Epsom pedigree analysis including Justify, Galileo and Dubawi
Pedigree expert Laura Joy provides her key takeaways from the Classic action at Epsom.
City of Troy’s convincing Derby plunder silenced all doubters in indisputable fashion. Okay, bar himself who had something to prove after his 2000 Guineas flop, the field lacked a star, but isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? It is in winning the pivotal race in the three-year-old colts' calendar that denotes stardom for one colt and one colt only.
What else can't be disputed is that the colts on the podium each ran a career best, stepping forward markedly from their seasonal debuts. The same can be said for both of Newmarket’s Classic winners Notable Speech (Dubawi) and Elmalka (Kingman), who had warmed up prior to landing their biggest successes to date. What about the Irish Classics? Rosallion (Blue Point) went one better than his seasonal return at Newmarket and Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot) proved her three-year-old debut was much needed when finding her stride at the Curragh.
What the record for the 2024 Classics so far will not show is what the more conservatively campaigned of this generation might have achieved had they had a prep before the day that matters. Perhaps the early efforts of Notable Speech, Ezeliya (Dubawi), Elmalka and Haatem (Phoenix of Spain) will tell in the latter half of the season, only time will tell.
Mistakes are made so we can learn from them, and another we so often forget is that it’s okay to lose. Neither of the Epsom Classic winners of 2024 boast unbeaten records and, if anything, in the case of City Of Troy it has only enhanced his appeal. Prior to the Epsom Derby, analyst Matt Chapman made the excellent point that win, lose, or draw we should be grateful to Ballydoyle and the Coolmore empire for running City of Troy. His reputation was damaged at Newmarket and anything less than the performance we witnessed would further devalue the Champion Two Year Old’s reputation irreparably. The famous race, the racing public and fans alike are grateful as ever for the risk they took. Long may the fearless and ambitious campaigning of blue-blooded elite thoroughbreds continue.
When Triple Crown winner American Pharoah arrived on the scene in 2015, the first since Affirmed in 1978, the excitement across the Atlantic Ocean was palpable. Three years later and more records were broken when an imposing chestnut son of Scat Daddy galloped his rivals into submission in six impeccable starts. Joining American Pharoah at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Justify benefited from the support of American breeders and the support of his new owners' stellar broodmare band, as did American Pharoah.
But the mares are only one half of the equation and the expectations were high for both. With respect to American Pharoah, who at $50,000 I believe ranks one of the best value sires in North America, Justify has achieved and exceeded his opportunity and proves that it takes more than just a quality book of mares to make the grade. Anything less than top-flight winners was going to be perceived as disappointing but Justify has duly delivered.
While City of Troy was already one of his six Group/Grade 1 winners, he became the first Classic winner from his second crop having knocked on the door with Just F Y I, a narrow second in the Kentucky Oaks and Ramatuelle, the moral winner for many in the 1000 Guineas. It was only a matter of time before the record-breaking sire of 30 stakes winners to date, 18 of those Graded, added a Classic to his record, surely the first of many.
Credit to City of Troy’s dam as she became the latest in a long list of Galileo's daughters to produce a Classic winner. Galileo’s prowess needs little introduction from me, but the variety of sires his daughters have clicked with is remarkable and wide ranging. When the Galileo mare Fluff visited Japan’s stamina influence Heart’s Cry, she duly produced a St Leger winner in Continuous, while sending Champion Two Year Old Misty For Me, by Galileo, to War Front resulted in a July Cup-winning sprinter in U S Navy Flag.
Another point of interest was Dubawi at last cracking the Epsom Classic code. Having delved into his previous contenders who had bid for Epsom glory, I will admit the jury was very much out as to whether there was a material reason it hadn’t happened yet. Talented Group 1 performers such as Wild Illusion, Sobetsu, Coronet and Benbatl had all tried and failed to break the hoodoo. In Ezeliya, Dermot Weld had an Aga Khan bred filly from the ‘E’ family which features Gold Cup winner Estimate (Monsun), Coronation Cup winner Daliapour (Sadler’s Wells) and perhaps most notably, Ezima – dam of Sheikh Hamdan’s Oaks winner Taghrooda (Sea The Stars).
Taghrooda led home a one-two in Shadwell’s blue and white silks with Tarfasha in second, a daughter of Darley’s reliable stalwart Teofilo. Featuring as Ezeliya’s damsire, she became Teofilo’s fourth Classic winner as a damsire and second by Dubawi following ill-fated Coroebus in the 2000 Guineas back in 2022. The same cross as Melbourrne Cup winner Without A Fight, Dubawi’s customary speed and will to win coupled with Teofilo’s class and stamina has once again proved successful, this time for HH the Aga Khan.
This weekend at Epsom had something to savour for everyone and indeed reiterated the most important point of all when it comes to winning Classics: pedigree remains the best indicator of performance, and long may the record continue to show as much.
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