So, just how dual-purpose have Nathaniel's recent books been?

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Here he takes a look at Nathaniel's recent book of mares, and how many National Hunt mares he has covered - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Simon Davies had a noble aim in sponsoring Friday’s Coronation Cup under the name of his new DahlBury venture, which invests in and produces middle-distance performers and stayers for both Flat and National Hunt racing.

“We want to help break the myth that middle-distance racehorses can’t retire to stud, stand under both codes and be commercial,” he said in a mission statement when his support of the race was revealed.

“We’re investing in British thoroughbreds and we hope that our operation will help to challenge some of the currently held notions around ‘dual-purpose’ sires. We believe that middle-distance sires have a lot more to offer in this country.”

Davies will presumably have been pleased that his point was proven in the Derby on Saturday, even if it was a rival British stud that benefited this time, as Desert Crown, a son of Newsells Park stalwart Nathaniel, displayed an unflappable attitude, a killer turn of foot and smart staying power to win the Classic being eased down.

Mind you, Nathaniel has rather had his ‘dual-purpose’ status forced upon him by the market, as he has covered an increasing number of jumps mares in recent years in spite of siring Enable, one of the best fillies of all time, in his debut generation. He has also supplied fellow Group 1 winners Channel, God Given, Lady Bowthorpe, Mutamakina and now Desert Crown from his first six crops aged three and older, so his credentials as a conduit of class for the Flat really ought to be above reproach by now.

It’s not difficult to see why National Hunt breeders are so keen to send their mares to Nathaniel, as his Flat performers Burning Victory, Concertista and Zanahiyr have flourished for a switch of codes, but the scale of neglect from Flat breeders towards him is harder to fathom.

The appeal of breeding precocious horses makes sense for many, as owners and trainers can crack on with their charges sooner and save money; but it’s baffling how more in the industry don’t see that there is a thriving resale market for horses who mature later or need more of a trip.

Nathaniel is the sire of superstar filly EnableCredit: Edward Whitaker

It seems to be a symptom of a sport that is often downright irrational in its attitude towards stayers – from the sniggering that accompanies a young middle-distance sire getting early three-year-old hurdle or bumper winners, even though it’s an inevitability in Britain and Ireland and could be construed as adding residual value to their stock, to the oft-trotted out line that there are no value middle-distance sires to use on these shores, when the source of Enable, no less, is available at a reasonable price.

Then there’s the sales companies’ reluctance to give prime catalogue spots to foals and yearlings by middle-market stamina stallions when they’ll later fight over the ones who turn out to be successful for their horses in training and breeding-stock sales; and what about those owner-breeders with no commercial imperative who make themselves fashion victims by looking past a proven sire like Nathaniel in favour of dearer horses who don’t even have runners yet? Make it make sense!

There’s no use in expecting logic or coherence from the hive mind that makes the market, I suppose, otherwise Westlife wouldn’t have had 14 number one singles in the UK and boring old cheese and onion wouldn’t be the nation’s favourite crisp flavour.

Instead, let’s take a look at exactly what Nathaniel has been covering since 2018, when his book included Strawberry Fields Stud’s winning Green Desert mare Desert Berry, who would produce the exciting Desert Crown from the mating.

For starters, he has 88 two-year-olds, conceived at a fee of £25,000 in the immediate afterglow of Enable winning her second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and her brave defeat of Magical in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

They are the result of a book of 112 mares, only two of whom (1.7 per cent) appear to have been mated with the intention of producing a jumps foal – Hyde, the dam of Elimay and Goshen, the result being a colt called Pompano; and Over Sixty, a smart jumper and the dam of the useful hurdler Cheddleton, the result of which is an unnamed filly.

He covered some outstanding Flat mares that year, and the crop includes half-brothers to Delegator, Lucida and Side Glance, half-sisters to Lyric Of Light and Set Piece, a colt out of Fantasia and a filly out of Magical Romance.

Strikingly, also among the Nathaniel two-year-olds are siblings to two stars of Epsom this weekend – a half-brother to Coronation Cup hero Hukum and a half-sister to Princess Elizabeth Stakes winner Bashkirova.

By 2020, when this season’s yearlings were conceived, the number of mares with obvious National Hunt profiles covered by Nathaniel increased to eight out of a book of 102 (7.8 per cent). They included Cheltenham Festival winner Limini and Over Sixty again.

Limini: one of 77 jumps mares from Nathaniel's book of 136 in 2021Credit: Alan Crowhurst

The trickle of jumps mares entering Nathaniel’s book turned into a torrent in 2021. They accounted for 77 of his 136 mares (57 per cent) judging by pedigrees, race performances and previous covers, and the group included Banjaxed Girl, Happy Diva, Intense Tango, Limini, Ms Parfois, My Petra, Polly Peachum and the dams of Black Tears and Santini.

At least some owners of high-class Flat broodmares who appreciate Classic breeding and are unconcerned by the whims of fashion kept the faith with the beautifully bred son of Galileo last year. New England Stud and Stanley House Stud sent him the dam of Mutamakina again, DJ Erwin Bloodstock sent him the dam of high-class pair Grand Promenade and Santa Monica, and Juddmonte returned with none other than the dam of the great Enable.

Gary Robinson, who bred Desert Crown at his Strawberry Fields Stud near Cambridge, is another refreshingly unconventional thinker who has swum against the tide by continuing to support Nathaniel with his best mares in the last two years, and he has been handsomely rewarded for doing so.

He is now the proud owner of a mare who has a full-brother to a Derby winner at foot and another full-sibling in her belly, as well as a winning Archipenko half-sister to a Derby winner in Rose Berry, who is also in foal to Nathaniel.

Dedicated followers of fashion, take note.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

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Thursday’s Glencairn Stakes winner Cadillac and Cartesienne, a half-sister to Classic winner Modern Games in foal to Lope De Vega, are among the latest lots announced for the Goffs London Sale.

Pedigree pick

Star Fortress boasts significant appeal on pedigree as she makes her debut for trainer Ralph Beckett and owners John and Tanya Gunther in the ten-furlong novice stakes at Windsor this evening (7.45).

The three-year-old filly was bred by the Gunthers with the Tsui family’s Sunderland Holdings. She is by the Tsuis’ wonderful world champion Sea The Stars out of Sirenia Stakes third Lady Aquitaine, an El Prado half-sister to Listed winner Secret Garden, who in turn is the dam of Irish 2,000 Guineas hero Roderic O’Connor.

Lady Aquitaine has already produced Derby du Languedoc winner and Prix de Royallieu third Lady Of Kyushu and Aqueduct stakes scorer Clint Maroon. The dam could notch a quickfire double, as her useful son Group One Power bids for glory in the preceding 11-and-a-half-furlong handicap at Windsor.

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