Bachelor Duke: Will He Be Something Special Down Under?
Stallion Assessment for Levin Breeders Group 12 March 2005
Introduction
Bachelor Duke by Miswaki and out of
Gossamer by Seattle Slew has as his second dam Lisaleen, a sister in blood to
Nureyev and therefore a ¾ sister also to super sire Sadler’s Wells and his
brother Fairy King. Bachelor Duke will stand in the Southern Hemisphere at the
Oaks Stud for a fee of $NZ15,000 alongside Traditionally and Spartacus. The Oaks
Stud in effect owns a controlling interest in the Southern Hemisphere rights to
the stallion. In the Northern Hemisphere Bachelor Duke stands at the Ballylinch
Stud at an advertised fee of 12,500 Euros (about $NZ22,700). Bachelor Duke won
only one race in his short but intense racing career of 6 starts over 9 months
after having been purchased for $US125,000 as a yearling. His win however was in
a G1 Classic, the Irish 2000 Guineas and on the basis of his performance has
been rated by Timeform at 122 lbs.
In that race he
beat both Azamour, a multiple G1 winner (Timeform rating 128) and Grey Swallow (Timeform
rating 127) the subsequent G1 Irish Derby winner. At 2 Bachelor Duke started on
three occasions, all at 7 furlongs coming 3rd twice before finishing
4th in the G1 Dewhurst Stakes. His 2yo performances earned him a
Timeform rating of 115p. This rating is a bit below that for a top 2yo but he
did improve his rating at 3 to 122. It has been suggested that his race
preparation was far from ideal because his trainer wished to please the horses
dying owner, the late Duke of Devonshire with a stakes victory. After his first
start he started only in the best of company. He did not therefore have the
usual cotton wool European preparation of a colt with a sire’s pedigree. That
is a soft maiden win followed by a start in the weakest 2yo stakes that he had
the class to win and then a three-year-old start in the best G1 he would be able
to win to earn his union card as a stallion. He is an attractive bay horse
standing 16 hands.
Timeform described Bachelor Duke as a “
good-topped colt: very smart performer: best effort when winning Boylesports
Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh in May by length from Azamour wandering before
coming with a strong surge to lead inside final 1f: edgy raced too freely when
only seventh of 11 to Azamour in St James Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot only
subsequent outing: missed Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot Sept 25 (reportedly
lame); would probably have stayed 1 1/4m: raced only on good going or firmer:
waited with:”
Pedigree
Miswaki the sire of Bachelor Duke had a
distinguished career at stud after being a top 2yo on turf in France. Like many
sons of Mr. Prospector he had an ability to leave progeny that outperformed
their sire on the racecourse. Miswaki left 9% stakes winners to named foals with
some 82% of his foals getting to the races. He got 16% 2yo winners and earned an
AEI of 2.10 and a CI of 2.11. He sired Black Tie Affair the USA Champion and
Champions also in Italy and France. To date he has had modest success as a
sire of sires with Black Tie Affair being a disappointment and Umatilla, and
Exploding Prospect leading the effort in this part of the world. His son Rossini
is achieving as a sire from fairly modest mares to date and has earned a
transfer to stand alongside his super talented, better than half brother Elusive
Quality in Kentucky.
Miswaki has been much more successful as a
broodmare sire of sires, his daughters already having produced Daylami, and
Hernando to date and Gallileo waiting in the wings. Bachelor Duke’s first two
dams had modest racetrack performance but both have produced two stakes
performers each.
Seattle Slew the first dam’s sire while
producing 11% stakes winners to foals, only left 45% winners to named foals.
Seattle Slew has left a small number of effective sires including the
very successful A.P. Indy and Capote but his progeny are not known for their
love of turf. Gleam Machine, Air De France and Khozaam had some success in this
part of the world as sires; Seattle Slew like Miswaki is more notable for his
success as a broodmare sire. His daughters have left Champions Cigar, Astra,
Escena, Lemon Drop Kid and Agnes World.
