Unraced three-year-olds to look out for this spring ahead of 2022 Classics
John Ingles has scoured the Classic entries and come up with a dozen unraced horses with exciting pedigrees to note this spring.
Champagne (f. Galileo – Red Evie) Aidan O'Brien
Galileo's death last summer was a huge blow to Coolmore but he leaves behind some beautifully-bred horses from his remaining crops who could yet provide him with a posthumous Classic winner or two. They don’t come with much better breeding than this filly. Out of the Matron Stakes and Lockinge winner Red Evie, Champagne is a sister to five winners who achieved a Timeform rating of 100 or more, notably the tough and high-class filly Found whose final win came in the 2016 Arc. Another of Champagne's sisters, Divinely, was placed in last year’s Oaks and Irish Oaks.
First Emperor (c. Galileo – Sky Lantern) Donnacha O’Brien
Derby entry First Emperor is out of the 2013 1000 Guineas winner Sky Lantern which makes him closely related to Snow Lantern who improved into a very smart filly in 2021 for Richard Hannon, winning the Falmouth Stakes, a race in which their dam was runner-up. Although by Frankel, Snow Lantern took after her dam in racing at a mile last year, but there are grounds for thinking First Emperor will stay further. Sky Lantern's two other winners are both by Dubawi, and one of those, Noonday Gun, was successful at Haydock over a mile and three quarters last season.
Frazil (c. Dawn Approach – Maria Lee) Jim Bolger
Poetic Flare followed in his father’s footsteps last season by completing the 2000 Guineas-St James’s Palace Stakes double just as his sire Dawn Approach had done for Jim Bolger eight years earlier. Now at stud in Japan, Poetic Flare proved himself a tough colt in finishing runner-up in three more Group 1 contests at a mile, having begun his career winning the very first race of the season for two-year-olds in Ireland. His year-younger brother Frazil, on the other hand, still hasn’t seen a racecourse but, intriguingly, that hasn’t stopped his trainer giving him a 2000 Guineas entry.
General Idea (c. Galileo – Sweet Idea) William Haggas
The Queen's Reach For The Moon is prominent in the Derby meeting after showing smart form at two but the owner also has this unraced son of Galileo among the entries for Epsom. His Australian dam Sweet Idea was a Group 1-winning sprinter in Australia for Gai Waterhouse, earning a Timeform rating of 120, before being bought privately by the Royal Studs. The mating with Galileo has already produced a winner in the royal colours, Companionship, and General Idea could have his first start as early as this weekend at either Doncaster or Kempton.
Newfoundland (c. Deep Impact – Best In The World) Aidan O’Brien
Japanese superstar Deep Impact, who died in 2019, nonetheless continues to be represented by top-notch offspring and not just in his own country, either. Ballydoyle enjoyed a sparkling three-year-old campaign from his daughter Snowfall, runaway winner of last year’s Oaks at Epsom before completing an Oaks treble at the Curragh and York. Tragedy struck when Snowfall suffered a fatal injury in her box early this year but perhaps her brother Newfoundland, who has a Derby entry, will prove just as good. Their smart dam, Best In The World, is a sister to Found and Champagne who’s also in this list.
Only (f. Deep Impact – Winter) Aidan O’Brien
Coolmore turned to Deep Impact as an ideal mating solution for their blue-blooded daughters of Galileo and among them are Winter who earned a Timeform rating of 124 when rattling off the 1000 Guineas, Irish 1000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes and Nassau Stakes in 2017. Understandably, the Arc proved a bit too far for Winter given that her own dam, Laddies Poker Two, won the Wokingham. Winter’s first foal Only holds entries in the Irish 1000 Guineas and Irish Oaks, and she could make her debut at Naas this Sunday.
Over The Rainbow (f. Dubawi – Seventh Heaven) Aidan O’Brien
Here’s another superbly-bred first foal out of a top Ballydoyle filly by Galileo. The big, rangy Seventh Heaven finished a well-held sixth to Minding in the Oaks at Epsom but went on to win both the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks and put up a high-class effort at York (earning a career-best Timeform rating of 126) when staying on take the scalp of her year-older stablemate Found. Over The Rainbow is notable for being by Godolphin’s flagship stallion Dubawi, though he has already sired Group 3 winner Concert Hall for Ballydoyle last season.
Pure Dignity (f. Dubawi – Starlet’s Sister) Roger Varian
This daughter of Dubawi has already made headlines before even setting foot on the track as she cost €2.5 million as a yearling at Deauville after a Bahrain partnership outbid Godolphin for her. And that was before her half-brother Sottsass, already winner of the previous season’s Prix du Jockey Club, gained a career highlight in the Arc just weeks later. Sottsass is one of three offspring of their dam Starlet’s Sister to earn a Timeform rating in the 120s after the mares My Sister Nat and Sistercharlie, the latter winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Skylark (f. Galileo – Shastye) Aidan O’Brien
Skylark was an even more expensive auction purchase, fetching 3.4 million guineas as a yearling when selling to M. V. Magnier at Tattersalls. That makes her just the latest seven-figure yearling by Galileo out of Shastye, a half-sister to Arc winner Sagamix, to be bought to race for Ballydoyle after the likes of Sir Isaac Newton, Japan and Mogul. The latter pair proved high-class colts, both winning the Grand Prix de Paris, while Japan also won the Juddmonte International. Shastye is also the dam of Qatar Racing’s Oaks runner-up Secret Gesture, she too by Galileo.
Waterville (c. Camelot – Holy Moon) Aidan O’Brien
Holy Moon was only a Listed winner in Italy but she has gone on to greater exploits as a broodmare, with Waterville, who cost €280,000 as a foal, bidding to become her twelfth winner from as many foals. Remarkably, those winning offspring include three consecutive winners of the Italian Oaks – Cherry Collect, Charity Line and Final Score – but her best daughter (Timeform rating 129) was Sea of Class, winner of the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks in 2018 before almost catching Enable in the dying strides of that year’s Arc. A high-class colt would be another feather in his dam’s cap.
White Caviar (f. Australia – Curious Mind) Joseph O’Brien
Joseph O’Brien rode the 2014 Derby winner Australia in all his races so it was fitting that as a stallion the same horse should provide him with his first British Classic winner when Australia’s son Galileo Chrome won the 2020 St Leger. Galileo Chrome improved in leaps and bounds in a brief four-race campaign as a three-year-old and O’Brien will no doubt be hoping for something similar from the colt’s full sister White Caviar. Their dam’s half-sister Michelangelo was third in the St Leger himself, so there’s plenty of stamina in the family to drawn on.
Wild Tiger (c. Frankel – Antara) Saeed bin Suroor
Frankel’s first sires’ championship last year owed plenty to the Classic-winning exploits of a couple of his sons in the Godolphin colours, Adayar and Hurricane Lane, winners of the Derby and St Leger respectively. Wild Tiger holds a Derby entry himself but his dam Antara (Timeform rating 119), who began her career in Germany, never raced beyond a mile and a quarter and was a dual winner of the Princess Elizabeth Stakes for Saeed bin Suroor over Epsom’s extended mile. Wild Tiger had evidently shown some speed at two as he was due to make his debut over six furlongs at Leicester last June but was withdrawn at the start.
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