Champions Day has been and gone in a flash and while Hollie Doyle deservedly made all the headlines, the races were equally dominated by one particular sire.
Pivotal, the Cheveley Park Stud stalwart by Polar Falcon who is now at the ripe old age of 27, flooded Saturday’s results in a manner usually only witnessed from that infamous resident of Coolmore.
A five-furlong speedster in his day who won both the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and King’s Stand at Royal Ascot, Pivotal is one of those rare sprinters who has the ability to sire top-level winners above and beyond his own optimum distance.
On the whole, sprinters do not create substantial dynasties which shape the breed. This is largely due to the fact they their best form as older horses by which time many are either gelded or have not been kept in training long enough to reach their peak potential.
This contradicts the common misconception that speed equals precocity. Precocity does not equal speed or class and is far from the answer to success. It simply means one is physically mature enough to run in the early juvenile races which are actually limited to shorter distances anyway. But that is a discussion for another day.
One sprinter did create a legacy and massively influenced the breed as we know it today. That was Haydock Sprint Cup winner, Danehill. His success as a stallion, which included a world record of Group One winners, came from producing top racehorses right across the distance spectrum and his sons and daughters have gone on to do the same in both hemispheres.
The sheer quantity of opportunities available for success at the highest level over one mile and beyond is enormous in comparison to the sprinting niche. And those opportunities give a sire and his progeny a much higher chance of making a more substantial impact.
The versatility of Pivotal, whose progeny are renowned for enjoying softer conditions, was highlighted tremendously at Ascot on Saturday.
Completely dominating the Champion Sprint Stakes, Pivotal sired both the first and second home, Glen Shiel and Brando, and was also the damsire of the third-placed finisher One Master.
Emphasising the points made above, both Glen Shiel and Brando are six and eight-year-old geldings respectively.
The feature race of the day, the ten-furlong Champion Stakes, was then of course won by another Pivotal son, Addeybb, who is also a six-year-old gelding.
And that was far from all.
Further along the distance spectrum in the two-mile Long Distance Cup, Pivotal’s son Fujaira Prince (another six-year-old gelding) placed third; while he also featured as the damsire of Champion Stakes-third Magical, as well as Roseman who finished second in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
From a breeding perspective it is disappointing that Pivotal’s weekend performers are all geldings and there is no continuity to dream upon. But the vast range of these results are a reflection of his overall stud record.
Pivotal has produced 32 individual Group One winners in total and to divide them up - six of those are sprinters (five geldings). Two won seven-furlong Group Ones. 13 won over a mile (four Guineas winners), 13 won in the ten-furlong range and there are three Group One winners at a mile-and-a-half (some individuals won in dual categories).
And further denouncing the speed equals precocity myth, although a sprinter having produced many brilliant sprinters, only two of Pivotal’s Group One winners achieved their success as juveniles, with the majority performing to their best as older horses.
This year’s deserving QIPCO Champion Stakes winner Addeybb has also clearly thrived as an elder. And the now three-time Group One winner must be celebrated in the present as we will not be dissecting his pedigree in this column in years to come due to him also being part of the gelded brigade.
Following victories in the Ranvet and Queen Elizabeth Stakes over the same distance in Australia, Addeybb finally earned his British Group One win after being runner-up in the same race last year and also placing second in the Prince of Wales’s at the Royal Meeting.
The patience and planning by William Haggas and Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum has been rewarded with prize-money earnings totalling almost £2 million.
Being out of the Kingmambo mare Bush Cat, Addeybb is inbred (3x4) to the brilliant sire Nureyev.
Bush Cat was a winner at two and also placed fourth In the Listed Cheshire Oaks. Before Addeybb, she also produced Meer Kat by Red Ransom who placed in the Grade Three Generous Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Their grandam Arbusha, who was by Danzig, won a Listed race over a mile in Germany as well as placing third in the mile-and-a-half Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh. She produced three stakes performers and is a full-sister to the Group Two German Golden Pleitsche winner Nicholas as well as the dam of dual Group One and Irish St Leger winner Strategic Choice.
Although more than half of his Group One winning sons are geldings, Pivotal’s sire line does appear to be resting in safe hands for some time to come with Siyouni, who sired his own pair of Group One winning sons in 2020.
And this is all without delving into the endless result stream that flows from his daughters, positioning Pivotal as one of the leading broodmare sires in the world. The strongest genes will always find a way to come to the fore and European breeding owes this sprinter more than we think.
