Tag: sistercharlie

Full Circle: First Yearlings for Arqana-Grad Sottsass Sell at Deauville

In the summer of 2017, Peter Brant was just at the beginning of his remarkable run with Sistercharlie (Ire) (My Boy Charlie {Ire}), who would go on to win seven Group 1 races for him, but he already knew how special she was.

“We were campaigning Sistercharlie at the time, and we knew how good she was because she had run second in the Prix Diane after getting into a lot of trouble. She almost got knocked down, and then looked like she would be absolutely nowhere. And then she came flying and made second. I knew then she just had to be a really good horse. We owned her going into the Prix Diane. And so we were very encouraged and then we brought her back to the United States and she ran in the Belmont Oaks. She lost by a nose. And she had just arrived and really never even had the chance to work or anything.”

Michel Zerolo had recommended Sistercharlie to Brant after her win in a conditions race at Saint-Cloud in April, and bought her for him after her win in the G3 Prix Penelope later than month. It was the first horse he had recommended to him.

Sistercharlie was the first foal out of Starlet's Sister, who has gone on to be a remarkable producer for Henri Bozo's Ecurie des Monceaux. Sistercharlie, the champion turf female in America, was followed by the multiple-group winner and $1 million-plus earner My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}), and Sottsass (Fr), driving the prices for her subsequent foals into the stratosphere in the Arqana sales ring.

But that hadn't yet happened when Sottsass came up for sale that summer at Arqana, and Brant asked Zerolo to take a look. “Monceaux was selling him; they have the mare, Starlet's Sister, and so Michel Zerolo went to see him and he said he was really beautiful. He was a really big, strong, beautiful horse.”

Champion Sistercharlie wins the 2018 Breeders' Cup F/M Turf | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

Recalled Zerolo, “The obvious thing was that I was going to look at a brother of Sistercharlie, so it was a fairly easy pick. He was a very good-looking horse. He was very athletic. He was he was a good mover. The pedigree was a happening pedigree at the time. And Siyouni was a sire that I love.”

They purchased him for €340,000. Brant left him in France with trainer Jean-Claude Rouget.

Sottsass would go on to wins at two, and three, and four, including three Group 1s. He broke the track record in the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) at a mile and a quarter, won the Prix Ganay, and then Prix de l'Arc Triomphe at four in his final career start. He won at distances from eight furlongs to a mile and a half.

This week, 11 of his first yearlings are expected to pass through the ring at the Arqana August sale. Six of them will be offered by Zerolo and Eric Puerari's Haras des Capucines.

“I've seen a reasonable number of his first yearlings,” said Zerolo. “I wouldn't say they're all of a type. He does get some bays, he gets some chestnuts. I've seen a few that are on the smaller side, more on the Polar Falcon side. Otherwise, they all seem to have a good disposition, good mind, easy horses to be around, good-looking, scopey, correct. Very correct, the way he was.”

Brant named the horse after his friend, Ettore Sottsass, a well-know Austrian-Italian architect, furniture, glass, and home-products designer, whose bright red Olivetti Valentine Portable Typewriter has earned a spot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “He was one of the great people in design in the 20th century,” said Brant. “And I knew him very well. I collected his furniture and his glass. I like to try to name my horses after 20th and 21st century culture.”

And though Sottsass the horse remained in Europe for his racing career, Brant was on hand for some of his best moments.

“I was there at the French Derby and it was a very, very impressive race,” he recalled. “Jean-Claude Rouget thought he was going to run very well. There were some great horses in there. Persian King was the favourite and there were a number of really well-bred French horses from the big barns and families in France as well as from England. And he just ran a powerhouse.”

The Arc took place during the first fall of the Covid pandemic in 2020, forcing Brant and his wife, Stefanie Seymour, to miss the race.

“My wife and I watched it in Connecticut and we got all dressed up as if we were there,” he said. “But it was a great thrill. I mean, if there were any neighbors close by, they could hear us yelling, that's for sure.”

Sottsass winning the Arc | Scoop Dyga

 

Brant-currently in the midst of an epic season with another son of Siyouni, Paddington (GB), who he owns in partnership–has heavily supported his stallion with some top mares, including sending him to his Eclipse Award-winning mare Uni in his third year at stud. His pedigree deserves those mares, he said.

