CURRENT figures identify Teofilo (21 Group 1 winners among 101 stakes winners), Frankel (20 among 84) and New Approach (nine among 58) as the best stallion sons of the late great Galileo (Sadler’s Wells), and although others may emerge, it is these to whom we are looking for horses who will extend his male line.

New Approach added to his classic tally in 2021 when Mac Swiney won the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas, while first-crop daughter Talent won the Group 1 Oaks in 2013, the same season that juvenile champion Dawn Approach secured a Group 1 2000 Guineas victory at Newmarket. In 2018, Masar won the Group 1 Derby.

Dawn Approach has already proved that a son of New Approach can become a classic sire, with Madhmoon, Mary Tudor, Dawn Patrol and Musis Amica placed in the Derby, Irish Oaks, New Zealand 2000 Guineas and Prix de Diane respectively before Poetic Flare landed last year’s Group 1 2000 Guineas.

That augurs well for Masar, especially given the powerful family he represents. He is inbred 3x4 to the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine and phenomenal broodmare Urban Sea (Miswaki).

There are 96 registered in his first crop, colts made 110,000gns and 80,000gns as foals in Newmarket plus a top price of €68,000 in Goffs from the selection offered for sale last year, and he has another large batch arriving now.

Masar’s Derby victory was memorable, but it would be a mistake to think of him solely in terms of that race. This is the horse who ran away with the Group 3 Craven Stakes over a mile before finishing third to Saxon Warrior in the 2000 Guineas, and that was after a notable juvenile season.

Breeders love precocity and two-year-old speed, and many have flocked to Invincible Army who had members of his first triple-digit book well-received in the auction ring last year. Masar beat Invincible Army on their debut over six furlongs at Goodwood in May, the pair clear of the rest.

Masar was third to September in the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, beat future classic-winning miler Romanised by two lengths to win the Group 3 Solario Stakes, and was third to Happily in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, his only run on soft ground.

Masar’s half-sister Sayyida (Dubawi) was runner-up in the Group 3 Princess Royal Stakes in September, he is out of the Group 2 UAE Derby and Group 3 UAE Oaks heroine Khawlah (Cape Cross), and his third dam is the dual Oaks-placed stakes winner and prolific blacktype producer Melikah (Lammtarra). That chesnut is a daughter of Urban Sea, which makes her a half-sister to the Derby heroes Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and Sea The Stars (Cape Cross).

Masar, a precocious juvenile and classic miler who also won the Derby, is a grandson of Galileo and out of a talented mare by the sire of Sea The Stars. Is there any other young stallion with a stronger sire’s pedigree? There are no guarantees of course, but it will be quite a disappointment if he fails to make an impact.

MASAR (IRE), Chesnut 2015. Jt 2nd top rated 3yr old colt in Europe in 2018. Won four races, £1,028,798, from 6 furlongs to 1½ miles, at 2 and 3 years including, Investec Derby Stakes, Epsom Downs, Gr.1, BetBright Solario Stakes, Sandown Park, Gr.3, bet365 Craven Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.3, also placed third in Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere - Al Hazm, Chantilly, Gr.1, Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes, Newmarket, Gr.1, Chesham Stakes, Ascot, L.

Retired to Stud in 2020, first crop now yearlings

Stands at: Dalham Hall Stud, Duchess Drive, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 9HE, England.

Contact: Liam O’Rourke, Sam Bullard, Dawn Laidlaw, Franziska Schaertlin Coffey, Antonin Pelsy, Claudia McDougall, Lucie Botti, David Appleton, Jack Bloom

Telephone: +44 (0)1638 730070

Email: hello@darley.co.uk

Web: www.darleystallions.com

Fee: £14,000