Gift Of Power Brings More Glory To The Eight Carat Family
The winning margin was a nose with third placed Melody Belle (Commands) another two and three quarter lengths away in third place in a time of 1:03.64.
Gift Of Power is now three-for-three and at her previous start had taken the Wellesley Stakes (Listed, 1000m) but the 1200 metres of the upcoming Karaka Million (RL, 1200m), the filly’s next target, may be as far as she gets despite the presence of Zabeel (Sir Tristram) in her pedigree background. Rather, the two-year-old seems to have inherited the extreme speed of her third dam Diamond Lover (Sticks and Stones) whose eight wins included the Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).
Bred at Cambridge Stud by Sir Patrick and Lady Hogan who retained a share in her ownership, Gift Of Power sold for NZ$180,000 at this year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale.
Pedigree buffs will find much to excite them on Gift Of Power’s female side as she traces back to Eight Carat (Pieces Of Eight), her fourth dam, considered the most outstanding producer in Australasian breeding over the past 50 years.
Gift Of Power is the first foal of her highly talented dam Capital Diamond (Lucky Unicorn), a winner of three races up to 1400 metres in New Zealand but more noted for her five placings in stakes races, including a third in the New Zealand One Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m).
Capital Diamond’s sire Lucky Unicorn (Redoute’s Choice) proved one of Cambridge Stud’s less successful stallion selections although he left five stakes winners, best of them 2015 Auckland Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Rock Diva. A Listed stakes winner in Melbourne and winner four times in Hong Kong, Lucky Unicorn, now retired, is a three-quarter brother to Newgate Farm’s young sire Wandjina (Snitzel).
Diamond Smile (Zabeel), Gift Of Power’s second dam, only placed but her pedigree is as good as it gets as she is a sister to Don Eduardo (Zabeel) and Peruzzi (Zabeel) and a three-quarter sister to champion Octagonal (Zabeel), Mouawad (Zabeel), Shower Of Roses (Zabeel), Tristalove (Sir Tristram) and Antwerp (Sir Tristram) and closely related to Danewin (Danehill), Commands (Danehill) and Kaapstad (Sir Tristram) not to mention a host of other stakes winners.
Gift Of Power comes from the first New Zealand crop of Cambridge Stud’s Coolmore-owned shuttle sire Power (Oasis Dream) whose first Northern Hemisphere two-year-olds racing this year have established him as a stallion of great promise.
Power has 17 individual winners in Europe in 2016, among them four stakes winners headed by Peace Envoy and Pleaseletmewin, both successful at Group Three level.
One of the best two-year-olds of his year (2011) in Europe, Power won four of his six starts that season and was runner up in the other two, both Group One races. His victories included the National Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) at the Curragh beating the now promising sire Dragon Pulse (Kyllachy), the sire-making Coventry Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) at Royal Ascot and the Marble Hill Stakes (Listed, 5f) at the Curragh. His seconds were in the Phoenix Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) and in the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 1, 7f).
Power raced only twice more at three years, capturing the 2012 Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) so profiles as an ideal type to succeed at stud under our conditions.
Representing the all-conquering Danzig (Northern Dancer) male line, Power is a son of Oasis Dream (Green Desert), one of the best and most consistent sires in Europe in recent years with more than 100 stakes winners to prove his worth.
Champion two-year-old in Europe in 2002, Oasis Dream went on at three years to be acclaimed as Europe’s champion sprinter, beating Choisir (Danehill Dancer) in the 2003 July Cup (Gr 1, 6f).
Power’s dam Frappe (Inchinor) was a winner at two years and has also produced Grade One winner Curvy (Galileo) and Group Two winner Thakafaat (Unfuwain). She is a half-sister to 2000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) winner and successful sire Footstepsinthesand (Giant’s Causeway) who for a short time shuttled to NSW and to stakes winners Pedro The Great (Henrythenavigator), winner of the Phoenix Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) and Belle d’Or (Medaglia d’Oro).
Glatisant (Rainbow Quest), Power’s second dam, was a stakes winner as was his third dam Dancing Rocks (Green Desert) giving Power considerable depth to his pedigree, a factor which can only help to ensure he makes an enduring mark on international breeding.