Farewell to Black Dahlia, an excellent and underappreciated producer

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A tweet by SF Bloodstock’s Tom Ryan last week reporting the death of the operation’s talented producer Black Dahlia after the birth of her filly foal by emergency caesarean section brought a lump to the throat.

The announcement probably didn’t attract the attention it deserved, as it came amid the excitement of Cheltenham, but it’s worth revisiting the mare’s achievements now to remind ourselves of how exceptional – and arguably underappreciated – they were.

Despite significant early setbacks, she became the dam of five winners from as many foals, three of whom hit the board at Royal Ascot in as many years, and she was on the mark with an exciting winner in Hong Kong at the weekend.

They say it sometimes takes years to become an overnight success, and that was certainly the case for Black Dahlia.

The Worksop Manor Stud-bred mare was by the then exciting young sire Dansili out of the Listed-winning Rock City mare South Rock, and yet she was sold as a yearling at Doncaster in 2006 for a measly 5,000gns.

It took her eight attempts to get off the mark for her buyer Alan McCabe, and she did so in a lowly Chelmsford handicap at three. After scoring again at Doncaster four runs later, it then took her another 18 visits to a racecourse to get into a winner’s enclosure for a third time.

But something seemed to click with her in the autumn of her four-year-old season, and she showed marked improvement to win two all-weather handicaps in a row, the second time by six lengths in striking fashion.

That winter she finally showed some of the class she was always entitled to have, considering the identity of her parents, but had hitherto kept well hidden, by finishing a close fifth in the Listed Sunbury Stakes at Kempton and then finding only the smart Viva Vettori too good in the Listed Ladybird Stakes back at the same track.

Black Dahlia was offered by Denniff Farms at the Tattersalls December Mares’ Sale at the end of her five-year-old season, and it was there that Ryan snapped her up for the reasonable sum of 40,000gns to send to SF Bloodstock’s portfolio of stallions.

“We bought her as a maiden mare back in 2010,” Ryan told Good Morning Bloodstock. “I remember that day in Newmarket quite vividly. It would be difficult to find a more athletic, free-moving individual than her.

“The plan at the time was to breed her to Lope De Vega and put her back on the market in the following season. But when we got her home to Mount Eaton Stud in County Wexford we discovered that she had a cystic ovary, which had to be removed.

“That was clearly a big setback for our plans, and meant that we had to wait a year before we could get her covered, as I felt at the time we shouldn’t sell a mare with one ovary.

“So the decision was made to keep her and play the long game, and to make her a French resident at Ecurie des Monceaux. Clearly, that delay to her breeding career turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

Fate was to intervene in the history of Black Dahlia once again, when an entry was made for her at the Arqana December Breeding-Stock Sale of 2016 in the wake of her first foal, the Lope De Vega filly Al Hayyah, notching three black-type placings that year.

“We offered her back in foal to Lope De Vega but somehow she failed to make the reserve of €150,000," added Ryan. "That miss turned out to be extremely fortuitous, as her 2017 colt foal sold for €900,000 as a yearling.”

The blockbuster price for the colt, who turned out to be Lope Y Fernandez, was achieved at the Arqana August Yearling Sale two weeks after Black Dahlia’s third foal Dark Vision (by Dream Ahead) had struck in the Vintage Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. Dark Vision never quite delivered on the brilliant promise he showed that day, but he did win the Royal Hunt Cup and a brace of black-type races at four.

The mare’s second foal Another Eclipse, also by Lope De Vega, had also won and recorded high ratings in a series of placed efforts in competitive handicaps by the time of the auction.

Lope Y Fernandez himself was bought by Coolmore and sent out by Aidan O’Brien to win the Round Tower Stakes and to run placed in the Chesham and Vintage Stakes at two, and to achieve silver or bronze medal positions in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Prix Jean Prat, Prix Maurice de Gheest, Breeders’ Cup Mile and Queen Anne Stakes at three and four.

Dark Vision: Vintage Stakes winnerCredit: Edward Whitaker

Black Dahlia’s fifth foal, the Lope De Vega colt Liffey River, was sold as a yearling for €380,000 and also proved to be smart, finishing second in last year’s Britannia Stakes for Joseph O'Brien – thus completing his dam’s treble of Royal Ascot place-getters. He was subsequently sold to be trained by Danny Shum in Hong Kong under the name Rise Brethren, and he scored for the first time in his new home at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The mare has no three-year-old progeny, but she has a two-year-old Lope De Vega full-sister to Lope Y Fernandez and Liffey River who was sold to Church Farm for €100,000 at Arqana last October. She is set to be re-offered by the buyer at the company’s breeze-up sale in May.

“We then have a stunning Wootton Bassett yearling filly who will be offered at Arqana this summer and a very nice Hello Youmzain filly foal who will hopefully fly the flag for her fledgling sire in 2023 and beyond,” reported Ryan.

We haven't heard the last of Black Dahlia, then, and her influence looks set to deepen with Lope Y Fernandez having commenced his stallion career at the National Stud in Newmarket this year. He should be in strong demand, considering his race record and pedigree.

It also looks as though her Listed-placed first foal Al Hayyah could become an important broodmare for Al Shaqab Racing. Her own debut offspring, the three-year-old Ectot gelding Bennetot, won at Cagnes-sur-Mer in January and finished second to Marianachic in the Listed Prix Francois Mathet at Saint-Cloud on Saturday.

Black Dahlia might not have made as deep an impact on the breed as the likes of Hasili, Miesque or Urban Sea – at least yet – but she is exactly the sort of consistent producer we ought to celebrate more.

What do you think?

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Pedigree pick

Bumper devotees are in for a treat on Tuesday, with some cracking contests across Britain and Ireland containing a few well-bred newcomers.

Park Hill Dancer, a half-brother to three-time Grade 2-winning hurdler Song For Someone, represents trainer Nicky Henderson and owner Middleham Park Racing in the bumper for first-time participants under rules who have won or placed in British point-to-points (4.46).

The five-year-old son of German Derby hero Waldpark was a two-length winner between the flags at Bartleby for Leslie Jefford in December.

Imperial Merlin, a €34,000 store sale graduate trained by John Quinn for Imperial Racing and John Blackburn, is one of three debutants set to line up in the bumper at Wetherby (5.31).

He was bred by Boardsmill Stud by sending dual Listed hurdle winner Silver Charmer to its own multiple Group 1 winner Kalanisi, which makes him a half-brother to last year’s Denman Chase scorer Secret Investor.

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