by Nigel Pullen ©

The words "trained by Aidan O'Brien, ridden by Mick Kinane, and sired by Sadler's Wells" were etched on the English Classic role of honour for the third time in 2001 when Milan ran right away with the St. Leger, the final classic of the season.

The son of all-conquering stallion Sadler's Wells was settled at the rear of the field in the one and three quarter miles event, as his stable companion Saddler's Creek set a strong gallop from Demophilos. Turning into the long home straight Demophilos took over and opened a useful advantage, but once Milan found an opening he swept passed to win going away by five lengths from the gallant Demophilos, with Mr Combustible back in third.

Milan's female family traces back to one of the Aga Khan's foundation mares, Qurrat-Al-Ain, who was purchased for 12,500 guineas back in 1928. This was a hefty sum at the time, no doubt due to the exploits of her half brother Royal Minstrel, who had recently won the Craven and St. James's Palace Stakes and finished a head second in the English 2,000 Guineas. A powerful, strongly made individual just like her half-brother, Qurrat-Al-Ain soon began to recoup her purchase price by winning the Queen Mary Stakes and two other races as a juvenile; together with finishing runner-up in both Molecomb and Cheveley Park Stakes. At three she was fourth in the 1,000 Guineas, and took the Coronation Stakes over a mile, but failed to stay the extra half a mile in the Oaks.

Qurrat-Al-Ain's name translated from the Arabic as "Apple of my Eye", and she was well named, as all her seven foals were winners. These included Irish Oaks heroine Queen Of Shiraz (by Bahram), who subsequently became the ancestress of Irish Classic winners Santa Tina (Irish Oaks), Reindeer (Irish St. Leger) and Atherstone Wood (Irish 2,000 Guineas); together with Milan's seventh dam, Majideh.

Majideh went one better than her half-sister taking both Irish 1,000 Guineas and Irish Oaks, and possessed a pedigree with a very strong background of St Simon. Her dam, Qurrat-Al-Ain was 5x4 to the full brothers Persimmon and Florizel II (both by St. Simon out of Perdita by Hampton), together with an additional balancing daughter strain of St. Simon. Her sire, Mahmoud, was linebred 6x5x5 to St. Simon, giving Majideh a grand total of six lines of the son of Galopin. Majideh was also linebred 5x4 to Sundridge, 6x6x4 to Isinglass and 6x5 to Trenton. The latter was a son of Musket, whose seven-eighths sister Quiver could be found in Mahmoud.

Majideh eventually became an important broodmare. Her son, Gallant Man, was a top class racehorse in America, where he won a total of fourteen races including the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Belmont and Travers Stakes. Gallant Man's older full sister, Mehrabi, was a far less able racehorse, but became ancestress of Top Knight (champion at two and Florida Derby winner at three) and Law Society (Irish Derby).

Both Gallant Man and Mehrabi were sired by the Aga Khan's Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe winner Migoli, and since Migoli's dam Mah Iran was a three quarter sister to Majideh's sire Mahmoud, this made both Gallant Man and Mehrabi 2x2 to this pair of close relatives.

Another daughter of Majideh to become ancestress of a classic winner was the unraced Malekeh (by Stardust). She produced The Scoundrel (by Toulouse Lautrec), placed in both Kentucky Derby and Preakness; and was also fourth dam of Son Of Love (by Jefferson) whose moment of glory came when he won the English St. Leger. The stallion Nearco was a frequent mate for Majideh, and the result of these unions included the fillies Mahallat and Masaka. Places in the Prix de Minerve and Prix de Royaumont earned Mahallat some black type, and her granddaughter, Mother, produced a pair of useful racehorses in Anfield (by Be My Guest) and North Stoke (by Northfields), the latter taking the Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes (G1).

Our interest is in Majideh's good Nearco filly Masaka, who was to become the sixth dam of Milan. At two she won her first three races, including the Queen Mary and July Stakes. She then suffered defeat in her other two juvenile starts over six furlongs, both races being won by subsequent classic winners in My Babu and Black Tarquin. However, in the second of those defeats, the Gimcrack Stakes, she looked far from keen, raising doubts about her temperament. All was well on her reappearance the following spring, when she took the 1,000 Guineas Trial at Kempton Park over seven furlongs by three lengths, but in the 1,000 Guineas itself, she dwelt at the start and was never in contention. Her next date was the Epsom Oaks and here she proved on her best behaviour storming clear at Tattenham Corner to register a six lengths win. Dropped back to a mile in the Coronation Stakes a fortnight later, Masaka showed the darker side of her character by delaying the start and then completely refusing to race. Her final outing saw her back to her best, again leading fully five furlongs out to take the Irish Oaks.

