Pedigree Insights
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Andrew Caulfield, July 11, 2006–Stormy River (Fr) P EDIGREE INSIGHTS Invincible Spirit, a Group 1-winning sprinter out of a Classic-winning mare, has constantly been attracting BY ANDREW CAULFIELD attention to himself with his first runners. The son of Green Desert notched his 15th individual winner three PRIX JEAN PRAT-G1, i400,000, Chantilly, 7-9, 3yo, days ago, in the shape of the Listed-placed Conquest, c/f, 1mT, 1:37.80, gd/sf. having recorded his first stakes victory the previous day 1--sSTORMY RIVER (FR), 128, c, 3, by Verglas (Ire) with Bahama Mama. 1st Dam: Miss Bio (Fr), by River Mist Another stallion making breeders sit up and notice is 2nd Dam: River Sans Retour (Fr), by Vacarme Verglas, who has an excellent three-year-old son in 3rd Dam: Riverstar (Fr), by Riverside (GB) Stormy River, winner of Sunday’s G1 Prix Jean Prat. (40,241gns yrl ‘04 DEAOCT). O-Ecurie Mister Ess Interestingly, Verglas shares with Indian Ridge the fact AS; B-Jean Collet & Mlle Marie-Laure Collet; that he moved to the Irish National Stud after achieving T-Nicolas Clement; J-Thierry Thulliez; i228,560. excellent results from modest opportunities early in his Lifetime Record: G1SP-GB, 8 starts, 4 wins, 4 places, career. i488,635. American racegoers may vaguely remember Verglas from the time he spent in California in 1997 and 1998. Click for the racingpost.co.uk chart or the free He arrived in the U.S. with some solid achievements brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. under his belt, including a clear-cut victory in the G3 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot, a third in the G1 Phoenix Any stallion operation must become anxious when S. and a three-length second to Desert King in the G1 the stud’s established star starts to get a bit long in the Irish 2000 Guineas. He clearly had the potential to do tooth. This is the situation at the Irish National Stud, very well in California and his debut victory in a Santa where 21-year-old Indian Ridge--the sire of two Anita allowance at the end of 1997 appeared to Breeders’ Cup Mile winners--has just completed another confirm this. Not for the first time, though, Verglas season as one of the highest-priced stallions in Ireland. promised only to disappoint and he failed to win again, Fortunately, the anxiety levels are currently being his best effort being his narrow second to Storm lowered, with some of the stud’s younger stallions Trooper in the San Marino H. over a mile and a quarter. showing signs that they may one day be good enough to step into Indian Ridge’s shoes. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com A place was found for Verglas as a stallion at the Riverman was a top-class example of the virtues of Haras du Logis St Germain, starting as a six-year-old in the Nasrullah-Princequillo cross, his sire being 2000 at a fee of only 12,000 francs. A large part of his Nasrullah’s son Never Bend and his dam being River appeal to French breeders stemmed from his being a Lady, a granddaughter of Princequillo. Perhaps member of the Grey Sovereign male line which had encouraged by the 2001 French Derby success of enjoyed so much success in France. A major contributor Anabaa Blue, a colt inbred 4x2 to Riverman, the owners to that success had been Verglas’s sire Highest Honor, of Stormy River’s dam Miss Bio selected Verglas as her who has often been the leading French-based stallion. mate in 2002. This mating produced 4x4 inbreeding to Indeed, Highest Honor had resisted the challenge of the Riverman (plus 4x5x5 to Northern Dancer and 5x5 to foreign stallions to take the title of champion sire in Sir Gaylord). Considerable importance has to be 1995, and he repeated the feat in 2000. attributed to the inbreeding in Stormy River’s pedigree, Highest Honor has a fascinating pedigree, as he is the as this colt has achieved a lot more than could product of two animals--Kenmare and High River--which reasonably