“Very few mares have thrown horses like Sistercharlie, Sottsass, My Sister Nat. My Sister Nat (whom Brant purchased privately in October, 2018) lost the Breeders' Cup by a neck and she lost the Flower Bowl by a nose. She was also very, very good. But I think that Sistercharlie could be the best horse that I ever owned. They were all really good-looking. So I'm very anxious to see his babies run next year. We bred 12 mares to him because we really believe in him.”

His offspring will go to Jean-Claude Rouget, Aidan O'Brien and Chad Brown in the U.S., Brant said.

“I'm getting very good reports from the French, English and Irish breeders,” he said. “They look a lot like him. They're scopey, the majority of them are chestnut, as he is. They're very handsome horses with a good head. He stamped that in them. And they look like horses that are going to be Classic kind of horses, seven-furlongs to a mile-and-a-quarter, maybe a mile-and-a-half horses.”

Brant is in Saratoga this week keeping an eye on his U.S. runners, but has an affinity for European racing, and keeps about half his mares in Europe, primarily at Coolmore Ireland.

“I like the racing in Europe very much,” he said, sitting outside Chad Brown's Saratoga barn. “I feel like the facilities where you're training are superb. And I like the way they train those babies going straight and not doing too many turns at the beginning. I believe that horses need to run when they're two years' old and you have less risk of hurting them if there are no turns at the very, very beginning as their bones are getting set. And so I do like it.

“But I come from America and I grew up in Queens, near Aqueduct, and we used to sometimes skip school and go there. I really learned a lot about American horse racing and watched horses like Kelso and Carry Back, the great Dr. Fager, all the great, great horses running against each other. And I really love dirt racing as well. And of course, winning the Kentucky Derby (in partnership) with Claiborne in 1984 with Swale was one of the great thrills of my life. It's hard to top that,” he says, and then laughs a wry laugh. “But the Arc de Triomphe was pretty close.”

And while Sottsass won at two, Zerolo isn't sure that his yearlings are going to be “super-precocious,” he said. “They're going to cater to a type of buyer, people who want Classic horses. But I think they should sell very well. I think they'll make us as proud, and I think they should make Peter and Coolmore proud.”

Additional reporting by Katie Petrunyak

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Will The Full-Brother to Sottsass be the Star of the Show at Arqana?

It has become a familiar occasion to open the Arqana August catalogue and find an offering from the remarkably consistent broodmare Starlet's Sister (Ire), whose progeny have shone for years here for the perennial leading consignor, Ecurie des Monceaux.

Most recently, the Dubawi (Ire) filly Pure Dignity (GB) brought €2,500,000 from Oliver St. Lawrence in 2020, and Parliament (GB), a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus), sold for €700,000 in 2019. Pure Dignity just won her first start for Roger Varian.

But the 2022 offering might be the most exciting yet: a full-brother to the multiple Group 1-winning Sottsass (Fr), the record-breaking World Champion, French Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, now standing stud at Coolmore in Ireland. Sottsass himself sold here in 2017 to Michel Zerolo's Oceanic Bloodstock on behalf of Peter Brant for €340,000. And the people who know Sottass well, they will tell you his full-brother is almost a dead ringer.

Michel Zerolo bought both Sottsass and Sistercharlie | Sue Finley photo

“If you compare this yearling with Sottsass, you would find them quite similar,” said Henri Bozo, who will sell Lot 154 under his Ecurie des Monceaux banner on Sunday. Sottsass's regular pilot was by the farm to see the 2021 version, said Bozo. “Cristian Demuro, the jockey, was by to see him the other morning, and he was amazed by how much they looked alike. I think he's got the same head, the same forehand, and the same self-confidence. I think it's striking to people who know Sottsass well.”

One of those people, of course, is Michel Zerolo, both a buyer at Arqana and a seller under his Haras des Capucines banner, the farm and consignment he owns with partner Eric Puerari.

Zerolo bought Starlet's Sister's first-ever progeny, Sistercharlie (Ire), after her win in the G3 Prix Penelope in France, for Brant. Zerolo said she caught his eye when she won a Class 1 race at Saint-Cloud in her prior start, when he first recommended her. “She was mighty impressive that day,” he said. “She had a fantastic turn of foot.”

Zerolo would go on to be proven correct; Sistercharlie would go on to win 10 starts over four years, including the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, to be named the Eclipse Award-winning turf female.

So when Sottsass, her half-brother by Siyouni (Fr) came up for sale in 2017, Zerolo and Brant were back. “He was an obvious one, of course,” said Zerolo.

In looking at Starlet's Sister's 2021 yearling, Zerolo said he sees the similarities as well.

