The Derby Approach

There are stallions with far bigger reputations who will never achieve what New Approach (Ire) has in his stud career. Yet somehow the horse who was champion 2-year-old, became the first Derby winner for Galileo (Ire), and was the joint-highest rated horse in the world in 2008 remains somewhat under-appreciated. It is all the more remarkable–and disappointing–given the hugely promising start made by New Approach early in his tenure at Dalham Hall Stud. 

Sit through any breeze-up sale and you will regularly hear the auctioneer espousing the Royal Ascot potential of the 2-year-old in the ring before him. At the Royal Meeting of 2012, New Approach set a new freshman sire benchmark when being represented by three stakes-winning members of his first crop: Dawn Approach (Ire) (G2 Coventry S.), Newfangled (G3 Albany S.) and Tha'Ir (Ire) (Listed Chesham S.). Indeed, Dawn Approach had won his first race before the main breeze-up sales had even been staged that year, and he collected another two wins before his Ascot success. He would remain unbeaten as a juvenile, emulating his sire by gathering the G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. and G1 Darley Dewhurst S. before withdrawing to his winter quarters. 

That early star also became New Approach's first Classic winner, gaining revenge for his father's nose defeat by Henrythenavigator in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket with his own decisive five-length victory on his 3-year-old debut. Come Epsom, Dawn Approach blew any chance he might have had of seeing out the Derby distance by pulling so hard he was almost fly-leaping, but New Approach had other irons in the fire, and a day earlier he had notched a second Classic winner from his debut crop when Talent (GB) won the Oaks. Dawn Approach duly finished last of the 12-runner Derby field, eased down when it was clear his chance had gone, but New Approach's other son in the race, the long-striding Libertarian (GB), flew home from an unpromising position to finish runner-up to Ruler Of The World (Ire), Galileo's second Derby winner.

Bred by the Burns family of Lodge Park Stud, New Approach is of course as much synonymous with Jim Bolger. The trainer had already masterminded the career of his dam, the G1 Irish Champion S winner Park Express (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}), for Paddy Burns. He also trained her daughters Dazzling Park (Ire) (Warning {GB}), who was runner-up to Daylami (Ire) in the Irish Champion S., and the listed-placed Alluring Park (Ire) (Green Desert), who has gone on to produce the Oaks winner Was (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), as well as her full-brother and last year's Derby third Amhran Na Bhfiann (Ire). 

Park Express's son by Galileo would not, therefore, have been too much of a hard sell to Bolger, who recalls the first time her set eyes on New Approach at Lodge Park Stud.

“He was trotting around with his dam with a bell on her neck because the dam had gone blind,” he says. “And we suspect that's maybe where he got the problem of swinging his head and looking around him. It could have had something to do with that.”

It's rare on these shores to see a horse ponied to the start of a race, as New Approach was for the Guineas and the Derby. The distance of a nose prevented him from being the winner of both of those races, and his imperious track-record-breaking win back at Newmarket for the Champion S. sealed his position on equal footing with Curlin at the head of the world rankings. A certain flightiness was a small price to pay for such obvious talent.

New Approach's stud career has not been plain sailing owing largely to the fact that he is a rig. Despite the fact that logic should dictate that something being in short supply should therefore increase its value, this is frequently not borne out in Thoroughbred sales rings. In New Approach's 12 northern hemisphere stud seasons to date, he has had four crops of foals in three figures, but only just, with the 104 born in his second crop being the largest.

“I suppose a stallion's reputation is very, very hard-earned,” says Bolger. “The ones who are the most attractive are the ones who get the sprinter-milers because that leaves a lot of people happy–it leaves the commercial breeders very happy and it leaves the new owner happy. There are fewer people whose targets are the Classics so there's reduced patronage there then right away as the pool of buyers is smaller.”

As the breeder of Dawn Approach and the 2000 Guineas winners in Britain and Ireland this year, Poetic Flare (Ire) and Mac Swiney (Ire), respectively sons of Dawn Approach and New Approach, Bolger has done more than most to demonstrate that this sireline is far from just a one-dimensional source of later-maturing middle-distance horses. 

“New Approach did get a Coventry winner in his first crop, so that should have helped, but for whatever reason it didn't, and then of course Dawn Approach went on to win the Guineas and the St James's Palace the following year but I don't think that worked any miracles either,” Bolger adds. 

Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions, says, “His being a rig, and therefore his limited size of books, is undoubtedly a hindrance, so the commercial aspect is always difficult.

