With full-brother Bremen producing a debut second at Tipperary on Wednesday, it seems apt to revisit Warm Heart’s victory in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes and analyse an unusually Australian pedigree for a Royal Ascot winner.
Warm Heart is out of Sea Siren, who was campaigned primarily in Australia before her transfer to Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle in June 2013, following a run in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. The mare was a multiple Group 1 winning sprinter in Australia, having been successful in the Group 1 BTC Cup at Doomben and the Group 1 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley in 2012. She'd struggled during the 2013 campaign prior to her eighth at Royal Ascot, but appeared revitalised for the move, carrying a weight penalty to win the Listed Belgrave Stakes on Irish debut. She ended her racing career with two placings at Group level.
Sea Siren's first raced foal was a Galileo filly named Celestial Object, who was a maiden winner as a juvenile before placing second in the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud Fillies Stakes at three. The 2019 colt Arbutus made an impressive winning debut for trainer Aidan O'Brien in April 2022 before breaking down on his second racecourse start when favourite for the Listed Yeats Stakes.
Sire Fastnet Rock was an immediate success upon his retirement to stud in 2005 and ranks top of current active sires in Australia on Group 1 winners, with forty-three compared to second-placed Snitzel's nineteen. Although the champion sprinter has dominated the Australian bloodstock world in recent years, he is well-represented in Europe – Via Sistina, winner of the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh over Irish Derby weekend, is by Fastnet Rock. Although the stallion continues to produce offspring at the very top level, he is carving a name for himself as a notable damsire and sire of sires - eight of his sons have produced Group 1 winners of their own.
The dam-sire of Sea Siren was Success Express, a US import into Australia who stood at six different locations during his stallion career, including two seasons in New Zealand. Winner of the 1987 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Success Express boasted an impressive 73% runners-to-winners ratio over the course of his stud career and was responsible for Golden Slipper victor Polar Success and New Zealand Oaks heroine Savannah Success. His best sire-son, Mossman, produced seven -time Group 1 winner Buffering. Success Express suffered from fertility issues towards the end of his stud career but notably produced a Stakes winner from the only foal conceived during his final season in 2006.
Sea Siren's latest foal of racing age is the Donnacha O'Brien trained Bremen, who out-ran his odds on racecourse debut at Tipperary when finishing second behind the more-experienced Spanish Flame. Although he holds no current entries, the colt showed enough promise to suggest he could add to Sea Siren's Black Type breeding record by the end of the season.
