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Daiwa Major Colt Stays Perfect in Niigata Nisai

Successful when unveiled at Chukyo in a newcomers' heat in June, Serifos (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) made it two on the bounce with a first black-type and group score in the G3 Niigata Nisai S. on Sunday.

Sent off as the 7-2 third choice, the Oiwake Farm-bred took advantage of his rail draw and saved every inch of ground against the fence in midpack through the early going as Otaru Ever (Jpn) (Leontes {Jpn}) showed the way. After a half in :48.50, he was sitting sixth as that rival continued to lead.

Dashing up the rail with three furlongs remaining down the long Niigata straight, he gradually subdued Otaru Ever, and appeared to be home free. The 9-5 favourite, Arrival (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), made a late run, but finished 1 1/4 lengths back on the line. It was three-quarters of a length back to Otaru Ever in third.

Pedigree Notes

By one of the increasingly rare active sire sons of Sunday Silence, Serifos is the 38th black-type winner and 18th group winner for the 2004 Japanese 2000 Guineas hero Daiwa Major, who stood at Shadai Stallion Station this season for a private fee. Serifos's broodmare sire Le Havre already has a pair of black-type winners in that sphere, this season's progressive G1 Coronation Cup winner Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) and Des Ailes (Jpn), a Japanese Group 2 victress who is by the late Deep Impact (Jpn) (Sunday Silence).

The winner is the second foal and scorer for his dam, who won the Listed Prix Maurice Zilber at four and placed in the G3 Prix Bertrand du Breuil Longines at five. Serifos is the last reported foal for Sea Front, who was purchased for €135,000 out of the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale in 2016 and sent to Japan.

Although Sea Front is the only black-type winner for her unraced dam, Freedom Herself (Fr) (Freedom Cry {GB}), the latter's half-sister Mediation (Ire) (Caerleon) won at the listed level in Ireland and placed at the group level there and Stateside. As a broodmare, Mediation has foaled GI Pacific Classic S. hero Go Between (Point Given), stakes winner Go Around (Medaglia d'Oro), the G2 Cherry Hinton S. third Extreme Beauty (Rahy) and the winning dam of GI Chandelier S. and GI Starlet S. third K P Dreamin (Union Rags).

Sunday, Niigata, Japan
NIIGATA NISAI S.-G3, ¥59,220,000, Niigata, 8-29, 2yo, 1600mT, 1:33.80, fm.
1–SERIFOS (JPN), 119, c, 2, Daiwa Major (Jpn)
1st Dam: Sea Front (Fr) (SW & GSP-Fr, $217,499),
by Le Havre (Ire)
2nd Dam: Freedom Herself (Fr), by Freedom Cry (GB)
3rd Dam: Redeem Herself (Ire), by General Assembly
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUP WIN. O-G1 Racing;
B-Oiwake Farm (Jpn); T-Mitsumasa Nakauchida; J-Yuga
Kawada. ¥31,434,000. Lifetime: 2-2-0-0. Werk Nick Rating:
D+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Arrival (Jpn), 119, c, 2, Harbinger (GB)–Culminar (Jpn), by
Deep Impact (Jpn). O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥12,124,000.
3–Otaru Ever (Jpn), 119, c, 2, Leontes (Jpn)–Rouge Coeur (Aus),
by Redoute's Choice (Aus). (¥41,000,000 Ylg '20 JRHAJUL).
O-Ikuko Sumitani; B-Lake Villa Farm (Jpn); ¥7,862,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 3/4, NK. Odds: 3.50, 1.90, 3.00.
Also Ran: Comstock Lode (Jpn), Stunning Rose (Jpn), Kimiwa Queen (Jpn), Tagano Finale (Jpn), Grand Line (Jpn), Win Pyxis (Jpn), Crowned Magic (Jpn), Cradle (Jpn), Said (Jpn).
Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Deauville Bids Farewell With Sunday Card

Deauville's August festival comes to a close on Sunday, with the feature being the 12 1/2-furlong G2 Lucien Barriere Grand Prix de Deauville which is short on numbers and arguably quality. Godolphin's June 6 G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly runner-up Sublimis (Ire) (Shamardal) sets the form standard, but in Haras de Saint Pair's Glycon (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) he has an opponent who has yet to show his full hand at this trip. The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained homebred was racing beyond 10 furlongs for the first time when beating some smart 3-year-olds in the course-and-distance G3 Prix de Reux on his latest start Aug. 8 and may have finally found his metier.

Of the Classic generation, Gestut Hony-Hof's Sea of Sands (Ger) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) is worthy of respect having won Hoppegarten's Derby-Trial May 23, with a subsequent 13th in the G1 Deutsches Derby at Hamburg July 4 no reflection of his true ability.

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St Mark’s Basilica On Course For Irish Champion

This year's dual Classic and G1 Coral-Eclipse S. winner St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) is on track to resume his season in the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on Sept. 11. The bay was forced to miss the G1 Juddmonte International after a cut on a hind leg caused by a lost shoe became infected.

“St Mark's Basilica is on the right road,” said trainer Aidan O'Brien. “It's a case of all good so far and we're on track.”

O'Brien also provided updates on his star 3-year-old fillies Snowfall (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}).

“Snowfall is working towards the Prix Vermeille at the moment and Santa Barbara might go to Keeneland for a race in about six weeks,” he said. “She has taken her trips to America very well, she loves it.”

