Talking points: five key breeding and buying angles ahead of Guineas weekend

Shamardal to set the record straight

It is no secret that Shamardal, who died in mid-April aged 18, is one of the finest stallions of his generation. He sired 25 Group/Grade 1 winners during his time at Darley's Kildangan Stud, including top-class sprinter Blue Point, a Prix de l'Opera heroine in Speedy Boarding and international celebrities like Able Friend and the enigmatic Pakistan Star.

Last year Shamardal also hammered home just how good a two-year-old sire he was by becoming the first stallion to supply three unbeaten Group 1-winning juveniles in a single crop with Middle Park Stakes and Prix Morny scorer Earthlight, Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Victor Ludorum, and Pinatubo, who landed the Dewhurst and National Stakes double.

The trio, all Godolphin homebreds, hail from a stellar crop of just 82 foals conceived in 2016, the year that Shamardal was withdrawn from public use. He has since been used almost exclusively by Sheikh Mohammed and his brother Sheikh Hamdan, as well as other members of the Maktoum family and their associates.

Shamardal: sire of 25 Group/Grade 1 winnersCredit: Darley

It is, however, something of an anomaly that, despite his obvious talent, Shamardal is yet to sire the winner of a British or Irish Classic. That could all be about to change when Pinatubo lines up in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas on Saturday.

Shamardal has, of course, tasted Classic success in France, where he himself won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the Prix du Jockey Club.

His Classic winners across the Channel are Lope De Vega, a member of Shamardal's debut crop who emulated his sire by winning the Poulains and the Jockey Club, Castle Lady, successful in the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, and Victor Ludorum, who progressed from two to three to take this year's Poulains.

The recent success of Victor Ludorum could well be seen as a good omen for the most famous member of Shamardal's vintage 2017 crop and, should Pinatubo maintain his unbeaten record in the first British Classic of the season, it would be a fitting tribute to one of the best sires to stand under the Darley banner.

Pivotal picking up where he left off

Pivotal has featured as the damsire of big winners with increasing regularity over recent seasons, a point best highlighted by the fact he has been crowned champion European broodmare sire (by progeny earnings) for the last two years.

His daughters have produced a remarkable 22 Group/Grade 1 winners, and that number looks set to rise in the not-too-distant future.

The Cheveley Park Stud stalwart appears as the damsire of three fancied runners in the 15-strong Qipco 1,000 Guineas field, namely second favourite Love, one of the 22 top-level winners having landed the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Raffle Prize, already winner of the Queen Mary and the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes, and the promising Cloak Of Spirits.

Pivotal: broodmare sire of 22 Group/Grade 1 winnersCredit: Edward Whitaker

It is worth noting that the Aidan O'Brien-trained Love is bred on the Galileo-Pivotal cross responsible for the likes of Hydrangea, Magical, Rhododendron and last year's dual 1,000 Guineas winner Hermosa.

Pivotal's broodmare daughters have proved particularly adept at producing Classic winners, with Hermosa joined by Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Olmedo, St Leger scorer Harbour Law and Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victress Precieuse.

Moreover, Pivotal has already had an impact in this year's French Classics, albeit not as a broodmare sire, having featured as the grandsire of Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Dream And Do.

First Classic crops in focus

Siring a Classic winner in a debut crop is a feather in the cap of any young stallion and can often be the first major step on the way to stardom, with greats like Galileo (Nightime and Sixties Icon), Montjeu (Motivator and Scorpion), Giant's Causeway (Lope De Vega) and Dubawi (Makfi) having achieved the feat.

Five stallions whose first crop are three this year have runners in this weekend's Classics and it will be intriguing to see how they shape up against the stallion ranks established names.

In the 2,000 Guineas, Kenzai Warrior flies the flag for Karakontie, a Niarchos family homebred son of Bernstein who won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) during his own racing days. Last seen winning the Group 3 Horris Hill Stakes, the Roger Teal-trained colt is no forlorn hope to prove a Group 1 performer.

Kenzai Warrior: 2,000 Guineas candidate is from the first crop of KarakontieCredit: Edward Whitaker

Royal Dornoch, seemingly the Ballydoyle third string, represents the debut crop of Coolmore's up-and-coming young sire Gleneagles. The son of Galileo, who beat Territories to win the 2015 2,000 Guineas, will be bidding to add a Group 1 winner to a burgeoning stud record that already includes a pair of Group 2 scorers and the Windsor Castle Stakes victor Southern Hills.

