The Epsom Derby (G1) and Prix du Jockey-Club-French Derby (G1)—run on consecutive days last weekend—brought us something old and something new as far as sires were concerned.
Something old, or at least older, was represented by Auguste Rodin, who is from the final crop of Deep Impact, who would have been 21 this year but for his premature death. The premier son of the breed-shaping Sunday Silence, Deep Impact has been a leading sire in Japan seven times. He sired numerous Japanese champions, among them the Triple Crown winner Contrail, twice Horse of the Year Gentildonna, and five-time champion Gran Alegria.
On the international scene, his standouts include Loves Only You, who won the 2021 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), as well a pair of grade 1 races in Hong Kong; Snowfall, successful in the English and Irish Oaks (both G1); Saxon Warrior, victorious in the Racing Post Trophy (G1) and English Two Thousand Guineas (G1); Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby (G1) hero Study of Man ; Fancy Blue, winner of the Prix de Diane-French Oaks (G1) and Nassau Stakes (G1); Beauty Parlour, who annexed the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (G1) to become the first European classic winner by a Japanese sire; A Shin Hikari, who took the Prix d'Ispahan (G1) and Hong Kong Cup (G1); Real Steel, winner of the Dubai Turf (G1); and Australian grade 1 winners Fierce Impact, Real Impact, and Tosen Stardom. Deep Impact's final crop totaled 13 foals, 10 of which have started, and they also include group/graded winner Drumroll and Light Quantum.
The distaff side of Auguste Rodin's pedigree is no less impressive. He's the first starter for his dam, the Galileo matron Rhododendron. She won five races, including the Fillies Mile (G1), Prix de l'Opera (G1), and Lockinge Stakes (G1), and was several times group/grade 1 placed, including when second in the English One Thousand Guineas, Epsom Oaks (G1), and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Rhododendron is a sister to an even better performer in Magical, a highweight in Europe at 3, 4, and 5 years of age, and successful in seven group 1 events.
Rhododendron is out of Broodmare of the Year Halfway To Heaven, another very talented distaffer, whose three victories at the highest level included the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1). Halfway to Heaven is by Pivotal, a grandson of Nureyev, who in turn is a three-quarter brother to Sadler's Wells, meaning Rhododendron has the close relatives 2x4 in her pedigree. Halfway to Heaven is half sister to group winner Theann (dam of another good Galileo product in Photo Call, twice a grade 1 winner in the U.S., and of 2-year-old group winner Land Force), and to two-time group winning sprinter Tickled Pink. When bred to first-year stallion Saxon Warrior (like Auguste Rodin, a Deep Impact/Galileo cross), Tickled Pink produced last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) scorer, Victoria Road.
Cassandra Go, the third dam of Auguste Rodin, was also a speedster, defeating males to take the King's Stand Stakes (G2), Temple Stakes (G2), and King George Stakes (G3), and claiming second in the July Cup (G1). She is half sister to the Coventry Stakes (G3) winner and Irish Two Thousand Guineas (G1) second Verglas, and her dam, Rahaam, is ancestress of several other notables, including Melbourne Cup (G1) winner Cross Counter, who is by Galileo's son, Teofilo. Further back, there is a mix of English and Irish classic strains, and Rhododendron's sixth dam is Native Street. A daughter of Native Dancer, Native Street's six black-type successes included the Kentucky Oaks (G1), and she was out of Beaver Street, an imported great-great-granddaughter of the 1923 Epsom Oaks winner, Straitlace.
Auguste Rodin is one of seven stakes winners from 44 starters for Deep Impact out of mares by Galileo, the others including fellow classic winners Snowfall and Saxon Warrior. Both the dam of his sire and his own dam are by stallions from the 'G' mtDNA line out of mares from the 'L.'
The something new on the classic sire front is represented by Ace Impact, who due to the demanding pace dictated by the eventual runner-up Big Rock, set a race record when taking the Prix du Jockey-Club-French Derby (G1) by 3 1/2 lengths, his fourth victory in as many starts. Ace Impact, who produced a blinding turn of foot from the rear of the field, is from the first crop of his sire, Cracksman.
Twice a World Rankings highweight and European champion, Cracksman is by Frankel out of a mare by Pivotal, and so bred on a very similar cross to Rhododendron. As a racehorse, Cracksman's successes included back-to-back renewals of the Champion Stakes (G1) as well as wins in the Coronation Cup (G1) and Prix Ganay (G1). He also took second in the Irish Derby (G1) and third in the English Derby (G1). His first crop now numbers five stakes winners, including last year's Aloa, successful in the Premio Dormello (G2) last year.
Ace Impact is out of Absolutely Me, who was minor stakes placed in Germany and France. One doesn't come to another black-type scorer in the family until the third dam, Barakat, whose daughter Mabadi captured the Yerba Buena Stakes, and subsequently produced the French listed winner and group placed performer Mabadi.
The family improves considerably under Ace Admiral's third dam, Rosia Bay, a half sister to the Arlington Million (G1) captor Teleprompter. She produced two really good horses in Ibn Bey—winner of group events in five countries, including group 1 contests in Ireland, Germany, and Italy—and the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) winner Roseate Tern, as well as Cerise Bouquet, the dam of champion 2-year-old filly Red Camellia (herself dam of group 1 winner Red Bloom). In addition to being half sister to Teleprompter, Rosia Bay is also half sister to Selection Board, dam of international superstar Ouija Board, twice Horse of the Year in Europe and twice champion Turf Female in the U.S., and subsequently dam of Australia, winner of the English and Irish Derbys and co-highweight on the World Thoroughbred Rankings.
Ace Impact has a rather interesting pedigree pattern, as his great-grandsire Galileo is by a son of Northern Dancer out of Urban Sea, a daughter of Allegretta, and his broodmare sire, Anabaa Blue, is by a grandson of Northern Dancer, out of another daughter of Allegretta.
