Author: Victor Sheahan

  • Hernando-time for another look

    It was a big weekend for Hernando. Firstly he sired Last Look who powered home in the Oaks at 33-1 and 24 hours later Casual Conquest ran a fine race to finish third in the Derby.  It enhances his status as a reliable source of quality staminain a pedigree. He has now sired 2 French Derby winners(when it was a 12 furlong derby) in Sulamani and Holding Court and he has sired an Epsom derby 3rd (Casual Conquest) and 4th (Mr Combustible).  Since the death of Caerleon, and Royal Acadamy’s return to the States, he is now one of the very few credible representatives of the Nijinksy line still standing in Europe (the others are Lomitas and potentially Hernando’s son Sulamani).

    The aforementioned Sulamani can take most of the credit for the upsurge in Hernando’s fortunes. He won 6 Group ones over 3 seasons including 4 in 2003.  His successes led to larger books in 2003 and 2004 and Last Look and Casual Conquest are among the outcomes. No doubt next year will see an increase in quality and quantity for Hernando and I wouldnt be surprised if in 2013 I am again writing about what was to many a surprising upsurge in his fortunes. He is in danger of becoming a yo-yo sire whose success comes in 5 year cycles.  He was reduced to crops in the 40’s of mostly owners breeders. The commercial breeders have never warmed to Hernando, mostly because of the stamina ‘issue’ but perhaps partly because of the reputation that Lanwades home of Hernando are less willing to make a deal than the likes of Coolmore and Darley. Alas the commercial breeders failed to realise that Hernando is and was the real deal and at 10k was amongst the best value stallions in Britain. His stats back this up and from 532 foals of racing age he has had 247 winners (47%) and 32 stakes winners (6%).

    Last Look the dam of Look Here was unraced but is by Rainbow Quest who was already the broodmare sire of 2 Derby Winners in North Light and Kris Kin.  On pedigree and in hindsight her chance at Epsom was obvious. Those looking for quality in the family will find it under the third dam Dance Quest who is the dam of Pursuit of Love (by another Blushing Groom horse in Groom Dancer. Pursuit of Love finished 3rd in a Guineas and 2nd in a July Cup and had a reasonable stud career until his recent death.

    Ralph Beckett has said that he might avoid the Irish Oaks to give Look Here more time to recover from her exertions as she is not a robust filly who needs time between her races. The obvious next target then becomes the St Leger. Her pedigree gives plenty of comfort on that score. Hernando’s was never tried over further than 12 furlongs but his sire Niniski won 2 St Legers (an Irish and French) and Nijinsky as the last triple crown winner, won the Doncaster original. For good measure Look Here’s third dam, Dance Quest is by Green Dancer another son of Nijinsky.  Roll on Doncaster… 

    LOOK HERE (GB) 2005 f b

    Hernando
    (FR) 1990
    Niniski
    (USA) 1976
    Nijinsky
    (CAN) 1967
    Northern
    Dancer (CAN) 1961
    Flaming
    Page (USA) 1959
    Virginia
    Hills (USA) 1971
    Tom
    Rolfe (USA) 1962
    Ridin’
    Easy (USA) 1967
    Whakilyric
    (USA) 1984
    Miswaki
    (USA) 1978
    Mr
    Prospector (USA) 1970
    Hopespringseternal
    (USA) 1971
    Lyrism
    (USA) 1979
    Lyphard
    (USA) 1969
    Pass
    A Glance (USA) 1971
    Last
    Look (GB) 1995
    Rainbow
    Quest (USA) 1981
    Blushing
    Groom (FR) 1974
    Red
    God (USA) 1954
    Runaway
    Bride (GB) 1962
    I
    Will Follow (USA) 1975
    Herbager
    (FR) 1956
    Where
    You Lead (USA) 1970
    Derniere
    Danse (GB) 1987
    Gay
    Mecene (USA) 1975
    Vaguely
    Noble (GB) 1965
    Gay
    Missile (USA) 1967
    Dance
    Quest (FR) 1981
    Green
    Dancer (USA) 1972
    Polyponder
    (USA) 1974

     

     

