High Chaparral passing class and versatility through his own and sire-sons
One great aspect of the surprise Flemington win by Mongolian Marshal (High Chaparral) in Saturday’s Winter Championship Final (Listed, 1600m) is New Zealand stud masters’ recognition that High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells) is a stallion whose blood blends particularly well with New Zealand stud book mares and they have backed that judgement by supporting and standing several of his sons.
The former shuttler, who stood at Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge, keeps reminding us just how good he was, yet, at the same time, he has proved slightly mysterious regarding his progeny. As Forrest Gump said about life, it’s ‘like a box of chocolates. You never quite know what you’re going to get’.
To pigeon-hole a stallion too early can catch breeders off guard and High Chaparral’s race record goes somewhat against his ability to throw all sorts, not only first generation-wise but also second generation.
He was a Group 1-winning two-year-old of the Doncaster Trophy (Gr 1, 1m). In a wondrous year at three, his six starts yielded The Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f), the Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f), the 2002 Arlington Park Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes (Gr 1, 12f), a Group 3 ten-furlong race plus a Listed win over that same distance. His only defeat was in finishing third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) behind Marienbard (Caerleon).
Note that four starts were over a mile and a half and all were in Group 1 company.
He returned at four, winning twice in Ireland, including the Irish Champion Stakes (Gr 1,1m2f), finished third (again) in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to Dalakhani (Darshaan) then successfully defended his Breeders’ Cup Turf Stakes title, run at Santa Anita, when dead-heating with Johar (Gone West).
He retired with a splendid ten wins and three placings spanning just 13 races, with six of his wins at the elite level and four of those at twelve furlongs.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that his record on the track would result in his stock showing their best when tried over the classic mile and a half. However, replays of his three Group 1s as a three-year-old reveal that he won each by accelerating quickly at key points in each race.
In both the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby his turn of foot approaching the two-furlong mark effectively put paid to his opposition, whereas on the much tighter Arlington Park inner turf course he was forced to wait until well inside the two-furlong marker, yet quickened too well in a comfortable victory.
It is that ability to quicken when asked that has become the hallmark of his progeny. On reflection, it may not have mattered what distance he tried, his turn of foot would have come into play when needed.
His 133 stakes winners include 23 at Group 1 level. Four are Derby winners, Dundeel and Shootout scoring Randwick’s Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) with Ace High and Monaco Consul taking out Flemington’s Victoria Derby (Gr 1, 2500m).
Interestingly, however, ten of the above elites did not win beyond 2000 metres. His sons Contributer and Toronado were Champion Milers, the former in Australia, the latter in Europe.
Four were successful up to a maximum of 1600 metres and his Group 2 daughter Joanna was a Champion French Sprinter.
Best sons making noise
Ranked highest of his progeny is So You Think, whose pet distance was 2000 metres, although he did stretch that another 100 metres in his 2011 and 2012 Tattersall’s Gold Cup (Gr 1, 2100m) victories at The Curragh.
Nevertheless, he will always be best remembered for his back-to-back Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) successes, won in scintillating style, yet his class carried him to a third placing in the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
That was the last of his 12 starts in Australia and his sole defeat at four. Leading up to the Cup he was in the best form of his life, resulting in four successive Group 1s – the Underwood Stakes (1800m), the Caulfield Yalumba Stakes (2000m), the Cox Plate and the Mackinnon Stakes (2000m).
His trainer Bart Cummings was devastated at his being sold claiming that So You Think had the potential to be the best he ever trained. As trainer also of champions Galilee (Alcimedes) and Saintly (Sky Chase), that is high praise from the Hall of Famer.
Murray Baker said much the same of Dundeel (who raced as It’s A Dundeel in Australia). He showed a similar turn-of-foot when taking out four Group 1s in his three-year-old season.
In the rich Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) as a four-year-old, between the 200 metres and 100 metres Dundeel accelerated past Carlton House (Street Cry) which was enough to then hold out the fast-finishing Sacred Falls (O’Reilly).
Both stallions have already made their mark, with So You Think’s six crops yielding 33 stakes winners. He is easily living up to his great track record and his stock mirror his preferred racing distance. Twenty-three of his best performers have won at Group level yet 16 of those have not won beyond 2000 metres. Of his seven Group 1 winners, five have not won beyond 2000 metres.
Dundeel’s 13 stakes winners in four crops include the brilliant performers Castelvecchio and Super Seth, who have already found homes at esteemed stallion operations Arrowfield Stud and Waikato Stud respectively.
The first stallion son of High Chaparral to stand in New Zealand is Westbury Stud’s Redwood, sire of the ill-fated 1600-metre Group 1 winner Rock On Wood. From Redwood’s first crop is Romancer who surprised over 1200 metres recently in the Straight Six (Listed, 1200m) at Flemington.
