WHAT a weekend it was for Lanwades Stud’s Study Of Man (Deep Impact), as he made his mark at Group 1 level, thanks to the Juddmonte owned and bred Kalpana, winner of the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes. The win certainly made up for any regrets Juddmonte might have had about selling the winner’s dam Zero Gravity (Dansili) for 35,000gns, the same year that the new Group 1 winner was born.

Blandford Bloodstock conducted the purchase of Zero Gravity, a stakes winner, at the Tattersalls December Sale in 2021, and the mare was carrying a full-brother to Kalpana. That now two-year-old, unraced to date, failed to sell at 9,000gns as a yearling, but that disappointment was surely well forgotten when Zero Gravity’s yearling this year, a filly by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), was purchased by Shadwell for 425,000gns in Book 2.

Kalpana has been a model of consistency, winning five of her eight starts and being placed on the other occasions. She is one of five winners for Zero Gravity who won a listed race at three in France, and that mare was born five years after her full-brother, the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris winner Zambezi Sun (Dansili).

Another full-sibling is the stakes-placed Shared Account (Dansili), and she has two stakes-winning progeny to date.

Zero Gravity is one of eight winners out of Imbabala (Zafonic), and her other star runner was Kalabar (Kahyasi), a Group 2 winner in France who was later to win over hurdles in England. This is a quite wonderful family, Kalpana’s third dam being the then Group 2 Prix Maurice de Gheest heroine Interval (Habitat). Placed in the Group 1 1000 Guineas, Interval bred three stakes winners, and is grandam of the Group 1 July Cup and Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp winner Continent (Lake Coniston).

It is no surprise that Study Of Man has sired a Group 1 winner in his first crop. He was one of the success stories among the first season sires in 2023, getting off to a great start with nine individual juvenile winners, two stakes horses, and last year’s star was the Paddy Twomey-trained Deepone, who completed his first season with a victory in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes.

First crop

That first crop now numbers five stakes winners and 10 stakes horses in total, and it is bad luck that Study Of Man does not have a second Group 1 winner, Birthe’s principal success coming in the recently downgraded Group 2 Prix Saint-Alary.

It was to be expected, and it has come to pass, that Study Of Man’s stock would benefit greatly with time, even with his good start. This year he looks set to better last year’s tally of juvenile winners, with eight on the board already.

Study Of Man himself won a one-mile newcomers’ race at Saint-Cloud on his only start at two. First time out at three he was runner-up in the Group 3 Prix La Force, and advertised his classic potential with an impressive performance in the 10 and a half-furlong Group 2 Prix Greffulhe which he won by three and a half lengths. He duly followed it with classic victory in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby at Chantilly.

Study Of Man chased home Waldgeist in the Group 1 Prix Ganay, was runner-up to Zabeel Prince in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan, and was only beaten four and a half lengths by Enable in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on his only attempt at a mile and a half.

Juddmonte’ sprinter is on Point at Ascot

JUST like Study Of Man, Blue Point is represented by his second crop of juveniles in 2024, and the Kildangan Stud stallion has made an explosive start at stud.

Consider this - no European stallion has ever sired more Group 1 winners from their first crop at this stage of their career. The classic miler and triple Group 1 winner Rosallion, along with Timeform’s top-rated three-year-old sprinters, Big Evs and Kind Of Blue, can be added to Blue Point’s record of being the quickest sire to 50 juvenile winners.

His second crop, this years’ juveniles, are headed by the undefeated Group 2-winning filly Sky Majesty, while his third-crop yearlings have realised up to €915,000. Kind Of Blue is his new Group 1 winner. He showed great determination to make his breakthrough at the top level with a thrilling victory in the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot. He is trained by James Fanshawe for Wathnan Racing.

Kind Of Blue made a winning debut at Kempton in April, followed by a two and a half-length win on his second start at Doncaster the following month. He has put up some fine efforts in defeat, and was just narrowly beaten into second place in the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup. Bred by Jan and Peter Hopper, and Michelle Morri, Kind Of Blue is one of two winners out of the unraced Blues Sister (Compton Place), and he was keeping up a tremendous family record, as his dam’s siblings The Tin Man (Equiano) and Deacon Blues (Compton Place) are previous winners of the Ascot feature sprint.

The Tin Man won three Group 1 races, his other victories at that level being gained in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Haydock Sprint Cup. Blues Sister’s full-brother Deacon Blues won the Ascot centrepiece when it was a Group 2 race.

Their dam Persario won at three and five years when trained by James Fanshawe, as were her two best sons, and at stud she had a very fine record, with 10 winners from her 13 foals.

As a triple Group 1 winner, The Tin Man will always rank as her best offspring, though Deacon Blues was actually rated the champion older sprinter in Europe in 2011. The latter won the Group 3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh by an incredible seven lengths, and the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot. Sadly, he sustained a tendon injury after his biggest success and was forced into an early retirement.

Warningford

Persario is one of four winners from Barford Lady (Stanford) and they included five-time winner Heretic (Bishop Of Cashel) and Warningford (Warning). The latter won 10 races, three of them group races and another three at listed level. He came within a neck of gaining a Group 1 success when he was denied by Medicean in the 2001 Lockinge Stakes.

Barford Lady won a couple of races and had five winning siblings, the best of which was the stakes winner Ansellman (Absalom). The Doncaster Stakes was the best of his 11 wins and he was placed no fewer than 41 times!

Blue Point has sired 23 individual blacktype performers this year. They are headed by his classic-winning son Rosallion, whilst Big Evs, a Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup winner at two, dug deep to win the Group 2 King George Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Last weekend his juvenile daughter, Sky Majesty, remained unbeaten in three starts when winning the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte. Blue Point’s tally of stakes winners stands at 13, and all but three are from his first crop.