DEREK Iceton must have been pleased when his Declaration Of War (War Front) mare Dettoria foaled a colt by Space Blues (Dubawi) last year, as he sent her back to the stallion, a move that resulted in a full-sister this year.

At the December Sale in Tattersalls, the colt was unsold at 65,000gns, a price that would have placed him easily among the top 10 foals sold last year in the first crop by the Kildangan-based Group 1 winner of the Prix Maurice de Gheest and Prix de la Foret, who rounded off his fine racing career with victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile. The first foals by Space Blues sold for up to €140,000 at Goffs, 95,000gns at Tattersalls, and €110,000 at Arqana.

Now that colt out of Dettoria is due under the hammer again, this time on the first day of the Tattersalls October Sale, Book 2, but this time in the consignment from Ed Player’s Whatton Manor Stud. His sale prospects, already bright, were given a good boost thanks to Henry de Bromhead.

One of the best National Hunt trainers in the business, de Bromhead has on many occasions shown that he is well capable of having success on the flat, and he continued his fine run of success recently when sending Dettoria’s three-year-old daughter Higher Leaves to France at the weekend.

The filly, a daughter of Golden Horn (Cape Cross), had won at Dundalk earlier in the year, and had shown on occasions that she was better than just a maiden winner.

She finally proved that, and enhanced her paddock value considerably, when she won the 10-furlong Listed Prix de Liancourt at ParisLongchamp. A €50,000 yearling selection by bloodstock agent Gerry Hogan at the 2022 Goffs Sportsman’s Sale, Higher Leaves became the 25th stakes winner for her sire, now standing at Overbury Stud.

Major update

This stakes win for Higher Leaves is not the only major update for the family since Iceton, alongside his good friend John Walsh, spent 12,000gns on Dettoria as an unraced three-year-old. The mare’s first foal, Selenaia (Sea The Moon), last year won the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita.

Sold as a foal for 33,000gns, she was profitably traded on in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale for 85,000gns. Indeed, there is a further precedent for this in the immediate family.

Dettoria’s third foal is the current juvenile Target Man (Earthlight), and he cost Jimmy Murphy’s Redpender Stud 78,000gns as a foal, a wise spend after he quadrupled in value as a yearling, again in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale, selling to Ben McElroy for Amo Racing. Now in training with George Boughey, Target Man was beaten a neck on his only start to date, and holds an entry this week.

Will the stars align again for Whatton Manor, and Derek Iceton?

This is a family that has got better and better for Iceton since he bought Dettoria. At the time of her purchase from Gestüt Hof Ittlingen, she was a half-sister to three winners, the best of which was the listed winner Lady Of Kyushu (Smart Strike), and she had been runner-up in the Group 2 Prix de Royallieu. What was nice was the fact that their dam, the group-placed Lady Aquitaine (El Prado), had some tasty young stock.

Outstanding record

Now Lady Aquitaine has the outstanding record of breeding nine winners from as many runners, and four of them are stakes winners. In utero at the time of Dettoria’s sale was Star Fortress (Sea The Stars), and this 130,000gns foal purchase by Tanya Gunther, buying out a foal share, was a Grade 3 winner last year in the USA.

In fact, last year was a special one for offspring from Lady Aquitaine as her two-year-old son, Lake Forest (No Nay Never), won the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, and was second at Royal Ascot this summer in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup. He will hopefully go one better later in the season in a Group 1 sprint.

The other stakes winner to emerge under Lady Aquitaine is Clint Maroon (Oasis Dream), and he was another to make his way to the USA where he won a stakes race at Aqueduct.

There is every possibility that Lady Aquitaine’s record as a broodmare could improve further. Nine winners from nine runners is already a remarkable achievement, with Dettoria being the only one of her first 10 foals not to face the starter. The mare’s eleventh progeny is a two-year-old Bated Breath (Dansili) filly who sold last year for 230,000gns to Avenue Bloodstock, on behalf of M.V. Magnier, and this year she had a colt foal by Ghaiyyath (Dubawi).

Never misses

This is a family that never misses out on producing lots of stakes winner in each and every generation. Lady Aquitaine was trained by Brian Meehan for the Sangster family, and she is a half-sister to Secret Garden (Danehill), a stakes winner in England and the USA. At stud, Secret Garden has fared even better, and her three stakes winners are headed by Roderic O’Connor (Galileo).

Runner-up to Frankel in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, Roderic O’Connor was turned out again that year to contest, and win, the Group 1 Criterium International at Saint-Cloud. His seasonal bow at three in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket was a flop, attributed to stage fright, and he bounced back quickly to win the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh.

This classic triumph for Roderic O’Connor was a welcome Group 1 success in the family, though not a rare one. Dettoria’s third dam was Durtal (Lyphard), and she was the champion juvenile filly in England in 1976, winning the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes. Named after a commune in France, she added the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes the following year and dead-heated for second, behind Madelia, in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas.

Robert Sangster

Bred by the Head family, Durtal was from the first crop of Lyphard (Northern Dancer), and she was purchased as a yearling by Robert Sangster, who sent her to be trained by Barry Hills. After her attempt to win a French classic, chosen instead of the 1000 Guineas due to the substantial bonus offered if the race winner was bred in France, Durtal then headed to Epsom for the Oaks.

There she and her rider Lester Piggott were lucky to escape serious injury when Durtal bolted after she left the paddock and made her way on to the racecourse. Her rider’s foot was stuck in the stirrup when the saddle slipped, and Durtal eventually crashed into the rails. She was withdrawn from the race, and disappointed on her only subsequent appearance on the track.

At stud, half of Durtal’s dozen offspring won, the star among them being the dual Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup winner Gildoran (Rheingold). Given the Sangster connection to the family, is it perhaps apt that a few Group 1 winners, descending from Durtal, have appeared down under. Magicool (Fastnet Rock) won the Queensland Derby, while Manzoice (Almanzor) was successful in the Victoria Derby at Flemington in October 2022.