Pedigree Insights: Blue Point

[Wandering Eyes]

In view of breeders’ seemingly unquenchable thirst for fast and precocious stallions, I half-expected Godolphin to add not only Harry Angel (Dark Angel {Ire}) but also Blue Point (Ire) (Shamardal) to its Darley stallion roster for 2019. However, Charlie Appleby, the trainer of Blue Point, clearly thought that Blue Point, winner last year of the G1 King’s Stand S., still had more to offer and the handsome son of Shamardal has remained in training.

Judging by the 5-year- old’s return to action in last Thursday’s G2 Meydan Sprint, the decision to delay retirement is going to pay off handsomely. Having overwhelmed inferior opposition, Blue Point now looks well placed to add a second Group 1 victory in the Al Quoz Sprint before returning to Europe in a bid to repeat his King’s Stand success. Trainer Appleby’s reaction was that “for me, he’s at his peak now. He’s a 5-year-old and is a strong, professional sprinter.”

Maybe the fully mature Blue Point will be robust enough to avoid putting in the occasional disappointing effort. As a 2-year-old, his impressive victory in the G2 Gimcrack S. had made him a very hot favourite for the G1 Middle Park S., but he failed to cope with the 25/1 The Last Lion. Then last year he started favourite for the G1 July Cup on the strength of his victory over Battaash in the King’s Stand, only to finish seventh.

If he can do even better than in his first three seasons (in each of which he enjoyed Group success), he is going to be a very popular stallion prospect–especially as he is a son of Shamardal, long established as one of Darley’s star stallions.

Although Shamardal is still only 17 years old in 2019, his career has unfortunately been compromised by physical issues over the last few years. Having covered 156 mares in 2014 and 129 in 2015, he hasn’t been able to cope with so many mares in subsequent years, when his fee has been listed as private. While he covered 108 mares in 2016 for a crop of 81 2-year-olds in 2019, he was restricted to 65 mares in 2017 and 63 in 2018 and will be subject to similar restraint during the current season.

Shamardal’s record must be reassuring to owners of stallions entering those often-difficult fourth and fifth seasons. Shamardal managed to establish himself as an elite stallion even though his fee in those fourth and fifth years had to be reduced to half of his original fee of €40,000. Significantly, those €20,000 crops, born in 2010 and 2011, extended his achievement of siring at least one Group 1 winner per crop–an achievement which now extends to his first nine crops. It will be interesting to see whether his 2016 crop can make it 10 in a row. It has already produced Emaraaty Ana, winner of the G2 Gimcrack S.

Among Shamardal’s other achievements are his joint-second place behind Galileo (Ire) among Europe’s most prolific sires of group winners in 2014 and his third places on the same table in 2015 and 2016. His stock have also enjoyed widespread success, ranging from Europe to Australia and Hong Kong. There have also been a handful of graded stakes successes in North America, headed by Sheikha Reika (Fr)’s win in the 2018 GI E. P. Taylor S.

It is easy to forget that Shamardal began his stallion career in Australia, after Darley moved quickly to add him to their shuttle team following an ankle injury which prevented him from tackling the 2005 G1 Eclipse S. His record at the time stood at six wins from seven starts, the only glitch coming when he ventured onto dirt in the UAE Derby.

Shamardal had headed the European 2-year-old rankings in 2004 and was busily staking his claim to a second championship prior to his injury. He had reeled off front-running victories in three Group 1 races in the space of 31 days, taking the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, the Prix du Jockey-Club and the St James’s Palace S.

Shamardal excelled himself by siring Lope de Vega (Ire), another winner of the Poulains and the Jockey-Club, in his first crop. Remarkably, Shamardal and Lope de Vega both became the champion first-crop sire of their year, just as Shamardal’s sire Giant’s Causeway had done.

Shamardal shuttled to Australia a total of six times and he made his mark, even though things didn’t always go smoothly. He didn’t cover in 2007, the year of Australia’s equine influenza outbreak, and an injury to his withers, suffered in a fall quite early in the 2009 season, caused him to be given the rest of the season off. His total of live foals from his five Australian seasons stood at 311, of which 25 became stakes winners. The best of them were Able Friend (Aus) (a star in Hong Kong who ranked highly on the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings), Faint Perfume (Aus) (VRC Oaks), Maybe Discreet (Aus) (SAJC Schweppes Oaks) and their fellow Group 1 winners Captain Sonador (Aus) and Delectation (Aus).

As Shamardal’s fastest son, Blue Point would have obvious appeal as a stallion, especially when Shamardal has already been responsible for a very successful stallion in Lope de Vega. Another son, the Eclipse winner Mukhadram (GB), was recently represented by his first smart winner when his first-crop daughter A Bit Special (GB) landed the GIII Sweetest Chant S. on Gulfstream’s turf.

Shamardal is also making his mark as a sire of broodmares, with his daughters producing the Irish classic winners Awtaad (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and the G1 Prix Morny winner Pretty Pollyanna (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}).

Shamardal has to share some of the credit for Blue Point’s talent with the colt’s broodmare sire Royal Applause (GB) (Waajib {Ire}), who can certainly claim responsibility for Blue Point’s speed. Like Blue Point, Royal Applause won the G2 Gimcrack at two before becoming a Group 1 winner at four. His male line has proved both successful and popular with breeders, thanks principally to Acclamation (GB) and that one’s son Dark Angel (Ire).

Blue Point’s dam Scarlett Rose (GB) has proved much more talented as a producer than as a racehorse. She had failed to win any of her 13 starts, but Blue Point is her second Group winner, following the G2 Railway S. winner Formosina (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}). Blue Point and Formosina jointly cost 305,000gns as yearlings, which is pretty good going when Scarlett Rose once failed to find a buyer at 11,000gns.

It probably isn’t just coincidence that Blue Point and Formosina were both sired by sons of Giant’s Causeway, Formosina being a son of the 2,000 Guineas winner Footstepsinthesand. Another mare from the family produced the very useful Irish sprinter Fort Del Oro (Ire) to Shamardal’s son Lope de Vega. Scarlett Rose is a half-sister to the smart and durable seven-furlong specialist Tumbleweed Ridge (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) and to the dam of the G2 Queen Mary S. winner Gilded (Ire) (Redback {GB}).

 

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