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The Next Generation Of Darley Sires

For any breeder of Thoroughbreds, the opportunity to watch one's carefully cultivated lines thrive across generations must be one of the greatest rewards that can be derived. The team at Darley can take pride, then, in fact that it has three Group 1-winning stallions by its own sires with their first crops to sell at the upcoming foals sales.

Masar (Ire) will be remembered as a true game-changer for Godolphin on the racecourse. By emulating his sire New Approach (Ire) in winning the G1 Derby, Masar became the first blue riband winner to wear the Godolphin silks. Sheikh Mohammed purchased New Approach from Jim Bolger after he had won the G1 National S. and G1 Dewhurst S., and New Approach raced in the colours of Princess Haya. Bred by Godolphin, Masar is from New Approach's seventh crop, and he is out of the dual UAE Classic winner Khawlah (Ire), who is out of Villarrica (Selkirk), a granddaughter of Urban Sea purchased by Sheikh Maktoum from the Tsui family. Khawlah is a daughter of Sheikh Mohammed's homebred stallion Cape Cross (Ire), who stood at Kildangan Stud his entire career.

Godolphin purchased Blue Point (Ire) for 200,000gns at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2015. The three-time Royal Ascot Group 1-winning sprinter is by Shamardal, the breed-shaping sire that Sheikh Maktoum purchased from Tattersalls as a yearling for 50,000gns in 2003. With the exception of one season at Dalham Hall, Shamardal likewise stood his entire career at Kildangan until his death last year.

Too Darn Hot (GB) is a champion 2- and 3-year-old bred by the Lloyd-Webbers' Watership Down Stud. He is by Sheikh Mohammed's second-generation stallion Dubawi (Ire) who, bar one season, has stood his entire stud career at Dalham Hall Stud. Dubawi will stand for the sixth consecutive year at £250,000 in 2022, and will be the most expensive sire in the world. Too Darn Hot is out of the three-time Group 1-winning Dar Re Mi (GB), who is by Singspiel, another of Sheikh Mohammed's influential homebred sires who stood at Dalham Hall until his death in 2010.

Masar and Too Darn Hot are preparing to stand their third seasons at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket, while Blue Point holds court at Kildangan Stud in Kildare.

Masar is about as blueblooded as they come, being inbred 3×4 to Urban Sea, and he offers breeders a highly progressive profile, being an early, Group 3-winning 2-year-old who trained to win the Derby and finish third in the G1 2000 Guineas. He was full in year one with 146 mares bred at a fee of £15,000, and covered 99 this year for £14,000.

“I think we pitched him at a good fee; he [has been] competitively priced,” said Dalham Hall nominations team member David Appleton. “We've been really happy with Masar's foals. There are some that look precocious and early and others that will need a bit of time and will be yearling prospects. They're generally nice horses with enough bone, a bit of quality about them, much like him. He tends to stamp them in terms of his colour and his make and shape, so it's exciting.”

Liam O'Rourke, Darley's director of studs, stallions and breeding based in the UK, was particularly enthusiastic about a handful of Godolphin's homebred Masars at Dalham Hall.

“We have a very nice filly out of a mare called Golden Globe,” he said. “She has a lot of quality. She's maybe not quite as big as the others but she has loads of size nonetheless, and presence. She's a very correct walker and looks like she's going to be a really nice yearling.”

Golden Globe (Jpn) is by Shamardal, as is Kazziana (GB), the dam of another standout Masar filly.

“We have another excellent filly out of Kazziana,” O'Rourke said. “She's an exceptionally good-looking foal. She's very strong and the point I'd make about her is that she exemplifies what Masar seems to be doing with his foals, which is putting a lot more substance into them than we may have expected. She has very good bone on her.”

“We have a colt out of Lady Marian (Ger) who is very well related,” O'Rourke added. “Her best foal is Loxley, who is by New Approach, and she is a Nayef mare. He is a really high-quality foal, very correct and very refined with tons of quality. He's been really nice from the time he was born and has developed through those summer stages into a lovely weanling at present. I think he'll be a really lovely yearling too.

