THERE are variations on this old saying in the headline above, depending on where you are in Ireland, but the phrase most certainly came to mind at the weekend with some of the major race results on Saturday and Sunday.

I am not sure that I have seen this happen before, but all of the six Group 1 winners on Irish Champions Festival weekend were sons and daughters of stakes winners, two of them out of Group 1 winners, the French weekend Group 1 Prix Vermeille winner is a daughter of an Australian Group 1 winner, the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup winner is out of a listed-winning mare, while in the USA the brilliant four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) is the dam of a Grade 1 juvenile winner. What a collection.

My apologies in advance for giving both Tahiyra and Auguste Rodin the briefest of mentions in this week’s paper. After all, they have filled plenty of column inches already this year, thanks to both being repeat winners at the highest level.

Her victory in the Group 1 Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes, the fourth at this grade, gave Tahiyra’s sire Siyouni (Pivotal) his 30th success in a race at the highest level. That is an average of three per winner, given that they have been compiled by 10 different horses, and only three of that group have been triumphant in a single Group/Grade 1 race. Siyouni’s rise to the top of the stallion tree has been amazing, and very few sires in history have gone from a €7,000 covering fee to €150,000, and at 16 still have plenty of years, hopefully, ahead of him.

Outstanding

Runner-up in the Group 1 1000 Guineas on the only occasion on which she has suffered defeat in six starts, the Aga Khan-bred and owned Tahiyra’s other victories have been gained in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot. What a story of success it has been for her dam Tarana (Cape Cross) at stud, that John Oxx-trained Galway and Limerick listed winner also being the dam of the outstanding Tarnawa (Shamardal).

In case you didn’t know, Tarnawa, trained, like Tahiyra, by Dermot Weld, won nine races, headed by the Group 2 Moyglare Blandford Stakes at home. However, on her travels outside Ireland she was brilliant in 2020, winning the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera and Prix Vermeille in France, running second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and then crowning that season with victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland.

Also winning a fourth Group 1 race was Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact), and he added the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes to a juvenile success in the Vertem Futurity, and Derby wins at Epsom and the Curragh. He has won six of his nine starts.

Best families

In summary, Auguste Rodin is from one of the best families of the last four decades. His dam Rhododendron (Galileo) won the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile, Lockinge Stakes and Prix de l’Opera, and she and seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Galileo), are the best runners out of triple Group 1 and classic winner Halfway To Heaven (Pivotal).

It is interesting to see the Cheveley Park legend Pivotal (Polar Falcon) featuring on the top half of Tahiyra’s pedigree and on the dam side of Auguste Rodin’s.

Halfway To Heaven is the best of three blacktype-winning daughters of Cassandra Go (Indian Ridge), and that mare won the Group 2 (now Group 1) King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. All three stakes winners have something else in common – all of them have bred outstanding runners.

Halfway To Heaven has been dealt with already, Group 3 winner Tickled Pink (Invincible Spirit) is the dam of last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Victoria Road (Saxon Warrior), while Theann (Rock of Gibraltar), also a Group 3 winner, bred dual US Grade 1 winner, and $3 million sale filly, Photo Call (Galileo).