Toronado (standing in Australia) and Contributer are from the same Northern Hemisphere crop but the former has three crops versus the latter’s two, yet they, too, are already making serious noise as to their ability to sire quality winners.
Toronado’s dual hemisphere 14 stakes winners includes the speedy Masked Crusader, winner of the William Reid Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Moonee Valley this past March, while Lion’s Roar represents the first crop of Mapperley Stud’s Contributer and scored in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) in the same month.
Also in New Zealand, with their first crops just two-year-olds, are Highview Stud’s Wrote and Waikato Stud’s Tivaci. They are just getting started. Wrote is off the mark with his first New Zealand runners, which include recent winner And We Danced (on debut), and it will be a major surprise if Tivaci doesn’t begin to chime in soon.
Waikato Stud have gone in boots-and-all on High Chaparral. Their Tivaci is a Group 1 son while Super Seth is a Group 1 grandson.
Only the best sires are capable of such versatility and High Chaparral is one of the best. Australasia is banking heavily on his blood and for good reason.
Shorter trips seem best
Underlining the versatility angle, Mongolian Marshal left New Zealand with a Waikato Cup (Gr 3, 2400m) to his name yet here he is bagging a Listed 1600-metre win at Flemington.
And, as the above attempts to point out, the six-year-old showed good speed between the 200 metres and 100 metres to level up then go on and score a convincing victory.
The first 200 metres was run in a dawdling 14.76 seconds, which meant that the race was essentially a sprint, yet the Waikato Cup winner had the needed quickness to gain the upper hand at the right time.
During the last month of 2018 and into January of 2019 Mongolian Marshal was in good form. Under the care of Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman he ran second in the Counties Cup (Gr 3, 2100m), won the above mentioned Waikato Cup then, on New Year’s Day, was third in the City of Auckland Cup (Gr 3, 2400m).
His best effort after that was to finish third the following season to Melody Belle (Commands) in the Windsor Park Plate (Gr 1, 1600m) at Hastings.
By May of 2020 he was in Adelaide, now trained by Stu Gower. His first five runs were ordinary but there was a spark in October, when he finished fourth in the Coongy Cup (Gr 3, 2000m) at Caulfield with a next-start win in the Kyneton Cup (2000m). Then, another run of outs.
Gower admits it has taken some time to work out the gelding, however: “He loves Flemington and he loves a trip between 1600 and 2000,” said Gower. “Ideally I’d like to find a nice mile race for him, but the end game would be having a crack at the Mackinnon.”
Saturday’s win, his career eighth, was his second over the Flemington mile, having scored there two starts prior and a solid third placing at Sandown in between.
Golden family
Another huge factor in Mongolian Marshal’s favour is his close up family, as he hails from the mighty Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight) dynasty.
Linked to Eight Carat via Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones), Tristalove (Sir Tristram), Diamond Like (Danehill) and his dam, Ardeche (Dehere), Mongolian Marshal is his dam’s first foal and, so far, sole stakes winner.
Ardeche managed a Listed placing in Brisbane but also won twice in Sydney, while her dam Diamond Like won a Listed 1000-metre sprint at Trentham, one of her five career wins, but also ran a game second, beaten a neck, when run down late in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m).
Diamond Like’s brother Viking Ruler won the Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and her stakes-placed sister Chimeara (Danehill) produced De Beers (Quest For Fame), winner of the Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m).
The next dam, Tristalove, was a star, with 11 wins including the Australian Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m) at Randwick where she also scored the ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) the previous season.
Tristalove’s dam is Eight Carat’s second foal, Diamond Lover, winner of New Zealand’s premier sprint, the Railway Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m), and one of five Group 1 winners from the three-time New Zealand Broodmare of the Year Eight Carat, including the immortal Octagonal (Zabeel).
New look register
Look for some big changes to the 2021 New Zealand Stallion Register.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association CEO Justine Sclater announced the changes last week, the organization having taken over the production and publishing of the annual edition.
In addition to the always-expected detailed pedigree information, provided by the world’s leading thoroughbred statistics database Arion Pedigrees, this year will see each stallion afforded a double-page spread.
Previously outsourced, this year the Cambridge Head Office of the NZTBA believed it was time to take over and produce the volume in house.
Kiwi Chronicles spoke with Sclater about the new direction: “Producing in-house has given us the opportunity to deal directly with stallion owners, studs and breeders. The expansion from one page to two for each stallion is the biggest change but we have added further features that were not previously included,” said Sclater.
“Arion Pedigrees’ Andrew Stewart has been an enormous help. His and Arion’s expertise in pedigree compilation are second to none,” continued Sclater. “The extra space given to each stallion has meant the addition of a table of damsire nicks, which can only be a benefit when planning matings.”
