Pedigree Insights with Andrew Caulfield

JUDDMONTE GRAND PRIX DE PARIS-G1, €600,000, LON, 7-13, 3yo, c/f, 12fT, 2:41.76, vsf. 
1–s@#GALLANTE (IRE), 128, c, 3, by Montjeu (Ire) 
     1st Dam: Crazy Volume (Ire), by Machiavellian
     2nd Dam: Desert Ease (Ire), by Green Desert
     3rd Dam: Easy to Copy, by Affirmed
O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; 
B-Lynch Bages Ltd & Camas Park Stud (IRE); T-Andre 
Fabre; J-Pierre-Charles Boudot. €342,840. Lifetime 
Record: 5 starts, 3 wins, 2 places, €397,490. Werk
Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
2–Prince Gibraltar (Fr), 128, c, 3, Rock of Gibraltar (Ire)–
Princess Sofia (UAE), by Pennekamp. (€40,000 RNA 
yrl ‘12 ARQAUG). O-Jean-Francois Gribomont, Eric 
Pokrovsky & Ecurie La Vallee Martigny; 
B-Jean-Francois Gribomont (FR); T-Jean-Claude 
Rouget. €137,160. 
3–Teletext, 128, c, 3, Empire Maker–Conference Call 
(GB), by Anabaa. O-Khalid Abdullah; B-Juddmonte 
Farms Inc (KY); T-Pascal Bary. €68,580. 
Margins: SNK, 2HF, 2. Odds: 61.00, 0.90, 23.00. 
Also Ran: Free Port Lux (GB), Marzocco, The Grey Gatsby (Ire), Golden Guepard (Ire), Prince Nomad (Fr), Machucambo (Fr), Guardini (Fr), Auvray (Fr). 
Click for the Racing Post result or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Equidia VIDEO. 

   I believe there is currently a petition asking that the Prix du Jockey Club be restored to its traditional distance of 2,400 metres, instead of the 2,100 metres of its last ten editions. Well, count me in! My main objection to the shorter distance is that it creates too many hard-luck stories when full fields of around 20 try to negotiate the Chantilly bends. 
Also, there wasn’t too much wrong with the original version, whose last eight winners included Peintre Celebre, Montjeu and Dalakhani, all of whom went on to win the Arc later the same year. Another of these eight winners, Sulamani, was a close second in the Arc. 
    Montjeu and Dalakhani were both in the news again last week. Montjeu was represented by his third winner of the G1 Grand Prix de Paris when Gallante lived up to his name in landing the race which effectively substitutes for the old-style Prix du Jockey-Club. 
    This trio of Grand Prix de Paris victories supplements Montjeu’s tremendously impressive tally of four wins in the Epsom Derby, three in the St Leger and one in the 2,000 Guineas. Montjeu also gave us three winners of the Irish Derby, one of the Irish Oaks and two of the AJC Australian Derby. His ability to impart stamina to his progeny also resulted in winners of the St Leger equivalents in Ireland and France, plus two in the Gold Cup and one in the Melbourne Cup. 
In addition to Gallante’s victory, Montjeu’s name also cropped up last week in connection with the impressive G3 Bahrain Trophy winner Hartnell. This progressive colt, by Montjeu’s Derby-winning son Authorized, had previously won the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot, a race won last year by the future St Leger and Gold Cup winner Leading Light. Hartnell is now as short as 8-1 for the St Leger in two month’s time. 
    The striking aspect of Gallante’s pedigree is that he is out of a mare by Mr Prospector’s son Machiavellian. This means that Montjeu has now sired G1 winners in Europe or Australia from mares by five different sons of Mr Prospector. Their total of six G1 winners have landed a 2,000 Guineas, two Derbys, an Irish Derby, a St Leger and now a Grand Prix de Paris, so Mr. Prospector made a substantial contribution to Montjeu’s success. 
    Altogether Montjeu has three Group winners out of mares by Machiavellian, a horse who made his name principally as a speedy champion 2-year-old. These three come from a sample of 25 foals, which equates to 12%, so blending the speed of Machiavellian with the stamina of Montjeu has worked very well. 
