A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD 80/1 shot landed the feature on the final day of Royal Ascot, the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, and while few punters would have had anything to celebrate, the O’Callaghan family in Yeomanstown Stud will be have delighted.

They bred the gelding, sold him as a yearling to Shadwell for 750,000gns, and they stand his sire. Not only that, but waiting in the wings is a yearling full-sister to the Group 1 winner.

Now to fill in those blanks with names. Khaadem is the newest Group 1 winner, and the son of Dark Angel (Acclamation) was sold as a yearling at Tattersalls. Contributing to his exalted sale price was the fact that his full-brother Log Out Island (Dark Angel) was a stakes-winning juvenile who ran second in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot and was placed many times in pattern company.

Khadeem is one of eight progeny of racing age out of the dual winner White Daffodil (Footstepsinthesand). All of her offspring, with one exception, are by Dark Angel, and four of them are winners, while two others have been placed. Just three of White Daffodil’s offspring have been fillies, the current yearling being one.

Moqadama (Dark Angel) was raced by Shadwell after her 390,000gns purchase, and bloodstock agent John McCormack paid 110,000gns for her as a maiden, and last year she won in Canada.

Lady Links

White Daffodil has six winning siblings, and one of them, Lady Links (Bahamian Bounty) won the Listed Carnarvon Stakes, a race won this year by Shaquille, now a Group 1 winner. Lady Links bred a stakes winner Selinka (Selkirk), runner-up in the Sandringham Handicap at Royal Ascot, and that mare has gone on to breed a pair of stakes winners.

Royal Ascot features under Khaadem’s third dam, Daring Ditty (Daring March). Though of no consequence herself on the track, she bred a pair of stakes winners, one of whom was top-class. Bold Edge (Beveled) won the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and the Group 2 Cork and Orrery Stakes at Royal Ascot. He liked the Berkshire course as he also was victorious there in the Group 2 Diadem Stakes.

Khaadem is Group 1 winner number 14 for Dark Angel, whose 13th crop are this year’s juveniles. His first crop included Lethal Force, winner of the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes also, while his other Royal Ascot Group 1 winner was another gelding, like Khaadem, but this was Battaash.