THIS week’s column, during the heart of the National Hunt season, has a predominantly flat coverage, thanks for some valuable contests being run in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. It is to the latter we go for my next pedigree examination.

California Spangle, bred in Ireland by Michael Enright, is a four-year-old son of Starspangledbanner (Choisir), and this €150,000 Goffs Orby Sale graduate gained his sixth win in eight starts with a fine win the Listed Hong Kong Classic Cup. In winning this, his first stakes success, he reversed form with Romantic Warrior who had beaten him in the Hong Kong Classic Mile. This time the pair had to race an extra furlong. Tony Cruz trains the winner.

California Spangle has earned a tilt at the 10-furlong, HK$24 million BMW Hong Kong Derby. Leading virtually all the way under a front-running ride from Zac Purton, the son of champion sprinter Starspangledbanner plumbed the depths of his reserves to win the second leg of the Four-Year-Old Classic Series, while the previously unbeaten Romantic Warrior finished fourth after covering ground from barrier 13.

With four Derby wins as a jockey, and two more as a trainer, Cruz attributed California Spangle’s sixth win, spread from five to nine furlongs, to the gelding’s exceptional quality, the staying influence of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) through the bay’s dam Pearlitas Passion, and Purton’s supreme ride.

“Our plans all turned out good so, next step, we wait for the Derby,” said Cruz. “We always had confidence this horse would run the distance because his dam is by High Chaparral, a stayer who won the Irish Derby. I’m sure he’s got that sort of pedigree in him and I believe he will get the distance, even though he’s a real sprinter.” The Derby will be run on March 20th.

Pearlitas Passion raced for Michael Enright and showed little ability in five starts, running over trips from a mile to 10 furlongs.

Enright tried to sell her as a four-year-old but she didn’t reach her reserve of €30,000 and instead she has gone on to breed five winners. California Spangle is her first stakes winner, though her son Wychwood Warrior (Lope De Vega) was placed in listed races at Cork, Dundalk and in Meydan.

A half-sister to five winning siblings, Pearlitas Passion’s is a daughter of Paimpolaise (Priolo) and her best runner was the Group 2 Hungerford Stakes winner Shakespearean (Shamardal). He actually won more than £1 million and this was largely due to landing the hugely valuable sales race, the Goffs Million Mile.