Both Arctica (Captain Al) and Surcharge (Gimmethegreenlight), winners of Saturday’s Listed Wolf Power 1600 and Gr3 Tony Ruffel Stakes, hail from powerful European classic families.
Arctica wins the Wolf Power
Arctica is out of the mare Little Grey Wolf, whose sire, Indian Ridge is an excellent broodmare sire, with his daughters having produced at least 90 stakes winners.
Indian Ridge, who died in 2006, is broodmare sire of Gr1 winners Wilko (Breeders’ Cup Juvenile), Dancing Rain (Epsom, German Oaks), Reel Buddy (Sussex Stakes), Charming Thought (Middle Park Stakes), Profitable (King’s Stand Stakes), Dolniya (Dubai Sheema Classic), Excelebration (QE II Stakes and sire of Gr1 winner, Barney Roy), Nighttime (Irish 1000 Gns and dam of Gr1 winner, Zhukova), Desert Blanc (Manhattan Hcp), Halfway To Heaven (Irish 1000 Guineas and dam of Gr1 winner, Rhododendron), Nahoodh (Falmouth S), and Kingsgate Native (Nunthorpe Stakes).
Churchill – Kangra Valley is his third dam
Indian Ridge is also sire of the important broodmare, Kangra Valley, dam of Gr1 winning sprinters Airwave (Salse) and Jwala (Oasis Dream), and Kangra Valley is also the third dam of champion, Churchill, and his Gr1 Cheveley Park Stakes winning own sister, Clemmie. The latter made history when becoming the first daughter of Galileo to win a Gr1 feature over 1200m.
Power Pedigree
Little Grey Wolf was not among her sire’s best daughters on the track, only making one appearance. However, what she lacked in racing record, she more than made up for in pedigree. Little Grey Wolf was half-sister to stakes winner Cold Cold Woman and the Gr1 performer. Robin Hood, and is granddam of Irish 1000 Guineas winner, Arctique Royale, the ancestress of numerous high class racehorses the world over.
Arctique Royale (Royal And Regal) was an excellent broodmare, producing four group winners to the cover of three different stallions, with her best runner perhaps being Irish Oaks second, Russian Snows (Sadler’s Wells).
Her Musidora Stakes winning dam, Arctic Melody (Arctic Slave), is also second dam of dual Gold Cup winner and Arc de Triomphe runner-up, Ardross (Run The Gauntlet). Not only was Ardross regarded as one of the century’s great stayers, but the gallant bay was voted Europe’s (and Britain’s} Horse Of The Year in 1982, sadly an honour almost unheard of these days. His wins included 13 pattern races, with Ardross going down by a head in the 1982 Arc de Triomphe.
Other high class recent performers descended from Arctic Melody include Irish Oaks winner and increasingly successful broodmare, Moonstone (Dalakhani), whose Frankel colt, Nelson, won the Gr3 Juvenile Stakes in Ireland last year.
Moonstone is also dam of disappointing Investec Derby runner up, US Army Ranger (Galileo), and three other stakes winners. Ill-fated Dubai World Cup winner, Electrocutionist (Red Ransom), French Gr1 winner, Cerulean Sky (Darshaan) and 2017 Prix Marcel Boussac winner, Wild Illusion (Dubawi) are other notable performers descended from this important tap-root.
Members of this family have enjoyed success in many spheres, ranging from Royal Ascot to Mexico, and the likes of Nelson can well ensure that further success comes the way of Arctic Melody and her descendants.
Top Family
The very promising, Surcharge, is another from an outstanding family, associated with the late Baron Howard de Walden. A winner of five of his seven starts thus far, Surcharge is directly descended from one of the finest mares in the British stud book in the form of No Angel (Nasrullah). The latter, whose son, Young Lochnivar (Elopement), was a leading sire in India, has had a significant impact through her daughters, with No Angel’s influence continuing to be felt today.
Surcharge wins the Tony Ruffel Stakes
De Walden purchased champion filly, Soft Angels (a granddaughter of Surcharge’s fifth dam, No Angel) and Soft Angels went on to produce Doubly Sure, dam of champions and top class stallions, Kris and Diesis (both by Sharpen Up). Both Kris (Champion Sire in 1985 in Britain) and Diesis (sire of three Epsom Oaks winners) have had considerable influence on the stud book. Between them, Kris and Diesis have sired five Epsom Oaks winners (Kris is also damsire of Oaks winner Moonshell), and a total of more than 160 stakes winners. Both are outstanding broodmare sires (Kris is damsire of leading sires, Kodiac and Invincible Spirit, among others), while Diesis’ five time Gr1 winning son, Halling, proved a decent sire in his own right, with Halling’s offspring including 50 stakes winners, headed by Irish Derby hero, Jack Hobbs. Diesis sired Richmond/Champagne Stakes winner, Daggers Drawn (subsequently a Gr1 sire in New Zealand) from No Angel’s descendant, Sun And Shade, making the chestnut inbred to No Angel.
River Keen
Keen, a less distinguished full brother to Diesis and Kris, also made his mark at stud, as the sire of multiple Gr1 winner, River Keen, and SA Australian Oaks winner, Gamine. The latter produced a daughter, Elfenjer, dam of South African champion and Gr1 Dubai Sheema Classic heroine. Sun Classique.
The No Angel family has also enjoyed much other success locally, thanks to the likes of Count Dubois, sire of champions Asylum Seeker, Edict Of Nantes, and French Navy, and the graded stakes winners, Captain’s Wild and Coltrane. No Angel is the fifth dam of Gran Criterium winner, Count Dubois (Zafonic), and she rates as sixth dam of Coltrane (Giant’s Causeway) and fourth dam of Gr2 Colorado King Stakes winner, Captain’s Wild (Captain Al).Former Guineas runner up, Havasha (Kahal), is another smart local performer descended from No Angel.
Spring Spree winner Will Pays
Count Dubois’s half-brother, Indian Haven (Indian Ridge), provided the family with more classic success when he won the 2003 Irish 2000 Guineas, while multiple group winner, Imperial Stride (a ¾ brother to Indian Haven), like Count Dubois, was retired to stud in South Africa, where his runners include Gr3 Spring Spree Stakes winner, Will Pays.
