Mendelssohn scores more Grade 1 success for late Scat Daddy

It took a bid of $3 million for Coolmore to secure the two-year-old Mendelssohn at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale but even that whopping amount is looking money well spent after the colt ran out a decisive winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on Friday.

The operation now has a precious Grade 1-winning son of the late Scat Daddy – one who is a half-brother to a brilliant racemare and an exciting young sire, to boot – with which they can continue to recoup their outlay when he eventually retires to stud.

Coolmore have invested heavily in progeny of the former Ashford Stud resident Scat Daddy in recent years, after he demonstrated with the likes of Acapulco, Lady Aurelia and No Nay Never that he was not only a consistent source of top-class two-year-olds and sprinters, but also that he was remarkably effective in Europe.

Mendelssohn, runner-up in the Dewhurst on his last start, is the third top-level winner by Scat Daddy saddled by Coolmore's principal trainer Aidan O'Brien this year, after Commonwealth Cup hero Caravaggio and Phoenix Stakes scorer Sioux Nation.

Champagne Stakes winner Seahenge and Coventry Stakes third Murillo have also represented the Scat Daddy-O'Brien axis in 2017, a year in which Caravaggio, Con Te Partiro, Lady Aurelia and Sioux Nation completed a four-timer for the sire at Royal Ascot and Chilean-bred daughter Dacita took the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington.

With Scat Daddy's final crop turning two next year, Coolmore and other stallion masters face a race against time to establish a Scat Daddy sire-line. Coolmore already stand Norfolk Stakes and Prix Morny winner No Nay Never at their base in Fethard – his first yearlings have sold for an average of around £111,000 off a €20,000 fee – and he is set to be joined by Caravaggio for 2018.

Mendelssohn's pedigree greatly enhances his appeal as a stallion, as he is a half-brother to Into Mischief, the son of Harlan's Holiday who has risen from a fee of $10,000 to $100,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky after supplying a host of high-class horses including Grade 1 winners Goldencents and Practical Joke and Grade 1-placed Can The Man, Dangerfield and Vyjack.

He is also a half-brother to the great Beholder, winner of no fewer than 11 top-level races including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and two renewals of the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Few broodmares have produced multiple Breeders' Cup winners and Mendelssohn and Beholder's dam, Leslie's Lady, joins Hasili (Banks Hill and Intercontinental), Primal Force (Awesome Again and Macho Uno) and Sweet Life (Life Is Sweet and Sweet Catomine) as one of only four producers to have done so.

Leslie's Lady, a Listed-winning daughter of Tricky Creek, has produced four winners for Mendelssohn's breeder Clarkland Farm in total as well as Daisy Mason, the unraced dam of stakes winner Harry's Holiday. Her third dam, the Sea Bird II mare Last Bird, produced Grade 1 winner and sire Roanoke and is also ancestress of Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes laureate I'll Have Another.

Those wishing to buy into the bloodlines that produced Mendelssohn – now rated around a 14-1 shot for the 2,000 Guineas – may be unable to buy foals by Scat Daddy at the coming round of breeding-stock sales, but up for grabs at Keeneland is Victory Party, his unraced half-sister by Yankee Victor, who is in foal to Curlin and will be offered by Denali Stud.

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