Iffraaj has True Dual-Hemisphere Appeal

The stallion business in New Zealand has changed in recent years. The greatest patriarchs of the modern era have either died or reached old age, so the competition to fill their shoes is obviously ongoing. However, the goal-posts have moved slightly. While the country still treasures its reputation as the Southern-Hemisphere home of the high-class stayer, there is also a requirement to produce good sprinter/milers, prompted in part by an increased dependence on the southeast Asia export market. Happily, several stallions have proved themselves able to fit both bills. One of these is Iffraaj (GB) (Zafonic), who has just enjoyed yet another red-letter weekend, highlighted by the triumph of his son Jon Snow (NZ) in the G1 Australian Derby at Randwick, a victory which gave the stallion a notable trans-Tasman Derby double.

Iffraaj is not a permanent resident of New Zealand, but he is an established fixture at Haunui Farm near Auckland, whither he has regularly shuttled from his bases on the Darley roster in the British Isles, initially at Kildangan Stud in Ireland and more recently at Dalham Hall Stud in England. This strategy is working perfectly because Iffraaj's reputation in both hemispheres has continued to grow throughout his career, to the extent that he is now internationally respected as a notable member of a great family which has been throwing out influential sires for a century.

Iffraaj does not merely come from arguably the best family in the book: he comes from one of its best branches. The influence on international racing over the past century of the legendary filly Pretty Polly (Ire) (Gallinule {GB}) is immense. In her four seasons of racing (1903 to '06), she won 22 of her 24 races at distances from five furlongs to two and a quarter miles, thus doing enough to be ranked as arguably the greatest filly of the 20th century. Time has shown her to have been at least as remarkable a broodmare. Among the many great horses descending from her have been the champion Brigadier Gerard (GB) (Queen's Hussar {GB}) plus three G1 Derby winners, most recently the 2010 hero Workforce (GB) (King's Best). Furthermore, many great stallions have emerged from the family including Northern Dancer's sire Nearctic (Nearco {Ity}) as well as Donatello (Fr) (Blandford {Ire}), Vienna (GB) (Aureole {GB}) and Northern Taste (Northern Dancer). One of the most notable branches of Pretty Polly's family in recent years has been that descending from Iffraaj's third dam Balidaress (Ire) (Balidar {GB}). She sprung to fame initially by breeding two consecutive winners of the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket: Desirable (Ire) (Lord Gayle) and Iffraaj's granddam Park Appeal (Ire) (Ahonoora {Ire}), who won England's top juvenile fillies' race in 1983 and '84 respectively. Both became excellent broodmares, as did their G1 Irish Oaks-winning half-sister Alydaress (Alydar) and their other siblings Salidar (Ire) (Sallust {Ire}) and Balistroika (Nijinsky).The former bred 1993 G1 2000 Guineas place-getter Bin Ajwaad (Ire) (Rainbow Quest) and the latter bred 2003 G1 1000 Guineas heroine Russian Rhythm (Kingmambo).

Desirable produced 1991 1000 Guineas victrix Shadayid (Shadeed), but Park Appeal has an even better record, not least thanks to her son Cape Cross (Ire) (Green Desert). Winner of the G1 Lockinge S. in 1998, Cape Cross has now bred two colts to have emulated the aforementioned Workforce by completing the Derby/G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe double: Sea The Stars (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB). Furthermore, Cape Cross's offspring also include the outstanding filly Ouija Board (GB), winner of seven Group 1 races before breeding the 2014 Derby winner Australia (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). Park Appeal's other eight winners included the decent fillies Arvola (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) and Pastorale (Nureyev). The former bred the high-class sprinter and stallion Diktat (GB) (Warning {GB}), while the latter bred Iffraaj.

Iffraaj couldn't match his close relatives Cape Cross and Diktat in winning in Group 1 company, but he was arguably as good a racehorse as the former, if maybe not quite as brilliant as Diktat. Trained by the late Michael Jarvis for Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid al Maktoum, he won a seven-furlong maiden race at Warwick as a 2-year-old in the autumn of 2003 and ran respectably first-up in a handicap at Newmarket the following spring. However, injury then intervened, keeping him off the track for nearly a year. He came good as a 4-year-old, though, winning three consecutive handicaps in the first half of the season before taking the G2 Park S. over seven furlongs at Doncaster in the autumn. He continued to thrive as a 5-year-old in 2006. Having been transferred to Saeed bin Suroor's stable and racing in the Godolphin blue, he won Group 2 races over seven furlongs at both Goodwood and York and came within a head of even greater glory when second of 15 behind Les Arcs (Arch) in the G1 July Cup over six furlongs at Newmarket.

The upshot was that Iffraaj went to stud as potentially a very appealing prospect, but perhaps not the first choice of the many breeders for whom stakes form as a youngster is paramount. He started out at €12,000, but in the short term this fee proved unsustainable and was dropped to €8,000 before his offspring were old enough to race. Once he began to have runners, however, he started to convert the floating voters. And he has continued to do so ever since, showing that he is a worthy upholder of the Pretty Polly tradition, an influence for class at a variety of distances from sprints upwards.

