A Giant Of A Day For Iron-Horse
Descendants of the late champion Giant’s Causeway made more than a name for themselves in major races around the world on Saturday.
Giant’s Causeway horse Not This Time (whose dam Miss Macy Sue was sired by Drakenstein Stud Trippi) presented his fourth Gr1 winner when his son Sibelius won the Gr1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan on Saturday.
Sibelius and Ryan Moore hold off Switzerland’s late challenge in Saturday’s Meydan action (Image – Chase Liebenberg)
If you thought Ryan Moore couldn’t leave a winning challenge later than he performed Broome in the Gr 2 Dubai Gold Cup, then the final lunge aboard Sibelius in the Gr1 Dubai Golden Shaheen was even more of a heart stopper than last year’s winner Switzerland refused by a nose
Five-year-old Sibelius, one of 24 stakes winners for his father, has now won seven out of 19 starts, including the 2022 Gr3 Mr Prospector Stakes. He joins Princess Noor, Just One Time and now Ashford-based Epicenter as a G1 winner for Not This Time.
The third home at Dubai Golden Shaheen was the winner of the Gr1 Hopeful Stakes 2021 Gunite, who is inbred to Giant’s Causeway.
Watch the replay here:
Gunite’s sire Gun Runner, who descends from Giant’s Causeway mare Quiet Giant, contributed to his broodmare sire’s memorable (albeit posthumous) day when he was responsible for runner-up in the Gr2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby Disarm on Saturday.
On the same Meydan map, Lord North, who is out of Giant’s Causeway mare Najoum, won the Gr1 Dubai Turf. It is the third year in a row that Lord North has claimed the Dubai Turf, having triumphed in 2021 before taking first place last year. He is one of nearly 200 stakes winners produced by Giant’s Causeway daughters to date.
Giant’s Causeway grandson Lope De Vega added to his ancestor’s successes as his son Arapaho won the Gr1 Tancred Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. Arapaho Lope De Vegas was the 18th Gr1 individual winner. Lope De Vega, a two-time French Classics winner, sire of 106 stakes winners, is also the sire of Saturday’s winner Lattam, Paddy Power Irish Lincolnshire.
Lope De Vega is also the sire of a number of promising three-year-olds this season including Carl Spackler and Algolia, both of whom were named TDN Rising Stars this year, while his son Belardo is the sire of this year’s Gr1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes winner Gold Phoenix.
Lope deVega
Lope De Vegas’ late father Shamardal, whose 160+ stakes winners include 27 Gr1 winners, is the father of Godolphin Mile, Saturday’s Gr2 runner-up, Law Of Peace, and Gr1 Dubai World Cup runner-up, Algiers.
Mariah’s Storm, dam of Giant’s Causeway, is also the granddam of 2000 Guineas winner Gleneagles, whose daughter Insinuendo won the first group flat race in Ireland this year when she won the Gr3 Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express on Saturday stakes won. It was a third group winner for Insinuendo, who is herself one of 25 entry winners for her Coolmore-based father.
Giant’s Causeway, sire of broodmares to South African champions One World (Captain Al) and Soft Falling Rain (National Assembly), also made his presence felt in South Africa on Saturday – he is the sire of broodmares to Seeking Peace (What A Winter), who won the ninth and final Racing at Hollywoodbets Durbanville on a rainy Saturday afternoon.