One of the crucial vital mares within the second half of the twentieth century is Finest in Present. The 1965 foal is at the moment ancestress of greater than 250 stakes winners, 56 of them group or grade 1, together with such performers as Arcangelo , Idiomatic , Rags to Riches , Almond Eye , and Redoute’s Selection, to call a couple of.
The most recent standout from the household is Bullard , a 2-year-old son of Gun Runner who romped by 4 3/4 lengths within the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) Nov. 17. A half brother to the a number of stakes winner Mundaye Name , Bullard is out of Reve d’Amour , a half sister to graded winner Can The Man and a daughter of the European group successful and group 1-placed performer Smolensk. In flip, Smolensk is out of Finest in Present’s Kentucky Oaks (G1)-winning granddaughter Blush With Satisfaction.
On the identical day that Bullard staked his declare to be thought of a traditional prospect for 2025, however an ocean away, two notable races have been captured by horses from a male line based by a grandson of Finest in Present. Sunday at Sha Tin in Hong Kong featured the native preps for December’s Hong Kong Worldwide meet, and spectacular victories by Ka Ying Rising within the Jockey Membership Dash (G2) and Romantic Warrior within the Jockey Membership Cup (G2) clearly demonstrated that they are going to current a formidable impediment to the ambitions of any abroad invaders.
Bullard will get a pat from jockey Umberto Rispoli after his victory within the Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar
Each are from branches of the Northern Dancer line that comes down via Attempt My Finest, who was by Northern Dancer out of Finest in Present’s Buckpasser daughter Intercourse Enchantment. Born in 1975, Attempt My Finest preceded his much more celebrated brother, El Gran Senor, by six years. El Gran Senor was a genuinely nice racehorse, a champion in Europe at 2 and three, and winner of seven of eight begins, his sole defeat coming in a photograph end for the Epsom Derby (G1), the place it is controversial that he suffered from an overconfident journey. Though nowhere close to as proficient as his youthful sibling, Attempt My Finest did go 3-for-3 at 2, with victories within the Larkspur Stakes (G3) and Dewhurst Stakes (G1) incomes him a title of champion 2-Yr-Outdated in England and Eire. He captured the Vauxhall Trial Stakes (G3) on his debut at 3, however flopped within the Two Thousand Guineas (G1)—a race that ended his profession.
At stud, each El Gran Senor and Attempt My Finest suffered from fertility issues. El Gran Senor proved a lot the higher of the pair, with 54 stakes winners, 34 group or graded, and 12 group/grade 1 winners from 414 foals, however was unable to increase his male line into the twenty first century. Attempt My Finest was represented by 390 foals in 15 crops. Twenty-nine of those received stakes, however solely two captured group 1 or grade 1 contests.
One in every of that group 1-winning duo was Final Tycoon, quick sufficient to interrupt the course file for 5 furlongs at Royal Ascot within the 1984 King’s Stand Stakes (G1) and able to carrying his pace nicely sufficient to take the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) the identical yr. Standing in Eire, Australia—the place he was Main Sire—and Japan, he has left two at the moment enduring sire traces within the Antipodes. The short-lived Iglesia left an excellent stallion in Written Tycoon, and New Zealand Horse of the Yr O’Reilly has been a a number of Main Sire in New Zealand. It is O’Reilly’s son Shamexpress, a grade 1-winning sprinter in Australia, who options as sire of Ka Ying Rising.
A New Zealand-bred 4-year-old, Ka Ying Rising, who took the Jockey Membership Dash by 3 1/4 lengths whereas overlaying the six furlongs in 1:07.43, was successful for the eighth time in 10 begins. He is received seven straight races since his final defeat, a second in a Feb. 12 handicap. Whereas Ka Ying Rising will likely be on the lookout for a primary group 1 success subsequent out, Romantic Warrior, who cruised by 4 1/2 lengths within the Jockey Membership Cup, has been a longtime world-class racehorse for a while. Winner of 16 of 21 begins, he is achieved a minimum of eight of his victories in grade 1 occasions, and along with six races at that stage in Hong Kong, he took the Cox Plate (G1) in Australia final yr, and the Yasuda Kinen (G1) in Japan this time period.
Romantic Warrior wins the Jockey Membership Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse
Irish-bred Romantic Warrior descends from Attempt My Finest via that horse’s son Waajib. A way wanting the expertise stage of Final Tycoon, Waajib additionally was later to mature, with wins in a gaggle 3 at 4, and the Queen Anne Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot and one other group 3 check at 5. General a modest sire, Waajib did, nevertheless, get one horse able to extending his line. That was Royal Applause, who after capturing the Coventry Stakes (G3), the Gimcrack Stakes (G2), and the Center Park Stakes (G1) as a juvenile, misplaced kind at 3 solely to rebound at 4 to an earn an official rating of prime older sprinter on the Worldwide Classification, and as Champion Older Sprinter in Europe.
Relatively curiously, Royal Applause was by a Northern Dancer line stallion out of a mare by a stallion with a Daring Ruler/Princequillo mixture. That is an analogous method to Storm Cat, a horse with whom Royal Applause has mixed within the pedigree of 35 stakes winners.
Romantic Warrior is by Royal Applause’s son Acclamation , a gaggle 3-winning and group 1-placed sprinter. Acclamation, who was just lately retired from stud responsibility, at age 25, was a really profitable pace sire with 68 stakes winners, 32 group or graded. Most significantly, his sons Darkish Angel (who’s represented at stud in america by Raging Bull , who has his first runners in 2025) and Mehmas have established themselves as two of the very best sires of sprinters and milers at stud in Europe.
Darkish Angel and Mehmas are bred on an an identical cross, each out of mares by Machiavellian. Romantic Warrior is a product of a model of the identical cross, as he is out of a mare by Road Cry, making him one in every of six stakes winners from 22 starters by Acclamation out of mares by sons of Machiavellian. Considerably remarkably, Ka Ying Rising is bred on an prolonged model of the identical cross, as his dam is by Per Incanto, a son of Road Cry.
