New sires for 2007 | New sires for 2008 | Fee tables - all sires

Goodricke (GB)

Bahamian Bounty - Star, by Most Welcome
Bay, foaled 2002
Breeder: Red House Stud
Other sons of Bahamian Bounty at stud: Pastoral Pursuits.

Group One winning sprinter

It is very unusual for a mare to produce two own brothers or sisters who are as good as each other, but that is what the Most Welcome mare Star has done with Pastoral Pursuits and Goodricke.

The former won six of his ten starts, including the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes at two, the Group 2 Park Stakes at three and, his crowning glory, the Group 1 July Cup as a four-year-old.

Goodricke achieved his top level victory a year earlier, taking the William Hill Sprint Cup, in which he beat La Cucaracha, Ashdown Express and Somnus, among others, as a three-year-old. By the end of his second season he hadwon four other races and been placed four times from 11 starts. His places included second to Whipper in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and he was also runner up in the Listed Surrey Stakes.

The Haydock race result was greeted with almost equal joy by his trainer, David Loder, since retired, and the National Stud, who had already invested in Pastoral Pursuits as a freshman sire for 2006.

Unfortunately, hopes that Goodricke would go on to greater glory this year were dashed as, taken over by Godolphin, he added to that team’s woes by only making the racecourse in September when he was fourth at Yarmouth and ninth in a Listed race at Redcar.

Goodricke has only a faint strand of Northern Dancer

Bahamian Bounty, sire of Goodricke and Pastoral Pursuits, has been the flagship stallion at the National Stud over the last few years, delivering not only quantity but some quality of winners from mares who would not have been of the blue-blooded variety. By Cadeaux Genereux out of a Ballad Rock mare, he offers a valuable outcross to all the Northern Dancer or Mr. Prospector line mares which abound these days.

Interestingly, as well as the two brothers, he has got a third black type performer from a Most Welcome mare in Mary Read, who was second in the Molecomb and placed in two Listed contests.

Goodricke’s pedigree has added a strand of Northern Dancer through Most Welcome, but compared to some it is a faint one. A glance at his family details would not instantly bring a potential good sire to mind: he has two more placed half-sisters, his dam won a minor race at two and is half-sister to seven winners, including the dual Grade 3 scorer Superstrike and the Listed winner Four-Legged Friend, herself dam of a decent hurdle in Cupla Cairde.

The third dam Evendo was placed once at two and bred three winners including the Italian Group placed horse Cedar Grange, but there is little else to inspire breeders.

However, the aim is to breed the best racehorses we can and that is what this combination of sire and dam has done, twice at the top level, so who is to say that a fancy piece of paper is more important than the animal itself? It will be fascinating to see if Goodricke and his brother can beget anything as good as themselves despite the apparent lack of fashion in their breeding.

Race record

At 2
1st Maiden Race, 5f, Leicester
1st Novice Race, 6f, Nottingham

At 3
1st Sprint Cup, G1, 6f, Haydock
2nd Prix Maurice de Gheest, G1, 6½f

GOODRICKE (GB), 2001

Stud details

Stands Overbury Stud

Fee £4,000 October 1 Special Live Foal

Ad Valorem - Araafa - Aussie Rules - Balmont - Bandari - Blue Dakota - Boogie Street - Byron - Cacique - Calcutta - Darsi - Desideratum - Diamond Green - Elusive Double - Ferrule - Galeota - George Washington - Goodricke - Hurricane Run - Iceman - Iffraaj - Indesatchel - Ivan Denisovich - Kodiac - Let The Lion Roar - Librettist - Majestic Missile - Near Dock - Norse Dancer - Phoenix Reach - Polar Impact - Prince Arch - Proclamation - Reefscape - Resplendent Glory - Shirocco - Sleeping Indian - Silent Times - Striking Ambition - Wolf Tone