Mix of experience in sire ranks for high-class Dewhurst field

Saturday's Darley Dewhurst Stakes field has a mix of sires represented, ranging from established big guns Dubawi, Kodiac and Oasis Dream to second-season sires Kodi Bear and New Bay. Here, we run through the pedigrees of the eight contenders for juvenile Group 1 honours at Newmarket

Banstead Manor Stud's venerable Oasis Dream is perhaps better known as a source of outstanding sprint talent, although he has produced top-class mile and middle-distance performers in Aqlaam, Midday and Power.

In Native Trail the son of Green Desert has a real prospect for Guineas honours in 2022, although it is interesting to note that Godolphin's sizeable colt is from a speedy Juddmonte family that includes Haydock Sprint Cup winner African Rose, juvenile Group 3 scorer Helleborine and Coventry Stakes winner Calyx.

The colt, bred by Le Haras d'Haspel, can count Dewhurst winner Distant Music among his family, and can be expected to improve further given his scopey frame and the fact a number of his relations improved markedly with age.

He has raced exclusively over the Dewhurst trip of seven furlongs to date, and is the only Group 1 winner in the line-up having landed the National Stakes at the Curragh last month.

Another proven sire of sprinting talent who has also shown the proclivity to produce high-class middle-distance runners is Kodiac, who is represented by Juddmonte homebred Straight Answer and Evie Stockwell's once-raced Glounthaune.

In comparison to Native Trail, Straight Answer, who was supplemented at a cost of £32,000, is from a family that has shown form over further, with his dam winning over seven furlongs and just being edged out when second in the Prix d'Aumale over a mile on soft ground.

The Ger Lyons-trained colt, who is two from two with both starts coming over six furlongs, is also a half-brother to Frankel filly Utile, who won over a mile and three furlongs on her debut.

The duo's dam is also a half-sister to a mile and a quarter Group 1 scorer in Prix Jean Romanet heroine Announce plus Prix de la Grotte winner Mexican Gold.

Native Trail: from a speed family but all three starts and wins have come over seven furlongsCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

Glounthaune, a graduate of Tattersalls Book 1 when selling to MV Magnier from breeder Tally-Ho Stud for 350,000gns, is out of an unraced half-sister to ten-furlong Listed winner Motamarris and Wadyhatta, the dam of last season's Irish Derby hero Santiago plus this season's Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille third La Joconde.

He has not been seen since winning on his debut over six furlongs at the Curragh in April.

Kodiac's sons have made great strides in recent years and Kodi Bear has another opportunity to add to his successful season with the consistent Go Bears Go, winner of the Railway Stakes and third to Ebro River in the Phoenix Stakes.

The Micheal Ryan-bred juvenile - a £50,000 purchase as a yearling by Aguiar Bloodstock from Tattersalls Ireland and a 150,000gns buy from the Craven Breeze-Up Sale by Alex Elliott and Amo Racing - is by a sire who has produced Oaks runner-up Mystery Angel and is out of a Giant's Causeway mare who won over a mile as a juvenile. Moreover, this is the family of Prix de l'Opéra scorer Nahrain and dual stakes-winning miler Baharah.

It pretty much goes without saying that Dubawi Legend is by Darley's flagship sire and Dr Ali Ridha's exciting colt should be well suited by the seven furlongs of the Rowley Mile.

An impressive winner of his first start over seven furlongs at Doncaster, he does need to bounce having finished third when favourite for the Acomb Stakes, but he holds a fine page to go with his good looks.

The fourth foal out of the Raven's Pass mare Lovely Pass, a three-time winner from six furlongs to a mile from two to three, Dubawi Legend is a half-brother to a mile and a half stakes winner in Golden Horn filly Golden Pass, who was also second to Free Wind in the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster.

Dubawi's New Bay notched a first Group 1 success when Saffron Beach took the Sun Chariot Stakes on the Rowley Mile last weekend, and his Bayside Boy is another typically tough and talented performer for the Ballylinch Stud sire.

Like Native Trail, all three of Bayside Boy's starts have come over seven furlongs, and he beat the Queen's colt Reach For The Moon in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes last time.

The 200,000gns Tattersalls Book 2 graduate is the eighth foal out of the Anabaa mare Alava, a French Listed winner over an extended mile and a furlong, and a half-brother to dual Huxley Stakes victor Forest Ranger among three individual winners from seven furlongs to a mile and a quarter.

Dark Angel: Yeomanstown Stud stalwart represented by Berkshire ShadowCredit: Patrick McCann

Coventry Stakes winner Berkshire Shadow, out of a seven-furlong and mile-winning mare in Angel Vision, a daughter of Oasis Dream, steps back up to seven furlongs after managing only seventh when favourite for the Gimcrack Stakes last time over six furlongs.

Before that, he had run subsequent Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Angel Bleu close at Goodwood in the Vintage Stakes over this trip.

Bred by Cheveley Park Stud and a 40,000gns purchase by trainer Andrew Balding from Book 1, both his Vintage Stakes effort and pedigree suggest the Dewhurst trip should be within his compass. His dam is a half-sister to mile and a half scorer, Bohemian Dance, and is out of dual Yorkshire Oaks and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Islington.

In a Dewhurst in which plenty of speed-oriented sires are represented, No Nay Never is another and has a capable performer in Dhabab. The Superlative Stakes third was bred by Al Shira'aa Farms and was a £200,000 purchase by Blandford Bloodstock from Mocklershill at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale.

The colt is the first foal out of the Mastercraftsman mare Habbat Reeh, an unraced half-sister to Listed winner Boomshackerlacker, a son of Dark Angel who won three Listed events from an extended six furlongs to a mile.

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