SENSATIONAL is the only word to describe the start that Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) has made at stud, and the Dalham Hall-based stallion had a simply outstanding weekend when he sired a pair of classic winners on Sunday, less than an hour apart.

Last year, when his first runners appeared, Too Darn Hot was responsible for 26 individual winners, and though that could not match the achievements of fellow Darley stallion Blue Point, their quality stood out.

He equalled the best ever start made at stud by any predecessor, with four group-winning juveniles in Europe, a feat previously achieved by notables such as Frankel and Lope De Vega.

Too Darn Hot’s daughters had among their ranks the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine Fallen Angel, Group 2 May Hill Stakes winner Darnation, and the German pattern winner Carolina Reaper. His best son, Alyanaabi, won the Group 3 Somerville Tattersall Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.

This year is proving to be no less powerful for Too Darn Hot. In March, his daughter Etes Vous Prets won a Group 2 in Japan, and the following month his juvenile son Broadsiding confirmed himself as one of the best in Australia with victory in the Group 1 Champagne Stakes at Randwick. This was superseded by Sunday’s performances when Fallen Angel landed the Group 1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas, and Darnation won the Group 2 German equivalent.

The only blot in Fallen Angel’s copybook from six starts has been her mid-division finish in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. She won three of her four outings at two, and ended the season with victory in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. What a joy she has been for her owners, Clipper Logistics, and for Ballyhane’s Joe Foley who was instrumental in the breeding plans for her dam, Agnes Stewart (Lawman).

Fallen Angel was actually the first juvenile winner, first Group 1 winner and now the first classic winner for Too Darn Hot. Winner of the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes and runner-up in the Listed Star Stakes, she is a homebred by Steve Parkin at his Branton Court Stud. Fallen Angel is the best of four winners for her dam, her only offspring before she died at the age of nine.

Agnes Stewart was a €23,000 Goffs yearling purchase by Eddie Lynam, carried the Clipper Logistics silks to victory in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at two, and was runner-up in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.

Rejuvenated

Another of Agnes Stewart’s winners, three of which were fillies, is the group and multiple listed-placed Divine Jewel (Frankel). Agnes Stewart and her listed-winning half-sister Sorrel (Dansili) have totally rejuvenated a branch of a smart family. Their fourth dam, Summer Fashion (Moorestyle), was responsible for a trio of good performers.

Definite Article (Indian Ridge) won the Group 1 National Stakes at two and was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Derby, while other victories included the then Group 2 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

He was followed a few years later by the Group 2 Dante Stakes winner Salford Express (Be My Guest), and five years after that along came Salford City (Desert Sun). The latter was successful in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes for David Elsworth and afterwards was a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed over hurdles. Salford City even went on to win three times over fences.

Darnation’s juvenile season saw her win three of her five starts, including the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster and the Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood. Unplaced in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, she got right back to winning form in Germany, and connections will be hoping she can take a step forward and graduate in Group 1 company.

Monday Monday

Bred and raced by Newtown Anner Stud, Darnation is the first foal and winner for the unraced Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) mare Monday Monday.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Coolmore partners, Monday Monday was unsold as a three-year-old for €195,000, but subsequently ended up in the ownership of Newtown Anner, who also have a two-year-old son named Obscenity (Fastnet Rock).

Monday Monday’s breeding prospects were always attractive, given that her half-sister Blue Bunting (Dynaformer) was an outstanding racemare at three, winning the Group 1 Irish Oaks, Group 1 1000 Guineas and the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks. She has not been so successful as a broodmare however, the stakes-placed Blue Creek (Street Cry) being her best runner.

Monday Monday’s full-brother Exemplar (Galileo) won a Galway maiden for Ballydoyle and was a length and a half in arrears when third to Capri in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at two. He did not really build on that, though he did add a couple of wins afterwards in Australia. Their own-sister Stars At Night (Galileo) won a Lingfield maiden at three for John Gosden and sold later that year for 350,000gns.

Eddie Irwin

Mick Flanagan purchased Stars At Night on behalf of Eddie Irwin, and she has produced a pair of stakes winners for him by Fastnet Rock (Danehill). They are Poker Face who won the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein, and the dual US stakes winner Star Devine who sold last year to Kia-Ora Stud in Australia for $650,000.

In the classic year that Blue Bunting won her three Group 1 races, her unraced dam Miarixa (Linamix) realised $1.2 million, quite a mark up on the $22,000 Ben Walden gave for her five years earlier. Miarixa is from a solid, if unspectacular, French family, one that in the next two generations produced plenty of blacktype winners at up to Group 3 level.

Darley’s Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) is firmly established as one of the all-time great British stallions, as his current fee of £350,000 would suggest.

He has as an ever- growing number of sons who have gone on to become Group 1 sires. Few, however, have gone to stud with credentials as good as those of Too Darn Hot, who has an outstanding pedigree. He is out of the triple Group 1-star Dar Re Me (Singspiel), and has a pair of Group 1-placed pattern-winning full-sisters, Lah Ti Dar and So Mi Dar.

Doing better

Lah Ti Dar (Dubawi) won at Group 2 level and was surely deserving of doing better. Her four Group 1 placed runs featured finishing second in the St Leger, while she also was in the frame in the Yorkshire Oaks and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. So Mi Dar (Dubawi) was a Group 3 winner and she ran third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera.

Dar Re Mi is a daughter of the Group 1 Prix Vermeille heroine and outstanding mare Darara (Top Ville), a rare gem who produced four top-level winners, the others being Rewilding (Tiger Hill), Darazari (Sadler’s Wells) and Diaghilev (Sadler’s Wells). It is the exploits of Darara’s half-brother Darshaan (Shirley Heights) that gives Too Darn Hot that extra appeal, the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club winner going on to earn great renown as a stallion.

Too Darn Hot was a European juvenile champion, winner of four races by an accumulated 15 and a half lengths, headlined by victories in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes and the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes. At three he was placed in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas and Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes before trouncing Space Blues by three lengths in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over seven furlongs. He rounded off his career with a defeat of Circus Maximus in the Group 1 Sussex Stakes.