Caulfield: Dee Majesty

Spring is around the corner and the sap is rising, and so too are the expectations of the Classic generation. Last week saw Classic hopefuls put to the test in the U.S., Dubai and Japan. But which of these races can be relied upon to act as a stepping stone to Classic success?

Well, the G3 UAE 2000 Guineas has a record complicated by the fact that many of its winners have been bred in the Southern Hemisphere and are therefore ineligible for the Northern Hemisphere Classics. The last four Northern Hemisphere-bred winners–Maftool, Kinglet, Splash Point and Desert Party–didn't add significantly to their achievements subsequently. Of course that doesn't mean that last week's easy winner, Market Rally, won't go on to better things, but this son of Unbridled's Song and a Mr. Greeley mare has a pedigree far better suited to dirt than those of most of his rivals.

There is also reason to be optimistic about Destin, winner of the GIII Sam F. Davis S. After all, this son of Giant's Causeway is the product of two Grade I-winning parents and he is a brother to Creative Cause, a Grade I winner who ran respectably in the first two legs of the Triple Crown four years ago. The Sam F. Davis S. has been won by the likes of Bluegrass Cat, Any Given Saturday and General Quarters–all future Grade I winners–but none of the last six winners has so far risen to that level.

The GIII El Camino Real Derby has the complication that it is contested on a synthetic track and none of its recent winners has enjoyed Grade I success subsequent to their Golden Gate Fields success. Once again, though, it would be risky to dismiss the latest winner Frank Conversation. As a May 13 foal, sired by the 16.3-hand Quality Road, he has every right to continue improving–especially when he is out of a sister to two Grade I winners.

However, the trial winner with arguably the best chance of developing into a Classic winner is the Japanese colt Dee Majesty. The style of his victory over a mile and an eighth in the G3 Kyodo News Service Hai suggests that this son of Deep Impact is destined to shine as the distances lengthen, and so does his classy pedigree.

Further encouragement is provided by the Group 3 race's roll of honor. Last year's race saw Real Steel, another son of Deep Impact, win by a half-length from Duramente. These two went on to finish first and second, in reverse order, in the G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas (Satsuki Sho). Duramente went on to add the G1 Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun), while Real Impact failed by only a neck to win the G1 Japanese St Leger (Kikuka Sho).

The 2014 winner Isla Bonita went on to win the Satsuki Sho, as did the quirky 2012 winner Gold Ship. The latter, of course, developed into one of the stars of Japanese racing, with the Kikuka Sho, G1 Tenno Sho and G1 Arima Kinen among his victories. Admire Moon, another winner of the Kyodo News Service Hai, went on to win the G1 Japan Cup and G1 Dubai Duty Free.

Dee Majesty could well develop into a contender for all three legs of the Japanese Triple Crown. His sire Deep Impact figures among the seven colts which have succeeded in winning the Triple Crown, along with Narita Brian–a colt sired by Dee Majesty's broodmare sire, Brian's Time. This winner of the GI Florida Derby was by Roberto, which means that Dee Majesty is inbred 4 x 4 to Hail To Reason.

Brian's Time was responsible for a total of three Japanese Derby winners in Narita Brian, Sunny Brian and Tanino Gimlet. That puts him one ahead of Deep Impact, whose successes came with Deep Brillante in 2012 and Kizuna in 2013, but Deep Impact is still only 14, so should have plenty of opportunities to overtake Brian's Time. Deep Impact himself was one of six Japanese Derby winners by Sunday Silence, winner of the first two legs of the American Triple Crown.

There are also plenty of Classic connections to be found in connection with Dee Majesty's female line, as his third dam is none other than the blue hen Doff the Derby.

This daughter of the GI Preakness winner Master Derby was born on May 13, 1981, becoming the last foal produced by the celebrated mare Margarethen. Although Margarethen's five years on the track saw her contest 64 races, Doff the Derby never raced and was soon heading for the breeding shed. Indeed she was covered by the GII California Derby winner Jaklin Klugman at around the time of her actual second birthday in 1983. The resultant filly, Windy Triple K., became a stakes winner as a 3-year-old in 1987, by which time Doff the Derby had become part of the broodmare team at David and Diane Nagle's Barronstown Stud.

Nagle once told me–if I remember correctly–that, while on a flight, they had been browsing through a catalogue for a comparatively obscure sale when they spotted Doff the Derby. The young mare's attraction was that she was a half-sister to the top French racemare Trillion. Doff The Derby's price at the 1985 California January sale–$82,000–proved a wonderful investment, as her progeny were to excel both on the track and in the sales ring.

Doff the Derby became one of those very rare mares with more than one Classic winner to her credit, thanks to Horse of the Year Generous (G1 Derby and G1 Irish Derby) and Imagine (G1 Irish 1000 Guineas and the G1 Epsom Oaks). Four of Doff the Derby's other progeny sold extremely well as foals, including a brother to Generous which sold for 2,500,000gns in 1997.

Dee Majesty's second dam, Shinko Hermes, ran only once in Japan, but she was a sister not only to the dual Classic winner Imagine but also to Strawberry Roan, runner-up in the Irish 1000 Guineas.

Shinko Hermes started her broodmare career in Japan, where her Sunday Silence filly Er Nova was placed at local Group 1 level, but was later based largely in Europe, as part of the Darley broodmare band. She has several useful performers to her credit, the latest being last year's tough 2-year-old Sixth Sense. Shinko Hermes' sister Imagine hit the Group 1 target as a broodmare via her Danehill colt Horatio Nelson (G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere).

Another branch of this family produced the outstanding French sprinter-miler Moonlight Cloud, who retired with six Group 1 successes to her credit. But then we have become accustomed to seeing some extraordinary fillies emerge from this family, others being Trillion, Triptych and Treve. Odeliz, another recent Group 1 winner descending from Margarethen, sold privately for 1,000,000gns at Tattersalls last December even though she is by a disappointing stallion. The same, of course, could have been said of Doff the Derby, a daughter of Master Derby.