“Beneath that we have some others that are improving all the time, and they'll probably be better yearlings than they are foals, which is an exciting thing to be able to say because often times if a foal is really nice initially it can often be plain as a yearling. Masar was a slow burner himself and I think he'll imprint that on his foals; they'll become really good-looking yearlings. The signs are very good.”

Appleton said Masar has myriad qualities that should stand his foals in good stead.

“Masar had speed, which every good horse needs,” he noted. “You speak to the likes of John Gosden and he'll tell you even horses that stay a trip have to have speed. He had that in abundance. He also has an incredible temperament. He's a very nice horse to be around. He's a very relaxed horse and that comes through the pedigree. He's by New Approach out of a Cape Cross mare. The temperament, the precocity and speed–he has everything you'd want.”

Masar will once again stand for £14,000 in 2022. His Dalham Hall studmate Too Darn Hot likewise remains unchanged at £45,000, down slightly from the £50,000 he commanded in his debut season. The champion 2- and 3-year-old of his generation thanks to victories in the G1 Dewhurst S., G1 Prix Jean Prat and G1 Sussex S., Too Darn Hot covered 172 mares in his debut season, and this year covered the best book of mares ever served by a European sire in his second season at stud bar Frankel (GB).

“Too Darn Hot has been incredibly well received for the two seasons we've had him,” said Dawn Laidlaw, Darley's head of nominations in the UK. “I could run through a list of the who's who of European breeders that have all used him, as well as our partners Watership Down and our own mares. He has covered mares from all the top breeders in Europe.”

“Right from the get-go with the first foals, the reports were really positive,” Laidlaw added. “We've been out looking at them and I can honestly say I've consistently seen some of the nicest foals by any of our stallions ever. They have a lot of Dubawi about them in the fact that they can be quite compact, but they probably have a bit more of that Singspiel quality and a bit of Too Darn Hot's own quality. When you have all the top breeders telling you they have nice foals at home, it's really positive and that certainly helped him with his second book. A lot of the breeders came back and will also be using him again next year.”

Too Darn Hot's momentum will also be aided by Dubawi's continued ascent as a sire of sires, with Time Test (GB) and Zarak (Fr) getting off to strong starts this season to join the likes of Night Of Thunder and New Bay as exciting young sons of Dubawi to watch.

Of Too Darn Hot, Laidlaw added, “he has a lot of quality, and he's the most athletic horse. He's a great walker and very agile. He probably has more quality than some of Dubawi's other sons, but Dubawi's sons are now doing exceptionally well-you have the likes of Night Of Thunder, and Time Test has made a great start this year with his first runners. Hopefully Too Darn Hot will follow in their footsteps. He has great potential.”

Darley Ireland Nominations Manager Eamon Moloney said star sprinter Blue Point was “heavily oversubscribed” in his first season, covering 180 mares.

“He has a huge level of fertility and covered some very nice mares,” he said. “I suppose the standout mare that comes to mind is the dam of Palace Pier, who has a fantastic-looking colt on the ground. There are 17 Blue Points coming to [Tattersalls December] and the pedigrees are strong. People stepped up and sent him a really nice, high-quality mare.”

Moloney said Blue Point was equally popular with breeders in year two, when he covered a similar number at €40,000, down from €45,000 in 2020. He remains at €40,000 for 2022.

“He's in a very healthy position, so it's all about the foals now,” Moloney said. “We've seen foals that have the kind of Shamardal qualities that we're used to seeing at Kildangan; people will describe a Shamardal head and they do have a bit of that. But what they have is the great shoulder and hip that Shamardal had, and a great movement.”

Moloney admitted to a bit of friendly competition between Teams Kildangan and Dalham.

“In the early part of February and March we were looking at the Too Darn Hots and were kind of looking on a bit jealous,” Moloney said. “These Too Darn Hots were amazing-looking, but the Blue Point foals have started to catch up. They're on a constant improve. We always think our Shamardals constantly improve throughout their foal and yearling year and we're finding that with Blue Point as well. So it's nice to see those similarities coming through.”

