Owner : D. W. Whillans
Pedigree
DanehillKodiac
Rafha
Bearskin (IRE)
2011 brown gelding
Royal Anthem
Dark Arts
Deep Magic
The family
Bearskin is the second foal out of the Royal Anthem mare Dark
Arts, who was trained by Joanna Morgan to win a small Down Royal
handicap as a 4 yr old over 7 furlongs.
As a young broodmare,
Dark Arts has bred one winner - Bearskin - this far from 3 foals,
but Bearskin's
younger full sister was sold as a yearling for £50,000 in August
2015, so may be the sort to look out for as an early season 2yr old
in 2016.
Granddam Deep Magic has bred 4 winners on the level, but the
standout broodmare in the family is 3rd dam Nimble Folly who has
bred numerous stakes winners on the flat in the USA.
About the sire
Kodiac (bay horse, born 2001) raced for John Dunlop from 2-5 years
over distances around 6-7 furlongs. Although the 4 races he won
did not include a stakes race, he was placed in a Group 3 race as a
5yr old.
So what was his attraction as a sire?
Well, he is by uber sire-of-sires Danehill out of Prix de Diane winner Rafha,
making him a three-parts brother to leading sire Invincible Spirit
(who, as a comparison, stood for €100,000 in 2015) .
But Kodiac started out at Tally-Ho Stud in Eire with a modest covering fee of €5,000
in 2007, and even in 2010 commanded only €4,000.
However, initially making his name as a source of early season 2yr
olds (Tiggy Wiggy, anyone?), his stock do train on and his stud fee for 2015
is €25,000.
He has bred around a dozen winners over jumps.
We were watching racing at Market Rasen at the beginning of August,
and the profile of Bearskin ridden by Henry Brooke caught our eye.
He had been essentially campaigned over sprint trips by Anne
Duffield, yet here he was in an early season novice hurdle with the
first two in the betting 120+ rated hurdlers. He was bang in touch 3
out, and although he faded a bit after 2 out it was still an eye
catching performance, finishing in 5th beaten just over 20l by those
2 aforementioned market leaders.
In usual weighing room manner, Henry had some encouraging words to say about
him too when Callum caught up with him a few days later. So we kept
a look out to see if Bearskin appeared in any of the end of flat season
HIT sales, and we duly picked him up for a (hopefully) bargain £1,000 at
DBS a few weeks later.
Kodiac is certainly the sire of the moment on the flat with dozens of his yearling making £100,000 or more in 2015. Whilst there is not much NH form in Bearskin's pedigree, that fine source of stamina Royal Anthem does appear as the dam sire, so that, plus his promising debut over hurdles, gives us a bit of hope that he can make a career as a 2 mile hurdler.
We've given Bearskin a few weeks to acclimatise to the surrounding at Dodlands Steading but into November and he's doing his regular 2 pieces of work each morning, with our team of work riders concentrating on switching him off with the prospect of 2 miles in mind.
Look for him to make an appearance before the end of the year, and you know, he'll make smashing flat runner for us next season if the hurdling option doesn't materialise.
| Season | win | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | other | |
| 2013 | Flat | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2014 | Flat | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2015 | Flat | 6 | ||||
| 2015-16 | Hurdles | 3 | ||||
