Three stakes winners in three countries last weekend including a new Group1 winner all with one common denominator.
The Australian Group 1 winner Montefilia, English Listed winner Berksire Rocco and the French Listed winner In Front are all out of mares by the high-class middle distance runner Shirocco (Monsun).
It is early days yet the signs are that Shirocco has the makings of a decent broodmare sire, which should come as no surprise really considering he is a classic winning son of Monsun.
Monsun died in September 2012 aged 22 as a four–time champion German sire and the most successful stallion in German since the introduction of the Pattern system.
He is inbred 4×4 to brother and sister Kaiseradler, leading German sire four times, and Kaiserkrone, the third dam of Konigsstuhl, the pair out of Kaiserwurde, a modest runner but an influential broodmare.
In addition to her daughter Kronung, the granddam of Konigsstuhl, Kaiserkrone is also dam of Kronzeuge (Neckar) who became leading German sire in 1972.
A son of Konigsstuhl, the first horse to win the German Triple Crown in 1979 and himself three–times champion sire in Germany, out of a mare by Surumu, himself a six-time champion sire as well as champion broodmare sire 11 times, Monsun never covered big books but with the Deutsches Derby 1,2 of Samum and Subiaco in his first-crop his popularity was assured.
By 2007 his fee at Gestut Schlenderhan was €120,000 and that year’s crop included Gr1 winners Maxios and Fiorente, both now at stud.
Shirocco himself won seven of his 13 races for Baron Georg Von Ullmann and only missed the first three once. Unraced at two, he won the Deutsches Derby and the Gran Premio del Jockey Club at three, the Breeders’ Cup Turf at four and the Coronation Cup at five.
He retired to stud under the Darley banner in 2007 at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket at a fee of £10,000, shuttled to Brazil in 2010 and is currently available to breeders at Glenview Stud in Ireland, advertised at €4,000 in 2020 primarily as a National Hunt sire.
As a sire he has six Group 1 winners on the flat headed by Irish St Leger winner Brown Panther and Deutsches Derby winner Windstoss among his 33 stakes winners and over jumps he has the Champion hurdling mare Annie Power as well as Grade 1 winners Lac Fontana and Principe del Mare.
With a more or less even split between colts and fillies his record as a sire is markedly better with his males, 22 stakes winners compared to 11.
That imbalance could well be reversed by his daughters as broodmares.
Monsun’s daughters did well when mated to Sadler’s Wells line stallions and this trend is also evident in the first results for Shirocco as a broodmare sire.
The Flight Stakes winner Montefilia is by Kermadec, a son of Teofilo; the Gr2 Dante Stakes winner Telecaster by New Approach; the German Gr3 winner Whispering Angel and sister the French Listed winner Wangari are by Soldier Hollow; In Front is by Intello.
So far Shirocco has nine stakes winners as a broodmare sire, seven this year, and five of those are by Sadler’s Wells line stallions.
As a sire Shirocco’s Brazilian Gr1 winner January Jones is out of a mare by Crimson Tide (Sadler’s Wells) and he has Listed winners Good Morning Star (Beat Hollow) and Fun Mac (Montjeu) bred similarly.
His champion hurdler Annie Power is out of a mare by Old Vic (Sadler’s Wells) and Monsun sired Gr1 winners Samum, Salve Regina and Schiaparelli out of Sacarina (Old Vic)
The Noel Murless Stakes winner Berkshire Rocco is by Sir Percy, a Derby winning son of Derby winner Darshaan, himself by a Derby winner Shirley Heights.
Shirocco’s Gr1 winner Brown Panther has Shirley Heights as his maternal grandsire and Gr3 winner Hartani is out of a Darshaan mare while Gr3 winner Prince Of Arran has Darshaan as his maternal grandsire.
Shirocco is one of five stakes winners left by his dam So Sedulous (The Minstrel), named Broodmare of the Year twice in Germany, his granddam the Irish Gr3 winner Sedulous, by the 2000 Guineas winner but disappointing sire Tap On Wood.
While his predominantly middle-distance pedigree and aptitude may not be the stuff to delight those in the quest for speed, Shirocco is now exerting his influence through his daughters and, we suspect, there is going to be more to come.