Tag: Deep Impact

Auguste Rodin Pretty As a Picture in the BC Turf

Announced as a season-ending target long before such announcements are typically made, the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf proved fertile ground for the Coolmore partners' Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who enjoyed what turned out to be a dream trip beneath Ryan Moore, got through when the real running commenced at the head of the lane and charged to the wire to defeat top U.S. hope Up to the Mark (Not This Time). It was a sixth victory in the mile-and-a-half second-richest race on the card for trainer Aidan O'Brien–three of which have occurred at Santa Anita–and first since Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) took the 2016 renewal at the 'Great Race Place' under a heady ride from Seamie Heffernan. O'Brien now sits on 18 Breeders' Cup winners overall, while Ryan Moore was riding his 14th championship winner.

Sent off the 5-2 chalk on the strength of a season that has included victories in the G1 Derby at Epsom, the G1 Irish Derby and the G1 Irish Champion S., the son of 2017 Filly & Mare Turf runner-up Rhododendron settled in about midfield for the run down the hill, but jinked noticeably to his right when not handling the dirt crossing particularly well. Rebalanced when linking back up with the turf course, he was maneuvered down towards the inside before the field made their way under the wire with a circuit to travel.

Racing with cover on the back of 2022 G1 Dubai Sheema Classic hero Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) as they reached halfway, Auguste Rodin was always moving sweetly and continued to follow the move of the Japanese raider past the half-mile peg and around the turn. When Cristian Demuro opted to let Shahryar drift away from the inside nearing the quarter pole, Moore gladly seized upon the opportunity to allow his mount to creep forward into striking position. Long-time leader Balladeer (Distorted Humor) still held the call after the opening 10 furlongs, but he hung to his right off the final corner and that was all that Moore and Auguste Rodin needed, as they hit the hole under a full head of steam and pinched a break before holding Up to the Mark in the run to the winning post. Shahryar, the son of 2011 Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Dubai Majesty, was a good third to complete a posthumous one-three finish for Deep Impact.

Despite the ease with which he won, the winning ride was far down in the playbook, said Moore.

“Ending up [on] the rail was like Plan F and I had to make the best of the opportunities,” he said. “My horse was getting a bad trip. He won because he's so good, I made the right call to stick to the rail but could have easily not been.

“The race didn't go to plan. The first part of the race was messy as everyone was in each other's way and I didn't really like where I was. All I wanted to do was get the horse to find his rhythm and he got there so quickly and easily and once he got to the front that's all he does. Considering how the race went against him it was probably his best performance. He's vindicated himself now. He had things do against him today and he overcame them.”

Pedigree Notes:

Auguste Rodin's granddam is Halfway To Heaven, purchased by Coolmore out of the 2006 Goffs Orby sale and winner of three top-level contests, including the 2008 G1 Irish 1000 Guineas. The mating that resulted in Auguste Rodin–quite simply a match made in heaven.

Rhododendron was among what became the final book of mares that visited the legendary Deep Impact in 2019 and Auguste Rodin is the second Breeders' Cup winner in three years for the late stallion, joining 2021 Filly & Mare Turf victress Loves Only You (Jpn).

The first foal for his dam, a sister to the globetrotting seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Ire) and Irish Group 3 winner Flying the Flag (Ire), Auguste Rodin is bred on the same cross over Galileo responsible for English and Irish Oaks heroine Snowfall (Jpn) and G1 English 2000 Guineas hero Saxon Warrior (Jpn)–sire of 2022 Juvenile Turf winner Victoria Road (Ire)–in addition to the additional group winners Cantabile (Jpn), Vanquish Run (Jpn), Harajuku (Ire) and Drumroll (Ire).

There is a plethora of black-type under MGSW third dam Cassandra Go, as Halfway to Heaven's Group 3-winning half-sister Theann (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) is the dam of U.S. Grade I winner Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and GSW sire Land Force (Ire) (No Nay Never).

