Pedigree Insights: Western Hymn (GB)

BET365 CLASSIC TRIAL-G3, £62,500, SAN, 4-25, 3yo, 10f 7yT, 2:19.53, sf. 
1–#@WESTERN HYMN (GB), 127, c, 3, by High Chaparral (Ire) 
     1st Dam: Blue Rhapsody (GB), by Cape Cross (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Blue Symphony (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
     3rd Dam: Blue Duster, by Danzig
(50,000gns yrl '12 TATOCT). O-R J H Geffen & 
Rachel Hood. B-Newsells Park Stud (GB). T-John 
Gosden; J-William Buick; £35,444. Lifetime Record: 
3-3-0-0, £47,369. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
    Sadly, it isn't unusual for a winner of the Epsom Derby to end up covering jumping mares, and–for a short period about five years ago–it looked as though the 2002 winner, High Chaparral, was on the brink of becoming a full-time jumping sire. 
    Although Coolmore's farms catering specifically to National Hunt breeders were amply stocked with other high-class sons of Sadler's Wells, such as Oscar, Milan and Brian Boru, High Chaparral's 2009 book also included numerous mares with National Hunt backgrounds. Several of the resultant foals were sold as unbroken 3-year-old store horses at specialist National Hunt sales. 
Fortunately, High Chaparral staged an escape worthy of Houdini. I have explained before that circumstances conspired to make the early stages of his career more difficult than might have been predicted for a five-time Group 1 winner who twice took the Breeders' Cup Turf. 
    In being based at Coolmore, High Chaparral was in direct competition not only with Sadler's Wells but also with two of Sadler's Wells's most brilliant sons, Montjeu and Galileo. His retirement at the end of 2003 came at a time when there was still some prejudice against Sadler's Wells as a sire of sires. Although Montjeu and Galileo were soon to dispel such doubts, it was only natural that breeders increasingly turned to these two, rather than the unproven High Chaparral. Consequently High Chaparral's fee fell by €5,000 every season until it reached only €10,000 in 2009 in his sixth season. 
Clearly High Chaparral hadn't set the world on fire with his first runners in 2007 and 2008. Also it probably didn't help that two of his three G3 winners had gained their successes in Italy and Germany, away from the gaze of Ireland's breeders. This probably explains the need to pad his 2009 book with some jumping mares. 
    Then 2009 changed all that. His first three crops all did well that year, to the extent that he ended the year in 13th place among Britain and Ireland's leading stallions. Altogether he had six group winners in Europe and among them were a couple of classic-placed three-year-olds. High Chaparral's potential as a classic sire was also highlighted by two colts from his first New Zealand crop. One, Monaco Consul, won the G1 Victoria Derby, while the hugely talented So You Think recorded the first of his two victories in the G1 W.S. Cox Plate. 
    High Chaparral's resurrection as a first-rate flat stallion has continued apace, as can be gauged from the fact that his fee was increased firstly to €15,000, then to €25,000 and more recently to €30,000–not far from the fee at which he started. Even so–thanks to the efforts of such as It's A Dundeel, Shoot Out, So You Think and Descarado–it still costs more to use him at Coolmore Australia, where his fee for the 2014 season has been set at AUS$60,500, from 2013's AUS$77,000, His Australian foals of 2012 should be especially worthy of attention, as they were sired at AUS$99,000. 
Despite having to share his efforts with the jumping sector in 2009, High Chaparral's 2010 crop also included one of the best 3-year-old milers of 2013 in Toronado, as well as the Group 3-winning French filly Frine. 
    There are now signs that his 2011 crop is going to be similarly effective, with two colts–the unbeaten Western Hymn and the progressive German colt Lucky Lion–becoming Group winners last week. Lucky Lion won the G3 Dr Busch Memorial which, despite being over only 1 1/16 miles, has a roll of honor which features the Deutsches Derby winners Samum and Next Desert, plus plenty of other future Group 1 winners, including Soldier Hollow, Platini and Lomitas. 
The G3 Classic Trial won by Western Hymn at Sandown has also been successfully used as a stepping stone to classic success and the top international performers Pentire, Fantastic Light and Sakhee are others to have won this 10-furlong test.
