FASTNET Rock (by Danehill) was champion sprinter in Australia and he wasted no time in establishing himself as one of that continent’s best stallions.

He has been champion sire, has sired 19 Group 1 winners in the southern hemisphere, including sprinters and classic stars, and he shuttled to Ireland for five seasons.

Those first Coolmore Stud-conceived progeny are now four and they include the Dermot Weld-trained Fascinating Rock. Other than his juvenile debut, the only time that triple pattern scorer has been out of the frame is in last year’s Derby and Irish Derby.

In late May he put up the best performance of his life when failing by a neck to beat Al Kazeem in the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

They also include the Aidan O’Brien-trained Cougar Mountain who posted a career best effort when third to Solow in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot last month and runs in the Eclipse today.

With the way his second Irish crop have been running, however, his current top European yearling sales price of 350,000gns could be beaten this autumn.

Last month his daughter Qualify sprang a 50/1 surprise in the Group 1 Investec Oaks at Epsom, and although she was only sixth in the Irish Derby last Saturday, her sire gained some compensation the next day when Diamondsandrubies won the Group 1 Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes at the same venue.

Unplaced on her only outing at two, the Aidan O’Brien-trained bay took a nine-furlong Tipperary maiden in early April, finished third behind Bocca Baciata in a listed contest over a furlong farther at Navan nine days later and then ran away with the Listed Cheshire Oaks at Chester.

She was one of those affected by the major interference at Epsom and although that ruined her chance for victory, she ran on well to take fourth place.

Now the Premier Bloodstock-bred filly is her sire’s second European Group 1 winner and his 21st one in total, a remarkable achievement for a stallion who is about to turn 15 years old.

Diamondsandrubies has a pair of stakes-placed siblings, but as her dam is Quarter Moon (by Sadler’s Wells) she comes from a family for which Group 1 form is so common that mere listed or pattern placing is insufficient to stand out.

Quarter Moon was a head runner-up in the Group 3 Debutante Stakes on her debut, the only time she did not run in a Group 1 contest, and her only win came in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

She was runner-up in the Irish 1000 Guineas, in the Irish Oaks and in the Oaks at Epsom, and she was third in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.

SHORT-HEADED

Her year-younger full-sister Yesterday, who was a Group 2-placed stakes winner as a juvenile, short-headed Six Perfections in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas in 2003, and although she did not win again it was by no more than a neck that she was beaten when second in each of the Oaks, Prix Vermeille and Prix de l’Opera.

Their full-sister All My Loving ran only at three and won a maiden, but she was third behind Light Shift in the Oaks and third behind Peeping Fawn in the Irish Oaks. Her ill-fated son Thomas Chippendale (by Dansili) won both the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes and the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes.

The trio of sisters are the stars among six blacktype horses for their dam Jude (by Darshaan), a mare whose own siblings include several notable individuals.

Arrikala (by Darshaan) won the Listed Curragh Cup, was runner-up in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes and was third in the Group 1 Irish Oaks, a record marginally better than that of her Group 1-placed, stakes winning full-sister Alouette.

The latter then became the dam of the multiple Group 1 stars Albanova (by Alzao) and Alborada (by Alzao) and her various blacktype-winning descendants include the Derby runner-up Dragon Dancer (by Sadler’s Wells).

Jude’s half-sister Alleluia (by Caerleon) won the Group 3 Doncaster Cup and is the dam of the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak heroine Allegretto (by Galileo), a filly who was placed in two runnings of the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.

And then there’s Last Second (by Alzao), another of the talented and influential daughters of Alruccaba (by Crystal Palace).

RUNNER-UP

She won the Group 2 Nassau Stakes and Group 2 Sun Chariot Stakes, she was runner-up in the Group 1 Coronation Cup, and the best of her nine winners is the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) and Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile winner Aussie Rules (by Danehill).

He began his stallion career at Coolmore, is now at Lanwades Stud, and his 17 stakes winners feature the Group 1 Matron Stakes star Fiesolana. Last Second is also the dam of Approach (by Darshaan) who is the Group 2-placed, stakes-winning dam of the dual classic-placed Group 2 scorer Midas Touch (by Galileo), and her stakes-placed daughter Intrigued (by Darshaan) is responsible for the Group 1 St Leger third Michelangelo (by Galileo).

There are many other blacktype horses in this family and its remarkable record at stud augurs well for the prospects of its latest Group 1 winner whenever she eventually retires to the paddocks.