Rhododendron's most recent offspring is a Dubawi (Ire) colt foaled Feb. 10.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP TURF-GI, $3,680,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 1 1/2mT, 2:24.30, fm.
1–AUGUSTE RODIN (IRE), 122, c, 3, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Rhododendron (Ire) (Hwt. Older Mare-Eng- at 7 – 9 1/2 f., Hwt. Filly-Ire, Hwt. Older Mare-Ire- at 7 – 9 1/2 f., Hwt. Older Mare-Eur- at 7 – 9 1/2 f., G1SW-Fr, MG1SW-Eng, GSW & G1SP-Ire, GISP-USA, $1,786,763), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Halfway To Heaven (Ire), by Pivotal (GB)
3rd Dam: Cassandra Go (Ire), by Indian Ridge (Ire)
O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien; J-Ryan L. Moore. $2,080,000. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Eng & Ire, 10-7-1-0, $4,958,538. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Up to the Mark, 126, c, 4, Not This Time–Belle's Finale, by Ghostzapper. ($450,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC; B-Ramspring Farm (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $680,000.
3–Shahryar (Jpn), 126, h, 5, Deep Impact (Jpn)–Dubai Majesty, by Essence of Dubai. O-Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.; B-Northern Farm (JPN); T-Hideaki Fujiwara. $360,000.
Margins: 3/4, HF, 1 1/4. Odds: 2.50, 3.40, 25.50.
Also Ran: Gold Phoenix (Ire), King of Steel, Onesto (Ire), War Like Goddess, Mostahdaf (Ire), Balladeer, Adhamo (Ire), Broome (Ire). Scratched: Bolshoi Ballet (Ire), Get Smokin.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Seven Days: A St Leger Fit For a King

With a royal audience, Continuous (Jpn) became the seventh winner of the St Leger for Aidan O'Brien, relegating the King and Queen's runner Desert Hero (GB) to third, just as Pour Moi (Ire) had done in the Derby with Carlton House back in 2011 in front of the late Queen.

There were plenty of strands to an enthralling St Leger that would have made for good storylines: two of those, victory for Desert Hero with his owners present on Town Moor, or a final British Classic for Frankie Dettori, may well have propelled the dear old Classic to the front pages on Sunday. As it was, and for less obviously mainstream reasons, the win of Continuous was extremely satisfying. 

His success completed a full set of British Classics for Sunday Silence as paternal grandsire, with three of his sons having provided this quintet. The most significant contributor was of course Deep Impact (Jpn), Sunday Silence's most influential offspring, but Saturday provided the chance for Heart's Cry to have a posthumous moment in the limelight, some six months after his death at the age of 22, which came two years after he was pensioned at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan.

Heart's Cry, out of the dual Grade 3 winner Irish Dance (Jpn), herself a daughter of the Arc winner Tony Bin (Ire), has lived in the shadow of his more famous stud-mate Deep Impact. This is despite Heart's Cry having been the only horse to have beaten him on Japanese soil, in the G1 Arima Kinen in the year of Deep Impact's Triple Crown success. Heart's Cry was a year older, and after winning the G2 Shimbun Hai went on to run second in the Japanese Derby to another legend of the Shadai stallion ranks, King Kamehameha (Jpn). Campaigned at three, four and five, he will doubtless be best remembered as a racehorse for his defeat of Deep Impact, but he was beaten only a nose by the English-trained raider Alkaased in the Japan Cup a month before that, and after his Christmas Day triumph went on to Nad Al Sheba, where he was the easy winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic, with Ouija Board (GB) and Alexander Goldrun (Ire) among those to have finished behind him that day.

In 2007, both he and Deep Impact retired to Shadai's imposing stallion roster, and three years later they were first and second on the first-season sires' table. By 2012, Deep Impact was champion sire, a position he is only likely to relinquish this year, four seasons after his death. Heart's Cry worked his way up the table and has never been out of the top five stallions in Japan in the last decade, with his highest placing coming in 2019 when he was once again runner-up to his old rival.

In the 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn), Oaks victrix Snowfall (Jpn) and this season's Derby, Irish Derby and Irish Champion S. winner Auguste Rodin (Jpn), we have seen Deep Impact blend well with mares by Galileo (Ire). It is fair to assume that that is where Fluff (Ire), the full-sister to Saxon Warrior's dam Maybe (Ire), was heading in 2019 in the season in which Deep Impact became incapacitated before his death in the August of that year. Heart's Cry stepped in and on Saturday, as Continuous unleashed a lethal injection of pace to cruise to make the front-running Gregory (GB) look as if he was standing still, it was easy to spot the thick silver lining to what may have once felt like a black cloud. 

