16 Apr 2017
Two of Australasia's greatest sires, Sir Tristram and his son Zabeel, have again become key contributors in the production of recent Classic winners at 2400m or further.
The celebrated Cambridge Stud stallion stalwarts are in the immediate breeding of Australian Derby winner Jon Snow and his Australian Oaks-winning stablemate Bonneval.
Successful in the Derby at Randwick on April 1, Jon Snow is by New Zealand shuttler Iffraaj and from a daughter of a Zabeel mare. Oaks winner Bonneval is by another dual hemisphere sire, Makfi, and from another Zabeel mare. Both hail from Sir Patrick and Justine, Lady Hogan's L'Enjoleur mare L'Quiz.
The successes of Jon Snow and Bonneval, both prepared by Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, means that four of the last six Australian Derby winners had Zabeel in their pedgrees and five of the last six Australian Oaks winners carried his name or that of Sir Tristram.
This year’s Randwick Classic winners are both by sires from the Mr Prospector male line who never won beyond 1600m, Iffraaj and Makfi.
Also, Bonneval is the second successive Australian Oaks winner by Makfi, preceded by the Gerry Harvey bred Sofia Rosa, a filly free of Sir Tristram.
Raced five times for a maiden win at Gawler, Bonneval's dam Imposingly is a three-quarter sister to the Zabeel-sired New Zealand champion St Reims (11 win, including the New Zealand Derby, Zabeel Classic and Avondale Guineas).
She is also closely-related to Champagne, another Zabeel champion mare, who in 1998 followed up a win in the Mackinnon with a neck defeat to yet another of Zabeel's daughters, Jezabeel, in the Melbourne Cup. - Brian Russell