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Sea the Stars’ Lavender’s Blue On Top In The Celebration Mile

Becoming the fifth subsequent pattern-race winner to emerge from the G1 Falmouth S., Benny Andersson's homebred Lavender's Blue (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) who was only eighth in that July 9 Newmarket feature took a step forward to register a career-best success in Saturday's G2 tote Celebration Mile at Goodwood. Trapped three-wide early under restraint from Rob Hornby, the 20-1 shot had the ideal target horse to follow in Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who had fly-jumped leaving the stalls and surrendered valuable ground there. Granting first run to that 9-4 favourite approaching the final furlong, the Amanda Perrett-trained bay delivered a withering run down the outer to deny that rival in the last stride and prevail by a short head as the long-time leader Pogo (Ire) (Zebedee {GB}) finished two lengths away in third. “She's really deserved that, as we've set her some stiff tasks the last few times,” the winning trainer said. “The fillies' division is really strong this year and that is why we weren't too worried about taking on the opposite sex today.”

Lavender's Blue had looked to connections to be a burgeoning middle-distance performer in her 3-year-old days, but it was not until she came back to this trip that she proved most effective when taking the G3 Atalanta S. at Sandown in August 2019. Fourth in Newmarket's G1 Sun Chariot S. on her only other start that term, the bay's six outings in 2020 yielded little in the way of progression with a third on her defence of her Atalanta title her best effort. Coming back at five to win the Listed Snowdrop Fillies' S. on Kempton's Polytrack Apr. 5, she was third behind Lady Bowthorpe (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) and Queen Power (Ire) (Shamardal) and in front of Indie Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in the G2 Dahlia S. over nine furlongs at Newmarket May 2 before running fifth behind all three in Royal Ascot's G2 Duke of Cambridge S. June 16.

Amanda Perrett deserves credit for her foresight after Lavender's Blue's Falmouth eclipse, switching from the current red-hot fillies and mares' division at a track which she had visited only once when sixth in last year's G1 Nassau S. trying a mile and a quarter that probably stretches her stamina. “Her group 2 win has been long overdue, so I'm just really glad to get it done today,” she said. “Her form is very strong. She's very consistent, she loves top of the ground and if you look at her three-year-old form she was mixing it with Oaks fillies so she deserved a big one. We just need to finish it off now by winning the [Oct. 2 G1] Sun Chariot, which is where she'll go next at Newmarket and we'll hope for fast ground. I'm delighted for Mr Andersson. You couldn't wish to train for a better man and it's great for him, especially as he loves Goodwood.”

Godolphin's G1 Dubai Turf, G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis and G1 Ladbrokes S. hero Benbatl was far from disappointing on his seasonal bow and trainer Saeed bin Suroor said, “Benbatl reared in the stalls, which caused him to miss the break but he still ran a big race to finish a close second. We will keep the options open for Champions Day at Ascot, whether we go for the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes or the G1 Champion Stakes, and he could run in the [Sept. 24] G2 Joel Stakes at Newmarket again beforehand.”

Lavender's Blue is the second foal out of Beatrice Aurore (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), who captured the G3 Prix Chloe and this track's Listed Height of Fashion S. and was runner-up in the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio and placed in three other group 3 contests in Britain, Ireland and Norway. The second dam is the Listed Prix Belle de Nuit winner Mondschein (GB) (Rainbow Quest), who is full-sister to the G3 Royal Whip S. scorer Jahafil (GB) and kin to the dam of the G2 Prix Guillaume d'Ornano winner and G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup runner-up Highdown (Ire) (Selkirk). Beatrice Aurore also has a 2-year-old filly by Australia (GB) and a 2021 full-sister to Lavender's Blue.

Saturday, Goodwood, Britain
TOTE CELEBRATION MILE-G2, £125,000, Goodwood, 8-28, 3yo/up, 8fT, 1:36.21, g/f.
1–LAVENDER'S BLUE (IRE), 127, m, 5, by Sea the Stars (Ire)
1st Dam: Beatrice Aurore (Ire) (GSW-Fr, SW & GSP-Eng, G1SP-Ity, GSP-Ire, GSP-Nor, SP-Tur, $351,751), by Danehill Dancer (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mondschein (GB), by Rainbow Quest
3rd Dam: River Spey (GB), by Mill Reef
O-Benny Andersson; B-Chess Racing (IRE); T-Amanda Perrett; J-Rob Hornby. £70,888. Lifetime Record: 16-4-2-3, $250,979. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Benbatl (GB), 130, h, 7, Dubawi (Ire)–Nahrain (GB), by Selkirk. O-Godolphin; B-Darley (GB); T-Saeed bin Suroor. £26,875.
3–Pogo (Ire), 130, h, 5, Zebedee (GB)–Cute (GB), by Diktat (GB). (€10,500 Wlg '16 GOFNOV; £32,000 Ylg '17 GOUKPR). O-Gary and Linnet Woodward; B-Thomas Foy (IRE); T-Charles Hills. £13,450.
Margins: NO, 2, NO. Odds: 20.00, 2.25, 18.00.
Also Ran: Chindit (Ire), Perotto (GB), Happy Power (Ire), Duke of Hazzard (Fr), Mutasaabeq (GB), Stormy Antarctic (GB). Scratched: Escobar (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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