The 2020 Falmouth S.-G1 at Newmarket brought forth a new star, its winner Nazeef, trained by John Gosden for Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and ridden by Jim Crowley. Nazeef has been knocking at the door of Group One Stakes winning, with a current record of 7/6/0/1, but was nevertheless a longshot for the Falmouth.

Nazeef, bred by Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Estate Company, has a risky, innovative pedigree, highlighted by three doses of Never Bend, through the expected source of Courtly Dee (by Never Bend) in his sire, Invincible Spirit, who stands for €100,000 at the Irish National Stud. Getting his dose of Courtly Dee through Green Desert, the sire of Invincible Spirit, is a no brainer, but the brilliance occurs on the dams’ side of Nazeef, with the presence of two sires one wouldn’t necessarily connect with one another, Deploy and Diktat, the former in the pedigree of Dubawi, the broodmare sire of Nazeef’s dam, Handassa, the latter as the second broodmare sire of Nazeef.

The most obvious similarity is the presence of Slightly Dangerous, 5 x 5 in the dams’ side, as the dam of Deploy and the dam of Diktat’s sire, Warning. Slightly Dangerous (1979) was by Roberto, out of the Raise a Native mare Where You Lead, and her ability as a race mare equaled her ability as a broodmare of continuing impact. Here, she adds two doses of Hail to Reason. But there’s far more to be aware of: Deploy, by Shirley Heights, goes back in male family to the ubiquitous Never Bend, and proffers Northern Dancer through Dancing Brave. Diktat from the anomalous sire line of Known Fact, also offers Northern Dancer through Sadler’s Wells, duplicates the Hail to Reason found in the two strands of Roberto through Slightly Dangerous via Bold Reason, but it is Bold Reason’s dam, Lalun, who cements these closely related sires, as she is the dam of Never Bend as well. Nazeef is therefore 5 x 7 Never Bend, and 6 x 8 x 10 Lalun.

Nazeef is also 6 x 8 Somethingroyal, arguably the best Princequillo mare of all time, through her son Sir Gaylord, and 6 x 6 x 8 Princequillo, on the zig zag. He also includes in this unusual pedigree a rounding up of the usual suspects of closely related sires Turn-to (hence the importance of Hail to Reason), Klairon, Djebel and My Babu, as well as being 4 x 4 x 5 x 6 Northern Dancer.

Bravo to Sheikh Hamdan for winning this Group One with Nazeef, and for experimenting with this unusual pedigree relying on the brilliant Slightly Dangerous and the steadfast influence of Never Bend and his dam. The courage to take a chance like this in matings can create a Group One winner like Nazeef, whose pedigree is also a paean to the riches of his broodmare sire’s blood, the great Dubawi, who contributes mightily to any pedigree he appears in.

-- Roberta Smoodin