Counting down to excellence

Authorized, Teofilo, New Approach. Three Group One-winning two-year-olds, two Epsom Derby winners, one stud: Darley

Internationally, two branches of the Northern Dancer sire-line stand head and shoulders above the rest: the one which comes via Danzig and his son Danehill, and the one springing from Sadler’s Wells.  It is clear that, if one is concentrating solely on two-year-old racing and on sprints, the Danehill line is the preferred option.  However, for those whose aim is to produce the kind of horse that so many would aspire to own – ie a horse who can contest the world’s best Classic and weight-for-age races at a mile and beyond, and a horse who might thrive on his racing and continue to improve as he becomes more seasoned – the merit of the Sadler’s Wells line is abundantly clear. If this is your aim as a breeder, look no further than the top-class trio of Authorized, Teofilo and New Approach, all standing in Australia for the first time in 2009.

Five sons of Sadler’s Wells sired at least one Australian Group One winner in 2008, with Scenic – whose current representatives range from the outstanding sprinter Scenic Blast, via this year’s NZ Derby winner Coniston Bluebird, to Melbourne Cup winner Viewed – the most conspicuously successful.  Scenic, who came from Sadler’s Wells’ first crop and who is now sadly deceased, was a Group One-winning two-year-old in England in his racing days; more recent stars from this prolifically successful sire-line to fall into the same category are Sadler’s Wells’ grandsons New Approach, Teofilo and Authorized.  The first two both emulated Scenic in winning the Dewhurst, while Authorized won the Racing Post Trophy.

Teofilo was Europe’s champion two-year-old of 2006.  Trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, he won a maiden at the Curragh first time out, followed by a Listed race at Leopardstown, then made it three from three by beating subsequent Hong Kong Cup winner Eagle Mountain in the Group Two Futurity Stakes at the Curragh.  His final two starts were both Group Ones: first he took Ireland’s premier two-year-old race, the National Stakes, and then he landed England’s juvenile championship, the Dewhurst, beating Holy Roman Emperor on each occasion.

Teofilo was understandably installed as the hot winter favourite for the following season’s Classics, but sadly injury kept him off the track as a three-year-old.  However, during the summer of 2007 Jim Bolger indicated that, in New Approach, he had found another colt to carry on where Teofilo left had off.  Remarkably, Bolger ran New Approach in the same five two-year-old races which Teofilo had contested; even more remarkably, New Approach too won all five, similarly ending the year as the uncontested king of his crop.

As a three-year-old, New Approach (pictured) did indeed prove able to fulfill Bolger’s dream of Derby glory.  He ended last year with his Group One tally at five, having landed three such races during a tremendous Classic campaign.  His Derby win was tremendous, and he subsequently had little difficulty in justifying 8/13 favouritism in the Irish Champion Stakes.  His final victory was, if possible, even better, as he annihilated the opposition in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, winning by six lengths and setting a new record for Newmarket’s historic 10-furlong (2000m) track, up which so many of the greatest horses in history had raced before him.  His time of 2:00.13 on this undulating straight course with its stiff uphill finish was simply world-class and is likely to be one of those records which stand for a very long time indeed.

One of the biggest compliments one can give to New Approach’s Derby victory is to say that it was almost as emphatic as that achieved by Authorized the previous year.  Like New Approach and Teofilo, Authorized landed a Group One as a two-year-old, taking the Racing Post Trophy, one of only three Group One races in England for two-year-old colts.  Like the Dewhurst, this race has a rich history in throwing up potential stars.  Initially run as the Observer Gold Cup, its role of honour includes the mighty Vaguely Noble, who subsequently won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe before embarking on a glittering stallion career.  Winners such as Reference Point, High Chaparral and Motivator have gone on to win the Derby, while such stars as Celtic Swing and Al Hareb (sires of the outstanding sprinters Takeover Target and Hareeba respectively) also landed this race.  Few, though, have won it with more comfortably than Authorized, who won with the minimum of fuss in 2006 on only his second racecourse appearance, prompting the Racing Post’s on-course reporter to describe him as “a really likeable type” and to observe that “he travelled best and quickened”.

That reporter, for one, would not have been in the least surprised by Authorized’s achievements the following year, when he started favourite for every race he contested.  His three victories as a three-year-old were all outstanding: he won the Group Two Dante Stakes over 2100m at York by four lengths as the odds-on favourite, the Derby by five lengths (starting at 5/4 favourite in a 17-horse field), and the Group One Juddmonte International Stakes over 2100m at York, beating subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Dylan Thomas by a length.  He also ran second in the Group One Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, getting the better of a duel with his market rival George Washington only for the pair to find themselves outmanoeuvred by the outsider Notnowcato, who challenged fast and late out wide.

At the end of that year Authorized retired to Dalham Hall Stud, and is now completing his second season.  He has understandably proved extremely popular with European breeders, not least because his athletic physique and pedigree – he comes from the family of the former top-class racehorse and successful international stallion Green Dancer - match his racecourse performances.  His sire Montjeu, arguably the best racehorse Sadler’s Wells has ever produced, needs no introduction, and by now must be as familiar to Australian pundits as he is to their European counterparts, with the AJC Australian Derby having joined the English Derby and the Irish Derby as Group One Classics of which he has sired the winner twice.

With Authorized thus joining Teofilo and New Approach on Darley’s Australian roster, we feel that we are offering a triple opportunity to breeders to sample the best that the Sadler’s Wells sire-line has to offer.  All three were clearly racehorses of the highest quality, blessed with precocity as well as with class.  All three come with strong pedigrees on their distaff side to complement the merit of their top-line.  And, last but not least, all three are superb physical specimens.  For anyone aspiring to breed a top-class racehorse, we feel that consideration of these stallions is a must.