Thursday’s Prix de la Porte Maillot at ParisLongchamp winner Space Blues prompted us to look at how one of world breedings most potent combinations has been doing lately.
The Charlie Appleby-trained Space Blues (4yo Dubawi – Miss Lucifer by Noverre) has won both his starts in 2020 and has won five of his 11 races including the Listed Surrey Stakes at Epsom last year and in the Porte Maillot went below 1:20.000 for the 1400m in defeating D’Bai. (pic: France Galop)
Dubawi’s (Dubai Millennium) affinity with Singspiel (In The Wings) is already lethal and growing more lethal by the day.
From 32 named foals by Dubawi out of mares by Singspiel, 22 are winners with 10 of them stakes winners and 11 stakes performed in total.
Four of these – Too Darn Hot, Old Persian, Wuheida and Left Hand – are at Group 1 level with Majestic Dubawi, Rare Rhythm, So Mi Dar and Laugh Aloud at Group 2 level.
Given that both Dubawi and Singspiel were bred and raced by Sheikh Mohammed and stand and stood under the Darley banner, the law of probability can in part be attributed however, the pedigree affinity is undeniable.
Add to this, Dubawi has sired the Group 2 Derby Italiano winner Worthadd and UAE Group 3 winner Muntazah from 14 named foals out of mares by Singspiel’s half-brother Rahy, making 18 stakes performers from 46 named foals out of mares by sons of the champion racemare Glorious Song (Halo).
Space Blues is out of a mare by Noverre (Rahy) with Sunbittern (Sea Hawk) as his fourth dam. His third-dam is High Spirited, by Shirley Heights, and the Derby winner is also seen in Dubawi’s Group winners Al Kazeem, Hunter’s Light, Arabian Queen, Wuheida and Left Hand.
Dubawi’s 2000 Guineas winning son Night Of Thunder has started his stud career in promising fashion and while he is showing a real liking for Danzig-line stallions, there is also a healthy smattering of Shirley Heights to be found in his 14 stakes winners to date, principally through his Prix du Jockey-Club winning son Darshaan, like Group 2 winner Night Colours, No Limit Credit and Thunderous.
The same Shirley Heights influence is seen in King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Poet’s Word, the best runner sired by Dubawi’s Group 1 winning son Poet’s Voice.
Like Space Blues, Wuheida is inbred to Sunbittern. This quirky daughter of Sea Hawk II dug in her toes and unseated her rider soon after the break on her second start as a three-year-old then simply refused to race on her final appearance, earning herself the dreaded Timeform squiggle in the process.
She appears in Dubawi’s pedigree as his fourth dam and she is also the second dam of In The Wings (Sadler’s Wells), the sire of Singspiel.
Space Blue’s dam Miss Noverre (Noverre) was a talented runner, winning the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Newmarket. In addition to Space Blues she is the dam of UAE Group 2 winner Shuruq (Elusive Quality), the dam of last year’s US Listed winner Antoinette (Hard Spun).
For all these emerging patterns it is interesting to note that Dubawi’s first three dams – Zomaradah, Jawaher, and High Tern have no inbreeding in their first five generations, the first duplications appearing in Sunbittern whose sire Sea Hawk II is by Herbager (3×3 Firdaussi) and her dam Pantoufle is 4×3 to the mare Serena through males Solar Slipper and Arctic Star.
Dubawi stands at Sheikh Mohammed’s Dalham Hall Stud in England where he is advertised at £250,000 in 2020 while Singspiel was euthanised in July 2010 due to laminitis.