“His fee is listed as private because we would rather have the opportunity to discuss it with breeders, and look at the mare's breeding record, and we can then say 'he's £30,000 but let's look at the best way  to help both sides'.”

Certainly his compromised fertility has not helped his case, but New Approach did get his Derby winner in 2018 when Masar (Ire), inbred to Ahonoora and a certain Urban Sea, gave Sheikh Mohammed a long-awaited success in the Godolphin blue. The following year his grandson Madhmoon (Ire) was second to Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). 

Madhmoon's sire Dawn Approach was not represented by his first Classic winner until this year, following his return to his birthplace of Bolger's Redmondstown Stud after standing seven seasons at Kildangan.

“He will probably cover about 50 mares this year so that could resurrect his career, and Poetic Flare has done much for him as well so hopefully there will be more to come,” says Bolger. 

Meanwhile Masar, who had the speed and precocity to beat subsequent crack sprinter Invincible Army (Ire) on debut over six furlongs in the May of his juvenile season, is now in his second season alongside his sire at Dalham Hall. 

“Masar has everything going for him,” Bullard says. “He sold himself when people came to see him last year because I think they expected him to be a bit of an 'on-the-leg' New Approach, and he's not. And his 2-year-old form actually mattered more, sadly, than some of his middle-distance form.”

He adds, “We stood him at £15,000 because that was a price at which they had to come and look at him. You can't not look at a Derby winner with a pedigree like his. He was full in year one with 140 mares and this year he is nicely through 100 again.”

It falls now to Poetic Flare, Mac Swiney and their creator Jim Bolger to continue to remind his fellow breeders of the potential of this branch of Galileo's ever-expanding sireline. They have a 2000 Guineas apiece, and colts have retired to stud with less impressive credentials than that, but one senses neither they nor their trainer are finished yet. Bolger is now setting his colts on diverging paths following their wafer-thin split when first and second in the Irish 2000 Guineas. We hope to see Poetic Flare at Ascot, aiming to emulate his sire in the St James's Palace S., while the likeably tenacious Mac Swiney will bid to do the same for New Approach at Epsom on Saturday. 

Bolger is upbeat when appraising Mac Swiney's recovery from his exertions on the Curragh just two weeks ahead of the Cazoo Derby. He says, “He's very well and as fresh as paint today so hopefully we will get him there in that form. He doesn't have any more work to do now, he's just exercising.”

Casting his mind back to the Irish 2000 Guineas, he continues, “I wasn't surprised that they were first and second but I wasn't convinced that it would be in that order. It was nice to watch for the last furlong. I did make one mistake because I meant to tell Kevin [Manning] and Rory [Cleary] that there were to be no whips if they had the race won. I had intended telling them and I forgot to do it, but they are both very hardy horses and they are none the worse.”

Bolger adds, “They have never galloped together [at home] but we have always held the two of them in high regard and we knew that there was never very much between them, except that when Poetic Flare eventually blossomed into what he is now he was much more muscled up and he looks stronger than Mac Swiney. But Mac Swiney is deceptive strength-wise. He's compact but he's very strong also, but he doesn't show the same strength as Poetic Flare.”

Epsom's topography presents its own unique challenge, but the trainer feels that it is one Mac Swiney will be able to rise to, even as the ground dries out on the Downs.

“For me he would seem to be the ideal candidate,” says Bolger. “He's a lovely horse with a lovely attitude. I think he'll be fine [at Epsom]. He takes everything in his stride. He's very well balanced and he goes downhill here at home the same as he comes up it.”

A number of trainer/breeders have enhanced the Derby's rich history which is closing in on 250 years. The 1908 victory for the filly Signorinetta (GB) two days before she successfully backed up in the Oaks for the romantically inclined Cavaliere Edoardo Ginistrelli is one such fantastic fable, while Arthur Budgett remains a personal racing hero for his training of the homebred Derby-winning half-brothers Blakeney (GB) and Morston (GB). 

For the depth of his connection to Mac Swiney, who boasts three individual Derby winners in his first three generations and was the first Group 1 winner to be inbred to Galileo, Jim Bolger would surely enter Derby folklore if the son of New Approach out of a mare by another former stable star, Teofilo (Ire), is to secure the third Classic of the season for his team at Coolcullen.

In his 79 years, Bolger has seen enough of the sport's twisting fortunes to not get too carried away by sentiment even as the Derby is now just days away and when he is likely to be represented by two runners as a breeder. The Mark Johnston-trained Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), winner of the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, is also a Redmondstown Stud graduate.

