Coolmore Stud, the owner of Master of Hounds, had been on the fence regarding running the colt in the Kentucky Derby. The colt is also nominated for the English 2000 Guineas to be held on April 30. However, after watching the potential superstar Frankel beat up on his foes by four lengths in his prep race for the Guineas, the wide-open Kentucky Derby must look like a better spot. The Master of Hounds’ connections announced on April 18 that Master of Hounds will ship to the US, taking on 19 American horses instead of facing Frankel in the Guineas.
Master of Hounds was installed as the 7-5 favorite in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but bounced around like a pinball and wound up sixth. This year, Master of Hounds joined the Coolmore contingent in Dubai and in his first start of the season, was a nipped by a nose at the wire of the UAE Derby (UAE-G2). We know he can handle turf and Tapeta, but what about dirt? Let’s assess his chances in the Kentucky Derby.
MASTER OF HOUNDS (Kingmambo – Silk and Scarlet, by Sadler’s Wells) has a phenomenal pedigree and will be one of the best bred colts in the Kentucky Derby. His sire Kingmambo was a superb miler, emulating his dam Miesque, who was a Champion Miler in three countries. Kingmambo started his career in France, winning the French Two Thousand Guineas and the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Fr. G1). In England he was victorious in the St. James’s Palace Stakes (Eng-I). Overall, Kingmambo won or placed in 11 of 13 races, mainly graded stakes competitions.Kingmambo was pensioned last year after a spectacular career at stud. He’s considered
one of the best stallions in the world and has sired six champions and over 100 stakes winners. Upon his retirement, Kingmambo was designated as a Classic/Solid chef-de-race, indicating that he infuses his progeny with stamina. While Kingmambo’s offspring win at distances shorter than a mile, the majority are best between a mile and 14 furlongs. Most of Kingmambo’s progeny find themselves at home over the lawn, but he has sired eight dirt stakes winners, including his best US son, the Champion Lemon Drop Kid, winner of the Belmont, Travers Stakes, Woodward and Whitney Handicaps. Other dirt runners include Pacific Classic hero Student Council, the Japanese horse Star King Man and Count Fleet (G-3) winner Top Commander.
Sadler’s Wells, the damsire of Master of Hounds, was named 1982 Champion Miler in France, although he only won two Group races at a mile, including the Irish 2000 Guineas. He did capture three prestigious races at 1 ¼ miles including the Phoenix Champion and Eclipse stakes. He placed in three others Group 1 races. Overall, Sadler’s Wells raced 11 times and was out of the money once in his career.
At stud, Sadler’s Wells is recognized as a foundation stallion for most of Europe and he was leading sire in England for 11 years, ten of them consecutive. His bloodlines are prevalent throughout England, Ireland, Europe, Japan, Australia and Dubai. Sadler’s Wells is a Classic/Solid chef-de-race and he imparts stamina to his offspring.
Silk and Scarlet, Master of Hounds’ dam, won the Group 3 Debutante and the Flash Stakes at the Curragh in Ireland during her nine race career. She was injured American Oaks Invitational Stakes at Hollywood Park and retired. She’s a young mare and Master of Hounds is her second foal, her first being a Japanese stakes placed runner.
Silk and Scarlet is a half sister to the Group 3 winner Danger Over. The second dam Danilova is an unraced three-quarter sister to Opera Score, who is graded stakes placed in the US. She’s also a half sister to the French Group 1 winner Sanglamore. The Lowe family number 1-l hasn’t produced a Derby winner, but it is represented by Master Derby (1975) and Greek Money (1962) in the Preakness and Stage door Johnny (1968) in the Belmont.
Master of Hounds has inbreeding to the blue hen Special through Nureyev, the damsire of Kingmambo, and Nureyev’s half sister Fairy Bridge, the dam of Sadler’s Wells. Inbreeding to Special isn’t unusual in European breeding, given the dominance of Northern Dancer bloodlines through Nureyev and Sadler’s Wells in Europe.
Master of Hounds is bred on a tried and true bloodline cross. The Kingmambo/Sadler’s Wells cross has produced 82 starters, 45 winners and eight stakes winners. The Aiden O’Brian trainee has similar breeding to dual Classic winner Henrythenavigator and two-time English Champion filly Divine Proportions. Master of Hounds shares the same distaff family as Divine Proportions, as both trace back to a daughter of the 1909 mare Verve.
With two Classic/Solid chef-de-races in his immediate family, Master of Hounds is bred to run all day, so distance will never be a question for this horse. The $25,000 question is how he will handle the dirt. Both Kingmambo and Sadler’s Wells have produced runners over dirt, but only when bred to mares with dirt attributes (or in Sadler’s Wells case as a broodmare sire, his daughters were bred to stallions with predominately dirt attributes).
It’s risky to announce that a horse with mostly turf breeding in his make-up won’t handle dirt, as one need only look at the Breeders’ Cup records of Giant’s Causeway, Sakhee Arcangues, Arazi and Johannesburg. However, the majority of horses with predominately turf influences in their pedigree don’t do well over the Churchill dirt when the track is dry.
One must also take into account the records of foreign-based horses in the Derby. Master of Hounds’ trainer Aidan O’Brian has a dismal Kentucky Derby record. In 2002, O’Brian’s Two Year Old Champion Johannesburg, who decimated the field in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Belmont, was unable to handle the distance or surface at Churchill and wound up eighth. His stablemate Castle Gandolfo was 12th and Ocean Sound, an Irish-bred colt, was 17th. The best finish by a horse traveling from Dubai was China Visit in 2000, who finished sixth.
In summary, while Master of Hounds has a fantastic stamina-oriented pedigree, he is being handed a tough task, trying a new surface, distance and atmosphere completely out of his sphere of experience. Plus, he’ll have the wearying journey and time change to deal with. He would have to be a very special colt to take all of these factors in stride while winning the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps running second to Frankel wouldn’t be that bad.