After Blue Point beat Battaash (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) to win the G1 King's Stand S. at four, the Darley team resisted the temptation to ship him off to stud and, on the recommendation of Charlie Appleby, kept him in training at five. That paid dividends, with Blue Point winning all five starts that season including a repeat in the King's Stand before adding the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. four days later to become the only horse to win three Group 1 sprints at the Royal meeting. That achievement, combined with the fact that he won the G2 Gimcrack S. at two, is a reflection on his toughness and constitution.

Blue Point stands alongside another young Group 1-winning son of Shamardal, Earthlight (Ire), at Kildangan, and another, Pinatubo (Ire), was foaled at Kildangan before going on to be champion 2-year-old and entering stud at Dalham Hall. The pride in Moloney's voice when topic of Shamardal and his sons is broached is palpable.

“It's fantastic to have a son of Shamardal in Kildangan,” he said. “It's building a legacy, and that's what it's about. Shamardal was so good for Kildangan for so many years, and when Blue Point came along it was just the satisfaction of so much hard work that had gone into developing the lines and breeding horses like that. Blue Point was bought, but he was very well bought and he was bred by a very good Irish farm [Oak Lodge Stud] and it was a fantastic effort by them. For us, having Shamardals, that's what we want. We want to bring the lines through. For Pinatubo and Earthlight to follow so quickly behind [Blue Point] is just fantastic as well.”

Masar, Too Darn Hot and Blue Point all have first-crop foals on offer at the upcoming Goffs November and Tattersalls December foal sales.

The post The Next Generation Of Darley Sires appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Taking Stock: Galileo, Coolmore, O’Brien and the Derby

By now you've read some of the many excellent remembrances and obituaries of Galileo (Ire), who was euthanized at Coolmore on Saturday at age 23. Any way you look at it, the son of Sadler's Wells was one of the greatest stallions of all time, as were his sire and and grandsire Northern Dancer. This dynastic sequence is now in its fourth generation with Galileo's outstanding son Frankel (GB), who is well on his way to matching the iconic status he achieved on the racetrack as a stallion, and history will note that in the year his sire died, Frankel got his first G1 Epsom Derby winner, Adayar (Ire). Frankel also happens to be responsible for the 2021 G1 Irish Derby winner Hurricane Lane (Ire), but for the scope of this piece, I'm limiting all discussion through the prism of the Epsom Classic to which all Derbys around the world trace. It is the oldest and most hallowed of them all, and Frankel's breakthrough in it seems only right, because Galileo has sired more winners of the race than any other stallion in its 240-year history.

An Epsom Derby winner himself, Galileo entered stud at four in 2002, and his first 3-year-olds raced in 2006. His five Epsom Derby winners through 16 crops of 3-year-olds are New Approach (Ire) (in 2008), Ruler of the World (Ire) (2013), Australia (GB) (2014), Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (2019), and Serpentine (Ire) (2020).

In addition to Adayar for Frankel this year, New Approach's Masar (Ire) won in 2018, giving the Galileo branch of Sadler's Wells seven winners in the 16 years that Galileo has had foals old enough to contest the Derby.

New Approach is an accomplished sire, but Frankel, already with 17 Group/Grade 1 winners, is an exceptional one, and he's creating some history because it's a long-held view among pedigree historians that exceptional sire sequences last at most three generations before hegemony crumbles.

We're possibly witnessing this phenomenon in real time with the sequence of Northern Dancer/Sadler's Wells/Montjeu (Ire), for example. Like Galileo, Montjeu was a top-class racehorse and a great stallion in his own right, and with four winners of the Epsom Derby, he's tied with several others in second place. Had he not died early at 16, it's possible he'd have had more and been able to compete with Galileo, but to date he hasn't had a sire son like Galileo of the caliber of Frankel, though Camelot (Ire) is good.

Coolmore's Derby Dominance…

Sadler's Wells was raced by Robert Sangster and stood at Coolmore, and as outstanding as he was as a stallion, he didn't get his first Epsom Derby winner until he was 20, and that horse was Galileo. He did get a second winner in High Chaparral (Ire) the next year, but that was it.