Masaka's pedigree closely mirrored that of another brilliant, though wayward son of Nearco, the top class stallion Nasrullah, who was out of Mumtaz Begum, a three quarter sister to Masaka's maternal grandsire Mahmoud. Brilliance and temperament often go hand in hand, and here the ten lines of St. Simon (6x5x5x6x8x7x7x8x7x7) in Masaka's pedigree, especially through excitable sources such as Rabelais and Desmond, may have been too much.

Masaka was eventually exported to America in 1954, but not before producing the fillies Palsaka (by Palestine) and Bara Bibi (by Bois Roussel), the former becoming dam of the champion two-year-old and top miler Silver Shark (by Buisson Ardent). Bara Bibi won two of her three juvenile starts over six and seven furlongs, and at three contested all the top fillies events. Victories came in the Princess Elizabeth and Park Hill Stakes, to supplement her fifth place in the English 1,000 Guineas and fourth in the Epsom Oaks.

Being a daughter of Bois Roussel she was a three-quarter sister to the previously mentioned Gallant Man, and since Bois Roussel was 4x3 to St. Simon, we have further concentrations of this son of Galopin. Bara Bibi's most interesting offspring were the full sisters Morning Calm and Gioia, both daughters of Epsom Derby winner Crepello. Morning Calm raced only four times, winning a minor ten furlongs event at three, but served the Aga Khan well at stud by becoming the granddam of the inaugural Breeders Cup Turf (G1) hero Lashkari (by Mill Reef). Her year younger full sister Gioia, did her racing in France scoring twice and being placed six times.

Thanks to her sire Crepello, Gioia had a 3x5 duplication of Blenheim II, and since the pedigree of Crepello contained Blenheim II, Gainsborough, Sundridge, Ayrshire and Roi Herode, quite closely matched that of Mahmoud, the sire of Gioia's third dam, Majideh. Crepello's sire Donatello II was yet another stallion with heavy concentrations of St. Simon, who appeared 6x5x5x5x5 in his pedigree. This was balanced to some extent by Crepello's dam Crepuscule; for although she was herself 6x6x6x6x7x7x8 to St. Simon, also had a priceless 4x5 duplication of Ajax, who provided St. Simon's full sister Angelica.

Gioia was eventually sold for just 1,550 guineas, but not before producing Milan's third dam Kalkeen for the Aga Khan in 1974. Sired by an Ascot Gold Cup winner in Sheshoon, Kalkeen won four races, amongst which was the listed Prix de la Seine. She also filled the runner-up spot in the Prix Cleopatre (G3) and Prix de Royaumont (G3).

Sheshoon's dam Noorani, shared a similar heritage with Kalkeen's third dam Masaka. The strains of Nearco, Gainsborough, The Tetrarch, and Isinglass being common to both, and while Noorani provided Sky Rocket, Masaka supplied his three-quarter brother Buchan. Kalkeen became the dam of seven winners, including Karkisiya, a daughter of Caro who won the Premio Roma Vecchia (G3).

Unusually Kalkeen's first seven foals were all fillies, and the sixth of these, Kalata, became the granddam of Milan. Kalata only raced once, finishing unplaced, and presumably because her breeder already had so many fillies from this family, was dispatched by the Aga Khan to the Newmarket December Sales as a three-year-old in 1987. She was purchased there for 38,000 guineas by Mrs. Camilla Drake, but what the catalogue pages could not tell us that day was that within a year Kalata would be a half-sister to the dam of an Epsom Derby winner. This was courtesy of Kalkeen's first foal Kadissya (by Blushing Groom) who, as a result of being covered by the stallion Ile De Bourbon in 1984, produced Kahyasi, the winner of both the English and Irish Derby.

Sadly, Mrs. Drake died a few months after her purchase of Kalata, and so the latter became a member of the broodmare band at Fittocks Stud, owned by Mrs. Drake's close friends, Luca and Sara Cumani. By one of those quirks of fate Luca Cumani was also the trainer of Kahyasi for the Aga Khan.

