Mubtaker (USA)

9 ch h Silver Hawk (USA) - Gazayil (USA) (Irish River (FR))

Owner: Hamdan Al Maktoum
Trainer: Marcus Tregoning
Breeder: Warren W Rosenthal

Nobody has done more to enhance the reputation of Silver Hawk in Europe than Hamdan Al Maktoum. A keen supporter of the stallion both at the sales and in the 21 years he was covering at Brereton Jones's Airdrie Farm in Kentucky, Sheikh Hamdan has been rewarded with a number of smart performers.

Mutafaweq, although by then transferred to Godolphin, triumphed in the 1999 St Leger, while Albarahin captured the Group Two Prix Dollar in 2001 and Fahal was trained by the late David Morley to finish fourth behind Lammtarra in the 1995 Epsom Derby.

Amazing longevity

Of all Sheikh Hamdan's considerable collection of Silver Hawks, however, few can have brought more satisfaction - and none boast the longevity - of the now nine-year-old entire Mubtaker, who opened his campaign this season on 22 April with a victory in the Group Three John Porter Stakes at Newbury, from Munsef and Maraahel, both also representing the Dubai-based owner.

The win was Mubtaker's sixth at Newbury (he has also won three runnings of the Geoffrey Freer Stakes) and hopes must be high that, as he also boasts a second place in the 2003 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on his record, a deserved Group One success will come his way in 2006 despite his advancing years.

Derby winner

Silver Hawk's record is certainly not short of Group One performers. His best runners include the 1997 Epsom Derby hero Benny The Dip, 1996 Musidora Stakes heroine Magnificient Style, 1989 Prix de Diane winner Lady In Silver, Red Bishop, Hawkster and Japanese superstar Grass Wonder, who earned nearly $6 million in prize money.

Silver Hawk, out of the winning Amerigo mare Grey Vitesse, was bred in Kentucky at Robin Scully's Clovelly Farms and sold to Mahmoud Fustok's Buckram Oak Farm for $77,000 at the 1980 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Sale. Trained by Michael Albina, he won three races, including the 1982 Craven Stakes, before finishing second to Assert in that year's Irish Derby and third to Golden Fleece at Epsom.

He was never presented with colossal books of mares at Aidrie Farm, where his fee dipped to as low as $5,000 at one stage and went on to reach a peak of $75,000, but he had built up an admirable record by the time of his retirement in late 2003.

O'Brien connection

Mubtaker's dam, Gazayil, a daughter of Irish River who won in Australia, is a half-sister to Husyan and has also produced a smart two-year-old performer in Crystal Downs, who was trained by Aidan O'Brien for Timmy Hyde to win a two-year-old maiden in 1998 and go on to be placed in both the Prix Marcel Boussac and Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Mubtaker, who was originally trained in France by David Loder under the Godolphin banner, has taken the family record to a new level and a successful campaign in Cup races this year would surely at last gain the entire a place at stud, even if in the National Hunt sphere.