Caulfield Pedigree Insights: Hawkbill

Hawkbill | Racing Post

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Tapit's legions of fans in the U.S. may be surprised that this remarkable stallion, who appears to be well on his way towards a third consecutive sires' championship, is still awaiting his first black-type winner in Europe. This omission, I should add, owes quite a lot to the fact that Tapit hasn't had a lot of representatives in Britain, Ireland and France.

On the other hand, the profile of another champion American stallion–Kitten's Joy–is soaring in Europe, thanks to some fine performances by his 3-year-old sons.

Taareef wasn't beaten far in the rush for the minor placings behind easy winner The Gurkha in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Shadwell colt then bettered that effort over an extra furlong, winning the G3 Prix Daphnis. But Taareef's efforts pale in comparison with those of Hawkbill, the highly progressive Godolphin colt who stretched his winning sequence to six when he defeated The Gurkha in Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse.

Kitten's Joy had previously gone close to hitting the Group 1 target with Cymric, another Godolphin-owned colt from his 2013 crop. Cymric was beaten only a short neck in last year's G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

These fine 3-year-olds aren't the first black-type winners in Europe for the Ramsey Farm stallion. Several of his progeny have made their mark in the admittedly quieter waters of Italian racing. Real Solution–future winner of the GI Arlington Million and GI Woodford Reserve Manhattan H.–learnt his trade in Italy, where his wins included the Listed Premio Botticelli. There have also been Italian stakes successes for Steaming Kitten (G3 Premio del Giubileo), Kitten On The Run and Kitten's Lady, while Jolly Good Kitten was a listed winner in the French Provinces.

We have also seen Bobby's Kitten, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, make an impressive European debut, when he took a listed race at Cork by more than eight lengths in March. Then there's Marzocco, yet another Godolphin colour-bearer, who finished a creditable fifth in the 2014 G1 St Leger.

Of course Kitten's Joy owes some of his exposure in Europe to the Ramseys, but he also enjoys some advantages over Tapit from a European viewpoint. Tapit raced exclusively on dirt, as might be expected of a colt with A.P. Indy and Unbridled as his grandsires. While these two stallions have been extremely successful in the U.S., where each of them has left a tremendous legacy, they both struggled to make a serious impact in Europe.

Kitten's Joy, though, was highly proficient on turf, as might have been expected of a colt who had the top-class European runners Sadler's Wells and Lear Fan as his grandsires. For good measure Kitten's Joy also has another European Group 1 winner, El Prado, as his sire.

Early in 2014, in an effort to pinpoint some of the American stallions worthy of attention from European buyers at the 2-year-old sales, I amalgamated the Experimental Free Handicaps of the previous five years to see which names cropped up most frequently. In an article in the Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder, I wrote the following:

“There was a very decisive leader, with a total of 24 individual 2-year-olds, and I must admit that this dominant force took me rather by surprise. It was none other than Kitten's Joy, a champion middle-distance turf horse who didn't even tackle stakes company as a 2-year-old (he did round off his first season with victories over 8.5 and 9 furlongs).

“No-one can still be unaware of Kitten's Joy's prowess as a stallion. After all, he ended 2013 as North America's champion sire, prompting his owners to double his fee to $100,000. He has also been champion sire of 2-year-olds, in 2012, and he has consistently shown that that triumph was no flash in the pan. He had five crops of racing age to the end of 2013 and they have all produced at least two qualifiers for the Experimental Free Handicap. His best totals include seven in 2011, six in 2012 and five in 2013…

“Kitten's Joy hasn't had a lot of runners in Britain, but his progeny clearly merit more opportunities on this side of the Atlantic. Incidentally, his 24 Experimental horses consist of 11 males and 13 fillies, so there is no great disparity between the sexes.”

Kitten's Joy's ability as a sire of 2-year-olds isn't a total surprise, as El Prado, Sadler's Wells and Lear Fan were collectively successful in nine of their 11 juvenile starts. Hawkbill, too, was comparatively precocious. Although he was beaten in his first two starts, in April and June last year, he proceeded to win in July, August and September, with each of his successes coming on all-weather tracks.

A switch to turf this year has only aided his progress and there is no reason to think that he has reached the limit of his improvement. All three of his turf victories have come when the ground has been at least fairly soft. Kitten's Joy and Hawkbill's broodmare sire Giant's Causeway were also big winners on ground which was at least on the soft side but they were also perfectly at home on fast ground.

There are a couple of parallels already between Hawkbill's career and that of Giant's Causeway. Both were good enough–and tough enough–to win a group race at Royal Ascot before battling to victory in the Coral-Eclipse less than three weeks later.

Giant's Causeway's wins initiated a string of five Group 1 successes and he ended his career with a narrow second to Tiznow in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic on his dirt debut.

It doesn't take much imagination to envisage Hawkbill making a bold bid to win next year's G1 Dubai World Cup on dirt.

Hawkbill, who cost $350,000 as a yearling, was bred by the Helen K. Groves Revokable Trust, as was his dam Trensa. The next dam, Serape was bred and raced by Helen K. Groves, the redoubtable Texan cowgirl of King Ranch fame.

Incidentally, it is hardly surprising that Hawkbill is tough and sound. Kitten's Joy was a veteran of 14 races, while Giant's Causeway packed 13 starts into two seasons. Hawkbill's first three dams all saw plenty of action, with Trensa, Serape and Mochila respectively starting 19, 17 and 23 times. Groves purchased Mochila for $750,000 at the 1987 Tartan Farms/John A. Nerud dispersal and the Fappiano filly she was carrying at the time was Serape.

These first three dams were also above average. Hawkbill's second dam, Serape, was typical of her sire Fappiano in that she preferred dirt to turf. Serape was good enough to win the GI Ballerina S. over seven furlongs, in what was a family affair. Serape was trained by Groves' daughter Henrietta Alexander and another daughter, Helen Alexander, boarded Mochila at her Middlebrook Farm near Lexington.

Mochila was another talented dirt specialist, good enough to be Grade I placed over a mile and an eighth and a mile and quarter. This family is versatile, though, and Mochila was a half-sister to Cozzene, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Mile on turf.

However, Hawkbill's dam, the graded-placed Trensa, gained most of her earnings on turf, as did Batique, her three-parts-sister by Giant's Causeway's sire Storm Cat. All three of Batique's Grade III successes were gained on turf.

We can now expect to see more and more daughters of Giant's Causeway heading in Kitten's Joy's direction. The statistics for this pairing currently stand at 22 foals, 12 starters and 7 winners, but three of those seven winners have enjoyed black-type success. It is worth remembering that Kitten's Joy has now sired Grade I winners from mares by three different sons of Storm Cat, the others being that fine mare Stephanie's Kitten (out of a daughter of Catienus) and Bobby's Kitten (out of a Forestry mare). There is another colt out of a Catienus mare among Kitten's Joy's Saratoga yearlings, which will surely merit close attention from Sheikh Mohammed's team.

FOOTNOTE: the wait for the first European group winner by Tapit could end as soon as next Sunday, when his unbeaten daughter, 'TDN Rising Star' Maquette is entered in the G3 Prix Chloe.

 

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