Giant strides

Giant’s Causeway and Mick Kinane (right) beat Kalanisi and Pat Eddery in the Juddmonte International. It was the penultimate Group 1 success for the Iron Horse through his run of five consecutive successes at the highest level in 2000

IT IS A USUAL PRESUMPTION that great sires tend to extend their sire lines through their most accomplished son, but history proves that often isn’t so. If that were true, we’d be talking about Secretariat’s thriving branch of Bold Ruler, or the continued impact of Northern Dancer through the Nijinsky line, or the ascendancy of Raise A Native’s line through Majestic Prince, rather than Mr. Prospector.

But we aren’t and this isn’t a new pattern – in fact it’s persisted since the very beginnings of the breed.

Around 95 per cent of all thoroughbreds descend in male line from the Darley Arabian, but, rather than through the Darley Arabian’s son Flying Childers, generally regarded as the first great racehorse, that descent is via Flying Childers’s unraced brother Bartlet’s Childers, also known as Bleeding Childers. Flying Childer’s male line disappeared from thoroughbred pedigrees in a handful of generations.

Similarly, an overwhelming majority of those current descendants of the Darley Arabian are from the Phalaris branch of that line. Although he was an accomplished sprinter, probably the best of his year at four, Phalaris would rate as inferior to sons of his sire Polymelus, horses such as the Triple Crown winner Pommern, Parth, successful in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Black Jester, successful in the St. Leger and Sussex Stakes – none of whom were outstanding sires. One case in which logical order has prevailed is that of Storm Cat – he was leading sire in North America twice, and leading sire of two-year-olds a record seven times. His son Giant’s Causeway was undoubtedly his best racehorse, but is also by someway the most important stallion son.

Bred in Kentucky by Orpendale and Michael Tabor, and out of the Rahy mare Mariah’s Storm – an accomplished runner Giant’s Causeway embarked on the streak that was to earn him his “Iron Horse” title, his renowned battling qualities seeing him win five consecutive Group1s whose comeback from injury was sufficiently dramatic that it became the subject of the film Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story – Giant’s Causeway was from his sire’s ninth crop. He went three-for-three as a juvenile establishing himself as one of the leaders of his crop with victories in the Futurity Stakes (G3) and Prix de la Salamandre (G1). At three Giant’s Causeway won the Gladness Stakes (G3) on his reappearance, but went down by three and a half lengths to the mercurial, but exceptionally talented, King’s Best in the 2,000 Guineas (G1).

He then fell a neck shy of catching Bachir, who benefited from a smart front-running ride by Frankie Dettori, in the Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1).

Rebounding from those defeats, Giant’s Causeway embarked on the streak that was to earn him his “Iron Horse” title, his renowned battling qualities seeing him capture five consecutive Group 1s – the St. James’s Palace Stakes (G1), the Eclipse Stakes (G1), which he took over an extremely strong field that included Kalanisi, Shiva, Sakhee and Fantastic Light – the Sussex Stakes (G1), the Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) and Irish Champion Stakes (G1).

On his farewell Giant’s Causeway tried Dirt for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and missed by just a neck to US Horse of the Year, Tiznow. That year’s champion US older horse Lemon Drop Kid and the Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Fusaichi Pegasus were behind.

After standing one season at Coolmore in Ireland, Giant’s Causeway moved to Coolmore’s American base Ashford Stud, Kentucky, where he resided until 2018, passing after a brief illness at the age of 21.

That first Irish crop pointed to what was to come. It produced 14 stakes winners who were a pretty talented bunch – dual French Classic winner Shamardal, the undefeated 2,000 Guineas (G1) winner Footstepsinthesand, Maids Causeway, who won the Coronation Stakes (G1), My Typhoon, whose ten black-type wins in the US were headed by the Diana Stakes (G1), and another US-raced performer Aragorn, who took the Shoemaker Mile Stakes (G1) and Eddie Read Handicap (G1).

From that point on it was a story of going from strength-to-strength. The leading sire in North America in 2009, 2010 and 2012, he also took his first title as leading broodmare sire in 2018.

