DEEP Impact was expected to sire a European classic winner last weekend, Saxon Warrior starting a very warm favourite for the Epsom Derby. That particular dream was not realised, but there was fair compensation when his son Study Of Man built on a previous lifetime best performance of landing the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe by winning the Group 1 QIPCO Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby.

Study Of Man was bred and is raced by the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Holdings Ltd, and the son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) is the second classic winner in the last couple of weeks from a female line that has been very successful for the breeders. Miesque (Nureyev) was one of the best ever racehorses to don the distinctive Niarchos silks, and she is the grandam of Study Of Man and the third dam of the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas winner Alpha Centauri (Mastercraftsman).

Never out of the first three in 16 career starts, Miesque was one of the best racemares in history and winner of many awards. She won 12 times, all but two of them in Group or Grade 1 races. The first horse to win two consecutive Breeders’ Cup races (she landed the Mile twice), she was a multiple winner at the highest level each season she ran.

DUAL CLASSIC WINNER

Trained by Francois Boutin, she won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and Prix de la Salamandre at two before becoming a dual classic winner at three, successful in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket before adding the French equivalent. That year she also won the Prix du Moulin and the Prix Jacques Le Marois before travelling to Hollywood Park, setting a track record at the Breeders’ Cup.

At four she won again at the Breeders’ Cup, this time in Kentucky, adding to victories earlier in the season in the Prix d’Ispahan and a second Prix Jacques Le Marois. Her racing honours included being ranked the best three-year-old European filly and the best older horse in Europe at four, while her Breeders’ Cup wins saw her voted the champion female turf horse in the USA twice. In 1999 she was inducted into the United States Racing Hall of Fame, while she has races run in her honour in both France and America.

The old wives tale that great racemares tend not to make great broodmares is a myth and Miesque is a fine example of the opposite being the case. She bred six winners, all stakes performers, five of them stakes winners and two of them Group 1 winners. Interestingly, Second Happiness (Storm Cat), the dam of Study Of Man, is one of the mare’s few offspring who failed to win!

TOP-CLASS RACEHORSE

Kingmambo (Mr Prospector) is the best known of Miesque’s progeny and he was not only a top-class racehorse but he became an outstanding sire afterwards. His Group 1 wins were gained in the French 2000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and the Prix de Moulin, while among his outstanding roll of honour of winners are such as Lemon Drop Kid, Henrythenavigator, King’s Best and El Condor Pasa – and they are just the colts.

A year after Kingmambo came East Of The Moon (Private Account) and seven years after her dam she was also rated the champion three-year-old filly in France, the consequence of winning both the French 1000 Guineas and Oaks, as well as the Prix Jacques le Marois. She is the grandam of Alpha Centauri.

Kingmambo and East Of The Moon were the first two foals from Miesque, and the third was Miesque’s Son (Mr Prospector). He was a Group 3 winner who just missed out on completing a hat-trick of Group 1 winners for his dam, but he had to settle for being runner-up in both the Prix de la Foret and the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

SPECIAL MENTION

Special mention must also be made of another daughter of Miesque who failed to win. This was Kingmambo’s full-sister Monevassia. She has established her own dynasty, breeding the champion European juvenile filly Rumplestiltskin (Danehill), and being the grandam of Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks winner Tapestry (Galileo) and the Dubai World Cup winner Real Steel (Deep Impact).

Deep Impact was the best of his generation at three and four in Japan, winning the Group 1 Japan Cup and the Triple Crown at three. He went to stud in 2007 and is the most successful stallion in Japan, though his influence outside that country continues to grow.

Abroad he is sire of the aforementioned trio Study Of Man, Real Steel and Saxon Warrior, as well as Vivlos (Dubai World Cup), A Shin Hakari (Prix d’Ispahan), Real Impact (George Ryder Stakes), Gentildonna (champion and won Dubai Sheema Classic) and Beauty Parlour (French 1000 Guineas).

The combination of Deep Impact on a Storm Cat mare has been very productive and other racing stars include Satono Aladdin (Group 1 Yasuda Kinen), A Shin Hakari (Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan and Hong Kong Cup), Real Steel (Group 1 Dubai World Cup), Lachesis (Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup), Ayusan (Group 1 Oka Sho – 1000 Guineas), and Kizuna (Group 1 Tokyo Yushun – Derby, and sire).

Breeders, stallion masters and readers are invited to contact Leo Powell at leopowell@theirishfield.ie with news and updates for the column, and to visit our website www.theirishfield.ie for daily breeding news