Elleegant, Behemoth prove that Group 1 winners can come from anywhere
A month into the new season has seen two Group 1 contests, namely the Winx Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Randwick, won by Verry Elleegant (Zed), and, most recently, the Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) at Caulfield, won by Behemoth (All Too Hard).
Verry Elleegant’s family is the equivalent of stud book royalty as she descends from the incomparable Eight Carat (Pieces of Eight). On the other hand, Behemoth’s family provides a somewhat stark contrast.
In six generations, Eight Carat, bred in 1975, is responsible for 58 stakes winners, 17 of which have won at racing’s pinnacle Group 1 level. Eight Carat alone foaled Octagonal (Zabeel) with ten victories at the elite level; Mouawad (Zabeel), with three; plus Kaapstad (Sir Tristram), Marquise (Gold And Ivory) and Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones) with one apiece.
In eight generations, Behemoth’s Memsie Stakes win doubled his family’s tally of Group 1 winners from one to two. The first was 2004 Queensland Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) victor Toulouse Lautrec, a son of Danewin (Danehill), one of ten black-type winners descending from Sweet Opera (Anton King), bred in 1932. Danewin just happens to be a grandson of Eight Carat via her daughter Cotehele House (My Swanee), also the fourth dam of Verry Elleegant.
Toulouse Lautrec’s and Behemoth’s common ancestress is Opera Lass (Leica), a half-sister to 1956 William Reid Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) winner Joda Boy (Bobby Pearce).
In order to find a third Group 1 winner from Behemoth’s line we need to go back to the 1928 VRC Oaks (Gr 1, 12f), won by Opera Queen (King Anton), a sister to Sweet Opera, the eighth dam of Behemoth.
So, how does a quality racehorse like Behemoth come to be? His family is, at best, thin on high quality winners but in this case there are extenuating circumstances.
Nature can be cruel and some mares – such as Passive (Ruthless), the dam of Champion Sire Sobig (Summertime) – never produced a filly foal. To rub salt into that wound, Passive herself was the only foal of Zenith (Foxbridge); both were champion three-year-olds.
Champion sire O’Reilly (Last Tycoon) has a similar story regarding his fifth dam, Glamor Girl (Coronach), whose dam Kriemhild (Siegfried) was a sister to Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 16f) winner Wotan (Siegfried) and half-sister to Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 12f) winner Gaine Carrington (Hunting Song). Glamor Girl was an only foal.
The fortunes of Behemoth’s family was just as tenuous, hanging on by a thread, as his third dam, Cheysing (Cheyne Walk) had just two foals for one filly, which turned out to be Miss Firecracker (Twig Ruler).
The family has managed to survive and currently there are a number of fillies around to ensure that the family can grow.
Of Behemoth’s eight great grandparents, all but one – Desert Sun (Danzig) – were bred in Australia. That theme continues as his first four dams are all by Australian-bred and raced sires.
First dam Penny Banger is by Zedrich (Zeditave). She scored at Listed level as a two-year-old at racing headquarters, Flemington.
Zedrich showed plenty at two, taking out two Listed events, one at Flemington and the other at Caulfield. His Caulfield win in the Rancher Quality Stakes (Listed, 1000m) saw him defeat Flying Spur (Danehill). They were to meet in the autumn for the 1995 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) where Flying Spur got the win from a flying Octagonal (Zabeel).
Flying Spur became the paternal great grandsire (via Casino Prince and All Too Hard) of Behemoth while Octagonal became the champion son of Eight Carat (see above). In the Slipper, Zedrich had little luck in the run home to finish sixth, only two lengths from the winner. At stud he sired eight black-type winners.
Behemoth’s granddam is Miss Firecracker and probably qualifies as the best to race by her sire Twig Ruler (Twig Moss). Given that Twig Ruler sired just 12 winners, Miss Firecracker didn’t have much competition. However, she won six and three of those were in Perth. Prior to Penny Banger, she produced Aquanita Stakes (Listed, 1650m) winner Master Minx (Surtee), who also ran second in the Perth Cup (Gr 2, 3200m) and third in the Western Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m).
Twig Ruler himself won seven, the best being two graduation races in Perth, so, not much to be excited about. His sister Olive Branch (Twig Moss) and his dam Irish Peace (Showdown) were Listed winners.
As mentioned above, Cheysing, Behemoth’s third dam, had two foals following an unplaced race career and Miss Firecracker, her only filly, has been left the responsibility of continuing the line.
Cheysing is a daughter of Cheyne Walk (Le Cordonnier), a top-class racehorse whose nine wins included three at Group 1 level before siring just five stakes winners. His dam, Fairy Walk (Minor Portion) was the Golden Slipper Stakes victress in 1971.
The next dam, Singspiel, is by Eleazar (King of Babylon), a 13-time winner who took out the 1970 Ascot Vale Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) at Flemington and whose stud record stopped at two stakes winners.
Singspiel showed nothing on the racetrack then had four foals, resulting in one runner. The only thing she had going for her was being a half-sister to triple Group 3 winner Latin Saint (Le Cordonnier) whose 14 wins included five stakes as well as a second in the Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 8f) at Ascot in Perth.
The four sires of Behemoth’s first four dams can claim a total of 17 stakes winners between them, just one more than Behemoth’s own sire All Too Hard (Casino Prince), who looks set to keep adding to his promising record.
From such a humble background, Behemoth is the real deal. One simply does not know where the next Group 1 winner is going to show up and provides all breeders some hope.
NOTE: None of the above statistics would be possible without the outstanding database of Arion Pedigrees.