'It's hard to see how an Ahonoora would emerge nowadays - that's a crying shame'

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See how you fare with one of my favourite bloodstock-related quiz questions: what is the connection between Nunthorpe dead-heater Coastal Bluff, dual Group 1-winning two-year-old Bushranger, Derby hero Dr Devious and popular stayer Sergeant Cecil?

If you need a clue, there’s a reason why I’m setting the poser this week, and if you’re still stuck for inspiration, you can also include in this category the Group 2-winning sprinters Paris House and Petardia and even the Imperial Cup scorer Ebony Express.

Well done if you got the answer, which is surprising considering the wide range of distances over which those named horses excelled: that is, that all their sires were winners of the Stewards’ Cup at Glorious Goodwood.

Taking by far the most successful first, Ahonoora was by Nijinsky’s Champion Stakes conqueror Lorenzaccio out of the smart sprinter Helen Nichols, and scored an easy victory in the Stewards’ Cup of 1978 at odds of 50-1, with two other high-class sprinters and future sires, Double Form and Vaigly Great, filling the places.

That result, which came only a week after Ahonoora had finished last or four at Sandown, prompted the Goodwood stewards to quiz trainer Brian Swift, who explained that the bit had slipped through the colt’s mouth in the prep run and that a change of tactics, allowing him to stride clear instead of being held up, had worked the oracle.

Ahonoora proved himself rather better than a handicapper next season at four, when he won the King George Stakes and ran second in the Temple Stakes, King’s Stand and Haydock Sprint Cup. He also finished runner-up to Thatching in the William Hill Sprint (now the Nunthorpe), but was awarded the race after Lester Piggott allowed the first-past-the-post to drift across the placed horses, leading to disqualification and a four-day riding ban.

Ahonoora was retired to the Irish National Stud at a modest fee in 1980, and once again massively exceeded expectations. After his early crops yielded a number of classy performers, including the Moyglare Stud Stakes and Cheveley Park Stakes winner Park Appeal, he was syndicated in 1986 in a deal that valued him at £3.2 million.

After Ahonoora’s daughter Park Express won the Irish Champion Stakes in the autumn of 1986 and son Don’t Forget Me completed the Anglo-Irish 2,000 Guineas double in the spring of 1987, Coolmore and Segenhoe Stud in Australia pounced to purchase the stallion for a reported £7 million.

He died after breaking a leg in a paddock accident while in the southern hemisphere in 1989, leaving a fabulous roll-call of highflying progeny that came to also include Dr Devious, Inchinor, Indian Ridge, Ruby Tiger and Topanoora.

His sons enjoyed varying degrees of success at stud – Indian Ridge being especially fruitful – and it is a shame that his male line has dwindled so rapidly. He still exerts a huge influence in pedigrees, though, as damsire of Cape Cross and New Approach, who were out of his great daughters Park Appeal and Park Express, as well as the increasingly important Acclamation.

The horse who suffered most from the interference caused by Thatching in Ahonoora’s Nunthorpe was the three-year-old Standaan, who had taken the Stewards’ Cup of 1979 a month earlier. Clive Brittain’s son of Zeddaan went on to win the Palace House Stakes at five, and also repeated Ahonoora’s feat of finishing second in the King’s Stand that season.

Standaan was also an entire, and given a stallion role. He proved more effective in New Zealand but he left a few decent sorts in Europe, not least Coastal Bluff, who bolted up in the Stewards’ Cup of 1996 and shared honours with Ya Malak in the Nunthorpe in the following year. He also left his mark as the damsire of Rathbarry Stud stalwart sire Tagula, source of Canford Cliffs, Limato et al.

Petong, a rare good one by Mansingh, showed great improvement for Michael Jarvis at four in 1984, winning the Wokingham, Stewards’ Cup and Haydock Sprint Cup, the last-named success coming at the expense of two top-notchers in Habibti and Never So Bold.

He was retired to Barleythorpe Stud in Leicestershire at the end of his racing career and proved a useful sire, leaving a host of speedy and precocious horses like Paris House, Petardia, Petillante, Son Pardo and Vax Star. He is the damsire of Hellvelyn and a couple of excellent broodmares in Sand Vixen and Swiss Lake.