He does, however, allow himself to appreciate being in what is an unusual position for most breeders by having played as significant a role in the careers of the sires involved as he did for their female families of his proteges.

He says, “To have horses like those two, no matter what they were by, is a great sense of satisfaction, but for them to be by the stallions that we've been so close to down the years adds to that enjoyment.”

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Value Sires Part II: First Foals

We kicked off our annual Value Sires series earlier this week with a look at the new class of sires entering stud in 2021, and today we move on to the group with their first foals set to hit the ground in the coming months.

While it is not always a straightforward task to pinpoint value in unproven sires, the ripple effects of the global pandemic make the exercise a little more interesting this year. While it has become the norm for some young sires to get fee cuts in their second and third years to help mitigate the damages of a market that often judges them before their first progeny has even set foot on a racecourse, almost every member of this sire crop has had its fee trimmed this year. That trend is, of course, set against the backdrop of a bloodstock sales market that was down somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20%. While the sales were remarkably resilient in the face of such major economic uncertainty, it cannot be overlooked that a good many breeders will have suffered in 2020 and fee cuts nearly across the board are likely necessary to help keep the industry afloat.

Editor’s Note: covering figures referenced here are from the Weatherbys Return of Mares. These figures are not final until the supplement is published in February.

While their fees may be down, none of these sires’ credentials have lessened during their first year standing in the stallion barns, and Darley’s pair of champions Too Darn Hot (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) remain at the head of the pack on fees. Too Darn Hot is trimmed to £45,000 from £50,000 at Dalham Hall, and he covered 172 mares in his debut season including Frankel Light (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), the €1.3-million top lot at last year’s Arqana December sale; Galileo Gold (GB)’s dam Galicuix (GB) (Galileo {Ire}); Masar (Ire)’s dam Khawlah (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}); Time Test (GB)’s dam Passage Of Time (GB) (Dansili {GB}); dual Group 1 and Classic winner Simple Verse (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) and Group 1 winner Sultanina (GB) (New Approach {Ire}). On paper, Too Darn Hot looks about as foolproof a sire prospect as they come, with little to fault on race record or pedigree. Unbeaten in four starts at two culminating in a G1 Dewhurst S. win that was rated even higher than his new barnmate Pinatubo (Ire)’s, Too Darn Hot was named European champion 2-year-old. His 3-year-old campaign admittedly didn’t begin exactly as hoped-after a setback kept him from the G1 2000 Guineas he was beaten in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas (second) and the G1 St James’s Palace S. (third), but he returned to the winner’s enclosure in a big way when dropping back to seven furlongs to win the G1 Prix Jean Prat by three lengths in an effort rated equal to his Dewhurst win on Racing Post ratings (125).

For good measure, Too Darn Hot went back up to a mile to defeat his St James’s Palace conqueror Circus Maximus and elders in the G1 Sussex S. three weeks later. Too Darn Hot was just the latest classy performer out of Watership Down’s triple Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), herself also a half-sister to three Group 1 winners, and it is also the family of influential sire Darshaan.

Speaking of influential sires, Too Darn Hot’s own sire Dubawi has only furthered his credentials as a sire of sires this year with the continued progression of Night Of Thunder (Ire) and New Bay (GB) showing plenty of promise with his first runners. Too Darn Hot, like Night Of Thunder, is very much in the mould of his sire physically and there appears to be little standing in the way of him following in their footsteps.

Blue Point, the only horse ever to win three Group 1 sprints at Royal Ascot, is down to €40,000 at Kildangan Stud from €45,000. Blue Point’s debut book of 198 mares included Beach Frolic (GB) (Nayef), the dam of this year’s champion 3-year-old Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) who topped the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when bought by MV Magnier for 2.2-million gns. Other mares to visit Blue Point last year included Daily Times (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}), a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup winner Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}); Group 1 producer Danetime Out (Ire) (Danetime {Ire}); triple Group 1 winner Golden Lilac (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}); G2 Queen Mary S. winner Jealous Again, the dam of this year’s standout but ill-fated sprinter Sceptical (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}); Lucky Clio (Ire) (Key Of Luck), the dam of G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}); and Sand Vixen (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), the dam of G1 Jebel Hatta winner Dream Castle (GB) (Frankel {GB}). Blue Point was an exceptionally consistent talent over four seasons who ran six times at two, winning the G2 Gimcrack S., but was undoubtedly at his best at five when he went unbeaten in five starts. He won the G1 Al Quoz Sprint before defending his G1 King’s Stand S. title from the prior year and four days later added the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. In Blue Point’s wake in both his King’s Stand scores was Baattash (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}), the winner of four Group 1s and the world’s highest-rated sprinter in 2019. Like Too Darn Hot, Blue Point carries the weight on his shoulders of being a potential heir to his outstanding sire, and Blue Point ranks high among a wave of young sires looking to follow in the footsteps of Shamardal’s best sire son Lope De Vega (Ire).

