Showcasing Continuing to Thrive

[Wandering Eyes]

The introduction in 2015 of the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, a championship sprint for three-year-olds, came about because of a misconception, namely that three-year-old sprinters cannot be competitive against their elders and that consequently the three-year-olds should have their own race rather than have to take on the older generations at weight-for-age. This, of course, is nonsense. Second-tier three-year-olds, understandably, are not able to beat top-class older horses at weight-for-age, but for the cream of the crop it has always been very feasible.

We don’t have to go back as far as the likes of Marwell (Ire) (Habitat), Habibit (GB) (Habitat) and Dayjur (Danzig) to prove the point; more recent years have thrown up numerous dominant sprinting three-year-olds including the champions Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert), Dream Ahead (Diktat {GB}), Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream) and Harry Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

Another horse who proved the point, albeit without winning, was Showcasing (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who showed that he could hold his own against high-class older horses as early as the May of his three-year-old season. His second place behind the six-year-old Prime Defender (GB) (Bertolini) in the G2 Duke Of York S. at the York May Meeting in 2010 was an excellent performance, suggesting that he would be a leading contender for top sprint honours during that summer. Sadly, injury prevented him from living up to that promise, but he is now making amends by demonstrating himself to be one of Europe’s best sires of fast horses.

Showcasing had been a terrific two-year-old, taking the G2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Gimcrack S. at York’s Ebor Meeting in August 2009 for his owner/breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah after having strolled home in a six-furlong maiden race at Yarmouth. So good was that Gimcrack win that his third place in the G1 Shadwell Middle Park S. had to be described as a disappointing effort. In the spring of 2010, though, he looked set to put that disappointment behind him. He stood out in John Gosden’s string, a magnificently strong and powerful colt with eye-catching speed. Gosden had no hesitation in pitching him against his elders in the Duke Of York S., a race in which three-year-old runners are rare; and the colt did not let him down, beating all bar one of his 11 vastly more seasoned rivals. Sadly, things went awry after that. Showcasing was one of the leading fancies for an ultra-competitive and cosmopolitan 24-runner renewal of the G1 Golden Jubilee S., but ran terribly, finishing last. His performance in the G1 July Cup was similarly poor when he finished 13th of the 14 runners. He never ran again, reportedly having suffered an injury to a hock. When he was made available for inspection by breeders during the December Sale, he was a pale shadow of the magnificent colt who had turned so many heads in the spring. His hock injury had taken its toll, and it was easy to forget both how good-looking he had been and how much ability he had shown before going amiss.

In retrospect, we can say that Showcasing’s stud career is making us not only speculate about just how great a racing career he might have enjoyed had he not injured his hock, but also reflect on the truism that form is temporary but class is permanent. Showcasing lost his form in the summer of 2010, but ultimately he did not lose his class. Many of the breeders shrewd enough to have pinned their faith in him when he started out at Whitsbury Manor Stud have reaped rich dividends as a result.

With his form having tailed off so badly and his brilliant Gimcrack victory by now a distant memory, Showcasing was not the most obvious choice for mare owners in the spring of 2011. His fee of £5,000 reflected this. He was clearly not going to be favoured by the cream of the country’s broodmare bands. He was going to have to sink or swim on his own merits. When his first two-year-olds began racing in 2014 (by which time his fee had been reduced by 10%), it quickly became clear that he would not be sinking.

The Ger Lyons-trained Capella Sansevero (GB), who had cost 25,000 guineas as a yearling, was the first to advertise Showcasing’s merit. He won over five furlongs on debut at Dundalk in the middle of April 2014 before completing a swift hat-trick by adding victories at Naas and the Curragh, where he became Showcasing’s first stakes winner by taking the Marble Hill S. He made further headlines when being sold for £1.3 million at Goffs’ London Sale on the eve of Royal Ascot and then finishing second to The Wow Signal (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the G2 Coventry S. the next day. He went on to post several more excellent performances later in the year including winning the G3 Round Tower S. and finishing third in the G1 Phoenix S. and he now stands at Bridge House Stud.

As the summer of 2014 went on, Showcasing’s run of success continued apace. Toocoolforschool (Ire) had failed to sell at £20,000 as a yearling in August 2013, but 13 months later, he registered a stunningly good seven-length victory in the G2 Mill Reef S. over six furlongs at Newbury, a day after Accipiter (GB) had landed the Harry Rosebery S. over five furlongs at Ayr. By the end of the year, Showcasing was a Group-winning sire in both hemispheres, Showboy (NZ) having got his southern hemisphere runners (conceived at Haunui Farm in New Zealand) off to a swift start by scoring in New Zealand’s principal early-season two-year-old contest, the G2 Wakefield Challenge S. at Trentham. The following month another member of this crop, Hardline (NZ), landed an even richer prize when taking the Karaka Million at Ellerslie.

