P EDIGREE INSIGHTS North Light Is One of Seven Group/Graded Winners for by ANDREW CAULFIELD Danehill in Britain, France Or the U.S
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Andrew Caulfield, June 8, 2004–North Light (Ire) Danehill’s Legacy... P EDIGREE INSIGHTS North Light is one of seven Group/Graded winners for BY ANDREW CAULFIELD Danehill in Britain, France or the U.S. this year and the Saturday, Epsom, Britain colt’s exploits raise the possibility of Danehill finally VODAFONE DERBY S.-G1, £1,386,410, Epsom, 6-5, ending Sadler’s Wells’ incredibly long reign as champion 3yo, c/f, 12f 10ydsT, 2:33.72, gd. sire in Britain and Ireland. If Danehill does, his 1--NORTH LIGHT (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Danehill championship will validate his status as one of the most 1st Dam: Sought Out (Ire) (Hwt. Older Mare-Ger remarkable stallions of recent times. After all, he has & Fr, 14f&up, Hwt. Older Horse-Fr, 14f & up, already been champion sire on two occasions in France, G1SW-Fr, GSW-Ger, $356,115) by Rainbow Quest as well as heading the Australian table numerous times, 2nd Dam: Edinburgh (GB), by Charlottown (GB) and it was by less than £10,000 that Danehill failed to 3rd Dam: Queen’s Castle (GB), by Sovereign Path (GB) beat his stud companion to the championship in 1997, O/B-Ballymacoll Stud Farm Ltd; T-Sir Michael Stoute; when his son Desert King took the Irish 2000 Guineas J-Kieren Fallon; £804,118. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0, and Irish Derby. £893,118. Danehill, like Danzig before him, inherited Northern Click for the racingpost.co.uk chart. Click for the free Dancer’s rare ability to sire major winners over a wide brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. range of distances, ranging from the spectacular sprinter Mozart to France’s top long-distance horse Westerner. In the context of last weekend’s highly poignant 60th North Light is his sire’s fourth major mile-and-a-half anniversary of D-Day, horse-racing is, as my old boss winner in Europe, following Desert King, Aquarelliste Phil Bill once said, “only a piddling little pond.” But it and Tiger Hill (sire of four stakes-winning was our piddling little pond’s own D-Day--Derby Day--on three-year-olds in his very pleasing first crop). As a Saturday and the Epsom classic provided further D-Day sprinter/miler, Danehill required help from his mares if he celebration when Danzig’s grandson North Light was to get a mile-and-a-half horse in Europe. triumphed in style, just a day after Danzig’s great-grand- Interestingly, North Light is out of a stamina-packed daughter Ouija Board had run away with the Oaks. grand-daughter of Blushing Groom, whereas Antonius This classic double is a reminder of the exceptional Pius, who was so unlucky not to win this year’s French contribution that the Claiborne veteran has made to 2000 Guineas, is by Danzig out of a Group 1 mile- European racing. Although Danzig (still impregnating and-a-half winner by a grandson of Blushing Groom. mares at the advanced age of 27) hasn’t been directly The signs are that Ouija Board’s highly promising sire responsible for a winner of the Derby, his male line has Cape Cross is also going to be blessed with this ability now provided three winners in the space of 11 years. to sire a wide variety of quality winners, even though he North Light’s predecessors were Erhaab, the 1994 was a specialist miler with the pedigree of a winner by Danzig’s son Chief’s Crown, and Sinndar, the sprinter/miler. Cape Cross, who had two representatives 2000 hero, who is by Chief’s Crown’s son Grand in the Derby in addition to Ouija Board in the Oaks, has Lodge. no less than eight stakes winners among his 99 North Light, of course, is by the much-missed first-crop foals. Among the others are the speedsters Danehill, who was also responsible for the Oaks third Millbag, Nights Cross, Mokabra and Madid, as well as Punctilious (as well as for Saturday’s Grade II winner Hazyview, a dual Listed winner over a mile and a Intercontinental and for Intercontinental’s brother quarter, and Privy Seal, third in the Derby Italiano over a Cacique, who underlined his potential with his second in mile and a half. (Con’t following page) the G1 Prix Jean Prat). www.coolmore.com Sought Out, who gained her four Group victories over distances between 1 7/8 miles and two and a half miles, is a member of the comparatively small broodmare band developed by the Weinstock family’s Ballymacoll Stud. This extremely successful venture has done so well with Rainbow Quest that he has been chosen as the first mate for Islington, the stud’s 2003 Breeders’ Cup winner Islington. Spectrum (Irish 2000 Guineas and Dubai Champion S.), Sought Out (G1 Prix du Cadran) and Multicoloured (G2 Geoffrey Freer S.) were all sired by Rainbow Quest from Ballymacoll mares and Spectrum in turn provided Ballymacoll with Golan, the 2001 Guineas winner and Derby second, who won the 2002 King George; and Gamut, runner-up in the 2003 Irish St Leger. It is no coincidence that Sought Out, Multicoloured, Gamut and Golan are all members of the same family, which traces to Country House, the fifth dam of Islington. North Light’s second dam, the Group-winning Edinburgh, is the dam of Sought Out, the second dam of Multicoloured and Gamut, and the third dam of Golan. Edinburgh’s half sister City Fortress is known in the U.S. as the dam of the dual Eddie Read H. winner Fastness and she also produced the top Hong Kong performer Oriental Express. The latter, who was demoted from a Group 2 win in France, while racing under the name of Desert Boy in Europe, provided another example of the stamina rife in this family. He stayed a mile and a half well even though he was by Danzig’s fast son Green Desert, who has an average winning distance of 7.7 furlongs, compared to Danehill’s 8.9. North Light would almost certainly stay the extra 2.6 furlongs of Britain’s final classic, the St Leger, but victory in this race almost carries a stigma these days. A more relevant question is whether he can reproduce his Derby form when he is eventually dropped back to a mile and a quarter--a distance much more in favor with breeders. As Danehill’s other European mile-and-a-half Group 1 winners were all Group 1 winners over shorter distances, I’m sure North Light will also cope well..