Pedigree Pointers: Fillies' Mile winner Pretty Gorgeous a star daughter of Lawman

Green Desert, a son of Danzig and winner of the 1986 July Cup, earned the title ‘sire of sires’ long ago when his most prominent stallion sons Oasis Dream, Cape Cross and Invincible Spirit took off.

In turn, sons of all three mentioned horses have also gone on to produce Group 1 winners including Cape Cross’ brilliant stallion son Sea The Stars.

But it is Invincible Spirit who is expanding Green Desert’s branch of the Danzig sire line the most and has earned the right to the ‘sire of sires’ crown himself.

Four of Invincible Spirit’s individual sire sons have so far produced 18 Group 1 winners including the exciting young Kingman, Australian sensation I Am Invincible, and also the somewhat overlooked Lawman.

Lawman, the French Derby and Prix Jean Prat winner of 2007, began his stud career at Ballylinch Stud in Kilkenny where there is quite an attraction towards French Group 1 winners. Four of their current five stallions, Lope De Vega, New Bay, Waldgeist and Make Believe all won their top-level races in France.

Lawman remained at Ballylinch for eleven seasons before transferring to Haras de Grandchamp in France just like his former stud-mate, Dream Ahead.

While he was not over-subscribed by breeders and his fee dropped twice from an initial €25,000, Lawman still got off to a brilliant start when his first two crops hit the racetrack.

From just 76 runners, his first crop returned the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes winner Most Improved along with five other stakes winners. And the second crop went even better with a pair of Group 1 winners, the Irish 1000 Guineas winner Just The Judge and Milan Gran Criterium winner Law Enforcement, from just 62 starters.

With regards winners at the highest-level, his next two crops drew blanks. And even though they were both bred off the lower fee of €15,000, so was the following. The crop born in 2013 gave rise to two more Group 1 winners at varying ends of the distance spectrum – St Leger winner Harbour Law and also Racing Post Trophy winner Marcel.

It appears feast or famine with Lawman and while there have been several stakes performers since, no progeny have even placed at Group 1 level in any of the crops that followed, until this year.

Lawman took up the change of scenery and mating partners at his new home in France in 2019 and it was typical that one of his final crops bred in Ireland, the two-year-olds of 2020, have given rise to this year’s Group 1 Fillies’ Mile winner, Pretty Gorgeous.

Ironically, Pretty Gorgeous was French bred by Ecurie Haras Du Cadran et al., while Lawman was still in Ireland in 2017.

And she was purchased as a foal at France's Arqana December Sale for €55,000 by Margaret O’Toole, who also bought her dam in foal to Shalaa that same day for €40,000.

That foal purchase repaid itself almost ten-fold when Joseph O’Brien purchased Pretty Gorgeous for 525,000gns in Book One of Tattersalls yearling sale the following year. She is now owned by John Oxley, is a Group 1 winner and the highest Timeform rated two-year-old filly trained in Europe.

And not just a flash in the pan for Lawman, she comes from a family consisting of some smart female performers too.

Pretty Gorgeous is the fourth foal out of stakes-placed Lady Gorgeous who is by July Cup winner Compton Place. Lady Gorgeous won her maiden over six furlongs and also placed in the Listed Surrey Stakes over seven.

Her third foal was the French Listed winner Alwaab. And the foal that Lady Gorgeous was carrying when purchased by O’Toole in 2018, made 250,000gns on Tuesday in Book Two of the Tattersalls Yearling Sale.

Lady Gorgeous is a half-sister to Group Three placed Kartica, the dam of the Coronation Stakes and Prix Rothschild winner, Qemah. And they are out of the Listed winning Cayman Sunset who also placed fourth in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.

Consistency year on year may not be the adjective that jumps to mind when describing Lawman, but he is beyond capable of producing top-class winners and this filly who is being put away for the 1000 Guineas next year, may just be his best yet.