July Cup Winner Inbred To Kenmare

Australian-bred War Artist (Orpen-Royal Solitaire, by Royal Academy), a favourite of mine from the 2005 Magic Million Yearling Sale, made a fine attempt to lead throughout this morning’s G1 July Cup at Newmarket only to be collared by a head and half a length.

The July Cup has a history of unearthing stallions of future influence. Winner Marchand d’Or and War Artist certainly won’t be amongst the sires of the future as both are geldings. The future prospect this year might be second placed US Ranger, a son of Danzig out of a Red Ransom mare from the family of Dynaformer, not forgetting that another son of Danzig, Danehill, once finished third in this race. (US Ranger’s grandam is by His Majesty, also broodmare sire of Danehill, which opens up some interesting breeding scenarios!).

Winning favourite, the French-bred and trained Marchand d’Or, has an intriguing pedigree for a horse who is clearly one of Europe's elite sprinters. The July Cup was the five-year-old’s sixth win from 1000m to 1400m in 10 career starts. He finished fourth in the July Cup last year and his victories include the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, twice, and the G3 Prix de la Porte Maillot at Longchamp, twice.

His 18-year-old sire Marchand de Sable won only three of 18 races, the G1 Criterium de St-Cloud over 2000m as a two-year-old being his only stakes success. His other wins came as a five-year-old over 2400m and 4000m at Nantes. At stud he has produced just one other G1 winner, the filly Commercante, who won Canada’s E.P. Taylor Stakes.

Marchand de Sable is an American-bred by Theatrical out of a French Listed winner Mercantile who won from 1800m to 2400m. He has a three-quarter sister at stud in Australia, Magicienne (by Nureyev) who is yet to leave a winner from four foals of racing age. She has been through the sale ring a couple of times here, most recently as a supplementary entry at the Magic Millions Gold Coast last month. In foal to Holy Roman Emperor, she was passed in well short of the $80,000 reserve placed on her by the Wadham Park/Woodside Park outfit which owns her. Mercantile was a half-sister to Exceptionnel (Ire), ironically a Listed winner at Nantes and third in the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, almost mirroring his later relative Marchand de Sable. Exceptionnel stood in relative obscurity at a small stud near Matamata, New Zealand, entering service in 1977 and leaving four stakeswinners amongst his 195 foals. The most notable of these was Kotare Chief who scored a spectacular win in the G1 Auckland Cup, 3200m, and also placed second in another renewal of that race. Exceptionnel was by the stayer Exbury, briefly fashionable around that time when his son Zamazaan (Fr) emerged as one of New Zealand’s best sires, but the male line didn't survive down here.

Marchand de Sable’s dam Mercantile is by Kenmare (Fr) and the interesting aspect of Marchand d’Or’s pedigree is that he is 3f x 3m to that horse whose grey coat colour he carries. Kenmare was a prestigious early shuttler being an already successful sire in France when he first began visiting Arrowfield on a seasonal basis in 1988. I always found him somewhat enigmatic in Australia though he wasn't unsuccessful, siring 18 stakeswinners. It was their lighter-boned, lighter-framed type I had difficulty coming to grips with. His six highest earners were Lahar, Brave Prince, Kenbelle, Baryshnikov, Keltrice and Silver Flyer. His performance as a broodmare sire is similar: 19 stakeswinners to date out his daughters include the likes of Pillaging, Virage de Fortune, No Questions, Here de Angels, Faith Hill (dam of Black Minx), Palia, Just Awesome and Written Tycoon.

The double-up to Kenmare comes through Marchand d’Or’s dam Fedora, a daughter of Kendor (Fr) who also stood in Australia, just one season, 1990. He attracted 62 mares who produced 45 live foals. One of them was a Listed winner, Twitter, the grandam of this season’s G1 winning three-year-old filly Serious Speed.

Kenmare won from 900m to 1600m and Kendor from 1200m to 1600m, so it’s reasonable to postulate this pair have much to do with producing the speed possessed by Marchand d’Or as his own sire’s progeny have a winning distance index of 2155m.

Marchand d’Or’s immediate family is fairly undistinguished, though his third dam Kesar Queen was a smart European filly of the mid-seventies. He has a distant Australian relative, this season’s modest two-year-old Listed winner Gold In Dubai (by Desert Sun) whose third dam Meadow Saffron is Marchand d’Or’s fourth dam.

With the likes of Dr Green (out of Palia), Markane (out of Palia’s dam Kew Gardens), Casino Prince (grandson of Kew Gardens), Purrealist (grandam by Kenmare), and Written Tycoon at stud, owners of Kenmare-line mares in Australia can play around with inbreeding to Kenmare if they fancy their chances of breeding themselves a Marchand d’Or.