Derby triumph crowning glory for Strawberry Fields Stud

Desert Crown evoked memories of grandsire Galileo's Epsom success 21 years ago with the ease and command of his Cazoo Derby victory for Sir Michael Stoute, Richard Kingscote and Saeed Suhail.

A son of Nathaniel, he is the first colt by Newsells Park Stud's Eclipse and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner to strike at the highest level and the third Classic winner for his sire, following Enable and Channel in the Oaks and Prix de Diane respectively.

Nathaniel is now the sire of six individual Group 1 winners and Deutsches Derby runner-up Enjoy Vijay from a total of 46 Flat stakes performers.

Desert Crown was bred by Cambridgeshire engineer Gary Robinson, who owns Strawberry Fields Stud, near Teversham, and for whom this Derby success has been the culmination of two decades of planning, study and research, putting his theories on genetics and breeding into practice.

Robinson bred Desert Crown out of the Green Desert mare Desert Berry, whose dam Foreign Language he had owned with the late Basil White.

Desert Berry and her foal full-brother to Derby hero Desert CrownCredit: Strawberry Fields Stud

The Derby and Dante Stakes winner is the fourth runner and winner out of Desert Berry, following on from Group 3 winner Flying Thunder, by Archipenko. She has a two-year-old filly by Al Kazeem, a yearling colt from the first crop of Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man and foaled a brother to Desert Crown this spring. Unsurprisingly, Desert Berry returned to Newsells Park Stud to visit Nathaniel once more.

Successful over a mile at three, Desert Berry hails from another top-notch Juddmonte family. Her dam Foreign Language is a winning daughter of Distant View and the Listed Prix des Tuileries winner Binary, by Rainbow Quest, making her a half-sister to Binary File, who was a Group 3 and Listed winner in Scandinavia.

More pertinently, Foreign Language is a half-sister to Binche, a Woodman mare who did not hit the heights on the track but developed into a top-class broodmare. She is the dam of Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Byword, by Peintre Celebre, and Proviso, a daughter of Dansili who was a quadruple Grade 1 winner for Juddmonte and Bill Mott.

Binche is also the dam of a pair of stakes winners by Frankel in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam winner Finche, who was Group 1-placed in Australia, and Baratti, who was a Listed winner at Longchamp in April for Andre Fabre.

Zatsfine, Binche's daughter by Oasis Dream, is the dam of Group 3 winner Delaware, who is also by Frankel and stands at Woodside Park Stud in Australia, and the Listed Prix de Bagetelle winner Environs, by Dansili.

Desert Crown was sold by Strawberry Fields Stud to Blandford Bloodstock for 280,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 2.

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