Shane Crosse returns in triumph on State Of Rest

Royal Ascot winners Coroebus and State Of Rest descend from same female family

Horse Racing

Mon June 20, 2022 · 4y ago

Cassie Tully reflects on the Royal Ascot wins of Coroebus and State Of Rest and how they have much more in common than first meets the eye.

Let me transport your mind back in time, almost 31 years to be precise, when a chestnut mare by the name of Red Slippers (by Nureyev) was breaking her maiden at Ascot by six lengths for her owner-breeder Robert Sangster and was subsequently bought by Sheikh Mohammed.

Almost two years on from that date, another chestnut mare by the name of Monaassabaat (by Zilzal, a son of Nurevey) was shedding her maiden tag at Pontefract by four lengths for her owner-breeder Maktoum Al Maktoum, Sheikh Mohammed’s older brother.

So apart from their sire-lines and ownership connections, what have these two fillies got in common, and what is their relevance?

Both descend from a branch of the same female family which produced two of the most high-profile winners at Royal Ascot last week, Coroebus and State Of Rest.

Coroebus wins a thrilling St James's Palace Stakes

Let's continue with Red Slippers. She went on to win the Group Two Sun Chariot Stakes for Sheikh Mohammed who then also bought her sister Balanchine who won the 1994 Irish Derby and is the last filly to have landed the Curragh Classic.

It is Red Slippers, though, who is still contributing enormously to the future generations of our athletes. Her best racetrack performer was the French Oaks heroine West Wind, but her eleventh foal, Eastern Joy (by Dubai Destination), who won just the one race in France, has established herself as one of the finest gems within the Godolphin broodmare band.

Eastern Joy has produced six Stakes winners in a row by five different sires, the most celebrated of whom is the four-time Group One-winning globetrotter Thunder Snow (by Helmet).

Her third foal, however, a daughter of Teofilo called First Victory, won the Group Three Oh So Sharp Stakes on her second of four starts for Saeed bin Suroor and now through her second foal by Dubawi has produced this year’s 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes winner Coroebus.

Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore - memorable week

READ: Our Royal Ascot awards of the week

Let’s return to Monaassabaat, who is notably a daughter of the Eclipse award-winning USA Champion 2YO and 3YO It’s In The Air (by Mr Prospector).

It’s In The Air is a sister to the grandam of Red Slippers and ran a phenomenal 43 times, winning on 16 of those occasions, five of which were at the highest level. Remarkably, her broodmare record extends to even greater heights.

She is the dam of four black-type winners and the grandam of 2003 French Guineas winner Musical Chimes, American Oaks winner Music Note (who is also the dam of last year’s Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide), multiple Group One winner Storming Home, as well as the dams of the likes of last year’s Cheveley Park Stakes place-getter Umm Kulthum and Australian Coolmore Classic Stakes winner Alverta.

Monaassabaat bred four winners for Sheikh Mohammed’s brother Maktoum Al Maktoum, including the Listed-winning Echo River, before he subsequently sold her at the age of 16 at the 2007 Goffs November Broodmare sale to Dermot and Meta Cantillon for €42,000.

She went on to breed Listed winner Prince Alzain for the Cantillons but most pertinent to this story was her unraced 2012 foal by Quiet American.

That filly went by the name of Repose and the Cantillon’s sent her to Starspangledbanner on her second mating. A mating which would produce the now four-time Group/Grade One winner in four different countries for Joseph O’Brien – State Of Rest.

State Of Rest beats Bay Bridge

State Of Rest won the Saratoga Derby in the States and the Cox Plate in Australia at the end of last year, and he landed the Prix Ganay at the beginning of this season. He was then third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh before winning the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot last week.

He is not the only Group performer out of Repose, however, as her third foal - and State Of Rest’s younger half-sister - Tranquil Lady (by Australia) won the Group Three Blue Wind Stakes at Naas on her second outing this year and most recently finished sixth in the Oaks at Epsom.

State Of Rest's stud duties are already nailed down between Rathbarry Stud in Ireland and Newgate Farm in Australia, but this record and family attracted one of the most distinguished breeding operations in the world, Juddmonte, to purchase Repose privately in foal to Frankel from the Cantillons last month before State Of Rest’s latest pedigree boost (the Cantillons retained the most recent Sea The Stars filly foal out of Repose).

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