Natagora (Fr), the 1,000 Guineas winner of 2008 after her previous season's victory in the G1 Cheveley Park S., is the only outlier to the group. Conceived during the three seasons in which her sire Divine Light (Jpn) stood in France, she is out of the Lagardere-bred Reinamixa (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}).

Deep Impact has also been represented by three French Classic winners in Study Of Man (Ire) and Beauty Parlour (GB), both out of Storm Cat-line mares, and Fancy Blue (Ire), whose dam is a full-sister to High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells).

Heart's Cry can't match him in the depth of his haul of Group 1 winners but he has been no slouch himself. In Australia, he has sired the Cox Plate winner Lys Gracieux (Jpn) and the Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti (Jpn). The latter was another to have been out of a mare by an Arc winner, this one being Helissio (Fr), who also started his stud career at Shadai.

A nice postscript in the year of Heart's Cry's demise is that his son Suave Richard (Jpn), one of his two winners of the Japan Cup, is currently leading the freshman sires' table in Japan. 

What will arguably be most important to Japan on the reputational front, however, is if Heart's Cry appears as the sire of an Arc winner himself. It's a tall order to turn out a relatively lightly-raced colt again just 15 days after his St Leger triumph but it is hard not to feel that Continuous, who will need to be supplemented, has much in his favour to make an impact at Longchamp on the first Sunday of October. 

The only thing that would make the Japanese fans happier on Arc day than a win for Continuous would be if the spoils went instead to Through Seven Seas (Jpn). The five-year-old mare is by Dream Journey (Jpn), a grandson of Sunday Silence, and she was last seen running the mighty Equinox (Jpn) to a neck in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen in June. Trained by Tomohito Ozeki, Through Seven Seas arrived in Chantilly on Friday and is boarding at Nicolas Clement's stable in the build-up to the Arc.

A Valued Test

While there is plenty of head-shaking at the shuffling off to National Hunt studs of St Leger winners in this part of the world (NB: this doesn't prevent Flat breeders from using their services), the picture is entirely different in Japan.

As Triple Crown winners, Deep Impact and his immensely popular young stallion son Contrail (Jpn) of course both won Japan's St Leger equivalent, the Kikuka Sho. So did Kitasan Black (Jpn), the sire of Equinox and the busiest stallion in Japan this year with 242 mares covered. So too did Orfevre (Jpn), who was beaten a neck into second in the following year's Arc, and also Epipheneaia (Jpn), who went on to win the Japan Cup and sired the Fillies' Triple Crown winner Daring Tact (Jpn) in his first crop. They too remain popular members of the Shadai roster. 

Another For the Late Adlerflug

Doncaster's was not the only St Leger to be run over the weekend, as the German equivalent was also staged at Dortmund on Sunday, though this, like the Irish St Leger, has in recent years been opened up to older horses. 

This year's winner, the Gestut Hof Ittlingen homebred Lordano (Ger), is a four-year-old, and the son of Adlerflug (Ger) went one better than his full-brother Loft (Ger), who was second in the same race two years ago.

The most famous member of this family that has served Ittlingen so well, in international terms at least, is Lando (Ger) (Acetanango {Ger}), a full-brother to their grand-dam, Laurella (GB). At home, Lando took the scalp of Monsun (Ger) in the Deutsches Derby and in the following season's Grosser Preis von Baden. Twice named German Horse of the Year, he spread his wings to win two Group 1 races in Italy and, finally, the Japan Cup of 1995. He makes an appearance in modern-day pedigrees most usually as the damsire of the talented but subfertile Farhh (GB), who already has four young sons at stud: Far Above (Ire), King Of Change (GB), Wells Farhh Go (Ire) and Dee Ex Bee (GB).

