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We mentioned in an earlier post that the crack two-year-old and sprinter Oasis Dream has several talented middle-distance runners, including top four-year-old filly Midday. However, he can still get the kind of two-year-old that his race record and pedigree would lead one to expect, and he had a pair of juvenile stakes winners last week in Approve (TrueNicks A+) and Waiter’s Dream (TrueNicks A+). The busy Approve has already run seven times this year, gaining an upset win in the Norfolk Stakes (gr. II) at Royal Ascot, and this week he added the Gimcrack Stakes (gr. II). Approve is the first stakes winner from nine starters by Oasis Dream out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, but there are now three stakes winners out of only 18 starters by Oasis Dream out of mares by Sadler’s Wells and his sons). Approve is the first black type winner under his first two dams, but he does come from an illustrious family. His granddam, Rubies From Burma (by Forty Niner), was black type-placed in Ireland, and is half sister to European Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and French 1,000 Guineas (gr. I) winner Culture Vulture, and also to the dam of graded winner Santa Catarina. The third dam, Perfect Example, is a granddaughter of the Phipps foundation mare Lady Be Good, and is from the same branch of that family as such well-known performers as Zilzal, Polish Precedent, Awe Inspiring, Intikhab (sire of recent English Oaks (gr. I) victress Snow Fairy), and more recently, Negligee.

Waiter’s Dream will head to the Dewhurst Stakes (gr. I) after a 4½ lengths win in the Acomb Stakes (gr. III). The dam, Sarah Georgina, was 21-years-old when she foaled Waiter’s Dream. She’s also dam of group winner Audacieuse and listed scorer Lord Jim. Sarah Georgina is by Persian Bold (by Bold Lad (IRE), by Bold Ruler), and is half sister to the French 1,000 Guineas (gr. I) victress Danseuse du Soir, also dam of Gran Criterium (gr. I) victor Scintillo.

Not to be left out, another son of Oasis Dream’s sire Green Desert, Invincible Spirit, was represented by Hooray (TrueNicks A++), winner of the Lowther Stakes (gr. II). She is one of three stakes winners, two group, out of only nine starters from mares by Machiavellian. The dam, Hypnotize, was a two-year-old stakes winner, and is three-parts-sister to the Cherry Hinton Stakes (gr. III) victress Dazzle. The granddam, Belle et Delure, is by The Minstrel, and is half sister to Doneraile Court.

Two horses who entered 2,000 Guineas (gr. I) reckoning at the weekend were Dream Ahead (A++) and Pathfork. Dream Ahead, making only his second start, impressed in taking the Prix Morny (gr. I) by 1½ lengths. Dream Ahead is the second group one winner for his sire, Diktat (by Warning, by Known Fact, by In Reality), a dual group I-winning sprinter. Diktat hasn’t been any more than useful as a sire, and his only previous winner at the highest level was Rajeem, who took the Falmouth Stakes (gr. I). Oddly enough, Rajeem and Dream Ahead are both out of mares by Cadeaux Genereux, and are from 12 starters on the cross. The mating gives a double of Balidar (grandson of Tudor Minstrel, with Fair Trial, genetic relative to Tudor Minstrel in the dam), who appears as sire of the third dam of Diktat and grandsire of Cadeaux Genereux, and a double of Mixed Marriage (by Tudor Minstrel, granddam a three-quarters relative to Fair Trial). Diktat also has Forli, who is inbred to Fair Trial and his three-parts-sister Riot. The dam, Land of Dreams, bred listed winner Into the Dark (by Rainbow Quest). Land of Dreams won the Flying Childers Stakes (gr. II) and King George Stakes (gr. III) over the minimum trip, and is out Sahara Star, a Green Desert filly who took the five-furlong Molecomb Stakes (gr. III), so Dream Ahead is not guaranteed to get a mile.

Pathfork took the Futurity Stakes (gr. II) at the Curragh. We made a recommendation a few years back that if Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO) was bred to mares by Sadler’s Wells, this cross might help him make his name in Europe. Well, Pathmark is his first stakes winner on the direct cross – there have only been four starters to date – but he’s also three four with mares by sons of Sadler’s Wells, and three-for-three with El Prado mares. What first put us on to the potential of this cross is that Distorted Humor’s dam is by a son of Northern Dancer out of a mare by Mr. Leader, and Sadler’s Wells is by Northern Dancer out of a mare by Bold Reason (three-quarters relative to Mr. Leader). The dam is a listed-winning three-parts-sister to Champion Miler Spinning World, out of the Cheveley Park Stakes (gr. I) runner-up Imperfect Circle. The third dam, Aviance, is a group I-winning two-year-old who is dam of group/grade I winners Denon and Chimes of Freedom, and granddam of Champion U.S. Sprinter Aldebaran.

Talking of Aldebaran, there is no disguising the fact that he has struggled as a stallion, with only seven stakes winners, four group/graded in his first four crops. However, he has a smart two-year-old in Mambia, who has now won four straight, the most recent of which was the Prix du Calvados (gr. III). She is out of the Common Grounds (by Kris, by Sharpen Up), a half sister to group winners Altlando and Incanto Dream. The granddam, Atlantic Blue, is a Nureyev half sister to Stormy Atlantic (TrueNicks,SRO) , and has the sisters Thong and Moccasin 3 x 3.

The Night Shift horse Azamour, is making a promising start with a first crop of three-year-olds that include group winners Azmeel and Puncher Clynch, stakes-winning and group I-placed Eleanora Duse, and four other stakes-placed horses. He now has a two-year-old group winner in Native Khan, who took the Solario Stakes (gr. III) over seven furlongs at Sandown Park. He’s TrueNicks rated A, and is out of Viva Maria, a Grey Sovereign/Grey Sovereign cross, as she’s by Kendor out of a mare by Kaldoun.

A European sire of the mark with a stakes winner in his first crop is Majestic Missile, a very speedy son of Royal Applause, who was represented by the Roses Stakes winner New Planet. He’s out of a mare by Mull of Kintyre, a son of Danzig, and is one of at least five stakes winners on a Royal Applause/Danzig cross.

Filed under: Recent Winners, Sires