The young Coolmore stallion Camelot has been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, surprising everyone with his first crop success, which continues as his first crop turns into sophomores. Montjeu’s fastest and most accomplished son racing, he would seem to have inherited the mantle from his father, whose greatness was undisputed. With the powerful backing of the O’Brien family, with Aidan and Joseph training and Donnacha riding and the well-known ownership group of Tabor/Magnier/Smith, sons and daughters of Camelot have invaded the United States after succeeding in Ireland and Europe.
After Latrobe’s win in the Irish Derby-G1 for the O’Brien brothers, Athena became Camelot’s second Grade 1/Group 1 winner on July 7, taking the Belmont Oaks Invitational S.-G1 off just six days rest and a long trans-Atlantic flight, winning by 2 ½ lengths with a dominant, thrilling stretch run. With Ryan Moore up, this was a typically audacious attempt and win by Aidan O’Brien, paterfamilias. It should be noted that the same connections, on the same day, finished third in the Belmont Invitational Derby-G1 with another of Camelot’s first crop offspring, Hunting Horn. Camelot’s E30,000 stud fee will certainly rise in 2019, as Coolmore has made another young stallion a star.
Athena’s pedigree gives her the license to be a top rate filly, and fascinates because of the very American influences in it which combine with its European elements to create this earner of over $600,000. Her dam is the group stakes placed Cherry Hinton, by Green Desert, out of the stellar Miswaki mare Urban Sea, winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe-G1 and blue hen producer, dam of Galileo and Sea the Stars, among others. A full three-quarters of Athena’s pedigree, therefore, boasts the best of American roots. Green Desert was by Danzig, out of Foreign Courier, whose royal breeding cannot be denied: she was by Sir Ivor, and out of Courtly Dee.
Green Desert must be considered on his own merit, as he brings riches to any pedigree. Danzig, an All-American sire, offers both speed and turf ability to the pedigree, and his status as a leading broodmare sire has been writ in stone. He adds his own American branch of Northern Dancer to Athena, who already includes a Sadler’s Wells sire line. Camelot is out of Tarfah, a Kingmambo mare, bringing another great blue hen, Miesque, the dam of Kingmambo, into play; she is a daughter of Nureyev. Nureyev and Sadler’s Wells are closely related, as they are both tail female Rough Shod II, yet another of the great blue hens of the twentieth century, through her 1964 daughter Thong, by Nantallah. Nureyev is a son of Thong’s 1969 daughter Special, by Forli, while Sadler’s Wells is a son of her 1975 daughter, Fairy Bridge, by Bold Reason (who of course is from the Nasrullah line, just as Special and Thong are). Though inbreeding to this family has proven results, it’s uncommon to see it so closely on the page of such a young sire as Camelot. Then, as if by magic, we note that Camelot’s second dam, Fickle, is by Danehill, a son of Danzig who is considered to have begun his own, significant sire line and was the leading sire in Europe and Great Britain for many years. Much as Fappiano is now considered a separate sire line from Mr. Prospector, and inbreeding to them has been shown to work, we must believe that this inbreeding to Danzig has limitless potential.
We would be remiss if we didn’t give careful consideration to Danehill’s dam, the great Juddmonte-bred blue hen, Razyana. Her contribution to this pedigree is immense. First of all, she is by His Majesty, son of Ribot and brother to Graustark, one of the greatest American stamina and turf influences of all time. Her dam, Spring Adieu, is by Buckpasser, classic American speed, plus his dose of yet another of the greatest mares of the twentieth century, La Troienne. But this cornucopia of great mares doesn’t end here, as Spring Adieu is by Natalma herself, daughter of Almahmoud, dam of Northern Dancer. Adding this dose of Natalma, through a daughter, to this Northern Dancer-rich pedigree insures the passing on of the large heart gene, which Mahmoud, one of the greatest of broodmare sires, undoubtedly set coursing through the blood of his daughters and granddaughters.
We haven’t even begun to consider Green Desert’s dams’ side. His dam, Foreign Courier, was by another of the greatest twentieth century broodmare sires, Mill Ridge-bred Sir Ivor, by Sir Gaylord. Sir Gaylord adds yet another of the greatest mares of the twentieth century to Athena’s pedigree, as he was out of Somethingroyal, by Princequillo, the dam of Secretariat. Princequillo mares ruled the universe for many years, with him atop the broodmare sires lists, and Somethingroyal is one of those mares about whom one may say too much is not enough. Like Mahmoud, Princequillo mares passed on the large heart gene to their offspring, so what we are witnessing in the career of Athena can come as no surprise. To add to all the zigzagging, Sir Ivor’s dam, Attica, is by a son of Mahmoud, Mr. Trouble.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but here goes: Foreign Courier’s dam is another of the great twentieth century blue hens, Courtly Dee. Having praised Courtly Dee in other columns, suffice it to say that her daughters and granddaughters continue to influence the thoroughbred of today, as she brings together double doses of Frizette (tail female of both Seattle Slew and Mr. Prospector), multiple doses of Plucky Liege and other related Spearmint mares, and La Troienne, through her son, Bimelech. Few, if any, would dispute my list of the top broodmares of the Twentieth Century: Rough Shod II, La Troienne, Somethingroyal, Courtly Dee, Miesque, Razyana and, of course, Almahmoud. Athena’s pedigree has an all-star cast when it comes to mare power. And this is only a consideration of the top three-quarters of her pedigree!
The aforementioned remaining quadrant of Athena’s pedigree is occupied by another great mare, her second dam, Urban Sea, a Group 1 winner herself, and dam of Galileo and Sea the Stars, among others. Out of Miswaki, who was by Mr. Prospector and out of the Buckpasser mare Hopespringseternal, Urban Sea should be recognized as being closely related to Razyana, the dam of Danehill, with her Mr. Prospector sire and Buckpasser dam. Miswaki’s second dam, Rose Bower, is another of those powerhouse Princequillo mares, like Somethingroyal, and therefore presents her and her daughter’s genetic gifts on the zigzag, this time through the dams’ side. This mating of Cherry Hinton to Camelot turns out to be something of a no-brainer, as she has already produced Group 1 winner Bracelet and group stakes winning Wading with Montjeu. Given Camelot’s dams’ side, it’s no surprise that this mating may be even more fortuitous. Echoing all this Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer is, of course, Kingmambo in Camelot’s pedigree, the young star’s broodmare sire, a great turf running son of Mr. P out of Miesque, by Nureyev, as mentioned above.
A couple of years ago, I lauded the pedigree of Cupid, who now stands at Ashford, Coolmore’s Kentucky branch, owned and raced by the Tabor/Magnier/Smith triumvirate. This ownership group has a love of Roman and Greek mythology, and they have named this wonderful filly appropriately—Athena, the keen-eyed goddess of wisdom. A perfect name for this seemingly perfect girl, whose female relatives, both near and far, mark her as a star.
— Roberta Smoodin
Thanks to Thoroughbred People contributor and bloodstock consultant Roberta Smoodin for this article. Roberta offers pedigree analysis for sales and breeding recommendation services for your broodmares – please contact Roberta at [email protected] for more information.