Lope De Vega developing into a global giant
The amount of stallions who can be considered successful on a domestic level is small enough, so the number who go on to achieve international acclaim is, frankly, miniscule. Lope De Vega (Shamardal) is one of the rare cases who falls firmly into the latter category.
The son of Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) sired his 12th elite level winner on Friday when Aunt Pearl, trained by Brad Cox but bred in Ireland by Ecurie Des Charmes and Ballylinch Stud, landed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Gr 1, 1m) in decisive fashion.
The two-year-old became Lope De Vega’s second winner of the Grade 1 contest, following on from Newspaperofrecords’s success two years earlier. He also sired Lope Y Fernandez, who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (Gr 1, 1m) on Saturday.
Lope De Vega never raced outside of France himself, but his stallion career has taken a much more global trajectory.
His first Irish-bred crop contained Belardo, winner of the Dewhurst Stakes (Gr 2, 7f) at two and the Lockinge Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) at four and now a promising sire in his own right, while his fifth produced Irish 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) hero Phoenix Of Spain and his seventh yielded this year’s Phoenix Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) scorer Lucky Vega.
He shuttled from Ireland to Patinack Farm from 2011 to 2014, a stint that resulted in five-time Group 1 winner Santa Ana Lane, dual top-level scorer Vega Magic and Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) winner Gytrash.
He has been represented by a brace of Group 1 winners in France through the Irish-bred pair Jemayel, who landed the Prix Saint-Alary (Gr 1, 2000m), and Zabeel Prince, who claimed the Prix d’Ispahan (Gr 1, 1850m).
Lope De Vega’s fourth Irish-bred crop also included one of his three North American Grade 1 winners, with Natalma Stakes (Gr 1, 1m) heroine Capla Temptress followed by the aforementioned Breeders’ Cup scorers Aunt Pearl and Newspaperofrecord.
Rounding out his dozen Group/Grade 1 winners is The Right Man, another member of that debut crop, who went on to win the Al Quoz Sprint (Gr 1, 1200m) at Meydan.
Those names sit atop a list of 125 global stakes performers, which have come from a pool of 862 runners. This means Lope De Vega is operating at a strike rate of 14.5 per cent stakes horses-to-runners, statistics that can be considered nothing short of exceptional, particularly considering he once stood for as little as €12,500.
O’Briens bred two Breeders’ Cup winners from a 14,000gns mare
Aidan O’Brien is no stranger to training Breeders’ Cup winners, having notched his 13th with outsider Order Of Australia (Australia) in the Mile on Saturday, a race in which he also fielded the second and third, Circus Maximus (Galileo) and Lope Y Fernandez.
But the result of that Grade 1 contest also reaffirmed O’Brien and his wife Annemarie’s prowess as breeders, with the colt bred under the couple’s Whisperview Trading banner. The colt is out of Senta’s Dream (Danehill) who now has the extremely rare distinction of having supplied back-to-back Breeders’ Cup winners.
Order Of Australia is the mare’s seventh foal while her sixth is none other than Iridessa (Ruler Of The World), who won the Filly & Mare Turf (Gr 1, 10f) for O’Brien’s son Joseph last year. Both are by Derby-winning sons of Galileo, with Iridessa by Ruler Of The World and Order Of Australia by Australia, for whom he became a second top-level scorer after Galileo Chrome landed the St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f).
Australia and Ruler Of The World are not the only Derby winners that Senta’s Dream has clicked with, as her two-year-old filly Santa Barbara (Camelot), who made an impressive winning debut at the Curragh in September, is by Coolmore’s Camelot (Montjeu).
Remarkably, considering the success she has gone on to achieve for the O’Briens, Senta’s Dream joined the Whisperview Trading broodmare band at a cost of just 14,000gns when purchased through BBA Ireland at the 2013 Tattersalls December Sales.