The track record win of Magic Lily in the Gr 3 Cape Verdi Stakes (1600m) at Meydan is noteworthy for several reasons.
Magic Lily is out of Champion three-year-old and Gr1 Oaks winner Dancing Rain (Danehill Dancer). Her brother Jalmoud was third in last year’s Gr1 Grand Prix de Paris.
Apart from her becoming the 50th stakes winner for her sire, the Derby winner New Approach (Galileo), the Godolphin homebred Magic Lily is also inbred 3×4 to Ahonoora (Lorenzaccio).
Bred by Wyld Court Stud in Great Britain and sold for 7600 guineas as a yearling to Sheikh Essa Alkhalifa. by that stage his sire Lorenzaccio (Klairon), best known for beating Nijinsky in the 1970 Champion Stakes at Newmarket, had been banished to Australia without having sired a decent winner however, Ahonoora was about to prove that most stallions can get one good one.
Winner of the Gr2 Nunthorpe Stakes and Gr2 York Sprint Championship Stakes at York and the Gr 3 King George Stakes at Goodwood, Ahonoora also placed in the Gr1 King’s Stand Stakes.
From his base at the Irish National Stud, Ahonoora was the leading sire in Ireland in 1987. His major winners include the Derby winner Dr Devious, English and Irish 2000 Guineas winner Don’t Forget Me, the champion fillies Park Appeal and Park Express, as well as the good sprinters Indian Ridge, the maternal grandsire of Magic Lily who died of a heart attack at the Irish National Stud in 2006 at the age of 21, and Inchinor.
As a broodmare sire Ahonoora is represented by successful sires Cape Cross and Acclamation as well as North American champions Azeri and Leroisdesanimaux.
The best runner to date by New Approach (Galileo) is The Derby winner Masar, inbred to Ahonoora, who is broodmare sire not only of New Approach but also of Masar’s grandsire, Cape Cross.
Lancashire Oaks winner The Black Princess is inbred to Ahonoora’s Gr 1 winner Park Appeal.
Unfortunately Ahonoora’s stud career was cut short as a 14yo when he suffered a broken hind leg in a paddock accident in his second season at stud in Australia in 1989. From the 40 live foals he left he sired four stakes winners, headed by New Zealand Gr 1 winner Ball Park while the Gr 3 sprint winner Zodiac Miss is the dam of champion Azeri.