Any stud of longevity sees its families wax, wane and often disappear. The Royal Stud is no exception with several families now history: they include the Avila family (family of the top filly Almeria and the useful Albany); the Open Warfare family (of the top filly Mulberry Harbour) and the Stroma family (family of Canisbay and Dunfermline). So, how has the recent sales of 20 or so fillies and mares affected the Royal Stud. At this point I’d say it hasn’t markedly weakened the stud, but it has changed a few things. So, I’ll go through the families and branches of families and discuss the changes.
Gone
One family no longer in the stud is that of Key Point. A Galileo half-sister to Kalanisi, she joined the Royal roster as a yearling in 2008 but was unraced. Despite being sent to a series of top sires her best effort was onetime flat winner Punctuation. She was sold last year and her last filly, the unraced 2yo Cape Point, was sold for a paltry 1,000gns. Doesn’t appear a great loss.
Nearly Gone
One mare I was surprised was sold was Fiery Sunset, again a Galileo filly out of a Juddmonte mare. She did win a maiden race over 12f and her first two foals won, the second of them getting Black Type in the USA. Her 3rd foal to race is Stoute’s 2yo winner Circle of Fire (by Almanzor), who appears promising. There is a yearling colt by Fastnet Rock and a filly foal by Time Test. It is the latter which keeps this family in the stud.
Set to Music was another Aga Khan bred yearling to join the Royal roster. By Danehill Dancer out of a mare who traced back to Petite Etoile. She appeared moderate as a 2yo but improved considerably as a 3yo to win 4 races, before finishing 2nd in the Park Hill Stakes. As a 4yo she won the listed Warwick Oaks before going to stud. Her first 5 matings produced only 2 foals to race, though one of them, Eightsome Reel, did win races and in fact finished 4th at Royal Ascot in 2019. It was two years before she had another winner and that was Improvise. This December Set to Music and Improvise were sold. The life of this family hangs by a thread with the 2yo filly Keen Melody (by Le Havre) and a Galileo filly. If these two aren’t up to much then this family will be no loss.
Shimmering Light was a Godolphin bred mare, who came into the Royal team in 2013. By Dubawi out of a mare from the family of Golden Fleece, she was again unraced. She has had 4 foals, 2 of which went into training. The first died before running, the second, Loch Glass, was sold as an unraced 2yo this December. Shimmering Light was sold at the same sale, so her family is in a similar position to Set to Music’s, with a yearling filly (by Mastercraftsman) and a filly foal (by Magna Grecia).
The dominant family in the Royal Stud is the family of Amicable. She was purchased in the early ‘60s. Today all her members trace back to a mare called Trying for Gold. In addition most of them trace back to her daughter Phantom Gold. However until this year there were a couple of mares, Free Verse and Pure Fantasy who were not out of Phantom Gold but were daughters of her full-sister Fictitious. As mentioned in an earlier post it looks very much as if Free Verse will have no more foals (she may have died). Her last daughter, Yarralumla, was sold at the December Sales, as was Free Verse’s half-sister Pure Fantasy (the dam of Pied Piper) and her daughter Fresh Fancy. So there is no mare from the Fictitious branch in the stud at the moment and this branch’s survival is dependent upon Barrier (an Australia 2yo) and Le Havre yearling filly. It is ironic that this branch appears to have produced its best 2yo in Slipofthepen.
Another branch that could do with a decent filly is the sub-branch of Oaks 2nd Flight of Fancy. Her only descendant in the stud is Momentary, whose 6 foals to race have produced 5 winners. That included the above average Wink of an Eye (by Dubawi), who won 4 races. His full-sister, Discretion, was sold for a meagre 18,000gns. There are no yearling or foal fillies.
Others
Despite the sale of Distant Light, this family is in robust health as she is represented by her half-sister, dam and granddam. The same can’t be said for the extraordinary Feola family (latest star Baeed). Having failed to sell the mare Pack Together last year, they sold her this year. There is only one mare of the Feola family in the Royal Stud, and that is Good Hope. Fortunately this mare has the 2yo filly Candle of Hope, a yearling filly by Saxon Warrior and a filly foal by Sea the Moon. One bonus of last year’s mis-sell of Pack Together is that they have a Cable Bay filly foal. The family should survive.
