Tom Kitten

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Of all the 120 or so horses bred by Darley each season, there can’t have been many better put together than the winner of last Saturday’s Fernhill Handicap (Listed, 1600m). This sort of thoroughbred class can’t be created by any old Tom, Dick or Harry. But we’ve got two out of three, and that’s not bad.

Tom Kitten, son of Harry Angel (Dark Angel), became the second stakes winner from his young sire’s exciting first crop in taking the Fernhill at Randwick, following Arkansaw Kid’s success in the Inglis Banner (RL, 1000m) at Moonee Valley in October, which was followed by a third in the Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m).

Not to be confused with Tom Melbourne – though he was inadvertently called by that name by one TV pundit, possibly still haunted by that gelding’s multitude of minor placings – Tom Kitten looks poised for a career of more majors than minors, with the two-year-old colt having now won twice from four starts.

He’s set to strive to bring Darley shuttler Harry Angel’s first Group 1 winner in Saturday’s Champagne Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick, and with the pedigree behind him, it’s a decent bet that top tier success will come sooner rather than later.

If you look at Tom Kitten’s pedigree long enough, you’ll swear it starts to sparkle. For Australian eyes there’s an immediate flash. Follow the female line from his four-time city-winning dam Transfers (Street Cry), and his fourth-dam is one of most impactful broodmares brought to these shores, the American mare Dancing Show (Nijinsky).

A 1983 throw, Dancing Show has had one of the most profound impacts on modern Australia breeding of any mare. For this tale, she threw Twyla (Danehill), Tom Kitten’s third dam. But aside from her, Dancing Show threw Shantha’s Choice (Canny Lad), a Hall of Famer who left five stakes winners including three at the top level in Platinum Scissors (Danehill), Manhattan Rain (Encosta De Lago) and that greatest of breed-shapers, Twyla’s three-quarter brother Redoute’s Choice (Danehill).

Dancing Show herself threw two top tier winners in Umatilla (Miswaki), and dual Group 1 victor Hurricane Sky (Star Watch), himself the sire of four top-level winners including the outstanding four-timer Divine Madonna.

Twyla won just a maiden from six starts, but at stud she threw an Adelaide Group 3 winner in Murjana (Giant’s Causeway) and, more importantly, Celebria (Peintre Celebre), who produced three stakes winners including yet another Group 1 star in this ultra-potent family, 2010 Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) hero Gathering (Tale Of The Cat).

This branch of the family continues to give. Twyla’s Group 3-winning mare Florentina (Redoute’s Choice) was exported to Britain in 2017, and a year later gave birth to In Italian (Dubawi), who went to the US and won the Diana Stakes (Gr 1, 9f) last July at Saratoga, in course record time.

Need we go on? Suffice to say that as far as influential Australian families go, Dancing Show’s packs more punch than the Murdochs and Packers put together.

And in Tom Kitten, Dancing Show completes an exquisite Rassmussen-style double-whammy. For the mare is Australia’s chief flagbearer for her magnificent granddam, Best In Show (Traffic Judge, 1965), who comes in loud and unadulterated through Tom Kitten’s female line, as his sixth dam. And looking up top, a powerful sire-and-dam line doubling of Best In Show is in effect as she’s the mother of the influential Sex Appeal (Buckpasser), dam of Tom Kitten’s sixth generation sire, Try My Best (Northern Dancer).

There’s lashings of the great blue hen Natalma (Native Dancer), which means oodles of Northern Dancer (Nearctic). Natalma makes ten appearances, seven through that great son, once through Danehill’s second dam Spring Adieu (Buckpasser), and twice as the dam of Raise The Standard (Hoist The Flag).

Raise The Standard is there twice, on both sides, as she’s the granddam of influential American sire Machiavellian (Mr Prospector), and he is duplicated in a neat gender-balanced doubling, at 4f x 3m. He’s the damsire of Harry Angel’s sire Dark Angel (Acclamation) and he’s the sire of Street Cry, father of Transfers, a 12-year-old who now has two Listed winners from four named foals, the other being first throw Promotions (Exceed And Excel).

Let’s not overlook the great Mr Prospector (Raise A Native) in all this. He’s here, well blended, three times at 5m x 4m, 6f – the last as the second damsire of another heavy hitter in this line-up, Encosta De Lago (Fairy King), the damsire of Tom Kitten’s dam, Transfers.

It’s proving a bit of breeding gold these days to have Street Cry as your damsire. He’s best known, of course, for spawning Winx, and now as a sire of sires for the great Anamoe (Street Boss). But Street Cry – though taken too early aged just 16 – is also showing he’ll be a force for years to come, as his daughters keep producing.

He’s the damsire of no fewer than 20 elite-level winners, including six Australian stars in Cascadian (New Approach), Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), Daumier (Epaulette), Lyre (Lonhro), September Run (Exceed And Excel) and Pounamu (Authorized). And on the horizon are young stakes winners such as Cylinder (Exceed And Excel), Steel City (Merchant Navy), and Parisal (Astern).

Street Cry currently sits at a career-high eighth on the Australian broodmare sires table, up from his best finish of 11th last season.

All in all, Tom Kitten has a lot to live up to, but he’s certainly started out the right way.

“It’s a very strong pedigree,” says Darley’s head of stallions Alastair Pulford.

“When you look at Street Cry, his influence through his offspring is really reaching a peak. He’s got sire sons like Street Boss, Pride Of Dubai, Per Incanto, who are really achieving great results at the moment.

“And his daughters are absolutely elite broodmares, so Street Cry’s name will continue to be seen in pedigrees for a long time yet.

“Tom Kitten is from one of the very best families in the stud book, and to have Best In Show on the bottom and at the top can only be a good thing. Mr Prospector would be one of the best influences to in-breed to. He’s got huge numbers, for sure, but it seems to work better than in-breeding to a lot of other great sires.

“Transfers is a well-bred and well-performed, big, scopey mare. She didn’t win a stakes race but it’s probably just as hard to win four city races as it is to win a stakes race.”

And Darley are, of course, delighted to see such a promising start for their shuttler Harry Angel, the northern hemisphere eight-year-old who’s now second among Australia’s first season sires behind Justify (Scat Daddy), and who last year covered his biggest book of four in Australia so far in serving 174 mares at his $16,500 (inc GST) fee.

“It’s great to see Tom Kitten as a second stakes winner for Harry Angel,” Pulford said. “He’s a first crop runner for Harry Angel, who’s started his stud career in extremely good fashion. After Arkansaw Kid, to have another stakes-winning two-year-old is terrific, and it looks very promising for Harry Angel and his progeny in years to come.

“Harry was Europe and Britain’s Champion three-year-old sprinter. He was a good two-year-old but he really hit a peak at three, when he developed into one of the best three-year-old sprinters in the world.

“It’s no real surprise he’s been able to start off his stud career so successfully, but we can also expect these two-year-olds to get better as they get older, too.”