If including his shuttle crops, Giant’s Causeway has sired 2,575 starters, 2,017 winners, 190 stakes winners (7.3 per cent stakes winners-to-foals, 9.4 per cent to starters), 112 group or graded winners (4.3 per cent to foals, 5.6 per cent to starters) and 33 Group or Grade 1 scorers.

Those top level winners have won in ten different countries, and on every continent. The triumphs at the highest level, include juvenile stars, Classic performers and older horses, and at distances from 6f to the 2m4f of the Ascot Gold Cup.

Giant’s Causeway’s best include Bricks And Mortar, who is a lock-in for the champion Turf horse title in the US in 2019 and a strong contender for a Horse of the Year award, Take Charge Brandi, a champion two-year-old filly in the US, Ghanaati, successful in the 1,000 Guineas (G1), Eishin Apollon, who took the Mile Championship (G1) in Japan. There are also horses such as Dalkala, a champion older mare in France, Giant Oak, Carpe Diem, Eskendereya, Heatseeker, Imaganing, Intense Focus, First Samurai, Intense Focus, Rite Of Passage, Penelopa, Frost Giant and Carrick. So far close to 30 of Giant’s Causeway’s sons have sired stakes winners around the world with 23 represented by Group or graded winners, with 11 having sired Group or Grade 1 winners.

In addition to Shamardal, whom we will look at in greater detail, we can also note Eskendereya, who while not living up to the highest expectations in the US, has already left one son at stud, the runaway Metropolitan Handicap (G1) victor Mor Spirit.

He also has another who will be in demand as a first-year stallion in 2020, Mitole, a leading candidate for a title of champion sprinter in the US in 2019 after his Breeders’ Cup success in November.

There is also Footstepsinthesand, who although in the shadow of Shamardal until this year, has sired six Group or Grade 1 winners.

Footstepsinthesand, standing at Castlehyde Stud for Coolmore, at a commercial fee has had a cracking year with stand-out performances from Threat landing both the Gimcrack and Champagne Stakes (G2) and an explosive display from Mum’s Tipple when winning the Goffs UK Premier Sales Stakes. Further stakes performers include as Maries Diamond, Larchmont Lad and I Am Superman.

The stakes list by sons of Giant’s Causeway is likely to extend still further, as Giant’s Causeway has young US stallions Carpe Diem (first crop now two), Not This Time and Brody’s Cause (both with first runners in 2020) waiting in the wings, while his final crop of 38 foals will be three-year-olds of 2020.

As a broodmare sire, Giant’s Causeway has already arrived at the top of the pile. He was leading broodmare sire in 2018, and currently stands third on that list this year.

So far Giant’s Causeway’s daughters have produced 123 stakes winners, 64 Group or Graded and 17 Group or Grade 1. They are headed by Gun Runner (Candy Ride), the US Horse of the Year, whose first foals will be yearlings in 2020.

Another young sire out of a Giant’s Causeway mare is Hawkbill, whose victories included the Eclipse Stakes (G1) and Dubai Sheem Classic (G1). He will stand at Darley Japan in 2020 after serving his first year in Europe.

But if there is one horse who deserves a chapter of his own in the Giant’s Causeway story it’s Shamardal. From Giant’s Causeway’s only European season, Shamardal was the major contributor to Giant’s Causeway’s first-crop sire championship.

Three for three as a juvenile, he scored by 8l on his debut before taking the Vintage Stakes (G2) by an untroubled two and a half lengths from the subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, Wilko.

The season was completed with a two and a half length victory over Oratorio in the Dewhurst Stakes (G1), a performance that ensured Shamardal’s standing as the European champion two- year-old.

Sent to winter in Dubai, Shamardal initially had the Kentucky Derby (G1) as his spring target, but that plan was buried in the Nad Al Sheba sand as he finished the better part of 50l behind the winner Blues And Royals in the UAE Derby (G2).

Re-routed to the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G2), Shamardal set out to make all in his customary style, and had just enough in hand to hold on by a head and a neck from Indesatchel and Gharir.

