Keeping It In the Family: International Bloodlines in Irish 2,000 Guineas
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| War Front |
After
a classic-heavy month around the world, Ireland takes its place in the
spotlight this weekend with the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas. The 2,000 Guineas
attracted a small field of six for Saturday’s race but Galileo isn’t the man in
charge with multiple runners here. U.S. sire War Front has the most runners
with two in the field with four other stallions also having entries.
Galileo – Galileo only has one
runner here but it’s a good one with his son Churchill winning the Qipco 2,000
Guineas three weeks ago and now going for the Irish equivalent. He also has one
grandson in the race, sired by Teofilo. Galileo has had a decent amount of
representation in classics as a broodmare sire the last few years but neither
he or his sire, Sadler’s Wells, have any daughters with runners here.
War Front – War Front (Danzig) has
been a huge hit in Europe and this year has sired the most Irish 2,000 Guineas
runners of any sires. Not surprisingly, both War Fronts are owned by Coolmore
and partners with that global powerhouse heavily supporting the stallion the
last few years. This is arguably the best crop of 3-year-olds to date for War
Front and they could go extremely far in helping erase the reputation he has in
Europe of only being a 2-year-old sire if they perform well in races like this.
The Next Generation – The sire power of the
newer sires around the world has been a large topic of conversation on this
blog lately and the Irish 2,000 Guineas in another race where the young guns in
the breeding shed are represented. Of the five different sires with horses in
the race, two are stallions with their first 3-year-olds (Casamento and Helmet)
and two others are still fairly young with their first crop hitting the ground
in 2009 (Teofilo and War Front). Galileo has six years on all of them with that
stallion entering the shed in 2002, the year War Front was born.
Stud Fees – Last week when looking
at how stud fees had risen with the sires who had runners in the Preakness, it
looked like there was a big fee increase for multiple U.S.-based stallions
between 2013, when this crop was conceived, and 2017. Kentucky-based War Front
follows that U.S. theme with a jump from $80,000 (approx. €71,190 today) in 2013 to $250,000 (approx. €222,469) in 2017.
Stud farms in Europe seem to be a bit more conservative when raising fees and
this group of stallions shows that. Galileo has been private for years, so it’s
hard to know exactly how his fee has moved (odds are very good that it has
risen steadily) but Casamento has pretty much stayed the same with his stud fee
just changing from euros to pounds (5,000 in both denominations, though moving
to pounds raised his fee by a few Euros in today’s exchange rate) and Helmet
doing the same in the €10,000 fee range. The only European stallion to make a
fee jump was Teofilo, who moved from €35,000 in 2015 to €40,000 this year.
Because
of War Front’s large stud fee jump, the average stud fee of the four stallions
with advertised fees jumped from €30,297 in 2013 to €69,950 this year.
U.S. Damsires – Six different stallions
sired the broodmares who produced this year’s Irish 2,000 Guineas runners. The
U.S. holds a few bragging rights here with three of the six runners out of
mares by U.S.-based stallions. Of those stallions, two are still standing with
More Than Ready (Southern Halo) at a fee of €53,392 in 2017 and Grindstone at a
fee of €1,334. Race favorite Churchill is out of a mare by the legendary U.S.
stallion Storm Cat (Storm Bird), who obviously has a few European connections
outside this horse through his own sire Storm Bird and his son Giant’s
Causeway. Giant’s Causeway also gives Storm Cat some representation through the
male line of runners with Giant’s Causeway grandson Casamento siring
Glastonbury Song.
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| More Than Ready |
Auctions – After looking at the
Preakness field last week where all but one of the horses had been sold at
public auction at least once, it’s interesting to note that according to
Equineline, only two horses in this field have sold at auction. There are a few
who are running under names other than their breeders, making it look like they
were probably sold privately but only $850,000 (€756,396) Keeneland November
weanling purchase Spirit of Valor (War Front) and €31,0000 Goffs Sportsman’s
Sale yearling Glastonbury Song (Casamento) have sold in the ring.
IRISH
2,000 GUINEAS CONTENDERS
Horse (Sire)
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Broodmare Sire
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Broodmare Sire Line
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Churchill (Galileo)
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Storm Cat
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Northern Dancer
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Glastonbury Song (Casamento)
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More Than Ready
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Halo
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Irishcorrespondent
(Teofilo)
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Mark of Esteem
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Shirley Heights
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Lancaster Bomber (War
Front)
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Indian Ridge
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Ahonoora
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Orderofthegarter (War
Front)
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Pivotal
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Northern Dancer
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Pipes of Peace
(Galileo)
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Danehill
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Northern Dancer
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Spirit of Valor (War
Front)
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Grindstone
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Mr. Prospector
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Thunder Snow (Helmet)
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Dubai Destination
|
Mr. Prospector
|
War Decree (War
Front)
|
Street Cry
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Mr. Prospector
|
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