Kalata came from the first crop of French and Irish Derby winner Assert, a stallion who although producing five G1 winners including Dancehall, was on the whole disappointing. Kalata's dam Kalkeen was 3x4 to Nearco, so Assert provided a good balance to this via his granddam Irish Lass who was 2x2 to Nearco and his full brother Niccolo Dell'Arca. The two strains of Nearco in Kalkeen's pedigree came via Noorani (Nearco/Gainsborough) and Masaka (Nearco/Mahmoud), so it is perhaps significant that these strains were picked up by Assert's grandsire Northern Dancer (Nearco/Gainsborough/Mahmoud). This was further reinforced by Assert's strain of Tudor Minstrel who provided Gainsborough, Nearco's sire Pharos and Mahmoud's ancestress Lady Josephine.

Kalata made an immediate impact for her new owners, by producing a Group winner from her first foal named Kithanga. It was a mating very much in the spirit of the Aga Khan, as her sire was his French Derby winner Darshaan. Unraced a two, Kithanga did not make her racecourse debut until June of the following year. After wining a 12 furlongs maiden on her third attempt, she was immediately stepped up in class, scoring in both the listed Galtres Stakes and St. Simon Stakes (G3). In the latter she beat previous Group winners Anna Of Saxony, Linpac West and Shambo by six lengths. Kept in training at four Kithanga never fulfilled this promise, running her best races to finish second in the Park Hill Stakes (G2) and third to Vintage Crop in the Irish St. Leger (G1).

There was very little in common between the pedigrees of Darshaan and Kalata, apart for an interesting link between the mares Grand Cross (granddam of Darshaan's sire Shirley Heights) and Kalata's own granddam Gioia, who appeared 4x3 in Kithanga's pedigree. A comparison between the pedigrees of these two mares shows common strains of Vatout, Gainsborough, Spearmint and Pretty Polly, and while Grand Cross provided Fairway and King Salmon, Gioia balanced them with Pharos (half-brother to Fairway) and Blenheim II (half-brother to King Salmon).

Darshaan also sired the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) winner Key Change out of a half-sister to Kithanga's dam, and a look at the offspring of Kahyasi, who, of course, shared the same granddam with Kithanga, is instructive. Three of Kahyasi's Group winners, Enzeli (G1), Shamadara (G3) and Zainta (G1) were out of mares by Darshaan, while two more, Bayrika (G3) and Vereva (G1), were of out mares by Darshaan's grandsire Mill Reef. Furthermore, the G3 winner Sharbayan was by Mill Reef's son Doyoun out of a mare by Kahyasi.

A 650,000 guineas yearling purchase, Milan was Kithanga's second foal, and linebred 2x5 to Northern Dancer via Sadler's Wells and Be My Guest. However, the real strength in his pedigree centres round the combination of his sire Sadler's Wells and maternal grandsire Darshaan. Rivals in their racing days, when Darshaan beat Sadler's Wells by a length and a half in the French Derby, they have now come together to become a potent weapon in the breeder's armoury. To date, apart from Milan, this cross has been responsible for the Group winners Ebadiyla (G1), Greek Dance (G1), Quarter Moon (G1), Crimson Tide (G2), Sayedah (G2), Perfect Plum (G3) and Street Shaana (G3). Furthermore, the combination of Sadler's Wells and Darshaan's sire Shirley Heights has proved even more fruitful, with Group 1 winners In The Wings, Morshdi and Subtle Power, together with a host of Group 2 and Group 3 performers.

The power behind this potent combination of Sadler's Wells and Shirley Heights undoubtedly owes much to the relationship between Shirley Height's grandsire Never Bend and Sadler's Wells maternal grandsire Bold Reason. While Never Bend was by Nasrullah out of the mare Lalun, Bold Reason was a grandson of Nasrullah's three-quarter brother Royal Charger out of the mare Lalun too, making them very close relatives. Another, often overlooked, pair of genetic relatives also found in Sadler's Wells and Shirley Heights are Turn-to (grandsire of Bold Reason) and Hard Ridden (sire of Shirley Heights maternal grandsire Hardicanute). Both Turn-to and Hard Ridden traced tail male to Pharos, and both were out of mares by Admiral Drake.

Darshaan's dam Delsy also played her part in reinforcing Bold Reason. The latter's maternal grandsire Djeddah (by Djebel - Djezima by Asterus) was mirrored in Delsy, who had Arbar (by Djebel out of an Asterus mare) and Tourzima (by Djebel's sire Tourbillon out of Djezima) appearing 2x4. Furthermore, both Bold Reason and Delsy shared strains of Man O'War, Black Toney, Teddy, Pharos and Vaila in their genetic backgrounds.

Future plans for Milan include a drop back to a mile and a half, and an attempt at the Prix de L'Arc Triomphe.

October 7, 2001. Copyright by Nigel Pullen 2001.