Appropriately for a horse named after a safe-breaker, there is every reason to believe that Cracksman has all the tools required to unlock a successful career at stud.
Myriad factors must combine for a horse to prosper in the breeding shed, and Cracksman’s blue-chip pedigree, which has been crafted through the generations by Anthony Oppenheimer’s Hascombe and Valiant Studs, provides decidedly firm foundations.
Not only does Cracksman descend from the greatest male line of the modern era, he has the distinction of being the highest-achieving son of Frankel, who in turn is the best son of the breed-shaping Galileo.
There are, moreover, champions on the top and bottom line of the pedigree, as his dam, the Listed-winning Rhadegunda, is a daughter of Cheveley Park Stud icon Pivotal, a G1-winning sprinter who has since been crowned the leading broodmare sire in Britain and Ireland in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
This is a pedigree with deep roots, as Rhadegunda is out of St Radegund, a daughter of the 1,000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes heroine On The House and a granddaughter of Lora, the foundation mare for a Hascombe and Valiant dynasty that also includes high achievers like Rebecca Sharp and Golden Horn.
While many influences course through each pedigree, only the attributes of a select few will be borne out, so it is interesting to note that Darley has revealed that Cracksman’s Plusvital Speed Gene Test designation is C:C, the type most suited to running over five furlongs to a mile. This suggests that the speed influences in his lineage, such as Pivotal, Green Desert (sire of St Radegund) and Danehill (sire of Frankel’s dam Kind) have had a more significant impact than might be expected from a horse who excelled over ten furlongs.
One thing we can be certain of is that Cracksman’s genetic make-up resulted in a truly outstanding racehorse. He won eight of his 11 starts for John Gosden, including four G1s, during a career that displayed versatility, an unmistakable will to win and the most prized attribute of all: outright class.
The undoubted high points were his back-to-back victories in the Qipco Champion Stakes. The first saw Cracksman close out his three-year-old campaign with a thumping seven-length defeat of Poet’s Word, with Highland Reel back in third. That effort on soft ground at Ascot was rated 130, making it the best performance in Europe that year according to IFHA handicappers.
He retained his crown at four when trouncing no less an adversary than Crystal Ocean by another yawning margin of six lengths on his racecourse swansong back at Ascot. That effort was also awarded a rating of 130, meaning that Cracksman shared the honour of achieving the highest-rated performance of 130 alongside Australian wondermare Winx. They shared the Longines ‘World’s Best Racehorse’ Award for 2018.
There were other significant victories during his three seasons in training, notably the Coronation Cup and the Prix Ganay. Those wins were gained in contrasting fashion, the former requiring a good deal of tenacity to overcome adversity, while the latter was another show of utter superiority in G1 company.
As well as being placed in the Derby and the Irish equivalent, he recorded dominant wins in the G2 Great Voltigeur Stakes and the Prix Niel.
Cracksman retired to Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud with cast-iron credentials and duly received the kind of support befitting his champion status. His debut crop of two-year-olds, which was conceived at a fee of £25,000, comes from a book of 145 mares, 61 (42 per cent) of whom boast black type.
He has received strong home support throughout the opening seasons of his second career, with Godolphin sending 22 mares during Cracksman’s first four years at stud, while Hascombe & Valiant have sent 14, including triple G1 winner Star Catcher this year.
Consequently both connections have some well-related Cracksman two-year-olds on the ground, with Godolphin responsible for fillies out of Flying Childers Stakes winner Sand Vixen, dam of Frankel’s G1 winner Dream Castle, and Teofilo’s half-sister Bean Feasa.
Meanwhile, the Oppenheimer silks will be carried by the likes of Burglar, a three-parts brother to Ribblesdale Stakes winner and Oaks third Frankly Darling, and Safety Catch, a filly out of the Listed scorer Tempest Fugit.
Sand Vixen and Bean Feasa are among 20 daughters of Dubawi that Cracksman has covered during his first three years at stud, giving him a wealth of ammunition bred on an extension of the burgeoning Frankel - Dubawi cross that yielded Derby winner Adayar and the aforementioned Dream Castle.
Master pre-trainer Malcolm Bastard is among those who has hands-on experience with Cracksman’s first two-year-olds, and has a unique insight on their sire having also prepped him before he headed to Clarehaven Stables for his racing career.
“We’ve got a number of nice Cracksmans,” says Bastard. “They’ve got good temperaments and they’re nicely balanced horses who are forward-going, so we’re very hopeful that he’s got a big future. We had Cracksman here as well, he was a very strong, straightforward colt with a good action and a nice temperament.”
Although Bastard is yet to send any of the Cracksman two-year-olds under his care through their whole range of gears, he notes that these juveniles may just come to hand sooner than received wisdom would suggest.
“They’re just cantering away at the moment but they’re nice, active types with very good minds on them,” he says. “They’re very sound and very trainable. The ones we’re pre-training are all quality horses who’ll run in the autumn, they’re only just doing a canter each day at the moment as it’s too early to be galloping these horses, but they look a little bit more forward than you might expect.”
When Cracksman’s debut yearlings hit the sales they were greeted with a warm reception from buyers as the group fetched up to 410,000gns, which was paid at Book 1 of Tattersalls’ October Yearling Sale by Windfield Bloodstock for the filly out of Coolminx.
At the same auction SackvilleDonald went to 200,000gns for the half-brother to Just Beautiful and Fearless King on behalf of King Power Racing. The colt has been sent into training with Andrew Balding, who, according to Weatherbys records, has five Cracksman two-year-olds on his books for 2022.
Among the quintet are siblings to Group winners Afandem and Beshaayir, and the rather auspiciously named The Goat (a phrase often used online as an abbreviation of The Greatest Of All Time).
“I’m very pleased with the Cracksman two-year-olds,” says Balding. “Although they are all a very different shape and size, they all seem to have a real quality. It’s early days to say much more as obviously nothing has run from Kingsclere yet, but hopefully they will soon start to show it isn’t all just what’s written on the tin!”
The best stallions around all boast a mixture of pedigree, racecourse performance and strong support from breeders and buyers. It seems clear to see that Cracksman scores highly on all counts, just as his progeny seem likely to once they reach the racecourse in the not too distant future.
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