Pedigrees of the biggest winners of the week point to young Overbury stallion.
Champion Hurdle winner Annie Power and Gold Cup hero Don Cossack both have echoes of Schiaparelli’s pedigree in their antecedents. Schiaparelli is by Monsun out of an Old Vic mare, whereas the Champion hurdler is by Monsun’s son Shirocco out of an Old Vic mare. Don Cossack is bred on the reverse cross: he is by a son of Sadler’s Wells, also sire of Old Vic, out of a mare by Konigsstuhl, the sire of Monsun.
It points to the five-time G1 winner Schiaparelli being particularly well-suited to a career as a jumps stallion. Added to which, his half-brother by King’s Best, Seventh Sky, has been G2-placed over fences this winter and ran second to 2015 Gold Cup winner Coneygree. His full-brother, Samum – a fellow German Derby winner and a Champion sire on the flat – is sire of the talented Willie Mullins-trained mare Whiteout, who picked up place money in the Martin Pipe Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham having won at Listed level and chased home Kayf Tara’s son Identity Thief in a G2.
Schiaparelli’s first crop are now four-year-olds and have been impressing their connections in the leading point-to-point yards. His first runner under rules, Man From Mars, trained by Nick Williams, ran second in a bumper on his only start to date, beating a previous winner; Westend Story, who won that day, went on to run fifth in the Champion Bumper, so the form is strong.