    Whenever I mention Montjeu, I think it is well worth reminding everyone that this son of Sadler’s Wells was less prolific than Galileo, Coolmore’s other exceptional Sadler’s Wells stallion, Montjeu’s 11 Irish crops of racing age number roughly 1,070 foals, whereas Galileo’s first ten Irish crops total 1,462. Sadly Montjeu’s current 2-year-olds, which number around 60, come from his penultimate crop and his final crop numbers 26. Only 10 of these last-crop yearlings are colts, which have traditionally done much better than Montjeu’s daughters, so any which appear in the sales ring over the next few months will surely attract considerable attention. 
    Moving on to Dalakhani, he isn’t, of course, a son of Sadler’s Wells, but the fact that he was sired by Darshaan ensured that he would have a very close working relationship with the 14-time champion sire once he retired to Gilltown Stud. Remember, daughters of Darshaan produced eight G1 winners to Sadler’s Wells and they also have G1 winners by Galileo, Montjeu, Refuse To Bend and Entrepreneur, the last two being among Sadler’s Wells’s less successful stallion sons. Montjeu’s G1 winner with a dam by Darshaan was the Derby-winning Pour Moi and now his sons Motivator and Authorized have also sired G1 winners from Darshaan mares. Incidentally, Pour Moi has 13 of his first-crop yearlings in Arqana’s August Yearling Sale. 
    Expectations that Dalakhani would make an ideal mate for Sadler’s Wells mares gathered strength when his first crop contained no fewer than four group winners out of daughters of the great Coolmore stallion. One was Conduit, who retired as a winner of the St Leger, the King George and of two editions of the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf, and another was Chinese White, winner of the G1 Pretty Polly S. 
    The end result is that 113 of Dalakhani’s 630 foals of racing age–some 18%–have dams by Sadler’s Wells, but this cross hasn’t maintained its momentum. Its only subsequent group winner was Reliable Man, winner of the Prix du Jockey-Club in 2011, and the nick’s percentage of stakes winners stands no higher than Dalakhani’s overall figure of 6%. 
    It is therefore very well worthwhile pointing out that Dalakhani has 11% stakes winners out of daughters of Danehill–a statistic which could help restore Dalakhani’s flagging popularity (he has only 37 2-year-olds this year and he covered around 50 mares both in 2012 and 2013). 
    In fact all three of Dalakhani’s stakes winners from 28 foals out of Danehill mares are Group winners, namely Shemiyla, Duncan and Integral. Duncan won the G1 Irish St Leger in 2011 and now Integral has become the cross’s second top-flight winner thanks to her dominant victory in last week’s G1 Falmouth S. I touched briefly on Integral’s pedigree in my June 24 article, following her win in the G2 Duke of Cambridge S. at Royal Ascot. Suffice it to say that–despite being by a mile-and-a-half horse–Integral has inherited all the finishing speed which brought her dam Echelon six group wins at up to a 1 1/8 miles, including the G1 Matron S. 
    It is easy to understand why Danehill mares are suiting Dalakhani. The stallion is a quality middle-distance horse with quite a light frame, and Timeform went so far as to say he was “no great physical specimen, being quite attractive but rather finely made.” As Sadler’s Wells’s daughters were often also light of bone, breeders probably need to bear this in mind instead of obliviously following the nick. 
    Danehill, on the other hand, was a strong sprinter, with a powerful rear end and stronger-looking hocks than Dalakhani’s. In other words, Danehill’s daughters can supply any missing strength and bone, in much the same way as they have with Galileo, another top mile-and-a-half horse. 
    Coincidentally, Dalakhani and Galileo are both out of Miswaki mares. This may be relevant to Terrubi, who became Dalakhani’s second group winner of last week when he won the G2 Prix Maurice de Nieuil over a mile and three-quarters. Terrubi’s dam Altruiste is an unraced half-sister to Galileo’s magnificent dam Urban Sea, who not only won the Arc but also bred an Arc winner in Sea The Stars. Altruiste is also a half-sister to the 2,000 Guineas winner King’s Best and to Allez Les Trois, dam of the Prix du Jockey-Club winner Anabaa Blue, so Terrubi has every right to be well above average. 
    Altruiste is by that excellent broodmare sire Diesis, who ranks among the broodmare sires of the classic winners by Galileo.