JOHN MAGNIER, Coolmore

Auguste Rodin (Ire), 2020 c. by Deep Impact out of Rhododendron, by Galileo

NOW winner of five races, four of them at pattern level and three Group 1s, most recently the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, Auguste Rodin is bred to be the star that he has become. He is one of 59 Group 1 winners sired by Deep Impact.

Rhododendron won a Group 1 race in all three seasons she raced, the Fillies’ Mile at two, the Prix de l’Opera at three and the Lockinge Stakes. She was runner-up in the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Oaks, and occupied the same position in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Auguste Rodin is her first foal.

Rhododendron was eclipsed by her full-sister Magical. Her seven Group 1 wins, among a dozen lifetime victories, puts her among the elite trained at Ballydoyle. Aidan O’Brien has also saddled Highland Reel, Minding, Rock Of Gibraltar and Yeats to win seven times at the highest level on the flat.

Rhododendron and Magical, along with their group-winning own-brother Flying The Flag are the best of the five winning full-siblings from the Trevor Stewart-bred Halfway To Heaven, a three-time Group 1 winner following victories in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Nassau Stakes and Sun Chariot Stakes.

Halfway To Heaven is the best of 10 winners produced by Group 2 King’s Stand Stakes (now Group 1) winner Cassandra Go. Thanks to a pair of group-winning daughters, Casandra Go is grandam of US Grade 1 winner and $3 million sales mare Photo Call, last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Victoria Road, and Group 2 Richmond Stakes winner Land Force.

SHEIKHA HISSA, Shadwell

Hukum (Ire), 2017 c. by Sea The Stars out of Aghareed, by Kingmambo

HUKUM added the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes to his success in the Group 1 Coronation Cup, and took his tally of victories to 11, one more than the number of wins chalked up by his full-brother Baaeed. The latter won six times at the highest level, and between the two colts they have amassed earning that are not far off €5 million.

Hukum and Baaeed are two of the three winners out of Aghareed. She came agonisingly close to bringing her tally to four recently, when her three-year-old son Naqeeb (Nathaniel) was placed for the third time in three outings, going down by a nose.

Aghareed descends from the influential Height Of Fashion, purchased by Sheikha Hissa’s father, Sheikh Hamdan, from the late Queen Elizabeth.

Height of Fashion went on to enjoy huge success as a producer, her eight winners including six stakes winners. Her influence for Shadwell has been enormous. She was responsible for Nayef, a four-time Group 1 winner, a Group 1 sire and a successful broodmare sire, and the four-time Group 1 winner and successful sire Nashwan.

Height Of Fashion’s granddaughters included the Group 1 1000 Guineas and Group 1 Coronation stakes winner Ghanaati, and she is the third dam of Lahudood, the grandam of Hukum.

Lahudood won the Listed Prix de Liancourt, as Aghareed did six year later, but she blossomed in the USA where she won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and Grand 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED, Godolphin

Nations Pride (Ire), 2019 c. by Teofilo out of Important Time, by Oasis Dream

LAST year Nations Pride earned Sheikh Mohammed a nomination for a Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Month award. Denied in a controversial finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, he gave last year’s Epsom Derby form a boost when he posted his first top-level win at Saratoga, winning the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes.

He has now doubled his haul at the top level, adding the Group 1 Bayerisches Zuchtrennan to his haul, and beating this year’s German Derby winner Fantastic Moon in the process, He has now won eight of his 13 starts, been second twice, third once, and only out of the money twice. His earnings are now north of €2.17 million.

Nations Pride is bred on a successful cross, Teofilo and Oasis Dream mares having also been responsible for Prix Saint-Alary winner Tawkeel and Melbourne Cup hero Twilight Agenda. His dam Important Time is a listed winning daughter of Satwa Queen, a three-time Group 1 winner bought for 3,400,000gns.

Satwa Queen bred just a single stakes winner, Important Time, but her stud record has been enhanced by the fact that three of her daughters are the producers of Group 1 winners. Important Time bred Nations Pride, the placed Dubawi mare Amerindia is the dam of the Australian Group 1 winner Militarize, while the unraced Queen Of Carthage is responsible for Group 1 Phoenix Stakes winner, and the classic-placed Lucky Vega.

The best of Satwa Queen’s siblings was the Group 1 winner Spadoun. This is a female line deeply packed with quality.

SEAMUS COONEY

Belfast Banter (Ire), 2015 g. by Jeremy out of Sumtin Nice, by Simply Great

JEREMY, the much-lamented former Irish National Stud and Garryrichard Stud stallion, continues to turn out quality winners. Back in 2021 three of his four Cheltenham winners did so in Grade 1 races – Appreciate It, Black Tears and Sir Gerhard. The Cheltenham quartet was made up of Grade 3 County Hurdle winner Belfast Banter, and he too has gone on to win at the highest level, capturing the Grade 1 Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree and more recently a Grade 1 win in the USA.

Though his last sale was by way of an online platform, for £130,000 on ThoroughBid, Belfast Banter is no stranger to the sales ring. He was sold by Seamus Cooney to Castledillon Stud’s Timmy Hillman for €10,000 as a yearling at Tattersalls Ireland, resold at the Goffs Land Rover Sale for €28,000 to Patrick Turley and Mark O’Hare, and then, after running second in a point-to-point, was sold on to Fergal O’Neill’s Direct Bloodstock for £30,000 at a Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale.

Belfast Banter is the second foal out of the twice-raced point-to-pointer Sumtin Nice. He is followed by Fine Margin (Soldier Of Fortune), placed in a point-to-point and runner-up in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse in February, with a number of others waiting in the wing.

Sumtin Nice was always destined to be bred from, her older sibling being Dun Doire. He was successful twice over hurdles, seven times over fences and three times between the flags. His biggest win was in the Grade A Thyestes Chase at Gowran Park.