Breeding Digest: Miesque Mirror Does The Trick

Wandering Eyes · Tuesday at 04:35 PM

With so many horses congesting the dressing rooms before the Breeders' Cup, the stage felt undeniably empty last weekend. Few, even so, will have been too intrigued by a French-bred Grade III winner over 12 furlongs of grass.

After all, Venencia (Fr) (Recoletos {Fr}) was bred from a mare meanwhile sold for just €17,000. Yet there won't be another page quite like this one, full of quirks and quality, in the Keeneland November Sale.

Two things leap out straightaway. One is that damsire and grandsire are by full brothers. That kind of strategy is always fascinating, suggesting a wholesome regard for mares, and here achieves duplication of one of the greatest females in the story of the breed. (Interestingly, something similar lies behind Venencia's sire: his granddam is by Fairy King, while his own sire is out of a Sadler's Wells mare.)

The other standout is Venencia's third dam, Northern Trick (Northern Dancer). And when you put that Classic winner and Arc runner-up next to the legend who produced the brothers in Venencia's third generation–none other than Miesque–it becomes immediately clear that this pedigree is largely the work of Stavros Niarchos and family.

While one or two programs may have lasted the course even more resoundingly, notably one that has just delivered homebreds to win the premier prizes of the European autumn on consecutive weekends, arguably none has injected the international breed with more charisma.

Miesque was its masterpiece. And, unlike so many of the great female runners, she matched her racetrack brilliance with a commensurate legacy. Here we will note only its proliferation through stallions. Her first foal was the global influence Kingmambo, while her daughters included the dam of Study Of Man (Ire) and second dams of Real Steel (Jpn) and Karakontie (Jpn).

Kingmambo's full-brother could not quite match his success, perhaps feeling the burden of a supremely unimaginative name. But Miesque's Son only missed the G1 Prix de la Foret by a head, and did come up with a couple of elite runners. Miesque's Approval landed the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, 18 years after Miesque won her second; and Whipper, though falling just a length short of doing the same, won three Group 1s between six and eight furlongs. Whipper also pulled rank on his younger sibling Divine Proportions (by his sire's far more successful and expensive brother) when second and fourth respectively to Dubawi (Ire) in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois.

Though a $4,000 yearling, Whipper showed all the sprinter-miler dash so characteristic of the Niarchos program, from Nureyev onwards. And while he achieved only marginal success in a nomadic stud career, his son Recoletos emulated both Miesque and Kingmambo as winner of the G1 Prix du Moulin in 2018. Recoletos also finished runner-up in the Marois to Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), granddaughter of Miesque's dual Classic winner East of the Moon (Private Account).

Recoletos was retired at €8,000 and one of the more interesting mares in his debut book was Sign of Life, by Kingmambo's son Lemon Drop Kid out of Northern Trick's daughter Onda Nova (Keos). Sign of Life had shown only a little ability in a light career, and was culled from the Niarchos program. She was bought for just 8,000gns at Tattersalls by the trainer of Recoletos, Carlos Laffon-Parias. (Whose wife, by the way, is niece of Miesque's jockey!)

Bar a first cover by The Gurkha (Ire), Sign of Life was sent to Recoletos annually until sold to Haras des Evees at Arqana in December 2022. She might have been expected to bring more than €17,000, her first Recotelos foal having won on debut at Chantilly 11 days previously. But that performance evidently brought its own reward, with the filly sold to continue her career in North America.

Her name is, of course, Venencia. Having won a stakes for Chad Brown and narrowly missed a Grade I podium in a stint at Woodbine, last weekend she won the GIII Dowager Stakes at Keeneland on her first start for Brendan Walsh. She is a timely first Group/graded winner for Recotelos, relaunching next spring at the fine town of Pau in the lee of the Pyrenees; and a timelier yet update for her yearling half-brother by Zelzal (Fr), who goes under the hammer [314] at Arqana Wednesday.

Whatever these may yet contribute to Venencia's page, one curiosity remains: the appearance of the forgotten Keos as sire of what proved to be Northern Trick's final foal.

The son of Riverman won four Group sprints and was half-brother to the dam of Hector Protector and Bosra Sham (both by Woodman), but his stud career proved a sad oddity. He spent a single spring at Hermitage Farm, during which he covered the 19-year-old Northern Trick, back where she was foaled. (She had been bought by Niarchos as a yearling, co-bred by Warner L. Jones and William S. Farish III.) Keos then returned to Europe where he mustered only around 20 foals, at low fees, prior to his premature death.

