Wood Ditton: a pedigree guide to the contest for unraced three-year-olds

With only unraced three-year-olds eligible to run in the Wood Ditton Stakes at Newmarket on Wednesday (2.25), pedigree study will be all-important.

There are naturally several well-bred horses declared for the race, but the one whose blood is perhaps the deepest shade of blue is UAE Jewel.

The colt, trained by Roger Varian for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, is by leading sire Dubawi out of the Listed-winning Galileo mare Gemstone, making him a half-brother to Bedrock, a fair handicapper on the Flat who has developed into a Grade 2-winning and Grade 1-placed hurdler.

Wednesday's Wood Ditton Stakes: view the racecard

Bred on the same Dubawi-Galileo cross as top-notchers Dartmouth, Ghaiyyath and Night Of Thunder, he was a 400,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling purchase.

Other standouts on breeding in the Wood Ditton are:

• Al Hadeer, a War Front brother to Listed-placed Camp Courage and half-brother to Listed second Romeo Lima, out of a Halling half-sister to Dubai World Cup winner African Story; another 400,000gns Book 1 yearling.
• Desert Icon, a Sea The Stars colt out of the useful Marchand De Sable mare Plume Rose from the great Wildenstein family of Peintre Celebre; a €110,000 Arqana October yearling.
• Geomatrician, a Mastercraftsman half-brother to Group 2 winner I Can Fly, a neck second to Roaring Lion in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes last term; a €95,000 Arqana October yearling.
• Kung Fu, a Kingman colt who is the first foal out of dual Group 3 winner and Grosser Preis von Bayern runner-up Cubanita; a €50,000 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale purchase.
• Wild Animal, another son of Kingman, this one a three-parts brother to Sirenia Stakes runner-up Figure Of Speech; a Godolphin homebred.

The contest also includes progeny of leading sires Acclamation (Mutaraffa), Le Havre (Junooh), Shamardal (Damlaj) and Union Rags (Samba Saravah).

Caesonia and Inspirational, the two fillies who complete the 12-strong field, are by less expensive sires in Garswood and Slade Power but both are siblings to useful performers.

Caesonia is a closely related half-sister to dual Listed-winning sprinter Cartimandua, while Inspirational is a half-sister to the Listed-placed pair Snap Shots and Spy Ring.

It will be fascinating to see if any of this year's Wood Ditton runners live up to their pedigrees in time.

The race does not have the most glittering recent roll of honour, although future world champion Harbinger finished second in 2009, Eclipse hero Mukhadram was also second – later promoted to first – in 2012 and the smart Muntahaa, Thundering Blue and Shraaoh emerged from the 2016 renewal.

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