Pedigree Insights: Iridessa

Every year the freshman stallions face a desperate battle against time in their bid to make an impact before the yearling sales circuit gets fully under way in October. There are rich rewards for any which achieve that target, as was amply demonstrated last week.

The quick-maturing No Nay Never, who was represented by his sixth black-type winner when All The King's Men made all in the Legacy S. at Navan two days ago, achieved a top-10 finish at last week's Book 1. He achieved an average of 331,000gns with 10 yearlings sold, even though his second crop was sired at the comparatively modest fee of €17,500. It is worth mentioning that this second crop is a fair bit bigger than his 88-strong first crop, so 2019 could be highly productive for the Scat Daddy horse, who also did very well at Goffs.

Last week also saw Kingman's total of first-crop black-type winners rise to five, when the imposing French colt Persian King landed the G3 Autumn S., to improve his record to three wins from four starts. Also the sire of the exciting Calyx, Kingman was another who reaped the rewards in the Tattersalls sales ring, achieving the third-highest average, a respectful distance behind superstars Galileo and Dubawi. With 21 of his yearlings finding buyers, Kingman's average stood at 314,714gns, off a fee of £55,000.

Unfortunately, allowance isn't always made for the fact that middle-distance horses, such as Nathaniel, Camelot, Intello and Australia, can't reasonably be expected to beat the October deadline with the majority of their stock. This type of horse often has to be judged on his number of promising winners at maiden and novice levels, which calls for a bit of bravery from the buyers of their second-crop yearlings.

I'm pleased to say that last week's results provided some reassuring evidence about two young stallions which fall into the middle-distance category–the Deutsches Derby winner Sea The Moon and Derby winner Ruler Of The World.

Sea The Moon raced only once as a juvenile, when an easy winner over a mile at Cologne in late September. In common with many other sons and daughters of Sea The Stars, Sea The Moon made a lot of progress from two to three and his wide-margin win in the Deutsches Derby improved his 3-year-old record to three wins from as many starts. It was a great pity that he didn't get the chance to clarify exactly how good he was by running in the Arc.

Sea The Moon's first yearlings were very well received at the 2017 sales and they are busily justifying their buyers' faith. With a pleasing proportion of winners to runners, the 7-year-old stallion already has two group winners to his credit in Germany. Firstly, Quest The Moon took the G3 Zukunftsrennen over seven furlongs in September and then Noble Moon landed the G3 Preis des Winterfavoriten over a mile on Sunday. Another Sea The Moon colt, Man On The Moon, was third behind Noble Moon. This second group success will surely benefit this week's sales yearlings from Sea The Moon's considerably smaller second crop, which includes a colt who made 125,000gns last week.

Unexpectedly, the star of last week's first-crop action was Ruler Of The World, who gate-crashed the party when his daughter Iridessa sprang a 14-1 surprise in the G1 Fillies' Mile.

At the time of writing, the only members of Ruler Of The World's first crop to have made more than two starts are Iridessa, the Beverley winner Major Snugfit and the Italian winner Lady di Ferro, so their sire hadn't had much chance to prove himself prior to his daughter's Group 1 triumph. However, the style of Iridessa's victory demands a reappraisal of her sire, who has experienced plenty of ups and downs both as a racehorse and sire.

His racing career started with a series of ups. Unraced at two, Ruler Of The World made a successful debut in April 2013 in a Curragh maiden under Iridessa's trainer Joseph O'Brien and a month later he became a group winner, wearing cheek pieces, when partnered by Ryan Moore in the G3 Chester Vase. Moore was sufficiently impressed to stick with Ruler Of The World when the colt was one of five Aidan O'Brien challengers for the Derby, but he started at 7-1 in a market dominated by 2000 Guineas winner Dawn Approach. With Dawn Approach blowing his chance by refusing to settle, Ruler Of The World stayed on to win a non-vintage edition of the Epsom classic.

So far, so good but the royally-bred son of Galileo could finish only fifth when odds on for the Irish Derby and he later finished seventh in the Arc, with his Arc effort being sandwiched between a short-head second to the Japanese Derby winner Kizuna in the G2 Prix Niel and a close third behind Farhh and Cirrus des Aigles in the Champion S.

Unlike many Derby winners Ruler Of The World stayed in training at four, with Sheikh Joaan buying a half-share in him. The colt disappointed in the Dubai World Cup and was then side-lined until the autumn after pulling a muscle. Although he showed he had lost none of his ability when he defeated Flintshire to take the G2 Prix Foy, he rounded off his career by finishing ninth in the Arc and last in the Champion S.

He duly joined the Coolmore stallion team, where his fee went from €15,000 in his first season to €10,000 in his second and then to €8,000 in his third and fourth years.  Ruler Of The World's chances of making a sizeable impact with his first crop weren't helped when he suffered an injury which forced him to miss the last six weeks or so of the 2015 covering season. The end result was a crop of 44 and his next two crops are also quite small. The question now is whether Iridessa's emergence as a potential Classic filly can breathe new life into his career.

It is perhaps no coincidence that Iridessa is out of a daughter of the champion broodmare sire Danehill. It was Danehill who sired Ruler Of The World's excellent half-brother Duke of Marmalade, the best older horse of 2008 when he reeled off Group 1 wins in the Prix Ganay, Tattersalls Gold Cup, Prince of Wales's S., the King George and the Juddmonte International.

Duke of Marmalade retired to Coolmore with a much higher profile than Ruler Of The World, starting his career at €40,000, so it was particularly disappointing when he made a disastrously slow start to his stallion career which quickly resulted in an announcement in May 2014 that he had been sold to South Africa.

Needless to say, there was a twist to this particular tale when Duke of Marmalade's progeny started to shine when their stamina came into play. When Simple Verse narrowly landed the 2015 St Leger, she credited his sire with his fourth “Classic” success of the year, following Sound of Freedom's win in the G3 Premio Regina Elena, Star of Seville's in the G1 Prix de Diane and Nutan's five-length success in the G1 Deutsches Derby,

Duke of Marmalade's future Gold Cup winner Big Orange was also beginning to demonstrate his talent, with his win in the Gr.2 Princess of Wales's S. The smart stayer Marmelo is another of his progeny, as is Wannabe Better, a G3 winner whose second foal, a filly by Galileo, was sold for 1,200,000gns to Cheveley Park Stud last week.

Iridessa's dam Senta's Dream sold for €300,000 as a yearling in 2005 but she never raced and her price plummeted to 14,000gns the next time she appeared in the sales ring, in 2013. Iridessa's second dam Starine outperformed her workmanlike French pedigree to the extent that she sold for a million dollars as a 5-year-old in 2002.

Remarkably, the daughter of Mendocino contested three claiming races during a 12-race juvenile career in France, winning two of them, before quickly progressing to win in Listed company. After leaving France early in her 4-year-old seasons, she became a Grade I winner at four and five in the colours of Bobby Frankel, who sold her soon after she had defeated those top mares Banks Hill and Islington in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Arlington Park.

Stamina is surely not going to be a problem for Iridessa, especially when Ruler Of The World's 2-year-old brother Norway won the Listed Zetland S. over a mile and a quarter the day after Iridessa had battled against a very strong wind to take the Fillies' Mile.