In the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1) – run for the first time over 1m2f, instead of the traditional 1m4f – Shamardal, under a shrewd ride from Frankie Dettori, once again took the initiative from the off then slowed the pace before sprinting for home with around a furlong and a half to run. With finishing pace at a premium Shamardal just lasted home by a neck from the fast-closing Hurricane Run, a true 1m4f horse who won the Irish Derby (G1) next time. Shamardal closed out his career back at a mile in the St James’s Palace Stakes (G1). Adopting his usual front-running role, Shamardal quickened clear of his field 3l from home, then coasted home 3l clear of Ad Valorem.

He was then targeted at the Eclipse Stakes (G1), but fractured a front fetlock joint and was retired to stand at Kildangan Stud. He also shuttled to Australia, where he actually stood his first season before commencing his European career.

In addition to a race-record that had earned him not only a European championship at two, but another as top miler of his crop at three, Shamardal also took to stud an impressive pedigree.

The outstanding son of Giant’s Causeway, he’s out of Helskinki, a stakes-placed full-sister to Street Cry by Machiavellian from of the Irish Oaks (G1) heroine, Helen Street. Given those credentials, it is not surprising that Shamardal was a success from the word

go. He was represented by ten stakes winners from 75 foals in his first Australian-sired crop, and was eventually responsible for 25 stakes winners, 11 graded from 293 Australianconceived foals, distributed over five crops.

Five of those scored at the highest level: Hong Kong superstar Able Friend won four Grade 1 events and was near the top of the World Racehorse Rankings, Faint Perfume’s successes included the VRC Oaks (G1) and STC Vinery Stud Stakes (G1), Maybe Discreet captured a SAJC Schweppervescence Stakes (G1), Delectation took the VRC Darley Classic (G1) and Captain Sonador earned an AJC Epsom Handicap (G1) win.

In the northern-hemisphere, Shamardal has had 117 stakes winners from 11 crops, including current two-year-olds.

Sixty-one of those are Group or graded winners, and 25 Group or gGrade 1 winners. The best of his earlier crops included Lope De Vega, who emulated his sire with a Poule d’Essai des Poulains (G1) and Jockey-Club (G1) double, Dunboyne Express/Dan Excel and Pakistan Star, who were standouts in Singapore and Hong Kong, the Eclipse Stakes

(G1) victor Mukhadram, the French Group 1-winning fillies Speedy Boarding, Baltic Baroness and Sagawara, and the juvenile Group 1 winners Casamento and Lumiere.

Shamardal has enjoyed a simply stellar 2019, represented by 20 individual stakes winners, of which five have scored at Group 1 level.

One of these is the filly Castle Lady, who took the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1), but, more significantly as far as the extension of Giant’s Causeway’s influence is concerned, the other four are colts, three of whom are only two.

The older horse Blue Point, who was already established as one of the world’s top sprinters, was spectacular in 2019 with five straight wins, including the Al Quoz Sprint (G1), and Royal Ascot’s two premier sprint events, the King’s Stand Stakes (G1) and Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1).

A Group winner at two and three and also successful in the King’s Stand in 2018, Blue Point has retired to stand alongside his sire for 2020.

Although his pedigree is quite an outcross at five generations (and free of Sadler’s Wells and Danzig), Blue Point is bred on quite an interesting cross as his broodmare sire, the important speed influence Royal Applause, is a product of an extended version of the Northern Dancer/Bold Ruler cross that produced Storm Cat, who’s in the third generation of his sire line.

Shamardal’s other 2019 Group 1-winning colts – Pinatubo, Earthlight and Victor Ludorum – are all two-year-olds.

Pinatubo, out of a stakes-winning Dalakhani mare from the family of Invincible Spirit, has already achieved superstar status going undefeated through six starts, including the Chesham Stakes (L), the Vintage Stakes (G2), the National Stakes (G1) and the Dewhurst Stakes (G1).

Earthlight, out of Winter’s Moon, a Group 1-placed New Approach daughter, with a Darshaan second dam, going back to the family of Golden Fleece and Be My Guest, is also undefeated.

He is five-for-five with successes in the Prix de Cabourg (G3), Prix Morny (G1) and Middle Park Stakes (G1).

Victor Ludorum, a half-brother to the Irish Oaks (G1) third Mary Tudor, is out of the Group-placed Antiquities, a daughter of the Kaldoun sire Kaldounevess. His second dam Historian, a stakes-winning daughter of Pennekamp, is a half-sister to Helsinki, dam of Shamardal so he is 3x3 to Helen Street.

