Coolmore pursuit of Deep Impact pays off with 2,000 Guineas success

Saturday's decisive 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior will go down as a crucially important horse when it comes to writing the history of his owner-breeders Coolmore.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt, now unbeaten in four starts, encapsulates the dilemma facing the dominant Irish operation: who do they choose to cover their many top-class daughters of their perennial champion sire Galileo, as well as those by his father Sadler's Wells and paternal half-brother Montjeu, with Danehill and Storm Cat blood also to the fore in their bloodlines in recent years?

War Front, the flagbearer at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, has been mined by Coolmore and the early results of his matings with Galileo mares have included the top-class full-siblings Roly Poly and US Navy Flag. Australian champion sire Fastnet Rock has also been entrusted with the responsibility of covering many daughters of Galileo and has repaid the faith by supplying Group 1 winners Intricately, Qualify, Rivet and Zhukova on that cross.

Saxon Warrior shows how Coolmore have extended their search for elite sires to cover their Sadler's Wells and Danehill-line mares into new frontiers. He is a rare European Classic winner with a JPN suffix as he is by superstar Japanese sire Deep Impact out of Maybe, a daughter of Galileo who was champion two-year-old filly in Europe and finished third in the 1,000 Guineas for the organisation.

Coolmore have sent a handful of mares to Deep Impact in recent years and from the few runners by the sire trained by O'Brien there is also last year's three-times Group 1-placed juvenile filly September, out of the brilliant Peeping Fawn, and Saxon Warrior's Listed-placed sister Pavlenko.

"We've thankfully been allowed access to Deep Impact, very kindly by the Yoshida family, and we've been breeding to him for a number of seasons. Thankfully it's paying rich dividends,” said Coolmore's Kevin Buckley at Newmarket on Saturday.

"This horse remains unbeaten and is on target for the Derby now. September is another by Deep Impact. She unfortunately had a little setback but she's an exciting filly.

"This opens up so many avenues for us now – the fact we have a different sire-line, the Sunday Silence and Halo line coming through. It's very, very exciting."

Buckley confirmed that more Coolmore-owned mares by Galileo were in foal to Deep Impact this year – the brilliant talents Minding and Winter, as well as Maybe's sisters Fluff and Promise To Be True and Found's sister Best In The World.

Maybe: the daughter of Galileo is also the dam of the useful Pavlenko to Deep ImpactCredit: Caroline Norris

Coolmore are not the first breeders in Europe to have tapped into Deep Impact as among the 33 Group/Grade 1 winners sired by the Shadai Stallion Station stalwart is Beauty Parlour, the Wildenstein family's homebred who won the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 2012.

The Wildensteins also bred Group 3 Prix Allez France winner Aquamarine from Deep Impact, while the Wertheimer brothers have produced another French Group 3 scorer, Akihiro, by the sire.

Qatar Racing bought the Deep Impact winners Fierce Impact, Love Conquers and New World Power as foals or yearlings in Japan, while Betfair founder Andrew Black was perhaps the earliest adopter in Britain or Ireland, having sourced the sire's winners Monster Munchie and Sunday Bess in Japan in the early 2010s.

Nor is success for progeny of Deep Impact on the world stage anything new. His Japanese-trained offspring Gentildonna, Real Steel and Vivlos have landed premier races on Dubai World Cup night, while A Shin Hikari was a runaway winner of the Prix d'Ispahan in France and Tosen Stardom has notched two Group 1 victories in Australia.

There could be more international Group 1 glory for Deep Impact as Saxon Warrior's Derby claims are enhanced by a quick glance at his pedigree.

Deep Impact was a brilliant middle-distance performer whose big-race haul included the Japanese St Leger and Maybe – by a Derby winner in Galileo, of course – was not beaten far when fifth in the Oaks.

Furthermore, Maybe is out of Sumora, a half-sister to Oaks winner Dancing Rain, while Sumora and Dancing Rain are out of Rain Flower, a half-sister to Epsom Classic hero Dr Devious.

Galileo, incidentally, has now featured in the pedigrees of all of the last six 2,000 Guineas winners – as damsire of Saxon Warrior as well as Galileo Gold and Night Of Thunder; as sire of Gleneagles and Churchill; and as paternal grandsire of Dawn Approach.

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