The Group 1 Dewhurst Saturday at Newmarket over 7 furlongs is a dress rehearsal for the 2000 Guineas next year and bills as possible headliners the three high-profile juveniles in Britain to date, Frankel, Dream Ahead, and Saamidd, each undefeated, lightly raced, and indebted to the breeding programs of Juddmonte, Coolmore, and Darley. And notable is that Coolmore’s iconic sire Sadler’s Wells appears in the pedigrees of all three. (Click their names below to view the pedigrees.)
Frankel has most of the hype surrounding him after a 10-length score in the Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot on Sept. 25 over a mile. Now undefeated in three starts, the son of champion sire Galileo had won a 7-furlong conditions race at Doncaster by 13 lengths 15 days before the Royal Lodge, and he’d made his debut at Newmarket over a mile on Aug. 13. He’s won on soft to good but will be cutting back in distance from the Royal Lodge to the Dewhurst, and he appears to be considered chiefly a Guineas colt by his trainer, Henry Cecil.
Bred and owned by Juddmonte, he’s by one of the two current Sadler’s Wells aces at Coolmore out of a mare by longtime Coolmore ace Danehill, who was actually bred and raced by Juddmonte. The next dam is by the Juddmonte horse Rainbow Quest, who’s from the immediate family of Juddmonte’s Warning, both from the family of the mare Where You Lead.
Enter Dream Ahead, a dual Group 1 winner and also undefeated in three starts. Bred and culled by Darley, he’s by Darley’s Diktat—a son of the aforementioned Warning, from a Sadler’s Wells mare. Dream Ahead also has Danzig, the sire of Danehill, on the bottom half of his pedigree and therefore has some of the same genetic makeup of Frankel: Sadler’s Wells, Danzig, and Where You Lead (2nd dam of Rainbow Quest and Warning).
On the racecourse, Dream Ahead is more accomplished than Frankel so far, with the Group 1 Prix Morny over 6 furlongs at Deauville Aug. 22 and the Group 1 Shadwell Middle Park over 6 furlongs at Newmarket Oct. 1 on his resume. A colt with high-knee action who appreciates soft ground, he won the Middle Park by 9 lengths despite drifting badly to the left in the straight. He’s bred for speed and moves up to 7 furlongs from 6 and comes back quickly but is reportedly in fine shape for the contest. Click here to read a previous post about him.
Darley also bred Saamidd, who races in the Godolphin blue and is undefeated in two starts. The colt made his debut on the same day as Frankel, but at Newbury over 7 furlongs on Aug. 13 instead of at Newmarket. He then came back on Sept. 11 at Doncaster to win the Group 2 Champagne Stakes over 7 furlongs—the same trip as the Dewhurst.
Saamidd, like the two above, is the result of combining the best sires of Darley, Coolmore, and Juddmonte: He’s by Darley’s US ace Street Cry out of a mare by Coolmore’s Sadler’s Wells horse Galileo; the next dam, as with Frankel, is by Rainbow Quest. Unlike Frankel and Dream Ahead, who have the combination of Sadler’s Wells and Danzig in their pedigrees and therefore are inbred to their sire, Northern Dancer, Saamidd does not have Danzig in the equation. But he is inbred to Natalma, Northern Dancer’s dam, because Street Cry’s sire Machiavellian traces in tail-female to her, his 3rd dam.
Below are videos of their last three races. Frankel is first, followed by Dream Ahead, and Saamidd (in blue Godolphin silks):
Should be the best two year-old race in the world – the crop in the UK seem to be a vintage bunch. Then again, Uncle Mo & Boys in the Juvenile will be pretty special as well. I guess we’re lucky!