Unsurprising, then, that Northern Trick should have given him his best runner: Onda Nova, winner of the listed Prix Imprudence and now granddam of Venencia. But the reverse is also true, far more expensive covers having field to prompt Northern Trick to emulate Miesque as a dam of runners. Yet time would eventually reveal her second foal Lingerie (Shirley Heights) as founder of another tremendous Niarchos family, notably as dam of the top-class runners/producers Light Shift (Kingmambo) and Shiva (Jpn) (Hector Protector).

So these seams of gold sometimes just run so deep that they take a little more time to reach–and, happily, a little less money.

Barnes Keeping The Dream Alive

No such short cuts available in the case of Barnes (Into Mischief), with a $3.2 million price on his head. Yes, nowadays there are places where you can clear even that kind of investment on the racetrack. But ultimately he needs to work out by becoming a stallion.

And, having been by no means the only horse to misfire round Parx on his previous start, his eight-length rout of some fair operators in the GIII Perryville Stakes last weekend puts him right back in the game.

His price as a Saratoga yearling was plainly divided between his physique and a family that extends through third and fourth dams who both won the GI Ballerina Stakes.

First, in the 1993 running, came Spinning Around (Dixieland Band). Homebred by George Steinbrenner's Kinsman Farm, her contribution to its future was cruelly curtailed when struck by lightning along with her Capote colt in 1999. She was just 10.

Fortunately, she had bequeathed two fillies. One, by Kingmambo, was sold to South America where she produced elite runners in Argentina, Peru and Ecuador. The other was millionaire Dream Supreme (Seeking the Gold), who equaled the 5.5f track record at Saratoga on debut and returned the following summer to win the Ballerina, seven years after her dam.

Dream Supreme's third foal was Majestic Warrior (A.P. Indy), who also had his big Saratoga moment in the GI Hopeful Stakes. Admittedly he faced only three rivals and the two big favorites punched each other to a standstill. Nor did his stud career make him seem any more substantial a talent, but it appears that his full sister may now be leaving a mark.

A.P. Dream won a maiden and proved a useful allowance filly before entering production, where her foals include Royal Ascot runner-up Wind Chime (Distorted Humor). But her last daughter showed nothing in just two starts for Jeff Drown and Don Rachel, who bought All American Dream (American Pharoah) privately after she had been retained even at $775,000–much the highest bid of the auction–at Fasig-Tipton in October 2018.

Whatever she cost, and however disappointing on the track, All American Dream has proved a spectacular investment. Barnes is her first foal, and this summer her daughter by Flightline brought $1.1 million through the same Indian Creek consignment at Saratoga.

Some high stakes being played, one way or another, but things are working out better than they did for Maimonides (Vindication) in 2007. Remember him? He cost $4.6 million as a yearling and it was his duel with Ready's Image (More Than Ready) that set up the Hopeful for Majestic Warrior.

There was a forlorn attempt to salvage something from Maimonides at stud, but right now their trainer is presumably rather happier with the way Barnes could still work out.

Medaglia d'Oro | Darley

Old Gold Quits On A High

A footnote like this barely does justice to the retirement of one of the most remarkable stallions of our times. But at least we made due acknowledgement, not so long ago, of the Indian summer being enjoyed by Medaglia d'Oro.

His tremendously glamorous physique has adapted to every demand. Yes, he has had plenty of turf action. But as a son of El Prado (Ire), he has done something beyond the late Kitten's Joy as a conduit to North American dirt for Sadler's Wells. If we are belatedly witnessing somewhat increased traffic between the gene pools, either side of the water, Medaglia d'Oro has served as a crucial crossover influence during an era of cramped horizons.

He leaves the stage with his legacy continuing to expand, through the likes of Violence (four sons of his own at stud) and Bolt d'Oro. Young stallions out of his daughters, meanwhile, include National Treasure, Prince of Monaco and Olympiad.

The stallion who started out with Rachel Alexandra was already 22 when siring his current sophomores, including Grade I winners Good Cheer, Nitrogen and East Avenue. So the fact that the old boy retained the gusto to cover 56 mares this spring means that he may yet have a chapter or two to add to a quite wonderful saga.