In 2012 a new benchmark for equine excellence was established. The grandson of Sadlers Wells became the first horse in 60 years to be named Champion at two, three and four years. He achieved the highest ever timeform rating and set the record for consecutive Group 1 wins.

 

By Galileo out of Kind, Frankel, was unbeaten in all his 14 starts. He beat 23 individual Group 1 winners of 50 Group 1 races by a cumulative margin of 76 lengths. He was a racing phenomena, the likes of which, many believe, we may never see again. And if his pedigree is the model to which breeders should aspire, Australia is most favourably placed for that aspiration to be achieved.

 

As a Derby-winning son of the legendary Sadler’s Wells and Arc de Triomphe winner, Urban Sea, Frankel’s sire, Galileo had the performance and pedigree to succeed at stud. And succeed he did. He was crowned champion sire in Europe for the past four seasons having produced at least two Group 1 winners and one Classic winner in each of his first eight crops to race. His 2008 progeny included nine individual black type winners, five Classics winners and was headed by Frankel.

 

Galileo is also a sire of sires with four of his sons having produced Group winners. Two of these, the Dewhurst winners, New Approach and Teofilo, have both sired Dewhurst and Classic winners in their first crops. Galileo’s other Dewhurst and Classic winner is Frankel.

 

Frankel’s dam, Kind, is a six time winner, including two wins in listed company. She is by Danehill. Her dam, Rainbow Lake by Rainbow Quest, won the Lancashire Oaks over a mile and a half and had already produced the dual Group 1 winner and Champion three year old colt of Ireland, Powerscourt by Sadlers Wells. Rainbow Lake’s dam, Rockfest, is by Stage Door Johnny and her granddam, Rockgarden, is by Roan Rocket.

 

Kind’s first foal was the Sadler’s Wells colt, Bullet Train, winner of the Group 3 Lingfield Derby Trial but more famous as Frankel’s pacemaker. Bullet Train currently stands at Bowness Stud near Young, his first Australian foals arriving this spring. The next Group winner from Kind is Frankel’s full brother, Noble Mission, who won the Group 3 Gordon Stakes as a three-year-old. Morpheus, Kind’s four-year-old colt by Oasis Dream, has won three, non-listed races. His year younger sister, Joyeuese, tasted success in the Dick Poole Fillies Stakes. Kind currently has a yearling full brother to Frankel. She is a proven blue hen when mated with the Sadlers Wells sireline, the remarkable affinity extending back to her granddam, Rockfest, whose dam sire is Roan Rocket.

 

Roan Rocket is of particular interest to Australian breeders as it is a line readily available in our broodmare population and repeats in other black type winners from the Sadlers Wells sireline.

 

Sadlers Wells was bred by Robert Sangster and is one of the most influential stallions of all time. As a multiple Group 1 winning son of Northern Dancer from a half-sister to Nureyev, he was immediately favoured with quality mares and amongst those mares was the 18 year old, True Rocket, by Roan Rocket out of True Course.

 

And as the first of his progeny stepped onto the racetrack in the summer of 1988 it was immediately clear that Sadlers Wells was no ordinary stallion. With a win at Chantilly in June that year, son, In The Wings, got the win-tally rolling and by dead-heating in the Dewhurst, sons Scenic and Prince Of Dance, ensured that Sadler’s Wells ended the season already established as a sire of Classic prospects. In all, Sadlers Well’s first crop contained six Group 1 winners.

 

Named Pirouette, True Rocket’s foal and first crop daughter, won 2 listed races as a 3 year old including the Athasi Stakes and the McDonagh Boland Stakes. She placed 3 times including a second in the Group 3 Leopardstown Stakes and later became the dam of 4 winners from 7 runners and 10 foals.

 

Two years later, Sadlers Wells sired the Irish Champion 3 year old, Powerscourt out of Rainbow Lake, the granddam of Frankel. Powerscourt raced at the highest level in Ireland, North America and England winning the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup, the Group 2 Arlington Million Stakes and the Daily Telegraph Great Voltigeur Stakes. His race career earned $1.9 million and his pedigree repeats the Sadlers Wells, Roan Rocket cross carried by Pirouette and Frankel.

