RAIL LINK BREAKTHROUGH
Racing Post July 18th 2006 – Tony Morris
When Price Tag, surely the best filly on the day was disqualified
from first place in the Poule de d’Essai des Pouliches this spring,
one had to wonder just when the Group 1 jinx on
Dansili and his
progeny would end. The sire famously finished in the frame
seven times at that level without managing a win, his
first-crop son Early March failed to progress after his
second place in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere as a
two-year-old, then his second crop daughter was demoted to
third place after an apparently worthy classic victory.
But the breakthrough finally came on Friday on a fabulous
evening for Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, when four of five
home-bred runners on the Longchamp card proved triumphant, most
notably Rail Link in the Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris.
A faller on his racecourse debut, Rail Link had done little
wrong subsequently and he went into what is realistically France’s
counterpart to the Derby. With an impressive score in the Group 3
Prix du Lys already on his CV. Proof that he was a colt of genuine
Group 1 calibre came readily as he swept past Red Rocks for an
emphatic victory that confirmed as one of the leaders of his
division over middle distance.
If there had ever been any doubts that
Dansili had the
makings of a top league sire. Last week’s events surely
dispelled them, for Rail Link’s triumph came hard on the
heels of the July St victory by his third crop son Strategic
Prince, the highest priced of his 2005 yearlings at
150,000gns and an obvious candidate for future Group 1
honours.
Success at the highest level is almost a pre-requisite for a
prospective stallion these days and repeated failures to reach that
standard can often impact negatively on a horse's chances at
stud.
The best win that Dansili could flaunt came in the Group 2
Prix du Muguet, not normally a contest likely to enhance any
horse's prospects for his 2nd career. But that was decidedly not
Dansili’s best
performance and he showed repeatedly at 3 and 4 that he had all the
class of a legitimate top-level runner.
In his Classic season he ran second in the Poule d’Essai des
Poulains, third in the Prix Jacques le Marois and Prix du Moulin de
Longchamp, and fourth in the Prix Jean Prat.
In the following year, when Timeform advanced his rating from
125 to 127, he finished second in the Sussex St and Prix de la
Foret, and was desperately unlucky in running when third to War
Chant in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
None of those near misses was about a want of resolution;
Dansili raced
honestly throughout his career, only finishing once out of the
frame and he was better than ever in his fourteenth and final
race.
Fortunately, breeders recognised Dansili for what he was when he retired
to Banstead Manor at a fee of £8,000. He served three-figure books
in each of his first two seasons, Early March being one of 93 foals
born in 2002 and Rail Link one of 126 born in 2003.
In the two following years, when he covered at £12,500 he proved
less popular, with the result that Strategic Prince figures among
just 68 current juveniles, and the yearling crop numbers no more
than 59, but there was a surge in interest again last year, when
Dansili received 134
visitors.
Such fluctuations in books sizes are not uncommon and may be
influenced by any number of factors.
The sudden rise in Dansili’s popularity, which we may now
expect to continue, is perhaps a consequence of the realisation
that he is a horse with an impeccable pedigree qualification; we
did not fully appreciate that when he started his innings at
stud.
Dansili was the
first foal of his dam Hasili, and while he made a habit of not
winning at Group 1 level, the siblings who came after him have not
missed out.
His year-younger sister Banks Hill won the Coronation St and
Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at three and the Prix Jacques le
Marois at four, his three-parts sister Heat Haze (by Green Desert)
collected the Beverly D St and Matriarch St as a four year old, his
sister Intercontinental took the Matriarch St at four and added the
Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at five; and this year his
brother Cacique, twice previously Group 1 placed in France, became
his dam’s fourth top-level winner with a victory over Relaxed
Gesture and Grey Swallow in the Manhattan Hcp at Belmont Park.
And while Hasili has been enhancing her reputation as the
world’s most celebrated broodmare, Danehill has figured ever more
prominently in the ranks of stallions, gaining his first
Anglo-Irish championship last season, and leading the way again in
2006.
His death in 2003 has focused further attention on his sons and
while Danehill Dancer goes from strength to strength in Ireland,
Dansili comes to the
fore in England.
Rail Link is Juddmonte through-and-through, his sire being a
third generation descendant of Cheveley Park Stakes heroine Sookera
purchased from Robert Sangster some 25 years ago, while his dam
Docklands, is a grand-daughter of Golden Alibi, who came into
Abdullah’s possession in 1984.
While Sookera has top-class racing form to recommend her for
purchase, Golden Alibi had no track record at all and was by a
horse-1979 Derby victor Empery-whose stud record fell little short
of lamentable, but Golden Alibi was out of Charming Alibi, the dam
of that marvellous racemare Dahlia, and Empery, for all his faults,
was a son of Dahlia’s sire, Vaguely Noble.
In addition to her qualities as a runner with 11 victories in
Group/Grade 1 company, often against male competition, Dahlia
proved to be a broodmare of major significance, delivering 4
top-grade winners in Dahar (by Lyphard), Rivlia (by Riverman),
Delegant (by Grey Dawn) and Dahlia’s Dreamer (Theatrical) plus Wajd
(by Northern Dancer) who won a Group 2 in France, and Llandaff (by
Lyphard), successful in Gr.2 in the States.
Golden Alibi’s stud career turned out to be far less exciting
than Dahlia’s: in 14 seasons she produced only six live foals and
two of those did not race. The four runners at least all managed to
win, though Dockage (by Riverman) was the solitary stakes-scorer,
collecting the Listed Prix d’Automne at Longchamp on her final
start as a three-year-old.
In turn, Dockage produced a couple of prominent performers in
Wharf (by Storm Bird), who won the July St and Mooring (by Zafonic)
, successful at Listed level in France, but her long term influence
has been noticeable more through two quite modest winners, Colza
(by Alleged) and Docklands (by Theatrical). Colza is the dam of
Linda’s Lad, who won last year’s Criterium de Saint-Cloud, while
Docklands was already the dam of Group 3 winner in Chelsea Manor
(by Grand Lodge) before Rail Link brought her renewed
distinction.
Date: 18 July 2006