Laura Joy on what the QIPCO 2000 and 1000 Guineas had in common - from a pedigree perspective.
Teofilo line a Classic influence
The victors from the first two Classics of 2022 share very little in common with one another.
Bred to compete at the highest level, Coroebus is his established sire Dubawi’s third 2000 Guineas winner to date. There are no guarantees in breeding racehorses but a colt bred like Coroebus is simply fulfilling a prophecy.
Quite the opposite is Cachet whose connections will undoubtedly have refrained from dreaming about a 1000 Guineas success until as recently as her Guineas Trial victory.
What do both Classic victors have in common apart from their likeable jockey James Doyle? The answer is damsire Teofilo.
A champion two-year-old in his own right, unfortunately injury prevented him from lining up in the Classics. Joining the Godolphin stallion roster in 2008, Teofilo’s oldest daughters are just 13 years old.
That means this is just his fourth crop of three-year-olds to run for him as a damsire on the basis it is possible to cover fillies at three years old. Notwithstanding this is uncommon practice, Teofilo has no less than 22 stakes winners as a damsire, three of them have won Classics.
Speed as well as stamina
For a sire who can be pigeonholed as a stamina influence, all three won Guineas – Coroebus and Cachet as well as last season’s Irish 2000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney, who was also a Group 1 winning juvenile.
A glance at Teofilo’s fee history shows another notable achievement.
Having retired for a fee of €40,000 where he received 161 mares, he slumped to a mere €15,000 in advance of his first runners. In fact, Cachet’s dam Poyle Sophie was bred from Teofilo’s third crop. Notoriously one of the most difficult years for a stallion to attract quality mares and thus usually a stallion’s weaker crops, it was also his second lowest fee in his lifetime.
Both recency bias and the fear of a stallion flopping lend to this trend. The only stakes winner in Poyle Sophie’s immediate pedigree was foaled in 1997 (Lowther winner Jemima) and she failed to shed her maiden tag in six attempts.
Now a Classic-producing dam, Poyle Sophie failed to get the memo. As did Teofilo, this ‘weaker’ crop yielded Group 1 winner Special Fighter as well as Group 2 winners Tarfasha who was second in the Oaks, and Arod who was fourth in the Derby. Now we’ve seen a daughter produce a 1000 Guineas winner bred off Aclaim’s £6000 stud fee from just her third foal.
Fluke, or a sign of what’s to come?
Coroebus is just the second foal out of Oh So Sharp Stakes winner First Victory who was conceived in 2012, the year of Teofilo’s first fee rise from €15,000 to €25,000 (following his first crop of racing age in 2011).
Parish Hall, a Jim Bolger homebred, won the Group 1 Dewhurst in 2011. Group 3 winner Remember Alexander led home a Teofilo sired one-two in the Tyros Stakes, beating Parish Hall.
Teofilo himself was precocious, and his first juveniles were off to a flyer. He had earned the right to a mare like Coroebus’ grandam Eastern Joy.
A daughter of Dubai Destination out of Sun Chariot winner Red Slippers, herself a half-sister to Oaks and Irish Derby winner Balanchine, Eastern Joy had proven herself invaluable long before grandson Coroebus emerged on the scene.
Already responsible for Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow who boasts earnings of over £12.6million, she could have ended her influence there and retired a success.
However, it was when Coroebus sped his way out of the Dip and into racing immortality that the decision to send Eastern Joy to Teofilo was really vindicated. Having proven her own talent on the track, the resulting offspring First Victory was a worthy visitor to Godolphin’s £250,000 super sire Dubawi.
Expect more of the same
Fast-forward to 2022 and Godolphin have enhanced the profiles of two of their active, proven sires in one clean swoop.
It may surprise readers to discover the bare figures suggest Teofilo is underperforming as a broodmare sire. With 1013 foals of racing age, 22 stakes winners results in a below-average 2% stakes winners to foals.
However, taking opportunity into account soon reveals the calibre of stallion Teofilo’s younger daughters have been visiting.
Retired sire Intense Focus is responsible for just nine stakes winners, one is Group 3 winner Aviateur, out of a Teofilo mare. Vale Of York has sired three stakes winners, his leading earner and Group 3 winner Afandem is also out of a Teofilo mare.
Vocalised has 32 foals of racing age out of Teofilo mares. With just five stakes winners to his name as a sire, this number of daughters visiting less successful sires goes some way to explain the low statistic.
A stallion must pass many tests before he is deemed to have made the grade. Teofilo is responsible for multiple Classic winners, Group 1 winners and proving his mettle as a sire of sires already through Havana Gold.
The third and final box to tick is through his daughter’s ability to pass on his own talented genes. One swallow does not a summer make, but Guineas weekend in Newmarket there were two.
Teofilo’s record in this role is on an upward trajectory that’s showing no signs of a change in direction.
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