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Gimcrack hero Threat continues fine Ebor meeting for Footstepsinthesand

Coolmore stallion has already produced the exciting Mums Tipple

Threat beats Lord Of The Lodge in the Gimcrack at York
Threat beats Lord Of The Lodge in the Gimcrack at YorkCredit: Edward Whitaker

What has already been a breakout Ebor meeting for Footstepsinthesand got even better after Threat became one of the Coolmore stallion’s most significant British winners in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes.

Trainer Richard Hannon had already supplied one of the most exciting juvenile prospects seen to date when Mums Tipple made mincemeat out of his rivals in Thursday’s Goffs UK Premier Yearling Stakes.

Threat, who beat Lord Of The Lodge by a length and a quarter over the same six furlongs, had flown at a higher level than Mums Tipple, finishing second to Arizona in the Coventry Stakes and to Golden Horde in the Richmond.

It also represents a landmark for Footstepsinthesand's sire Giant's Causeway, whose other sons Shamardal and Intense Focus have sired three other Gimcrack winners in the last seven years through Astaire (2013), Blue Point (2016) and Emaraaty Ana (2018).

Although Footstepsinthesand, whose three-race unbeaten career concluded in the 2,000 Guineas in 2005, had already sired 31 Group winners, he has not struck at Group 1 level in Britain. His best-known daughter Chachamaidee won the Group 1 Matron Stakes in Ireland and at Group 2 class in the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood.

Hannon was also responsible for one of the sire’s smartest juveniles in Larchmont Lad, who landed the Somerville Tattersall Stakes three years ago.
Footstepsinthesand is enjoying a fine Ebor meeting with his juveniles
Footstepsinthesand is enjoying a fine Ebor meeting with his juvenilesCredit: Coolmore

Threat is unusual in being a Cheveley Park Stud runner not to have been produced by the famous Newmarket operation. He was bred by the La Lumiere Partnership and was sold by Ringfort Stud to Capital Bloodstock for 100,000gns as a foal at Tattersalls.

His dam, Flare Of Firelight, is a Niarchos mare out of Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Shiva, a half-sister to Oaks winner Light Shift, and Ringfort has several more of the family to sell shortly with a Slade Power half-sister engaged in Tattersalls Book 1 and a Galileo Gold foal to offer late on. The mare is back in foal to Footstepsinthesand.

The stallion himself entered Coolmore in 2006 and his fee has remained solid at €10,000 for the last decade. He has shuttled to Australia and Argentina and produced winners in a number of unusual destinations including Algeria, Serbia and the Philippines.

However, domestic support in Ireland seems to have remained strong with Weatherbys reporting him to have covered 191 mares in 2017 and 161 last year.


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Published on 23 August 2019inNews

Last updated 16:47, 23 August 2019

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