Sizzling weekend for Too Darn Hot continues as Tornado Alert lands Group 1 honours in Germany

An excellent weekend for Darley's Too Darn Hot continued with the Group 1 breakthrough of Tornado Alert in the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis - Bayerisches Zuchtrennen at Munich on Sunday. 

The top-flight success for the champion juvenile and Sussex Stakes winner followed a stakes double on Saturday via Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes winner Fitzella at Ascot and Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Marble City Stakes scorer Emit at Gowran Park.

The Saeed bin Suroor-trained Tornado Alert is a Godolphin homebred from one of Sheikh Mohammed's well-tended families. He is out of the winning Kingmambo mare Bint Almatar, meaning the three-year-old is a half-brother to Just Fine, a son of Sea The Stars who landed the Group 1 Metropolitan at Randwick in 2023.

The colt had won on his second start at two at Newcastle last October and, like his pedigree suggests, stepped up markedly this campaign. He began with a fine fourth to fellow Godolphin runner Ruling Court in the 2,000 Guineas and bounced back from sixth in the Derby to finish second to Trinity College in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot. 

Ridden by Oisin Murphy, Tornado Alert went one better in Germany with a decisive two-and-a-half-length victory over Sea The Stars' Prix Ganay runner-up Map Of Stars, with Deutsches Derby third Lazio, a son of Make Believe, filling the same spot again. 

Murphy said after the race: "We were uncertain [about the ground] but he loved it. He's by Too Darn Hot out of a Kingmambo mare, he ran very well in the Epsom Derby, he was second at Royal Ascot and today he came to Munich and he was brilliant."

Bint Almatar is a daughter of the Danehill-sired Firth Of Lorne, runner-up to Kingman's dam Zenda in the 2002 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and herself a fine producer at stud. Her most significant son is Master Of The Seas, who was second in the 2,000 Guineas in 2021 for Charlie Appleby and took the Breeders' Cup Mile two years later as part of a succession of international victories. Bint Almatar has a two-year-old Earthlight colt named Wadi, a yearling filly by Zoustar and a colt foal by Sea The Stars. 

Firth Of Lorne's other progeny include Listed Guisborough Stakes winner and St James's Palace Stakes runner-up Latharnach, by Iffraaj, as well as Group 3 UAE Oaks winner Falls Of Lora. That Street Cry mare is the dam of Godolphin's Australian champion Cascadian and his New Approach brother, last year's Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes victor Isle Of Jura. Falls Of Lora has also produced Canadian Grade 1 Summer Stakes winner Albahr, by Darley's flagship sire Dubawi. 

Too Darn Hot is now the sire of four Group 1 winners namely champion Australian colt Broadsiding, who joins his sire on the roster at Kelvinside in New South Wales, Irish 1,000 Guineas and Moyglare heroine Fallen Angel, and Futurity Trophy winner Hotazhell, who was also third in the Irish 2,000 Guineas this season. 

The Watership Down Stud-bred horse can count 16 individual Group winners. They include Group 2 Prix du Calvados winner and 1,000 Guineas third Simmering, Group 2 German 1,000 Guineas and May Hill Stakes scorer Darnation and Australian Group 2 winners Shanwah,  Rivellino, Too Darn Lizzie and Too Darn Discreet, as well as Japanese Grade 2 winner Etes Vous Prets.

Too Darn Hot also had the Listed Konrad Werner Wille Memorial third Querencia on the Munich card. The Gestut Fahrhof homebred is a half-sibling to last year's Group 2 Grand Prix de Deauville winner Quantanamera, by Lope De Vega. 

Querencia was in front until the final strides, when she was caught by Zelzal mare Shehna in a bunched finish. The winner is a half-sister to two black-type performers out of Shendama, a Dr Fong mare out of a Danehill Dancer half-sister to Prix du Jockey Club runner-up Shamkiyr, by Sea The Stars. Shehna was bought by her French-based trainer Satoshi Kobayashi at the 2021 Arqana October Yearling Sale for €100,000.

Too Darn Hot stood this year at Dalham Hall for a career-high £90,000 and returns to Darley Australia this year for A$275,000 (£134,000/€154,000)  after being crowned first and second-season champion sire. 

Read more

$3 million OBS March Sale record-breaker Brant dominates on debut at Del Mar 

Well-related Great Pretender colt tops Arqana Lumet Sale at record €100,000 

Fortune favours Piggott as big targets await impressive Beverley winner