We know it’s only a maiden however, the nine-length debut win at Leopardstown by Cadillac on Wednesday has us thinking he is a stakes horse in the making,
The Jessica Harrington-trained Cadillac looks well named. Winner 521 for Lope de Vega, he is bred on the same Dansili cross as Gr1 Capla Temptress, Gr3 Lope Y Fernandez but when we looked a little harder a much more pronounced pattern came into view.
Lope de Vega loves Danehill it would appear.
Lope de Vega currently has 20 of his 70 stakes winners out of mares carrying Danehill in their pedigree. That’s 28.5 percent however, it gets even more pronounced with his Group 1 winners.
Six of 10 – Santa Ana Lane, Newspaperofrecord, Vega Magic, Belardo, Gyrtrash and Capla Temptress – are out of mares with Danehill in their pedigrees.
The Dansili combination has resulted in four stakes winners, Gr1 Natalma Stakes winner Capla Temptress, Gr3 Round Tower Stakes winner Lope Y Fernandez and French Listed winners Arapaho and Mer Et Nuages.
Lope de Vega shuttled under the Patinack banner for four seasons to Australia from 2011 so had ample opportunities with mares carrying Danehill in their pedigrees with the Group 1 winning sprinters Santa Ana Lane, Vega Magic and Gytrash among his best performers and bred this way.
Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Prix du Jockey-Club winner Lope de Vega is by Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) with no Danehill or Danzig in his pedigree.
His half-sister Bal De La Rose (Cadeaux Genereux) won the Listed Prix la Sorellina at La Teste and is the dam of German Gr1 winner Danceteria to a mating with Redoute’s Choice (Danehill).
The spark for this Lope de Vega success with Danehill is generated from Machiavellian, to who he is inbred 3×3, by Mr Prospector and a descendant of Natalma like Danehill
Machiavellian was rated Europe’s best two-year-old by five pounds in 1989 for the late Francois Boutin, following an unbeaten campaign which featured Group 1 victories in the Prix Morny and Prix de la Salamandre.
Machiavellian’s dam Coup de Folie (Halo) is inbred 3×3 to Natalma’s dam Almahmoud and the Danehill sireline and Machiavellian combination is seen in this year’s Gr1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner Farnan, Zoffany and this year’s Royal Ascot winner Hello Youmzain among others.
Machiavellian’s son Street Cry (a brother to the dam of Shamardal) sired the Melbourne Cup winner Shocking out of a Danehill mare and his Gr1 winning son Trekking is out of a mare by Redoute’s Choice (Danehill).
Lope de Vega’s Dewhurst Stakes winner Belardo carries several strains of Almahmoud (Mahmoud) and one his five first-crop winners to date Got Luck is out of a Street Cry mare while another, Lullaby Moon, is out of a mare by Indesatchel (Danehill Dancer).
Cadillac’s granddam Kiyra Wells (Sadler’s Wells) is a winning three-quarter sister to champion 2YO Damson, the dam of Gr2 Flying Childers stakes winner Requinto, a son of Dansili.
Lope de Vega has established himself as one of Europe’s leading sires standing at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland and there appears still more to come.