Kahyasi The Rodney Dangerfield of Broodmare Sires
Kahyasi may have sired the greatest broodmare of all time and yet he is available for under 100 credits nearly every week. “I get no respect… No respect at all” the late great Rodney Dangerfield would say adjusting his already loosened tie. Kahyasi could whinny the same at sim players and the sim Oz who deny him his rightful place alongside the great dam sires of the last 20 years. The big fella passed on this June after 20 years on mother earth but he has left behind a lasting legacy and it keeps growing every day. He has been quite the stud in real life but the reason he is overlooked, if not outright ignored, is because his greatness has been almost exclusively in his female progeny. Unfortunately, lately his real life success has not carried over to the sim. Kahyasi is the victim of the sims vicious cycle where lack of success means an ever dwindling number of top shelf sires, which in turns leads to a further lack of success. After reading this article see if you can explain to me why most weeks he is unused and he has not produced even a stakes winner since 2004.
On The Track
The winner of 1.2 million in just 7 lifetime starts, Kahyasi was a fine runner. He won his only start as a two year old and would become a dual classic winner at 3. All told he had 3 graded scores including the Epsom and Irish Derby’s amonst his 5 career wins. He was named Ireland’s 3 year old champ in 1988. He was retired to stud following his only off the board finish, a close up 6th in the 1988 Arc de Triomphe. Owned and bred by the Aga Khan, he performed his stud duties at Gilltown Stud in Ireland and Haras de Bonneval in France, until his death this past summer.
His Bloodlines
Kahyasi was sired by Ile De Bourbon out of the mare Kadissya. This sounds like fairly ordinary breeding until you get to the second generation back. Ile De Bourbon is out of the great Nijinsky while Kahyasi’s mom was sired by Blushing Groom. This then becomes a classic cross of the Northern Dancer and Nasrullah main family trees Kahyasi is inbred three times to Nearco and twice to Menow. These crosses are evident in many of the top horses in the sim like Awesome Again, and Giant’s Causeway among many others.
As Sire
In his 20 years at stud Kahyasi sired 52 stakes winners, including several champions. He was better with lady runners siring two winners of the filly classic Prix de Diane Hermes (Fr-I), Vereva (DS Mill Reef) and Zainta (DS Darshaan). While his sons were not as good, Hirapour, earned a 2004 Eclipse Award as top steeplechaser.
As Dam Sire
This is where Kahyasi’s greatness is truly found as two of his daughters have produced great champions. The first Zarkasha (DS Doyoun) was crossed with Zamindar (Gone West) to produce perhaps the greatest turf filly of all time and certainly the best of the last decade. Zarkava the undefeated winner (7-7) of the 2008 Arc De Triomphe, did what her maternal grandpa could not and won the grand daddy of turf racing. All told this scintillating gal won more than 4 million dollars and was just retired last week. Zarkava is the only raced foal of Zarkasha so there is hope that this broodmare has other great foals ahead of her, especially if she follows the pattern of Kahyasi’s other great broodmare.
Hasili is perhaps the greatest or at least the most prolific broodmare of all time. To a ceratin extent she is really what this article is all about. Her career as a runner was pedestrian, the winner of only four of 17 starts, but in the shed she has been nothing short of miraculous. Of her 7 living and raced foals she has 6 grade 1 winners. 5 of these champions were sired by Danehill. It is clear that some of that studs great reputation should be fairly shared with the dam sire of 5 of his best horses. Banks Hill earned Championship honors in both the US and Europe as top turf mare in 2001, and she was again European champ in 2002. Her victories included the 2001 Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1). Dansili one of two colts in the group was European high weight and winner of 3 graded races and graded placed 6 times. He has been terrific at stud as well. Cacique the other boy won 1.5 million in purses and multiple Grade 1 races and he has also been a success at stud. Intercontinental was the 2005 turf mare of the year. She also won the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare turf as well as over 2 million in purses. Last but not least of the Danehill x Hasili’s is the not yet retired 5 year old mare Champs Elysees who has a over 1 million in earnings and won her first G1 event this year. For good measure Hasili combined with another Danzig son Green Desert to produce another millionaire, Heat Haze, a multiple graded winner on the turf in both Europe and the US. Hasili has two foals approaching racing age one out of Storm Cat and the other out of Empire Maker, so maybe another great one is just around the corner. How many dam sires can claim 7 graded winners of this level on their ledger sheet. Yet never does Kahyasi’s name get brought up in the same breath with many horses he has out produced.
Breeding Ideas
Kahyasi should be a great match to any son of Danzig or Danehill. The real life nick produced many of the aforementioned champions. He also would be a fine match for Gone West and his sons as evidenced by Zarkava. The Blushing Groom Nijinsky blood says Sadler’s sons, Deputy Minister line, and Hail to Reason line sires should also work well. Keep in mine Sadler’s himself sired Hasili’s only failed racing foal so perhaps tighter crosses with Northern Dancer are ones to avoid.
The Plea
Get out there and put some good sires to Kahyasi and give the guy a chance to do some sim magic. And to for anyone who might be in charge of upgrades (hint hint) this guy deserves to produce better, if not as a sire than at least in the DS slot. I tried him last week with Green Desert and I will let you know how that works out.
Sources, Pedigree Query, Judmonte Farms, Agakhanstuds.com, Wikipedia, and Bloodhorse Magazine
