11 minute read
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria
By Frankel and a daughter of dual Group 1 winner Quiet Reflection, Lake Victoria took her unbeaten record to five from five with success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies
THERE WAS no doubting the status of Lake Victoria as Europe’s leading two-year-old filly – after her maiden success she picked up consecutive wins in the Sweet Solera Stakes (G3), the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) and the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1), in which she dropped down to a distance to 7f for the first time in her career.
Following her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), we can hail her as the top juvenile filly in the northern hemisphere.
Lake Victoria is another credit for the nonpareil Frankel, who is proving to be very near as impressive a stallion as he was a racehorse.
From his first nine crops, he has so far been represented by 152 stakes winners, 102 Group or graded and 35 of them Group or Grade 1, among them Alpinista, Inspiral, Cracksman, Hurricane Lane, Nashwa, Chaldean, Mostahdaf, Westover,Mozu Ascot, Adayar and Soul Stirring.
Like Henri Matisse, Lake Victoria is out of an expensively-purchased, high-profile mare bought by the Coolmore group –Showcasing’s daughter Quiet Reflection.
The leading three-year-old filly in the sprint category on the World Thoroughbred Rankings, Quiet Reflection won six Group events, including the Commonwealth Cup (G1) and Haydock Sprint Cup (G1).
She was bought for 2,100,000gns as a broodmare prospect at the 2017 Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
Lake Victoria is her fourth foal, fourth starter, and third winner, the best of those preceding Lake Victoria being the Group-placed Galileo horse Bluegrass.
Quiet Reflection’s dam, the two-year-old winner My Delirium (Haafhd), is out of the Hillary Needler Trophy winner Clare Hills, a daughter of Orpen, who is a close relative to Frankel’s broodmare sire Danehill.
Henri Matisse’s victory put the cap on one of the most remarkable seasons that we have seen for a sire with his two-year-olds
The family goes back to Lake Victoria’s sixth dam Annie Aaron. She was a half-sister to Alysheba, a champion at three when he took the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1), and Horse of the Year and champion older horse at four.
Henri Matisse: another juvenile talent by Wootton Bassett
From a pedigree standpoint, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) was a repeat of 2023 with an Aidan O’Brien-trained son of Wootton Bassett gaining the day.
Last year, it was Unquestionable and this year it was Henri Matisse who came from last to catch the US-trained long-shot Iron Man Cal by a neck.
The victory of Henri Matisse put the cap on one of the most remarkable seasons that we have seen for a sire with his two-year-olds.
This year he has been represented by 39 individual juvenile winners, and 13 have captured black-type events, 10 of them Group or graded with Camille Pissarro, Tennesse Stud and Twain joining Henri Matisse as Group or Grade 1 winners.
The son of Iffraaj (by Zafonic, from the Gone West branch of Mr. Prospector), Wootton Bassett was undefeated in five starts at two, including winning the Prix Jean Luc Lagardère (G1), but he failed to hit the board at three and was retired to stud fairly cheaply in France.
Largely scorned by local breeders, he had only 23 foals in his first crop and 18 in his second.
From that first crop, however, came the European champion Almanzor, winner of the Champion Stakes (G1), the Irish Champion Stakes (G1) and the Prix du Jockey-Club (G1).
The high-class winners continued to come, and, for the 2021 breeding season, Wootton Bassett moved to Coolmore, so the current two-year-olds are from his first Irish crop. Overall, he now has 56 stakes winners, 38 Group or graded, including other Group and Grade 1 winners King Of Steel, Audarya, Al Riffa, Bucanero Fuerte, Wooded, Zellie, Incarville and Unquestionable.
Immortal Verse, the dam of Henri Matisse, was purchased for a then-record 4,700,000gns at the 2013 Tattersalls December Sales carrying her first foal, a colt by Dansili, and she’s certainly proved worth the money.
She was a joint top-rated three-year-old filly in the medium distance category on the World Racehorse Rankings having won the Prix Jacques Le Marois (G1), the Coronation Stakes (G1) and the Prix de Sandringham (G2).
Her first six foals have all started, and five have won. In addition to Henri Matisse they include the champion three-year-old filly Tenebrism, successful in both the Prix Jean Prat ( G1) and Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) and Statuette, who took the Airlie Stud Stakes (G2).
A half-sister to the dam of the stakeswinning and Group 1-placed Roseman, Immortal Verse is out of the black-type winning Sadler’s Wells mare Side Of Paradise, herself a sister to the stakes winner Flowerdrum and to Moon Flower, the dam of Fantastic Love.
Mill Princess, the dam of Side Of Paradise, was also dam of Last Tycoon, victorious in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1), the King’s Stand Stakes (G2) and the William Hill Sprint Championship (G1), as well as the Group winners Astronef and The Perfect Life.
Overall, Mill Princess is ancestress of 48 stakes winners, names that also include Valentine Waltz and Tie Black (both successful in Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (G1), Hermosa, winner of the 1,000 Guineas (G1)), and further Group and Grade 1 winners Sense Of Style, The United Stakes, Hydrangea and Fonteyn.
Into Mischief: up for a sixth sires’ title
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) went to Citizen Bull, who went wire-to-wire to score by a length and a half from his previously unbeaten stablemate Gaming, who is from the first crop of the champion two-year-old Game Winner.
This was the third win in four starts for Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), who followed a debut victory with third to Gaming in the Del Mar Futurity (G1), and a decisive win in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1).
