HARAS La Providencia in Argentina may not be well-known to many in this part of the world, but its owners and Overbury Stud agreed in 2014 to shuttle the newly-retired Cityscape there, and what a success that proved to be.

Cityscape, a son of Selkirk (Sharpen Up), did something that his half-brother Bated Breath (Dansili) failed to do, and that was to win at Group 1 level. The Banstead Manor stallion won the Group 2 Temple Stakes, the best of his six victories, and was runner-up in both the Group 1 July Cup and the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes.

Cityscape also won six times, and at the age of six he landed the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free Stakes at Meydan. Not only did he win it, but he did so in record time. At two he chased home Jukebox Jury in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes, a race that was run in record time, and as he got older he got better, and was four times runner-up in Group 1 company.

If it were not for the presence of Excelebration, Cityscape would have won both the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois and the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, and had he done that he would surely not have gone to stud in 2014 at a fee of £5,000. He has completed nine seasons at Overbury Stud, and his current fee of £4,000 is the lowest he has ever been.

Compare his fee with his sibling Bated Breath, who stood for £15,000 this year, and Cityscape looks to be value. Look at the fact that Bated Breath has a single Group/Grade 1 winner, and five at Group/Grade 2 level, and then realise that Cityscape has four winners at Group/Grade 1 level, and five at the next level. Now he looks to be great value.

Don’t worry

Some readers may be scratching their heads and wondering, who are these four Group 1 winners? If you cannot quickly recall them, don’t worry. They were all successful in Argentina, as were four of the five who won at Group 2 level. The odd one out here was the French-bred Avenue De France, and in September she won the Grade 2 John C Mabee Stakes at Del Mar, beating the Irish-bred Grade 1 winner Going Global.

Therein lies the conundrum for Cityscape. Most of his good winners have come from his sojourns to South America, though these successes are no less valid. Try telling that at times to breeders though. If they cannot see it then they don’t believe it.

However, Cityscape’s record of four Group 1 winners, five at level 2, five Group 3 winners including the Musidora Stakes winner Give And Take and the Fred Darling Stakes winner Dan’s Dream, eight listed winners including the Irish winner The Broghie Man, and four other Group 1-placed horses, is a record warrants a closer look.

Why am I pleading the case for Cityscape this week? Well, the Hunscote Stud-owned and bred two-year-old filly Caernarfon is a juvenile on the upgrade, and she won the Listed Montrose Stakes at Newmarket on her seventh start of the year. Fourth on her racing debut, she has never been out of the frame since, and she could, in time, outshine her full-sister, the aforementioned Dan’s Dream.

Get involved

Still owned by Hunscote Stud, Dan’s Dream won twice, and in addition to her Group 3 success she was runner-up in three Group 3 races in Ireland, the Athasi Stakes and Ballyogan Stakes at the Curragh, and the Fairy Bridge Stakes at Tipperary. She has a yearling filly by Exceed And Excel (Danehill) and a colt foal by Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact) which is catalogued at the December Sale in Newmarket.

In fact, there are a number of chances to get involved in this family at the December Sale, as Hunscote have also decided to sell Caernarfon’s dam Royal Ffanci (Royal Applause) in foal to Oasis Dream (Green Desert), and Caernarfon’s winning half-sister Oskana Astankova (Cable Bay), carrying to Ardad (Kodiac).