TWO of the things that we look at when assessing the potential of any stallion are the record of his sire with stallion sons and the presence or absence of successful progenitors within the distaff side of their family. Neither is a guarantee of success, of course, but the chance that he will go on to sire pattern and even Group 1 horses increases if he can score well on those attributes.
Aspetar, Bonneval, Make Believe, Marky Mark, Poet’s Word, Sofia Rosa, Trap For Fools and potential classic contender Mkfancy are all Group 1 winners sired by sons of Dubawi (by Dubai Millennium) and that augurs well for the prospects of the Dalham Hall Stud flagbearer’s younger sons. So too does the exciting start made by his classic-winning son Night Of Thunder, Europe’s freshman champion of 2019 who already has nine individual stakes winners from his first crop.
New Bay, another of his classic-winning sons, make a splash with his yearlings and is widely expected to be among the top freshman sires of 2020, and the multiple Group 1 ace Too Darn Hot is among the array of stars in earlier stages of their career. That young champion has added significance here. He showed more speed than most in his famous family, got his Group 1 wins at seven furlongs and a mile, and looks likely to be among the busiest members of the team at his great sire’s base this season.
He is out of the Group 1 star Dar Re Mi (by Singspiel), who is out of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille heroine Darara (by Top Ville), and that blue hen mare was a half-sister to the classic star and influential sire Darshaan (by Shirley Heights). Her siblings also include Dayanata, and in addition to being the dam of the Grade 1-placed Group 2 scorer Courteous (by Generous), that unraced full-sister to Darshaan is the grandam of Hunter’s Light (by Dubawi) and third dam of last year’s high-class filly Fanny Logan (by Sea The Stars).
Unlike many of his cohorts, Hunter’s Light had a small number of first-crop runners and winners in 2019, but with his pedigree and racing profile it is as three-year-olds and older horses that they will likely show us what they can do.
He was a pattern-placed triple listed-race winner at three and improved with time, winning Group 1s at four, five and seven years of age. The first two of those came over 10 furlongs, a distance over which he ran most of his races, but his third one came on his final career outing when he trounced Trade Storm by six and a half lengths to take the nine-furlong Jebel Hatta at Meydan, his third win from three starts that season.
Hunter’s Light is unquestionably bred to achieve anything as a sire, and it would be no surprise to see this relation to Too Darn Hot and Darshaan get at least one Group 1 winner.
HUNTER’S LIGHT (IRE), Chesnut 2008. Won 12 races, £912,014, from 1 mile 1 furlong to 1 mile 3 furlongs, 3 to 7 years including, Emirates Airline Al Maktoum Challenge R3, Meydan, Gr.1, Emirates Airline Jebel Hatta, Meydan, Gr.1, Premio Roma GBI Racing, Rome, Gr.1, Tabloid Al Maktoum Challenge 2, Meydan, Gr.2, Talk to Victor Rose of Lancaster Stakes, Haydock Park, Gr.3, Blue Square Churchill Stakes, Lingfield Park, L, Int France Galop FRBC Anatolia Trophy, Veliefendi, L, Meydan Sobha Dubai Millennium Stakes, Meydan, L, Tanqueray Foundation Stakes, Goodwood, L, Totepool Glasgow Stakes, Hamilton Park, L, also placed second in Qatar Prix Dollar, Longchamp, Gr.2, and third in Grosser Dallmayr Bayerisches Zuchtrennen, Munich, Gr.1, Betfair Brigadier Gerard Stakes, Sandown Park, Gr.3, bet365 Gordon Stakes, Goodwood, Gr.3.
Retired to Stud in 2016, and sire of the winners of eight races, and £78,371.
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