Andrew Caulfield, May 26, 2009–MASTERCRAFTSMAN (IRE) I should add that the ground was soft when Danehill PEDIGREE INSIGHTS Dancer recorded his first Classic success, thanks to BY ANDREW CAULFIELD Speciosa in the 2006 1000 Guineas, and that his fast son Monsieur Bond was also very much at home on BOYLESPORTS.COM IRISH 2000 GUINEAS-G1, soft. i400,000, Curragh, 5-23, 3yo, c/f, 1mT, 1:48.16, hy. The danger with drawing up a list like this is that it 1--MASTERCRAFTSMAN (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Danehill Dancer (Ire) can convey the wrong impression. Just because a 1st Dam: Starlight Dreams, by Black Tie Affair (Ire) stallion=s progeny can cope with certain conditions does 2nd Dam: Reves Celestes, by Lyphard not necessarily mean that they need those conditions to 3rd Dam: Tobira Celeste, by *Ribot excel. The truth is that the Danehill Dancers can be O-Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier & Michael Tabor; very versatile, and we have seen Choisir record a B-Lynch Bages Ltd; T-Aidan O=Brien; J-J Murtagh; spectacular sprint double on fast ground at Royal i228,500. Lifetime Record: 7-5-0-0, i631,334. Ascot, while another Group 1-winning son, Where or *3/4 to Genuine Devotion (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar When, thrived on a sound surface. {Ire}), GSW-US, $275,725. Werk Nick Rating: A. An odd aspect of this fondness for very soft ground Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. shown by many of Danehill Dancer=s progeny is that Click for the Racing Post chart or the free brisnet.com Danehill Dancer himself was never asked to race on catalogue-style pedigree. Video, courtesy of attheraces. ground softer than dead. The same applied to his sire Danehill, whose stock have a reputation for being I hate to start an article with a cliche, but I can=t think suited by a sound surface. Danehill Dancer=s brother of a better way of describing Danehill Dancer=s progeny than to trot out the old line which states that, when the Colossus showed some very good form, but not on two going gets tough, the tough get going. occasions when he tackled soft ground. The going was certainly tough at The Curragh over So where does this tendency come from? It is always the weekend, when the ground was officially described worth remembering that Danehill Dancer provides only as heavy. Many horses find such extreme conditions 50 percent of the genes in his progeny, as did Danehill beyond their capacity, a good example evidently being in his own pedigree. Danehill Dancer=s dam Mira Danehill=s grandson Delegator, who failed to reproduce Adonde=s racing career was too brief to teach us the form of his 2000 Guineas second when second anything about her own preferences, but her second favorite for the Irish equivalent. dam was that exceptional racemare Lianga, winner of However, the last few years have taught us that very the Prix de l=Abbaye de Longchamp on soft ground and soft ground is not a problem for many members of the the Vernons Sprint Cup on heavy. Danehill Dancer clan, and the Coolmore stallion notched While Mastercraftsman has landed two of his three up three group successes during the two-day Curragh Group 1 victories on heavy ground, it=s important to meeting, headed by the Classic victories of remember that he owed his position as last year=s top- Mastercraftsman and Again. This made Danehill Dancer ranked two-year-old largely to his victory in the the first stallion since Spion Kop in 1931 to complete G1 Phoenix S. on good-to-firm going. That was the day this particular Classic double. At the same time, this he scooted home 4 1/2 lengths clear of a field that rare achievement completed Danehill Dancer=s included Art Connoisseur (an impressive winner from transformation from a cheap speed sire into a true the future Group 1 winner Intense Focus in the G2 Classic stallion worthy of his now substantial fee. Coventry S.) and Bushranger (future Group 1 winner of It is worth adding that Danehill Dancer=s 2006 crop the Prix Morny and Middle Park S.). also contains Tamazirte, runner-up in the French 1000 Mastercraftsman was an appropriate winner of the Guineas; Westphalia, a Group 2 winner who was Phoenix S., as his grandsire Danehill had been promoted to third in the French 2000 Guineas; Wajir, responsible for no fewer than four winners of this winner of the G2 Prix Hocquart; and Feels All