The 2013 Crop #5: No.78

Courtesy Carrot Club

I've never met Yahagi-sensei or managed to have a horse with him, but I've seen a number of documentaries on him (as well as his famous red hat in the paddock a few times), and I like the way he works and thinks. With that in mind, the chance to have a Falbrav filly with his stable in Ritto was another temptation that was impossible to resist. So this is the second - and last - JRA runner with Carrot Club that I've bought a stake in this year.

The sire on this particular horse (a Northern Dancer, Nijinsky and Hail To Reason cross) is Falbrav, who won some big races in Italy before going on to take the Japan Cup, the Eclipse Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Going back three or four generations, we have Seattle Slew, Nearco and Ribot, so there's some classic bloodlines in the mix, although it is in the dam line where Nijinsky - my favourite racehorse of them all - comes into the equation. The dam is Starlit Love, who never had much of a race career, but she passes on that coveted Nijinsky DNA via Maruzensky, as well as that of Hail To Reason through her sire, Special Week. If this newcomer performs half as well as Special Week, I shall be a happy bunny...