Pedigree Insights: Tiggy Wiggy

To American eyes, one of the strangest aspects of European racing must surely be the handful of races where 2-year-olds are allowed to take on their elders. The best-known examples are two of Europe’s premier five-furlong tests, the Nunthorpe S. at York in August and the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, which forms part of the Arc programme next Sunday. 

As I write, there are 51 entries in the Abbaye, which will reduce substantially at Wednesday’s forfeit stage. At present there are eight 2-year-olds among the 
entries, headed by the truly admirable filly Tiggy Wiggy, fresh from her victory in last week’s G1 Cheveley Park S. More 2-year-old contenders could also emerge at Thursday’s supplementary entry stage, one probable being the Irish-trained The Great War. This son of War Front got his career back on track with a decisive success in the Blenheim S. two days ago. 

If the bookmakers are to be believed, Tiggy Wiggy has every chance of recording her seventh win from nine career starts. They make her favorite at odds between 5-2 and 7-2, ahead of Sole Power, who has established himself as the year’s dominant older sprinter with his daring, last-gasp victories in the King’s Stand S. and the Nunthorpe. 
To offset her immaturity, Tiggy Wiggy will have to carry only 52.5 kg, compared to the older males’ 62 kg. I know Americans are even more clueless about the metric system than the average older Brit. It was NASA, wasn’t it, which lost a $125,000,000 spacecraft because software used pounds instead of the specified metric units? I should therefore add that 52.5 kg equates to nearly 116 lbs, with 62 kg being the equivalent of almost 137 lbs. The situation is slightly complicated by the fact that Tiggy Wiggy has gained all of her valuable victories in the hands of Richard Hughes, who struggles to ride at 118 lbs. 

It also shouldn’t be forgotten that the last victory by a 2-year-old in the Abbaye came as long ago as 1978, when Criquette Head’s flying filly Sigy defeated the top 3-year-olds Solinus and Double Form. At the same time, the average age of recent Abbaye winners seems to be rising, with the last 12 comprising four 6-year-olds, five 5-year-olds, two 4-year-olds and only one 3-year-old. 

However Tiggy Wiggy’s trainer, Richard Hannon Jr, will take heart from the fact that his father landed the 1992 Nunthorpe with Lyric Fantasy, a very speedy juvenile filly affectionately known as The Pocket Rocket. Another two-year-old, the still active Kingsgate Native, defeated his elders in the 2007 Nunthorpe. 

Whatever her fate in Paris, Tiggy Wiggy owes nobody anything. “This proves to everyone you can buy a horse for £41,000 and get a top-class one,” was the reaction of the filly’s trainer after the Cheveley Park S. 
Tiggy Wiggy is also proving a wonderful advertisement for her sire Kodiac, for whom 2014 has been a breakthrough year. 

Kodiac’s first 2-year-olds had barely had a chance to race when I first pointed out the stallion’s potential in the May 2010 issue of the Thoroughbred Owner & Breeder. 

“All too often these days, a horse will only be given his chance at stud if he is a major winner over a fashionable distance, with in-vogue bloodlines,” I wrote. “Well, Kodiac wasn’t a major winner–he won only four of his 20 starts, and never won a stakes race–but there were compelling reasons why the Callaghans of Tally-Ho Stud were prepared to give him a chance. 

“Although Kodiac’s racing record could have been better, there were excuses. After being rather unlucky not to make a winning debut at Newmarket in the July of his 2-year-old season, Kodiac wasn’t seen out again until the September of the following year, when he won a Lingfield maiden race on turf. Winning trainer John Dunlop commented afterwards that ‘he’s had a few physical problems and fractured a tibia at the start of the year so we’ve had to be patient, but he’s out of a very good mare and may be a bit better than this.’ 

