9 minute read
A repeating habit
Rebel’s Romance, Starlust and Moira had all previously won or placed in Breeders’ Cup races, this year they all came home in first place, writes Alan Porter
THE WINNER of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), Rebel’s Romance didn’t hit his best level of form until the autumn last year, effectively ruling him out of a repeat attempt in the race in 2023, but he returned this season in much better shape.
He won the H.H. The Amir Trophy (G3) at Doha, the Dubai Sheema Classic (G1), the Standard Chartered HK Champions & Chater Cup (G1), took third in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1), and then prepped for Del Mar with another top level victory, this time in Germany in the Preis von Europa (G1).
This win brought his total of black-type victories to 12, of which seven are Group or Grade 1. He joins Conduit and High Chaparral as the third horse to capture two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), and he is first to achieve the feat in non-consecutive years.
Rebel’s Romance is one of an astonishing total of 290 stakes winners sired by the remarkable Dubawi, who turns 23 in 2025. Of those 189 are Group or graded winners with 59 at the highest level.
This year he’s been represented by a mere 32 stakes winners, 20 Group or Graded, Rebel’s Romance joined by Notable Speech, successful in the 2,000 Guineas (G1) and Sussex Stakes (G1), Ezeliya, heroine of the Oaks (G1), and Master Of The Seas, who took the Maker’s Mark Mile in the US.
Dubawi has also emerged as a sire of sires, with Zarak, Night Of Thunder, New Bay and Too Darn Hot, and he’s already broodmare sire of 82 stakes winners, 43 Group or graded, including the Classic winners Adayar, Homeless Songs and Zardozi (in Australia).
Rebel’s Romance is a half-brother to the Frankel horse Measured Time, winner of the Manhatan Stakes (G1) and Jebel Hatta Stakes (G1). They are out of the stakesplaced Street Cry mare Minidress, a sister to Volcanic Sky, a graded stakes winner in Dubai.
His second dam Short Skirt won the Musidora Stakes (G3) and St. Simon Stakes (G3) and ran second in the Yorkshire Oaks (G1), and third in the Epsom Oaks (G1).
Short Skirt is a half-sister to Whitewater Affair (by Minidress’s grandsire, Machiavellian), a Group winner in England and France, and twice Group 1 placed.
Whitewater Affair is dam of three Japanese stakes winners, including Victoire Pisa, the champion three-year-old and champion older horse in Japan, also successful in the Dubai World Cup (G1), and the Yasuda Kinen (G1) scorer Asakusa Den’en.
Short Skirt is also a half-sister to Rich Affair, a stakes-placed sister to Whitewater Affair, and herself grand-dam of the Japanese champion two-year-old filly Robe Tissage, a three-quarters sister to the Group winner Little Rock, and a half-sister to stakes winner Seductress (by Short Skirt’s grandsire, Known Fact), the dam of Machiavellian black-type scorer Swiss Law. Rebel Romance’s third dam Much Too Risky is a half-sister to a pair of Group and Grade 1 winners in Arctic Owl, who won the Irish St. Leger, and Marooned, successful in the Sydney Cup (G1).
Although it’s Mr. Prospector over Mr. Prospector, the Dubawi line cross with Street Cry line mares has been successful with 16 stakes winners, including three other Group and Grade 1 winners Broadsiding, Albahr and Shamal Wind.
Rebel’s Romance’s pedigree also features a double of the notable mare Slightly Dangerous, who appears as dam of Dubawi’s broodmare sire Deploy, and Deploy’s half-brother Warning, the grandsire of Rebel Romance’s second dam.
Much more from Moira
It proved third time lucky for Moira in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), the Canadian champion having finished fifth in 2022 and third in 2022.
After moving from mid-pack to the lead at stretch, she had enough left to score by a half-length over Cinderella’s Dream.
The five-year-old mare has been a blacktype winner every year since her two-yearold season, and although she defeated males in the premier Canadian Classic, the Queen’s Plate, she’d never won previously won a Grade 1 event.
She has earned honours as 2022’s Canadian champion three-year-old filly and Horse of the Year, and was sold for $3,000,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton November Sale – and she realised $4,300,000 on a return trip there two days after this Breeders’ Cup triumph.
She is a daughter of the veteran sire Ghostzapper, a Horse of the Year who ended his career with a Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) triumph, as did his sire, the Deputy Minister horse, Awesome Again.
One of the best North American runners of the current century, Ghostzapper has been a solid if not spectacular sire, with 104 stakes winners from 15 crops of three-year-olds and up, 58 graded, 16 Grade 1, including the champion sprint fillies and mares Goodnight Olive and Judy The Beauty, as well as several Canadian champions.
