A round up of all the action for the Darley stallions over the past week
Dream day in Dubai for Dubawi
Super Saturday at Meydan proved just that for Dubawi when siring a brace of Group winners as well as notching his first top-flight victory as a broodmare sire.
The highlight of the day for the Dalham Hall Stud star was North America, who became his sires 34th winner at the highest level when running away with the Al Maktoum Challenge R3. Quickly away from the gates, he never saw another rival eventually winning by over five lengths from Helmet’s admirable dual G1-winning son Thunder Snow.
He was completing a Group race double for Dubawi after Jordan Sport broke the track record when winning the G3 Mahab Al Shimaal by over seven lengths. A full-brother to G1 winner Akeed Mofeed, who incidentally sired his first ever winner over the weekend in Australia, he was another to make all the running, recording a huge Timeform race rating of 123 in the process.
It was a good weekend for daughters of Dubawi as well. He notched his first top-flight winner as a broodmare sire when Blair House won Meydan’s other G1, the Jebel Hatta, beating Dubawi’s son Benbatl into second. He also has another top prospect in Japan where three-year-old filly Liberty Heights, by King Kamehameha, won the G2 Hochi Hai Fillies’ Revue, Japan’s trial for the 1,000 Guineas.
A round of applause for Teofilo
Rising eight years of age, Happy Clapper is one of the most popular horses in training in Australia and on Saturday, 10 March, he landed his second G1 when breaking the track record in the Canterbury Stakes. The accomplished son of Teofilo, who is his sires leading earner with over €2,500,000 in prize money, came with a sustained run in the straight to win going away by over a length.
Trainer Pat Webster mapped out an ambitious program for the next few months, starting by taking on Winx in the G1 George Ryder Stakes before attempting the G1 Doncaster Mile on Day One of The Championships at the start of April, a race in which he has been second for the past two seasons.
Jungle Cat primed for the Al Quoz Sprint
Iffraaj’s talented son Jungle Cat had the perfect preparation for the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on Dubai World Cup night when producing a career best to win the Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint over six furlongs.
Although it wasn’t a Stakes race, he had in opposition Dubai’s premier sprinter Ertijaal, and when asked to go past that rival two furlongs from home, he did so with the minimum of fuss to win by two and a quarter lengths. Recording his best ever Timeform rating of 119, he has now produced race ratings of 110 or more on a mammoth 15 times.
The rise of Dawn
Dawn Approach’s first three-year-olds continue to impress and on Wednesday, 7 March he sired two well above-average runners.
A juvenile winner in France last season, Al Modajal won his first race since being trained in Qatar when defeating Moheet, who had finished third in the G3 Craven Stakes when trained in Britain, by one and a quarter lengths with a gaping twelve lengths back to the third.
Already a dual winner in 2018, Court House ran his best race in defeat when a very unlucky-in-running second to Gronkowski in the “Road To The Kentucky Derby” Conditions race at Kempton Park. Going for a gap up the rails, he had the door slammed shut by the winner inside the final furlong, before switching and making useful late ground. A progressive colt, he has recorded ever-improving Timeform ratings in each of his five starts and looks sure to be able to better the 97 he received here.
Poet’s Voice just keeps siring winners
In the seven days up to Sunday, 11 March Poet’s Voice sired no less than six individual winners in six separate countries.
A proven winner-getter who has already sired 33 individual scorers from his European crops in 2018, one to note would be the Fabrice Chappet-trained Tiger Voice, who broke his maiden by over a length at Fontainebleau last Thursday in France.
Poet’s Voice also enjoyed a notable pedigree update on Saturday through Blair House, who was out of the Dubawi mare Patroness, a full-sister to the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner.