Northern Dancer had three: Nijinsky (1970), The Minstrel (1977), and Secreto (1984). All of them were trained at Ballydoyle, the first two by Vincent O'Brien, and Secreto by Vincent's son David O'Brien. Secreto, who raced for Luigi Miglietti, famously upset his father's highly fancied Northern Dancer colt El Gran Senor, flying the Sangster silks, in 1984.

At that time, Coolmore boss John Magnier, whose wife Sue is Vincent O'Brien's daughter, was the junior partner in the Sangster/O'Brien group, but after O'Brien, who trained six Epsom Derby winners, retired from training in 1994, Magnier installed Aidan O'Brien (no relation to Vincent) as trainer at Ballydoyle in 1996. Two years later Galileo was born to the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea. He was bred on a foal share between David Tsui, who owned and raced Urban Sea, and Magnier's breeding entity Orpendale. The colt initially raced in Sue Magnier's colors and later in partnership with Michael Tabor. Derrick Smith arrived a few years later and together they comprise what we now call the Coolmore racing partners, with John Magnier the senior member.

The arrival of Galileo at the races coincided with the retirement of Montjeu and reignited the Derby fortunes of both Coolmore, where Sadler's Wells was aging, and Ballydoyle, which had gone through a dry spell between the two O'Briens. Montjeu had raced in Tabor's colors and had been trained by John Hammond, but from Galileo onwards, most of the Coolmore partners' big guns have been trained by Aidan O'Brien, including all the top Galileos–and there have been many.

Because of Galileo, Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor have been recognized as the owners with the most number of Epsom Derby winners, with nine–a mind-boggling achievement. Aside from Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002) by Sadler's Wells, their winners (the later ones in partnership with Smith and others) are four by Galileo referenced earlier–Ruler of the World, Australia, Anthony Van Dyck, and Serpentine; two by Montjeu–Pour Moi (2011) and Camelot (2012); and one–Wings of Eagles (Fr) (2017)–by Pour Moi (Ire).

In the broader picture, each Derby winner is a member of the Sadler's Wells sire line, and keep in mind that these nine Epsom Derby wins have come over a period of 21 years, essentially meaning one every other year.

Aidan O'Brien…

Aidan O'Brien is the leading trainer of Epsom Derby winners with eight. He trained all of the above except for Pour Moi, who was trained by Andre Fabre, and he makes no secret of the fact that Galileo is the racehorse and stallion he holds well above any other.

Galileo gave O'Brien his first Derby and has supplied him as a sire with four others, so he knows what he's talking about.

In November of 2018, I made a trip to Ireland to specifically pay homage to Galileo and to speak to O'Brien, who at the time had won the Derby six times. The year before, O'Brien had won a record 28 Group 1 races, many of them with sons or daughters of Galileo, and I needed an explanation from the trainer to digest the sheer volume of gaudy numbers.

The first thing that struck me when I saw Galileo in the flesh was his size. He'd been listed at 16 hands but looked more like the 15.2 of his grandsire, whom he resembled in shape as well, if not as robustly made. But, even as an old man, he had a swagger to him and an intelligent eye that suggested a sound, bomb-proof constitution.

Meanwhile, Aidan O'Brien, who'd been at Ballydoyle for 23 years, still had a youthful appearance to him that belied his own experienced wisdom from learning about and training the great horse and his progeny for almost two decades. He's also unfailingly pleasant and polite and never fails to mention your name frequently in conversation.

When I asked him what is it about the Galileos, he said, “Sid, It's not about the exterior with them. It's not physical. It's a mental trait, Sid.”

And this is what he told me, which I'd published in this space two years ago but will reproduce again as it is poignant in remembering Galileo:

“Galileos are, like, very strange horses, meaning that they try so hard. And always with the Galileos, all you're trying to do is slow them down and relax them. With most other horses, it's the complete opposite. But Galileos, they never remember what happened yesterday. Say they got really tired–and when a horse gets really tired, they feel a bit of pain–some horses get very clever to that and they don't want to go back there anymore. So what happens is that when they start controlling that, you can only train them to a certain level because they won't let you push them any further. But with Galileos, they will give their absolute 150% every day. It's very strange. It's a mental trait, not a physical trait. Of all the horses we've ever trained, we've never seen it in another horse before. It's a gene that will carry on. It's a pure remind of him.”

