Racing World
Vol. I - No. 6 (June–July 2004)
2004 – The Year of Razeen [USA]
With 39 individual classic winners from his first eight crops, Razeen
[USA] enjoys a very healthy lean over other contemporary stallions.
Though we are only half-way through the racing year 2003-04, the writing is
already on the walls in bold letters - this is going to be the year of
Razeen[USA]. Usha Stud’s Northern Dancer horse has so dominated the winter
Classics scene that he has a comfortable lead of Rs.1.25 crore in the race
for this fifth General Sires’ championship.
At the start of the year, his daughters Glorious Colours and Fond Fantasy,
who had finished 1-2 in the Bangalore Derby honours in the winter. Glorious
Colours, who had rested during the monsoons, had her lung-opener at the
start of the Bangalore Season and then came over to Mumbai where she
suffered a set-back and was missing from the line-ups for the Indian
Classics. Her trainer did manage to get her to the post in the Indian Turf
Invitation Cup but it was asking to much of a filly to excel in such a big
event without having raced for almost four months. Fond Fantasy, on the
other hand, raced during the monsoons in Mysore but was far from impressive
in posting narrow victories. Then she won the Bangalore 1000 Guineas and the
Bangalore Oaks only to break down in the running of the Bangalore Derby for
which she was the favourite.
Razeen[USA]’s Career Statistics
Crops-9, Named Foals-356, Starters-312, Winners-250, Black-type
performers-119, Classic winners-39, Classic wins-77, wins-943, Stakes
Earned-Rs.30,94,82,838, Average Earnings {Per Named Foal-Rs.8,69,333,8.
Most stallions would find injuries to their best tow representatives too
much of a burden to overcome. Razeen[USA], however, packed enough power in
his 2000 – born crop – the first nurtured on her own by Ameeta Mehra after
the tragic death of her father, Maj. P.K.Mehra – to not only take it in his
stride but to leave an indelible mark on all the winter Derbys. Razeen[USA]
had no representatives in the South India Derby at Guindy. Psychic Flame, a
maiden at the start of the year, won the Kolkata Derby and then journeyed to
Mumbai to annexe the McDowell Indian Derby. Another Migrant from Kolkata,
Own Vision, held Red Orchid ran a fine race in the Invitation Cup at Mumbai
where Own Vision was not even in the field! Another Razeen[USA] filly,
Romantic Forever, made light work of the North Indian Derby at Delhi and
when Fond Fantasy felt her shoulder in the Bangalore Derby, star of Windsor
swooped with a telling stretch run to grab the prize. Star of Windsor may
have been sired by Steinbeck[USA] but his dam Wandering Star is, ironically,
a full-sister of the distressed fond Fantasy.
Razeen[USA], however, was not done yet. In March, his gelded son Simply
Supreme triumphed in the ‘Battle of the White Caps’ as he led from start to
finish in the Invitation Cup, never allowed the Indian Derby winner Psychic
Flame – who chased him throughout – to head him in the run-in and still had
plenty left in the tank to stave off Red Orchid’s late dash. One of the four
runners in the race in Dr. M. A. M. Ramaswamy’s colours, Simply Supreme,
sporting a white cap, thus atoned for his failure in the McDowell Indian
Derby for which he was well fancied. No stallion has ever dominated the
winter plums so emphatically with so many different runners.
a day before the Invitation Cup, the Razeen filly Shamaal had won the
Sprinters’ Cup. Having earlier won the Stayers’ Cupwith Son of Silver, the
Invitation Cup with Forest Fantasy and the Super Mile Cup with Adamile, it
made Razeen[USA] the only currently active stallion to have sired the
winners of all the four big races.
With 39 individual classic winners from his first eight crops, Razeen[USA]
enjoys a very healthy lead over other contemporary stallions. At his current
strike rate, it won’t be too long before he becomes the first stallion in
the annals of Indian breeding to sire 50 individual classic winners and
reach a century of classic wins. admittedly, Razeen[USA] has been helped by
the whole-hearted support given to him in terms of numbers at the Usha Stud.
Numbers alone, however, do not guarantee success. A healthy strike rate of
12.6% Classic winners to named foals clearly shows his high calibre.
