Australian Oaks next on the agenda for High Chaparral filly

Hiyaam, a daughter of High Chaparral, finished third in last spring’s VRC Oaks and is now poised to be a winning chance in the ATC Australian Oaks at Randwick on April 14 following her dashing staying display to take out last Saturday’s Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill.

Perfectly rated by jockey Michael Dee, Hiyaam led throughout, a hard task over such a distance in high-class company, and comfortably held off Fastnet Rock filly Unforgotten by a length and three-quarters, with Group One winner Aloisia two and a half lengths further back in third after travelling wide for much of the race.

It was an impressive staying performance from Hiyaam and a satisfying result for her trainer Mick Price who has given her a European-style preparation leading up to the Classic at Randwick.

Then again, Hiyaam has the perfect pedigree to fit her for Group 1 success over a distance, by late Coolmore sire High Chaparral, winner of both the Epsom and Irish Derby and four other top-tier events, from a royally bred daughter of Zabeel.

Foaled in New Zealand after being conceived in New South Wales, Hiyaam is bred by her owner, Dubai-based Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum. The Vinery was only her second victory after a maiden win over 1400m at Ballarat last September but in between she has placed in four stakes events in her eight starts.

We have commented previously in this feature on the extent of the loss to international breeding of Hiyaam’s sire High Chaparral, who died unexpectedly in Ireland in early 2014 shortly after returning from Australia.

High Chaparral currently sits second to Snitzel on the Australian general sire’s list for 2017-18 thanks to the big contribution of his son Rekindling, winner of this season’s Melbourne Cup. His overall tally of black-type winners worldwide stands at 112 with 21 of them Group 1 winners.

Australia, especially, has benefited from the stamina, class and fighting qualities High Chaparral has instilled in his progeny but it is some consolation for his loss that Australian breeders have access to his outstanding sire-sons So You Think (standing at Coolmore Stud), Dundeel (Arrowfield Stud), Alpine Eagle (Armidale Stud, Tasmania) and Free Eagle (Cornerstone Stud, South Australia) while several others are in service in New Zealand.

High Chaparral, though, can hardly be given all the credit for Hiyaam’s ability given the exceptional quality and depth of the filly’s female line as her third dam is the legendary broodmare import Eight Carat.

Mazarine, Hiyaam’s unraced dam by Zabeel, has also produced Auckland winner Tariq and the good producer and placegetter Game Duchess, dam of five winners, among them the stakes winner Exquisite Jewel and the stakes-placed Nordic Duke.

A sister to Shower Of Roses, an earlier Storm Queen Stakes winner when it was known as the Arrowfield Stud Stakes, Mazarine also ranks as a three-quarter sister to Group 1 winners Don Eduardo, Octagonal and Mouawad, all by Zabeel, plus other black-type winners.

Hiyaam’s second dam Marquise was also a Group 1 winner, though her sire was not a great success and you would almost need a calculator to count up all the stakes winners close up in this fabulous family.

Eight Carat, to become one of the finest producers ever in Australasia, was originally retired to stud in Britain before the late Robert Sangster brought her first to Australia before selling her to Sir Patrick Hogan. Her most notable progeny were all reared in the paddocks of Hogan’s famous Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.

Five of Eight Carat’s six winners were successful at Group One level while four of her daughters, Group 1 sprint winner Diamond Lover, imported Cotehele House, Nine Carat and La Brillante each founded their own successful branches of this remarkable family, aided greatly by the contributions of three key sires in Sir Tristram, his son Zabeel and Danehill

Hiyaam’s well-constructed pedigree features a double of Northern Dancer through his closely related sire sons Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev, respectively a grandson and a son of the well-named mare Special.

Further back you will find duplications of such notable stallion names as Relic, Princequillo, Turn-To, Djebel, Mahmoud, Native Dancer, Nasrullah and Norseman.

Read more from ANZ Bloodstock News:

High Chaparral's legacy continues as Dundeel grabs his first stakes winner

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