Citizen Bull’s success marks another chapter in the story of the remarkable sire Into Mischief.
First represented by a Breeders’ Cup scorer back in 2013, when his first crop son Goldencents took the Dirt Mile (G1), a victory he would repeat the following year, Into Mischief has been leading sire for each of the last five years.
As of writing, he heads the 2024 US sires’ table, so it is a fair assumption that he is about to lift his sixth title.
That would place him third by all-time premierships won (first recorded in 1830) behind Bold Ruler, who secured eight titles between 1963 and 1973, and the mighty Lexington, who topped the table 15 times from 1861 to 1878.
For good measure, Into Mischief is the leading sire of US two-year-olds and, should he retain that position, it will be his sixth such title, equal with Bold Ruler, and one behind the all-time record of his male-line ancestor Storm Cat.
Citizen Bull’s dam No Joke is a daughter of Distorted Humor, and Into Mischief has struck-up an extremely rewarding relationship with mares by that horse –the cross producing 11 stakes winners from 62 starters (18 per cent stakes winners to starters), including other Grade 1 winners Life Is Good and Practical Joke.
No Joke is a half-sister to Moonshine Memories, who took the Chandelier Stakes (G1) and Debutante Stakes (G1) at two, to stakes winner Indian Evening, and to the dam of Souper Hoity Toity, who was a three-time a graded winner in Canada.
Her dam Unenchantedevening, a daughter of Unbridled’s Song, is a half-sister to Favorite Trick, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) in 1997, the champion twoyear-old of his generation and Horse of the Year.
Another half-sister to Unenchantedevening, the stakes-placed Crafty And Evil, appears as third dam of Tiz The Law, winner of the Belmont Stakes (G1), the Travers Stakes (G1), the Florida Derby (G1) and the Champagne Stakes (G1), and a leading freshman sire this year.
Nyquist and Bernardini blending well
Immersive went into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) with a record of three-for-three, including daylight wins in the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and Alcibiades Stakes (G1), and she duly made it four-forfour drawing off to score by over 4l.
Immersive is from the fifth crop of Nyquist, a son of Uncle Mo.
A champion two-year-old and winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), the following year Nyquist became only the second Juvenile winner to go on and land the Kentucky Derby (G1).
The leading freshman sire of his generation, Nyquist’s first crop was headlined by another Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly (G1) heroine, Vequist.
He’s now sire of 26 stakes winners, 15 graded, including the Grade 1 winners Randomized, Johannes, Slow Down Andy, Gretzky The Great, and another 2024 two-year-old filly Tenma.
Immersive is out of the allowance-winning Gap Year, a daughter of Bernardini, the champion three-year-old of his crop, a successful sire, and now a very good broodmare sire.
Gap Year’s dam is another spectacular female Dubai Escapade, winner of six of her last seven starts, victories that included the Ballerina Breeders’ Cup Stakes (G1), which she took by over 8l, the Madison Stakes (G2) and Vagrancy Handicap (G2).
Dubai Escapade is a half-sister to yet another immensely talented distaffer in Madcap Escapade.
A winner of seven of nine starts, all but one of which came in stakes company, Madcap Escapade took the Ashland Stakes (G1) defeating the great mare Ashado, the Forward Gal Stakes (G2), the Shirley Jones Handicap (G2), the Princess Rooney Handicap (G2), the Madison Stakes (G3) and also finished third in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Madcap Escape is dam of Mi Sueno, who broke her maiden with a six and a half length victory in the Sorrento Stakes (G3) and, on her only subsequent start, defeated the champion Blind Luck to take the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1).
Immersive is one of five graded stakes winners from only 18 starters by Nyquist of of Bernardini mares, the others including her fellow Grade 1 scorer Gretzky The Great, and Nysos, who looked like a Classic prospect this spring, but who was sidelined by injury.
Magnum Force another star for Mehmas
In a typically close finish to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1), European runners went one-two with Magnum Force prevailing by a half length over Arizona Blaze.
This was a first black-type win for Magnum Force, who has also taken second in the Roses Stakes and Flying Childers Stakes (G2).
He is the seventh two-year-old stakes winner for his sire Mehmas this year, the son of Acclamation putting in some extraordinay numbers with this year’s juveniles.
The crop numbers 248, and it has produced 151 starters, 60 individual winners, and nine stakes winners, six Group or graded, including the fellow Group 1 winners Vertical Blue and Scarthy Champ.
Mehmas burst on the scene with his first-crop juveniles which numbered a then-record 56 individual winners.
Bred on the same Acclamation/ Machiavellian cross as another noted speed sire Dark Angel, he now has 38 stakes winners, 23 Group or graded, including other top level winners Going Global, Minzaal, Supremacy and Chez Pierre.
Magnum Force is out of the two-yearold-winning Fastnet Rock mare Tropical Rock. She is a daughter of Tropical Treat (Bahamian Bounty), successful in the Land O’ Burns Stakes and a Group 3 second.
The family is a little light immediately below that, but the third dam, Notjustaprettyface, a daughter of Red Ransom, was third in the Land O’ Burns Stakes and the Choisir Stakes, and is three-quarters sister to the Red Ransom horse, Sri Pekan, winner of the Richmond Stakes (G2), the Champagne Stakes (G2) and the Coventry Stakes (G3).
There have been six stakes winners, three of them Group class, bred on the cross of Mehmas with Danehill line mares, in addition to Magnum Force, the trio also include the Group 1 winner Minzaal.
