Desert Crown rekindled the memory of his nephew Galileo’s Epsom success 21 years ago with the ease and command of the June 4 Cazoo Derby (G1) victory for Sir Michael Stoute, Richard Kingscote and Saeed Suhail.
The son of Nathanielhe was the first mare of Newsells Park Stud’s Eclipse Stakes (G1) and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) to win at the highest level and the third classic winner for his stallion, after Allow and Channel in Investec Oaks (G1) and Prix de Diane (G1), respectively.
Nathaniel is now the son of six individual group 1 winners and Deutsches Derby (G1) runner-up Enjoy Vijay from a total of 46 fair play performers.
The Desert Crown was bred by Cambridgeshire engineer Gary Robinson, owner of the Strawberry Fields Stud, near Teversham, and the success of this Derby is the culmination of two decades of planning, learning and research, bringing together the best theories. his theory of heredity and breeding into practice.
Robinson bred the undefeated Desert Crown (3v3) from his dam, Blue Desert Berry, Foreign Language mare, which he owned with the late Basil White. Derby and Al Basti Equiworld Dubai winner Dante Stakes (G2) was the runner-up and fourth winner on Team Desert Berry, followed by Group 3 winner Thunder flies, by Archipenko. She has a 2 year old child Al Kazeem an avid pony from the first case of the winner of the Prix du Jockey Club (G1) Human studies and bring a brother to the Desert Crown this spring. No wonder Desert Berry returned to Newsells Park Stud to visit Nathaniel again.
A mile-plus success at just 3 years old, Desert Berry comes from another top Juddmonte family. Foreign Language is the winning daughter of Distant View and the winner of the Prix des Tuileries Binary, by Rainbow Quest, making her a half-sister to Binary File, who was in group 3 and who wins the list in Scandinavia.
More logically, Foreign Language is a half-sister to Binche, a Woodman mare who didn’t reach the top on the track but developed into a top-notch stallion. She is the dam of the winner of Prince of Wales’s Stakes (G1) Byword, by Peintre Celebre, and Rules daughter of Dansili, who won four times in 1st grade for Juddmonte and Bill Mott.
Binche is also the dam of a winning pair by Frankel in the Prix Eugene Adam (G2), Finche, the 1st place winner in Australia, and Baratti, the winner of the List at Longchamp in April for Andre Fabre.
Zatsfine, daughter of Binche in Oasis Dream, is the dam of group 3 winner Delaware, who is also of Frankel and stands at Woodside Park Stud in Australia, and winner of the Prix de Bagatelle Environs, by Dansili.
The Desert Crown was sold by Strawberry Fields Stud to Blandford Bloodstock for 280,000 guineas (US$383,003) at the 2020 Tattersalls Book of Sale October 2.