Despite twice beating Monsun (Ger), Lando could not be held in the same regard as him as an influence at stud. In reflecting on Monsun's reign it is worth remembering that his sire Konigsstuhl (Ger) won the German Triple Crown, while his damsire, the Deutsches Derby winner Surumu (Ger), also features as the paternal grandsire of Lando.

Class will out, if only we give it a chance.

Hotter Still

As the two-year-old racing steps up a notch in Europe, it is hard not to be impressed with the start Too Darn Hot (GB) has made to his stud career. 

After the previous weekend's victory for his daughter Fallen Angel (GB), whose owner-breeder Steve Parkin outlined plans for his own stallion operation in Monday's TDN, Too Darn Hot was represented by another eye-catching success in the facile winner of the G2 May Hill S., Darnation (Ire), for owner-bredeer Newtown Anner Stud.

Karl Burke is the trainer behind both of these fillies and he's pretty darn hot himself at the moment with a 30% strike-rate. Burke also provided Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) with his first group winner over the weekend in the G3 Prix Eclipse scorer Dawn Charger (Ire), as well as winning the Listed Stand Cup S. at Chester with Al Qareem (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}). At Ireland's Champions Festival, Burke had also saddled G2 Dullingham Park S. winner Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).

Another highly impressive juvenile performance at Doncaster came from Iberian (Ire), winner of the G2 Champagne S. for Charlie Hills. The son of Lope De Vega (Ire) was bred by Ballylinch Stud, who retained a share in him when he was bought by Johnny McKeever on his trainer's behalf, and Ballylinch now races him in partnership with Teme Valley Racing. With luck we will see this progressive colt next in the Dewhurst.

Lope De Vega, whose first-crop son Belardo (Ire) won the Dewhurst in 2014 and was also bred by Ballylinch, has sired more winners (138) in Europe than any other stallion so far this year, and that haul includes 14 black-type winners. 

Iberian's success capped a good 36 hours for bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever, who saw two of his in-training selections for the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable land group wins in Australia. Just Fine (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) won Saturday's G3 Kingston Town S. at Randwick after being bought from from last year's Horses-in-Training Sale, while Goffs London Sale purchase Military Mission (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) landed the G3 Newcastle Gold Cup.

 

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King Of Steel Heads 13 Still Standing For Irish Champion Stakes

King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}) heads the 13 still standing for Saturday's Royal Bahrain Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on a weekend where the colt's owners Amo Racing could bid for a Group 1 double with Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) on course for the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National S on Sunday. 

Trained by Roger Varian, King Of Steel heads the betting for the Irish Champions Stakes, the showpiece event of the rebranded Irish Champions Festival, and connections of the colt are predicting a bold display. 

“It's a very exciting time of the year and to be going to the Irish Champions Festival with two live contenders in two Group 1s is what we've been striving for over the last 18 months,” said Amo Racing's Tom Pennington.

“It's the culmination of real hard work from everyone involved, we're excited and I know the boss [Kia  Joorabchian] is really looking forward to it.”

Aidan O'Brien's dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is once again on the comeback trail after a below par effort in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.

It was in that Group 1 contest where King Of Steel performed with credit to finish best of the three-year-olds in third behind the winner Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and connections say that they are optimistic of better again at Leopardstown. 

“We've been looking for an option to drop King Of Steel back to ten furlongs all year, but so far it has just not presented itself and we're very much looking forward to it,” Pennington said.

“There's no such thing as an easy Group 1, but we've been waiting for this race to present itself. The horse is in great form, I saw him at the weekend and he did a routine piece of work and did it very nicely and let's hope he gets there in one piece now.”

Along with Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel, the 13 remaining in Saturday's contest feature Nashwa, Onesta and the supplemented Alflaila.

Bucanero Fuerte provided the Amo operation with a breakthrough Group 1 in the Phoenix S. at the Curragh last month and the Adrian Murray-trained colt is reported to be in top shape ahead of Sunday's National S. at the Curragh. 

Pennington said, “He has always been a strong stayer at six furlongs and looks as if he's been crying out for seven. His last furlong has been his best in his last couple of races.

“At the beginning of the season he was a big frame of a horse with an engine, now he is really maturing into the horse we hoped he would.”