 

The prospective impact of this cross on the Australian bloodstock industry owes much to the legacy of owner, breeder, Robert Sangster. That legacy had its origin in October 1971 when Sangster was introduced to John Magnier. The two men entered into a partnership with trainer Vincent O'Brien, intent on the progeny of Canadian stallion, Northern Dancer. They purchased Ballydoyle in Ireland and history was in the making. 

 

In 1975 they paid just under $2 million for a number of horses including The Minstrel, by Northern Dancer out of Fleur, who went on to win the English Derby. With the success of The Minstrel, Sangster and his partners established themselves among the world's leading owners. Between 1977 and 1984, Robert Sangster was Britain's leading owner five times. There was a second Derby win in 1982 with Golden Fleece, three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes with Alleged in 1977 and 1978, and Detroit in 1980. In 1980, Sangster tasted victory in the Melbourne Cup with Beldale Ball, a horse he sent out from England to be trained by Colin Hayes at Lindsay Park.

 

After the Melbourne Cup win, Robert Sangster became one of Australia's top owners and breeders with much of that achievement in association with Colin Hayes. Hayes trained many of the Sangster horses including their homebred Zabeel, a Group 1 winner who has become both sire and broodmare sire giant for Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud in New Zealand. The success of Zabeel means that Robert Sangster bred and raced two of the world's great modern sires.

 

As broodmare sire, Zabeel appears in the pedigree of Arrowfield Stud’s first season recruit and Sadlers Wells grandson, Dundeel by High Chaparral. Zabeel is from the Boxeuse family, by Teddy from Spicebox. Outstanding Sadlers Wells son, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner and Champion 3-year-old, Carnegie, is another representative of this family.  Other family members include Herbager who is the dam sire of Sadlers Well's first winner, In The Wings, and is present in the distaff pedigree of Frankel through Rainbow Quest. Rainbow Quest enjoys an enviable nick with the Sadlers Wells sireline of around 10% stakes winners to starters.

 

In Australia, the Sangster-Hayes partnership bred horses under the Collingrove banner, standing stallions such as Rory's Jester (Crown Jester ex Rory’s Rocket by Roan Rocket) a Golden Slipper winner trained by Colin Hayes. Rory’s Jesters’ dam is a daughter of Roan Rocket.

 

Known for his quick maturing qualities, Rory's Jester is a name synonymous with speed and precocity and his record as a broodmare sire reflects this. He has been consistently amongst the top broodmare sires in Australia. When his daughters have been crossed with Danehill line stallions the results have been outstanding with the Group 1 winners Ha Ha, Reward For Effort, The Heckler and Southern Lord as well as the Group and Listed winners Not A Single Doubt, Vintedge, Permaiscuous, Pampelonne, Rosa’s Spur, Hinting, World Peace and Downhill Racer. However, with the success of Danehill over Rorys Jester mares, the prospect of crossing a classic winning sireline over a speedy broodmare sire held little interest for Australian breeders and the cross with Sadlers Wells was largely ignored. When it did occur, however, impressive performers were produced. When Sadlers Wells first crop son, Scenic, found his way to stud in Australia, he sired listed winner, Occidentalis from Rosas Wish, a mare by Rorys Jester. Another listed winner, Baqaba by Sadlers Wells grandson, Easy Rocking is out of Bouree, a mare inbred to Roan Rocket.

 

The notable Danehill-Rorys Jester cross, now so prevalent in Australian bloodstock closely replicates the pedigree of Frankel’s listed winning dam, Kind, who is a daughter of Danehill and her third dam is by Roan Rocket.

 

Further, the success of the Sadlers Wells sireline over mares by Danehill is long established and is present in the pedigree of Group 1 stars Frankel, Camelot, Above Average, Tuesday Joy, Golden Lilac, Chicquita, Roderic O'Connor and Maybe. However, it is statistically best represented through his son, Galileo who enjoys an impressive winner to runner percentage of around 60% and 18% stakes winners with mares by Danehill.

 

If then, the Sadlers Wells sireline has an intergenerational nick individually with Boxeuse, Danehill and Roan Rocket, the combination of all three in Kind’s pedigree may go someway towards explaining Frankel's greatness.

 

Proven crosses are a great comfort to breeders who collectively invest millions of dollars on service fees. The ready presence of Zabeel and the Danehill-Rorys Jester cross in our genetic environment must bode well for Sadlers Wells to finally make his mark in Australia. The outstanding quality of his sons and grandsons standing this season makes that prospect even more promising.