New milestone reached by late Society Rock

Away from the hubbub of Book 1 in Newmarket, the late Society Rock quietly passed a milestone by becoming the first of the 2017 class of freshman sires to post 20 individual winners in Europe.

The late son of Rock Of Gibraltar reached the milestone when the Jamie Osborne-trained Vegas Boy broke his duck at the seventh attempt in a 6f nursery handicap at Chelmsford on Thursday.

Vegas Boy was bred by Brian Miller, who sold the colt to Federico Barberini for €48,000 at last year's Goffs Orby Sale, and is out of four-time winning sprinter Consensus, a half-sister to the 16-time winner Fathsta, in turn out of a half-sister to the top-class international middle-distance performer Phoenix Reach.

The promising start made by Society Rock with his first two-year-olds is sure to pique the interest of buyers at Books 2 and 3 at Tattersalls, where five colts and three fillies from his penultimate crop are set to come under the hammer.

They include a colt offered by Ballyhimikin Stud at Book 2 out of a half-sister to the Richmond Stakes winner Carrizo Creek, and a filly offered by Tally-Ho Stud at Book 3 out of Cape Mystery, a sister to the Listed winner Cape Amber and half-sister to the Listed winner and Group 3-placed Nyramba.

With progeny earnings of £731,439, Society Rock is approximately £300,000 clear of Dabirsim and looks safe at the top of the European first-season sires' table. In terms of winners, though, Havana Gold and Red Jazz, each with 17, are hot on his heels, and perhaps Camelot will give him most to do, with his son Whirling Dervish an impressive six-length maiden winner at Tipperary on Sunday and more back-end two-year-olds bound to be in the pipeline.

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