Andrew Caulfield, May 20, 2003 – (GB)

P EDIGREE INSIGHTS The foals from these two £15,000 crops are now racing with distinction. Fifty-one foals resulted from In BY ANDREW CAULFIELD The Wings’ 1998 coverings and among them were the Group winners Act One, (successful in the G2 PRIX SAINT-ALARY-G1, i150,000, Longchamp, 5-18, Yorkshire Cup last week), Mellow Park, Savannah Bay 3yo, f, 1 1/4mT, 2:06.30, gd/sf. and Trumbaka. Act One is now covering a full book at 1--#@sFIDELITE (IRE), 126, f, 3, by In the Wings (GB) Shadwell at a fee of £10,000, having won five of his 1st Dam: Onereuse (GB), by Sanglamore six starts before injury ended his career. 2nd Dam: J’ai Deux Amours (Fr), (Ire) In The Wings’ 10-percent Group winners in a single 3rd Dam: Pollenka (Fr), by (Fr) crop is a figure even Sadler’s Wells would be proud of. O/B-Wertheimer & Frere; T-Criquette Head-Maarek; And, while he still has some way to go before he J-; i85,710. Lifetime Record: 5 starts, matches those figures with his current crop of three- 2 wins, 2 places, i112,610. year-olds, which numbers 63, he is halfway there, Click for the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. thanks to the Group successes of New South Wales, Ask an American breeder to name the most Soldier Hollow and the French filly Fidélité accomplished stallion son of Sadler’s Wells and the Fidélité’s impressive win in the G1 Prix Saint-Alary, answer is likely to be El Prado. As this Adena Springs the main trial for the French Oaks, made her the 26th resident has established that he can upgrade his mares, Group or Graded winner from the 388 foals in his first he may well merit that accolade one day, especially nine crops. These 26 Group winners represent 6.7 now that his mares are getting better and better. But, as percent of In The Wings’ output; very few European a European, my vote would have to go to Irish-based In stallions achieve that sort of strike rate. Factor in his The Wings. modest fee in three of those nine years and his Like El Prado, In The Wings nowadays commands a achievements become even more praiseworthy. The fairly substantial fee (although his price of i40,000 three IR£8,000 crops, numbering 120 foals, produced equates to little more than half of El Prado’s $75,000). two Group 1 winners, four Group 2 scorers and a Group However, he wasn’t always so popular. Having started 3 winner, for nearly 6 percent Group winners. his stallion career at a fee of IR£20,000 in 1991, at a Bearing in mind that In The Wings’ last season on the time when sales prices were about to plummet, his fee track saw him record Group 1 victories over a mile and had been reduced to IR£12,000 before he had even had a half in England (), France (Grand Prix a runner. By 1995, after his first two-year-olds had de Saint-Cloud) and the U.S. (Breeders' Cup Turf, in raced, his fee had fallen to IR£8,000 and it stayed at which he came through from 10th-of-11 position), he that level in 1996 and 1997, even though his very good was--on the surface--very well qualified for stallion first-crop son Winged Love had won the in success. However, mile-and-a-half specialists aren’t 1995, after finishing third in the French equivalent. tremendously popular with breeders nowadays. The fact that In The Wings’ current fee is roughly In The Wings had a few other obstacles to overcome three times as high tells its own story--that he has in the quest for support from commercial breeders. I consistently shown himself to be one of Europe’s most once described him as a very small colt capable of a reliable sources of Group winners. very big finish (an asset he has passed on to Fidélité) The breakthrough really started when , and his size--he stands just over 15.1 hands--must have another member of his first crop, developed into a major been a concern to anyone breeding for the sales ring. international player, recording victories in England, Give him a reasonable-sized mare, though, and this isn’t Canada, Japan and Dubai, to help boost In The Wings’ usually a problem. fee to IR£15,000 in 1998 and 1999.

www.coolmore.com Pedigree Insights cont. In The Wings must also have suffered from missing the chance to contest the major end-of-season juvenile events and the Classics. A knee problem cropped up after he had won his first two starts as a juvenile, including a seven-furlong Listed race, and he didn’t race for 13 months. It is a measure of his reputation that he started favorite for the 1989 Arc just two weeks after his winning return in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange. Fidélité is the seventh Group 1 winner by In The Wings and she links neatly with the first, Winged Love, who was produced by Fidélité’s second dam, J’ai Deux Amours. This daughter of Top Ville won the Listed Prix de Lieurey over a mile and dead-heated for third in a very tight finish to the G2 Prix de l’Opera, in the process earning an International Classification figure of 112. Fidélité’s third dam, Pollenka, was another very talented performer, as witnessed by her Timeform rating of 122 at three, and this female line traces back to the tremendously influential Plucky Liege (dam of Sir Gallahad, Bull Dog, Admiral Drake and Bois Roussel). However, Fidélité’s dam Onereuse failed to win. The blame for that failure could possibly be laid at the door of Onereuse’s disappointing sire, French Derby winner Sanglamore. He was probably chosen as a mate for J’ai Deux Amours partly because her sister Children’s Corner had produced Kindergarten, a Group 1-placed Group 3 winner, to Trempolino, another son of Sharpen Up. Fidélité is also the third Group winner that In The Wings has sired from mares by sons of Sharpen Up, following the Italian Oaks winner Zanzibar, who is out of a Diesis mare, and the Group 3 winner Apprehension, whose dam is by Kris. While on the topic of In The Wings, it’s worth pointing out that his son Singspiel last week added three more stakes winners to his tally, including Sweet Folly (G3 Prix Cleopatre). Was it just coincidence that Sweet Folly too is out of a granddaughter of Sharpen Up?

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