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Blue Diamond favourite Enthaar carries prominent Australian bloodline

| February 9, 2021

Blue Diamond favourite Enthaar kicked off her Autumn campaign with a consummate performance, taking out the Group III MRC Chairman’s Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield last Saturday.

The daughter of Written Tycoon did all she was supposed to do, railing beautifully and maintaining a comprehensive lead over her rivals.

There are bigger things in store for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained filly as she embarks on a racing path that includes the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper Stakes.

However, looking further into the future, there awaits an even more fascinating chapter for Enthaar as she ultimately commences her stud career.

Enthaar will undoubtedly attract the very best of stallions being a stakeswinner with the potential to land at least one Group One feature. However, of even more interest is her role to continue a relatively new branch of an Australian foundation bloodline.

Direct descendant of Denise’s Joy

Enthaar is a direct descendent of the Australian “blue hen” mare, Denise’s Joy, a champion in her own right and predominant female influence in the Australian stud book.

Denise’s Joy was trained by TJ Smith and won 13 races including the Victoria Oaks, Queensland Oaks and WATC Australian Derby.

At stud, she had 7 daughters to continue her distaff line.

Descendants of Denise’s Joy include multiple Group 1 winner More Joyous, Australian Oaks winner Sunday Joy, 4-time Gr1 winner Tuesday Joy, Group One winning stallion Thorn Park, Euphoria, Vinery Stud Stakes (G1) winner Fenway, Arlington Road and the South African sprinter Joie de Grise.

Enthaar was bred by Emirates Park, NSW, is by Written Tycoon from Final Agreement, a full sister to G1-winner Secret Agenda. 

Third dam Euphoria was a Group One winner having won the AJC Champagne Stakes and placed in the G1 Ansett Australia Stakes (now Vinery Stud Stakes) and the G2 Wakeful Stakes. Euphoria is a granddaughter of Denise’s Joy through the unraced Showdown mare Joy and Fun.

This is a new branch of Denise’s Joy that also includes G1-placed Telperion (at stud in NZ) and G1 Randwick Guineas winner Kementari, Light Up The World (STC Queen of the Turf Stks-G2), World Peace and Conatus, and Ready To Rip, winner of the Bletchingly Stakes at Caulfield.

A separate branch, through her daughter Joie Denise, produced Fenway, Tuesday Joy, Sunday Joy and More Joyous. Names synonymous with enjoyment and fun, just like at the jokaroom casino for players outside of Australian shores.

Another branch of Denise’s Joy, through her daughter Clifton Gardens, produced Pentastic (G2 VRC Craiglee Stakes), Miss Danehill (Queensland Oaks) and Primus (G3 Carlyon Cup).

Belonging to a famous Australian family, pedigree analysts with a penchant for line-breeding will be mouth-watering over the prospect of preparing theoretical mating plans for Enthaar.

Future breeding strategies

Line-breeding is a theoretical method by which dominant ancestral genes can be reinforced in the foal to strengthen a high performance genetic makeup. The theory has been used for centuries, however through breakthroughs in gene technology, the precise genetic mechanisms are only now beginning to be understood.

The sex-linked X-chromosome is transferred through the generations via daughters, hence highlighting the importance of the tail-female line. Additionally, breeders can reinforce the so-called X-factor through a stallion son of the same family who will inherit the X-linked genes. Astute line-breeding of important female lines has met with great success in producing Group One winners throughout the world.

In the case of Enthaar, one would expect there would be many opportunities to line-breed. Stallions directly descending from Denise’s Joy would be ideal for reinforcing the line through Enthaar. To date however, good sires that hail from Denise’s Joy’s family have been few and far between, with the ill-fated Thorn Park being the best of them. 

Enthaar would benefit from a mating with a stallion from her immediate family to reinforce the famous blue hen’s X-chromosomal genes.

Blue Diamond first major target

Enthaar won the Group 3 ATC Gimcrack Stakes in Sydney in her first start and by all reports has improved since that early season win.

In her second start, Enthaar took the early lead in the race and seemed to be traveling well within her stride. As soon as she was challenged, mostly by the second favourite Ingratiating, jockey Mark Zahra gave her some rein and it was all over in an instant.

Trainer Ciaron Maher was impressed by the filly’s first start in Melbourne, stating that she still had a lot of improvement in her and was right on track for her first major target in the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield on February 20th.

Category: Breeding

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