Whatever the fate of Blue Point, Pinatubo, Earthlight and Victor Ludorum, Shamardal already has a worthy heir in Lope De Vega. In addition to his Classic wins, Lope De Vega took to stud an interesting pedigree – his dam Lady Vettori, a juvenile Group winner and dam of three other black-type winners, is by Vettori, a son of Shamardal’s broodmare sire, Machiavellian.

Like his sire, Lope De Vega has shuttled to Australia and from his first four crops in the southern-hemisphere he has 15 stakes winners, six graded, and two Grade 1s.

His star Down Under is the sprinter Santa Ana Lane successful in five Grade 1 events and a horse with a fascinating pedigree, one that can be emulated in the northern-hemisphere. He is out of a mare by Fastnet Rock, who is by Danehill. She is inbred to Natalma, the dam of Northern Dancer, where Machiavellian, twice in Lope De Vega’s pedigree, is out of a mare inbred to Natalma’s dam, Almahmoud. Fastnet Rock is out of a mare by Royal Academy, a close relative to Lope De Vega’s male-line ancestor Storm Cat. The pedigree also has a trio of similarlybred Northern Dancer sons Storm Bird, Nijinsky and Far North.

In the northern-hemisphere, Lope De Vega has six crops of three-year-olds and up. He led off with a remarkable first crop that produced 16 black-type scorers, including the European champion two-year-old Belardo (out of a Danehill mare, so another with a considerable Almahmoud build-up), successful in the Dewhurst Stakes (G1) and the Lockinge Stakes (G1), and The Right Man, who took the Al Quoz Sprint (G1).

Lope De Vega now has a total of 50 northern-hemisphere-sired stakes winners, 27 Group/Graded, including Phoenix Of Spain, successful in this year’s Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1). There is also Newspaperofrecord, a brilliant winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), the Prix d’Ispahan (G1) scorer Zabeel Prince, Capla Temptress, winner of the Natalma Stakes (G1) in Canada and Jemayel, who took the Prix Saint-Alary (G1).

Out of a mare by Key Of Luck (a Chief’s Crown three-quarters brother to Anabaa), Phoenix Of Spain retires to stand at the Irish National Stud for 2020.

Five other sons of Shamardal have also already sired stakes winners. Casamento has had ten stakes winners in his first four crops, five Group class, including Australian Grade 1 winner Kings Will Dream, and Italian Oaks (G2) winner Lamaire.

Another European-based son Mukhadram has A Bit Special, successful three times in US black-type contests among them the Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3).

The Australian-based Captain Sonador is represented by Hong Kong Grade 1 winner Seasons Bloom, the Gingerbread Man got the stakes-winning and Grade 1-placed Achernar Star from his first crop, and the New Zealandbased Shamoline Warrior has black-type winner (My) Nikita.

Other young Shamardal sons include Germany’s champion miler Amaron, who had first two-year-olds this year with seven winners and two stakes-placed runners, including the Prix des Reservoir (G3) runnerup Run Wild.

The French-based Prix Ganay (G1) victor Dariyan and the Group 2-winning miler Bow Creek both had first yearlings in 2019. In Ireland, French Navy, a Group or stakes winner every year from two to seven, had his first yearlings this year.

Shamardal is also emerging as a good broodmare sire, and already appears in the pedigrees of 26 stakes winners, 11 Group/ Graded. They include the Irish Derby (G1) victor Latrobe, Pretty Pollyanna, who took the Prix Morny (G1), the Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1) winner Awtaad, who has first yearlings, and the Haydock Sprint Cup (G1) scorer Hello Youmzain who will be at stud in 2020. The development of this branch of the sire-line in Europe could lead to some interesting pedigrees, notably involving Gleneagles, who is out of a sister to Giant’s Causeway, Street Cry, the sister to the dam of Shamardal, and Invincible Spirit and his family, who seem to be a reoccurring presence here.

There is no doubt that Giant’s Causeway – the best runner and stallion for his sire – has cast a great light, and looking to the future, that light seems set to grow brighter still.