Readers of articles on this site will have been aware of my admiration for this son of Fastnet Rock for quite some time and, although it’s early days, I’m increasingly getting the feeling that I just may have been right.
As I’ve mentioned before, advocating for a stallion before he’s even got as far as getting his first mare in foal is just a little ridiculous because we have no idea what sort of foals he’s going to leave. We can make suppositions about which bloodlines will suit him best but this is a long way from analysing the pedigrees if his best runners after he’s had several crops to the races.
However, it’s worth saying that what really is boosting my confidence about Highly Recommended is that there are very good genetic reasons as to why all of his winners so far are decent horses.
His 2YO SW Waldorf is out of a mare bred on a Pins x Centaine cross. Highly Recommended’s female family has done very well with Pins’ sire Snippets and this mare also features two significant Star Kingdom lines – Kaoru Star and Todman – which complement Marscay in Highly Recommended. Group 1 placed Joyfilly has Storm Cat close up and the affinity between him and the Royal Academy influence in Fastnet Rock is well established. Yesterday’s impressive Riccarton winner Greenpark Gem has Kaoru Star in her pedigree, although of probably greater significance are the Nureyev and Blushing Groom lines in Stravinsky. Even the minor winner Vishnu has Kaoru Star close up.
It’s going to be very interesting indeed to analyse the pedigrees of High Recommended’s winners over the next few months. Both Waldorf and Greenpark Gem look well above average and Stylish Applause (Volksraad/Star Way) won very nicely at Te Aroha last weekend.
I’ll keep you posted
