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Filly becomes War Front’s 94th stakes winner
The enigmatic filly So Wonderful (3 f ex Wonder Of Wonders by Kingmambo) put her past troubles behind her, finally adding black-type to her CV when she landed the Vincent O’Brien Ruby Stakes (Listed, 1m) at Killarney on Friday and in the process provided War Front (Danzig) with his 94th stakes winner.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained filly has been known for her tricky nature and has proved difficult to win with, eventually breaking her maiden at the 15th time of asking on her most recent start and she was able to follow up that victory when showing a good turn of foot to collar Up Helly Aa (Galileo) on the line, beating him by a nose, with Helvic Dream (Power) the same distance away in third.
While she had not landed a stakes race, the three-year-old filly has notched up an impressive record in stakes races, including finishing third on two occasions at Group 1 level including in the Irish 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) in June.
So Wonderful is one of five winners, and the first stakes winner, out of Cheshire Oaks (Listed, 1m3f) winning Kingmambo (Mr Prospector) mare Wonder Of Wonders, who also finished second in the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f).
Wonder Of Wonders herself is a daughter of Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed All Too Beautiful (Sadler’s Wells), making her a half-sister to Listed winner Victory Song (Dansili) and Group 3 -placed mare Sparrow (Oasis Dream), who in turn produced Chester Vase (Gr 3, 1m4f) winner Sir Dragonet (Camelot). The son of Camelot (Montjeu) was sold to Ozzie Kheir earlier this week and will continue his career in Australia with Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
Meanwhile, All Too Beautiful is also the grandam of Listed-winning Fastnet Rock (Danehill) mare Alluringly.
All Too Beautiful is out of Urban Sea (Miswaki), who won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) in 1993, but is now widely regarded as one of the most influential broodmares of the 21st century, and is best known for being the dam of breed-shaping sire Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and multiple Group 1 and top-class sire Sea The Stars (Cape Cross).
She also produced Grade 1 winner Last Typhoon (Giant’s Causeway), dual elite scorer Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells) and Group 3 winners Urban Ocean (Bering).
The Claiborne Farm-based sire War Front stood for a fee of US$250,000 this year. His stakes winners are headed by 21 Group / Grade 1 winners. His leading earner in the US last year was Omaha Beach who will shuttle to Spendthrift Australia for the first time this season and his fee has been set at $22,000 (inc GST).
