Archipenko's broodmare daughters and their role in Lanwades' annus mirabilis

Good Morning Bloodstockis Martin Stevens' daily morning email and presented here online as a sample.

Here he gets to grips with why Kirsten Rausing had particular cause to regret the death of Archipenko but how his legacy very much lives on at her Lanwades Stud - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

All you need do is click on the link above, sign up and then read at your leisure each weekday morning from 7am.

I was well aware that former Lanwades Stud resident Archipenko was a fine source of talented athletes, and that his death aged only 13 in 2017 represented a significant loss to the British stallion ranks. But I was still a little taken aback by just how highly Lanwades owner Kirsten Rausing rated the horse when I interviewed her for last year’s Racing Post Bloodstock Review.

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised by his exalted status, as Rausing did breed her British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes heroine Madame Chiang from him, as well as the superstar Hong Kong-based brothers Glorious Forever and Time Warp.

But just listen to the following quotes from Rausing, bearing in mind Niniski's monumental legacy. He was acquired soon after Lanwades had been bought and defied expectations to become champion first-season sire, with his success helping to fund the continuation and expansion of the stud.

“Next to Niniski the most important horse I ever had here was Archipenko,” she said. “His early loss was a severe blow for Lanwades. He was a magnificent horse to look at, a very good racehorse himself, and it would be hard to find a better pedigree than his.

“He was the sire of seven individual Group 1 winners on three continents from, let’s face it, very limited opportunities. He stood in Argentina for one year only but sired three Group 1 winners there.

“He died aged only 13 from leukaemia, which is very unusual in horses; losing him hit us very hard.”

Subsequent racecourse results have helped explain why Rausing considered Archipenko such an important stallion, as his broodmare daughters have played a key role in Lanwades’ wonderful annus mirabilis.

Madame Chiang’s first foal, the four-year-old Kingman filly Oriental Mystique, built on the promise she showed for David Simcock last year to finish third in the Daisy Warwick Stakes, Pinnacle Stakes and Hoppings Stakes, before gaining a deserved first black-type success in the Prix Luth Enchantee at Clairefontaine in August.

The mare’s third produce, the two-year-old Lope De Vega filly Ching Shih, looks a horse of serious potential after winning a Newbury novice stakes over a mile by a widening four lengths for Simcock last month, on only her second start.

Madame Chiang’s second foal, the three-year-old Invincible Spirit filly Rani Of Jhansi, has yet to win for the same connections but she has finished placed on five of her six starts and was a close fourth on her other run. She looks to hold a fair chance of getting off the mark at Lingfield on Tuesday [today].

Two full-siblings by Archipenko in the Lanwades broodmare band have also been in fine form with their two-year-old produce.

Archipenko: very highly rated and it is all the time becoming more obvious just whyCredit: Lanwades Stud

Kawida, an Ed Walker-trained Sir Percy filly out of Kandahari, carried home colours to a convincing victory in the Listed Montrose Fillies’ Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday, while Eurocrat, a Holy Roman Emperor filly out of Kandahari’s sister Apparatchika, scored in a competitive Naas novice stakes for Jessica Harrington and Alpha Racing in September.

Kandahari and Apparatchika are, incidentally, both dual winners and are also half-sisters to one of the crowning achievements of Lanwades’ remarkable year of breeding success, the multiple Australian Group 1 victor Zaaki.

Furthermore, Sir Percy’s daughter Kawida is not the only useful performer that Rausing has bred by sending an Archipenko mare to a Lanwades stallion.

Silver Kitten, a two-year-old filly by Bobby’s Kitten out of Argenterie, has won once and placed another five times for Mark Johnston, while Alvarino, a three-year-old colt by the same sire and out of Alinstante, struck in a Lingfield novice stakes last year. There is also Arch Moon, by Sea The Moon out of Archduchess, who notched a decent RPR of 90 for winning at Haydock in 2020.

Of course, it’s no surprise that Archipenko should turn out to be an influential broodmare sire, for many of the reasons outlined by Rausing in my interview with her.

He was indeed a top-class horse and incredibly well bred, as a son of Kingmambo and the Grade 1-placed mare Bound. The dam was by Nijinsky out of blue hen Special, making her a half-sister to Nureyev and to Fairy Bridge, the dam of Sadler’s Wells. Kingmambo was out of Miesque, a daughter of Nureyev, so Archipenko was inbred 4x2 to Special.

His half-sister Liable produced US champion Blame, who is also emerging as a broodmare sire of note through the likes of European stakes winners Bellharbour Music and Sacred.

Rausing took great care in planning matings for Archipenko that repeated some of the fabulous names in his pedigree. So, for example, Madame Chiang is inbred 5x3x4 to Special and 3x4 to Nijinsky, while Glorious Forever and Time Warp are out of Here To Eternity, a direct descendant of Special in the female line who has two other instances of Special’s maternal granddam Rough Shod in her pedigree besides.

Several high-class Archipenko mares have been sent to Lanwades’ newest stallion recruit, Study Of Man, to create more intriguing duplications of ancestors – most notably at least a doubling up of Study Of Man’s maternal granddam, the mighty Miesque.

Madame Chiang has been sent to the Prix du Jockey Club hero in each of his first two seasons. The filly foal she produced this year is inbred 3x4 to Miesque and 5x6x4x5 to Special.

Kawida's dam Kandahari was covered by Study Of Man this year, and any resultant foal will also be very 'Special' in more than one sense of the word: the mare is not only by Archipenko but out of a daughter of Sadler's Wells too.

The ill-fated Archipenko might have stood at Lanwades for only eight years, but his bequest to the broodmare band there looks as though it will last for many generations to come.

Get involved!

What do you think? Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

“We’re a very small stud. Mrs Haynes was absolutely thrilled and I was completely over the moon, we didn’t really expect the filly to be as good as she's turned out to be."

For Members’ Club subscribers, Tom Peacock finds out about the stalwart breeder of stakes-winning two-year-old Romantic Time.

Pedigree pick

The John and Thady Gosden-trained Storm Castle, an Invincible Spirit colt who is the first foal out of British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Journey, will be a force to be reckoned in the first division of the seven-furlong two-year-old novice stakes at Redcar on Tuesday (12.05) – assuming he has learned from his first outing at Salisbury last month, when he ran green and finished a distant sixth to subsequent Vertem Futurity fourth Hannibal Barca.

But he is taken on with William Haggas’s newcomer in the race, Spirit Of Nguru. The Rabbah Bloodstock-bred colt is also by Invincible Spirit and out of Tutu Nguru, a daughter of Blame who was a dual winner and fourth in the Sirenia Stakes and Oh So Sharp Stakes at two. The dam's first foal, the three-year-old Shamardal filly Rastafara, was a Listed winner at Saratoga for Chad Brown and Peter Brant over the summer.

Don’t miss ANZ Bloodstock News

Download the latest issue for all the latest bloodstock news from Australia, New Zealand and beyond, and don’t forget to subscribe for free to have the newsletter delivered direct to your inbox every day.

Make sure to read this week's Asia Bloodstock News

Sign up to our weekly Asia Bloodstock News publication to receive news and features from all things racing and bloodstock across Mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and beyond.

Good Morning Bloodstock is our latest email newsletter. Martin Stevens, a doyen among bloodstock journalists, provides his take and insight on the biggest stories every morning from Monday to Friday