“He's a nice horse,” he said. “He's probably a bigger version of Sottsass, very athletic. They're similar; they're full-brothers, of course. He has more white, and is a slightly lighter chestnut, but other than that, there are a lot of similarities.”

Bozo said that potential French buyers had been visiting the colt along with others in the consignment over the summer, but now, of course, an international marketplace has descended upon Arqana for the sale. “We've seen all the right French people and now we are looking forward to seeing all the foreigners coming here. But they will be present. They will be inside. The market is good and this sale has been extremely successful and good value.”

The Jour de Galop recently called Starlet's Sister the `unicorn of Monceaux,' and Bozo took a moment to reflect upon his good fortune in buying her. “We are very lucky and we do mean it. There was no talent in chasing her, a mare with a good pedigree, by Galileo (Ire) from a family we didn't have. We are always investing in young mares, I'm a big believer in young mares, especially when they are by the right sire lines. She was not expensive, and Hubert Guy keeps reminding me about the time he called me about her, and I must say, it has been a life-changing thing. She has been amazing.”

In the beginning, he said, he was looking to breed her to a proven stallion at an affordable price. “That's why we sent her to Myboycharlie,” he said. “He brought some strength and speed. And that was Sistercharlie. And the story keeps going. It's amazing.”

But for Bozo, who looks every bit the part of a man who could top this sale yet again, humility, gratitude and hard work seem the order of the day.

“We have to be grateful for these mares who have put Monceaux on the map and we keep trying to invest in new bloodlines to improve our work, improve our facilities,” he said. “And it's a non-ending adventure.”

And will Sunday be another chapter?

Zerolo said he felt it would. “He's got a wide appeal, it's a great cross, Siyouni over Galileo, and it has already worked. I would imagine he would appeal to a number of people. Best of luck to Henri.”

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Powerful Owner Peter Brant Talks Learning From Mistakes, Sottsass And More

   One of racing's biggest supporters, Peter Brant's colours can be spotted not only in his home country of America, but in Britain, Ireland and France. 

   The renowned owner-breeder, who spent over 20 years away from racing before returning with a bang in 2016, has quickly re-established his operation and in 2020 he reached the pinnacle when Sottsass carried his familiar double green silks to victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

   With a full-brother to Sottsass catalogued for the August Yearling Sale at Arqana, Brant makes for a timely subject for this week's Q&A where he talks all things racing and breeding.

Brian Sheerin: Your colours have been carried by some equine stars. From Triptych to Gulch and more recently Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) and Sottsass (Fr). Have you got a favourite?

Peter Brant: I guess Sistercharlie would be the one. Obviously I had Waya, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame recently, and she was one of the first really great racehorses that we had. We had Just A Game (GB) (Tarboosh), who was a champion and has races named after her, Gulch, and I own lots of good horses in partnership with people but I have to say Sistercharlie was very special. She won seven Grade Is within a year and a half and overcame two cases of pneumonia during that period. She was incredible. She's now in foal to Dubawi (Ire) and is over with Coolmore in Ireland. For both my wife and I, she has a very special place in our hearts.

BS: You went to Dubawi with her? Not a bad choice!

PB: She showed speed and stamina and, with Dubawi, I thought it would give us a chance of getting a Classic horse. We're very excited about that.

 

BS: Do you keep a lot of mares at Coolmore and what is the breakdown of your broodmare band?

PB: We have about 65 broodmares and it's split roughly half and half between America and in Coolmore Ireland. The majority of our turf mares are in Ireland, although some are in the States, while most of the dirt mares are at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky.

BS: What was the initial lure to European racing? 

PB: The Americans have this thing about turf horses and how they can't mix with dirt horses. Of course, it's all rubbish. I've had great success buying fillies in Europe, bringing them to the United States and in either the first or second generation, getting a great dirt horse. I bred Thunder Gulch and, not only that, but I bred his dam [Line Of Thunder]. What happened was, I bought a mare called Shoot A Line (GB) (High Line {GB}) in England. She had been second in the Gold Cup, won the Cheshire Oaks and lots of other good races, and I brought her back to America to run her. She didn't really do well over here but I bred her to Storm Bird, the result of which was Line Of Thunder, who ended up being the dam of Thunder Gulch. He won the GI Kentucky Derby and was a really great horse. There's a Kentucky Derby winner whose second dam came over from Europe. 

BS: It goes back to the old saying, just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it can't be done. 

