Mirage Dancer, whose G1 Beverly D Stakes winning dam Heat Haze is a half-sister to the dam of Mauritzfontein’s successful sire Ideal World, made a big impression at Goodwood last week.
The four-year-old son of Frankel was the object of heavy betting support for the G3 Bombay Sapphire Glorious Stakes when backed from 9-4 into 6-5 favouritism for the one mile four furlong contest.
Settled in third by Ryan Moore, the four-year-old was backed from 9-4 into 6-5 favouritism and those who took those odds never really had anything to worry about.
With Scotland putting the pace to the race and Eminent racing keenly behind him, Mirage Dancer got a lovely tow into the race before Moore kicked on with a quarter of a mile to go
On entering the final furlong James Doyle appeared to be covering Red Verdon up in behind him for a late challenge, but he could never get on terms and Mirage Dancer pulled right away to win impressively by three lengths.
A tilt at the G1 Canadian International could now be on the cards for Mirage Dancer who has now won or placed in seven of his ten races with his previous victories including the Listed Netbet Android Download The App Tapster Stakes.
His close relative Ideal World, whose champion and Met winning daughter Smart Call was recently retired from racing, enjoyed a tremendous season in 2017-2018.
The son of Kingmambo ended last season 12th on the General Sires Log, with his runners banking over R7 million in stakes. Ideal World’s star representatives in 2017-2018 included unbeaten G3 Winter Guineas/G3 Winter Classic star Rainbow Bridge, G3 Strelitzia Stakes heroine Inverroche, Gold Cup runner up Hermoso Mundo and star Cape 2yo Coral Bay.
Ideal World, whose champion dam Banks Hill is an own sister to pensioned star sire Dansili (sire of recent G1 Prix Rothschild winner With You), has 11 lots on the 2018 National Two Year Old Sale. His draft includes a filly (Lot 33) whose dam is a winning daughter of Danehill Dancer and Cape Fillies Guneas winner Igreja, a half-brother (Lot 136) to high class gallopers Zanzamar and Ziparana, a half-sister to 2018 KZN Yearling Sale Million winner Givinitsum (Lot 255) and a half-brother to last season’s Golden Slipper winner Celtic Sea (Lot 309).