The Aidan O’Brien-trained Saxon Warrior, an odds-on favourite for next month’s Investec Derby, can open up new realms of possibility for the Coolmore Stud with a win at Epsom by sending the stock of his bloodlines soaring.
The four-time winner is a son of the Japanese Champion sire Deep Impact, and out of the Moyglare Stud-winning mare Maybe. He’s the second foal born of the Irish operation’s decision to send the Galileo mare out east, with another handful of their mares being in foal to the Shadai Stallion Station’s star attraction.
The move to diversify bloodlines and bring the line of the legendary Sunday Silence, sire of Deep Impact, into the fold was a bold strategy but one that might well reap dividends if the progeny of the 16-year-old continue to land Group 1 prizes.
A day after Saxon Warrior landed the second win at the highest grade by one of his offspring at Newmarket, Keiai Nautique landed the NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo Racecourse under Yusuke Fujioka to earn the third.
Kevin Buckley, U.K representative of Coolmore, spoke of his excitement for the potential for the breeding operation that was borne of Saxon Warrior’s Guineas win after the race.
"This opens up so many avenues for us now,” he told the Racing Post. “The fact we have a different sire-line, the Sunday Silence and Halo line coming through. It's very, very exciting.”
Despite only being raced four times, Saxon Warrior is already the joint-third highest performing of all of his sire’s progeny on RPRs, and a win in the Derby would likely see him move up that list and open up a few more avenues again for his breeders - lucrative ones at that.
For a breeding operation that took a marked risk in looking east for a sire to cover some of their regally-bred Galileo mares, the future is odds-on to look very rosy indeed ahead of the second of June at Epsom.
