Spiriting Ahead

The new Northern Hemisphere racing season seems to have kicked off with a bang for Khamsin Warrior's sire, Invincible Spirit. This report is from Australian Racing and Breeding Magazine.

Invincible Spirit Adds Irish Gr3
In Ireland overnight, former Chatswood Stud shuttler Invincible Spirit (Green Desert-Rafha, by Kris) added a group success when daughter Age Of Chivalry (Invincible Spirit-Aravonian, by Night Shift) grabbed victory by a head in the €70,000 (A$119,000) Gr3 Ballyogan Stakes (6 furlongs) for fillies & mares at Leopardstown. Age Of Chivalry (ridden by Fran Berry for trainer John Oxx) defeated UK-bred pair Eastern Romance (Oasis Dream-Ocean Grove, by Fairy King) & Cartimandua (Medicean-Agrippina, by Timeless Times).

Age of Chivalry is bred similarly to Khamsin Warrior being 4 x 3 & 5 to Northern Dancer and 4 x 5 to Sir Ivor.
Khamsin Warrior is 4 x 5 to Northern Dancer and 4 x 4 to Sir Ivor.

The Northern Dancer/Sir Ivor cross is well known as a potent producer of winners. For example Redoute’s Choice has sired 8 stakeswinners from 33 runners out of mares by Sir Ivor line stallions. The chief source is Sir Tristram who is the damsire of 3 stakeswinners including multiple Group 1 winner Lotteria while 5 of Sir Tristram’s sire sons have each been represented as the damsire of a Redoute’s Choice stakeswinner: Marauding, Zabeel, Sovereign Red, Dr. Grace and Military Plume.

Three out of four of our current top four stallions are by Northern Dancer male line stallions out of mares which trace tail female to a Sir Ivor mare! They are Flying Spur, Redoutes Choice & Encosta De Lago. The fourth, Zabeel, is not male line to Northern Dancer or tail female to a Sir Ivor mare but is (coincidently or not?) bred on the reverse cross as he is by a Sir Ivor line stallion out of a Northern Dancer line mare.

Let's hope KW lives up to all this theory when he gets his chance on the track.