Why Savethelastdance would be a fitting Oaks winner for both her sire and dam
The most recent winner of the Cheshire Oaks to follow up in the Oaks at Epsom was Enable in 2017 but there must be a good chance that this week’s wide-margin winner, Savethelastdance, will complete the same double. Even allowing for the very testing conditions, the way she powered clear of her rivals to win by a distance more usually seen over jumps than in a classic trial suggests she’ll take all the beating at Epsom.
Some torrential rain fell at Chester on Wednesday just as it did during Enable’s Oaks. Enable’s five-length victory at Epsom was the race which first revealed her to be a filly out of the top drawer as she stayed on strongly to beat the 1000 Guineas runner-up Rhododendron by five lengths, that filly later to become the dam of Auguste Rodin who is still towards the head of the betting for the Derby despite his defeat in the 2000 Guineas.
But on a stormy day at Epsom there had been drama beforehand which resulted in Enable having one less rival to beat. Possibly spooked by the thunder and lightning on the long walk to the start, Daddys Lil Darling, who was all set to become the first runner from North America to contest the Oaks, bolted in the direction of the stalls resulting in her jockey Olivier Peslier bailing out of the saddle.
Fortunately both horse and rider were unscathed but Daddys Lil Darling, who had been runner-up in the Kentucky Oaks on dirt the previous month, was not surprisingly withdrawn, resulting in a wasted trip for Kenny McPeek’s filly. Daddys Lil Darling was a 33/1 shot for her aborted Oaks bid but her first foal is much shorter odds to make up for her mother’s mishap as, six years later, Daddys Lil Darling is now none other than the dam of Savethelastdance.
While Daddys Lil Darling began her career on dirt and was a Grade 2 winner on that surface at two, also finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, she only ran once more on dirt after the Kentucky Oaks. After all, she was a half-sister to Mongolian Saturday, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2015. Unlike his half-sister, Mongolian Saturday did get an opportunity to run in Britain – twice – though finished down the field after showing early speed in both the King’s Stand Stakes and July Cup in 2016.
Daddys Lil Darling was no sprinter herself but with a Timeform rating of 117 she proved smart on turf as well as on dirt and ended her three-year-old campaign with a deserved Grade 1 success and an alternative ‘Oaks’ victory – in the American Oaks over a mile and a quarter at Santa Anita.
At four, Daddys Lil Darling got her belated chance to tackle a mile and a half for the first time, finishing second in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland under her Grade 1 penalty. She went on to win another Grade 3 contest at Arlington that season before ending her racing career at the same track by finishing fourth to the subsequent Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes.
In addition to a racing career which showed her to be consistent and versatile in terms of racing surface, as well as smart, Daddys Lil Darling’s appeal as a potential broodmare was boosted by a good pedigree. Besides being a half-sister to a Breeders’ Cup winner herself, her dam Miss Hot Salsa had finished second in a Grade 2 contest and her grandam Miss High Blade was a Grade 3 winner. But no doubt what made her attractive to Coolmore in particular as a broodmare prospect was the fact that she was a daughter of Scat Daddy, a stallion with whom they’d had considerable success and whose reputation was as high as ever even though he was no longer around.
Daddys Lil Darling went through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton Sale in November 2018 at the end of a year in which Justify won the American Triple Crown before Coolmore added him to their collection of other sons of Scat Daddy that already comprised the likes of No Nay Never, Caravaggio, Sioux Nation and Mendelssohn. The last-named had won the UAE Derby earlier in 2018, adding to his win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf the previous season.
M. V. Magnier had to see off rival bids from both American and Japanese breeders to secure Daddys Lil Darling for Coolmore for $3.5m and clearly already had the mating in mind which was to produce Savethelastdance as he commented after the sale that ‘the chances are she’ll go to Galileo.’ There were prophetic words too from Gainesway’s Michael Hernon who consigned Daddys Lil Darling on behalf of her breeders Normandy Farm. ‘She had balance, charisma, a correct, great mover, and I could see her throwing a top horse, for sure.’
It looks as though she has done just that with her very first foal. But if Savethelastdance does go on to win the Oaks, much of the credit would also have to go to her late sire too. Indeed, Savethelastdance could prove to be very well named as Galileo won’t have many more chances to sire yet another classic winner. He has an excellent record in the Oaks in particular, being responsible for five of Aidan O’Brien’s ten winners, with Tuesday’s victory last year adding to those of Was, Minding, Forever Together and Love. Forever Together, who finished second in the Cheshire Oaks, was also from an American family, incidentally. Another Oaks winner would also take Galileo a step closer to siring a hundred individual Group/Grade 1 winners as he’s currently on a score of 97.
Having done all her racing in the States, Daddys Lil Darling raced almost exclusively on very firm ground on turf, though she did finish a close third in a Grade 2 contest on the one occasion she encountered softer going. The way Savethelastdance put the Cheshire Oaks to bed suggests she’s likely to be effective away from the mud too, though by the same token testing conditions clearly hold no fears for her as she had already proved before Chester when winning her maiden at Leopardstown last month which was also run on heavy going. Connections won’t mind therefore if there’s rain around again on Oaks day – just without any accompanying thunder and lightning this time.
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