So how dual-purpose have Nathaniel’s recent books been? | Bloodstock News

UPDATED AT 9:49 AM, JUNE 6, 2022

It seems to be a symptom of a sport that is often downright irrational in its attitude towards stayers – sneers that accompany a young middle-distance stallion getting early three-year-old hurdle or bumper winners, even if this is unavoidable in Britain and Ireland and could be interpreted as adding residual value to their stock, to the often trotted line that there are no value middle distance bulls to use on these coasts, when the source of Enable, no less, is available at a reasonable price.

Then there is the reluctance of sales companies to give pride of place to colts and yearlings of middle-market endurance stallions when they later fight for those who prove to be successes for their horses in the training and sale of breeding stock; and what about those breeder-owners with no business imperative who fall victim to the fad by looking beyond a proven sire like Nathaniel in favor of more expensive horses that don’t even have a runner yet? Make sense!

There’s no point in waiting for logic or consistency from the hive mind that makes the market I suppose, otherwise Westlife wouldn’t have had 14 UK number one singles and the old cheese and boring onion wouldn’t be the nation’s favorite crispy flavor.

Instead, let’s take a look at what Nathaniel has been covering since 2018, when his book featured the winning Strawberry Fields Stud Green Desert mare, Desert Berry, who would produce the exciting Desert Crown from mating.

For starters, he has 88 two-year-olds, conceived for £25,000 on the immediate heels of Enable winning his second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and gutsy defeat of Magical in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.

They are the result of a book of 112 mares, of which only two (1.7%) appear to have been bred with the intention of producing a jumping foal – Hyde, the dam of Elimay and Goshen, the result being a foal called Pompano; and Over Sixty, a clever jumper and dam of the helpful hurdler Cheddleton, the result of which is an unnamed filly.

He bred outstanding flat mares that year, and the crop includes half-sibs to Delegator, Lucida and Side Glance, half-sisters to Lyric Of Light and Set Piece, a colt from Fantasia and a filly from Magical Romance .

Surprisingly, among Nathaniel’s two-year-olds are also the siblings of two Epsom stars this weekend – a half-brother to Coronation Cup hero Hukum and a half-sister to Princess Elizabeth winner Bashkirova Stakes.

In 2020, when this season’s yearlings were bred, the number of mares with obvious National Hunt profiles covered by Nathaniel rose to eight out of a pound 102 (7.8%). They included Cheltenham Festival winner Limini and Over Sixty again.