Two brothers who are members of Maktoum family, the rulers of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed, the boss of world breeding giant Darley, and Sheikh Hamdan, the principal of one England’s major operations, Shadwell, met with metropolitan success separately in Australia on Saturday.
Entrenched as one of Australia’s biggest breeders and owners, following the establishment of his global Darley in the Hunter Valley and the half billion dollar buy out of the Inghams’ Woodlands Stud and racing empire, Sheikh Mohammed continued his big impact on Sydney racing by being represented by a treble at Randwick.
A lesser presence in Australia, but one who has outstayed his brother Mohammed in the Melbourne Cup sphere, being the owner of two winners of the race, the imports Jeune (1994) and At Talaq (1986), Sheikh Hamdan unveiled another overseas horse whose breeding suggests Cup potential in Our Aqaleem, a narrow but impressive winner on Saturday of his first outing here when successful at Flemington.
All the three winners carrying the Sheikh Mohammed colours at Randwick are trained at Warwick Farm by Darley’s private trainer Peter Snowden, a former Scone horseman, and all were bred by the Inghams on Woodlands using then resident sires and home bred mares. The winners were Skilled (2yo colt, by Commands), Gergis (5yo gelding, Viscount) and Offhanded (3yo gelding, Lonhro).
Also bred by the Inghams and sire of the Sheikh Mohammed raced and Snowden trained budding superstar Denman, winner of his seventh race in nine starts when successful at Caulfield on Anniversary Day, Australian Horse of the Year Lonhro is a half-brother to Sibylline, the dam of Gergis and also Hexameter, an Octagonal filly who has won in Sydney and Brisbane.
A daughter of the Danzig champion Chief’s Crown, Sibylline placed second in Sydney at two and won a Sunshine Coast maiden at three. She was the fifth foal and second winner for the Straight Strike (by Mr. Prospector) Group 1 performed 2-year-old Shadea, being preceded by three Danehills, Sedaka (unplaced in three starts), Noblesse (three minor wins in 55 outings) and an unnamed colt, and an unraced Last Tycoon filly, Miss Trump.
After her early production flop, Shadea became a distinguished broodmare from matings at Woodlands with their yearling bought Zabeel Horse of the Year Octagonal, producing Lonhro, the smart 2-year-old and triple Group 1 winning 3-year-old Niello (a sire at the Chatswood Stud, Seymour, Vic) and the modest Brisbane winner Spikes.
Each of the three Mohammed winners in Sydney on Saturday had Quest for Fame, the 1990 English Derby winner, who after initially shuttling became a fixture at Woodlands for many years, in their breeding.
Quest for Fame is the sire of the dams of Skilled and Offhanded and his son Viscount, an AJC George Main Stakes, Sires’ Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes winner and Cox Plate third who started his sire career at Woodlands, got Gergis. Viscount’s dam Antwerp is nearly a three-quarter sister to Octagonal and they are also closely related to Commands.
Although he is England bred, the Sheikh Hamdan Melbourne winner Our Aqaleem has several connections with Woodlands. He is by Sinndar, a son of Grand Lodge, a former Woodlands visitor, and his dam Dalayil is a three-quarter sister by Sadler’s Wells to Green Dancer, the sire of the dam of Quest for Fame, and also that of Jeune.
Bred and raced by the Aga Khan and standing at his stud in Ireland, Sinndar was a magnificent European racehorse who won seven of eight outings. Unbeaten Group 1 winner at two, he captured the English and Irish Derbys and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at three.
Another of Sinndar’s sons, Youmzain, one also out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, is a dual Group 1 winner and has been second in each of the last three runnings of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. It is a race that Our Aqaleem, a horse who raced as Aqaleem in England, may have shone in, if injury had not put him in the paddock for 2 1/2 years after five starts. They resulted in two placings at two and then at three a four lengths win in a Group 3 Derby trial, a third in the English Derby and finally a neck second in the Group 3 Goodwood Gordon Stakes over 2414m.
He did not race again until he had his first Australian start on Saturday. It was a fine training feat for his trainer David Hayes, one involved in Sheikh Hamdan’s two Melbourne Cup wins. He trained Jeune and assisted his late father Colin in the preparation of At Talaq.
