by Nigel Pullen©

French 1000 Guineas Victress

In a desperate finish for the G1 French 1000 Guineas at Longchamp, the Irish-trained three year old filly Rose Gypsy (by Green Desert - Krisalya by Kris - Sassalya by Sassafras - Valya by Vandale) just held off the challenge of Banks Hill and Lethals Lady. It was an unexpected victory, with the favourite Amonita getting a far from trouble-free run in fifth.

Rose Gypsy had been the cheapest of Green Desert's three yearling fillies sold at the 1999 Newmarket Houghton sales. Her price of 115,000 guineas falling well short of her two other paternal half sisters who fetched 250,00 & 750,000 guineas respectively. True, her dam Krisalya may have recorded her only victory in a four runner maiden over ten and a half furlongs, and perhaps she had only bred ordinary winners to date; but Krisalya was a half sister to a couple of top-notch performers in Sasuru (by Most Welcome) and Sally Rous (by Rousillon). Sasuru's racing career being climaxed by wining the G1 Prix D'Ispahan, while Sally Rous was successful in both G2 Challenge Stakes and G3 Jersey Stakes.

Krisalya's dam Sassalya won twice as a three year old, and her ten placed efforts included a fourth place in the G3 Princess Royal Stakes. The next two dams Valya (by Vandale) and Lilya (by Clarion) were each Group-class performers in France, Valya winning the G3 Prix Minerve and G3 Prix de Pomone, in addition to a fourth place inn G1 Prix Vermeille; while Lilya was the joint second top rated three-year-old filly in France in 1958, where her seven victories included the Prix du Moulin.

Interesting, two excellent racehorses who also trace tail female to Lilya are Needle Gun and Common Grounds, the former sired by Kris's son Sure Blade and the latter a son of Kris himself. This of course meant they were both bred on very similar lines to Rose Gypsy's dam Krisalya, by Kris. [Perhaps this indicates combining Green Desert and Common Grounds in pedigrees could be worthwhile.]

Rose Gypsy's third dam Valya was 2x5 to the three quarter sisters Vanille and Vashti via their respective sons Vandale and Vatout. However, an equally important feature of her pedigree is surely her fourth dam Quick Change. This mare was a daughter of Hurry On out of a mare by Tracery, and the significance of her genetic make-up will become more apparent as we more forward to Rose Gypsy.

The sires of Rose Gypsy's dam and granddam were Kris and Sassafras respectively. Sassafras was 4x2 to the stallions Precipitation and Coronach; and the fact that both were sons of Hurry On with Tracery's genetic equivalent Tredennis close up in the pedigrees, gave them very similar genetic backgrounds to Quick Change. In actual fact, all the eight horses in Tredennis's third generation were also present in the pedigree of Tracery.

Moving on to Kris, we find that his dam Doubly Sure was 5x5 to Papyrus who was by Tracery out of a mare by Marco, the latter being the sire of none other than Hurry On. Thus Papyrus was a further variation of the cross found in Quick Change, Precipitation and Coronach. Note that Papyrus's background was in fact the mirror image of that trio, with a balancing son strain of Tracery and daughter strain of Marco.

In addition to all this, Kris's sire Sharpen Up supplied the mare Rockfel (by Felstead), and to provide a further weave in an intricate tapestry this mare traced tail female to Lady Susan, who brings us back full circle by virtue of also being the third dam of Quick Change. All this gave Rose Gypsy's dam Krisalya a strong build up of the strains of Hurry On, Marco, Tracery, Tredennis and Lady Susan; and the mating with the top sprinter Green Desert which resulted in Rose Gypsy reinforced this still further.

Green Desert is a son of Danzig, and the latter's third dam, the 1946 Epsom Oaks winner Steady Aim, is the key strain here. Not only was Steady Aim bred on very similar lines to the aforementioned Rockfel, being by Felstead and tracing tail female to Lady Susan; but even more significantly, had none other than Quick Change as her own granddam. This combination of the genetic relatives Steady Aim and Rockfel (usually via her son Rockefella) has serve Danzig really well, some examples of Group1 winners bred on this cross include Dame De Sion, Danehill Dancer, Endanger, Erhaab, Hayil, Kissing Cousin, Sunline and Tiger Hill. Rockfel also has a full sister in Rockfoil and three quarter sister in Romulea, who would also merit attention when combined in a pedigree with Danzig.

The other interesting cross in Rose Gypsy's pedigree concerns the appearance 3x4 of Northern Dancer and Atan. Balancing strains to the all-pervading Native Dancer are always important and Atan is a good example of one of them. He is a son of Native Dancer out of Mixed Marriage by Tudor Minstrel out of Persian Maid by Tehran. Tudor Minstrel's sire Owen Tudor is by Hyperion out Anna Bolena by Pharos, while Tehran traces tail female to the mare Miranda.

This is a perfect foil for Northern Dancer, whose sire Nearctic balances Owen Tudor with a son of Pharos, a daughter of Hyperion, along with Anna Bolena's close genetic relative Nogara. Furthermore Nearctic traces tail female to Miranda's full sister Pretty Polly, while Northern Dancer's dam is a daughter of Native Dancer. Regular readers of this column will be well aware by now how often this Nearctic/Owen Tudor combination crops up.

In what looks like an evenly matched division of three year old fillies, Rose Gypsy will have to be at her best to retain her place as the season progresses.