If Bucanero Fuerte is to add another big-race victory he will have to lower the colours of Aidan O'Brien's City Of Troy (Justify), who is currently odds-on at the head of the betting.

City Of Troy made it two from two in the Superlative S. at Newmarket–and connections of Bucanero Fuerte are under no illusion they have a huge task on their hands.

“Bucanero Fuerte does like to get his toe in, but we wouldn't be overly concerned stepping up to seven–the one concern we do have is obviously City Of Troy,” added Pennington.

“You can't be frightened of one horse, but what he did at Newmarket, to the eye, was visually impressive. We know he will take a lot of beating, but we think we're going there with a live chance.”

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Favourable Prognosis At Sapporo

Many of the 15 horses signed on for Sunday's G2 Sapporo Kinen were on trial for future events on foreign soil, and while the lion's share of those toiled in the tricky underfoot conditions, Shadai Race Horse's Prognosis (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was the one standing tallest at the finish as he galloped home a decisive winner.

Winner of the G2 Kinko Sho over the 2000 metres in March, Prognosis accepted an invitation to Hong Kong for the G1 FWD QE II Cup the following month, and, with record-setting Zac Purton at the controls, ran on from the back to finish two lengths adrift of the G1 Cox Plate-bound Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}).

Void of early speed, Prognosis managed to get all the way down onto the fence after leaving from gate 13 and raced last but one around the first turn as Unicorn Lion (Ire) (No Nay Never) crossed over from the 15 hole to head them off, as expected. Sensing a moderate pace over a course that had taken plenty of rain, Yuga Kawada asked Prognosis for a middle move at the halfway stage, and the team rallied one off the inside to race just ahead of midfield and just to the outside of the 3-year-old Top Knife (Jpn) (Declaration of War) nearing the third corner. Unicorn Lion hoisted the white flag 600 metres out, and Top Knife took advantage, but Kawada had Prognosis poised four wide at the head of the straight and opened up on them late. Fellow Shadai runner So Valiant (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) outfinished G1 Dubai Turf runner-up Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) for third. The winner would be a likely runner in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) Oct. 29 and a return trip to Hong Kong for the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup is a distinct possibility.

Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was using the Sapporo Kinen as a possible steppingstone to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf, but struggled home 11th and was later found to have displaced. He will undergo a corrective procedure and his Breeders' Cup status is in doubt. Win Mighty (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) holds Cups entries in Australia, but beat just two home Sunday.

Pedigree Notes:

Shadai acquired Velda subsequent to her daughter Vorda's runner-up effort in the 2013 Prix Morny and victory in that year's G1 Cheveley Park S. Prognosis is the fourth Shadai-bred produce for Velda, and she is also represented by a 2-year-old colt by Orfevre (Jpn), her final live foal, as she sadly passed away in April 2022.

Sunday, Sapporo, Japan
SAPPORO KINEN-G2, ¥135,500,000, Sapporo, 8-20, 3yo/up, 2000mT, 2:01.50, gd.
1–PROGNOSIS (JPN), 128, h, 5, by Deep Impact (Jpn)
1st Dam: Velda (GB), by Observatory
2nd Dam: Viavigoni (GB), by Mark of Esteem (Ire)
3rd Dam: Val d'Erica (Ire), by Ashmore (Fr)
O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shadai Farm; T-Mitsumasa Nakauchida; J-Yuga Kawada; ¥71,050,000. Lifetime Record: G1SP-HK, 10-6-2-1, $2,295,015. *1/2 to Vorda (Fr) (Orpen), Hwt. 2yo Filly-Fr, G1SW-Eng, GSW & G1SP-Fr,  Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com pedigree.
2–Top Knife (Jpn), 121, c, 3, Declaration of War–Be Wind (Jpn), by Spinning World. (¥24,200,000 Ylg '21 HOKSUM). O-Koji Yasuhara; B-Kineusu Farm; ¥28,300,000.
3–So Valiant (Jpn), 128, h, 5, Orfevre (Jpn)–So Magic (Jpn), by Symboli Kris S. O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shadai Farm; ¥18,150,000.
Margins: 4, 3, 3/4. Odds: 4.10, 48.60, 6.90.
Click for the JRA Chart.

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