If the term 'Champion bloodlines' applies to any sire standing in Australia this season then it would have to be most appropriate for Bowness Stud's shuttle stallion Bullet Train (GB) following the events of the past weekend.
Already
very well-known as the older three-quarter brother to the legendary Frankel,
Bullet Train is now the closest of relations to not one but two winners of
Ascot's heralded Group 1 Champion Stakes after the courageous victory of Noble
Mission in Saturday night's enthralling renewal.
An epic conclusion to Britain's Champions Day (the unofficial finale to the European Flat Racing season) saw Noble Mission lead from start-to-finish in the feature contest on the card, emulating the feat of his full-brother Frankel just two years earlier.
A race which was first run in 1877 and has on its honour board the names of Sir Ivor, Nasrullah, Fairway and other legendary thoroughbreds of their ilk has now been won twice in the past three years by Bullet Train younger siblings.
Bullet Train, Frankel and Noble Mission are the respective first three foals of the remarkable Danehill (USA) broodmare Kind. All five of the mare's first foals to race are winners and also include the dual stakes-winning filly Joyeuse. Winners of a collective 31 races to date, it was Bullet Train that began the quintet's winning sequence with his maiden victory as a 2-year-old in October 2009 and that registered their first black-type success when winning at Group 3 level early in the following season.
Noble Mission's latest deed comes at the end of a season in which the 5-year-old has also won Group 1 events in Ireland and France (by disqualification), and is recognized as Britain's highest earning older horse in 2014 with stakes of £852,917. Runner-up on his debut as a 2-year-old in October 2011, this exceptional campaigner is now the winner of nine races and £1,364,058 in prizemoney, not once having finished any worse than fourth in 21 career starts.
Click here to see some of the first Australian Bullet Train foals.
News from Bowness Stud
