IT looks to be written in the stars that Victor Ludorum will go on to land the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby following his impressive annexation of the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas on Monday. This was a double achieved by his late sire Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway), and by that sire’s son Lope De Vega, now the stallion mainstay at Ballylinch Stud.

This classic victory for Godolphin was also very important as the family has been nurtured by Sheikh Mohammed since he acquired the Troy (Petingo) mare Helen Street from Ballymacoll Stud at the end of her racing career in 1985. That was the year in which she won the Group 1 Irish Oaks.

Helen Street plays a prominent role in the success of Victor Ludorum on both sides of the pedigree. Dam of 10 winners, the best of which was the Group 1 Dubai Gold Cup winner and leading sire Street Cry (Machiavellian) whose stars include Winx and Zenyatta, she also produced that colt’s own-sister, the stakes-placed Helsinki (Machiavellian). While Helsinki did not match her sibling’s ability on the track, she left an indelible mark on the breed as she became the dam of Shamardal.

Stakes winner

Helen Street bred a second stakes winner, the listed Saint-Cloud winner Historian (Pennekamp). The latter’s Group 3-placed daughter Antiquities (Kaldouneeves) is now the dam of Victor Ludorum and the stakes winner and Group 1 Irish Oaks-third Mary Tudor (Dawn Approach). This is also the immediate family of the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat winner and Darley stallion Territories (Invincible Spirit), whose first crop of 110 juveniles are hitting the track.

While Victor Ludorum’s victory was not unexpected, that of Dream And Do was. This daughter of Siyouni (Pivotal) provided her sire with his second winner of the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas, and her trainer Frederic Rossi with his first ever top-level success after 30 years with a licence.

First foal

Bred and raced by Haras du Logis Saint Germain, Dream And Do is the first foal of a mare, Venetias Dream (Librettist), who was once sold to race in Libya for just 1,000gns. Then fate intervened and in that same year of her sale her half-sister’s two-year-old colt Charm Spirit (Invincible Spirit) was placed in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, the following year winning three Group 1 in France and England. Meanwhile Venetias Dream won twice in Libya before being sent to France to be covered by Siyouni.

Standing at the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval, Siyouni was in the midst of his move up the stallion ladder, covering in 2016 for €30,000. That is less than a third of what he has commanded for the past two seasons. Safely carrying her first foal, Venetias Dream was sent to Newmarket and sold to MAB Agency for 80,000gns. She was carrying Dream And Do who herself failed to sell at Arqana as a yearling for €80,000. Now she is a classic winner of some £220,000.

Ironically, Dream And Do’s two-year-old half-sister, Keepthedreamalive (The Gurkha), was also retained as a yearling for €60,000, while this year Haras du Logis Saint Germain has a yearling colt by Gleneagles (Galileo) out of Venetias Dream.

Group 1 winners

All four of Siyouni’s Group 1 winners are French classic winners. Ervedya and Dream And Do are both winners of their 1000 Guineas, Laurens won the French Oaks, while Sottsass landed last year’s French Derby. The Group 1 winning two-year-old has also sired 17 other group winners.

On the dam side of this family there is no shortage of winners, while Dream And Do’s third dam Somfas (What A Pleasure) was a younger half-sister to the champion Fanfreluche (Northern Dancer), an outstanding producer and ancestress of Group or Grade 1 winners numbering in double figures.

Venetias Dream is one of seven winners for her unraced dam Machaera (Machiavellian). She, in turn, had four stakes-winning siblings, including Group 2 Temple Stakes winner Snaadee (Danzig), his Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes-winning own-brother Russian Bond (Danzig), and French Group 3 winner Cristofi (Fappiano). Their half-sister Sombreffe (Polish Precedent) bred the Group 1 winner and German Derby runner-up Ransom O’War (Red Ransom), and is grandam of Inverleigh (Excelebration), winner of last year’s Listed Committed Stakes at Navan and sold for 350,000gns at the Tattersalls July Sale to Rabbah Bloodstock.

Fearless King

A third classic on Monday was the Group 2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen-German 2000 Guineas and this was won, in a very tight finish, by Fearless King, a British-bred son of Kingman (Invincible Spirit). He becomes the 18th stakes winner for his Banstead Manor Stud-based sire whose first Group 1 winner was last year’s French 2000 Guineas hero Persian King.

Kingman suffered his sole defeat at the hands of Night Of Thunder in the 2000 Guineas, but his near-perfect record included four Group 1s; the Irish 2000 Guineas, the St James’ Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes in England, and the Prix Jacques Le Marois in France. His classic-winning son Fearless King was purchased as a yearling by bloodstock agent Tina Rau for 175,000gns and he is the first foal out of the Group 3-place, dual juvenile winner Astrelle (Makfi). That mare’s second offspring is a two-year-old by Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry), sold as a yearling for only 8,000gns, and she has a yearling filly by no none other than Frankel (Galileo).

Astrelle raced in England but she was purchased by McKeever Bloodstock as a yearling in Italy. Her half-brother Porsenna (Dylan Thomas) is now a 10-year-old and has won 19 races, notably the Group 2 Premio Ribot in Rome. He, the dual listed winner Basileus (Dream Ahead) and Astrelle are among the seven winners out of a daughter of Sopran Mariduff (Persian Bold), a good winner in Italy where she was placed in the Group 1 Oaks d’Italia. Later she went on to become a Grade 2 winner in the USA.