have been expected of a colt by Verglas out are inbred to the exceptional Nasrullah, a five-time of a River Mist mare. champion sire in North America. Kenmare was inbred River Mist--a grandson of Riverman--enjoyed a very 4x4 to Nasrullah through his top sons Grey Sovereign brief moment of glory in 1985, when he crossed the and Nearula, and the fourth generation of Kenmare’s line first in the French 2000 Guineas, only to be pedigree also contains Rivaz, a fast sister to Nasrullah. demoted to fourth. His subsequent form confirmed that Highest Honor’s dam High River was inbred 3x3 to he was very talented, rather than top class, and he has Nasrullah, via his top American performers Never Bend sired only a couple of Listed winners on the flat. River and Bug Brush. Mist’s best recent winner has been the French hurdler For good measure, the fourth generation of High River Charm. River’s pedigree contained Royal Charger, a three-parts I don’t want to give the impression that Stormy River’s brother to Nasrullah. No wonder Highest Honor pedigree is moderate, as his third dam Riverstar was a inherited some of Nasrullah’s prowess as a sire. half-sister to the excellent Riverqueen, winner of the Naturally breeders were tempted to add more French 1000 Guineas, Prix Saint-Alary and Grand Prix Nasrullah blood to the mix when they used Highest de Saint-Cloud. This family has produced a host of good Honor; Verglas is out of Rahaam, a mare with two lines winners, and Stormy River’s dam Miss Bio is a half- of Nasrullah (in a pedigree which also features 4x4x4 sister to Fantastic Filly, a dual Group 3 winner in the U.S. inbreeding to Native Dancer and 5x5 to Princequillo). Stormy River’s achievements should help educate owners and breeders in Ireland and Britain about STORMY RIVER (FR), c, 2003 Verglas’s potential. He didn’t have numbers on his side Kalamoun (GB) early in his career, with none of his first three crops Kenmare (Fr) Belle of Ireland (GB) numbering as many as 40 foals. However, each of Highest Honor (Fr) Riverman these three crops has produced a group/graded winner. High River (Fr) Hairbrush His first crop contained Blackdoun, a dual Grade II Verglas (Ire) Northern Dancer winner in California out of a Grey Sovereign line mare, Secreto Betty’s Secret and his second features Ozone Bere, a five-time Listed Rahaam Mr. Prospector winner in France who progressed to win this year’s GIII Fager’s Glory Street’s Glory Gallorette H. Riverman After some early first-crop juvenile winners in 2003 Irish River (Fr) Irish Star (Fr) helped draw attention to Verglas, he received much River Mist Viceregal more support that year, resulting in a 2004 crop of 70. Principle Miss Bio (Fr) Queen’s Law By the end of 2003 he was established as the leading Unraced Lyphard French-based first-crop sire, which resulted in plenty of 3Fls, 1GSW River Sans Retour Vacarme (Fr) Virunga (Fr) support in 2004 (there are 25 Verglas yearlings in the Wnr Riverstar (Fr) Sir Ivor upcoming Deauville Sales). He then moved to Ireland in 13Fls, 1GSW 6Fls, 3Wnrs Riverside (GB) time for the 2005 season and his high proportion of stakes performers resulted in a book of around 140 mares. The pedigree of Verglas shows six lines of Nasrullah In other words, it’s fair to assume that the best is yet in the first six generations, with Nasrullah’s sister Rivaz to come from Verglas, who is a half-brother to Indian and three-parts brother Royal Charger also present. Ridge’s very fast daughter Cassandra Go. His fourth These multiple lines are balanced by several lines of dam is the Kentucky Oaks winner Native Street, this Prince Rose, mainly through his son Princequillo, whose also being the family of the champion sprinter name was inextricably linked with that of Nasrullah in Stravinsky, so he is bred well enough for anything. the Claiborne success story. The fifth generation of Verglas’s pedigree features two lines of Princequillo’s son Prince John and two lines of Princequillo’s daughter Somethingroyal. .