THOUGH bred by Paul Shanahan’s Lynch Bages and Longfield Stud, the Group 1 Irish Derby winner Los Angeles is what can only be described as a true ‘Coolmore product’.

He combines a sire line – Camelot, Montjeu and Sadler’s Wells (Northern Dancer) – with a female line that traces back to his fourth dam, Allegretta (Lombard), the dam of none other than Urban Sea (Miswaki). The latter, winner of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 1993, is the dam of four Group 1 winners, most notably Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), and from whom a feast of world-class runners have descended.

Los Angeles has an almost impeccable race record. He was unbeaten at two, winning a Tipperary maiden in early September on his debut, and then seven weeks later digging deep to land the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 10 furlongs, with his more fancied stablemate Illinois, recent winner of the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, a length back in third.

Success in the Group 3 Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial at Leopardstown secured Los Angeles a place in the line-up for the Group 1 Derby at Epsom, and while he was no match for the winner and runner-up, City Of Troy and Ambiente Friendly, he finished a highly creditable third. He thus became the leading Ballydoyle fancy for the Curragh classic, and reversed the Epsom form with Ambiente Friendly who finished third, the pair divided by Group 1 winner Sunway.

Given that the other racing superpower Godolphin had no challenger for the Irish Derby, it is somewhat ironic that the winner is from a mare who was sold by Sheikh Mohammed’s organisation. Frequential, then an unraced Dansili (Danehill) three-year-old, was purchased at the Tattersalls February Sale by BBA Ireland seven years ago for what seems now like a paltry 48,000gns. At the time she was the first foal of a four-year-old winner in France, Violante, by Kingmambo (Mr Prospector). Investing in her was a gamble that something would emerge in the immediate family.

Violante may have enjoyed just a single success, but she was also placed no fewer than 13 times. A full-sister to the English stakes winner and pattern-placed Reunite (Kingmambo), Violante was a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby winner Anabaa Blue (Anabaa), and to the dam of the dual Group 1 winner Tamayuz (Nayef). At the time of Frequential’s sale, there were just six stakes winners under her grandam Allez Les Trois (Riverman). She was a Group 3 winner and a half-sister to none other than Urban Sea (Miswaki).

Camelot covers

Frequential travelled to her new home in Tipperary and was covered a number of times by Camelot (Montjeu), producing her first three foals. The first pair are both group-placed winners, and the third is Los Angeles. Hector De Maris (Camelot) was a winner at two and he placed in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown before making the trip to Australia where he was a minor winner. His full-sister Be Happy (Camelot) sold for 340,000gns and was also a juvenile winner, and she too was placed in a Group 3 race, the Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud.

Last year Mark McStay of Avenue Bloodstock purchased the fourth produce of Frequential, a yearling son of No Nay Never (Scat Daddy), for 150,000gns. Named Front And Centre, he has already been gelded.

The two Group 1 victories in just five starts for Los Angeles are not the only major updates in the family since Frequential was sold. Her dam Violante was also sold in 2022 by Godolphin, again to BBA Ireland, but she cost 330,000gns as her son Impulsif (New Approach) was a Group 3 winner, and won seven times in all. Violante is now responsible for three winners, and last year her daughter Veil Of Shadows (Frankel) won and was runner-up in the Group 3 Pride Stakes at Newmarket. Now in training in France, she regained her winning ways at Strasbourg in May.

As I mentioned earlier, while there were half a dozen stakes winners under Allez Les Trois seven years ago, now there are an incredible 21, and that list shows no sign of stopping. Last year Grosvenor Square (Galileo), a half-brother to the Group 1 Irish Derby winner Santiago (Authorized), won the Group 3 Eyrefield Stakes at Leopardstown, and he was among those who finished down the field at the Curragh on Sunday. This year there was a further major boost for the pedigree when Facteur Cheval (Ribchester), who chased home Big Rock in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last autumn, won the Group 1 Dubai Turf at Meydan.

Urban Sea

I hardly need to remind readers of this column of the next remove in this pedigree. Urban Sea has proven herself to be one of the greatest broodmares, and in addition to the multiple champion sire and hugely influential Galileo, she is also dam of the leading sire Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), Grade 1 winner My Typhoon (Giant’s Causeway), and the Irish and Italian Group 1 winner Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells). If this was not enough, her daughters and their offspring have been responsible for Group/Grade 1 winners Sir Dragonet (Camelot), Derby hero Masar (New Approach), Irish Oaks winner Bracelet (Montjeu), and Athena (Camelot). Clearly Camelot works well in this family.

Urban Sea’s half-brother King’s Best (Kingmambo) won half of his six starts, headlined by his victory in the Group 1 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. He later was a successful sire.

Their siblings include a number of fillies who have gone on to establish branches of the family that are responsible for the likes of the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso (Adlerflug), his Group 1-winning half-brother Tunnes (Guiliani), German Group 1 winner Anzillero (Law Society), and Cayenne Pepper (Australia), winner of the Group 2 Blandford Stakes and runner-up in both the Group 1 Irish Oaks and Pretty Polly Stakes.

Los Angeles is from the seventh crop by Camelot, and each of those crops has yielded at least one Group 1 winner. This feat was achieved at the weekend when his four-year-old daughter Bluestocking landed the Pretty Polly Stakes.

European champion

The European champion three-year-old Camelot sired Group 1 Irish Derby winner Latrobe and Grade 1 Belmont Oaks winner Athena in his first crop, while Group 1 winners Wonderment and the ill-fated Sir Dragonet emerged in his second crop.

His third crop had Irish classic winner Even So, Australian classic winner Russian Camelot, and German Group 1 winner Sunny Queen among their numbers.

There was another Grade 1 Belmont Oaks winner, Santa Barbara, in crop number four, and she also landed the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes.

Camelot’s most successful runner emerged in 2019, the four-time Group 1 winner Luxembourg, alongside the classic winner and dual Group 1 hero Sammarco. Los Angeles and Bluestocking now complete the list, taking his top-level tally to a dozen.

Juvenile Group 1 winner of the Racing Post Trophy, and triple classic hero - Group 1 2000 Guineas, Group 1 Derby and Group 1 Irish Derby – Camelot’s stature as a sire grows year by year. While his fee increased steadily from €25,000 through to €75,000 in 2022, Coolmore trimmed it back to €60,000 in 2023, and to €50,000 this year.