Mighty Mares – SHE’S ALL HEART!

All Heart

The late Maj. Pradeep Mehra, founder of the Usha Stud, had an uncommonly good eye for what makes a “tap-root” broodmare. A cursory glance at the names of the ten head he selected in England in the winter
of 1976 reveals the fact that no less than seven – Amber Forest, Celandine, Clocked, Fine Array, Happy Shark, Miss Goolagong, and Tina’s Way – have founded families that are delivering stakes winners with regularity to this day, more than 3 decades later. Many of these mares were acquired at bargain basement prices, none more so than the very first to be bought, Fine Array, who was sent up by Dr. Carlo Vittadini as Lot No. 833 on the first day of the Tattersalls Newmarket December Sales of 1976. The daughter of Royal Record required an outlay of a mere 540 guineas to change hands, making her a real “steal” considering she was a Group winner (Premio Royal Mares, Gr.3, in Turin, Italy) in foal, on a May covering, to an Epsom Derby winner (St. Paddy). Probably the fact that she had been barren in the previous two years, and taken her time to conceive in 1976, had put other potential buyers off.
Fine Array duly foaled a chestnut filly on 3rd April 1977, which however could not race. Retained as a potential broodmare, she was initially named St. Paddy’s Gift, which was later changed to Fine’st. Fine Array did have a couple of other foals in India, namely the more-than-useful filly Quintana (1978 by Grey Gaston), and the modest gelding Arrow (1980 by Grey Gaston), but it is only through her gotabroad daughter that her line survives.
Fine’st started off inauspiciously, her first named foal Austerity (1983 by Common Land) being unable to do better than placing, but she made up for it all with her very next offspring, Kir Royale (1984 by Grey Gaston). Trained for Mr. & Mrs. Vijay Mallya and Maj. P.K. Mehra by Bezan Chenoy, he showed his class by taking the Pune Derby, Gr.2, of 1987, then shaped as the winner in the McDowell Indian Derby, Gr.1, before being mowed down by Cordon Bleu and Enrico, who coincidentally also raced for the Mallyas. Exactly ten years later Fine’st bred another good one in Archimedes (1994 by Razeen), who went one better when runner-up to Star Supreme in the McDowell Indian Derby, Gr.1, of 1998.
In between, Fine’st produced the one that matters – a 1988-born Treasure Leaf daughter who raced in the Dhunjibhoy silks under the name of Slickchic and won a couple of minor races. Sent initially to the Poonawalla Estates Stud, where she conceived to Riyahi, she was returned to her birthplace to foal the first of four stakes-placed runners, the good class colt Pertigalete (1994). Thereafter she visited only the resident stallions at the Usha Stud, Razeen, Steinbeck and China Visit, coming up with nine further winners of which All Heart (1996 by Steinbeck), third in the Mysore 1000 Guineas, Gr.3, Capture The Moment (2000 by Razeen), runner-up in the Gen. Rajendrasinhji Trophy, Gr.3, and Sir Onslaught (2003 by Razeen), third in the Alcock Arabian Stakes, Gr.3, earned “black type”. Trained initially in Bangalore by veteran Zareer Darashah, All Heart scored twice for him before relocating to the yard of Vijay Singh at Calcutta, where she notched up the last of her three victories. She has spent her entire paddock career at the stud where she was born, and visited Razeen in her first four seasons, gaining stardom as a broodmare with her fourth foal (and first colt), the physically impressive Autonomy, whose record is too well known to need repeating. It suffices to say that he is the best male seen so far from the 2005 crop.

Setting the World Alight

Set Alight

By trouncing the field in the Kingfisher Bangalore Derby, Gr.1, in July, Set Alight showed she had no peer, from amongst her sex and age group, that could trouble her. The proverbial exception to the rule is of course Autonomy, who has actually finished ahead of her on one occasion (albeit demoted), and it remains to be seen who has made the greater progress when the pair clash this coming winter.
As compared to Autonomy, whose family has been in the country since 1977, Set Alight’s branch took root just about a dozen years ago, when the Usha Stud purchased Trois Etoiles, a three-year-old filly out of training, and imported her to India in late 1975. The Kentucky-bred daughter of Alysheba from the Blakeney mare Trefoil had been trained in France, where her solitary campaign lasted just five months, during which she scored thrice from six starts for Aylesfield Farms Ltd. All her wins were recorded in the Provinces – at tracks like Lisieux, Le Pin Au Haras and Rouen – and her trainer Dominic Boulard campaigned her exclusively over long distance trips ranging from 1900 m. to 2350 m. Interestingly, in all her victories, she was ridden by amateur or lady riders. 
Trois Etoiles, like her first three dams, was bred by Sir Robin McAlpine, who acquired the Hyperion mare Merry Dancer in 1962, in foal to Floribunda, and thus bred Flower Dance, fourth dam of Set Alight. The family is a noted source of quality performers – Flower Dance’s daughter First Bloom (1969 by Primera) became champion 2-y-o filly in France in 1971. In turn, the latter gained fame as the grandam of Jeune (1989 by Kalaglow – Underwood Stakes, Gr.1) and Talinum (1984 by Alydar – Flamingo Stakes, Gr.1).
Other good ones descending from her include First Prayer (Grand Prix de Deauville, Gr.2), Beneficial (King Edward VII Stakes, Gr.2), Water Lily (Next Move Handicap, Gr.3), Simeon (Classic Trial Stakes, Gr.3) and Noble Rose (Park Hill Stakes, Gr.3). Stamina is the dominant suit of this family.
The first mate chosen for Trois Etoiles was the Usha resident Steinbeck, and in March 1997 she duly foaled a bay filly, which was named Set Aside. Entering the yard of Rashid Byramji, and sporting the silks of Maj. P.K. Mehra, Set Aside proved more than useful, scoring 7 times at Bangalore, Mysore, Calcutta and Hyderabad, with one noteworthy stakes performance when third to Altimara and Alvarada in the Calcutta 1000 Guineas, Gr.3. She also won the Qutab Shahi Cup over a metric mile and notched up earnings of just over a million rupees.
Trois Etoiles was never returned to Steinbeck thereafter, probably because her second foal was the high-class but fragile Noble Opinion (1998 by Razeen) who annexed the Poonawalla Breeders Million, Gr.1, of 2001 and two other races from an abbreviated career. The classic-placed Our Dynasty (1999) and Allez Indi (2003) are a couple of Noble Opinion’s eight subsequent siblings (all by Razeen) who showed some ability at this level.
Set Aside was retired to her birthplace and her first offspring, My Friend Paul (2004 by China Visit) has scored a couple of times for trainer Neil Darashah, but as every follower of the Indian Turf knows, her second – Set Alight – is in a different league altogether! The inmate of Pesi Shroff ’s yard has recorded six consecutive victories, each perhaps more impressive than the one before. As the best threeyear-old filly in the land by far, she has only to remain fit and sound to be able to pick up all before her this winter.

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2008