Adlerflug progeny showing him to have been not just a good sire but a great sire

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Participants in the bloodstock industry have, by now, learned to accept wearily that as soon as a stallion dies before his time, sod’s law will prevail and he will be represented by a host of top-class performers on the track.

The case of German Derby winner Adlerflug, who succumbed to a heart attack after covering a mare at Gestüt Schlenderhan last Easter, is particularly galling though, as his progeny have since shown him to be not just a good sire but a great one.

It wasn't as if the loss of the In The Wings stallion, who was only 17 and midway through covering his best book of mares at a fee of €16,000, wasn't readily acknowledged as a huge blow at the time. After all, he already had Group 1 winners Iquitos, Ito and Lacazar under his belt and was fresh from siring the one-two in the 2020 German Derby with In Swoop and Torquator Tasso, with In Swoop later running a neck second to Sottsass in the Arc.

But we were about to realise that his death was even more of a tragedy for his owners and outside breeders than we initially thought.

Later in 2021, Torquator Tasso won the Grosser Hansa Preis, the Grosser Preis von Baden and most notably the Arc, while In Swoop added the Prix d’Hedouville and Grand Prix de Chantilly to his CV, before his retirement to join the Coolmore National Hunt ranks (very good news for Irish and British mare owners, less so for German Flat breeders who would surely have loved to have him closer to home).

What’s more, Alenquer landed the Sandown Classic Trial and King Edward VII Stakes, and ran second in the Juddmonte International; Mythico won the German 2,000 Guineas; Walkaway triumphed at Group 3 level; Alter Adler finished second in the German Derby; and Mendocino filled the same position in the Grosser Preis von Bayern.

Torquator Tasso: winner of last year's Arc for his late sireCredit: Mathea Kelley (racingfotos.com)

Results on Sunday hinted that Adlerflug is on the verge of another spectacular season, first of all as he sired the decisive winners of both the colts’ and fillies’ division of the ten and a half-furlong maiden for unraced horses at Longchamp.

Mind you, the Gestüt Schlenderhan homebreds Alerio and Swoosh – both trained by Francis Graffard, who oversaw the career of In Swoop for the same connections – are fine adverts for the brilliance of Von Ullmann family breeding as much as for their late sire.

Alerio is out of Amazona, a Group 3-winning Dubawi half-sister to four other winners including Assisi, the dam of Criterium International victor Alson, who is standing his first season at Gestüt Fährhof this year, and German 2,000 Guineas scorer Ancient Spirit.

Amazona and her siblings are out of Schlenderhan’s Preis der Diana winner of 2004, Amarette, who in turn was a Monsun half-sister to Anatola, the Listed-winning dam of Melbourne Cup hero Almandin, also by Monsun.

Quite incredibly, the Von Ullmann family appears to have been farming the bottom line of this pedigree since the 1940s.

Swoosh, meanwhile, is a full-sister to the aforementioned German Derby runner-up Savoir Vivre, who also won the Grand Prix de Deauville, and a half-sister to Listed winner Sussudio.

Their dam Soudaine is a Listed-winning Monsun half-sister to Soignee, a rare good one relinquished by the Von Ullmann family, as they sold her for €150,000 as a yearling. The daughter of Dashing Blade went on to gain Listed honours at Baden-Baden and to breed an outstanding champion in Stacelita, another by Monsun.

On an extraordinarily fruitful day for the family, Stars On Earth – by Duramente and out of Stacelita’s first produce, the winning Smart Strike mare Southern Stars – was a narrow winner of the Japanese 1,000 Guineas at Hanshin.

Incidentally, Soignee’s dam Suivez featured as the ancestress of two juvenile black-type winners at Doncaster last year. Flaming Rib, by Ribchester out of Swoosh’s unraced Excelebration half-sister Suddenly, took the Doncaster Stakes, while Noble Truth, by Kingman out of Stacelita’s unraced Frankel half-sister Speralita, struck in the Flying Scotsman Stakes.

Alerio: one of two promising maiden winners on an excellent Sunday for AdlerflugCredit: Scott Burton/Racing Post

Adlerflug also ignored the idea of Sunday being a day of rest as he made his presence felt in Germany too. His Classic-winning son Mythico made a winning seasonal reappearance by outbattling the high-class Rubaiyat to win the Group 3 Frühjahrs-Meile at Düsseldorf.

Thomas Bretzger’s homebred four-year-old, who is being aimed by trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho at next month’s Prix du Muguet at Saint-Cloud, is a full-brother to Listed-placed Mythica out of the winning Monsun mare Madhyana.

Unsurprisingly, former Gestüt Schlenderhan kingpin Monsun – surely the most internationally significant sire to have ever stood in Germany – looms large in the pedigrees of all three of Adlerflug’s big winners on Sunday.

It would be nice to think that Adlerflug's sire-line will come to flourish more than Monsun's, which has become increasingly confined to jumps breeding.

In Swoop’s second career is hardly a good omen for that happening, but hopefully Iquitos and Ito are being well supported at stud in Germany.

And at least there should be plenty to bolster the ranks in future – the likes of Alter Adler, Mendocino, Mythico and, who knows, maybe even Alerio. Of course though, the most exciting of all is the tremendous Torquator Tasso.

Whisper it, but I suspect that some German breeders who are desperate for the Arc hero to stand at home upon his retirement will experience rather mixed feelings if he carries all before him beyond the country’s borders once more in 2022.

On the one hand, they will of course be immensely proud of what their domestic product can achieve on the world stage, but on the other they will recognise that he will have placed himself firmly in the cross-hairs of the biggest-spending stallion farms in Europe and Japan.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

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Pedigree pick

Aidan O’Brien unleashes no fewer than three newcomers by Galileo in the 1m2½f fillies’ maiden at Dundalk on Tuesday (6.30), all – naturally – in possession of outstanding pedigrees.

Cherub is a full-sister to Joel Stakes runner-up Sir John Lavery out of Race For The Stars, a Group 3-winning half-sister to the mighty Hawk Wing, while Oh So Lovely is a half-sister to Eclipse hero Mukhadram.

The one who intrigues me most, though, is Lily Pond.

Coolmore have nurtured the family descending from All Too Beautiful, an Oaks-placed full-sister to Galileo, for long enough to have felt comfortable sending her female heirs to the sire.

Lily Pond is the first foal out of Oaks third Alluringly, who is by Fastnet Rock and out of All For Glory, an unraced daughter of Giant’s Causeway and All Too Beautiful.

She is therefore inbred 2x4 to Galileo and All Too Beautiful’s legendary parents Sadler’s Wells and Urban Sea.

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