Royal blood as success is all in the family at Ascot

Many column inches are dedicated to the success of stallions and in siring a second Group 1 winner of the week, to bring his career total to 30, Frankel certainly earned plenty of plaudits but Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Mostahdaf was a significant success for his dam Handassa.

Frankel's own sire Galileo has a strong affiliation with Dubawi mares and Frankel appears to share his father's genetic affinity with Dubawi's daughters as Mostahdaf is the fourth individual winner bred on the cross which includes Derby hero Adayar, who was third to Mostahdaf at the royal meeting. Half of Frankel's eight stakes winners with Dubawi as a their broodmare sire have been successful at the top level and the cross has 25 per cent stakes winners to runners.

This particular representative is a five-year-old Shadwell homebred and is both the second Group 1 winner and second Royal Ascot winner that the daughter of Dubawi has foaled, following the success of her daughter Nazeef during the summer of 2020. The Invincible Spirit mare won on this card three years ago, as she was victorious in the Group 2 Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, which set her up for wins at Newmarket in the Falmouth and Sun Chariot Stakes.

Bred by Red House Stud, Handassa was sold for 100,000gns by her breeders at the Book 1 sale of 2009 to Shadwell and was sent into training with Kevin Prendergast on the Curragh. Successful on her only start at two, she won the Listed Garnet Stakes over a mile at Naas on her penultimate start at three.

She is a half-sister to the Grade 2 San Gabriel Stakes winner and Grade 1 Frank E Kilroe Mile third Desert Stone (by Fastnet Rock) and to Euginio, who earned Royal Ascot black type when second in the Wolferton Stakes for Richard Hannon.

It's a family blessed with speed - second dam Starstone is an unraced Diktat half-sister to the Group 1-winning sprinters and full-brothers Goodricke and Pastoral Pursuits.

Already a dual winner over a mile, Handassa's three-year-old Dark Angel colt Mostabshir was sixth in Tuesday's Group 1 St James's Palace Stakes on his first try in stakes company of any description for the same connections as Mostahdaf. Handassa has a two-year-old by Frankel and a foal by him with her yearling by his Juddmonte stud mate Kingman.

Handassa's nine-year-old daughter by Oasis Dream, Butoolat, is now owned by leading jockey Chris Hayes who has a long and successful relationship with Shadwell and Handassa's trainer, the legendary Kevin Prendergast. Butoolat provided Hayes and his wife Rachel with their first winners as breeders this year when her son Bobby Dassler (Awtaad), who Hayes partnered to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas for Shadwell and Prendergast, won at Nottingham last month for Tom Ward.

Stars and stripes fly over Ascot

Transatlantic success always adds a dash of star-spangled fun to Royal Ascot and Crimson Advocate's thrilling victory in the opening Queen Mary Stakes was a notable one for American bloodstock as the George Weaver-trained filly is the first European Group winner for her sire, the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Nyquist. She is the first runner for the five-time Grade 1 winner in Britain.

Bred by Whitehall Lane Farm, she was sold by Beth Bayer to Jack Goldthorpe and Ciaran Dunne's Dew Sweeper II for $100,000 at Ocala's October Selected Yearling Sale and is bred to be a high-class juvenile. She is the third winner out of Citizen Advocate, who was twice successful in Listed contests at two and second in the Grade 3 Azalea Stakes. 

Citizen Advocate is a Proud Citizen half-sister to Come A Callin, the dam of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Caledonia Road by Quality Road. Come A Callin did her winning at two and is also the dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Officiating by Blame and of One Of A Kind, a Stakes-winning son of Lemon Drop Kid.

John Velazquez riding Crimson Advocate (red) wins the Queen Mary StakesCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Second dam Twilight Service is a Horse Chestnut half-sister to the Stakes-winning dams of Grade 1 winners Data Link and Hymn Book.

Although best known for his Kentucky Derby success, Nyquist himself was champion two-year-old with an unbeaten sequence of five victories that culminated in that Breeders' Cup success but also took in the Grade 1 Frontrunner Stakes and Futurity Stakes. The $400,000 Ocala Breeze-Up buy warmed up for his Churchill Downs triumph by winning the Florida Derby for Doug O'Neill and Paul Reddam and his Triple Crown bid ended when he was third in the Preakness.

By leading sire Uncle Mo, he retired to Darley America's Jonabell Farm at the end of his three-year-old season and produced two Grade 1-winning juveniles in his first crop - the Frizette Stakes winner Vequist and Gretzky The Great, successful in the Summer Stakes. 

The star of Nyquist's second crop is the Del Mar Derby winner Slow Down Andy, who was third in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the Awesome Again Stakes. His Royal Ascot star Crimson Advocate is the seventh Group/Grade winner from four crops of racing age by Nyquist.

Pointed success 

Darley's first season sire Blue Point retired after his heroics at Royal Ascot in 2019 where he won both the King's Stand and Diamond Jubilee Stakes, having been victorious in the shorter contest a year previously.

Big Evs emulates his sire Blue Point with Royal Ascot successCredit: Edward Whitaker

It was fitting that the son of Shamardal, who has made a scorching start to his stallion career, should sire his first black type winner at the royal meeting and it came through Big Evs in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes. 

Second on debut at Redcar at the end of May for RP Racing and Mick Appleby, the colt was bred by Rabbah Bloodstock and sold to Michael Cleere through Houghton Bloodstock for 50,000gns at Book 2.

He is the fourth winner out of Oasis Dream mare Hana Lina, a half-sister to the Group 2 winner and multiple Group 1-placed sprinter Lady Of The Desert who in turn is the dam of Lowther Stakes winner Queen Kindly. 

Big Evs has a Royal Ascot pedigree on both sides of the page as his grandam is Queen's Logic, who won the Queen Mary for Jaber Abdullah and Mick Channon on her way to being crowned champion two-year-old filly of 2001 with victories in the Lowther Stakes and Cheveley Park. Queen's Logic is a Grand Lodge half-sister to champion Dylan Thomas and 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen, dam of Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Shale. Another half-sister, the Oaks runner-up Remember When, is the dam of Derby winner Serpentine.

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