PB: At some point, breeders in Kentucky are going to realise that they have to pay attention to racing on the grass. Turf racing is growing, as are the field sizes, and there's no reason why breeders should be ignoring it. Take Flightline (Tapit) for example, he's got grass in him. It's all about vigour. We need to get new kinds of blood in and, for me, I'm interested in the European stallions. People ask why I go to Europe to breed and it's because owners in Europe, and the Middle East, they've been coming over to the United States for the past 40 years and buying our best yearlings. Those great stallions are coming from that blood that was once here. 

BS: Where do you think of turf racing in America is right now? There is an expanding programme full of lucrative races but there seems to be little interest in turf stallions over there. 

PB: I think it's going to change. If you have a stable of horses you want to run, if you don't have any turf horses, you're going to miss a lot of the best races. Pretty soon, you're going to have at least 50%–if not more–of the programme being grass racing in America. It's a better surface to run on, more natural, and the attrition rate on the dirt is much higher.

BS: You stand Demarchelier (GB), a son of Dubawi, at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky. How has he been received and have you sent many mares to him?

PB: He's been doing very well. I have bred to him quite a bit and he has been getting between 100 and 110 mares a year, so he has a very good chance. If you give a stallion over 60 mares a year they have a really good chance of making it but the idea of breeding 200 mares to a horse, I'm not a big fan of that. The maximum for me would be 140 or 150 mares a season, which is where Sottsass (Fr) is. I just think you should concentrate on the mares a little more because, a lot of the stallions these days, their percentage of stakes winners is smaller than they were back in the day. They didn't breed to as many mares back then, but a horse like Northern Dancer had 20% stakes winners, Mr. Prospector was 18% and today, the best sire might have 9%.

BS: You must be very excited about Sottsass. I understand you've sent a lot of good mares to him. 

PB: Yes I have. His first crop are now weanlings and he has had some very good-looking foals. It's the same with Demarchelier. They all look like him. They are both stamping their stock. I really wanted to stand Demarchelier because he was three-from-three heading into the GI Belmont Derby, where he unfortunately broke down. The winner of the Belmont Derby, Henley's Joy, Demarchelier had beaten him in the GIII Pennine Ridge S. I thought he was a high-class horse and we were expecting big things from him before he got injured. That's why I really wanted to stand him at stud. The people at Claiborne Farm really believed in him and I've bred 10 or 12 mares to him every year now. We gave a very good opportunity to breeders to buy shares in him for a low price if they committed to breed to him, and I think they are going to be very happy. I would be surprised if he didn't do well. 

BS: Getting back to Sottsass, would you be able to tell me some of the mares you sent him?

PB: I bred a lot of stakes-winning mares to him. What I do is, I give the stallion mares over a three-year period and the best mares will probably be sent to him in year two and three so that the quality is maintained and that he doesn't fall off. You know how sometimes you send a young stallion good mares in the first year and then sometimes they go off in the second and third year, that's not good for a horse. I'm very confident that he's got some good mares. I bred the dam of Speak Of The Devil (Fr) [Moranda (Fr) (Indian Rocket {GB})] and many more. He's got some really good mares. 

BS: The family has been unbelievably good to you. We've already mentioned Sistercharlie, Sottsass and as well as that, you did well with My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}).

PB: Starlet's Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has got to be one of the best broodmares in the world. Look at My Sister Nat, she was beaten a whisker at the Breeders' Cup last year. She's actually in foal to Wootton Bassett (GB). Don't forget, Sistercharlie was the first foal, then there was Sottsass and My Sister Nat. Now I see Pure Dignity (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) broke her maiden pretty impressively for Roger Varian. I know that the 2-year-old by Dubawi is with Jean-Claude Rouget in Deauville and they like him as well. 

BS: And the question on everybody's lips is will you look at the brother to Sottsass (lot 154) that will be on offer at Arqana next week?

PB: I've heard that he's nice and I'm looking forward to travelling over to see the horse. I'm also a little bit of a believer in the fact that Mrs Sullivan has seven sons but only had one John L!

BS: It's shaping up to be a brilliant sale with siblings to Treve (Fr), Wings Of Eagles (Fr), Native Trail (GB) and Sealiway (Fr) also on offer.

PB: It is. I think the catalogue is really good. Of course, now we have Saratoga coming up as well, which has been lucky for me. I like the people at Arqana because they are straight-shooters and very realistic. 