That “try” that O'Brien described is a rare attribute that needs careful handling and development, something that could go awry without proper recognition and training. A lesser trainer, or one without an understanding of the Galileos, might squander what they see too early and overcook a horse before he's had a chance to show his potential, but O'Brien is meticulously patient in his handling of the Galileos, whom he oversees from as early as the time they are sent to Ballydoyle as yearlings in the autumn to be readied to race at two.

His is the type of symbiotic horsemanship that has brought out the best in the Galileos, and together they've had a mutually beneficial run that has lit up the record books.

O'Brien has won two more Derbys with sons of Galileo since my visit, and I wouldn't be surprised if he attempted to win a Gl Kentucky Derby with a colt from one of the stallion's remaining crops. It's something he mentioned to me, and as one of the architects of Galileo's success, he knows that it's a prize he'd like next to the great horse's name.

And, of course, the trainer will be looking to share a few more Derby wins at Epsom, too, with Galileo.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Galileo: A Force Majeure

“The lads had him as a king before he came here.”

So said Aidan O'Brien back in April when reflecting on Galileo's Classic season of 2001. Pedigree and physique were aligned and soon the third 'p', performance, would complete the holy trinity of the Thoroughbred.

Two decades on and Galileo has not only rewritten the record books but, in doing so, has surpassed his own remarkable sire Sadler's Wells, who in turn was the most influential son of Northern Dancer. And much in the way that those names are so entwined with the folklore of Vincent O'Brien's tenure at Ballydoyle, so will Galileo forever be linked with that outstanding trainer's successor and namesake. For not only did Aidan O'Brien mastermind Galileo's own racing career but he has been responsible for more than half of his 92 Group or Grade 1 winners, and four of his five Derby winners. That record is already expanding at pace through the offspring of those alumni.

As Kelsey Riley has already outlined, Galileo was born to be great: the perfect example of breeding the best to the best. But no matter how perfect the genetic composition of the father, it does not guarantee that similar talent will will be bestowed upon his offspring. When Galileo retired to stud, not even the boldest forecaster could have predicted the colossal impact he would have on the breed in the ensuing two decades.

Unusually at this stage of the season after the majority of the Classics have been contested, he is not in his customary position at the head of the table. There are still many races to be run in 2021, and it would be folly to count him out at the halfway house, but sooner or later, whether this year or in the future, the baton will be passed. Presently, the stallion most obviously in line to receive that is, appropriately, Galileo's defining masterpiece: Frankel. In a season which has seen his own growing stallion reputation soar to new heights, Frankel has sired his first Derby winner and first Irish Derby winner, while Snow Lantern's victory in Friday's Falmouth S. saw her become Frankel's 17th Group/Grade 1 winner in six different countries, and his fifth in this year alone.

Galileo's daughters Empress Josephine (Ire) and Joan Of Arc (Ire) ensured that his name appeared close up in the pedigrees of at least two of the European Classic winners so far this year, taking the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Prix de Diane respectively. But he is never that far away these days. In fact, Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Coeursamba (Fr) (The Wow Signal {Ire}) are the only two Classic winners in Europe in 2021 to be free of Galileo's blood.

He features as the broodmare sire of dual French Classic and Coral-Eclipse winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who currently heads the world rankings, and of the Oaks winner Snowfall (Jpn). Galileo jumps back another generation in arguably the second-best 3-year-old colt of this year and is the paternal great grandsire of 2000 Guineas and St James's Palace S. winner Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}). His influence is greater still when it comes to that colt's stable-mate and conqueror in the Irish 2000 Guineas, Mac Swiney (Ire), who is inbred 2×3 to Galileo through his sons New Approach (Ire) and Teofilo (Ire).

When Serpentine (Ire) struck at Epsom in 2020, Galileo became the most successful Derby sire of all time, and two of his grandsons, Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), have now also claimed the blue riband.