  • Vision D’Etat- Distinctively French

    Vision D’Etat kept his unbeaten record when just holding off Famous Name and 18 others at Chantilly. His pedigree is intriguing and a refreshing change from the norm. In these days of globalisation it is a pedigree with a very regional feel and includes lots of relatively unfamiliar names that trace back to Grey Sovereign via Caro. His sire Chichicastenango (the name of a town in Guatemala) stands at Haras de Victot in Calvados for €3500, a fee that clearly indicates he is not ‘a la mode’. As a two year old Chichicastenango made his debut in May but took 5 runs before opening his account. However he improved markedly in his final two runs of that campaign and signed off with a win in the group 3 Prix Thomas Byron over a mile on heavy ground. Behind him that day were two subsequent Group 1 winners in Denon and Domedriver. As a three year old it again took him a few runs to find his form but on his third run he landed the Group 1 Prix Lupin denying subsequent classic winners Anabaa Blue and Milan in a close finish. The next logical step was the Prix de Jockey Club back when it was still over 12 furlongs. He ran a fine race to beat all bar Anabaa Blue. He was obviously a tough horse as he ran again three weeks later in the Grand Prix de Paris (back when that race was over 10 furlongs) and he landed his second group one in defeating Mizzen Mast and three others in a weak field for a Group 1. He was dropped back to a mile when tried in the Jacques le Marois and ran respectably only beaten about 2 lengths behind the subsequently disqualified Proudwings. His career ended in the Prix Niel when he finished third behind Golan and Anabaa Blue. His career stats ended as 14 runs , 4 wins (a maiden,2 Group 1’s and a Group 3 as a two year old). He was competitive in Group 1 company from a mile to 12 furlongs and had in a sense written his own pedigree and truly earned his place at stud. To date he has sired 3 black type winners from only 95 foals. It will be interesting to see how the success of Vision D’Etat impacts upon his fee and upon the level of support that he receives. He is clearly capable of upgrading his mares and aside from Chichicastenango he has had group 3 winner in Chinandega and Chichi Creasy.

    His grandsire Smadoun had also run 14 times but in his case it yielded a solitary listed win in Toulouse. It would be difficult to envisage him finding a berth at stud in Ireland or the UK. He currently stands for €2000 and is producing dual purpose types but still manages to find the occasional stakes performer. Smadoun is by Kaldoun who has sired some top class performers such as Occupandiste (winner of Prix Maurice de Gheest and Prix de La Foret) ,Spadoun who was a group 1 winning two year old and Kaldounevees. Smala the dam of Chichicastenango is by Antheus (by Northern Dancer) who is described as a champion older horse in Italy after winning a Gran Premio del Jockey club. To the best of my knowledge he never achieved anything of note as a sire. Chichicastenango also has another cross of Northern Dancer through Fabulous Dancer but being in the fourth and fifth generations for Vision D’Etat they are hardly significant.

    The source of Vision D’Etat’s class is not easily found. His dam Uberaba is by the Mill Reef horse Garde Royale who sired Carling, winner of Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille. Uberaba has to date had 9 foals with 3 winners. None have shown anything remotely like classic form and most ended up running over jumps including Milan de Mille who eventually finished a remote 15th in this years Grand National.  His granddam Ile D’amour was unraced and managed only 2 minor winners from 11 foals. Given his modest pedigree he must have been a good looking colt to fetch nearly €39000 when Eric Libaud purchased him at the December 2006 Arqana sale. No doubt it also crossed his mind that the horse would have residual value as a jumps horse if he failed to make the grade on the flat. We can now safely rule out the possibility of gelding him and selling him to a jumps trainer:) The French revolutionaries took a dim view of royalty and instead sought to promote egalité. In equine terms Vision D’Etat comes from a plebian background but he doesn’t know that. Many of the sires in his background would not have been afforded a place at stud in Britain or Ireland where there is now a distinct lack of variety in sire lines.  Maybe it’s time for another revolution…….

    VISION D’ETAT (FR) 2005 c b

    Chichicastenango (FR) 1998 Smadoun(FR) 1990 Kaldoun(FR) 1975 Caro(IRE) 1967
    Katana(FR) 1970
    Mossma(FR) 1982 TipMoss (FR) 1972
    Ticma(IRE) 1968
    Smala(FR) 1993 Antheus(USA) 1982 NorthernDancer (CAN) 1961
    Apachee(FR) 1975
    SmallPartie (FR) 1988 FabulousDancer (USA) 1976
    SummerParties (USA) 1982
    Uberaba(FR) 1986 GardeRoyale (IRE) 1980 MillReef (USA) 1968 NeverBend (USA) 1960
    MilanMill (USA) 1962
    RoyalWay (FR) 1969 Sicambre(FR) 1948
    RightAway (FR) 1963
    IleD’amour (FR) 1974 Montevideo2nd (GB) 1963 Honeyway(GB) 1941
    FairNicolle (GB) 1957
    OldEngland (FR) 1958 WildRisk (FR) 1940
    FolieDouce (USA) 1949
  • Hebridean- a Ballydoyle blueblood?