BS: We saw The Antarctic (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a horse that you have a share in, winning a Group 3 at Deauville during the week. Have you anything to look forward to at Deauville next weekend?

PB: There's a horse that we like very much, Epic Poet (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), and he will run. He won a listed race for Jean-Claude Rouget and is three from four. We're also very excited about Francesco Clemente (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), who is in training with John Gosden, and the plan for him is to run in the Great Voltigeur at York next. He's won all three of his starts and won his last race by nine lengths. He's by Dubawi out of the great mare, Justlookdontouch (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who I bought [for 1.2m guineas] at the Ballymacoll dispersal at the December Mares Sale at Tattersalls in December 2017.

BS: I see that both horses hold entries in the Arc….

PB: I think that any time you enter in the Arc, it's ambitious, and for me, it's one of the most difficult races in the world to win. But I don't enter the horses, the trainers do, so I guess there's an outside chance that they could get there. I don't know if they have the experience to go for a race like that but maybe next year. We'll leave it up to the trainers. 

BS: You mentioned about the success you've enjoyed bringing European horses back to America. We saw Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass), who won a Group 2 when in training with Ger Lyons in Ireland, landing a Grade III contest at Monmouth Park recently. Could we see more European runners making the switch in the coming months?

PB: I think Dr Zempf (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) could come over, purely because Ger Lyons suggested we do that. Ger thinks he's suited to American racing and I try to listen to my trainers. Like Ger, John Gosden has told me that certain horses would do well in America and he was proved right when we brought them back here. I think the plan will be for Dr Zempf to join Chad Brown later this year and we've got many more in our barn right now that came from Jean-Claude Rouget. 

BS: Speaking of European horses, what is the plan for the Aidan O'Brien-trained Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})?

PB: Stone Age is running in the Saratoga Derby and has already shipped over. He was third in the Belmont Derby, where he ran into a lot of trouble, and Aidan's plan is to try an American jockey on him next time, so John Velazquez will be aboard.

BS: You obviously retain a lot of faith in Stone Age? He looked potentially top-class when he won his Derby Trial at Leopardstown back in May.

PB: My wife and I flew over for the Derby this year and enjoyed a great day out. We got to walk the course with Aidan and that was a great experience. I was actually in shock when I saw the course and how difficult and undulating it is at Epsom. It looked to me that Stone Age just didn't stay on the day and I wasn't that disappointed. To my eyes, he looked the best horse in the Belmont Derby, only he just got stopped in his run and didn't have much luck. We'll see how he does at Saratoga on his next start.

BS: How do you find working with the likes of Aidan O'Brien, Jean-Claude Rouget and Chad Brown? 

PB: I've also got Joseph O'Brien and Ger Lyons. I like the trainers in Europe. I really like their attitude towards training 2-year-olds. They like giving horses experience at two and I'm not big on 2-year-old racing apart from the fact that it gets horses prepared for their 3-year-old campaign. In a sense, if you want a runner in the Kentucky Derby, history shows you that you need a 2-year-old. At the very least you need a horse who's had a few starts at two. There are always issues with horses when they're young, but it never seems to be as bad in Europe. I have a higher percentage of 2-year-olds running in Europe than I do in America.

BS: It's funny you say that because we were at Ballydoyle for the Derby press morning in May and somebody asked Aidan if Stone Age's emergence as a genuine Epsom candidate was surprising given the horse never managed to win at two. Aidan's response to that was, he could have gotten the horse to win at two if he wanted to, but it was always about the future with this horse.

PB: My experience with Aidan over the past four years has just been incredible. I like Aidan so much. He is one of the greatest horsemen ever and I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. I am having more horses with Chad Brown as well and he's meticulous. It's all about finding the talent in his barn–it doesn't matter if it's a $50,000 horse or a $1-million horse. He's also concentrating on the dirt now so hopefully he'll be the coming star in America. We have some great trainers working with us.

BS: You're obviously a hugely successful businessman. Is there anything you've learned from your trainers that you've carried over to your own line of work?

PB: Somebody told me once, so many successful businessmen get into racing but, as soon as they enter the sport, the check their brain in with their coat! I always thought it was a great saying. You could be a brilliant businessman but, once you get into the horse business, you don't know the mane from the tail. Of course, you learn things in terms of business that you apply to anything that you do but, if you don't pay attention in horse racing, you shouldn't be in the game. I was in racing for 21 years at a high level before I got out of it for some time and, the experience and the mistakes that I made back then, I try not to make them now. It's impossible not to make mistakes in horse racing as it's not science–it's just something you get a feel for. There's too many opportunities to make the wrong decisions and you've got to just live it. When you go to these sales and spend a lot of money, what are your chances of having a good horse?

