BACK at the scene of a juvenile Group 1 victory, Native Trail was odds-on to win another, the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas, on Saturday, and he delivered. He was adding to earlier wins in the English and French versions of the mile classic for Godolphin and Appleby.

Runner-up to his stablemate Coroebus in Newmarket, beaten less than a length, Native Trail made amends and now can claim that half of his six wins have been at Group 1 level, including both the Dewhurst and National Stakes at two. His defeat at Newmarket has been his only one to date.

The pedigree of Native Trail has been well analysed in the Breeding Insights columns, so this week I will provide a shortened summary. The European champion juvenile and bred by Haras d’Haspel, Native Trail is a son of Banstead Manor Stud’s Oasis Dream (Green Desert), and is one of 18 to be successful at Group or Grade 1 level.

Now a 22-year-old, Oasis Dream is not slowing down as a stallion, and he is standing this season at a fee of £20,000. He has sired 215 stakes horses, the winners of 30 Group/Grade 1 races, and his progeny have amassed more than €65 million in earnings. He is also an outstanding broodmare sire, his daughters responsible for five Group 1 winners.

At last year’s Arqana Yearling Sale, Godolphin paid €950,000 for Native Trail’s Kingman (Invincible Spirit) half-sister Tranquil Rose, and their unraced dam Needleleaf (Observatory), a bargain 60,000gns purchase at two, has a Siyouni (Pivotal) yearling filly.

Group 1 family

The first four dams of Native Trail have bred a Group or Grade 1 winner, a rare occurrence. Native Trail was sold three times, to Sam Sangster for €50,000 as a foal, for 67,000gns from Kildaragh Stud in Book 1 of the Tattersalls Yearling Sale to Mags O’Toole, and by Norman Williamson at the Craven Breeze-Up Sale for 210,000gns to Godolphin.

Needleleaf is a full-sister to the Group 1 winner and champion sprinter African Rose (Observatory), and she has in turn bred the very talented but lightly-raced Fair Eva (Frankel). Another full-sister is Helleborine (Observatory), a Group 3 winner and runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac. She has also made her mark at stud, being the dam of Group 2 Coventry Stakes winner and Coolmore sire Calyx (Kingman).

Native Trail’s third dam Musicant (Nijinsky) won in France and is dam of Distant Music (Distant View), another to win the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, while his fourth dam’s 10 winners were headed by the US champion Vanlandingham (Cox’s Ridge), a three-time Grade 1 winner who principal victory came in the Washington D.C. International.