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There is no doubt about who is the early sensation amongst European freshman sires. One Cool Cat has already sired 10 individual winners, but more importantly, has three individual black type winners. His daughter Knavesmire captured the Hilary Needler Trophy at Redcar. Then the colt Icesolator captured the National Stakes at Sandown Park. Finally, at the weekend, the Premio Alberto Giubilo, in Rome, was captured by another colt, Diglett.

What is particularly interesting is that the pedigrees of Knavesmire and Icesolator (who are both rated A++ by TrueNicks) are remarkably similar. Knavesmire's dam, Caribbean Escape, is by Pivotal, a grandson of Nureyev, out of a mare by Junius (by Raja Baba).

Icesolator is out of Zinnia, a daughter of Zilzal (by Nureyev) out Ibtihaj, a Raja Baba half-sister to Danzig.

We can note that this means both mares are a product of a Northern Dancer/Bold Ruler cross, as is One Cool Cat's sire, Storm Cat. Diglett, One Cool Cat's third stakes winner, is out of a mare by Cadeaux Genereux. This gives something of an outcross pedigree - the only two stakes winners on the cross are Diglett and his three-parts-brother Black Mazambo, a son of Statue of Liberty, who won last year's Premio Alberto Giubilo - but Diglett's third dam is by The Minstrel, a close genetic relative to Storm Bird, the grandsire of One Cool Cat.

Perhaps one shouldn't be terribly surprised at this level of early success for the sire. One Cool Cat himself won three group races at 2, including the National and Phoenix Stakes (both gr. I), and was rated champion 3-year-old sprinter in Europe the following year.

Filed under: Sire Lines, Recent Winners