SOLDIER’S Call has been one of a number of first-season sires making a huge impact, but he was frustratingly hitting the crossbar when it came to stakes races.

His daughter, Dorothy Lawrence, failed by a short head to land the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes over six furlongs at Salisbury earlier this month, while World Of Darcy was runner-up in the Listed National Stakes at Sandown in May, finishing fifth to Big Evs at Royal Ascot, and was also placed in a listed race at Deauville. There was only a head in it when another son of Soldier’s Call, King Collector, was runner-up in a listed race in Milan.

Dawn Charger (Soldier’s Call), bred by Jim Bolger and bought for €40,000 as a yearling at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland September Sale, won her third race this year when she landed the Group 3 Prix Eclipse at Chantilly.

No stranger already to France, she was earlier runner-up in another Group 3, the Prix d’Arenberg, at ParisLongchamp. She has now well repaid her purchase price, and increased her residual value immensely.

Dawn Charger is the third foal, runner and winner for her unraced dam Dushlan (New Approach), and the first not to be trained by Bolger. Sheer Bravado (Fracas) was the first foal from Dushlan, and he won at three before making a number of stable switches, and this year he has been successful over hurdles for Sean Aherne. He was followed by Serious Challenge (Fracas), a winner at two last year and stakes-placed this year.

In the spring, Dushlan foaled a filly by Verbal Dexterity (Vocalised) - Jim Bolger is keeping it all in the family. Dawn Charger and Serious Challenge are the only two horses with blacktype in the first three generations of this pedigree, though their well-bred grandam and third dam, Duaisbhanna (Rock Of Gibraltar) and Ovazione (Seeking The Gold), were both successful producers.

Back one more generation and Dawn Charger’s fourth dam was O’Slewmova (Seattle Slew), and this grandam of a couple of stakes winners was a full-sister to Septieme Ciel (Seattle Slew). His biggest win was gained in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret.

Daily occurrence

It is sometimes a daily occurrence for Soldier’s Call to get a winner, so the fact that at the time of writing he has 22 individual winners of 28 races should not be taken as a gospel truth. The son of Showcasing (Oasis Dream) has been extremely popular since retiring to Ballyhane Stud, and his victory in Royal Ascot’s five-furlong Listed Windsor Castle Stakes was the second of his career.

He went on to add the Group 3 Prix d’Arenberg in France and Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster before failing by a head and short head to beat Mabs Cross and Gold Vibe in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, with Battaash half a length behind in fourth. This was a great effort for a two-year-old.

Soldier’s Call short-headed Mabs Cross when finishing third to Blue Point and Battaash in a vintage edition of the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes the following summer, and then chased home the latter in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York. He was only beaten two lengths when fourth in the Group 1 Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh, a race in which Fairyland short-headed her stablemate So Perfect, with Invincible Army third.

Inns Of Court

Another sire to get off the mark with a stakes winner in his first crop this week is Tally-Ho Stud’s Inns Of Court (Invincible Spirit), and, ironically, the race responsible for this achievement was sponsored by Joe Foley’s Ballyhane Stud. The Listed Blenheim Stakes was won by the Inns Of Court colt Megarry, while a daughter of the sire, Lia Fail, was third. Prior to this, Inns Of Court’s daughter Gaenari was runner-up in listed races in Ireland and France.

Megarry was sold to Gavin Cromwell and Alan Hannigan from Paula Flannery’s Egmont Stud at the Goffs Sportsman’s Sale last year for €25,000, and she has already won twice that amount with two wins and a couple of placed efforts. Flannery bought the dam of this week’s stakes winner a decade ago for just 2,000gns, less than two years after she cost €165,000 as a yearling.

That mare is Highest Praise, an unplaced daughter of Acclamation (Royal Applause), and Megarry is her fifth offspring to win. Highest Praise was the first foal out of Yarastar (Cape Cross), a stakes winner in France and one of a pair of stakes winners out of the frustrating Yara (Sri Pekan). In spite of running second in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes for the recently deceased Lady O’Reilly, Yara never managed to win, and she was placed on no less than 15 occasions.

Also descending from Yara is Haatem (Phoenix Of Spain). Indeed, he and Megarry share Yara as their third dam, and by coincidence, Haatem is also a stakes winner for a stallion having his first runners in 2023. Haatem won the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood.

With 19 winners of 26 races, again at the time of writing, Inns Of Court is yet another successful sire for Tony O’Callaghan. How he keeps churning them out. One of the best sprinters in France, Inns Of Court was trained for Godolphin by André Fabre.

Successful on his only outing at two, he won three times over seven furlongs the next season, including the Group 3 Prix de la Porte Maillot and the Group 3 Prix du Palais Royal, as well as running Al Wukair to a short head in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois over a mile, with the subsequent Group 1 Dubai World Cup hero Thunder Snow in third.

At four, Inns Of Court won the Group 2 Prix de Ris-Orangis over six furlongs and was beaten only a short head in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at ParisLongchamp on Arc day. Raced again at five, Inns Of Court only started three times but easily won the Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene and a listed race.