CHAMPS ELYSEES IS HASILI'S LATEST SUCCESS

By Frank Mitchell

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Only a handful of mares have managed to compile producing records on a par with Hasili, the dam of Champs Elysees and five other group or graded stakes winners. Champs Elysees, her 5-year-old son by Danehill, furthered Hasili's reputaion by winning the Grade 2 San Marcos at Santa Anita last weekend. Last year, Champs Elysees was a Group 3 winner at Longchamp.

Of her offspring, DANSILI, Banks Hill, Intercontinental, CACIQUE, and Champs Elysees are full siblings, all by the internationally acclaimed sire Danehill. The mare's sixth stakes winner is the Green Desert mare Heat Haze - and, like Danehill, Green Desert is a son of the great Northern Dancer stallion, Danzig.

One peculiar distinction of Hasili's record as a broodmare is that all her foals are stakes winners. This is very unusual, even among the greatest broodmares because mishaps in training, illnesses, or even a bad case of the slows normally keep a portion of any mare's produce from excelling on the track.

"The amazing thing is that they are so sound, both of limb and of wind," said Garrett O'Rourke, farm manager for Juddmonte. "And that must come from the mare because she does it over and over."

The fact that they get better with age has a lot to do with their mental capacity for racing, as well. It's a conglomeration of the essentials of being a successful racehorse, and she puts them together like they were on a conveyor belt."

Even though Hasili's foals are all good, they are not all the same.

O'Rourke said that, as an individual, "Hasili is a medium-sized mare, with good length and a nice deep shoulder. She is not exactly robust; so a lot of the strength that you find in Banks Hill, for instance, comes from Danehill. You could put Banks Hill and Intercontinental side by side, and you wouldn't say they were too similar. But they can all run."

For 2008, Hasili is in foal to EMPIRE MAKER on a single cover, and the mare has a yearling filly by Storm Cat.

With mares such as Slightly Dangerous, Toussaud, and Hasili, Juddmonte has produced an unusual share of exceptional broodmares over the years. O'Rourke credits Juddmonte's overall program.

"Every mare gets a chance to get to that level, and there's not necessarily any pattern to the mares or their offspring," he said. "Prince Khalid years ago built up a wonderful group of foundation broodmares and has developed those lines over thirty-something years. It's been a singular goal."

Among the other great mares producing for Juddmonte was the fine His Majesty mare, Razyana. She produced five stakes winners and two stakes-placed horses, and the first of them was a very quick colt by Danzig named Danehill.

Danehill, a highweighted European sprinter, was bred and raced by Juddmonte, which also bred Hasili and all her foals.

Juddmonte, however, sold Danehill as a stallion prospect to Coolmore, which shuttled the horse to Australia, where he became the most important sire in that country and created such demand for shuttle stallions that dozens now migrate annually into the Southern Hemisphere.

The sire of more than 300 stakes winners worldwide, Danehill's most important offspring in the Northern Hemisphere include such champions as Rock of Gibraltar, Intercontinental, Banks Hill, Aquarelliste, and Oratorio - and the stallion sired scads of stakes winners and champions in Australia, as well as the Hong Kong racing legend Fairy King Prawn.

Unfortunately, Danehill died in a paddock accident in May 2003. The stallion's youngest foals are now 4, and Champs Elysees is from his sire's next-to-last crop.

The most distinguished of Danehill's sons at stud in the U.S. is English Derby winner North Light, who stands at Adena Springs in Kentucky and whose first foals are now yearlings. And the most successful son of Danehill at stud in the Northern Hemisphere is DANSILI, who stands at Banstead Manor in England.

The dam of DANSILI and the rest of this legion of stakes winners was a stakes winner of the listed Prix des Sablonnets at 2 and was twice listed-placed at 3. Hasili is by the multiple classic winner Kahyasi (by the Nijinsky stallion Ile de Bourbon) and is out of Kerali, by the stayer High Line.

The sire and broodmare sire of Hasili suggest classic quality and greater than average stamina. The mare's second dam, however, is the top-class juvenile Sookera, by the English Derby winner Roberto, who was also a highweighted juvenile.

Although Hasili is the brightest star for the family, she has a host of successful siblings.

Hasili's half-sister Dissemble produced three group stakes winners from her first four foals, including the American champion turf racer Leroidesanimaux (by Invasor's sire Candy Stripes). Another half-sister, Skiable (by Niniski), is the dam of the high-class stakes winner THREE VALLEYS (by Diesis).

DANSILI and his brother CACIQUE stand at Banstead Manor Stud near Newmarket, along with DANSILI'S Arc de Triomphe-winning son RAIL LINK and their relative, THREE VALLEYS.

Date: 29 January 2008