Pedigree Insights
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Andrew Caulfield, April 25, 2006–Nasheej P EDIGREE INSIGHTS Even though Swain veered right across the Churchill Downs track to finish near the stands’ rails, he was still BY ANDREW CAULFIELD good enough to account for such as Victory Gallop, Coronado’s Quest, Skip Away, Touch Gold, Arch and DUBAI DUTY FREE S. (REGISTERED AS THE FRED Gentlemen on his first appearance on an American dirt DARLING S.)-G3, £50,000, Newbury, 4-22, 3yo, f, 7fT, track. His connections had been persuaded to opt for 1:24.61, gd. the Classic rather than the Turf by Swain’s tremendous 1--NASHEEJ, 126, f, 3, by Swain (Ire) display earlier in the year in the Dubai World Cup, when 1st Dam: El Nafis, by Kingmambo he had failed by only a short head to defeat Silver 2nd Dam: Ghashtah, by Nijinsky II Charm. 3rd Dam: My Charmer, by Poker It was these excellent efforts which no doubt ($44,000 yrl ‘04 KEEJAN). O-Malih L al Basti; B-Doug persuaded the Maktoum brothers to stand Swain in Henderson; T-Richard Hannon; J-Ryan Moore; Kentucky, rather than in Europe, where he had taken £28,390. Lifetime Record: G1SP-GB, 6-4-0-2, consecutive editions of the G1 King George VI and £121,051. Queen Elizabeth Diamond S. Also, Swain would have come into direct competition Click for the racingpost.co.uk chart or with his magnificent sire, Nashwan, had he been based in Britain. I suppose that Swain could have returned to the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. Britain after Nashwan’s premature death in 2002, but by then he would have come into competition with According to the Jockey Club, Swain’s 2005 book at another of Godolphin’s top international performers, Shadwell Farm amounted to only 12 mares (with six of Fantastic Light, whose second dam, Kamar, is a sister those mares coming from the Shadwell broodmare to Swain’s dam, the Grade I-winning Love Smitten. band). This sad statistic suggests that American The problem which a horse like Swain faces in breeders have almost totally fallen out of love with this today’s American industry is that many breeders very good horse, considered by many to have been wouldn’t consider him to be either fast enough or unlucky not to defeat Awesome Again and Silver precocious enough. Charm in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Caulfield cont. www.coolmore.com Unraced at two, he made his first three starts over As Kingmambo is a son of Mr. Prospector, a leading 1 3/4 miles, winning all three of them including the G3 sire of broodmares, there was always every chance that Prix du Lys. It wasn’t until he was six, when he won this horse, who combined Classic performance with a the G1 Irish Champion S., that he finally recorded his classic pedigree, would also quickly make his mark in first success at a distance short of 1 1/2 miles. this area. With this history of middle-distance excellence, it is Kingmambo’s daughters were represented by their easy to overlook the fact that all four of Swain’s first Group 1 winners in 2005, when Maids Causeway grandparents were stakes-winning two-year-olds. One won the Coronation S. and Suzuka Mambo landed the of them, Blushing Groom, was a fast-maturing colt who spring edition of the Tenno Sho. Woodlander and could almost be described as the ultimate in two-year- Manbala were other 2005 group winners out of old dynamism. daughters of Kingmambo, and there will surely be Under the circumstances, it isn’t so surprising that plenty more to come this year. Swain has now sired three individuals which have won important Guineas trials, on each occasion receiving NASHEEJ, f, 2003 help from some fast or precocious bloodlines in his Red God Blushing Groom (Fr) mates. Dimitrova--later to become a Grade I winner in Runaway Bride (GB) Nashwan the U.S.--won the Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial in Bustino Height of Fashion (Fr) 2003, the same year that Muqbil won the G3 Highclere (GB) Swain (Ire) Greenham S., and now he has come up with Nasheej. Graustark Key to the Mint This very talented filly was winning for the fourth time Key Bridge Love Smitten in six starts, and the third time at group level, when she Quadrangle Square Angel gamely held on to win the G3 Dubai Duty Free S. Nangela Nasheej’s dam El Nafis was sold by Shadwell at Raise a Native Mr. Prospector Keeneland’s 2002 November Sale, while in foal to Gold Digger Kingmambo Swain. Her price was only $36,000 and she was Nureyev Miesque transferred to Florida, where she visited Straight Man in El Nafis Pasadoble Wnr 2003 and Delaware Township in 2004. She was back Northern Dancer 3 Fls, 1 GSW Nijinsky II in the sales ring early in 2005, this time making Ghashtah Flaming Page $42,000. Unr 9 Fls, 4 Wnr My Charmer 12Fls, Poker Exactly why El Nafis has sold for such comparatively 1Ch, 3GSW, 1SW Fair Charmer low prices is hard to know. The blame certainly doesn’t lie with her bloodlines, as she has some very high- powered bloodlines. She is a daughter of Kingmambo, one of the highest-priced stallions in the U.S., and she’s out of Ghashtah, a Nijinsky mare bought by Shadwell for a whopping $2,300,000 as a weanling. Combining Kingmambo with mares with Nijinsky blood has produced several major dividends, such as the outstanding British filly Russian Rhythm (out of a Nijinsky mare), the St Leger winner Rule of Law (out of a mare by Nijinsky’s son Royal Academy) and the Japan Cup hero Alkaased (out of a mare by Niniski, another son of Nijinsky). El Nafis wasn’t in the same league as these Group 1 winners, but she did win over a mile at two. That’s not the end of El Nafis’s glamorous connections. Ghashtah was a sister to Seattle Dancer, the colt who still holds the record price for a yearling, at $13,100,000. Seattle Dancer was a very good racehorse--twice a winner at the Group 2 level--without being nearly as good as his Classic-winning half- brothers Seattle Slew and Lomond. Mention of Seattle Slew is a reminder that he, too, has played a significant role in Kingmambo’s rise to the top. It was Seattle Slew who sired the dam of Lemon Drop Kid and the second dams of two other very good colts in the outstanding Japanese colt El Condor Pasa and the Group 1-winning Dubai Destination. In other words, El Nafis’ bloodlines had the potential to produce something out of the ordinary. .