2015 Newcomers #2: Lotus Blossom

Courtesy Carrot Club

This Carrot Club horse was secured only a few days ago - it doesn't seem to be fancied much, but watching its progress, the little filly is coming along nicely, and should provide us with some good value-for-money on the NAR tracks.

The sire is Lohengrin, who was a bit of a superstar, winning the Nakayama Kinen twice, and proving competitive in G1 racers as far flung as Japan, Hong Kong and France. In reality, he is blessed with some wonderful bloodlines, with Japan Cup winner Singspiel as his father (a grandson of Sadlers Wells with Hail To Reason's best on the dam side), and Carling as his mother - a multiple G1 winner who added some extra Mill Reef DNA into the mix.

The dam is Locus, who won three times before settling into broodmare duty, and can boast Tony Bin as her father. Her mother is Star Alpha, who won on both turf and dirt, with solid Sunday Silence and Northern Dancer bloodlines, with a bit of Nasrullah and Bull Lea thrown in for good measure.

The interesting thing is she has been slow to develop, and is only just starting to show signs of promise. That's fine, for missing the early Hokkaido races is no big deal as far as I'm concerned, and Lohengrin was still winning big races as an eight-year old.

PS. The latest report from the Club, just released a few hours after putting this up, suggests an increase in the training pace in a bid to challenge Hokkaido's early race season. Well, it should add a bit of extra interest into the equation...