Pedigree Insights: Journey

I'm sure you're familiar with what they call the commentator's curse. For example, when some innocent declares that “I've rarely seen him hit his backhand better,” you can be sure that the player will mistime his next shot so badly that the ball ricochets off the racquet into the rafters.

I perpetrated such an error myself a few weeks ago, when I reviewed the G1 Prix Vermeille for the Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder.

“With 24 black-type winners by Sept. 23, including 13 group/graded winners, Dubawi has once again proved himself one of the world's most prolific sources of high-class performers,” I wrote. “However, having been represented by four Group 1 winners in 2014 and nine in 2015, his only Group 1 winner in 2016 had been the excellent Postponed until Left Hand took the Prix Vermeille.”

Of course, in the few short weeks since that was written, Dubawi has hardly stopped siring Group 1 performers. His total of black-type winners now stands at a very impressive 30 (still seven behind arch rival Galileo, but 10 ahead of Tapit). His total of Group 1 winners has risen to five, thanks firstly to the very promising Wuheida in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and then to Journey in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S., three days ago.

Journey's first Group 1 success came little more than an hour after Dubawi's veteran son Sheikhzayedroad (a former Grade I winner at Woodbine) had gained a second consecutive hard-fought Group 2 success, this time in the G2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup. Just a day later Erupt led home a Dubawi 1-2 in the GI Pattison Canadian International S. (with Dubawi having also enjoyed another 1-2 in a listed race in Ireland earlier in the day). It could be argued that another Group 1 success may well have come Dubawi's way in the G1 Prix de l'Opera, had the favourite, So Mi Dar, not been boxed in before finishing a close third.

Journey has been very well handled by trainer John Gosden, who commented that, “She's got a mind of her own and she is very wilful. Extremely talented. When her mother used to run, it looked like she had a Christmas tree on her head, lots of wool [photographs show her wearing a sheepskin noseband (shadow roll) and sheepskin cheek-pieces when she became a Group 1 winner in the 2006 Prix Royal-Oak over 1 15/16 miles]

“She's a wild little creature,” Gosden said with a mixture of pride and affection, “but I just told Frankie to get her settled as she'll tell you what she wants to do and you just listen. He rode her beautifully.”

Gosden also slipped in a mention that Journey's dam Montare–another George Strawbridge homebred–was “a Montjeu mare,” as if that explained everything. Montare was certainly quirky and Timeform's description of her Prix Royal-Oak success read “Montare, typically, looked ungainly in the closing stages, her tongue out as she carried her head awkwardly and also flashing her tail, though it has to be said she lacked nothing in resolution.”

Exactly five years ago I wrote an article for TDN on the topic of Montjeu's daughters, after two of them–Miss Keller and Sarah Lynx–had completed a memorable double in the G1 E.P. Taylor S. and the G1Canadian International.

The relevant part of that article read as follows:

“Montjeu was a high-mettled individual, as was his broodmare sire Top Ville, and it wasn't long before there were reports that Montjeu's fillies could be difficult to manage and often need careful handling. For example, I believe John Velasquez didn't carry a whip on Miss Keller at Woodbine.

“I suspect it is no coincidence that Montjeu's three Group 1-winning fillies all gained their Group 1 victories after the age of three–Montjeu's dam Floripedes didn't race at two, didn't break her maiden until the August of her 3-year-old season and didn't become a group winner until Oct. 1.

“Montjeu's first female Group 1 winner, Montare, was four when she won the 2006 Prix Royal-Oak. The second, Miss Keller, was four before she became a graded winner and five when she won the E.P. Taylor S., a year after finishing a good second in the same race. And Montjeu's third Group 1-winning daughter, Sarah Lynx, didn't become a stakes winner until the August of her 4-year-old campaign, when she took the G2 Prix de Pomone.

“The dates of the first group victories by Montjeu's other daughters stands at Oct. 23 of Clowance's 5-year-old campaign; July 31 of Pink Symphony's 4-year-old season; Oct. 27 of Albisola's 3-year-old season; Oct. 2 for the 3-year-old Maria Royal; and Sept. 4 of Pacifique's 3-year-old year.

“In other words, the distinction of being the earliest group-winning daughter of Montjeu belonged to Mont Etoile, winner of the G2 Ribblesdale S. on June 22 as a 3-year-old, until Wading took the G2 Rockfel S. earlier this month.

“This suggests two thoughts. The first is that Wading, with the benefit of having a dam by the precocious Green Desert, could be exceptional [unfortunately Wading was injured and never raced again, but has youngsters by War Front and Dansili]. The second is that Montjeu's daughters are definitely slower to find their feet than their male counterparts, but it is equally clear that they are capable of rewarding their connections' patience and understanding.”

To update that information, my expectations of Wading probably weren't too far wide of the mark, as her younger sister Bracelet won the G1 Irish Oaks in 2014, having also shown unusual precocity for a daughter of Montjeu. Another of Montjeu's fillies, Chicquita, had taken the G1 Irish Oaks in 2013, but this filly possessed talent and temperament in equal measures. Timeform records that she “threw race away when 2 3/4 lengths third to Madame Chiang in G1 Fillies' & Mares' S. at Ascot, leading over 1f out but hanging badly left in front.” Of course her quirks hadn't stopped Chicquita selling for €6,000,000 in the year of her Classic success.

Journey certainly has every right to be wilful. Apart from having a Montjeu mare as her dam, she is inbred 4 x 3 to Shirley Heights (with inbreeding to this G1 Epsom and G1 Irish Derby winner being a notable feature in the pedigrees of plenty of other good winners by Dubawi, including Journey's fellow Group 1 winners Al Kazeem, Arabian Queen, Hunter's Light and Left Hand).

While Shirley Heights was thoroughly game, he was a member of the Nasrullah male line and his daughters often swished their tails under pressure. A perfect example was Infamy, winner of Woodbine's International S. in 1988. Coincidentally, Infamy's second dam was Sunbittern, a very temperamental filly who now has the distinction of being the fourth dam of Dubawi.

Journey–a wild little thing in her trainer's words–is a typically neat and sturdy daughter of the neat and sturdy Dubawi. She has plenty of width to her chest, as does Erupt, the Canadian International winner. Journey's second dam, the Shirley Heights mare Contare, was another Strawbridge-bred. He must be proud that Journey has now raced 13 times, while Montare (who raced on as a 5-year-old) made 23 starts. Contare was also kept busy. After winning the second of her starts at two, she raced nine times at three, notably winning a pair of listed races at up to a mile and an eighth.

Contare was comparatively speedy for a daughter of Shirley Heights, no doubt because she was the product of a female line with plenty of speed. Journey's fourth dam, Flashy, was also very useful at around nine furlongs, and this tough mare was a daughter of the champions Sir Ivor and Sovereign, the latter Britain's top 2-year-old filly of 1967. Sovereign's best winner, Lucky Sovereign, was second in the Irish Derby and Sovereign also had the distinction of being a half-sister to those excellent broodmares Lacquer (G1 Irish 1000 Guineas) and Violetta III.