For many, the satisfaction of breeding racehorses comes with the cultivation of bloodlines, in some cases aligned with the identification of successful crosses, what works and what might not work.
It won’t have passed many breeders by that Frankel is developing quite an affinity with Dubawi. Some successful ‘nicks’ arise out of circumstance, whereby two lines associated with a certain stud will form a productive partnership; for that, look no further than the burgeoning record between Kingman and Frankel, both residents of Banstead Manor Stud, or during an earlier era in that of Firebreak and Mind Games, two Bearstone Stud stallions who combined to produce stakes winners Hearts Of Fire and Electric Feel. In other cases, opportunity naturally has its role to play. It stands to reason that as two premier sires of the current era that the paths of Frankel and Dubawi will cross more often than most. And in turn, those Dubawi mares are likely to be high-performing and/or well-connected, thereby giving the outcome a greater chance of success.
Even so, there is no doubt that Frankel and Dubawi as influences complement each other extremely well as a record of five stakes scorers amid 20 winners out of 33 named foals illustrates.
There is no doubt that Frankel and Dubawi as influences complement each other extremely well
Adayar, last year’s Derby and King George hero, sits at the top of the list, a fine advertisement for the success that Godolphin have enjoyed by employing the Frankel – Dubawi strategy. The operation also bred Meydan Group 1 winner Dream Castle, a son of Dubawi’s first stakes winner Sand Vixen. The mare was also a catalyst in launching Dubawi’s record as a broodmare sire, a department in which he was a slow-burner, and has since repeated the trick as dam of Pretty Polly Stakes winner With The Moonlight, currently a 9/1 shot for the Oaks.
Not only that, Godolphin are the breeders of the promising colt Natural World, a recent third in the Lingfield Derby Trial.
Godolphin’s Adayar and Adam Kirby power home in the Cazoo Derby at Epsom | Photo: Bill Selwyn
Shadwell have also reaped rewards in the case of Mostahdaf, a son of its excellent producer Handassa who looked a Group 1 performer in the making when the easy winner of last month’s Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown.
The star of the current season, however, might very well turn out to be Homeless Songs, a filly in possession of a devastating turn of foot who ran out the brilliant winner of Sunday’s Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh. The 21st Group or Grade 1 winner for Frankel and his fifth winner of a British or Irish Classic, the filly represents decades of cultivation by the Haefner family’s Moyglare Stud Farm. Indeed, she is the fifth generation of her family to have been handled by Dermot Weld at his Rosewell House Stables.
Her fifth dam, Aptostar, joined the stud’s fold when purchased for $750,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 1989. By Fappiano and out of a Graustark mare, Aptostar was a tough, sound filly who headed to the sales as winner of six of her 20 starts for Centennial Farms and trainer Allen Jerkens. She had been kept busy as a two-year-old, finally breaking her maiden on the sixth and final start of her campaign. However, she flourished thereafter, ultimately landing the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park. While that was her only Grade 1 victory, she continued to acquit herself well, notably when placed in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes, Coaching Club American Oaks, Top Flight Handicap, Maskette Stakes and Ballerina Stakes.
Irresistible Jewel’s family came close to Irish 1,000 Guineas success when her daughter Mad About You ran a close second in 2008
Sent to Ireland, Aptostar wasn’t an immediate success at stud. Afforded opportunities with some of Europe’s best stallions of the era, among them Sadler’s Wells, Generous and Caerleon, she left behind seven winners, none of whom showed anything near her ability. However, two of her daughters became black-type producers led by her first foal, the dual-winning Sadler’s Wells filly In Anticipation, the dam of Moyglare’s Ribblesdale Stakes winner Irresistible Jewel (by Danehill) and Listed scorer Diamond Trim (by Highest Honor).
Dermot Weld: has trained the majority of Homeless Songs’ family. Photo – Tattersalls
Irresistible Jewel’s family came close to Irish 1,000 Guineas success when her daughter Mad About You (by Indian Ridge) ran a close second to Halfway To Heaven in the 2008 edition of the Classic. While she subsequently landed big black-type when successful in the Gladness Stakes the following year, this branch of the family was to hit a real purple patch in 2012 when Irresistible Jewel’s daughter Princess Highway (by Street Cry) emulated her dam by taking the Ribblesdale Stakes for Dermot Weld just weeks before another out of the mare, Royal Diamond (by King’s Best), won the Irish St Leger for Johnny Murtagh.
Diamond Trim, winner of the 2001 Finale Stakes at the Curragh for Weld, was also quick to contribute to Moyglare’s success by foaling Profound Beauty (by Danehill), a multiple Group 3 winner who ran Sans Frontieres close in the 2010 Irish St Leger, in her first year at stud.
Diamond Trim’s 2006 filly by Linamix, Majestic Silver, never ran but she has more than made up for it at stud as the dam of Carla Bianca (by Dansili), whose four stakes wins for Weld included the Group 3 Meld and Dance Design Stakes, 2015 Beresford Stakes runner-up True Solitaire (by Oasis Dream) and German Listed winner Joailliere; it is the latter who is the dam of Homeless Songs.
Joailliere looked high-class from the outset for Moyglare and Weld. She won her debut, a Gowran Park maiden, by seven lengths on debut in a performance that saw her go off at 10/1 for the Irish 1,000 Guineas on her next start. The filly never landed a blow behind Pleascach that day and wasn’t seen for another ten months, when third in the Group 3 Park Express Stakes. She was to win a 7f Listed race at Dortmund in Germany at the end of that year on her seventh and final start.
Joailliere had already made her mark at stud prior to Homeless Songs as the dam of Reve De Vol (by Siyouni), winner of last year’s Listed Orby Stakes. The mare also has a two-year-old colt by Sea The Stars named Time Tells All, a yearling colt by Frankel and was sent to St Mark’s Basilica this season.
Today, 17 stakes winners descend from Aptostar and as such, her line remains well represented with the Moyglare broodmare band. In addition to Joailliere, the older high-class racemares Carla Bianca, Princess Highway, Profound Beauty and Mad About You remain in the fold as do the younger Listed-placed pair A Ma Chere, a Kodiac daughter of Mad About You, and Rose De Pierre, by Dubawi and out of Profound Beauty. There is clearly plenty of scope for this family to grow further in lustre and enhance the already successful history behind Moyglare as it celebrates its 60th year in operation.
