Pedigree Insights: Amazing Maria

Thinking of buying a filly at the forthcoming yearling sales? Well you could do worse than consider giving her a name containing Maria. During the current decade we have seen Awesome Maria become a multiple graded winner, with the GI Ogden Phipps H. among her successes; we've seen Maria Royal take the G2 Prix de Royallieu; and we've seen the stakes-winning Stopshoppingmaria finish second at Grade I and Grade II levels. There have also been stakes successes for My My My Maria, Heidi Maria and Exclusively Maria, plus black-type performances from Stopspendingmaria and Maria Maria.

This year alone there have already been graded/group victories for three Marias. Lovely Maria succeeded in adding the GI Ashland S. to her GI Kentucky Oaks success and then, two days ago, Amazing Maria and Stopchargingmaria both added to their considerable achievements.

Stopchargingmaria was in great form last summer, when she pulled off a Grade I double in the CCA Oaks and Alabama S., and she put up another notable performance to defeat Untapable in the GIII Shuvee H.

Amazing Maria, for her part, completed a remarkable treble for her owner Sir Robert Ogden. It was as recently as June 17 that this daughter of Mastercraftsman sprang a 25-1 surprise in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. at Royal Ascot, but the 4-year-old has quickly confirmed that there was no fluke about that win. She took the G1 Falmouth S. just over three weeks later and she returned after a similar interval to take Sunday's G1 Prix Rothschild, in which she accounted for the Classic-winning Ervedya.

Amazing Maria has more in common with Stopchargingmaria than simply winning on the same day. Both are by Coolmore stallions and Stopchargingmaria's Ashford-based sire Tale of the Cat also sired the dam of Amazing Maria.

Although Amazing Maria started at 25-1 at Royal Ascot, she had appeared to be destined for the top at a much earlier stage of her career. Having won her maiden race by six lengths, she was impressive in leading all the way in the G3 Prestige S. in August 2013. At that stage, I thought she might become the first Group 1 winner for her young sire Mastercraftsman, but it was more than nine months before she was able to race again. By then, Mastercraftsman had already hit the Group 1 target with two other members of his first crop–Kingston Hill (winner of the Racing Post Trophy and later the St Leger) and The Grey Gatsby (Prix du Jockey-Club and later the Irish Champion S.).

Unfortunately, Amazing Maria looked anything but a potential Group 1 winner on her return. After trailing home last of 17 in the Oaks, she was returned to shorter distances, but the results didn't improve. She finished last but one in a Group 3 at Deauville and then ended her second season by finishing 10th of 15 in another Group 3 at Doncaster.

So, like the nuns in the Nonnberg Abbey in the “Sound of Music,” Sir Robert found himself wondering what he was going to do about Maria.

There is a profile by Elaine Williams on the internet which states that “Sir Robert Ogden has made his fortune as a businessman in spotting potential where others might see only difficulties.” If this is true, it helps explain why the veteran owner decided to soldier on with a filly whom the vast majority of owners would have decided to retire.

A decision was reached to transfer the filly from her Newmarket yard to that of the up-and-coming David O'Meara in North Yorkshire. The results, clearly, reflect great credit not only to O'Meara, but also on Amazing Maria, who has developed a highly effective burst of finishing speed.

She also possesses some of the toughness which distinguished Mastercraftsman's career. Apart from his debut, his career was spent entirely in group company and he retired as a four-time Group 1 winner. Although his Group 1 successes were gained over six, seven and eight furlongs, he later confirmed that he stayed an extended mile and a quarter, on one occasion limiting Sea the Stars' winning distance in the Juddmonte International to just a length.

For all his many virtues, Mastercraftsman didn't find it easy to maintain interest from breeders in his first three seasons. From 165 mares in year one, his book fell to 132 mares in his second season and then to 113 in his third. It is obviously important to factor this in in assessing his results so far. Whereas his first crop, numbering 138, has produced the very encouraging total of seven group winners, including three at Group 1 level, his second so far contains just one Group 3 winner.

It is a safe bet that Mastercraftsman's future crops will have more in common with his first crop than his second. After covering 172 mares at a fee of €12,500 in his fourth season, his fee rose to €35,000 in 2014 on the strength of the promise shown by such as Kingston Hill, Amazing Maria, Craftsman and The Grey Gatsby. He is credited with covering more than 200 mares that season and he must have been very busy this year, following his two first-crop Classic winners in 2014. Those Classic successes sent his fee up to €40,000–twice his original price.

Amazing Maria's recent exploits suggest she doesn't stay as well as her sire. This can be attributed to her broodmare sire Tale of the Cat, who gained his best win over seven furlongs.

Tale of the Cat has shown time and again that he can sire sales yearlings which very much take the eye. For example, in 2007 he had sons which sold for $700,000 and $600,000. Amazing Maria's dam Messias de Silva was another example. Sired at a fee of $40,000, Messias da Silva made $250,000 at Saratoga as a yearling and her price then soared to $700,000 when she was bought by Sir Robert Ogden at Fasig-Tipton Florida the following March.

Unfortunately she repaid less than £5,000 towards that huge investment as a racehorse, her only win coming over six furlongs on Lingfield's all-weather track. She is clearly proving much more effective as a broodmare. Ogden has a yearling sister to his star filly and a weanling brother. There is also a 2-year-old colt, Constantino, by Mastercraftsman's sire Danehill Dancer.

Messias da Silva probably owed her high price as a 2-year-old more to her physique and workouts than to a stunning pedigree. Her dam Indy Power had failed to make the first three in any of her four starts and neither of Indy Power's stakes-winning half-brothers had made their mark in graded stakes. However, Amazing Maria's third dam, the dirt sprinter Clever Power, was a Grade III winner and the next dam, Clever Miss, had a Grade II-winning daughter and Grade III-winning son to her credit. Clever Miss was also a half-sister to the very successful sprinter Clever Trick, who found fame as the sire of champion sprinter Phone Trick.

Amazing Maria is the fourth Northern Hemisphere Grade I winner produced by daughters of Tale of the Cat. Her predecessors include Dortmund (this year's GI Santa Anita Derby winner and third in the GI Kentucky Derby) and It's Tricky (GI Acorn S., GI CCA Oaks, etc). It's fair to say that Tale of the Cat has the pedigree to succeed in this role, as his sire Storm Cat and broodmare sire Mr. Prospector have jointly notched up numerous championships. This bodes well for Stopchargingmaria when her racing days are over.

PRIX ROTHSCHILD-G1, €300,000, DVL, 8-2, 3yo/up, f/m, 8fT, 1:34.72, gd.
1–AMAZING MARIA (IRE), 128, f, 4, by Mastercraftsman (Ire)
1st Dam: Messias da Silva, by Tale of the Cat
2nd Dam: Indy Power, by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Clever Power, by Lines of Power
O/B-Sir Robert Ogden (IRE); T-David O'Meara; J-Olivier Peslier. €171,420. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Eng & GSP-Ire, 12-5-0-3, €488,725. Werk
Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.