Caulfield Pedigree Insights: Queens Ring

Anyone could be forgiven for thinking that Japanese racing and breeding revolves entirely around Deep Impact.

Certainly, this son of Sunday Silence has by far the greatest international reputation of any Japanese stallion, as we are likely to be reminded when his G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Beauty Parlour comes under the hammer at Goffs later this week. This year we have also seen the Wertheimer brothers' Deep Impact colt Akihiro win his first two starts, including the G3 Prix des Chenes, and France was also the scene of A Shin Hikari's route of five future Group 1 winners in the G1 Prix d'Ispahan. It was yet another son of Deep Impact, the G1 Japanese Derby winner Makahiki, who raised short-lived hopes of a first Japanese success in the Arc when he won the G2 Prix Niel.

Needless to say, Deep Impact has again racked up the type of statistics that most stallions can only dream of. Take a look at the TDN's statistics for Northern Hemisphere stallions and you will find Deep Impact ranks second only to Galileo among the sires of Group/Graded winners. Although he lags five behind Galileo's total of 30, Deep Impact is well clear of Dubawi (18) and Tapit (15). He is also second behind Galileo when it comes to Group 1 winners, his tally of eight putting him three ahead of Dubawi, Tapit and Scat Daddy.

Even so, Deep Impact hasn't been having things entirely his own way since the start of October. Even though his progeny bagged two more major prizes, the G1 Shuka Sho thanks to Vivlos and the G1 Kikuka Sho via Satono Diamond, Deep Impact has had to share the Group 1 limelight with the likes of Swept Overboard, Screen Hero and Manhattan Cafe. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the year's remaining Group 1 races–the Mile Championship on Nov. 20, the Japan Cup on Nov. 27, the Champions Cup on dirt on Dec. 4 and the two 2-year-old championships, namely the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on Dec. 11 and the Asahi Hai Futurity a week later.

It never ceases to amaze me that Sunday Silence's profound impact on Japanese breeding remains as strong as ever, even though he died as long ago as Aug. 2002. In other words, even his youngest offspring are 13-year-olds, but they still exert a near-total monopoly on the top 10 positions on Japan's leading sires' table. In addition to the top-ranked Deep Impact, there are Daiwa Major (3rd), Stay Gold (4th), Heart's Cry (5th), Manhattan Cafe (7th), Gold Allure (8th), Zenno Rob Roy (9th) and Neo Universe (10th). The only interlopers are Kingmambo's son King Kamehameha in second and French Deputy's American-bred son Kurofune in sixth. For good measure, sons of Sunday Silence hold the top three places among the sires of 2-year-olds and Sunday Silence is once again a long way clear on the broodmare sires' list.
The son of Sunday Silence who has provided the biggest challenge to Deep Impact in recent weeks is Manhattan Cafe, who died at the age of 17 in 2015. Manhattan Cafe has enjoyed graded success with two very talented 4-year-old daughters. One, last year's G1 Japanese Oaks second Rouge Buck, conquered the males in the G2 Mainichi Okan before finishing seventh in the very hotly-contested G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn). And the other, Queens Ring, followed up her victory in last month's G2 Fuchu Himba with her first Group 1 success, when she produced a bright burst of acceleration to take the Queen Elizabeth II Cup over 1 3/8 miles. In second place–just a neck behind Queens Ring–was yet another 4-year-old Manhattan Cafe filly. This one, Sing With Joy, was a Group 2 winner last year, when she also tackled two legs of the Filly Triple Crown.

Queens Ring can hardly be described as a late developer, as she won her only start at two and had extended her winning sequence to three by the time she finished fourth in the G1 Oka Sho (1000 Guineas). She confirmed her class in the G1 Shuka Sho, the final leg of the Filly Triple Crown, when she went down by only a neck to champion filly Mikki Queen. However, she seems to have reached a new level this year, with three wins from five starts, and she is in the running to be named top older filly or mare.

If Manhattan Cafe's name sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because he was one of the first horses sent to Longchamp in a bid to become Japan's first winner of the Arc. His prospects possibly were not helped by his not having raced since his victory in the two-mile G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) at the end of April and he faded to finish in the rear behind Marienbard. That performance wasn't reflective of his best performances in Japan, where he staged an excellent end to his 3-year-old campaign, taking the G1 Kikuka Sho (St Leger) before defeating his elders in the G1 Arima Kinen.

It is worth speculating about whether European breeders would have given a second thought to a potential stallion with a record similar to Manhattan Cafe's. He didn't race at two, only once tackled a distance short of 10 furlongs and gained his best wins over 1 7/8 miles, 1 9/16 miles and two miles. Also, his dam Subtle Change–an Irish-bred mare from a top-class German family–had gained her only stakes success over two miles.

Fortunately, the Japanese are not stamina-averse and Manhattan Cafe has rewarded them with five Group 1 winners. Only one of them, the Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Hiruno d'Amour, needed a stiff test of stamina and the others include Jo Cappuccino, winner of the NHK Mile Cup, and Red Desire, a Shuka Sho winner over a mile and a quarter who ventured to Dubai to win the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 in 2010. Manhattan Cafe's fifth Group 1 winner, Grape Brandy, landed the G1 February S. over a mile on dirt.

As you might expect, there is an element of speed in Queens Ring's pedigree. Her dam Aqua Ring, a six-furlong winner on dirt on her debut in Japan, is by Anabaa, Europe's champion sprinter of 1996. This son of Danzig spent time as a stallion in France, Australia and the U.S., so it is hardly surprising that his broodmare daughters are making their presence felt far and wide.

Last week we also saw an impressive debut win by Terrakova, a Galileo filly out of Anabaa's exceptional daughter Goldikova. Even though she is a 'TDN Rising Star', Terrakova will be hard