Right, a Group 1 contest, including Danehill Dancer, who scored promising French colt. As these performers were sired in 1995. at a fee of i40,000, there are surely exciting times Mastercraftman s dam Starlight Dreams was bred and ahead for Danehill Dancer=s next few crops, as his = 2007 crop was sired at i75,000 and his 2008 and raced in the U.S., where she proved at her most 2009 crops at i115,000. effective in dirt races at around a mile. She was bred to The fact that Mastercraftsman and Again both stay reasonably well, as a daughter of Black Tie Affair, started favorite indicates that both these three-year- who gained two of his best victories over a mile and a olds were proven on very soft ground. Mastercraftsman quarter, most notably in the 1991 Breeders= Cup had won the G1 National S. on similarly heavy Classic. This son of Miswaki didn=t give American conditions, and Again=s previous group successes had breeders much cause for regret after his sale to Japan come on soft and heavy ground. Other Danehill Dancer in the summer of 1997 for a sum reported to be nearly group performers with winning form on heavy ground $7 million. His six seasons in America yielded only a include Alexander Tango, Anna Pavlova, Carribean handful of graded winners, led by the Grade I winners Sunset, Danehill Music, Deauville Vision, Decado, Formal Gold and Evening Attire. Indesatchel, Lizard Island, Pride of Nation, Savethisdanceforme and Snaefell. Caulfield cont. No doubt having a disappointing stallion as her sire MASTERCRAFTSMAN (IRE), c, 2006 didn=t help Starlight Dreams on the three occasions she Northern Dancer Danzig came on the market. Her best price--the $40,000 paid Pas de Nom Danehill by Kate Conroy--came at Keeneland=s 2001 November His Majesty Razyana Sale, while carrying her second foal, by Luhuk. Starlight Danehill Dancer Spring Adieu Dreams has visited stallions on the Coolmore roster (Ire) Atan Sharpen Up (GB) ever since, starting with a visit to King of Kings at Rocchetta (GB) Mira Adonde Ashford in 2002. But that was the year Danehill was Caro (Ire) Lettre d’Amour represented by two excellent performers out of Miswaki Lianga mares, with Landseer winning a pair of Group 1 mile Mr. Prospector Miswaki races and Danehurst taking Group sprints in Ireland, Hopespringseternal Blacktie Affair (Ire) France and Italy. I=m guessing it was this that Al Hattab HatTab Girl encouraged Starlight Dreams= owners to switch her to Starlight Dreams Desperate Action 16-2-3-5, $57,760 Ireland, where she visited Danehill=s son Rock of Northern Dancer 7Fls, 1Ch, 2GSW Reves Celestes Lyphard Gibraltar in 2003 and Danehill Dancer in 2005 and 8-3-2-0, $14,223 Goofed 2006. 9Fls, 1SW Tobira Celeste Ribot (GB) The move has proved inspired, as the Rock of 1SP 13Fls, 2GSW Heavenly Body Gibraltar mating resulted in that talented filly Genuine Devotion, winner of the GIII Locust Grove H. over a mile on turf in July 2008 and a $1 million purchase by Frank Lyon at last year=s Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Mastercraftsman is the first of her foals by Danehill Dancer, the second being the two-year-old filly Famous, who drew a bid of a million euros from Demi O=Byrne at Goffs last September. Another reason for switching Starlight Dreams to Ireland was that she comes from a family that has excelled in Europe. Mastercraftsman=s third dam Tobira Celeste produced the top-class Celestial Storm, runner- up in the St Leger, the King George and the Champion S., and Thawakib, winner of the Ribblesdale S. Thawakib went on to produce Sakhee, an impressive winner of the Arc shortly before Starlight Dreams was sold at Keeneland. Another of Tobira Celeste=s daughters, Le Vague A L=Ame, produced River Memories, a dual Grade I winner on turf in North America. Mastercraftsman=s second dam Reves Celeste now has three daughters with at least one group winner to her credit, the others being Rafif, dam of the much- travelled Group 1 winner Pressing, and Kezwa, who produced the Group 3 winner Mazuna. Mazuna shares with Mastercraftsman the fact that she is by a grandson of Danzig, but that didn=t stop her staying further than a mile and a half. Consequently, there is a chance that Mastercraftsman will also stay beyond a mile, but the ease of his Curragh victory suggests his immediate future lies in the top mile events, which confer so much prestige to a potential stallion..