SHEIKH Abdullah Almalek Alsabah spent £50,000 at the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale in 2021 for a first-crop son of Harry Angel (Dark Angel). Bred by Lady Chryss O’Reilly’s Skymarc Farm, the colt was sent to be trained by Clive Cox for whom he was placed, was moved to Kevin Philippart De Foy who won with him, and finally moved on again to George Boughey, quite the rising star in the training ranks in Britain.

Boughey sent out his first winner in August 2019, has already captured a British classic with Cachet, and on Super Saturday at Meydan he saddled his 13th stakes winner when the aforementioned colt, named Al Dasim, landed the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint, the first time a three-year-old had won this race against older horses.

This was a fifth win in six starts for Boughey, the colt’s sixth in 11 starts, and he has been runner-up on three occasions. He will now be aimed at a Group 1 on Dubai World Cup night, and Al Dasim is a name to watch for during the European season when he could well be challenging for major sprint honours.

Were he to do so, Al Dasim would be following in the hoofprints of his sire, himself the best three-year-old sprinter in Europe after he beat Tasleet and The Tin Man to win the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup, also accounting for Limato and Brando when successful in the Group 1 July Cup. Harry Angel stands for £10,000 at Dalham Hall Stud under the Darley banner, and he is reviewed elsewhere in this edition of the paper.

No surprise

The fact that Al Dasim has developed into a smart runner is no surprise given both sides of his pedigree. He is the eighth foal, eighth runner and seventh winner for his dam, Dance Hall Girl. That daughter of Dansili (Danehill) was frustrating at two, trained by Kevin Prendergast for Lady O’Reilly, and she was runner-up on each of her three starts, including finishing a length behind Emulous in a 28-runner maiden at the Curragh.

Dance Hall Girl raced three more times at three, gaining that valuable winning bracket over six and a half furlongs at Limerick. She has been very prolific at stud, and the only one of her eight runners not to win, or even be placed, was one of just a pair of fillies she has produced. The second filly is a current juvenile by Ten Sovereigns (No Nay Never).

Al Dasim is the second stakes winner from Dance Hall Girl, the previous one being Tashweeq (Big Bad Bob). He was a smart two-year-old for Sheikh Hamdan when trained by John Gosden, winning a listed race at Doncaster and beaten just a nose for third place in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes. He later was successful in the UAE.

Winner producers

All of the first four dams in the pedigree of Al Dasim have one thing in common – all were prolific winner producers. As already mentioned, Dance Hall Girl is dam of seven winners from her first eight foals. Al Dasim’s grandam Dawn Raid (Docksider) had seven foals, all ran, and five won. Third dam Morning Welcome (Be my Guest) had nine runners, all of whom won, while Al Dasim’s fourth dam Dawn Is Breaking (Import) had a dozen offspring, all ran, and nine won.

Worthy of being highlighted is Morning Welcome. Though she didn’t win herself, her nine winning progeny were headed by the dual classic winner Bachir (Desert Style). He won the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at two, was Group 1-placed twice in France, and then at three he won both the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas and the Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas.

Kentucky Derby dream fuelled by Dundalk win

COULD we have seen the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner running at Dundalk? It is not impossible.

Bred by Coolmore and racing from Ballydoyle, Cairo put himself right in the picture with his victory in the Listed Patton Stakes. Before Churchill Downs can be truly considered, the son of Quality Road (Elusive Quality) will likely take his chance in the UAE Derby at Meydan. Whatever happens, Cairo gave Aidan O’Brien the perfect start to the 2023 racing year.

Fourteen years ago MV Magnier spent 600,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale on Massarra (Danehill), and she was carrying Mars (Galileo) who was placed in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. A listed winner and group-placed full-sister to Kodiac (Danehill) and a half-sister to Invincible Spirit (Green Desert), Massarra had foaled a filly that same year she was sold, and she turned out to be the Group 1 winner Nayarra (Cape Cross).

After her acquisition by Coolmore, Massarra went on to enjoy great success, producing Group 2 winner and classic-placed Gustav Klimt (Galileo), Group 3-winning juvenile Wonderfully (Galileo) who sold as a broodmare for $1.8 million, and three listed-winning fillies, Blissful, Friendly and Cuff, all daughters of Galileo (Sadler’s Wells).

Cuff only raced four times, and one of her wins at two was in the Listed Coolmore EBF Naas Juvenile Sprint Stakes. She is now the dam of Cairo, and he is her third produce and second winner. She also bred River Redemption (Pioneerof The Nile), successful three times in the USA. There is a four-year-old unraced own-sister to Cairo, named Impassioned (Quality Road), a two-year-old No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) filly and a yearling colt by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) out of Cuff.

Stallion’s pedigree

Cairo certainly possesses a stallion’s pedigree. His third dam was the wonderful Rafha (Kris). A Group 3 winner at two, she progressed at three to win the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks, and then went on to become a hugely influential broodmare. Her best son is Invincible Spirit, winner of the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup, and now for many years the mainstay of the stallion ranks at the Irish National Stud.

In fact, it was 20 years ago that Invincible Spirit embarked on his career as a sire, and he has been responsible for 21 individual Group 1 winners, eight of them doing so at the age of two. His daughters are responsible for five Group 1 winners. In all, Rafha had 11 winning offspring, four of them stakes winners. In addition to Invincible Spirit and Massarra, they also include the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes and Group 3 John Porter Stakes winner Sadian (Shirley Heights), and Acts Of Grace (Bahri).

Acts Of Grace

Winner of the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom, Acts Of Grace is the grandam of Mishriff (Make Believe) and his seven wins in England, France, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and UAE include the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes, Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby, Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic and the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano, while he came close a few times, finishing second in the Group 1 Juddmonte International, Group 1 Eclipse Stakes and Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Four stakes winners on the flat, a Grade 3 National Hunt winner and three stakes-placed winners are among Rafha’s successful progeny, and it is one of the latter who has had a significant impact at stud, Tally-Ho Stud’s Kodiac. Already sire of well over 500 two-year-old winners, his six Group 1 winners are Bodegon, Campanelle, Fairyland, Hello Youmzain, Best Solution and Tiggy Wiggy, while last year one of his daughters produced a Group 1 winner in The Platinum Queen (Cotai Glory).