John Ingles looks at the success of a family that began with an inspired purchase by Coolmore 30 years ago.
Later this year it will be the thirtieth anniversary of one of the most important purchases ever made by Coolmore. It was at the 1996 Keeneland November Sale that the five-year-old mare Mariah’s Storm, a daughter of the Middle Park Stakes runner-up Rahy, was bought for $2.6m, making her the most expensive broodmare sold in the States that year.
She was also in foal to one of the most sought-after stallions of that era, Storm Cat. Bought by John Magnier, Mariah’s Storm not only justified the investment in the short term but is continuing to do so through her many descendants thirty years later, having died in February 2022.
Mariah’s Storm won 10 of her 16 starts in the States, and while she didn’t win at Grade 1 level, she won six graded stakes in all, including the Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes at two and the Turfway Breeders’ Cup Handicap at four, both Grade 2 contests. She managed a third place in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on her first try at Grade 1 level but beat only one home in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on her other attempt.
Apart from her excellent racing record – she had a smart Timeform rating of 116 – Mariah’s Storm’s pedigree entirely free of Northern Dancer made her a perfect match from Coolmore’s point of view, not just for Storm Cat but later for Galileo too.
The foal Mariah’s Storm was carrying at the time of her sale turned out to be a colt and a top-class one at that. Never out of the first two in his career, Giant’s Causeway was supremely tough, running up a sequence of wins during his three-year-old season in the St James’s Palace Stakes, Eclipse, Sussex Stakes, Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes, all of which he won with less than a length to spare. On his final start, he switched to the dirt on which his dam had been so effective and was beaten a neck by Tiznow in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, coming the closest of Ballydoyle’s many challengers over the years to winning that race.
Giant’s Causeway proved a big success at stud too, notably in North America where he was based at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud for most of his career and where he was leading sire three times.
Mariah’s Storm produced no fewer than seven foals with a Timeform rating of 100 or more, Giant’s Causeway being much the best of them, but his smart sister You’resothrilling (rated 117) was another of her foals to show talent on the track before proving hugely successful at stud.
You’resothrilling gained both her wins at two, in the Group 3 Swordlestown Stud Sprint Stakes at Naas and the Group 2 Cherry Hinton Stakes at Newmarket, while finishing second in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot in between. A setback kept her out of the out of the classics, but she returned in the autumn as a three-year-old to finish a close fourth in the Matron Stakes and wasn’t discredited on her final start in the Prix de l’Opera.
But You’resothrilling has achieved even more as a broodmare. Repeat matings with Galileo resulted in every one of her first eight foals having a Timeform rating of at least 110, four of them becoming Group 1 winners. They are headed by Gleneagles who completed the 2000 Guineas double at Newmarket and the Curragh, as well as winning the St James’s Palace like his ‘uncle’ Giant’s Causeway.
You’resothrilling’s other Group 1 winners are Irish 1000 Guineas winner Marvellous, Prix de Diane winner Joan of Arc and Moyglare Stud Stakes and Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Happily, while she’s also the dam of Australian Group 2 winner The Taj Mahal, Irish Group 3 winner Coolmore, Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Vatican City and Irish Oaks runner-up Toy.
However, You’resothrilling’s success hasn’t ended with the death of her long-term partner Galileo. Her latest foal to hit the track, three-year-old filly Drop Dead Gorgeous, is by Dubawi, and she earned quotes of 25/1 for the Oaks when making a highly promising winning debut in a fillies’ maiden at Naas last weekend. Joan of Arc also has a three-year-old daughter by Dubawi this year, the as yet unraced Christmas Carol, so she’s another to look out for.
It’s not just through You’resothrilling that Mariah’s Storm has left a legacy of classic success for Coolmore. Another of her daughters, the unraced Galileo mare Fabulous, is dam of last year’s St Leger winner Scandinavia, also successful in the Goodwood Cup beforehand. He looks like following the ‘Kyprios’ route to the Gold Cup this year, taking in the Saval Beg Levmoss Stakes. Scandinavia therefore has more stamina than most among Mariah’s Storm’s descendants, being by American Triple Crown winner Justify as well as having Galileo as his damsire. Giant’s Causeway, by the way, sired a Gold Cup winner of his own, Rite of Passage.
Scandinavia was the second Group 1 winner produced by Fabulous after the Prix Saint-Alary winner Above The Curve, trained by Joseph O’Brien for the Coolmore partners.
Until his defeat in Saturday's Gladness Stakes, the family’s main classic hope this year was Albert Einstein, who has now lost his position as favourite for the 2000 Guineas which he had assumed after Aidan O’Brien nominated him as Ballydoyle’s ‘number one’ for the race at a press event earlier this month. Still, maybe he'll now live up to his lofty home reputation as a sprinter instead having won both his races at two over six furlongs before injury cut short his juvenile campaign.
Albert Einstein is the grandson of another of Mariah’s Storm’s daughters Butterflies, a full sister to Fabulous. Butterflies gained her only win in a maiden at Gowran at two but showed she stayed a mile and a half and put up a useful effort when beaten a neck in the Group 3 Munster Oaks at Cork at three.
Butterflies produced Albert Einstein’s dam Yet, a daughter of War Front, who was certainly a speedier type though didn’t get the opportunity to show how much of her dam’s stamina she’d inherited. Raced only three times at two, she won first time out over five furlongs at Dundalk before finishing down the field in the Queen Mary Stakes and was then second of four in the Airlie Stud Stakes over six furlongs on her only other start.
It therefore wasn't to be for Mariah's Storm's great grandson at the Curragh, but over in Dubai, Mariah's Storm figured in the pedigrees of the sires of two of the major winners on the Dubai World Cup card.
First, Calandagan, by her grandson Gleneagles, won his fifth Group 1 on the bounce in the Dubai Sheema Classic, and then Magnitude, whose sire Not This Time is by Mariah's Storm's son Giant's Causeway, won the Dubai World Cup itself.
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