Darley’s third player in this sire crop is none other than the Derby winner Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), who is available for £14,000 at Dalham Hall, down from £15,000. For those commercial breeders shaken by the word ‘Derby’, remember that Masar ran five times at two, was a Group 3 winner over the future Irish 2000 Guineas winner and won at first asking in May, beating Invincible Army (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) who went on to be a group-winning sprinter at two, three and four. Masar won the G3 Craven S. in April of his 3-year-old campaign over eventual Horse of the Year Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy) and again bested that rival and the Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Derby. Masar’s dam Khawlah won the G2 UAE Derby and G3 UAE Oaks and is a granddaughter of Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra), a half-sister to Galileo and Sea The Stars. Masar was laid up with an injury after his Derby win and sportingly brought back for a 4-year-old campaign that unfortunately didn’t pan out to fruition, but as such breeders likely got slightly better value in his first season, when he covered 146 mares.

The Coolmore Trio

Coolmore’s trio in this bunch-Ten Sovereigns (Ire) (No Nay Never), Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Calyx (GB) (Kingman {GB})-all take fee cuts as well.

Too Darn Hot wasn’t the only unbeaten Group 1-winning 2-year-old of his generation; so too was Ten Sovereigns, who went three-for-three in 2018 including scores in the G3 Round Tower S. and G1 Middle Park S. Ten Sovereigns put in his best performance at three when besting the triple Group 1 winner Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) and elders in the G1 July Cup, and he is cut to €20,000 this year from €25,000, having covered 214 mares in 2020. Those include Coolmore’s excellent producer Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}), second dam of Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}); G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}); Big Boned (Street Sense), the dam of last year’s German Group 3 winner K Club (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}); Jessica Rocks (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Havana Gold (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}); and Night Fever (Ire), dam of last year’s G2 Rockfel S. second Nazuna (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). Ten Sovereigns looks to follow in the footsteps of his own sire as an important outcross to Sadler’s Wells, and he is out of a daughter of Exceed and Excel, who only continues to bolster his record as both an excellent sire and broodmare sire. Ten Sovereigns’s first in-foal mares were well received at the recent breeding stock sales, with 15 sold for an average of €114,262/£104,333.

Magna Grecia is reduced this year to €18,000 from €22,500, and like Ten Sovereigns he was a Group 1 winner at two and three. His class was apparent early as a 340,000gns foal purchase by Coolmore, and it didn’t take him long to display that class on the racecourse for the partnership of Coolmore and the Niarchos Family; he won the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy at two over the subsequent Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain with Circus Maximus in fourth, and followed up with a 2 1/2 length score in the G1 2000 Guineas on seasonal debut. It will certainly help Magna Grecia’s chances, too, that he is a son of sire of sires Invincible Spirit, and his half-brother St Mark’s Basilica gave the pedigree a major boost last year when winning the G1 Dewhurst S. Magna Grecia was visited by 180 mares in 2020 including the Niarchos Family’s standout producer Alpha Lupi (Ire) (Rahy), the dam of four-time Group 1 and Classic winner Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) and last year’s G1 Coronation S. winner Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}); Ghurra, the dam of Group 1-winning 2-year-old and sire Shalaa (Ire) (Invincible Spirit{Ire}); and Sun Bittern (Seeking The Gold), the dam of G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest winner Signs Of Blessing (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Magna Grecia’s first in-foal mares found favour in the auction rings; five were sold for an average of €114,059/£104,169.

Like Ten Sovereigns, Calyx is an outcross to Sadler’s Wells, being by Kingman out of the Observatory mare Helleborine (GB), herself a Group 3 winner in France and a full-sister to G1 Sprint Cup winner and stakes producer African Rose (GB). Calyx was the first son of Kingman to retire to stud and though his racetrack career was brief, he caught the eye with the electric turn of foot reminiscent of his sire when winning the G2 Coventry S. at two and the G3 Pavilion S. at three. Calyx covered 163 mares last year for €22,500, and is available for €16,000 in 2021. Calyx had 11 in-foal mares offered at the breeding stock sales and all sold, for an average of €76,899/£70,235.

