The Group I Golden Slipper and Blue Diamond are fast approaching and we’ve almost certainly seen the winner of both and there were four super interesting stakes-winners on Saturday all putting their hat in the ring, so let’s take a look at the pedigrees and see why some nicks might not as good as you may think.
Bodyguard wins the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude - image Grant Courtney
He cost $1.6million at Magic Millions and while it’s easy to pot expensive colts for their lack of legitimate stakes success, Bodyguard has done nothing wrong with two starts in stakes races for two wins and his victory in the Group III MRC Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m) was a walk in the park, click here to read more.
Bodyguard continues the hot run of success for Fastnet Rock mares and is one of four stakes-winners by I Am Invincible from his daughters. The nick has produced 38 winners from 50 starters, so 76% winners to runners which is OK, however the 8% SW to runner could well be seen as somewhat disappointing given the quality of the two sires involved. I Am Invincible runs at a 9.4% SW to runner and Fastnet Rock 9% SW to runner.
Those four stakes-winners are Bodyguard and Queen of the Ball, both G3 winners and then Listed winners Fake Love and Jazz Etude, so you can make your own mind up as to whether this is actually a good nick, however if Bodyguard wins a G1, most people will believe it is, although worth considering I Am Invincible has never sired a Group I winning juvenile.
Bodyguard is from a daughter of Golden Slipper winner Mossfun, so if he is the one to make history for his sire it will come as no surprise.
If Hayasugi was by something a tad more fashionable than Royal Meeting (IRE), she would have been favourite for the Group II MRC Blue Diamond Prelude (1100m), but she is what she is and she’s better than the rest, click here to read about her.
She is certainly putting Leneva Park’s Royal Meeting in the spotlight and the Group I winning son of Invincible Spirit won’t lack for mares this spring after covering 66 last year.
Royal Meeting was bred and raced by Godolphin and won his only two starts as a juvenile including the Group I Criterium International (1400m) at Chantilly, but failed to win again in five subsequent starts, two in Australia and three in Dubai. He was given his chance at stud by Leneva Park and has attracted pretty decent support given he is a great type and has a very strong female family albeit South African with his dam Rock Opera, the Champion South African 2YO Filly for 2004/2005.
Interestingly, Hayasugi is bred along similar lines to Caballus, who scored his first Black Type win when taking out the Group III ATC Eskimo Prince Stakes. Both horses are by sons of Invincible Spirit from daughters of Commands.
The Restricted Listed $2million Inglis Millennium (1100m) delivered a fourth stakes-winner for I Am Invincible’s Group I winning son Hellbent with Fully Lit overcoming a bad gate to score an impressive win, read about him here.
He is the 28th SW for champion sire Snitzel as a broodmare sire and is the first SW among seven winners from 10 starters by Hellbent from Snitzel mares. Hellbent’s sire I Am Invincible doesn’t have the best record with Snitzel mares, the nick producing a high number of winners – 20 from 24 runners – but just one Listed SW Supreme Idea and two more stakes-placed horses in Dancing Alone and Innervisions.
The up close influences in his pedigree are about speed, but going back there is an international dam line that produced Group I VRC Oaks winner Magical Miss, so quality is not lacking.
The Listed ATC Lonhro Plate (1000m) proved the Switzerland form when Capitalist filly Castanya saluted at her second start, read about her here.
Castanya is the 17th SW for Capitalist and is his first from a daughter of Encosta de Lago with that nick producing nine winners from 13 starters. She is the 160th SW as a broodmare sire for Encosta de Lago, who was an exceptional stallion and is leaving a lasting legacy through his evolving sire dynasty.
She comes from a Gooree Stud family that has been very successful over the years with her grand-dam Tempest Morn one of the toughest fillies to look through a bridle. She was a two time G1 winner of the Australasian Oaks and Ansett Australia Stakes with four more placings in G1 Oaks and Derbies in her Classic year.
