IT is remarkable how often a stallion who has either died or been exported will get previously elusive Group 1 and classic stars after he is no longer available, and this summer the former Coolmore team member Duke Of Marmalade (by Danehill) has added his name to that list.
He got a string of listed and Group 3 scorers from his earliest crops but that is not enough to maintain interest in a regally-related horse who was himself a multiple Group 1 star and so his export was inevitable.
Drakenstein Stud Farm in South Africa is his new home, last month his daughter Star Of Seville won the Group 1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and at Hamburg last Sunday his son Nutan was a five-length winner of the Group 1 IDEE 146th Deutsches Derby.
The emergence of two classic stars for the stallion will likely ensure plenty of attention is drawn to his final Irish-conceived crops.
Nutan was born in Ireland, was bred by Juergen Imm and is trained by Peter Schiergen, and the victory also identified his dam as one of the most exciting young mares in Europe as he is the second Group 1 winner from her first three foals.
Neele (by Peintre Celebre) was only beaten a head when runner-up in a Group 3 contest at Hamburg as a three-year-old, beaten by the Schiergen-trained Avanti Polonia and finishing six lengths clear of her closest pursuer, but her pedigree gave her every chance of gaining compensation at stud.
At the time of her retirement her major pedigree claim to fame was that her dam Night Teeny (by Platini) was a half-sister to Night Petticoat (by Petoski), the Group 2 Preis der Diana (German Oaks) heroine who gave us the classic winners Next Desert and Next Gina.
Next Desert (by Desert Style) won the Group 1 Deutsches Derby in 2002, the year before Next Gina (by Perugino) took the Group 1 Preis der Diana, and their dam has come up with three more blacktype earners since then.
Since Neele went to stud her full-sister Night Of Magic has won the Group 2 Oaks d’Italia and their half-sister Night Serenade (by Golan) is a listed scorer, also over middle-distances.
Four of Neele’s first five foals are by sons of Danehill (by Danzig) and the exception is her two-year-old daughter Nazbanou (by High Chaparral).
Her first born is Nymphea (by Dylan Thomas) who won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin over 12 furlongs at Hoppegarten two years ago, almost a year after she was runner-up in the Group 1 Preis der Diana. She was also pattern placed in England, France and Turkey and was last in action when out of the frame behind We Are in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera in October.
The mare’s other runner is her second foal Nocturne (by Rock Of Gibraltar), a middle-distance scorer in Germany, and her yearling daughter of Holy Roman Emperor has already been named Navaro Girl.
Nutan is lightly-raced and has been a wide-margin winner twice this season, performances that came either side of a third place finish behind Shimrano in the Group 2 Oppenheim-Union-Rennen at Cologne last month.
It will be very interesting to see how he gets on against stronger opposition, and if he stays in training as a four-year-old, especially as he is a Duke Of Marmalade half-brother to Nymphea.