More Quality Speed

The fourth Group 1-winning 2-year-old in this sire class laden with top-class sprinting talent is Advertise (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who stays at £25,000 having covered 138 mares at the National Stud in 2020 including 67 black-type performers or producers, like the dams of Group 1 winners Aclaim (Ire), Maarek (GB) and Dick Whittington (Ire), as well as a half-sister to Battaash.

Advertise found only Calyx and Too Darn Hot too good during his five-race juvenile campaign. A first-out winner in May, Advertise was second to Calyx in the Coventry before winning the G2 July S. and the G1 Phoenix S. After a late summer holiday, he split Too Darn Hot and future Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Dewhurst. Advertise failed to see out the mile trip of the Guineas at first asking at three, but put that defeat firmly behind him next out with a career-best win in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. Second to Ten Sovereigns in the July Cup, he bounced back once more with a win over elder sprinters in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. Advertise has plenty of sire power behind him in his pedigree, too, being the best son to date of Oasis Dream’s prolific son Showcasing out of a daughter of Pivotal (GB), whose prowess as a broodmare sire needs no introduction. Advertise had seven in-foal mares sell at the breeding stock sales for an average of £80,091/€87,665.

Middle Distance Stars

Also sticking with his 2020 fee (€17,500) is Waldgeist (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who looks to have been very fairly priced from the outset as a multiple Group 1 and Arc-winning son of Galileo from a stout German family littered with black-type stars. For those not convinced by Waldgeist’s 2019 Arc score over Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), Japan (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), let’s rewind to 2016, when he was a Group 1-winning 2-year-old in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud. Despite finishing a short-head second in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, Waldgeist failed to win at three, but connections’ patience paid off the following year when the chestnut won four straight group races including the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud over the grand mare Coronet (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the G2 Prix Foy over GI Breeders’ Cup Turf scorer Talismanic (Medaglia d’Oro). He won the third of his four Group 1s, the Prix Ganay, over Classic winner Study Of Man (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) on seasonal debut at five and finished third in both the G1 Prince of Wales’s S. and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. before winning the Foy again and the Arc. Waldgeist was the joint highest-rated horse in the world in 2019 and his official rating of 128 is the highest in this sire crop. He covered 117 mares last year at Ballylinch Stud with plenty of support from Ballylinch as well as his co-owner Gestut Ammerland-it is worth remembering this is the same team that brought us Lope De Vega.

The aforementioned Study Of Man is trimmed to €12,500 from €15,000 after covering 71 mares at Lanwades Stud, many of those from the blue-blooded broodmare ranks of Kirsten Rausing and the Niarchos Family, the latter having bred and raced Study Of Man. Being by Deep Impact and out of a Storm Cat daughter of the great Miesque, Study Of Man’s pedigree is choc-full of stallion-making influences, and he is also an outcross to both Sadler’s Wells and Danehill. Study Of Man won his lone start at two before taking the G2 Prix Greffulhe and the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, and he picked up two Group 1 seconds at four behind Waldgeist in the Ganay and Zabeel Prince (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) in the G1 Prix d’Ispahan.

Another Lope Rising

Another Classic winner in this crop is the Irish National Stud’s Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who stands for €12,500, down from €15,000. Looking to follow in the footsteps of another son of Lope De Vega, Belardo (Ire), who made a promising start with his first runners last year, Phoenix Of Spain covered 148 mares in 2020. The winner of the G3 Acomb S. at two and second to Too Darn Hot in the G2 Champagne S. and Magna Grecia in the Vertem Futurity Trophy, Phoenix Of Spain turned the tables on Too Darn Hot in the Irish Guineas the following spring.

Four-Figure Finds

Taking the prize for the busiest member of this sire crop last year was Inns Of Court (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who covered 218 mares for €7,500 and is this year available for €5,000. Inns Of Court was a winner in his lone 2-year-old outing before winning a pair of seven-furlong Group 3s in France at three and finishing second in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. He won the G3 Prix de Ris-Orangis at four and was a short-head second to One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the G1 Prix de la Foret, and held his form through his 5-year-old campaign when he won the Listed Prix Servanne and the G2 Prix du Gros-Chene. Inns Of Court’s dam Learned Friend (Ger) (Seeking The Gold) is out of the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Lune d’Or (Fr) (Green Tune) and is a half-sister to dual Japanese Group 1 and Classic winner Fierement (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Another young son of Invincible Spirit who proved popular in Ireland last year was Invincible Army (Ire), who covered 139 mares at €10,000 and stands for €7,500 in 2021 at Yeomanstown Stud. Invincible Army was a group-winning sprinter at two, three and four, and he was at his best at four when winning the G2 Duke of York Clipper Logistics S. and the G3 Chipchase S. and finishing third in the G1 Flying Five S. Invincible Army is out of the G1 Falmouth S. scorer Rajeem (GB) (Diktat {GB}).

