Each week Timeform’s John Ingles looks at the pedigree of a winning newcomer which has the potential to earn some Black Type.
Newmarket’s ‘Newcomers’ Maiden Stakes, as it is now known, has a history of throwing up some good winners, with the most recent running prior to last week’s renewal being contested by a couple of future Group 3 winners, including Volkan Star for Charlie Appleby. Volkan Star was runner-up in 2019 but Godolphin had the winner this year with the superbly-bred HAFIT. Sent off at a shade of odds on, plenty was clearly expected of the son of Dubawi who had fetched a seven-figure sum at Tattersalls last October.
There was plenty to like about Hafit’s finishing effort as he ran green when pushed along at halfway after making the early running but rallied on meeting the rising ground and led again well inside the final furlong for a half-length success. The first two pulled clear of the rest, with the Richard Hannon-trained runner-up Razzle Dazzle, who holds a Champagne Stakes entry, making a promising debut too.
Anthony Stroud had to go to 2.1 million guineas to secure Hafit for Godolphin at the end of a bidding battle with Coolmore’s M. V. Magnier. It’s Hafit’s grandam Attraction that made him such a sought-after colt. A champion filly at two, Attraction trained on to be a high-class three-year-old, earning a Timeform rating of 125 and completing a hat-trick in the 1000 Guineas, Irish 1000 Guineas and Coronation Stakes, as well as winning the Sun Chariot Stakes later that season and the Matron Stakes at four.
Attraction has since become a highly successful broodmare with eight winners to date, five of them achieving Timeform ratings of more than 100. Best of them was Elarqam (rated 124), a very expensive yearling himself (1.6m guineas) who won the Group 2 York Stakes in 2019 before finishing third in the Juddmonte International. Attraction’s other winners include the smart five-year-old gelding Maydanny, recent winner of the Golden Mile Handicap at Goodwood. He’s also by Dubawi, making him very closely related to Hafit.
Another of Attraction’s winners was the Galileo filly Cushion (rated 104) who won a mile and a quarter maiden at Newbury for John Gosden and was placed in Listed races before winning again in America at four where she was placed in Grade 3 contests. Hafit is Cushion’s second foal after Bright Idea, a useful handicapper for Joseph O’Brien who won a maiden at Killarney in May and stays a mile and a quarter.
Hafit is sure to improve and ought to make a useful colt at least, with his trainer saying he’d step up to a mile for his next start, mentioning the Autumn Stakes as a possible target.
Kempton winner Daneh became the latest Pedigree Focus horse to pick up some black type when finishing third in the Group 3 Six Perfections at Deauville last week.