In fact, 20 of Galileo's sons have now sired at least one Group 1 winner of their own. The Classic winners Australia (GB) and Gleneagles (Ire) currently occupy spots in the list of top 20 sires in Europe. Teofilo (Ire), the most successful of his sons by number of Group 1 winners with 21 to his credit, has supplied one of the top performers of the season in Gold Cup winner Subjectivist (GB).

But that's just 2021, in a season which is still full of running. When Galileo's life ended on Saturday morning after 23 years, he had already been champion sire for more than half of that time. At Coolmore alone, his stallion sons include Australia, Churchill (Ire), Circus Maximus (Ire), Gleneagles, Gustav Klimt (Ire), Highland Reel (Ire) and The Gurkha (Ire), while under the National Hunt banner stands Capri (Ire), Idaho (Ire), Soldier Of Fortune (Ire), Kew Gardens (Ire), Mahler (Ire) and Order Of St George (Ire).

Sons standing elsewhere include of course Juddmonte's superstar Frankel, and his former racecourse rival Nathaniel (Ire), who, during his tenure at Newsells Park Stud has notched his own place in the bloodstock annals, particularly as the sire of another Juddmonte luminary, Enable (GB). That great mare's two victories in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe followed that of Found (Ire), who led home the aforementioned Highland Reel and Order Of St George for a memorable Galileo trifecta, and they were followed in 2019 by Galileo's son Waldgeist (GB), who now stands at Ballylinch Stud. For good measure, Galileo is also the broodmare sire of the 2020 winner, Sottsass (Fr), one of three Coolmore stallions for which he fills this role, along with St Mark's Basilica's half-brother Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

While debate often swirls around the efficacy of a particular horse as a sire of sires, the focus on the male line is only ever half the story. The influence of mares in the growing legacy of Galileo must not be overlooked: both in the quality of partner he has been sent from the outset, and the terrific record of his daughters, both on the track and as broodmares.

For all that Galileo's scope as a sire is illustrated by the fact that, along with his great Derby record, he has sired three winners of the 2000 Guineas, his daughters have been responsible for four 2000 Guineas winners to date: Night Of Thunder (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), Galileo Gold (Ire) (Paco Boy {Ire}), and the aforementioned Saxon Warrior and Magna Grecia.

Indeed, his first Classic winner Nightime (Ire), heroine of the Irish 1000 Guineas of 2006, the year in which Galileo's son Sixties Icon (GB) won the St Leger, is now the dam of the top-rated horse in the world in 2020, Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

He may currently be narrowly behind Frankel in the European sires' table, but Galileo is way out in front in the broodmare sires' list. This is a sphere in which his dominance will be felt for years to come, with his current tally of 38 Group 1 winners as a damsire likely to increase even before this season is out.

As previously stated, however, Galileo is far from being ruled out of yet another sires' championship, which would put him just one behind the record of Sadler's Wells.

We can expect to see some classy juveniles unleashed as the season progresses, for among his 102 named foals of 2019 are a full-sister to Found named Champagne (Ire), and Denver (Ire), a brother to Magical (Ire). The list of his progeny yet to race who are either out of Group 1 winners or related to them runs to pages, but to highlight a few, we can also look forward to Snow Lantern's three-parts-brother First Emperor (GB), Goldikova's 2-year-old son Lehman (GB) and a filly out of Tepin named Swirl (Ire).

Galileo's death, while immensely lamentable, has not come as a shock. It is well known that as the survivor of colic surgery his every move has been micro-managed by the excellent team in the Coolmore stallion yard who will mourn him most.

For those of us who were not in daily contact with the stallion whose equable temperament was doubtless a vital component of his success on the track and at stud, his loss will not be so keenly felt simply because his name will loom large in the pedigrees of champions for generations to come.

At 23, Galileo has compiled a formidable record, aided by a ceaseless supply of some of the best mares in the world, that will only be enhanced in the seasons ahead. He has not, as in the case of some, done it the hard way, but he has done it the right way. A force majeure in his lifetime, that will not change simply because he has drawn his last breath.

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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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