Green Ruby, a son of Shecky Greene who won the Stewards’ Cup for Toby Balding in 1986, went to stud but sired little of note – although Ned’s Bonanza, a standing dish of sprint handicaps in the mid 1990s, might be fondly remembered by some.

King’s Signet, a blueblooded son of Nureyev and Prix de l’Abbaye winner Sigy who carried top weight to victory in the Stewards’ Cup for John Gosden in 1993, supplied some fast horses in his own image, notably Bali Royal, Little Edward and Justalord, but he wrote his name into turf history as the sire of the stamina-packed Sergeant Cecil, whose winning haul included the Ebor, Cesarewitch and Prix du Cadran.

Superior Premium takes the 1998 Stewards' Cup under a pleased Robert WinstonCredit: Edward Whitaker

Superior Premium, a son of Forzando who graduated from winning the Stewards’ Cup for Richard Fahey in 1998, went on to win the Cork and Orrery Stakes (now Platinum Jubilee) and was also given a chance at stud, with predictably tough sprinters Baby Strange and -Johnny Cavagin, but also the useful hurdler Ebony Express, among the best of his output.

The most significant Stewards’ Cup-winning sire since Ahonoora was undoubtedly Danetime. The Neville Callaghan-trained son of Danehill beat subsequent Prix de l’Abbaye scorer My Best Valentine in the Goodwood cavalry charge in 1997 and although he never won again he did finish second to Royal Applause in the Haydock Sprint Cup and third to Elnadim in the July Cup.

He was snapped up for stallion duty by Tally-Ho Stud and proved a roaring success, delivering the likes of Aspectoflove, Baltic King, Bushranger, Dandy Boy, Look Busy, Myboycharlie, The Kiddykid, Utmost Respect and Vital Equine. Sadly, he died aged only 11 in 2005 and was unable to capitalise on those good early results.

Danetime’s daughters have extended his legacy, though, with the smart half-brothers Estidhkaar and Toormore as well as classy Stewards’ Cup winners Hoof It and Rex Imperator among his maternal grandchildren.

We tend not to see Stewards’ Cup winners become stallions any more – Intrinsic, a beautifully bred son of Oasis Dream, was a rarity when he retired to Hedgeholme Stud six years ago; he has sired a handful of multiple winners from limited chances – and indeed there are only three entire colts engaged in Saturday’s race, in Annaf, Method and Saint Lawrence.

The situation is surely reflective of the modern industry’s preoccupation with two-year-old form, as male horses who haven’t shown their hands by the time they race in the Stewards’ Cup will often already have been gelded as their reproductive value is deemed to have been compromised, but also the move away from stallions being syndicated and covering small books of 40 or so, when more colts from a wider variety of bloodlines were given a shot at stud.

It’s hard to see how an Ahonoora would emerge in this day and age, and considering what he did at stud that’s a crying shame.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

“Tarnawa is safely in foal to Frankel so hopefully that is something to look forward to as well,” says Pat Downes as he gives an update on the three-time Group 1 heroine in the wake of her half-sister Tahiyra bolting up on her debut at Galway.

Pedigree pick

Something a little different today: a couple of outsiders in Friday’s nursery at Goodwood (4.45) who don’t have the best recent form but are bred to be significantly better than their current marks.

Lost Angel, an 83-rated filly with Clive Cox, is by top two-year-old sire Dark Angel out of Roses Stakes runner-up Last Bid, making her a full-sister to Listed-placed pair Maggies Angel and San Andreas, as well as recent easy Gowran Park maiden winner Sistine Madonna.

The Mark and Charlie Johnston-trained Jungle Fever is meanwhile a Bungleinthejungle full-brother to Nunthorpe heroine Winter Power and half-brother to Listed-winning sprinter Hay Chewed and Redcar Two-Year-Old Trophy runner-up Flying Sparkle, so surely has the potential to improve on his rating of 77 in time.

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