The Dubawi line cross with Street Cry line mares has been successful with 16 stakes winners, including three other top level winners
Moira is a half-sister to the stakeswinning Jungle Cry. Her dam Devine Aida, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song, won the Herecomesthebride Stakes and Ginger Brew Stakes and was graded stakes-placed. Devine Aida also has a yearling filly by Constitution and is in-foal to the champion two-year-old Forte.
Devine Aida’s dam Passion won the La Habra Stakes (G3) and Alywow Stakes, and also earned places in the Beaumont Stakes (G2) and Adirondack Stakes (G2).
Passion is a half-sister to the Grade 2-winning and Grade 1-placed Kumari Continent, herself the grand-dam of the stakes winner Smiling Shirlee. The second dam of Devine Aida is Rajmata, a sister to the stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed Binalong, and halfsister to stakes winner Songlines.
Ready made winner
In his two starts heading into the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) More Than Looks had been denied a first Grade 1 win by Carl Spackler, who defeated him in both the Fourstardave Handicap (G1) and Turf Mile Stakes (G1).
This time, however, Carl Spackler faded out of the picture after turning for home, while More Than Looks unveiled a storming charge from last to score by three-quarters of a length from the US three-year-old Johannes, with the European-trained favorite Notable Speech in third.
More Than Looks is the latest Grade 1 winner for the late More Than Ready.
A son of the Halo horse Southern Halo – several times leading sire in Argentina –More Than Ready has run up some astonishing numbers.
A three-time leading sire of two-year-olds, twice in the US and once in Australia, More Than Ready is sire of 226 stakes winners, 106 graded, and 27 Grade 1, among them the champion US Sprinter Roy H, Rushing Fall, Uni, Catholic Boy, Verrazano, Room Service, Buster’s Ready, More Joyous, Say The Word, Daredevil, Sebring, More Joyous, Samaready and Prized Icon.
Ladies’ Privilege, the dam of More Than Looks, was a minor stakes winner at Parx (formerly Philadelphia Park), and is a half-sister to the smart grass runner Takeover Target, three times a graded winner on the lawn.
The second dam Vanquished, a winning daughter of Empire Maker, is a half-sister to Critical Eye, whose quintet of graded successes included the Hempstead Handicap (G1) and Gazelle Handicap (G1) and subsequently second dam of four black-type winners
A Star is born
Billed as “the fastest horse in the world” following his world-record breaking performance in the Jaipur Stakes (G1) in June, and winner since of the $1,000,000 Turf Stakes (G2), odds-on favourite Cogburn was a little slowly away in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint but was soon at the head of affairs.
After despatching Bradsell with opening fractions of 21.59s and 43.72s, he kicked away into a two-and-a-half lengths lead.
In turned out, however, that the move off such a fast early pace was premature, and close home Cogburn’s stride began to shorten.
At the wire it proved to be a case of “last shall be first” as the British-trained threeyear-old Starlust came from the tail of the field to score by a nose, with British-bred Motorius second [see page 60], a head to the good of the filly Ag Bullet.
Starlust, a son of Zoustar, was also third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint (G1) and had previously taken the Sirenia Stakes (G3). This year, he’d won the City Walls Stakes, and run third to Bradsell in the Nunthorpe Stakes (G1), beaten just a length.
Starlust is from a branch of the Northern Dancer line which comes down via Sadlers’ Wells’ brother Fairy King, through Encosta De Lago, Northern Meteor and Zoustar.
A sprint specialist, Zoustar won six of nine starts, including the ATC Golden Rose Stakes (G1) and VRC Ascot Vale Stakes (G1).
From his first seven southern-hemisphere crops, Zoustar has 51 stakes winners, 37 graded, and seven Group and Grade 1, and the champion three-year-old filly Sunlight.
So far he has had three northernhemisphere crops, and the first two have produced seven stakes winners, including, in addition to Starlust, the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) victress and European champion two-year-old filly Lezoo.
Beyond Desire, the dam of Starlust, was a smart sprinter in her own right, winning the Prix de Saint-Georges (G3), the Cecil Frail Sakes and the Landsown Stakes.
She is also dam of Queen Of Desire, who followed in her mother’s footsteps with a Landsdown Stakes success.
Granddam Compradore won four times and is half-sister to Mazuna, who captured the Princess Royal Stakes (G3) and appears as dam of Beautiful Romance, a Group and graded winner in England, Australia and Dubai. She is out of Keswa, a Group-placed half-sister to Mastercraftsman.