Line Breeding
Bachelor Duke has line breeding to
Nasrullah 5s,5dX6s,6s,6d and Native Dancer 4sX5d
supported by a further daughter of
Polynesian. He also has 14 lines of Teddy and 18 of Sundridge. He gets returns
of his own No 5 family through Native Dancer, Sunstar, White Eagle, Equipoise
and Son-In-Law.
Mr. Prospector the sire of Miswaki and
Seattle Slew both trace to Frizeur of the 13c Family of Ornis and the full
relations. Mr Prospector over a Northern Dancer mare has proven a super cross
for racehorse ability but generally has been disappointing for producing sires
with the possible exceptions of Rhythm in New Zealand and Goldkeeper in South
Africa.
One other feature of the pedigree is the
presence of Rose Bower bred on the cross of Princequillo over a Nasrullah mare
and Poker by a son of Princequillo, Round Table over a Nasrullah mare. With
Buckpasser on the top side of the pedigree and Seattle Slew below there are
three lines of La Troienne to work with.
Pedigree Opportunities
Bachelor Duke deserves an opportunity at
stud with his combination of one, top-level race performance and his pedigree
tracing to an outstanding stallion producing family. Whilst Sadler’s Wells was
a top class racehorse as was Thatch this family does have the capacity to leave
good sires having had a less than stellar race careers themselves. In this
category fit Fairy King, Yeats, Perugino and Sword Dance. Jade Robbery earlier
and Numerous now, are sons of Mr Prospector from this family that have kicked
goals as sires. In January Mr Light
a son of Numerous set the new world record on Turf of 1.31.41. Mr Light and his
Champion older sister Miss Loren have Forli and his full sister crossed in their
pedigrees.
Breeding back to the No 5 Carpet Slipper
family looks like a good way to go with the G1 horses El Condor Pasa,
Fatherland, Helissio and Fabrav having been bred on this pattern.
The Number 5 lines are available through
Hermit, (Sir Tristram is a good source of Hermit particularly through Zabeel who
also has Nureyev and Val de Loir). Dalmary also appreciates a return of her
close relation Blenheim 11.
Scenic the recently deceased son of
Sadler’s Wells had notable success with mares carrying Biscay who combines
Sunstar with other members of the number 5 Family White Eagle and Pilgrimage a
daughter of, The Palmer of the Family 5.
Danehill with his line breeding to Native
Dancer of the Family 5 should also work.
Other sources of the number 5 include
Victory Dance, Kinjite, Our Poetic Prince, Star Way, and Shinko King. Sharpen Up
is also a Family 5 sire so Famous Star, Dagger’s Drawn, and Riviera mares
might be useful.
Jungle Pocket, Pyrus and Sandtrap mares
might work as like Zabeel they have Nureyev as their
broodmare sire. Seeking the Gold is from the family 5 so Ustinov and Secret
Savings look a chance. Mr Prospector seems to work doubled up so it would be
worth trying. His Royal Highness mares look particularly well suited, as would
Stravinsky and Fasliyev a little further back in a pedigree. If you would like
to try the family 13c connection O’Reilly, Hunza Court and Danzero trace to
the family. There are few opportunities to line breed to Seattle Slew in this
part of the world and I would avoid doing so unless the mare was both sound and
well performed on turf.
Conclusion
It is extremely hard for New Zealand based
farms to purchase even the Southern Hemisphere rights to a stallion with
top-level race performance and a stallion’s pedigree.
While first crop yearling buyers are still
prepared to pay a premium for uncertainty then a $15,000 first year fee can be
justified. Unless I had a sound and well race performed mare
likely to produce a $50,000 plus yearling
I would wait for the fee to drop a little in later seasons. Rick Williams at the
Oaks is a pedigree savvy stallion master and has the mares to give Bachelor Duke
a fair opportunity. As a 16h handsome stallion with a liking for firm tracks he
looks well placed to have his progeny perform in Australia where the Oaks Stud
owner resides.(Timeform quote reproduced with kind permission of Portway Press
Ltd)
Peter Neilson Copyright 2005