BS: And what would you say the biggest mistakes you've made were?

PB: I would say paying a big price for a late maturing 3-year-old, who was already a stakes winner in Europe, thinking it would excel in America and it didn't. The horse winds up with an attitude, I've got to geld him, that's probably the biggest mistake I've made, paying top dollar for a well-bred 3-year-old with good form in Europe. But it can happen. On the other hand, I bought a yearling who turned out to be Sottsass, which was a very speculative thing to do. Every time you buy a yearling, what are the chances that it will go on to win the Arc? You've got to have luck. I only bought him for one reason–that he was Sistercharlie's brother. That was the only smart part of the decision. The rest was pure luck.

BS: And when you do come across a horse as good as Sottsass, what does it mean?

PB: It meant the world. I was at home in Connecticut and watched the race with my wife. We couldn't travel because of Covid but it didn't even matter to me as I'd been to the Arc many times before and I knew what it meant to me. It was the race of a lifetime. I cherish it.

 

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Observations: Arqana September Topper Debuts At Newmarket

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Friday's Insights features half-sister to top-shelf performers Sottsass (Fr) and Sistercharlie (Ire) at Newmarket Friday.

3.20 Doncaster, Novice, £7,300, 3yo/up, f/m, 10f 43yT
ROYAL SCANDAL (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) looks to underline the striking impression she made on debut at Newcastle last month under a seven-pound penalty facing a trio of rivals. Racing in the Vestey silks carried to G1 QIPCO British Champions Fillies & Mares S. glory by her dam Seal of Approval (GB) (Authorized {Ire}), the February-foaled chestnut is therefore a full-sister to the dual group-placed Promissory (Ire) from the family of Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) who enjoyed one of his biggest days here in September.

 3.25 Saint-Cloud, Debutantes, €27,000, 3yo, 10fT
SAFARIA (Dubawi {Ire}) stands out in this intriguing affair as a daughter of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Flotilla (Fr) (Mizzen Mast) who represents her owner-breeder Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Thani. Francis-Henri Graffard introduces the February-foaled bay, whose peers include another relative of a Classic heroine in the Niarchos Family's Feel (Into Mischief), a Pascal Bary-trained half-sister to the G1 Prix de Diane winner Senga (Blame).

5.0 Curragh, Mdn, €18,000, 2yo, 6fT
ST KITTS (IRE) (No Nay Never) may not be the pick of Ryan Moore of the Ballydoyle pair, but the newcomer has much to commend him as a son of the G1 Irish Oaks heroine Bracelet (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) by the sire who is off to a flyer this term. The April-foaled chestnut is back-up to the stable's Roscommon fourth Victoria Road (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}), a son of the dual group 3-winning sprinter Tickled Pink (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), while among the other newcomers is the Niarchos's Yosemite Valley (GB) (Shamardal), a Donnacha O'Brien-trained half-brother to the stable's G3 Ballysax S. winner Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) who was withdrawn from his intended debut at Naas last month.

5.35 Curragh, Mdn, €18,000, 2yo, f, 7fT
DOWER HOUSE (IRE) (Galileo {Ire}) is another Ballydoyle debutante without the services of Ryan Moore, but as a full-sister to Churchill (Ire) and Clemmie (Ire) she is more of a next-time project given that both her illustrious siblings were only placed on their racecourse bows. Aidan O'Brien's first string is very much the six-furlong course maiden third Never Ending Story (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), the first foal out of the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational winner Athena (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) from the family of the opening maiden's protagonist St Kitts and Sea the Stars (Ire) and Galileo (Ire). Jessie Harrington, who took this last year with the future G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Discoveries (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) as she inched out Tuesday (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), saddles Yuesheng Zhang's newcomer Danvers Gold (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of the G3 Cornwallis S. scorer Mrs Danvers (GB) (Hellvelyn {GB}) who cost 320,000gns at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2.

6.25 Newmarket, Novice, £10,000, 3yo/up, f/m, 8fT
PURE DIGNITY (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is yet another by the supersire to catch the eye on Friday, being the €2.5million Arqana Deauville September Yearling Sale topper. Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa and KHK Racing's half-sister to Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and the similarly high-class Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) finally gets out for Roger Varian and faces four on her debut.

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