Pedigree Insights: Sobetsu

After a couple of weeks when everything seemed to revolve around Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, the opposition finally got a look in over Deauville's Classic weekend (when one of the three Group 1s, the G1 Prix Saint-Alary, was actually sponsored in honour of Galileo's son The Gurkha).

The Saint-Alary was that rare beast–a Group 1 middle-distance race without a contestant by Coolmore's perennial champion sire (though there were runners by Galileo's son Frankel and half-brother Sea The Stars). The 2000-metre race promptly acted as a reminder that Galileo does have at least one serious rival in Dubawi, who was responsible for 'TDN Rising Star' Sobetsu, the impressive three-length winner, and for the previously-unbeaten and fellow 'Rising Star' Coronet, who closed strongly from the rear to snatch third place. Sobetsu is bound for the G1 Prix de Diane at Chantilly June 18, while Coronet is on target for the G1 Investec Oaks at Epsom June 2. The Oaks betting is headed by Galileo's daughter Rhododendron and Galileo's granddaughter Enable.

Sobetsu finished only fifth behind Rhododendron when the two fillies shared favouritism in last year's G1 Fillies' Mile. Sobetsu had previously been impressive in landing a Newmarket maiden by 10 lengths and a possible explanation for her disappointing Fillies' Mile effort quickly emerged, as she scoped dirty in her post-race test. There is one other possible explanation, though. As Sobetsu showed at Deauville, she is very much at home on soft going, as are many of Dubawi's progeny, and her two defeats came on the only occasions she encountered fast ground. Her chance in the Diane therefore looks to be very ground dependent.

Sobetsu is the third daughter of Dubawi to enjoy Group 1 success in France in the space of only eight months, following Left Hand in the G1 Prix Vermeille and Wuheida in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac. Mention of Wuheida is a reminder that this unbeaten filly might well have proved a worthy challenger for Galileo's daughters Winter and Rhododendron had a stress fracture not forced her absence from the G1 1000 Guineas.

Sobetsu and Coronet have more in common than just their sire and their subsequent Classic aspirations. Both are out of daughters of Darshaan, an outstanding sire of broodmares. Just how outstanding can be summarised by his daughters' total of more than 40 Group 1 winners, headed by the Classic winners High Chaparral, Pour Moi, Milan, Darsi, Sendawar, Sarafina, Zainta, Shawanda, Ebadiyla and Yesterday. They also included the Arc-winning Marienbard and the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winners Islington and Dank.

Breeders lucky enough to own a daughter of Darshaan reaped some very rich rewards from sending these mares to Sadler's Wells, with the partnership's 169 foals producing a whopping 17% stakes winners. The natural next step was to send them to Sadler's Wells's heir, Galileo, with this combination currently having an eye-catching 14% stakes winners among its 133 foals.

On the other hand, owners of Darshaan mares were initially a bit wary of sending them to Dubawi, perhaps because this pairing produces 4 x 3 inbreeding to Shirley Heights. This dual Derby winner's name became synonymous with stamina (rarely a fashionable commodity in the commercial market), and Shirley Heights is also often associated with a high-maintenance temperament. Although Shirley Heights himself was thoroughly game, he was a member of the Nasrullah male line and his daughters often swished their tails under pressure.

This Dubawi-Darshaan partnership received a considerable boost in 2012 when Al Kazeem raised his Timeform rating to 125 with his victory in the G2 Jockey Club S., and Al Kazeem did even better in 2013, when he reeled off three consecutive Group 1 successes. This provided the incentive for a few more daughters of Darshaan to be sent to Dubawi, and there are now 10 foals of racing age bred this way. With Al Kazeem, Sobetsu and Coronet among them, this cross would be very much one to watch were it not for the fact that Darshaan's youngest daughters were born in 2002. Many of his older daughters have therefore reached the end of their productive careers.

That doesn't mean that we won't see plenty of other smart Dubawis with two lines of Shirley Heights in their pedigrees. Dubawi has four group winners with second dams by Shirley Heights, including that very quirky filly Journey (G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies' and Mares' S.) and Hunter's Light (a Group 1 winner in Italy and the UAE, now standing at Haras de Logis). Shirley Heights also appears twice in the five-generation pedigrees of the Group 1-winning fillies Arabian Queen, Left Hand and Wuheida, as well as the G1 2000 Guineas second Dubawi Gold.

Two of Dubawi's Classic winners, New Bay and Night of Thunder, have two lines to Shirley Heights's sire Mill Reef (with these two also having the duplications to Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer which are often found together in Dubawi's Group 1 winners). Dubawi's 2-year-old son Glorious Journey, who cost 2.6 million guineas as a yearling, has a third dam by Mill Reef.

Sobetsu should stay the 10 1/2 furlongs of the Diane or even a mile and a half, as her dam Lake Toya stayed at least that European Classic distance. In winning listed races over a mile and a quarter at Toulouse and Lingfield, Lake Toya became one of four stakes winners sired by Darshaan from daughters of Sadler's Wells.

Sobetsu's second dam Shinko Hermes had a career which consisted of only one start in Japan, but she was a sister to two Classic performers. One, Imagine, was good enough to win the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and to lead home a Sadler's Wells 1-2-3 in the Epsom Oaks, while Strawberry Roan was second in Classic Park's Irish 1000 Guineas.

Shinko Hermes was by no means the first offspring of the celebrated broodmare Doff The Derby to race in Japan. Her high-priced half-brother Osumi Tycoon won the Yomiuri Milers Cup (Jpn-G2), while Matikanebenizakura, her record-priced half-sister by Royal Academy, had won thrice. Japanese buyers had been eager to acquire Doff The Derby's progeny following the exploits of her outstanding son Generous, winner of the G1 Derby, G1 Irish Derby and the G1 King George.

Shinko Hermes started her broodmare career in Japan, where her Sunday Silence filly Er Nova was placed at local Group 1 level, but she was later based largely in Europe, as part of the Darley broodmare band. She had several useful performers to her credit and some of her broodmare daughters are now beginning to shine. Her unraced Brian's Time filly Hermes Tiara is the dam of Dee Majesty, the Deep Impact colt who won the 2016 Japanese G1 2000 Guineas before finishing third in the G1 Japanese Derby. Shinko Hermes's sister Imagine has also proved very effective as a broodmare, producing four group winners headed by Horatio Nelson (G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere).

Shinko Hermes's group-winning half-sister Wedding Bouquet now ranks as the second dam of the outstanding French sprinter-miler Moonlight Cloud, who retired with six Group 1 successes to her credit. As Sobetsu has shown, this family continues to be a consistent source of very talented fillies, others being Trillion, Triptych and Treve, who all descend from Doff The Derby's dam Margarethen.