“That prediction proved correct, as Kodiac’s Timeform rating rose from 86 at three, to 107 at four and then to 112 at five, when a mature Kodiac was able to race nine times. He certainly showed form good enough to have become a stakes winner, as he was beaten only a neck in the G3 Hackwood Stakes before finishing a creditable fourth in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest. These efforts confirmed that he was best at around six furlongs, though he won over seven. 
“Fortunately, any shortcomings in Kodiac’s form were amply compensated for by a powerful pedigree. His sire Danehill recorded his second sires’ championship in 2006, the same year that Kodiac’s three-parts-brother Invincible Spirit ran away with the first-crop sires’ championship with an impressive number of winners. Kodiac also had the attraction of being a son of a French Oaks winner, from the female line which once produced the champion sire Pitcairn. 
“Tally-Ho had no difficulty getting plenty of support for Kodiac at a fee of €5,000 and he covered more than 100 mares, for a first crop of 78. 

“Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Kodiac’s young career is the number of successful trainers with at least one Kodiac 2-year-old in his yard…. With this type of background, what are the chances that Kodiac could develop into another Danetime for Tally-Ho? Remember, Danetime was another Danehill horse who failed to win a stakes race, yet he sired performers of the quality of Bushranger, Myboycharlie, Look Busy, Utmost Respect, The Kiddykid and Vital Equine.” 
Of course Kodiac’s three-parts-brother Invincible Spirit has gone from strength to strength during the intervening years and is currently enjoying a tremendous year, thanks to such as Kingman and Charm Spirit. Invincible Spirit also had a leading contender for the Cheveley Park in the shape of the G3 Prix d’Arenberg winner High Celebrity, but on this occasion it was Kodiac who grabbed the spotlight, finally recording his first Group 1 success with a filly from his fifth crop. In fact he hadn’t been represented by a group winner prior to this year, but he has corrected that omission with the Group 3-winning sprinters Coulsty and Jamesie. The star of the show, though, is undoubtedly Tiggy Wiggy, who became the only horse to have defeated Distorted Humor’s impressive daughter Cursory Glance in the process of winning the G2 Lowther S. In addition to Tiggy Wiggy, Kodiac was responsible for Terror, a creditable fourth in the Cheveley Park on only her second start. 

Despite Kodiac’s lack of group success prior to this year, his stallion career had maintained a constant upward curve, with his steady supply of listed winners representing an encouraging start for a stallion who had spent his first four years at fees no higher than €5,000. His fee finally rose to €10,000 in 2014 and we can surely expect another rise in 2015. Shadwell recently paid £120,000 and £90,000 for a pair of Kodiac yearlings at the Doncaster yearling sale and there is sure to be plenty of interest in his team at the Orby Sale which starts today. There are even 11 of his youngsters in Book 1 of Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, compared to only three in last year’s sale. Clearly Kodiac has arrived. 

An interesting aspect of Tiggy Wiggy’s pedigree is that she is inbred 3×4 to Danzig and 4×4 to the outstanding miler Kris, with the Danzig inbreeding coming via his highly successful sons Danehill (sire of Kodiac) and Green Desert (sire of Tiggy Wiggy’s broodmare sire Kheleyf). Green Desert, of course, also sired Kodiac’s illustrious sibling Invincible Spirit. Two of Kodiac’s listed winners are also inbred 3×4 to Danzig, so we are sure to see more of this doubling up. 

Tiggy Wiggy’s dam Kheleyf’s Silver provided a handsome profit on the 58,000gns she cost as a weanling, selling for €230,000 as a yearling in 2007. Unfortunately for her new owners, Kheleyf’s Silver failed to race again after winning a five-furlong maiden at Windsor as a 2-year-old. She then became part of the Darley draft at Tattersalls’ 2010 February Sale, where her price plummeted to 15,000gns. This surely wasn’t expensive for a winning half-sister to Masta Plasta, winner of the G3 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old before developing into a smart sprint handicapper. Timeform rated him 117 at five years and 115 at six. 

Tiggy Wiggy and Masta Plasta are by no means the first notable performers from this female line. Her fourth dam Dabaweyaa was second in the 1988 1000 Guineas and produced Magellan, winner of the 
GII American H. at Hollywood Park.