Pedigree Insights: Almond Eye

After the retirement of the sensational Frankel at the end of 2012, there was a possibility that the stars of 2013 would seem rather pedestrian in comparison. Fortunately, nature abhors a vacuum and the void was filled by several genuinely outstanding performers on the international stage.

While none of them came close to matching Frankel's unequalled Timeform rating of 147, several scored highly on the Timeform scale. Treve, who handed out a five-length defeat to the Japanese champion Orfevre in the Arc, earned a figure of 134, as did American Horse of the Year Wise Dan and the phenomenal Australian mare Black Caviar, who extended her winning run to 25.

I mention this to put into perspective the figure of 133 achieved by Lord Kanaloa, the dominant sprinter-miler in Japan. It is also illuminating to point out that Lord Kanaloa's rating was just 1lb below the best Timeform rating achieved by Japanese superstar Deep Impact several years earlier.

Deep Impact, of course, has since developed into a worthy successor to his sire Sunday Silence and currently looks guaranteed to record his seventh consecutive Japanese sires' championship, having also enjoyed Classic success in Britain and France this year. However, the signs are that Lord Kanaloa is going to prove an increasingly dangerous rival to Deep Impact in years to come.

Lord Kanaloa was the leading first-crop sire of 2017, when he also ranked second behind Deep Impact on the 2-year-old table. And those first-crop runners have trained on so well that Lord Kanaloa–with less than half as many runners as Deep Impact–has risen to seventh place behind Deep Impact on the general sires' table. His son Stelvio recently landed the G1 Mile Championship at Kyoto and now Lord Kanaloa's exceptional daughter Almond Eye has won the G1 Japan Cup after dominating the Fillies' Triple Crown, comprising the 1000 Guineas and Oaks equivalents and the Shuka Sho. Another 3-year-old, Danon Smash, took the G3 Keihan Hai over six furlongs on the day of Almond Eye's Japan Cup triumph.

Lord Kanaloa also ranks second behind Deep Impact on this year's 2-year-old table, thanks partly to group stakes successes by Fantasist (a Group 3 winner over six furlongs and a Group 2 winner over seven) and Cadence Call (a Group 3 winner over a mile). With three Group 1 juvenile prizes yet to be decided, it will be interesting to see whether Lord Kanaloa can narrow Deep Impact's lead.

Lord Kanaloa was very different to Deep Impact, in that he had no pretensions to staying middle distances, even though he is a son of King Kamehameha. This winner of the Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun) over a mile and a half has sired two winners of the same Classic.

Lord Kanaloa was never asked to tackle more than a mile during a 19-race career. Before retiring to Shadai he built an enviable record of 13 wins and five seconds, with his victories featuring two in the G1 Sprinters S. at Nakayama and another two in Sha Tin's G1 Hong King Sprint. He proved his versatility with a win in the G1 Yasuda Kinen over a mile.

There are a few possible sources of Lord Kanaloa's speed. Although King Kamehameha stayed well, his grandsires were the top sprinters Mr. Prospector and Last Tycoon. Then there's Storm Cat, who sired Lord Kanaloa's dam Lady Blossom from the dual American Grade I winner Saratoga Dew. Although Saratoga Dew and her sire Cormorant both stayed nine furlongs, Cormorant also set two stakes record times over six furlongs as a 3-year-old.

Breeders have understandably been very eager to use Lord Kanaloa, with his first three crops numbering 180, 195 and 159 registered foals. He has covered at least 250 mares in each of his first four seasons and his fee for 2018 was ¥8 million, which put him on a par with Sunday Silence's very successful son Heart's Cry.

King Kamehameha and Lord Kanaloa both enjoy the priceless benefit of having pedigrees free of the ubiquitous Sunday Silence. It is worth mentioning that even though Sunday Silence died as long ago as 2002, he still exerts a huge influence on Japanese breeding. Five of his sons currently rank among the top eight on the leading sires' table, and Sunday Silence is heading for yet another broodmare sire championship. In other words, Lord Kanaloa has a great deal to offer breeders trapped in the Sunday Silence cul-de-sac.

Daughters of Sunday Silence supplied King Kamehameha with numerous group winners, headed by Duramente (2015 Japanese 2000 Guineas and Derby), Rose Kingdom (2010 Japan Cup) and Belshazzar (2013 Japan Cup Dirt). Mares by sons of Sunday Silence have also had success, producing such good winners as Let's Go Donki (2015 Japanese 1000 Guineas), Lovely Day (2015 Tenno Sho Autumn) and Leontes (2015 Asahi Hai Futurity).

It is encouraging that Lord Kanaloa has also made a bright start with Sunday Silence line mares. His Japan Cup heroine Almond Eye has a dam by Sunday Silence, while the G1-winning Stelvio has a second dam by him. Shadai must also be delighted that Lord Kanaloa's 2-year-old group winners in 2018 are out of granddaughters of Sunday Silence, with Fantasist and Cadence Call respectively being out of daughters of Deep Impact and Heart's Cry.

Almond Eye follows Horse of the Year Gentildonna as only the second 3-year-old filly to win the Japan Cup and her record suggests she could be even better than her predecessor, who went on to win the G1 Sheema Classic in Dubai. Almond Eye's time for the 2400 metres on Sunday was a very swift 2:20.60 on firm ground.

Almond Eye's talent comes as no great surprise, as her dam Fusaichi Pandora was also an accomplished Group 1 performer in Japan. Like her daughter, Fusaichi Pandora performed well in the Japanese Oaks, the Shuka Sho and the Japan Cup, respectively finishing second, third and fifth. She was beaten only five lengths by Deep Impact in the 2006 Japan Cup, two weeks after she had become a Group 1 winner in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup.

In addition to being a daughter of Sunday Silence, Fusaichi Pandora comes from one of the world's most illustrious female lines. Her dam Lotta Lace was born when her dam Sex Appeal was 22, but the fact that she was by Northern Dancer's son Nureyev meant that she was a three-parts-sister to the brilliant El Gran Senor and to the champion 2-year-old Try My Best. Incidentally, Nureyev and Try My Best also figure among King Kamehameha's great-grandsires,

Almond Eye's sire Lord Kanaloa isn't the only son of King Kamehameha to have made an encouraging start in recent years. The year-older Rulership, who also won one of Hong Kong's Group 1 races, is another who enjoys the attraction of having no Sunday Silence blood. He has sired the Japanese St Leger winner Kiseki from a Deep Impact mare and it was Kiseki who chased home Almond Eye at Tokyo two days ago. Rulership now ranks ninth on the leading sires' list, having been the leading first-crop sire of 2016.