FAMILY TIES - DIAMOND SEAL

Ella Herbert picks her mare or sire of the week and does a deep dive into their career, lineage and much more. I don’t think that Zoffany would necessarily be a stallion many would associate with the term ‘dual-purpose.’ Nevertheless, he did notch in another black type winner over hurdles at the weekend, when the four-year-old filly Belfrina broke her maiden over obstacles at Doncaster in the Listed Fillies’ Juvenile Hurdle.

Belfrina’s career began on the Flat as a two-year-old, where she won second time of asking at the Curragh in an eighteen-runner maiden for John O’Donoghue, before being transferred into the tutelage of David Pipe. She finished a good second on hurdling debut before Christmas and looked every bit the winner when falling at the last next time out, but managed to justify favouritism on Saturday, earning herself some black type.

Zoffany is the source of numerous top-flight winners on the Flat and has actually already supplied another classy hurdler in dual-Grade 3 victor Nurburgring (who is also out of Montjeu mare and therefore bred on the same cross as Pipe’s filly), but that is not the only part of Belfrina’s breeding which suggests quality. It doesn’t take too much digging into her maternal pedigree to find that she hails from an Aga Khan family which is responsible in one way or another for the winners of the Irish Derby, the Fillies Mile, the Gimcrack and even the Fred Winter – that of Diamond Seal.

Diamond Seal was foaled in 1984, and she was the result of Panserina, a lightly raced daughter of the 1967 Oaks heroine Pampalina, being covered by Richmond Stakes winner Persian Bold. Diamond Seal’s career on the track peaked when she won the Listed Woodpark Stud Race at Pheonix Park as a three-year-old, but she would improve upon this plenty at stud.

She popped out three Group winners; Diasilixa (Linamix), Diamond Mix (Linamix) and Diamond Dance (Dancehall), who all ran in the colours of Jean-Luc Lagardere, as well as the Group-placed fillies Diamonaka (Akarad) and Diamoona (Last Tycoon), plus Stakes-performer Diamond For King (Fairy King).

The Aga Khan must have rated Diamond Seal, as several of her daughters retired to the Aga Khan broodmare band. Diasilixa produced four winners herself, the smartest of which turned out to be the hurdler Diakali, who was sent out to victory in the Grade 1 Prix Alain de Breil by Willie Mullins – suffice it to say he was no longer carrying the red and green silks by that point.

Diamond Seal’s most fruitful daughter was arguably her second foal, Diamonaka, born in 1990. Diamonaka was Group 2-placed herself and foaled three Group winners. Her son by Green Desert, Diamond Green, won the Group 3 Prix de la Rochette, retired to stud and did manage to sire a handful of winners there. He is also the damsire of Gimcrack and July Stakes winner Lusail (Mehmas), who is now plying his trade at Haras de Bouquetot for Al Shaqab.

Another of Diamonaka’s progeny was the grey filly Diamilina, by the Aga Khan’s own Linamix. On the track she proved more successful than her mother, winning the Prix de Malleret, and finishing second behind Aquarelliste in the Prix Vermeille. Diamilina has earnt herself a place in the history books as her daughter Dialafara (Anabaa) probably wouldn’t be a million miles away from blue hen status - she was exclusively mated with Galileo whilst he was alive and has produced a Champion stayer in Capri, who struck in the St Leger and the Irish Derby, along with his three Group-winning siblings, Passion, Cypress Creek and Tower Of London. Not to mention Brazil, who struck in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham. Dialafara is now the grand dam of a Group 1 winner too, through her daughter Sovereign Parade, who has produced Fillies’ Mile champ Commissioning, as well as the Listed winner Military Academy.

To circle back to Belfrina – her second dam Dali’s Grey was an own sister to Diamilina, so it’s no surprise then, that she has proved herself to be classy so far. Incidentally, there is another exponent of this family, namely the filly Dialla, headed to the Arquana February Mixed Sale in a few weeks’ time. The four-year-old daughter of Zarak won last year on the Flat in France and is out of Dialafara’s half-sister Dilafara (Singspiel). She would perhaps be an interesting recruit for racing over obstacles, like Belfrina, but surely has a future in either sphere, given that she shares a second dam with Capri and Brazil.