion sire of two-year-olds among his achievements; Cadeaux Genereux has long been one of the mainstays of the British industry; and Dashing Blade has been champion sire in Germany, where he has also been champion sire of two-year-olds on three occasions.

FEMALE LINE

Three Valley’s female line has become so familiar as a source of top performers that there is little need to go into great detail here. His third dam, the 1977 Cheveley Park Stakes winner Sookera, has found renewed fame as the second dam of Broodmare of the Year Hasili and Hasili’s up-and-coming sister Arrive. Between them these sisters have been responsible for such distinguished Juddmonte colour-bearers as Dansili, Banks Hill, Heat Haze, Intercontinental, Cacique, Champs Elysees, Promising Lead and Visit. Three Valleys’ dam Skiable is very closely related to these distinguished mares, as she too was sired from Sookera’s daughter Kerali by a stallion from the Nijinsky male line.

The family has also been doing some sterling work for other breeders. For example Sookera’s unraced grand-daughter Dissemble produced the top American miler Leroidesanimaux, and there is a flourishing branch descending from Sookera’s unraced daughter Resooka. Resooka’s grandson Hawksley Hill was runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and her great-grandson Benbaun has triumphed in the 2007 Prix de l’Abbaye.

Although Three Valleys’ dam Skiable has Niniski, High Line and Roberto as the sires of her first three dams, the intrinsic speed of her female line dominated to the extent that Skiable gained one of her wins over seven furlongs, two over a mile and the other over nine furlongs.

PERFORMANCE

Encouraging reports of Three Valleys’ work began to filter out of Roger Charlton’s yard as early as the March of his juvenile season, and it didn’t take long for these optimistic reports to be verified. A smooth victory in a Nottingham maiden on his debut in May was followed by a spectacular effort in the G3 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. This race has been won by some outstanding two-year-olds, including Young Emperor, Bold Lad (IRE) and Mill Reef , but few have been as impressive as Three Valleys, who lowered the juvenile track record to 1:13.6 in trouncing the opposition by eight lengths. Incidentally, Young Emperor, who sired Three Valleys’ fourth dam Irule, is a likely source of his female line’s dominant speed. Sookera certainly inherited some of Young Emperor’s precocity, as she made a winning debut on St Patrick’s Day, despite being a May foal, and also won the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Timeform pointed out that the time of Three Valleys’ runaway Coventry Stakes victory – “the like of which is seen rarely in a six-furlong pattern race in any age group” – translated to a timerating of 124. This was “clearly the best by a two-year-old all season.”

Three Valleys put up other notable efforts as a two-year-old in the Middle Park Stakes, in which he crossed the line three parts of a length ahead of his nearest rival, and in the Dewhurst, in which he was beaten a head, with the future classic winners Haafhd and Bachelor Duke in third and fourth places. Unfortunately he was disqualified from his Middle Park victory after traces of clenbuterol were found in his system. He had been given this medication to help clear mucus in his lungs but had not been treated in the nine days prior to the Middle Park, in accordance with guidelines which suggest that it takes 6½ days for the drug to clear a horse’s system. This setback didn’t stop Three Valleys sharing the title of the best British-trained two-year-old colt of 2003.

Having broken one track record at two, Three Valleys proceeded to lower two more track records as a mature horse. The next record came in 2005, in the G2 Del Mar Breeders’ Cup Handicap, where Three Valleys stopped the clock at 1:32.21 for a mile, and he again rewrote the record books at Monmouth Park in 2006, when he took the Gr.3 Oceanport Stakes in a time of 1:40.06 for eight and a half furlongs. He also finished a fine third behind older horses in the G1 Citation Handicap on his American debut.

In other words, Three Valleys wasn’t just a quick-maturing two-year-old star. He also used his speed to become a high-class miler and he looks sure to appeal to breeders. With a pedigree largely free of Northern Dancer, he must be a prime candidate for sprinter-milers from the Danzig line – the very line which has been the foundation of much of the Sookera family’s success. It is probably no coincidence that mares from the Sharpen Up line have been excelling with Danehill and his sons, prime examples being Dylan Thomas, Danehill Dancer and Simply Perfect.