Maternal siblings to the fore again as Kyprios follows Search For A Song's path

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Remember early in the summer when I wrote about the roll of honour of broodmares who had produced two winners of the same Group 1 race, noting that what had once been quite a rare occurrence had more recently become relatively common?

There were only 13 such cases all the way between Ribocco and Ribero, colts by Ribot out of the Hyperion mare Libra, completing the Irish Derby and St Leger double in 1967 and 1968, to Frankel and Noble Mission, colts by Galileo out of the Danehill mare Kind, landing the Champion Stakes in 2012 and 2014.

But in the past three seasons alone there have been another three examples of a Group 1 winner emulating their maternal sibling’s earlier success in the same race to add to the list.

Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star, fillies by Mastercraftsman and Sea The Moon out of the Rahy mare Alpha Lupi, won the Coronation Stakes in 2018 and 2020; Minding and Tuesday, sisters by Galileo out of the Danehill Dancer mare Lillie Langtry, scored in the Oaks of 2016 and 2022; and now Search For A Song and Kyprios, both by Galileo out of the Danehill mare Polished Gem, have won three of the last four Irish St Legers – the former filly in 2019 and 2020 and the latter colt in the 2022 renewal on Sunday, when his sister ran third.

It speaks volumes about the greatness of Galileo that three out of the 15 examples of maternal siblings winning the same Group 1s in Britain and Ireland in the modern era are full-brothers or sisters by the late Coolmore phenomenon, who of course formed part of a pair of elite-winning maternal siblings himself, as his half-brother Sea The Stars reproduced his victory in the Derby.

That’s not to take anything away from Moyglare Stud’s late blue hen Polished Gem, the dam of Search For A Song and Kyprios, though. She has been discussed on numerous occasions in Good Morning Bloodstock before, so I won’t go into great detail about her outstanding record again, but suffice to say she is the dam of ten winners, eight of whom struck at black-type level, including a third Group 1 victor in Free Eagle and a pair of really admirable Group 2 scorers in Custom Cut and Sapphire.

Search For A Song (pictured) and full-sibling Kyprios have won three of the last four Irish St LegersCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Polished Gem certainly hasn’t depended on Galileo to make her name as one of the best producers of recent times either, as she became a regular concubine at his court only later in life. Sapphire and Free Eagle were by the proven Group 1 sires Medicean and High Chaparral, but Custom Cut was a son of Notnowcato, whose career as a Flat stallion was otherwise largely inconsequential.

Polished Gem has no more foals to come after Kyprios, so it seems unlikely that she will be responsible for many more sibling Group 1 doubles, but there were a few results over a busy weekend of racing that allowed us to hope that several other mares might achieve the remarkable feat in future.

The Aga Khan’s emerging super producer Tarana, a Listed-winning daughter of Cape Cross, won’t add her name to the British and Irish list as her brilliant daughter Tarnawa didn’t win a top-flight race there, but you couldn’t rule out her two-year-old daughter Tahiyra one day winning the Prix Vermeille or Prix de l’Opera just like her older half-sister, based on the evidence of her smooth success in the Moyglare Stud Stakes on Sunday.

Luxembourg’s return to his best form in the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday also served as a reminder that the prospect of his dam Attire, a placed daughter of Danehill Dancer, providing successive winners of the Vertem Futurity is not entirely infeasible. His year-younger full-brother Hiawatha, also by Camelot, was last seen trouncing his rivals in a Curragh maiden for Aidan O'Brien despite showing signs of inexperience.

And is it too fanciful to suggest that Chipstead, who emulated his full-brother Oxted’s victory in the Portland Handicap at Doncaster at the weekend, might go on to win the same Group 1s as his high-achieving older sibling?

Roger Teal, who trains the two crack sprinters by Mayson out of the Choisir mare Charlotte Rosina, doesn’t think so. He reported after Chipstead’s heroics on Sunday: “Oxted won this in 2019, so July Cup here we come! He doesn't tear up the gallops like his brother and just does enough at home, but there's always improvement in horses like that.”

It’s optimistic to think we could see another pair of siblings win the same Group 1 in Britain and Ireland so soon when you recall that there were only 15 previous examples going back to Ribocco and Ribero in the late 1960s, but hope springs eternal both for breeders and us pedigree buffs who follow their output so avidly.

What do you think?

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

Must-read story

“She's a funny character, but the good ones normally are. When you’re riding her at home in work, if you send her down with a horse rated 45, she’ll stay beside it. If you send her down with a horse rated 90, she’ll stay beside it,” says Chris Hayes as he gives a fascinating insight into Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Tahiyra.

Pedigree pick

Spartan Arrow’s pedigree suggests he should be able to land a blow on debut in the six-furlong novice stakes at Yarmouth on Tuesday (2.10).

Bred by Pier House Stud, he is by top two-year-old and promising first-season sire Sioux Nation out of Thames Pageant, an unraced Dansili half-sister to last year’s Solario Stakes winner Reach For The Moon, which makes him a half-brother to 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint scorer Twilight Gleaming.

His sales prices suggest he should also possess a fair deal of talent, as he was bought by JB Bloodstock as a yearling for €50,000 and resold by Mocklershill to Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for 350,000gns at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. He is trained by Simon and Ed Crisford for St Leger hero Eldar Eldarov’s owners KHK Racing.

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Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday