He had won his first two starts but stepping up from Novice grade to a well-contested Class 3 event against older horses was always going to be a challenge for Siam Blue Vanda.
However, yesterday at Kranji the son of Echoes of Heaven did just that. I don’t usually stay up late to watch a horse I’ve done the mating for but the experience turned out to be well worth the lost sleep. Glen Boss settled the 3YO well back in the field. As the race progressed, I couldn’t imagine how he could win from being last on the turn. However, that’s exactly what he did with an impressive display of acceleration. It wasn’t just a case of finding a huge gap and bursting through unimpeded: the horse needed the courage to squeeze through a minuscule space to get into contention and then the agility to be hauled sideways 50 metres from the post to continue his run to a most improbable victory.
From a pedigree point of view, I’ll happily confess that he’s somewhat different to how I expected him to be. He comes from a family of milers, more or less, with his most impressive close relative being the teak-tough Istidaad. His dam, the Lahib mare, I’m A Wag, failed to win but had managed to produce three minor winners by good stallions. I discovered that Lahib had won a couple of Group 1 miles in the early 1990s but had been only a modest success at stud, leaving 11 SWs from 220 winners. Nevertheless, as he was by Riverman, he offered some hope as a broodmare sire and Encosta de Lago appealed as an influence worth trying with one of his daughters.
However, what I really liked about her pedigree was that she was out of a mare by the brilliant El Gran Senor, a grandson of the wonderful Best In Show. Using Echoes of Heaven produced a 5 x 5 cross to this phenomenal animal and it didn’t hurt that the mating also featured a Northern Dancer triple. I hoped that these two factors would generate enough speed to offset the stamina which Echoes had shown during his racing career.
I’m off to watch the video again.
