THERE have been many classic trials held recently, but the search for the potential stars who will shine at Epsom next month has thrown up more questions than answers.
A usual hope is that some of these events will be won in impressive style and that at least one colt and one filly will establish their position at the head of the pack, but what we have mostly had up to Tuesday is some rather muddling results that have included narrow margins and bunch finishes.
US Army Ranger was sent off at 4/11 for the Group 3 MBNA Chester Vase over a trip just a few yards more than what he’ll have to deal with in the Group 1 Investec Derby, and although he won the race it was by a short-head and while in receipt of 4lb from the runner-up.
Group 2 Beresford Stakes winner Port Douglas, who is also trained by Aidan O’Brien, is not certain to get his revenge if they meet again, and at level weights, as his rival is less experienced and may be open to a considerable amount of improvement.
US Army Ranger was bred by the partnership of Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt, he remains one of the ante-post favourites for racing’s Blue Riband, with Port Douglas available at around 20/1.
Stamina is in doubt for some of his rivals, and a few have shown the potential or ability to stay a bit further than might have been expected of horses with their pedigrees, but the prospects of US Army Ranger staying the Derby distance were all but guaranteed from the moment he was conceived.
Class is never certain, of course, but the volume and quality of the blacktype found in the first few generations of the family gave this colt a much higher chance than most to have pattern or even classic prospects.
He is by Coolmore Stud’s prolific champion sire Galileo (by Sadler’s Wells) and out of Moonstone, the Group 1 Irish Oaks-winning daughter of the brilliant Dalakhani (by Darshaan). The product of those parents was always going to stay.
OUTSTANDING BROODMARE
Moonstone is not among the most highly-rated of recent classic winners but she is an outstanding broodmare. Her sons Nevis (by Dansili) and Stubbs (by Danehill Dancer) are listed scorers, her daughter Words (by Dansili) won last year’s Group 3 Munster Oaks, and now she has an unbeaten pattern winner heading to the classics.
Those are her first four foals, she had a Fastnet Rock (by Danehill) colt in 2014 and a second-crop son of Frankel (by Galileo) last year.
The grandam of US Army Ranger is the stakes-placed Solo De Lune (by Law Society) and that makes Moonstone a half-sister to the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Cerulean Sky (by Darshaan).
Indeed this star pair could be described as being three-parts sisters.
Solo De Lune’s pattern-winning descendants Honolulu (by Montjeu), Memphis Tennessee (by Hurricane Run) and Orchestra (by Galileo) have all been classic-placed, and the recent Chester scorer is most closely related to the latter.
They also include the Group 1-placed, Group 2-winning miler Royal Bench (by Whipper) and Group 3 Prix Allez France scorer Mayhem (by Whipper), horses by a stallion associated more with speed than with stamina.
The next dam is Group 3 Prix de Royaumont winner Truly Special (by Caerleon) and that makes Solo De Lune a half-sister to two horses of note.
Wareed (by Sadler’s Wells) won the Group 2 Prix Hubert de Chaudenay and Group 2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier and the races in which he was placed include the Group 1 Gold Cup at Ascot.
His half-sister Truly A Dream (by Darshaan), who is very closely related to Cerulean Sky and Moonstone, won the Grade 2 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.
Her daughter Dream Peace (by Dansili) twice finished third in that same event, when it carried Grade 1 status, she was also twice runner-up in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes over nine furlongs at Saratoga, was third in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes, and her best win came in the Group 2 Prix de la Nonette at Deauville.
The best of Truly A Dream’s sons is the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2000 Guineas) runner-up Catcher In The Rye (by Danehill) who, despite never winning a stakes race, has a string of Group/Grade 1-winning progeny to his name, including the Preis der Diana (German Oaks) heroine Rosenreihe.
HEROINE ROYALE
Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine Arctique Royale (by Royal And Regal) is the fourth dam of US Army Ranger, and in addition to Truly Special, she is responsible for the Group 1-placed Group 2-winning middle-distance horse Modhish (by Sadler’s Wells) and for Russian Snows (by Sadler’s Wells), the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu winner who chased home Pure Grain in the 1995 running of the Group 1 Irish Oaks.
Arctique Royale is also the third dam of the multiple Group 1-placed Group 2-winning miler Aljamaaheer (by Dubawi) who is in his first season at Tara Stud.
There are many more horses of note to be found in the family, although their relationship to US Army Ranger is remote and they tell us no more about him and his potential than we already know.
This exciting colt is bred to improve, to be a middle-distance horse and to succeed at the highest level, and if he lives up to that potential then he could become one of the brightest stars of 2016.