Pedigree Page Hiyaam is latest star for Eight Carat family
Perfectly rated by jockey Michael Dee, Hiyaam led throughout, a hard task over such a distance in high-class company, and comfortably held off Unforgotten (Fastnet Rock) to win by a length and three-quarters, with Group One winner Aloisia (Azamour) two and a half lengths further back in third after travelling wide for much of the race.
It was an impressive staying performance from Hiyaam and a satisfying result for her trainer Mick Price who has given her a European-style preparation leading up to the Classic at Randwick.
Then again, Hiyaam has the perfect pedigree to fit her for Group One success over a distance, by late Coolmore sire High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), winner of the Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f) and Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f) and four other top-tier events, from a royally bred daughter of Zabeel (Sir Tristram).
Foaled in New Zealand after being conceived in New South Wales, Hiyaam is bred by her owner, Dubai-based Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum. The Vinery was only her second victory after a maiden win over 1400 metres at Ballarat last September but in between she has placed in four stakes events in her eight starts.
We have commented previously in this feature on the extent of the loss to international breeding of Hiyaam’s sire High Chaparral (1999), who died unexpectedly in Ireland in early 2014 shortly after returning from Australia.
High Chaparral currently sits second to Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) on the Australian general sire’s list for 2017-18 thanks to the big contribution of his son Rekindling, winner of this season’s Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m). His overall tally of black-type winners worldwide stands at 112 with 21 of them Group One winners.
Australia, especially, has benefited from the stamina, class and fighting qualities High Chaparral has instilled in his progeny but it is some consolation for his loss that Australian breeders have access to his outstanding sire-sons So You Think (standing at Coolmore Stud), Dundeel (Arrowfield Stud), Alpine Eagle (Armidale Stud, Tasmania) and Free Eagle (Cornerstone Stud, South Australia) while several others are in service in New Zealand.
High Chaparral, though, can hardly be given all the credit for Hiyaam’s ability given the exceptional quality and depth of the filly’s female line as her third dam is the legendary broodmare import Eight Carat.
Mazarine (Zabeel), Hiyaam’s unraced dam, has also produced Auckland winner Tariq (Rock Of Gibraltar) and the good producer and placegetter Game Duchess (Montjeu), dam of five winners, among them the stakes winner Exquisite Jewel (Lucky Unicorn) and the stakes-placed Nordic Duke (Viking Ruler).
A sister to Shower Of Roses (Zabeel), an earlier Storm Queen Stakes winner when it was known as the Arrowfield Stud Stakes, Mazarine also ranks as a three-quarter sister to Group One winners Don Eduardo (Zabeel), Octagonal (Zabeel) and Mouawad (Zabeel) plus other black–type winners.
Hiyaam’s second dam Marquise (Gold And Ivory) was also a Group One winner though her sire was not a great success and you would almost need a calculator to count up all the stakes winners close up in this fabulous family as you will see from the catalogue pedigree shown.
Eight Carat, to become one of the finest producers ever in Australasia, was originally retired to stud in Britain before the late Robert Sangster brought her first to Australia before selling her to Sir Patrick Hogan. Her most notable progeny were all reared in the paddocks of Hogan’s famous Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.
Five of Eight Carat’s six winners were successful at Group One level while four of her daughters, Group One sprint winner Diamond Lover (Sticks And Stones), imported Cotehele House (My Swanee), Nine Carat (Sir Tristram) and La Brillante (Sir Tristram) each founded their own successful branches of this remarkable family, aided greatly by the contributions of three key sires in Sir Tristram (Sir Ivor) and his son Zabeel and Danehill (Danzig).
Hiyaam’s well–constructed pedigree features a double of Northern Dancer (Nearctic) through his closely related sire sons Sadler’s Wells and Nureyev, respectively a grandson and a son of the well–named mare Special (Forli).
Further back you will find duplications of such notable stallion names as Relic (War Relic), Princequillo (Prince Rose), Turn-To (Royal Charger), Djebel (Tourbillon), Mahmoud (Blenheim), Native Dancer (Polynesian), Nasrullah (Nearco) and Norseman (Umidwar).