English Victory So Apt

The final Group 1 race-day of the Sydney Autumn Carnival provided yet more reminders that the influence of great mares is a gift that keeps on giving. Two ever-fruitful families tasted big-race success at Randwick with English (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) taking the weight-for-age feature, the G1 All-Aged S., and (He's) Our Rokkii (NZ) (Roc De Cambes {NZ}) winning the principal 3-year-olds' race, the G3 Frank Packer Plate. Both come from great families who have been throwing up good horses for decades.

The victory of English would have brought a smile to the face of the late Lord Howard de Walden, one of the last of the great English owner/breeders and a man whose love of the antipodes was nearly on par with his love of the turf. He enjoyed great

success over several decades and the influence of his bloodlines was carried around the world by the likes of 1957 Coventry S. winner Amerigo (GB) (Nearco {Ity}) and 1965 Coronation Cup winner Oncidium (GB) (Alcide {GB}), who enjoyed excellent stud careers in the USA and New Zealand respectively.

Sharpen Up (Atan) was arguably the stallion whom Lord Howard de Walden used to greatest effect. Charged with finding a fast horse with a low stud fee for Doubly Sure (GB) (Reliance {Fr}), Lord Howard's stud manager Leslie Harrison booked the mare into Sharpen Up, who was standing in 1975 at Side Hill Stud for £200. The result was Kris (GB), a champion miler who became champion sire of Great Britain and Ireland in 1985 when standing at Lord Howard's Thornton Stud in Yorkshire. Doubly Sure's return to Sharpen Up in 1979 yielded Diesis (GB), a Group 1 winner at two in both the Middle Park S. and the Dewhurst S. before enjoying a very successful stud career in the USA.

Another stallion whom Lord Howard favoured was the Hyperion (GB)-line horse Tudor Melody (GB) (Tudor Minstrel {GB}). The first good Tudor Melody filly whom he owned was Dulcet (GB), out of Soft Angels (GB) (Crepello {GB}), who he purchased in utero. An even better Tudor Melody filly whom Lord Howard bred and raced was Magic Flute (GB). Trained in Warren Place by Noel Murless, she was England's champion 2-year-old filly of 1970 before excelling again at three, when she finished second in the 1000 Guineas before recording a six-length triumph in the Coronation S. at Royal Ascot. Magic Flute duly turned out to be an excellent broodmare, producing seven winners.

Although bred in the purple, Magic Flute's daughter La Papagena (GB) (Habitat) never raced. However, she more than made up for that omission by producing the last great horse to carry Lord Howard's apricot silks: Grand Lodge (Chief's Crown), a Group 1 winner of the 1993 Dewhurst S. and the 1994 St James's Palace S., as well as being nosed out in both the 2000 Guineas and Champion S. Grand Lodge went on to do well at stud, most notably being represented by Sinndar (Ire) and Freemason (Aus), winners on the same day in June 2000 of the G1 Derby at Epsom and the G1 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm.

Two years after Grand Lodge had entered William Jarvis' Newmarket stable, his half-sister La Papaya (Alleged) followed suit. Her stay there was less notable as she never raced but, exported to Australia, she has ultimately flown the family's flag with distinction. Speed-oriented stallions have been used most effectively on her tribe Down Under. Her daughter Splish (Aus) (Zeditave {Aus}) proved a good servant for Newhaven Park Stud, most notably by breeding Court (Aus) (Anabaa), whose best wins came over 1200 metres at Group 2 level in the Champagne Classic at Doomben as a 2-year-old in May 2008 and in the Sapphire S. at Randwick the following season. Court has followed the family tradition by thriving at stud now that her daughter English has carried the Newhaven Park silks to Group 1 glory in the All-Aged S. to complement her juvenile form which saw her take the G2 Reisling S. before finishing second in last year's G1 Golden Slipper S.

In an era in which the focus seems to be directed ever more sharply towards young stallions, it is possibly worth mentioning that English's sire, the excellent Encosta De Lago (Aus) (Fairy King), was aged 19 when English was born.

Great filly though Magic Flute (GB) was, her racecourse achievements fell short of the feats of La Mer (NZ) (Copenhagen {GB}). La Mer was the greatest filly/racemare in New Zealand in the 1970s, winner of 24 races and a champion at ages two, three and four. After her retirement, she was bought by Captain Tim Rogers of Airlie Stud in Ireland. There she proved slightly disappointing in the first generation–although her seven winners did include the stakes winner Cipriani (Ire) (Habitat)–but good horses have continued to emerge from her clan including the Group 1 winners Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk) and Little Jamie (Aus) (St Jude {Aus}), as well as 1998 Oaks runner-up Bahr (GB) (Generous {Ire}).

The latest star to descend from La Mer is (He's) Our Rokkii, who has now won two stakes races at Randwick this month: the G3 Frank Packer Plate on Saturday and the G3 Carbine Club S. two weeks previously. His dam Clerihew (GB) (Lomitas {GB}) is a great-grand-daughter of La Mer, being a daughter of Irish Group 3 winner Clerio (GB) (Soviet Star), herself a half-sister to Bahr.

(He's) Our Rokkii is clearly progressive and, while he would need to make further improvement, it is not fanciful to think that he might measure up in weight-for-age company in the spring. In fact, one could see him lining up in something like the G1 Mackinnon S. at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day, a race in which his fourth dam La Mer chased home the previous season's Cox Plate winner Family Of Man (Aus) (Lots Of Man) 36 years ago.