The fourth son of Invincible Spirit in this sire crop is the G1 Commonwealth Cup winner Eqtidaar (Ire), who stand at Shadwell’s Nunnery Stud for £5,000, down from £6,500 in 2020 when he covered 74 mares. Eqtidaar, whose only other win in eight starts was a Nottingham maiden on debut at two, is out of the high-class Madany (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), also the dam of G2 Hungerford S. winner and Guineas-placed Massaat (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and G3 Horris Hill S. scorer Mujbar (GB) (Muhaarar {GB}).

Joining Advertise as a son of Showcasing in this sire crop is Soldier’s Call (GB), who covered 165 mares at Ballyhane Stud last year at €10,000 and is trimmed to €7,500 for 2021. Soldier’s Call won the Listed Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot, the G2 Prix d’Arenberg at Chantilly and the G2 Flying Childers S. at Doncaster before being beaten a neck by elders when third in the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye. He ran eight times at two and despite not winning at three, held his form to place in the King’s Stand and the Nunthorpe. Soldier’s Call had just two in-foal mares go through the ring at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale and they fetched 190,000gns and 120,000gns.

Likewise, Ten Sovereigns’s sire No Nay Never has a son available for a four-figure fee, and that is Highclere’s Land Force (GB), who covered 155 mares at Highclere Stud for £6,500 last year and is down to £5,000. Like Soldier’s Call, Land Force ran eight times at two, winning in May and picking up the Listed Tipperary S. and G2 Richmond S. in the summer. A €350,000 yearling, Land Force’s pedigree catches the eye: out of Group 3 winner Theann (GB) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), he is a half-brother to the dual Grade I winner Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and a grandson of Cassandra Go (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), whose daughter Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) has brought us the Group 1-winning Galileo mares Magical (Ire) and Rhododendron (Ire). The top mare at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale–Zain Art (Ire), the dam of Group 2-winning 2-year-old Aloha Star (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus})–was sold in-foal to Land Force (Ire) for €390,000.

While Sottsass (Fr) this year becomes the first Group 1-winning son of Siyouni (Fr) to retire to stud, he was preceded last year by two stakes-winning sons of the French star, City Light (Fr) and Le Brivido (Fr). City Light showed plenty of potential at three, placing in multiple black-type sprints, and he won the G3 Prix de Saint-Georges at three before finishing a short-head second in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. He added another Group 3 sprint, the Prix du Pin, at four before once again being narrowly beaten in a Group 1 when a half-length second to One Master in the Prix de la Foret, and he stays at €7,000 at Haras d’Etreham in Normandy. It is worth noting that with a short head and a half lengths’ difference, that fee could easily have been double.

Le Brivido, meanwhile, moves to Haras de la Haie Neuve in France and stands for €5,000 after covering 56 mares at Overbury Stud in Britain last year at £7,000. He, likewise, came agonizingly close to Group 1 glory, finishing a short head second in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains before winning Royal Ascot’s G3 Jersey S.

Godolphin’s triple Group 1 winner Best Solution (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) was a welcome addition to the German stallion ranks last year, and he once again stands at Haras Auenquelle for €6,500. Best Solution was, incidentally, second to Waldgeist in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud at two after winning the G3 Autumn S., and while he won the G3 St Simon S. at three he was at his best at four, winning the Grosser Preis von Berlin, the Grosser Preis von Baden and the Caulfield Cup on the bounce. Best Solution’s third dam is Juddmonte’s excellent producer Eva Luna, who left Classic winner Brian Boru (GB) (Sadler’s Wells) and the dam of Derby and Arc winner Workforce among many other stakes winners.

Value Podium

Gold: Masar (£14,000) – a precocious 2-year-old that trained on to win the Derby from the family of Galileo and Sea The Stars.

Silver: Soldier’s Call (€7,500) – a tough 2-year-old who trained on to mix with the best sprinters at three. Has been well supported and should be popular commercially.

Bronze: Advertise (£25,000) – a sprinter of the highest quality at two and three. Plenty of stallion-making influences in his pedigree.

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