Birth of a dream from the Lammtarra line

Sue Montgomery considers the prospects for a foal with a near perfect pedigree

Hope is a quality that springs eternal among racing folk, particularly at this time of year. The newest generation of thoroughbreds is starting to arrive in barns and paddocks all over Britain and, just perhaps, among them might be the Derby winner of the year 2000.

All this year's colts have a long way to go before they will have a chance to reach such heady heights, but one is already special as the first born of the unbeaten Derby winner, Lammtarra.

He is also number one of a limited edition. In a brief but brilliant career Lammtarra proved himself the best in Europe in 1995, with victories in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe to add to his Epsom triumph, but after only one season at stud he joined the mane drain to Japan.

The power of the yen in the bloodstock world is almost irresistible at present; Lammtarra was owned by the fabulously wealthy Maktoum family of Dubai, but the offer that was made - reputedly $30m (pounds 18.5m) - was one that even they could not refuse, and the fifth successive Derby winner headed into the Rising Sun.

His future progeny are unlikely to appear in the European theatre, so any legacy of greatness rests within colts like the leggy baby pictured above enjoying the winter sunshine in a Stubbsian setting at the Oppenheimer family's Hascombe Stud, near Newmarket. He will be two weeks old tomorrow. His mother, In Full Cry, was one of 54 mares who visited Lammtarra, at a cost of pounds 30,000 each, at Sheikh Mohammed's Dalham Hall Stud last year.

The colt's heredity is top class. His sire is the product of the Triple Crown hero Nijinsky and the Oaks winner Snow Bride, and his dam is a daughter of the mighty American horse Seattle Slew. In addition, the environment in which he will grow up is one of the best, but only time will tell whether the engine in his tiny frame will take him to glory or obscurity. Realistically, the odds are against him succeeding, but for the moment at least, the dream can keep running.

Racing, page 21