Darley's Kildangan Stud resident Night Of Thunder has made a blistering start to his stallion career, having equalled the European record for two-year-old stakes winners by a first-season sire and with 11 black type-winning offspring globally. It would be a fitting consolidation of his fast start if daughter Under The Stars carried the same Saeed Manana silks to Guineas glory that Night Of Thunder did himself in 2014.

Make Believe is another stallion to have made an encouraging start to his second career and the son of 2,000 Guineas winner Makfi is due to be represented by Mark Johnston's upwardly mobile filly Rose Of Kildare, who rounded off her campaign with a brace of Group 3 victories in the Firth Of Clyde Stakes and Oh So Sharp Stakes.

No European first-season sire could match the tally of two-year-old winners supplied by Gutaifan in 2019, with 32 of his sons and daughters crossing the line first. The Yeomanstown Stud sire is represented in the 1,000 Guineas by Eve Johnson Houghton's progressive filly Graceful Magic.

Major spending forces take on bargain buyers

If it was the case that the most expensive horse always wins, the 2,000 Guineas would already be over as a contest, with Al Suhail's seven-figure price tag dwarfing the costs of the others in the race who changed hands at public auction.

The son of Dubawi and Oaks runner-up Shirocco Star, and therefore a half-brother to Dante winner Telecaster, was added to the Godolphin ranks at a cost of 1.1 million guineas at the 2018 Tattersalls October Yearling Sales, where he was offered by breeder Meon Valley Stud.

Outsider Juan Elcano comes a respectful runner-up in the price stakes having cost connections 360,000gns, with the 240,000gns Royal Dornoch and Coolmore's €260,000 first string Arizona close behind in third and fourth.

Al Suhail sells for 1,100,000gns at Tattersalls in 2018Credit: Laura Green

In the 1,000 Guineas – in which the majority of the field are homebreds, including Juddmonte's Quadrilateral and Coolmore's Love – Summer Romance leads the way having fetched €800,000 from Godolphin at last year's Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. George Baker's French recruit Les Hogues clocks in as the second-most expensive filly in the line-up having cost €200,000 at the Arqana Arc Sale.

There are, however, hopefuls in both races who came from the other end of the market. In the 2,000 Guineas, the unbeaten Kenzai Warrior, bought by Howson and Houldsworth Bloodstock, and wide-margin sales race winner Mums Tipple, signed for by Peter and Ross Doyle, cost £45,000 apiece.

In the 1,000 Guineas, Rose Of Kildare flies the flag for all of those operating on a more restrictive budget having cost Mark Johnston a mere €3,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale. She has already justified that sum many times over, but even reaching the frame would mark her down as a hugely valuable broodmare prospect.

Potential boost for the breeze-up sector

Breeze-up vendors have endured a tough start to 2020, with the entire European two-year-old sales season having been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest raft of rescheduling was announced on Thursday, with the combined Tattersalls Craven and Ascot Breeze-up Sale now set to take place in Newmarket on June 25 (breezes on June 22), and the Goffs UK and Arqana Breeze-ups reverting to the Doncaster sales complex on July 1 (breezes on June 28).

The sector could receive a timely boost, however, should a graduate of the breeze-up sales emerge victorious in either the colts' or fillies' Classic.

In the former there is the unbeaten Kenzai Warrior, who was purchased at last year's Goffs UK Breeze-Up where he was consigned by Johnny Collins' Brown Island Stables.

In the 1,000 Guineas, there is Godolphin's Summer Romance, a classy daughter of Kingman who was sold by Willie Browne's Mocklershill at Arqana last year, and unexposed outsider Yes Always, a No Nay Never filly bought by Matt Coleman and the Cool Silk Partnership for 160,000gns when offered by Katie Walsh's Greenhills Farm at the Tattersalls Craven Sale.

Should one of these runners prevail, they would join a growing list of Classic-winning breeze-up graduates, with Preakness Stakes hero War Of Will, Channel, winner of last year's Prix de Diane, Poule d'Essai des Pouliches scorer Teppal and St Leger victor Harbour Law all having emerged from the two-year-old sales.

Going further back, Pam Sly's 1,000 Guineas heroine Speciosa graduated from the 2005 Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale.

More news:

How a purchase in the 1980s led Godolphin to Classic glory with Victor Ludorum

Leading Northern Irish breeder Brian Kennedy dies aged 77

Prince Of Lir off the mark at stud in course record time