“Also included is a celebration of New Zealand breeding awards, the NZ Group One Roll of Honour and their breeders, a breeding farm guide and a detailed industry contact list,” said Sclater.
Doubling as a coffee table book as well as a reference manual, the book is filled with excellent photos, particularly of the stallions. Photographers Trish Dunell and Angelique Bridson are to be congratulated for their efforts.
Stud farm location maps plus fertility and racing statistics are included as usual, as is the always useful pedigree index. Those newer to the industry can get up to speed with a glossary of breeding terms.
Retained from past editions is the historical section devoted to recognising and remembering former champion sires and champion producing mares.
“It has been a challenging exercise but a great team effort to produce this, our first. We look forward to receiving constructive feedback from our members to continue to improve the publication for the future as we recognise the Register is a valued component of our NZTBA membership,” concluded Sclater.
First time entries are always of interest and they are White Robe Lodge’s Ancient Spirit (Invincible Spirit), Windsor Park Stud’s Circus Maximus (Galileo), Cambridge Stud’s Hello Youmzain (Kodiac) and Novara Park’s King Of Comedy (Kingman).
Hello Youmzain’s book is already full, a great achievement but not surprising given his outstanding race record. Prominent breeder Marie Leicester has recently announced that her Meleka Belle (Iffraaj), current New Zealand Broodmare of the Year, will visit Cambridge Stud’s newest addition.
The format of the Stallion Register effectively treats all stallions the same (without advertising biases), allowing breeders to be objective in their mating decisions.
The new breeding season begins in September, just two months away. The new Register may well be accessed often by those breeders who have not yet decided on their upcoming season matings.
$500 for an Oaks winner
You read that correctly. An Oaks winner for $500. That’s exactly the case regarding Saturday’s Belmont Oaks (Listed, 2000m) winner Chili Is Hot, a filly by Singapore Listed winner Gingerbread Man (Shamardal).
The filly showed great fight to bag her fourth career win at start 13, certainly way more fight than those attending her auction as a weanling, knocked down in one bid at the 2018 Perth Magic Millions Winter Mixed Sale.
Fortunately, she has no idea how much she cost, or how much she has banked ($195,500), for that matter. However, rags-to-riches stories are what keeps this fascinating breeding business open to anyone. Everyone has a shot.
Chili Is Hot’s pedigree page in 2018 looked far, far stronger than the first foal offered out of the imported mare Pacaya (Psidium) in 1974.
Pacaya is Chili Is Hot’s fifth dam and was imported to New Zealand in 1970 by well known breeder Peter Setchell. She was a winner in Scotland at two and arrived at the Setchells’ Millfield Stud in Matamata carrying a foal to Acer (Abernant).
Her second foal, a colt by Sovereign Edition (Sovereign Path) was offered at the 1974 Wrightson Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Trentham and was knocked down to South African Cyril Hurvitz for $25,000. Named The Pact, he would win a total of seven races including three as a two-year-old.
His pedigree page at that time reveals no black type in the first two generations, while his great granddam Arentelle (Ardan) was a French Group-winning half-sister to the champion French Classic-winning filly La Mirambule (Coaraze).
One hundred stakes winners, starring 21 Group 1 winners, descend from the outstanding producer La Mirambule, the best known being dual French Classic winner and leading sire Lope De Vega (Shamardal).
Contrast the 1974 sale to that of the $500 Belmont Oaks winner, whose dam, while unraced, is a sister to Hong Kong Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Sight Winner (Faltaat).
Her granddam is a half-sister to Zabuan (Zabeel), winner of the Duke of Norfolk Stakes (Listed, 3200m) and her great granddam is Duanette’s Girl (Balmerino). She won nine, including four Group races and ran second in the New Zealand Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m).
Chili Is Hot is the 15th stakes winner descending from Pacaya. Apart from Sight Winner (above), a further three have been successful at the elite Group 1 level and all three trace to Pacaya via her best performer, Society Bay (Zephyr Bay).
Society Bay bagged three Group races in New Zealand and Australia and finished second in the Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m). Her great grandson Tyzone (Written Tycoon), would go one better, taking out the 2020 edition, one of his 17 wins.
New Zealand One Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Final Destination (O’Reilly) is a granddaughter of Society Bay. She is now in Japan and has produced a dual Group 3 winner there, while another granddaughter is the speedy Telegraph Handicap (Gr 1, 1200m) winner, Irish Fling (Darci Brahma).
Society Bay’s sire Zephyr Bay (Biscay) was not known as the “Black Flash” for nothing and at stud upgraded many of his mares. He had fertility issues but also an amazing stakes-winners-to-runners strike rate of 15.6 per cent. It is, therefore, no surprise that the strongest branch of Pacaya’s family is through Society Bay.