Red letter day for Frankel colt from family of Islington

The latest son of Frankel to dip his toe in the water attests to the willingness of Darley's management sometimes to invest in outside blood in order to enrich their breeding programme.

Red Mist, who makes his debut in a 7f maiden at Sandown (7.10) on Wednesday, is from the second crop of Juddmonte's champion out of Red Dune, a mare expensively recruited from another fertile nursery at Ballymacoll.

The Listed-placed Red Dune, by Red Ransom, was purchased by John Ferguson for €1,050,000 as a Goffs yearling in 2006, being out of a Green Desert half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Islington. Hitherto she has only produced one winner but Red Mist, trained for Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum by Simon Crisford, has been dignified with an entry for next year's Investec Derby.

His opponents include Sam Gold, an Iffraaj half-brother to the very useful Dabyah, Group 1-placed as a juvenile last year and winner of the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes on her reappearance. She was a very respectable fourth to Winter in the Coronation Stakes on her only subsequent start.

Following his Sepoy half-sister's strong start last year, Sam Gold was picked up by Roger Varian for 120,000gns out of Tattersalls Book 2 last autumn. Their dam is from an excellent family - as typified by her own mother, the Prix Vermeille runner-up Cloud Castle - and it only gets better, with her half-sister now the dam of a Breeders' Cup winner in Queen's Trust.