Andrew Caulfield, October 19, 2004–Giant’s Causeway P EDIGREE INSIGHTS However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing in the sales ring. I mentioned in my first-crop sire review earlier in BY ANDREW CAULFIELD the year that “the universal admiration [Giant’s Causeway] generated on the track didn’t extend to all DARLEY DEWHURST S.-G1, £263,400, Newmarket, of his first yearlings, with some judges complaining that 10-16, 2yo, c/f, 7fT, 1:27.16, sf. he hadn’t stamped his stock.” 1--sSHAMARDAL, 126, c, 2, by Giant’s Causeway Among the yearlings that struggled were a colt out of 1st Dam: Helsinki (GB) (SP-Fr), by Machiavellian Helsinski, whose price of 50,000gns made him the 2nd Dam: Helen Street (GB), by Troy (GB) cheapest Giant’s Causeway to find a buyer at the Houghton Sale, and a filly out of Vallee des Reves, who 3rd Dam: Waterway (Fr), by Riverman was bought in for 25,000gns at ’ December (50,000gns yrl ‘03 TATHOU). O-Gainsborough Stud; Sale. The colt is now known as , who kept B-Brilliant Stable; T-Mark Johnston; J-Kevin Darley; his unbeaten record intact in Saturday’s G1 Dewhurst £152,772. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, £198,819. S., not long after the G2 Rockfel S. had fallen to Maids Click for the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Causeway, the filly who couldn’t find a buyer at 25,000gns. OWEN BROWN ROCKFEL S.-G2, £70,000, Newmarket, Both are out of mares by sons of Mr. Prospector and 10-16, 2yo, f, 7fT, 1:28.93, sf. both have interesting backgrounds. Another with an 1-- (IRE), 124, f, 2, by Giant’s Causeway intriguing pedigree is , who 1st Dam: Vallee des Reves, by completed his sire’s weekend treble with an impressive 2nd Dam: Venise, by maiden-race victory over Olympic, the Danzig colt who 3rd Dam: Virunga (Fr), by (Ire) was last year’s highest-priced yearling colt. O-Martin S Schwartz; B-The Vallee des Reves There had been very high hopes when the Helsinki Syndicate; T-; J-; £40,600. colt was consigned to the Keeneland Sale as a Lifetime Record: G1SP-GB, 7-3-3-1, £129,225. weanling, but the Eaton Sales offering was led out Click for the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. unsold at $475,000. Even though he didn’t sell, it was With his spectacular weekend treble boosting his hard to understand how he lead over Dubai Millennium to more than £200,000, came to be sold for the Giant’s Causeway now looks guaranteed to take the equivalent of $87,680 as a title of leading freshman sire in Britain and Ireland in yearling. Michael Goodbody what has been a high-quality competition. supplied the explanation on Of course, a great deal was expected of Giant’s Saturday when he revealed that Causeway, especially after his daughter My Typhoon Shamardal had been the Giant’s Causeway subject of an insurance claim had set record figures for a weanling filly at www.coolmore.com Tattersalls’ 2002 December Sale and another after he’d been diagnosed as a daughter, Mona Lisa, had topped the European wobbler. However, the colt made a miraculous recovery and it was apparently the insurance company which yearling sales in 2003. sold him as a yearling. We will no doubt be hearing a lot more of these Shamardal is now a clear favorite for the 2000 fillies, as My Typhoon was impressive on her debut at Guineas, but the bookmakers seem less sure about his Saratoga and Mona Lisa, in my opinion, was unlucky Derby prospects. These reservations no doubt stem not to go close to winning last month’s G1 Meon from the fact that his grandsires are and Valley Stud Fillies’ Mile--she was stopped in her tracks Machiavellian, but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility at a crucial stage before rallying for fourth place. that he could last a mile and a half. Cont.

www.coolmore.com His second dam, Helen Street, was an Irish Oaks winner by the Derby-winning Troy--a very powerful influence for stamina--and his dam Helsinki is a sister to Street Cry, who was so impressive in winning the Dubai World Cup over a mile and a quarter. Remember, too, that Giant’s Causeway won over an extended mile and a quarter in the Juddmonte International. Incidentally, Helsinki is to be sold at Keeneland on Nov. 10, in foal to , and she will be accompanied by her Unbridled’s Song filly. Moving on to Maids Causeway, she has an interesting pedigree in that her dam Vallee des Reves is inbred 3x2 to Nureyev, through his daughters and Venise. This Kingmambo mare never raced and must have retired early, as she was already in foal to Danehill when she was sold for 320,000gns as a three-year-old. As her price indicates, this is an excellent family and Maids Causeway follows the likes of Vallee Enchantee, Volga and Vespone as the sixth group winner produced by daughters of Venise. Vallee Enchantee has the distinction of being inbred 2x3 to Nureyev, as is her group-placed brother Vassilievsky. The German Oaks winner Silvester Lady is another inbred to this exceptional stallion, this time 3x3, and I suspect we will be seeing more examples of this type of inbreeding over the next few years. After all, why not try to reinforce the influence of a stallion who sired 17 percent stakes winners? Moving on to Footstepsinthesand, he could hardly have been more impressive in winning a 20-runner maiden race easing up. While it could be dangerous to read too much into a win in a Naas maiden, this colt showed an encouraging amount of speed to lead all the way over six furlongs. Footstepsinthesand’s dam, the group-winning Glatisant, is bred to the same --Green Dancer cross as the Derby winner , so here is another colt who should eventually stay a mile and a quarter. Bearing in mind that Storm Cat’s matings with granddaughters of have produced not just Giant’s Causeway, but also the multiple Group 1 winner , breeders were bound to try Giant’s Causeway with mares with more Blushing Groom blood. Anthony Oppenheimer, of the Hascombe and Valiant Studs, took this one step further by sending a Rainbow Quest mare to Giant’s Causeway. , the broodmare sire of Giant’s Causeway, is by Blushing Groom and has a Herbager mare as his second dam. He is therefore bred along similar lines to Rainbow Quest, who was sired by Blushing Groom from another Herbager mare. This means that Footstepsinthesand is inbred 4x3 to Blushing Groom and 6x4 to Herbager. While the two lines of Herbager are fairly distant, I always find it interesting when he appears more than once in a pedigree. This is because his dam Flagette was incestuously bred--both parents are by St Leger winner . has two lines of Herbager; his Group 1-winning son has three.