VOYAGE Warrior took a major step towards fulfilling his undoubted potential with victory in the Group 2 Sprint Cup over six furlongs at Sha Tin on Sunday. The four-year-old loved the turf and dominated his seven rivals, was never headed and sprinted down the straight to beat Hot King Prawn by three-parts of a length.

Voyage Warrior burst onto the scene last term with three wins from four starts, achieved in blistering fashion, but this season he had mixed his form, with one win from five starts prior to his first tilt at group company.

Trainer Ricky Yiu’s Australian-bred indicated a bright future when he cruised to an easy four-length debut win last season and then added a further two successes, with his sole defeat coming at the hands of the subsequent Group 1 placed Thanks Forever.

Voyage Warrior has the distinction of being one of only three horses in the past decade to have dipped below 55 seconds over five furlongs at Sha Tin, the others being Yiu’s world champion Sacred Kingdom and current track record holder Aethero, the latter being among the vanquished on Sunday.

Sunday’s success was Voyage Warrior’s first over six furlongs at just his second attempt. “He’s maturing and that has meant he’s had some ups and downs, he’s had bad patches, but he’s improving and each time he’s gone over six furlongs he’s run better,” Yiu said. The gelding has spent time at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Conghua facility and the trainer credited that experience as being a key factor in achieving his first group win.

Yiu expects to pitch his emerging talent into the six-furlong Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize on FWD Champions Day on Sunday, April 26th when he is likely to lock horns again with Hot King Prawn and Aethero.

Voyage Warrior’s pedigree would suggest that he might even get further than six furlongs, and his Group 2 win was yet another feather in the cap of his sire Declaration Of War who featured prominently in this column last week. Winner of the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York and Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, he is the sire of French 2000 Guineas Olmedo in his first and only Coolmore Ireland crop, three Group 1 winners in Australia including the 2019 Melbourne Cup hero Vow And Declare, and last year’s Canadian Group 1 winning two-year-old Decorated Invader, a horse to watch for this year in the USA.

To use a phrase much in evidence on social media platforms – could Declaration Of War ever find his way back to Ireland – just asking for a friend?

Voyage Warrior is now a second stakes winner for the New Zealand two-year-old winner Chaleur, a daughter of Stravinsky (Nureyev). He was one of the early stars of Aidan O’Brien’s training career, winning the July Cup and Nunthorpe Stakes 21 years ago as a three-year-old. He had some success as a stallion, getting two Group 1 winning sprinters in Europe, Benbaun and Soldier’s Tale.

Chaleur’s other stakes winner is also by a former Coolmore stallion. Speech Craft (Oratorio) won seven times in New Zealand and his most important win was in the Listed Hallmark Stud Handicap. He and Voyage Warrior are two of the four runners to date from their dam, and all four are winners.

Voyage Warrior’s grandam is Evanilda (River Special), and she won twice for owner Harry Dobson and trainer Jim Bolger 21 years ago. She won a handicap at Leopardstown and followed up by landing the Ulster Oaks at Down Royal. Later that year she sold for 42,000gns at the December Sale to Bloomsbury Stud and headed to New Zealand where Chaleur was her only winner.

Evanilda was a half-sister to the Listed Cecil Frail handicap winner Incisive (Sharpen Up), the Listed Lupe Stakes winner Gisarne (Diesis), the four-year-old winner La Susiane (Persepolis) and the unraced Essylt (Artaius).

Gisarne also left her mark on New Zealand racing as her grandson Wall Street (Montjeu) was champion sprinter there and also twice rated the champion miler. His 11 career wins included four Group 1 victories. Likewise Essylt was influential down under as her sons Bezeal Bay and Coalesce, both by Zabeel (Sir Tristram), were major winners in Australia. Bezeal Bay’s biggest win was in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes, while a Group 2 victory and a pair of Group 3 wins were the height of Coalesce’s achievements.

Final mention goes to La Susiane who bred Mahsusie (Mukaddamah) and her two wins as a juvenile included the Listed Marble Hill Stakes and she was placed the following year in the Listed Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial Stakes.