In India, where a stllion is generally confined to the mares resident at the
stud at which he is standing, it is vatally important for that band to be
compatible, pedigree-wise, with the stallion. Razeen[USA] has been
singularly fortunate in this respect. Let’s take Razeen[USA]’s pedigree
first. He is by Northern Dancer – the most successful stallion in the latter
half of the twentieth century, – traces to an impeccable tap-root in La
Troienne and there are three daughters of War Admiral in the bottom
quadrille of his pedigree. Further back, he has many Phalaris-Chaucer (a son
of St. Simon) crosses and plenty of lines of Rock Sand. Bromus, the dam of
Phalaris is by Sainfoin out of a St. Simon mare. The English Triple Crown
winner Rock sand is by Sainfoin out of a St. Simon mare. Razeen[USA]’s
pedigree also shows, further back, enough incidences of Sundridge (dam
full-sister to Sainfoin) and Orme (dam full-sister to St. Simon).
It is uncanny how Razeen[USA] has reacted with glee whenever he has
encountered a female strain of Relic in his mares. Relic is a son of War
Relic who is balanced in-bred 3x3 to Rock Sand. Several of the Usha Stud
mares have Grey Gaston in their pedigrees. Fortino II, the sire of Grey Gaston, was out of a Relic mare. The pedigrees of some of the other Usha
Stud mares have Grey Gaston in their pedigrees. Fortino II, the sire of
Grey Gaston, was our of a Relic mare. The pedigrees of some of the other
Usha Stud mares are dotted with full-brothers Reliance II and Match III and
their three-parts brother Relko, all theree of them being out of the Relic
mare Relance III.
Those who scoff at pedigrees could well dismiss all this as a fancy theory.
The proof of the pudding, however, is in eating and the progeny test
confirms the theory as being sound. Let’s take Razeen[USA]’s classic winners
of this term. Psychic Flame’s dam Eminence is by Grey Gaston; Fond
Fantasy’s grandam is by Caro ho, like Grey Gaston/*, is a son of Fortino II;
Simply Supreme has Relko in the pedigree of his dam Allesca; Own Vision’s
tail-female line has Reliance II. Red Chief, too, has Relic in his dam line
through in his case it is not a doughter but a son in Silver Shark. I fact,
majority of Razeen[USA]’s Classic winners have Relic on the distaff side.
as is to be expected, Razeen[USA] also reacts favourably to lines of La
Troienne and War Admiral in his mares. apart from daughters of Grey Gastons
himself, Razeen[USA] has covered a good number of mares who are by Common
Land[GB] and Treasure Leaf[USA] and who have Grey Gaston in their further
removes. It helps that Common Land[GB] has Adargatis, a three-parts sister
to La Troienne tucked away at the back in the middle part of his pedigree
while Treasure Leaf[USA]’s third dam is a daughter of War Relic. Most
Northern Dancer line sires cross well with the Sir Gaylord Strain and
Razeen[USA] is no exception. It is also noticeable that his full-brother
Warrshan[USA], standing at Rual Stud, has shown similar preferences.
Razeen[USA]’s classic winning fillies outnumber his classic winning clots,
there being 24 of the fair sex in his 39 classic winners. Since the
stallion’s 309 named foals are almost equally divided between the tow sexes
(147 colts; 162 fillies), theire is a distinct bias in favour of the
fillies. Stallions exhibiting this bias usually go on to do well as
broodmare sires.
A Champion sire normally stamps his progeny. Not so Razeen[USA], though and
neither did his sire, the legendary Northern Dancer. Razeen[USA]’s produce
comes in all shapes, colours and sizes but they all can run. Star Supreme,
Indictment, Smart Supreme and some others have been big, rich bays;
Distinction was a pale, washy chestnut; the smart miler Regal Equity was a
small, well put together golden chestnut. His fillies, through a bit more
classier than his colts, have also tended to be somewhat temperamental.
There are two physical attributes that Razeen[USA] passes on more often than
not and usually to his fillies. One, the distinctive, notched ears and the
other, the high, rounded withers. Those who swear by the big-heart X-Factor
theory would put those attributes as a legacy of War Admiral.
Whatever the theories or explanations, the fact is that Razeen[USA] is
passing down the right genes for the benefit of the Indian Thoroughbred. His
son Indictment couldn’t quite capitalise on a spectacular start to his stud
career because bad back prevented him form doing his duty in the covering
yard. The good news, though, is that he has made a slow and steady progress
and has been seen more often in action this season. Star Supreme has had two
winners from his first crop and both of them have won Classics at Ooty. The
real treasure trove, though, is going to be his close to 200 daughters who
will eventually go to stud. He is already the maternal grandsire of Classic
winners Another Time, Gisele and Star of Windsor and with only 54 runners
occupies the fourth spot in the table of leading broodmare sires.
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