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In the Burj Nahaar (gr. III), Cat Junior became the first stakes winner by Storm Cat, out of a mare by Sadler’s Wells (although there have only been a handful of starters on the cross). Funnily enough, Storm Cat’s son Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO) , has already sired three stakes winners on the cross. Mind, Cat Junior’s dam, Luna Wells is not just “a Sadler’s Wells mare.” She won three group races in France, including the Prix Saint-Alary (gr. I), and she is half-sister to the stellar sire, Linamix, and the group I winning Long Mick.
 
Storm Cat is also the great-grandsire of the All Bastakaya victor, Mendip, who scored by 6½ lengths, with the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) victor, Vale of York back in fifth. Mendip is another stakes winner for Harlan's Holiday (TrueNicks,SRO), who continues to establish himself as a very solid sire, and who has his best crops yet to run. Mendip’s dam, Well Spring, is by Coronado’s Quest, out of the multiple grade I winning sprint filly, Chaposa Springs (by Baldski). This is another example of what is now become a virtual formula, Storm Cat over Mr. Prospector, over Nijinsky II (a genetic relative to Storm Cat’s sire, Storm Bird).

Winner of the Sanford Stakes (G2) at two, Desert Party, became a principal Kentucky Derby hope for Godolphin after taking his first two races in Dubai last winter, the second of which was the UAE 2,000 Guineas (gr. III). However, he was then upset by his stable-companion Regal Ransom in the UAE Derby (gr. II), and could do no better than fourteenth in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Running for the first time since, Desert Party suggested that he is a sprinter, not a middle-distance horse, with a smooth triumph in the Mahab Al Shimaal (gr. III). Rated A++ by TrueNicks, Desert Party is by Street Cry (IRE) (TrueNicks,SRO) out of Sage Cat, a daughter of Tabasco Cat, and is one of three stakes winners by the sire out of mares by sons of Storm Cat. The dam also bred stakes winner Elliecat, but she and Desert Party are the only stakes winners in the first three dams. A little further back this is the family of the smart sprinter Good and Tough, whose third dam is the fourth dam of Desert Party.
 

Filed under: Recent Winners, Mares, Sires, Pedigree Elements