After the extraordinary feet of High Chaparral to Trifecta the AJC Derby over the weekend, I thought it was time we had a closer look at what is making this sire, the heir apparent to Sadler’s Wells.

The only time I can remember a sire filling the placings in a major staying event in Australia was Zabeel, when Sky Heights beat Laebeel and Inaflury in the 1999 Caulfield Cup. High Chaparral's trifecta in the classic emulated that of his sire Sadler's Wells who claimed trifectas in the Irish Derby and the English Derby.

However, in an extraordinary AJC Derby, the three to fight out the final 200m of the race were three sons of High Chaparral! Having also left the top 3yr old, So You Think (won Australia’s premier WFA race, the WS Cox Plate – Gr I) Coolmore, never ones to miss income, have arranged for High Chaparral to return to the Southern Hemisphere, but to Australia this time at a fee of some A$70k.  It seems he will not struggle to fill his book after this performance.  Previously, he stood at the good New Zealand nursery, Windsor Park Stud from where these three horses were conceived. The three concerned are winner Shoot Out (the winner of the AJC Derby and the most dominant 3yo in the country) Descarado (Spanish for hidden face) and Monaco Consul (Victorian Derby winner).

We need to wonder if there is a genetic pattern at play here...and as always there is.  This pattern is one that is very familiar with sons of Sadler’s Wells.  It seems however that High Chaparral is particularly sensitive to these returns from his consorts.

Again we see two with Rose Red, the sister to Sweet Lavender which High Chaparral has...also two of these have Sunbridge, sister to Knockaney Bridge.  These two sets of sisters involve the mare Qui Vive sister to Vedette, the grand sire of St. Simon.

There some other returns that are of interest, but the enduring power of these sets of sisters is amazing...

I hate to always be banging on about this, but it is hard to ignore these when they re-emerge time after time...