Brocklesby Stakes: a pedigree perspective

Traditionally at least, Doncaster’s Brocklesby Stakes is the first two-year-old race of the season in Britain. It’s therefore a blank canvas as far as form is concerned which focusses attention on the pedigrees of the runners. One of the fourteen declared this year does actually have some racecourse experience, though how much Eviya Rose learned from finishing tailed off in a claimer run in a snowstorm at Saint-Cloud last week is hard to say.

The name of the Brocklesby winner can often be forgotten by the time Royal Ascot comes round, but sometimes the winner proves a bit more than just an early-season two-year-old and that was the case most recently in 2016 when the Mark Johnston-trained The Last Lion (pictured) won another three races in a busy season which ended with a 25/1 success in the Middle Park Stakes. Santry, who won one of the two divisions last year when the race was split, also looked destined for better things after going on to finish second at Royal Ascot in the Norfolk Stakes, though he sadly met with a fatal accident later in the summer.

In impressive finish lands SANTRY with Div I @betway Brocklesby Stakes for Declan Carroll under Neil Farley pic.twitter.com/OSM8G3OTw3

— Doncaster Racecourse (@DoncasterRaces) April 1, 2017

Santry’s trainer Declan Carroll is represented this year by Langholm who stands out as much the most expensive of these to have gone through the ring, fetching €100,000 as a yearling at Goffs in Ireland. He’s by a top sire of two-year-olds in Dark Angel, and while his dam was a maiden who showed only modest form at best, she was by another very good two-year-old sire Exceed And Excel. While not a speedy family, it’s been a prolific one, with Langholm’s grandam producing ten winning foals, four of whom achieved a Timeform rating of at least 100, among them Leporello who won a couple of Group 3 contests at a mile and a quarter.

All bar one of this year’s Brocklesby field went through the sale ring at least once, and the only other runner to have cost more than £20,000 is Wasntexpectingthat. Sold for 40,000 guineas as a foal, he was a 28,000 guinea yearling purchase by Richard Fahey who has trained three Brocklesby winners, including Requinto Dawn who won the other division last year. By the high-class Australian sprinter Foxwedge, Wasntexpectingthat’s unraced dam has produced a couple of winners to date over seven furlongs and a mile and she’s a half-sister to the six-furlong listed winner Blhadawa.

Three of the field will be the first runners for first-season sire Bungle Inthejungle who was a speedy two-year-old himself, winning the Molecomb and Cornwallis Stakes, and came to hand early, winning twice over five furlongs before Royal Ascot. His trio are Carey Street, Clevedon and Geography Teacher. On the other hand, Carey Street probably has the most stamina in his family than any in the field. His dam, who stayed a mile and three quarters, is a half-brother to the smart Flat stayer Midas Way who won beyond three miles over hurdles. Geography Teacher’s dam won over middle distances in Italy, but she also had the speed to win first time out as a two-year-old over five furlongs.

Only six of the Brocklesby line-up are out of mares who were themselves winners, and the highest-rated of those was the useful (Timeform rating of 102) Midnight Flower whose three wins all came at six furlongs, one of them as a two-year-old. She’s the dam of Brahma Kamal, a 14,000 guinea yearling, who’s one of the speediest-bred on paper in the line-up, being by the dual King’s Stand winner Equiano.

Arthur’s Spirit (by smart sprinter Swiss Spirit) is the other who catches the eye despite a modest pedigree at first glance. He cost only 5,000 guineas as a yearling and his unraced dam’s two runners to have reached the track so far have achieved little. However, his grandam was the speedy filly Lady Dominatrix (Timeform rating of 112) who has produced some useful sprinters herself, including Janina, a two-year-old listed winner over five furlongs. His trainer Bill Turner has made winning the Brocklesby something of a speciality, successful six times in all with similar types between 1996 and 2013.