WITH 145 members in his first crop, Tally-Ho Stud’s Mehmas (Acclamation) is many people’s idea of the potential leading first crop sire in 2020. The son of Acclamation (Royal Applause) is, like Dark Angel, out of a daughter of Machiavellian (Mr Prospector). His racing profile was not dissimilar to that of the Yeomanstown stallion.
Mehmas raced only at two, though a Group 1 win eluded him. That said, he was very consistent, winning half of his eight starts and placing in all the others. Victories included the Group 2 July Stakes at Newmarket and the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at York, both over six furlongs. On the latter occasion his immediate victim was the subsequent four-time Group 1 winner Blue Point. Mehmas’s placed efforts included being runner-up to multiple Group 1 winners, Churchill in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh.
Little wonder then that much was expected of his first crop and, at Newcastle on Tuesday, he got off the mark in England when Muker scored on his debut for trainer Phillip Makin. Bred by Joe and June Staunton, Muker sold as a foal to Tom Burns for €32,000 and resold at Goffs UK, through Tally-Ho Stud, to his present owners for £27,000. He becomes the fourth winner for his dam Naias (Namid), a placed half-sister to group-winning sprinter Snaefell (Danehill Dancer).
Half an hour earlier, Mehmas was celebrating as his son Bridge Dress Me won in Rome. Bred by Michael Phelan at his Pipe View Stud, this colt is the first winner for his dam. He was sold from Pipe View for €6,200 in Goffs to Filippo Sbariggia. .
Bridge Dress Me is out of Prom Dress (Mount Nelson) and that mare’s half-sister Luvmedo (One Cool Cat) is dam of the dual Group 3 winning filly My Lea (Dandy Man), both of those successes coming over six furlongs at Rome.
Prince Of Lir
While Ballyhane’s first-season sire Prince Of Lir does not have quite as many first crop members as some of his peers, with 77 juveniles in his first crop, he has wasted no time in getting off the mark, with his son The Lir Jet doing the business in some style at Yarmouth on Wednesday, setting a record time in the process. Michael Bell’s booking of Silvestre de Sousa was notable and the colt is now a second juvenile winner for his dam Paper Dreams (Green Desert), and surely Royal Ascot bound.
Bred by Donal Boylan, The Lir Jet was purchased by Ballyhane’s Joe Foley as a foal at Tattersalls Ireland for €9,500, so he made no profit when reselling him the following year for £8,000. However, his nose for a winner was correct and this victory will have dulled any disappointment at not making a profit.
Paper Dreams won twice over six furlongs as a three-year-old. Her grandam was Papering (Shaadi), the champion older mare in Italy where she won the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio, and she was later a stakes winner in the USA. Papering’s placed efforts included finishing second in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks (to Key Change) and the Group 1 Prix Vermeille (to My Emma).
Twilight Son
Aria Importante is a name that the team at Cheveley Park Stud will not forget. Her victory at the weekend in Milan was a first for Twilight Son. She becomes the fifth winner from six runners for her dam Aria Di Festa (Orpen) who was a listed winner over seven and a half furlongs and runner-up in the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena-Italian 1000 Guineas. She also placed in the Group 2 Prix Sandringham at Chantilly.
Twilight Son will be well represented this season as his initial crop consists of more than 120 foals. He himself was lightly raced, winning both his starts at two and enjoying all his six career victories over six furlongs. He went into the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock at three unbeaten in four starts, none of them a stakes race, yet emerged the victor. He then met his first defeat, going down to Muhaarar in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes.
Kept in training at four, he added a second Group 1 success when, at Royal Ascot, he captured the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Doctor Strange
First runner, first winner. That’s the proud boast of the Kodiac (Danehill) sire Adaay, following the debut success of Doctor Strange at Milan last Saturday. The colt was sold to Paula Flannery as a foal for 16,000gns but his resale from Egmont Stud was no fairytale. He realised £7,000, and at the weekend he earned almost all of that in one fell swoop.
Doctor Strange is the first foal from Mystic Jade (Raven’s Pass) who was placed a number of times. She is a half-sister to six winners and a daughter of Mauri Moon (Green Desert), a stakes winner from a family that is solid with blacktype winners.
On Thursday Adaay doubled up when his son Adaay Dream traveled to Newcastle and went the extra furlong to win on his debut over six furlongs.
This £20,000 yearling, the fourth foal of his dam, is a half-brother to two winners and from the family of Group 1 Dubai World Cup winner Prince Bishop (Dubawi).
Adaay stands at Whitsbury Manor Stud and he won twice at two before running third to Limato in a listed race. His best season was as a three-year-old when he won a pair of Group 2 races, turning the tables on Limato in the six-furlong Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock. He has more than 90 juveniles in that first crop.
Bow Creek
Bred at Roundhill Stud in Ireland, Bow Creek won in England, Ireland and Australia, stands in France under the Darley banner at Haras du Logis, and his first winner, What’s Up, won over the minimum trip at Baden-Baden in Germany. A Group 2 winner over a mile and nine furlongs, Bow Creek, a son of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway), has had limited support at stud, with only 22 two-year-olds to represent him.
What’s Up was sold at the BBAG Yearling Sale to Mario Hofer for €5,000 and he is out of Perfect Bounty (Bahamian Bounty), a winner over six and seven furlongs in England at the age of three.
Unstoppable
French breeders who are using Goken this year at Haras de Colleville will be rubbing their hands with glee. With a first crop of runners numbering about 60, he is off the mark quicker than Usain Bolt, already having five individual winners under his belt. This is a dream start for the son of Kendargent (Kendor) who was a group winner at two and three and placed in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.
Goken may not have immediately struck observers as the type to do so well, but he was a smart juvenile who was only once out of the money in eight starts at two. He won the five-furlong Group 3 Prix du Bois, and was far from disgraced when tried at a higher level.
The six sires above join Dariyan, resident at the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval, and he is the second son of Shamardal to enjoy success this year with his first two-year-olds. Dariyan got off the mark with Princesse De Saba at Lyon Parilly, the filly winning on her debut, and she followed up with another win on Thursday. Her sire did not race himself at that age, and gained his biggest win as a four-year-old when he beat Silverware in the Group 1 Prix Ganay.
Dariyan is one of 25 Group 1 winners sired by Shamardal whose son Victor Ludorum won the French 2000 Guineas on Monday and another son, Pinatubo, is favourite to bring up a classic double this weekend in England.
Shalaa
Completing the list of sires with their first winners is Shalaa (Invincible Spirit), the Haras de Bouquetot-based dual Group 1-winning juvenile. His daughter Cherie Amore, a €250,000 yearling and racing in the colours of Lady Bamford, won at Clairefontaine on Thursday. She is bred in the purple, being a three-parts sister to National Defense (Invincible Spirit), winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at two and now standing at the Irish National Stud.
Trainer Andre Fabre wasted no time gaining a valuable bracket for this well-related filly and she will surely now go in immediate search of blacktype.