Addeybb's raid on the Ranvet Stakes gives Pivotal his 31st Group 1 winner

Cheveley Park Stud stalwart sire Pivotal was represented by his 31st individual Group/Grade 1 winner on Saturday as son Addeybb ground out victory in the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill in Australia.

The six-year-old gelding, last seen finishing a close second to Magical in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October, raced prominently in the ten-furlong contest and took up the running two furlongs from home, only to find himself subject of a determined challenge by Verry Elleegant (by Zed).

Addeybb was headed at one point by the Chris Waller-trained filly but he found a second wind to get back up and register a half-length success, with the pair pulling five and a quarter lengths clear of third-placed Avilius, one of Pivotal's earlier top-level winners who had struck in the race last year.

Addeybb was completing a double on the card for Newmarket trainer William Haggas and British-based jockey Tom Marquand, as they had earlier won the Group 3 Iron Jack NE Manion Cup with Young Rascal, a son of Pivotal's former studmate Intello bred by Elisabeth Fabre's Ecurie Peregrine.

The course of Pivotal's stallion career has been quite remarkable.

Cheveley Park Stud bred and campaigned the son of Polar Falcon, with Sir Mark Prescott sending him out to win the King's Stand and Nunthorpe Stakes in 1996.

He retired to his birthplace to take up stud duty in the following year, priced at £6,000 and expected by many to be an inexpensive source of speed. However, he turned out to be much more than that as his early crops yielded classy sprinters including Captain Rio, Kyllachy and Needwood Blade but also talented performers over further distances such as Peeress, Saoire and Silvester Lady.

Pivotal's progeny roll of honour – containing a magnificent 150 black-type winners – includes celebrities such as Brando, Chorist, Farhh, Golden Apples, Halfway To Heaven, Immortal Verse, Maarek, Megahertz, Somnus and Virtual.

He is an influential sire of sires, in particular through Siyouni, the source of French Classic winners Ervedya, Laurens and Sottsass and priced at €100,000 at Haras de Bonneval, and Dalham Hall Stud-based Farhh, who has supplied Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner King Of Change and Derby runner-up Dee Ex Bee from small crops limited by his subfertility.

While Pivotal is still firing in significant winners in his own right, he is becoming better known as an outstanding broodmare sire, his daughters having produced a growing list of Group 1 winners that includes Advertise, Cracksman, Defoe, Fairyland, Harbour Law, Hermosa, Hydrangea, Mabs Cross, Magical, Main Sequence, Mayson, Mikki Rocket, Olmedo, One Master, Precieuse, Rhododendron, Veracious and Winsili.

Pivotal is standing his 24th consecutive season at Cheveley Park Stud, with his fee on application. We should see his runners grace racecourses for some time yet, as he covered 64 mares in 2017, 53 in 2018 and 52 last year.

Addeybb was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock out of the Kingmambo mare Bush Cat, a Folkestone maiden winner given a typically ambitious campaign by trainer Clive Brittain, with her best effort in six starts in stakes company coming when fourth in the Cheshire Oaks.

The dam has produced six winners, including Grade 3 Generous Stakes third Meer Kat (by Red Ransom) and Blue Tiger's Eye (by Motivator), an impressive Lingfield maiden winner for Saeed Bin Suroor who became a smart handicapper in the UAE.

The mare, originally a $100,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Darley from her breeder Calumet Farm, was sold on at the age of 15 to Paul Nataf for just €31,000 at the Goffs February Sale of 2015.

Her later produce, bred by Claudio Marzocco, include a two-year-old colt by Literato named Woody Cat in training with Andrea Marcialis and a yearling filly by Dream Ahead.

Bush Cat is out of Arbusha, a German Listed winner by Danzig from the family of Group 2-winning sprinter Nicholas and Irish St Leger victor Strategic Choice.

European-bred horses have now won the past six renewals of the Ranvet Stakes, with Addeybb and Avilius following Gailo Chop (by Deportivo), Ivanhowe (by Soldier Hollow), The United States (by Galileo) and Contributer (by High Chaparral).

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