Swiss Lake makes it 11 winners from as many foals of racing age

Ghalyoon became the 11th winner from as many foals of racing age out of Lordship Stud's star broodmare Swiss Lake when the four-year-old son of Invincible Spirit won the Class 5 novice stakes at Salisbury on Saturday.

Swiss Lake has proven to be not only an admirably consistent producer but has also ticked the box on quality, with Ghalyoon among ten of her offspring to achieve a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 80 or greater.

Her first five runners all caught the eye of the RPR team to such an extent as to earn three-digit ratings, with Group winners Swiss Diva and Swiss Spirit her two highest-rated runners on a shared mark of 116.

"For all 11 of her runners to have won is a fantastic achievement," said Ben Harris, whose family own and manage Lordship. "Especially to have so many performing at black-type level as well.

"The thing that makes it so great is that her daughters are now producing black-type horses as well. It's not just the first generation out of Swiss Lake, her daughters are also producing as well which is really fantastic."

The aforementioned Swiss Diva, whose Pattern wins came in the Prix de Meautry and Prix du Petit Couvert in France, is the dam of Poetry, a stakes-winning sprinter by Kingman who ran Copper Knight to within half a length in Listed company at York on Saturday. The mare has a Kodiac colt at foot and is back in foal to Kingman.

Another of Swiss Lake's daughters to have shone at stud is Swiss Dream, a prolific stakes-winning sprinter by Oasis Dream who is the dam of Hackwood Stakes scorer Yafta. She has a Dark Angel colt foal who is a full-brother to Yafta and paid a return visit to the sire this year.

Swiss Lake entered the fold at Lordship having won two Listed sprints over the minimum trip in the colours of Classic-winning owner The Thoroughbred Corporation.

While most of Swiss Lake's offspring have excelled over sprint distances themselves, her Galileo son Lugano proved best over middle distances, while her Frankel son Swiss Storm won a Class 3 prize at Wolverhampton over an extended nine furlongs.

Swiss Lake

Indian Ridge-Blue Iris (Petong)

2005 Swiss Franc (Mr Greeley), 2 wins, RPR 107

2006 Swiss Diva (Pivotal), 6 wins, RPR 116

2007 Swiss Cross (Cape Cross), 16 wins, RPR 103

2008 Swiss Dream (Oasis Dream), 6 wins, RPR 107

2009 Swiss Spirit (Invincible Spirit), 3 wins, RPR 116

2011 Swiss Kiss (Dansili), 1 win, RPR 79

2012 Swiss Affair (Pivotal), 1 win, RPR 86

2013 Lugano (Galileo), 4 wins, RPR 92

2014 Swiss Storm (Frankel), 2 wins, RPR 95

2015 Ghalyoon (Invincible Spirit), 1 win, RPR 81

2016 Swiss Air (Oasis Dream), 1 win, RPR 80

Swiss Lake also has a yearling colt by Kingman

The Indian Ridge mare, who is now enjoying her retirement at Lordship, could yet make it 12 winners from as many runners, with her yearling Kingman colt - named Swiss Ace - likely to be offered at Tattersalls later this year.

"Swiss Lake deserves every bit of her retirement," added Harris.

"As a stud we're trying to build the bloodlines up and always keep improving. It's a very competitive industry and horses can easily be faulted at sales, so you're always trying to breed the best quality, in terms of both conformation and pedigree.

"We've about 15 to 20 mares here and try to have black-type runners and producers. My parents [Trevor and Libby] love the game and want to give the mares every chance of being successful, and using the best stallions, which fortunately we can do, hopefully gives us a better chance."

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