Caravaggio

THE LOSS of Scat Daddy at an early age created so many “what might have beens” with Justify’s historic Triple Crown the zenith of Scat Daddy’s progeny achievements on the track.

In the breeding shed No Nay Never may not have been anointed the chosen one when he first retired, but his coronation as champion first-season sire and the emergence of the Group 1 winner and sire Ten Sovereigns, means he has earned his position as heir to Scat Daddy.

His achievements have ensured higher expectations for the first crop of his Coolmore stud mate and paternal half-brother Caravaggio who, like No Nay Never, won a Group race at Royal Ascot, the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, and went on to win the Group 1 6f Phoenix Stakes.

Caravaggio added the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup to his resume and took the 5f Flying Five Stakes the year prior to its upgrade to a Group 1.

Caravaggio has the looks of a horse from a work of art. He is out of Mekko Hokte, a winner at two and three and Holy Bull, aHorse of the Year and from whom Caravaggio inherited his grey colouring.

As a broodmare sire Holy Bull, whose Grade 1 winners included Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and champion Macho Uno, has excelled with his daughters producing the likes of Judy The Beauty and Cairo Prince, as well as Coolmore America stallion Munnings, who is the sire of Grade 1 winners El Deal and I’m A Chatterbox, as well as three of America’s best three-year-old fillies of 2020.

Free of the Sadler’s Wells and Danzig lines of Northern Dancer, who appears once in the fifth generation of Caravaggio’s pedigree, his dam is inbred to the outstanding stallion Intentionally through his champion sire son In Reality (sire of Known Fact, dam-sire of Toussaud, the dam of Empire Maker and second dam of First Defense) and Hall of Fame daughter Ta Wee.

Mekko Hokte is also inbred to one of the most influential mares of all time, La Troienne, through The Axe II, out of her grand-daughter Blackball.

Caravaggio covered a stellar first book and among the 193 were some well-known names. The Group 1 winner Airwave, the grand-dam of Churchill and Clemmie, has a yearling filly by Caravaggio, as does the champion Immortal Verse and Irish 1,000 Guineas (G1) winner Yesterday.

Queen Titi foaled a half-brother to the Group 1 Dewhurst winner Beethoven, and Canterbury Lace, a Danehill half-sister to Virginia Waters, has a yearling half-brother to Group 1 Matron Stakes winner Chachamaidee.

He was also chosen as the first mate for Group 3 winner and twice Oaks-placed Rain Goddess, a Danehill Dancer grand-daughter of Virginia Waters. Sparrow, an Oasis Dream mare out of All Too Beautiful, a full-sister to Galileo and half to Sea The Stars, has a yearling halfbrother to Group 3 winner Sir Dragonet.

Caravaggio’s foals were some of the most highly anticipated at the breeding stock sales of 2019 and 33 of his first crop went under the hammer, 31 of them sold with an average price of €113,880 and a median that almost crept into six figures at €96,047.

Of the 31 to sell, 11 made a minimum of €100,000 with the highest price of 250,000gns (€307,843) going to Amy Marnane’s half-brother to Group 1 Commonwealth Cup and British Champions Sprint Stakesplaced filly Forever In Dreams, who was bought by Abbeylands Farm.

Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud went to €240,000 to secure the first foal of Show Me The Music, a daughter of Dubawi and Group 1 Falmouth Stakes winner Music Show. The colt was consigned by the Castlebridge Consignment.

Racing Form

Ten runs, seven wins, two places | Best Timeform Rating: 126 | Average winning distance: 5.57f

Stakes form

AT 2 3rd top rated 2yr old colt in Ireland in 2016. Won Keeneland Phoenix Stakes, Curragh, Gr.1, (6f. beating Courage Under Fire (USA) and Medicine Jack (GB)), Coventry Stakes, Ascot, Gr.2, (6f. beating Mehmas (IRE) and Psychedelic Funk (GB)), Cold Move EBF Marble Hill Stakes, Curragh, L., (5f. beating Mister Trader (GB) and Ambiguity (IRE)).

AT 3 Top rated 3yr old sprinter in Ireland in 2017. Won Commonwealth Cup, Ascot, Gr.1, (6f. beating Harry Angel (IRE) and Blue Point (IRE)), Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes, Curragh, Gr.2, (5f. beating Alphabet (GB) and Son of Rest (GB)), EMS Copiers Lacken Stakes, Naas, Gr.3, (6f. beating Psychedelic Funk (GB)), third in Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes, Ascot, Gr.1, (to Librisa Breeze (GB)).