Darley Stallions Enjoy A Super Saturday

Darley sires often enjoy red-letter days at this time of year, as Godolphin invariably does very well during the Dubai International Carnival. However, even by Darley's usual high standards, 'Super Saturday' was special: not only did Darley sires provide both the Group 1 winners at Meydan, but they were also responsible for the winners of all three Group 1 races run in Australia.

Teofilo (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was the star of the show. Already a proven top-class sire, the 2006 G1 Dewhurst S. winner increased his tally of individual Group 1 winners from eight to 10 courtesy of the victories of Palentino (Aus) in the Australian Guineas at Flemington and Special Fighter (Ire) in Round Three of the Al Maktoum Challenge at Meydan. Another of the successful sires whose reputation was already rock-solid internationally is Shamardal (Giant's Causeway). The 2004 G1 Dewhurst S. winner took his worldwide tally of individual Group 1 winners to 16 when Tryster (Ire) landed the Jebel Hatta S. at Meydan.

The deceased Commands (Aus) (Danehill) does not have the international CV of Teofilo or Shamardal. This is understandable as he spent his entire stud career in New South Wales apart from a brief stint of reverse-shuttling to Haras du Quesnay in France early in the 20th century and a couple of trips to Japan late in his life. In Australia, though, he was extremely successful. His tally of individual Group 1 winners now stands at 10 thanks to Holler (Aus) taking the Canterbury S. at Randwick.

Less substantial is the worldwide status of Hard Spun (Danzig) whose stud career so far has been what one might term 'a game of two halves'. The former super-tough and top-class racehorse has produced a regular supply of high-class horses in the USA, but his offspring have failed to make anything like the same impact elsewhere. The victory, therefore, of his 3-year-old son Le Romain (Aus) in the Randwick Guineas in Sydney is a notable landmark in his stud career: it was Hard Spun's first Group 1 strike in Australia, whither Darley reverse-shuttled him for several years.

It is easy to see why Darley recruited Hard Spun at the end of his racing career in 2007. In two seasons of racing, Hard Spun raced 13 times (three as a 2-year-old and 10 at three) and never finished out of the first four. The best of his seven wins came in the G1 King's Bishop S. over seven furlongs at Saratoga in August 2007, and he finished in the frame in each leg of that year's US Triple Crown. He signed off with a magnificent second place behind Curlin (Smart Strike) in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic. Furthermore, he represented the last chapter in a great success-story: he was Danzig's last Group 1 winner. Danzig (Northern Dancer) had been pensioned in the year of Hard Spun's birth and had died in 2006.

Hard Spun comes from an excellent family. He is one of two stakes winners produced by his Group 2-placed dam Turkish Tryst (Turkoman). The stars in his immediate family have included 1974 Preakness and Belmont winner Little Current (Sea-Bird) as well as dual Group 1-winning filly Prayers 'N Promises (Foolish Pleasure), dam of the top-class sprinter Nabeel Dancer (Northern Dancer). The family arrived in the States over 100 years ago with celebrity status, stemming from one of England's most distinguished matrons of the 19th century, Lily Agnes (GB) (Macaroni {GB}). Lily Agnes was the star of the 1st Duke of Westminster's stud, breeding the unbeaten 'Horse of the Century' and 1886 Triple Crown winner Ormonde (GB) (Bend Or {GB}), as well as his full-sister Ornament. The latter gained ever-lasting fame as dam of arguably the greatest filly in history: Sceptre (GB) (Persimmon {GB}), who won four of the five Classics in 1902. Ornament ranks as the 11th dam of Hard Spun.

Hard Spun has been a consistently reliable source of Group 1 winners (on both dirt and turf) in the USA ever since his first crop contained two of the country's best 3-year-old fillies of 2012, Questing and Zo Impressive. His tally of US Group 1 winners now stands at seven, and includes three-time Group 1 winner Hard Not To Like, 2014 Wood Memorial winner Wicked Strong and 2014 Arlington Million winner Hardest Core.

It is, therefore, slightly disappointing that Hard Spun has yet to sire a Group 1 winner in Europe, although he has been represented by the winners of four pattern races in England, most notably the 2015 G2 Rockfel S. at Newmarket which was won by his promising daughter Promising Run. Equally disappointing had been his failure prior to Saturday to break through at the highest level in Australia.

Hard Spun has five crops of racing age in Australia. Each has contained at least one Australian black-type winner, with his current batch of juveniles already having thrown up this season's G3 Maribyrnong Plate winner Power Trip (Aus). However, he had not sired a Group 1 winner in Australia until Le Romain won the Randwick Guineas. He had, though, previously been represented by one Aus-bred Group 1 winner: Ertijaal, successful in last season's Cape Derby in South Africa.

Le Romain's Randwick Guineas victory was thus a great result for Darley on a great day for the team, even though he comes from a mare previously discarded by the operation. Winner of a 1200-metre maiden race at Hawkesbury, Le Romain's dam Mignard (Aus) (Strategic {Aus}) was (along with the aforementioned Commands) part of the Woodlands Stud package which Sheikh Mohammed bought from the Ingham family in 2008. Deemed surplus to Darley's requirements, she was sent to Inglis' Spring Thoroughbred Sale in Sydney in September 2009, where she fetched A$18,000. She comes from a family which had previously thrown up many good Woodlands-bred horses including the Group 1 performers Pursuits (Aus) (Quest For Fame {GB}) and Masked (Aus) (Quest For Fame {GB}). The latter had won for the Inghams at listed level in Sydney before becoming a top miler in Hong Kong, where he raced as Perfect Partner

Although Sheikh Mohammed sold Mignard, he retained many of her relatives including Hosiery (Aus) (Night Shift), who subsequently bred him his 2013 G1 Caulfield Guineas winner Long John (Aus) (Street Cry). Now, under the ownership of Mark and Alan Carusi, Mignard has also done the Sheikh a good turn, courtesy of helping Hard Spun to break his Australian Group 1 duck.