SUCCESS in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby for Program Trading brought the total of top-level victories by sons and daughters of Lope De Vega (Shamardal) to 28, and these have been accumulated by 19 individual winners.

The win also saw Program Trading again assert his authority over Webslinger, the colt he had earlier this year accounted for in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. This was also the fourth win in five starts for the three-year-old, and he suffered his only reversal in the Grade 3 Virginia Derby when a fast-finishing second.

Carrying the colours of Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, the three-year-old rig was giving his trainer Chad Brown a fourth win in the Hollywood Derby since Annals Of Time won it in 2016. He has since been successful with Raging Bull in 2018, and Domestic Spending two years later. Klaravich also owned Domestic Spending and was a partner in Annals Of Time.

Program Trading is from his sire’s ninth crop. Lope De Vega’s tally of Group/Grade 1 wins have been recorded in Australia, France, the UAE, USA, Ireland, Britain, and Canada.

Bred and sold by Luca and Sara Cumani’s Fittocks Stud in partnership with Arrow Farm and Stud, Program Trading is just the latest in a long list of top-class winners that have been sourced over many years by the Irish-born bloodstock agent, Mike Ryan. He spent 250,000gns to purchase Program Trading as a yearling in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, and he also was responsible for buying Domestic Spending.

A daughter of the two-year-old winner Dreamlike (Oasis Dream), Program Trading is that mare’s second winner from three starters. Her first winner was Bonneval (Siyouni), winner of four races also. Among the other offspring of Dreamlike is the unraced Topaz Dream (Dark Angel), a real bargain buy now as she sold last year, as a three-year-old, to BBA Ireland for only 13,000gns, and this year was covered for the first time by Invincible Spirit (Green Desert).

Mike Ryan

Alabama Anna (Starspangledbanner) is a juvenile half-sister to Program Trading, while Dreamlike has since produced a yearling filly by Pinatubo (Shamardal) and a colt foal by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi). Not surprisingly, Mike Ryan had the final say on the Pinatubo yearling this year, going to 260,000gns to secure her.

Fittocks Stud purchased Dreamlike’s dam, So Silk (Rainbow Quest), as an unraced four-year-old for 480,000gns, and that was 15 years ago. She has gone on to breed five winners for them. The best has been Silk Sari (Dalakhani), successful in the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes and runner-up in the Group 1 British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes.

There has been a few major updates to the family, including Silk Dari’s granddaughter Zardozi (Kingman) who won the Group 1 Victoria Oaks at Flemington a few weeks ago.

So Silk is a daughter of Gossamer (Sadler’s Wells), and that own-sister to Barathea bred seven successful offspring, the best of which was the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner Ibn Khaldun (Dubai Destination). So Silk’s unraced half-sister Veil Of Silence (Elusive Quality) has also played her role in keeping this family to the forefront, as last year her son Mischief Magic (Exceed And Excel) won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Barathea

Gossamer’s full-brother Barathea (Sadler’s Wells) won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile three decades ago before enjoying a successful stud career at Rathbarry Stud. Their dam Brocade (Habitat) won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret and not only bred a pair of Group/Grade 1 winners, but her Grade 3 winning daughter Free At Last (Shirley Heights) was placed a few times at Grade 1 level in the USA.

Free At Last’s daughter Coretta (Caerleon) was a multiple Grade 2 winner and runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Another daughter of Brocade worth mentioning is the stakes-placed Bombazine (Generous). Five of her sons and daughters were stakes winners, and Berlin Berlin (Dubai Destination) came closest to being a Group 1 hero, having to settle for second placed in the Grosser Preis von Berlin.

Highest level

It certainly won’t be long before Lope De Vega brings up winner number 20 at the highest level, and this year alone he is responsible for 15 stakes winners, while his three-year-old son Mondego was third in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, and El Drama was runner-up in March in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta.

This year alone Lope De Vega has sired 28 individual two-year-old winners, and they include the Group 2 Ballylinch-bred Iberian, Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Beauvatier, and the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Rose Bloom, bred by Ballylinch’s managing director, John O’Connor.

Finally, it will not be long until a daughter of Lope De Vega breeds a Group 1 winner. Group 2 winners Sumo Sam (Nathaniel), Sober (Camelot), Persian Force (Mehmas) and The Ridler (Brazen Beau), along with Group 3 winners Kairyu (Kuroshio), Self Belief (Make Believe), Statement (Lawman), Fast Attack (Kodiac) and Devil (Siyouni) are all out of his daughters.

Calyx is spreading his influence

TWENTY winners is the highly commendable record of the first runners by Coolmore’s Calyx, the Group 2 Coventry Stakes-winning son of Kingman (Invincible Spirit).

Six of those have earned blacktype, with three being winners at that level. Significantly, that trio have all won at group/graded level, the latest being Zona Verde, successful in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar. Bred and raced initially by Miriam and Nelius Hayes’ Knockainey Stud after she failed to sell at 30,000gns, Zona Verde was placed twice earlier this year when trained by Ken Condon.

After that she was sourced by BBA Ireland’s Michael Donohoe and bloodstock agent Niall Dalton to join Philip D’Amato in California. Her weekend success was her second since moving to the USA, and she joins Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte winner Classic Flower and Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes winner Persian Dreamer as a stakes winner for their sire. Calyx will command a fee of €12,500 in 2024.

Zona Verde is the first winner for the Dark Angel (Acclamation) winner Namibie, and she was acquired in 2019 carrying her first foal, the placed Status Green (Le Havre), for €100,000. Following on from Zona Verde is the yearling colt Cayman Tai (Earthlight), sold for €65,000 as a foal, while this year Namibie had a colt foal by Waldgeist (Galileo). She visited Teofilo (Galileo) this spring.

In Japan

After a racing career that was highlighted by a juvenile win in the Group 3 Prix du Calvados, and four visits to the sales, Namibie’s dam Mambia (Aldebaran) ended up in Japan where five of her six winners were foaled.

Mambia was the best of the seven winners from Algoa (Common Grounds), and one of her siblings bred the stakes winner and Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary runner-up Olendon (Le Havre).

Breeding multiple winners is a hallmark of the dams in this family, and Zona Verde’s fourth dam had eight winners, of which Atlando (Hernando) and Incanto Dream (Galileo) were the best. The former won a Grade 2 in the USA, but Incanto Dream won the Group 2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil and finished second in the Group 1 Prix du Cadran.