There was an instant rebuff to anyone who queried Iffraaj's ability to sire stock more precocious than himself when he sired a champion juvenile in his first crop. Trained in England by Richard Fahey, Wootton Bassett (GB) won his first four races in the UK before crossing the Channel to take France's biggest juvenile race, the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere over 1400m. This success began to raise Iffraaj's profile, and further top-level juvenile success followed even before he could benefit from the better class of mares which he was beginning to attract as a result. From the book of mares which he had covered earlier that year came two top-class fillies. Chriselliam (Ire) was Britain's top 2-year-old filly of 2013, taking the G1 Cheveley Park S. over six furlongs at Newmarket before heading across the Atlantic to take the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf over a mile at Santa Anita. Runner-up to her at Newmarket was her paternal half-sister Rizeena (Ire), who had already taken Ireland's biggest race for juvenile fillies, the G1 Moyglare Stud S. at The Curragh. Tragically Chriselliam died early in 2014 so was unable to progress to further glory, but Rizeena continued to thrive, coming close to the notable feat of winning at Royal Ascot three years in a row. Having taken the G2 Queen Anne S. over five furlongs at two, she landed the G1 Coronation S. over a mile at three; and at four she finished second in the G2 Windsor Forest S.

Further good horses have followed in Europe for Iffraaj including the admirably tough Ribchester (Ire), winner last year of the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois over 1600m at Deauville after having finished third in the spring in the 2000 Guineas. The same crop included Nathra (Ire). Winner of the G3 Nell Gwyn S. over seven furlongs at Newmarket as a 3-year-old, she was Group 1-placed over a mile at both two and three. Another of Iffraaj's progeny to be Group 1-placed at both those ages has been Hot Streak (Ire) whose best win came in the G2 Temple S. over five furlongs at Haydock as a 3-year-old in 2014. He now stands at Tweenhills Stud and has his first foals on the ground. It will be interesting to see if they can do as well as the first crop of Wootton Bassett, whose first 3-year-olds last year included the best horse in Europe, Almanzor (Fr), winner of the G1 Prix du Jockey-Club at over 2100m and both the G1 Irish Champion S. and the G1 Champion S. over 10 furlongs.

While the majority of Iffraaj's better European winners have come at distances up to a mile, he has also been notably represented over farther by his second-crop son Benvenue (Ire). Hailing from a classic middle-distance family, Benvenue proved himself a good horse in Italy where the highlight of his career was his triumph in the G1 Gran Premio di Milano over 2400m at San Siro as a 5-year-old in 2014.

Iffraaj's versatility as a stallion has been at least as evident in New Zealand. It must have been a straightforward decision for the Darley policy-makers to send him there, his close relative Cape Cross having done well when shuttling there early in his career, most notably siring seven-time Group 1 winner Seachange (NZ). From his home-away-from-home at Haunui Farm (whither he began to shuttle in 2008 after his second Irish season) Iffraaj has been a consistent high-achiever. His laurels there have included champion second-season sire in 2012/'13; leading sire of juvenile winners in 2013/'14; leading sire of 3-year-olds 2014/'15; and leading sire of 2-year-olds in 2015/'16, thanks in part to the Karaka Million winner Xiong Feng (NZ). This term he is currently lying second in the General Sires' Table, and is the leading sire of 3-year-olds.

Prior to this season, the pick of Iffraaj's NZ-bred stock was the top-class sprinter/mile Turn Me Loose (NZ) who took the G1 NZ 2000 Guineas over 1600m at Riccarton as a 3-year-old and, in Australia, both the G1 Emirates S. over 1600m and the G1 Futurity S. at four. It could be said that part of Iffraaj's appeal to mare owners in both hemispheres, but particularly in Australasia, is that his pedigree is devoid of the late, great Danehill (Danzig), who is responsible for so many of the best broodmares around the world. Like Chriselliam, Turn Me Loose is from a Danehill mare, as is the multiple group winner Fix (NZ), who was New Zealand's Filly of the Year in the 2012/'13 season. That accolade, incidentally, was echoed two seasons later by dual Group 2 winner Serena Miss (NZ) who was the top-rated filly on New Zealand's 2-Year-Old Free Handicap in the 2014/'15 season.

Recent weeks have seen a further expansion of Iffraaj's scope as a sire. Firstly Gingernuts (NZ) established himself a Classic star on both sides of the Tasman by taking the G2 Avondale Guineas over 1600m, the G1 NZ Derby over 2400m and the G1 Rosehill Guineas over 2000m; then Jon Snow, having finished third to Gingernuts in the NZ Derby, took both the G2 Tulloch S. over 2000m and the G1 Australian Derby over 2400m in Sydney. The day of that latter triumph saw Iffraaj register another notable milestone when Melody Bell (NZ) became the first Group 1 winner produced by one of his daughters when taking the G1 Manawatu Sires' Produce S. over 1400m at Awapuni. A stablemate of Gingernuts, she is bred on a reverse of the cross which has produced Chriselliam, Turn Me Loose and Fix, being by the Danehill stallion Commands (Aus).

Currently aged 16, Iffraaj now ranks as one of the best proven stallions in New Zealand as well as a great friend to commercial breeders in the British Isles. He should continue to sire high-class sprinters, milers and middle-distance horses in both hemispheres for years to come.