IT was surely only a question of time before it happened.

Persian Dreamer continued the fine run being enjoyed by Amo Racing when she won the Group 2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket, and credited Calyx (Kingman) with his first blacktype winner.

Bred in the USA by Diamond Creek Farm, Persian Dreamer was selected by Robson Aguiar at the Goffs Orby Sale last year and purchased for €145,000. She was back at the scene of her maiden debut win, and since then she was fourth at York in a listed race, and fourth again at Royal Ascot in the Group 3 Albany Stakes.

Persian Dreamer was winning a race in which her year older half-sister, Queen Olly (No Nay Never), was placed in 12 months ago, and they are among three winning offspring of Surprisingly (Galileo).

The latter mare failed to win, but came agonisingly close to doing so when denied at Dundalk by a short head on her penultimate outing. She was trained by Dermot Weld for owner Sue Magnier.

First foal

Surprisingly was sold as a four-year-old carrying her first foal, the dual French winner Schooner Ridge (Siyouni), for 340,000gns, and she is a full-sister to Tiger Moth (Galileo). That Group 3 winner was runner-up in both the Group 1 Irish Derby and the Group 1 Melbourne Cup. Surprisingly is also dam of Coach House (Oasis Dream), a listed two-year-old winner who was second in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Surprisingly is out of Lesson In Humility (Mujadil). Sold for 22,000gns as a yearling, she was back at Tattersalls four years later when her value had soared to 675,000gns. In the meanwhile, Lesson In Humility won £250,000 for connections, including the Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes at Leopardstown, and ran third in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Strong group

Calyx is making waves among a strong group of sires with their first runners this year, and his son Malc finished second in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, while last weekend his daughter Classic Flower was placed in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.

Calyx was his sire’s first big winner, and took high rank among the top juveniles of 2018, despite a season that lasted under two weeks. He ran away with a maiden at Newmarket and soon afterwards beat Advertise by a length to take the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

His third start was 11 and a half months later. He looked set for Group 1 stardom following a four-length win in the Group 3 Merribelle Pavilion Stakes at Ascot. However, he sustained an injury when suffering a shock defeat at the hands of subsequent Group 1 winner Hello Youmzain in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes just over three weeks later.

Although it was hoped he would make it back to the track, it proved to be his final race.

Its black and white – Havana Grey is top-class

LAST season’s first season sire race was a great battle, with Havana Grey (Havana Gold) and Sioux Nation going head-to-head all year.

Havana Grey’s first crop now has nine stakes winners, the latest being Holguin, while his second crop has as its flagbearers the Group 2 July Stakes winner Jasour and the listed winner Elite Status. The latter lost his unbeaten title when third in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. As a matter of interest, Sioux Nation’s first crop has yielded eight stakes winners, and he has one to date from his current crop of juveniles.

No doubt about it, and given the race’s record for producing sires, there will be plenty of interest from stallion owners in Jasour.

He is the first winner for his unraced dam Twilight Thyme (Bahamian Bounty), and what a speed family she comes from. She has eight winning siblings, four of them successful in blacktype races, and three of them worthy of particular mention.

Her half-brother Music Master (Piccolo) was the first to show some real class, being a Group 3 winner and placed in the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup. He was followed two year’s later by Twilight Son (Kyllachy), and he won that Group 1 contest, as well as the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes. He could yet be joined at the top table, as Run To Freedom (Muhaarar) was runner-up on Saturday to Shaquille in the Group 1 July Cup, a position he occupied last year in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint Stakes.

There will be joy aplenty at Grange Stud, home to Cottage Bloodstock, as that company was listed as the purchaser of Twilight Thyme last year at the Tattersalls December Sale for just 18,000gns, covered by Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy).

Best colt and filly for Justify

THE interim leading two-year-old colt and filly in Europe, according to some, are both progeny of Justify, who was the subject of a lengthy piece by me last week. Having established his own quality as a racehorse, and now as a sire, lets have a look at the families of the juveniles in question.

City Of Troy was impressive when adding to a maiden victory at the Curragh a fortnight earlier, this time winning the seven-furlong, Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket by more than six lengths.

He is the fifth winner, four of them stakes performers, out of Together Forever (Galileo). The others include Military Style (War Front), and he won the Group 3 Tyros Stakes at two.

The only winner from Together Forever yet to earn blacktype is City Of Troy’s full-brother Bertinella (Justify), though this $750,000 yearling purchase has won twice and placed three times, all his starts. Together Forever won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at two, and a couple of years later her full-sister Forever Together (Galileo) broke her maiden in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom. They were bred by Vimal and Gillian Khosla.

Green Room

Both Group 1 winning mares were born some years after their Theatrical (Nureyev) dam Green Room’s other winner of note. Her first foal was Lord Shankill (Speightstown), and he cost BBA Ireland $110,000 as a yearling at Keeneland.

As a two-year-old Lord Shanakill failed by just a nose to land the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes, finding Intense Focus too good, but he gained that valuable top-flight success in his second season when he travelled to France and beat all-comers in the Prix Jean Prat.

Green Room never ran and was sold at Tattersalls as a three-year-old for just 20,000gns to Kinsale Bloodstock. Covered by Speightstown (Gone West), who stood for $40,000 at the time, she was traded 11 months later at Keeneland for $240,000, a tidy profit. She is also the dam of a number of notable sale stars, including the stakes-placed Do You Love Me (Galileo), sold for €3,200,000 as a yearling five years ago.

Green Room is a half-sister to the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes winner Spanish Fern (El Gran Senor) who was also runner-up in the same race. Their unraced sibling Rusty Back (Defensive Play) bred Heatseeker (Giant’s Causeway).

That colt started his racing career in Ireland where he placed in the Group 1 National Stakes at two, but in the USA he blossomed to become a Grade 1 winner of the Santa Anita Handicap.

Ramatuelle

Meanwhile, Ramatuelle took her tally of victories to three with success in the Group 2 Prix Robert Papin.

She has more than justified the €100,000 she cost Arthur Hoyeau at last year’s Arqana Yearling Sale, and added this latest victory to her win in the Group 3 Prix du Bois last month.

Bred by Yeguada Centurion, Ramatuelle is out of the German Group 2 and British Group 3 winner Raven’s Lady (Raven’s Pass), and that mare has been given every chance to succeed at stud. The weekend Group 2 winner is her first foal, her second is a yearling colt by Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie), while this year’s colt foal is a son of Lope De Vega (Shamardal).

Raven’s Lady is out of the unraced Pivotal Lady (Pivotal), and she is a half-sister to Best Of The Bests (Machiavellian) whose biggest win came in the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan. He was the best runner produced by the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes winner Sueboog (Darshaan).