IT SEEMS in recent years all around the world racing fans have been treated to the finest fillies and mares. Black Caviar and now Winx in Australia, Rachael Alexandra and Zenyatta in America, and in Europe this year we have seen Found and Minding lift a multitude of big prizes in Europe.
The question I’d like to address in this column is what have been the best mother-daughter combinations in Europe in the past 25 years or so. I am looking for fillies who have won at Gr.1 level and gone on to produce a daughter who has also won at the highest level. In the interests of further clarity I have used the average of Timeform ratings of both mother and daughter to decide which combination gets top billing.
A quick glance at the table of qualifying dams and daughters does suggest many of these successful combinations have been recent. Indeed, in addition to Found and Minding, we have also witnessed Journey, Rhododendron and Wuheida join this famous club in 2016. So, here we go, counting back from 10th place we have Zee Zee Top and her daughter Izzi Top with a combined average Timeform rating of 118.5. Both mother and daughter raced in the famous colours of the Weinfeld family’s Helena Springfield Ltd, with Zee Zee Top taking the Prix de l’Opera and her daughter Izzi Top coming out on top in the Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh and the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville.
We have two mother-daughter combinations locked in joint-eighth place with an average Timeform rating of 119.5. Montare was a staying daughter of the brilliant Montjeu and she secured the 2006 renewal of the Prix Royal Oak, before going on to produce the 123-rated British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes heroine Journey (by Dubawi) in 2016. Also on 119.5 are Rumplestiltskin and her daughter Tapestry. Rumplestiltskin was a top-class Danehill juvenile, taking the Moyglare Stud Stakes and Prix Marcel Boussac, and has spent her breeding life visiting Galileo, by whom she produced several smart runners, including the 2014 Yorkshire Oaks winner Tapestry.
Three mother-daughter combinations are tied for fifth place on our table: in descending order of the daughter’s Timeform rating we have Wince and Quiff, Echelon and Integral, then Daryaba and Daryakana. Juddmonte’s Wince won the 1000 Guineas for the late Sir Henry Cecil and her very first foal Quiff carried the same Juddmonte colours to victory in the Yorkshire Oaks for Sir Michael Stoute. The Cheveley Park Stud homebred Echelon earned her Gr.1 stripes in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown, while her daughter Integral, also a Cheveley Park homebred, took the Falmouth and Sun Chariot Stakes.
To round off this trio of homebred combinations, we have the Aga Khan’s Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille heroine Daryaba who produced the Hong Kong Vase winner Daryakana. In fourth place on our table are Grey Lilas and her daughter Golden Lilac, with an average Timeform rating of 121. Grey Lilas, one of four Danehill dams in our top 10, won the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and became dam of the triple Gr.1-winning Golden Lilac, who won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and Prix de Diane at three and returned at four to lift the Prix d’Ispahan.
In third spot are triple Gr.1 winner Banks Hill and her daughter Romantica. Banks Hill, a sister to four Gr.1 winners, plus successful sire Dansili, won the Coronation Stakes, Prix Jacques le Marois and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on the way to her excellent 128 rating from Timeform. Her Galileo daughter Romantica, not quite as talented (TF116), won the Prix Jean Romanet. With an average Timeform rating of 123.5 and the runners-up on our leader board are Lillie Langtry and her daughter Minding. Lillie Langtry earned a 120 rating from Timeform after taking the Coronation Stakes and Matron Stakes in 2010. Her second foal Minding has carried all before her in 2016.
Voted Cartier Horse of the Year, Minding has won seven Gr.1 races at two and three and must be odds on to add further success next year. Winner of the one-mile 1000 Guineas in May, the 12-furlong Oaks in June and then the one-mile all-aged Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in October stamps her as truly outstanding. But in terms of pure merit she’s not quite as good as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine Found. Rated 129 by Timeform, Found also won the Prix Marcel Boussac at two and the Breeders’ Cup Turf at three and she ran second in 10 other Gr.1 races.
Her dam is Red Evie who earned her 121 rating following her exploits in 2007 when she added the Lockinge Stakes to her earlier Gr.1 victory in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown. The Red Evie-Found combination has an average Timeform rating of 125.5, which puts this pair on top of the leader board.