    Aidan O’ Brien totally dominated the Guineas weekend at the Curragh. He won three Group 1’s, two Group 3’s and a Listed race. Many racing people would argue that such success is only to be expected given the quality of the horses stabled at Ballydoyle. The argument goes that good horses make good trainers and AP O’Briens success is 95% down to Coolmore firepower and 5% down to Aidan O’Brien not making a mess of them.
    A look at the pedigrees of his Group 1 winners seems to back up that theory. Henrythenavigator is a son of Kingmambo out of Sequoyah a Moyglare Stakes winning Sadler’s Wells mare, so it is a tip top pedigree. Henry didnt go to the sales but I’m sure his reserve would have been at least €500,000. Halfway to Heaven is by Pivotal out of the very speedy Cassandra Go who won a Kings Stand. She cost €450000 so again nothing shabby about that pedigree. Duke of Marmalade is from the last crop of Danehill and is out of a Kingmambo mare tracing to Lassie Dear, the family of Wolfhound and Lemon Drop Kid. Again he was never sold but a reserve of at least €400000 would have seemed reasonable.
    His Group 3 Greenlands winner Astronomer Royal is the last of the Danzigs so he had rarity value to go with his pedigree and his two year old winner Heart Shaped is a Storm Cat filly who is a half sister to AP Valentine. Based on those pedigrees it would seem fair to argue that any of the top ten trainers in Ireland or Britain could have expected similar glory from such impeccable pedigrees.
    But there was one other winner that weekend, a gelding called Hebridean running in the colours of Ann Marie O’Brien. He is by Bach out of Delphinium by Dr Massini and his full pedigree is shown below. He passed through the ring at Tattersalls Ireland on the 3rd November 2006 and was bought back for €15000. Bach was an admirably tough horse trained by Aidan O’Brien who ran 22 times and won a soft Group 2 when winning the Royal Whip but whose best run was probably finishing 3rd in a Breeders Cup Mile to Val Royal. He was sent straight to Coolmore’s NH division where he competes with Hebrideans broodmare sire Dr Massini. Dr Massini was trained by Michael Stoute and after winning his first two starts he was made favourite for the 1996 Irish Derby. Unfortunately for Mick Kinane, he opted to ride him that day and missed out on partnering Zagreb. He won once at 4 and then started showing temperament and refused to race on his next start. At five he was transferred to Aidan O’Brien and he was the subject of a major gamble in the Irish Lincoln. However the money was lost as he practically pulled himself up. His career ended in ignominy when he refused to race at Listowel. Despite his temperament and his lack of group wins he still got a spot at NH stud and has taken his chance well. Delphinium the dam of Hebridean is by a sprinter in Tumble Wind and she was trained by Joe Crowley, Aidan O’ Briens father in law. She only ran at two and she never raced beyond 7 furlongs. She never gave the judge much trouble and in her four races her best finishing position was 6th of 12 at Limerick.

    When people talk about overproduction and the need to cull some moderate mares they probably had the likes of Delphinium in mind. I suspect Hebridean was bred in the hope (and not even the expectation) of winning a bumper. It was his breeders family connections that saw him stabled with his betters in Ballydoyle and he must be one of the worst bred horses to ever occupy a stable there.  However as Ryan Price is reputed to have said ‘my horses can’t read pedigrees and I don’t train pedigrees, I train horses’. Hebridean doesn’t seem to know his place as he keeps improving and further success seems likely.

    His success illustrates two points. One is the vagaries of breeding and the dangers of being too dogmatic about pedigrees. The second is that Aidan O’ Brien is truly a training genius.  There can be no arguments in this instance about buying  success in the sales ring.  This success is 100% down to Aidan O’Brien and is achieved despite of and not because of Hebridean’s pedigree.

