A round up of all the action for the Darley stallions over the past week
Not so nervous nineties
Dubawi edged closer to his 100th Group winner on Saturday, 9 June when his son D’bai landed the G3 John Of Gaunt Stakes at Haydock Park. Godolphin’s improving four-year-old, who has run so creditably in Dubai earlier in the season, travelled smoothly on the bridle before asserting inside the final furlong to gamely win by a head. Equally adept at six furlongs, he holds a G1 entry at Royal Ascot in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Now on 98 Group winners, Dubawi will become the first British-based stallion in history to reach the golden three figures.
Like father, like son
Whilst Dubawi continues his march towards 100, his much-missed son Poet’s Voice enjoyed an excellent weekend, siring a Group double in Italy on Sunday.
First to salute the judge was Poeta Diletto in the G3 Premio Carlo Vittadini, who got the better of Wait Forever in a photo. The Italian 2,000 Guineas winner of 2016, he has now won four Stakes races, three coming in Group class.
Thirty-five minutes later, German-raider Sand Zabeel landed her biggest race to date, when scoring in the G2 Oaks d’Italia. Trained by Andreas Wohler, she was taking a first step up into Stakes races after victories at Hannover and Hoppegarten. Poet’s Voice has an exceptional record in Italy and he was completing a Classic double after Summer Festival’s triumph last month in the G2 Derby Italiano.
Dubawi is enjoying an excellent season as a “sire of sires” with four producing Stakes-performing three-year-olds in 2018. Darley stand three of his exceptional G1-winning sons at stud in Europe; 2,000 Guineas hero Night Of Thunder, record-breaking European Champion Postponed and three-time top-flight winner Hunter’s Light.
Teofilo strikes again
Teofilo is enjoying an excellent year and on Sunday his Australian-bred son Yakeen gamely landed his first Group race in the G3 Jubilee Handicap at Turffontein in South Africa.
Now the sire of eight Stakes winners in 2018, they have ranged from the 1300m G1 triumph for Happy Clapper in the Canterbury Stakes, to the fourteen-furlong Stakes win in Ireland for the improving Bloomfield. Other notable winners for Galileo’s number one sire-son include Group victors Humidor and Irishcorrespondent, and impressive Stakes-winning three-year-olds Key Victory and Mildenberger.
Brothers in arms
Brothers Helmet and Epaulette enjoyed some nice winners destined for greater things over the past week.
Trained in Germany by Andreas Wohler, Helmet’s four-year-old son Yaa Salaam remained unbeaten in 2018 when easily landing a good conditions race at Hannover. Awarded a GAG rating of 87 (equivalent to a mid-nineties Timeform rating), he is improving rapidly and has now triumphed in over half of his nine career starts.
Also on Friday, Epaulement (Epaulette) gained a well-deserved first victory when winning a competitive ten furlong handicap at Haydock Park. Trained by Tom Dascombe, he is improving with every start and enjoyed the step up in trip.
A week of winners for Iffraaj
Over the past seven days Iffraaj has sired no fewer than 14 individual winners in six separate countries. With the quantity has also come quality, with some marking themselves down as future top performers.
Making a winning debut at Leicester last Monday was Godolphin’s Piece Of History. Described as a “nice prospect” by winning rider David Egan, the three-year-old colt was always travelling smoothly in the one-mile contest, eventually running out the easy winner by over a length. Given an initial Timeform rating of 90p, he is out of the Stakes-winning mare Moonlife (Invincible Spirit) who has already produced two highly rated winners by Dubawi in Hornsby and Emirates Airline. Moonlife also has a yearling filly by New Approach, a filly foal by Night Of Thunder and has been tested in foal to Postponed this season.
There were two new impressive winners in the UK on Friday for Iffraaj. Winning at Wolverhampton was the James Tate-trained three-year-old Ziarah, who had been highly tried at top tracks and was enjoying a well deserved first success. Now rated 90, she was talked of by her trainer as potentially Stakes class after the triumph.
Later that evening at Haydock Park, the year younger Cupboard Lover broke her maiden in impressive fashion when winning the six furlong maiden by five lengths on her second career start. Making all the running, she appreciated the quick ground for this emphatic first victory.