We see all too many stallions who enjoy notable success in their first year before falling off the radar shortly afterwards. We didn’t have to wait too long in 2015 before finding out that Showcasing was not going to be one of them. Plenty of his first crop were showing that that they were progressing well as they matured, including Prize Exhibit {GB} who had won two of her seven starts at two in the UK in 2014 and been Group 3-placed. In 2015, she won two graded stakes in California and was Grade I-placed, and then she went on to further graded stakes success in both 2016 and ’17. At the same time, Showcasing’s second crop of juveniles were doing as well as his first runners.

Tasleet (GB) was the first member of Showcasing’s second crop to excel. He took the Rose Bowl S. at Newbury in July 2015 before going on to ever greater glories, taking the G3 Greenham S. as a three-year-old and the G2 Duke Of York S. at four. Whatever he could do, though, his contemporary Quiet Reflection, it turned out, could do better. Representing the same owner/trainer combination of the Ontoawinner Syndicate and Karl Burke as Toocoolforschool, she turned out to have been a wonderful bargain for the £44,000 which her owners had paid for her at Goffs UK’s Doncaster Breeze-Up Sale in the spring of 2015. She won by five lengths over five furlongs on debut at Hamilton in the summer before taking two stakes races in the autumn: the Shadwell Stud / EBF Stallions Harry Rosebery S. at Ayr and the G3 Dubai Cornwallis S. at Newmarket. She started her second season with a sparkling hat-trick in G3 Prix Sigy at Chantilly, the G2 188Bet Sandy Lane S. at Haydock and the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. An excellent third place behind Limato (Ire) Tagula {Ire}) in an 18-runner G1 Darley July Cup was followed by her second Group 1 victory (and her first against older opponents) when she won the G1 32Red Sprint Cup S. at Haydock. She gained a further laurel as a four-year-old, taking the G3 Renaissance S. at Naas.

The success of Showcasing’s first juveniles had seen his fee raised in 2015 from £4,500 to £15,000. Quiet Reflection’s repeated displays of excellence, plus good wins from several other Showcasing horses, more than justified this move and then ensured further increases. In 2016 Showcasing stood for £25,000, and his fee has been £35,000 since then. The big wins recorded by his progeny in 2016, besides those registered by Quiet Reflection and Tasleet, included the G3 Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1,000 Guineas) won by Conselice (GB); while his successes in the antipodes included the G3 Gunsynd Classic won by Cylinder Beach (NZ). The following year proved even more cosmopolitan, with Showcasing’s highlights of 2017 outside the British Isles including the Juddmonte-bred Projected (GB) taking the G2 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup S. on the east coast of the USA while Prize Exhibit was still thriving in the west; the victory of Bee Bee (NZ) in the Aushorse Golden Horseshoe in Singapore; numerous big wins in New Zealand including the G2 Wakefield Challenge S. victory of Xpression (NZ) and the G3 Stewards S. triumph of Carnival (NZ); and stakes triumphs in France for De Bruyne Horse (GB) and Maximum Aurelius (GB).

This year has seen Showcasing’s status rise to a higher level still. His current three-year-olds were conceived at a fee of £4,500, while his first horses conceived at higher fees are still aged only two. These three-year-olds include G3 Prix Djebel winner Dice Roll (Fr), a place-getter in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains; while his juveniles are headed by G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. and G2 Arqana July S. winner Advertise (GB) and Soldier’s Call (GB), whose triumphs so far include both the Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot and the G3 Prix d’Arenberg at Chantilly.

The most obvious common denominator between the bulk of Showcasing’s winners is speed, but it is not the only one: in general, they seem to be tough, genuine horses who thrive on their racing. That he should be so marked an influence for speed is easy to understand when one considers his pedigree, over and above the form which he showed. He hails from one of Juddmonte’s most notable sprinting familes, descending from his third dam Andaleeb (Lyphard), who was a very smart filly for Prince Khalid Abdullah when trained by Jeremy Tree. Like her GI Kentucky Oaks-winning dam Bag Of Tunes (Herbager {Fr}), Andaleeb was actually a middle-distance performer, taking the G3 Lancashire Oaks in 1988. However, sent to Prince Khalid Abdullah’s brilliant miler Warning (Known Fact), she produced the 1993 G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Prophecy.

Prophecy turned out to be an excellent broodmare. One of her several high-class offspring was Showcasing’s dam Arabesque (GB) (Zafonic), who herself was a stakes-winning sprinter. Arabesque can share the credit for Showcasing’s speed with his sire Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert). Her other offspring include Showcasing’s stakes-performed sprinting full-sisters Bouvardia (GB) and Tendu (GB), as well as Camacho (GB) (Danehill) who won the Sandy Lane S. in 2005 and is now well established as a reliable source of fast horses, including his current stars Teppal (Fr) and Signora Cabello (Ire), successful this year in the G1 Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains and the G2 Queen Mary S., respectively.

With his roll of success continuing to expand so quickly and with so many well-bred younger sons and daughter still to come, it is easy to envisage that Showcasing’s already-remarkable ascent up the stallions’ ranking is far from over.

 

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