    HEBRIDEAN (IRE) 2005 g b

    Bach
    (IRE) 1997
    Caerleon
    (USA) 1980
    Nijinsky
    (CAN) 1967
    Northern
    Dancer (CAN) 1961
    Flaming
    Page (USA) 1959
    Foreseer
    (USA) 1969
    Round
    Table (USA) 1954
    Regal
    Gleam (USA) 1964
    Producer
    (USA) 1976
    Nashua
    (USA) 1952
    Nasrullah
    (GB) 1940
    Segula
    (USA) 1942
    Marion
    (USA) 1961
    Tantieme
    (FR) 1947
    Magda
    (FR) 1954
    Delphinium
    (IRE) 2001
    Dr
    Massini (IRE) 1993
    Sadler’s
    Wells (USA) 1981
    Northern
    Dancer (CAN) 1961
    Fairy
    Bridge (USA) 1975
    Argon
    Laser (GB) 1983
    Kris
    (GB) 1976
    Lighted
    Lamp (USA) 1967
    Lunulae
    (IRE) 1985
    Tumble
    Wind (USA) 1964
    Restless
    Wind (USA) 1956
    Easy
    Stages (USA) 1953
    Boldella
    (GB) 1977
    Bold
    Lad (IRE) 1964
    Ardelle
    (GB) 1958

     

     

  • Jim Bolger’s favourite sires- 3 out 4 ain’t bad

    Jim Bolger is an opinionated man, often described as straight talking or as “not afraid of controversy”. As a trainer he has never found favour with Coolmore Inc, which is surprising as they owe him a great deal. Bolger deserves all the credit for moulding their greatest human asset in Aidan O’ Brien and their greatest current commercial asset in Galileo.

    Bolger & Galileo/Galileo without Bolger:

    Galileo’s fee is listed as private. WIthout the Bolger influence I think it would be around the same level as Peintre Celebre at 25k. That’s a difference of around 150k per mare which should entitle him to a few horses that APOB can’t accommodate.Then again I suppose Magnier has enough on his plate trying to keep Wachman’s yard full…

     Bolger’s success with Galileo is remarkable. He is trainer and sometimes owner or breeder of New Approach, Teofilo, Lush Lashes, Galatee, Heliostatic, Prima Luce and Cuis Gaire. He is the breeder of Soldier of Fortune. That is 8 of Galileo’s 20 Group Winners.If you take out the Bolger contingent you lose all his good two year olds and his 2 best middle distance colts making Galileo’s record look like that of a sire of stayers (first 3 in a St Leger, Allegretto, Mahler,Purple Moon). It was Teofilo and New Approach that pushed his fee to private, 2 year olds are what makes him so much more commercial. Its also easy to knock his other Group 1 winners, as Nightime won an Irish Guineas in bottomless ground, Cima de Triomphe’s win in the Italian Derby barely registered with anyone and Red Rocks win in the Breeders Cup was a once off.  Bolger saw Galileo as a star (geddit) and backed his judgement accordingly. Why he is so much more successful than any other breeder or trainer of Galileo’s is something that I can’t explain.

    Galileo is not the first stallion he has made:- Remember Ahonoora?

    Bolger can also take much of the credit for the Ahonoora success story. Back when neither stallion or trainer were that fashionable, he produced Park Appeal to win the Cheveley Park and Moyglare and gave Ahonoora the perfect start. And in a nice tie in with the Galileo story, she was sold onto Sheikh Mohammed just like New Approach and Teofilo. But of course he didn’t stop there and he trained other quality offspring including Park Express, Noora Abu, Topanoora (remember the Hardwicke anyone?) and Project Manager. In another twist Ahonoora ended up at Coolmore but alas died when still only 14. It was fitting that Ahonoora is the broodmare sire of New Approach.

    Not Always Right- The Nordico disaster

    Alas when people of conviction get it wrong,they often find it hard to admit they were wrong. I think this happened to Jim Bolger with Nordico. Nordico was a son of Northern Dancer from the family of Stephan’s Odyssey. Jim’s yard was full of them for about 4 years. He managed to win races with many of them but none of them were top class. Nordico ended up in Cyprus which seems about right.

    Fillies by Mr Greeley

    2 fillies Saoirse Abu and Finsceal Beo, 5 Group ones between them and counting. No wonder Jim is keen on them at the sales

    Others to Mention

    Jim is currently training quite a few by Lil’s Boy a Danzig horse he used to train. Early signs aren’t promising. In the past he also trained a lot by Project Manager (a son of Ahonoora mentioned earlier) and Erin’s Isle a son of Busted who he trained before he was sold to America.  Neither were successful but at least Erin’s Isle left him Affianced the dam of Soldier of Fortune and Heliostatic.