    To be honest, Sandown's Classic Trial seems to have lost a little of its gloss in recent years, but Western Hymn's opponents included a very well-bred Galileo colt in the second-placed Impulsive Moment, a useful and experienced colt in third-placed Master Carpenter and a couple of other colts who were above average last year. That said, Western Hymn didn't win in the style suggested by his starting price of 1-2, and he won't have won many friends with his demeanor when asked to win the race. 
    The Racing Post notes that he carried his head high, but this isn't usually something which worries me. More often than not you can find the same trait in one of the animal's ancestors, and Western Hymn is no exception. His male line traces to Nearctic, a horse sired by Nearco from a daughter of Hyperion. 
An old Windfields Farm stallion guide said that Nearctic “was very similar in conformation to his sire Nearco, yet, like his maternal grandsire Hyperion, he carried his head very high.” This high head carriage also surfaced in Nearctic's grandson Sadler's Wells and in some of Sadler's Wells's good winners. Perhaps Western Hymn's performance was simply affected by the soft ground, which cannot have helped a colt who possesses a bright burst of finishing speed. 
Western Hymn has an impressive pedigree for a colt who cost no more than 50,000gns as a yearling at Tattersalls. The Newsells-bred colt is out of the well-connected Blue Rhapsody, who is inbred 3×3 to Danzig, a stallion who enjoyed tremendous success with this family. Arguably more relevant is the fact that Western Hymn is himself inbred 3×3 to Darshaan, a horse who found everlasting fame for his victory over Sadler's Wells and Rainbow Quest in a vintage edition of the Prix du Jockey-Club. 
    Although Darshaan enjoyed classic success as a sire via his sons Mark of Esteem and Dalakhani, his greatest legacy–at least so far–has been his broodmare daughters, which have around 40 northern hemisphere Group 1 winners to their credit. It was their outstanding partnership with Sadler's Wells which provided eight of these Group 1 winners, headed by High Chaparral, and there are also Group 1 winners by four of Sadler's Wells's sons, most notable the Derby-winning Pour Moi by Montjeu. More recently Darshaan's daughters have had Group 1 winners by Montjeu's sons Motivator and Authorized, so this highly productive relationship is clearly far from finished. 
    Sadler's Wells's exceptional record of 17% black-type winners with Darshaan mares was enough to persuade breeders that it was worth experimenting with inbreeding to Darshaan via High Chaparral. This received an early boost when Lady Darshaan, a filly from High Chaparral's third crop, was a close second in the G1 Fillies' Mile in 2009. She is inbred 3×3, as is High Chaparral's Listed winner Tempest Fugit. High Chaparral also has several stakes winners inbred to Darshaan's sire Shirley Heights, the best being the French Group 3 mile-and-a-half winner Magadan. 
    The inbreeding to Darshaan should help Western Hymn stretch his stamina to a mile and a half. Also, he follows the good staying filly The Miniver Rose as the second Group winner sired by High Chaparral from a Cape Cross mare. It mustn't be forgotten, though, that his female line was once best known for its speed and precocity. His fourth dam, the Habitat mare Blue Note, earned a Timeform rating of 122, racing mainly around seven furlongs, before enjoying a long and productive broodmare career. 
    Blue Note's first foal, the Danzig colt Zieten, won the G1 Middle Park S. in 1992 and three years later Zieten's sister Blue Duster–the third dam of Western Hymn–won the fillies' equivalent, the G1 Cheveley Park S. Between them Zieten and Blue Duster were unbeaten in eight juvenile starts. Each of these siblings went on to be placed in a top-class sprint at three years. 
    Some of the family's speed also surfaced in Fantasia, a half-sister to Western Hymn's dam Blue Rhapsody. Fantasia showed enough speed and class to start odds on for the French 1,000 Guineas, but she did all her winning in Europe at up to seven furlongs, which is quite unusual for a daughter of Sadler's Wells. 
Western Hymn's connections will no doubt derive some encouragement from the fact that Pink Symphony, a three-parts-sister to Fantasia by Montjeu, was a Group 3 winner over a mile and a half.