FOLLOWING Via Sistina’s most recent Group 1 win in Australia, her eleventh since she moved there and her twelfth overall, I was pondering how widely her achievements have been viewed and celebrated in the northern hemisphere.
It seems to me that the likes of Black Caviar, Winx and Makybe Diva attracted more media attention and coverage, while another Group 1 for Via Sistina, a daughter of Fastnet Rock (Danehill), is just accepted and expected.
It is easy to forget too that her story is one of hope for everyone with a limited spend, as this 5,000gns yearling purchase by Stephen Hillen won a Group 1 in Ireland, sold for 2,700,000gns as a five-year-old, but instead of heading to the breeding shed, as she would have been entitled to do, has won more than £9 million racing.
Now seven, her prowess on the track shows no sign of diminishing, and she is a credit to trainer Chris Waller for whom she has run 16 times since March 2024, all but one of those starts in Group 1 races. She raced once in a Group 2 – and was beaten into third! She has only been out of the first three on a single occasion in Australia, and she displayed her amazing versatility by winning over distances from seven to 10 furlongs. In a word, she is a superstar.
As the Tattersalls December Sale is a week away, it is noteworthy that she was twice through the ring there, having failed to appear at the October Yearling Sale. She is a graduate of both the yearling and mares sections of the December Sale, at both ends of the price spectrum. Via Sistina was bred by Colin and Melba Bryce at their Laundry Cottage Stud, and they have played another starring role as they also bred the ooustanding Wootton Bassett.
The couple won’t need reminding that they sold Via Sistina’s dam Nigh (Galileo) at the same sale as her daughter in 2019 to Meah Lloyd Bloodstock for 36,000gns, carrying the subsequent winner Fougere (Bated Breath). Nigh had quite a history of sales. Bred by Peter McCutcheon, she visited Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) on the back of her half-brother Kingsgate Native (Mujadil) being crowned the best three-year-old sprinter in England.
M.V. Magnier buys
Offered for sale as a foal at Goffs, Nigh was purchased by M.V. Magnier for €180,000 in 2010, among 10 foals that year who sold for €150,000 plus. She did not race, and was sold at three for 85,000gns in a private transaction, having failed to make her reserve in the ring. She was carrying her first foal, Nigh Or Never (Excelebration), and his subsequent contribution to the story was to be placed six times over hurdles.
Nigh Or Never was gelded, as was Nigh’s next foal, Harawi (Camelot). He provided hope for better things, selling for €200,000 as a yearling, but a couple of placed runs was the best he could achieve. Nigh’s third foal died, while her fourth never raced and there is no record of her having any progeny, though she was in training with Richard Fahey for Nicholas Wrigley. With Via Sistina, her fifth foal, selling for just 5,000gns, it is little wonder Colin Bryce chose to sell her,
Wes Melcher bought Nigh and the first foal he had from her was Fougere. Her talent was at the other end of the scale from her year-older sibling Via Sistina, and she won once, a 10-furlong Nottingham handicap at four, from 19 starts. That said, the emergence of Via Sistina meant that Fougere went from being a 25,000gns foal to a 250,000gns four-year-old at last year’s December Sale, and she was covered this spring by Night Of Thunder (Dubawi).
Sold to Willingham
Next up for Nigh was Nazionale (Ten Sovereigns), a 50,000gns foal who placed on two of his three starts last year, but died. Nigh’s record of more winners has not been added to by her three-year-old, Via Sienna (Bated Breath), A 20,000gns foal, she was sold to Willingham for €400,000 at Arqana last year. Yuesheng Zhang, who races Via Sistina as Yulong Investments, uses various entities to purchase, Willingham being one.
Zhang also bought Nigh herself in 2023 for 200,000gns as Lucky Vega, and she had a colt, now a yearling, by Too Darn Hot (Dubawi). She has been seriously upgraded in terms of the sires she is visiting, and her filly foal born this spring is by Kingman (Invincible Spirit). Nigh was among a very select group of 80 mares covered this year by Dubawi (Dubai Millennium).
The story of Nigh and her outstanding daughter Via Sistina, shows how fickle, exciting, sometimes disappointing, but always intriguing the world of breeding and racing is, and this is why it remains such a fascination.
Success is not guaranteed, and sometimes comes in unexpected ways, but we can always dream.
WON 4 races at 3 and 5 years and £590,442, inc. Gr.1 Pretty Polly Stakes, Curragh, and Gr.2 Dahlia Stakes, Newmarket, placed 4 times inc. second in Gr.1 Champion Stakes, Ascot, Gr.3 Pride Stakes, Newmarket, and third Gr.1 Falmouth Stakes, Newmarket; also won 12 races in Australia and France from 4 to 7 years, 2025 and £9,249,959, viz. Gr.1 Chipping Norton Stakes, Randwick, Gr.1 Champions Stakes, Flemington (twice), Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Randwick, Gr.1 Ranvet Stakes, Rosehill (twice), Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes, Flemington, Gr.1 Winx Stakes, Randwick (twice), Gr.1 WS Cox Plate, Moonee Valley (twice) and Gr.3 Prix Fille de l’Air, Toulouse, placed 5 times viz. second Gr.1 Prix Jean Romanet, Deauville, Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Randwick, and third Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes, Flemington, Gr.1 Turnbull Stakes, Flemington, and Gr.2 Apollo Stakes, Randwick.
BLACK CAVIAR (Bel Esprit), was an Australian champion who was undefeated in 25 races, including 15 Group 1s. Between 2010 and 2013 she was ranked the world’s best sprinter on four occasions.
WINX (Street Cry), won 37 of 43 career starts, and between May 2015 and her retirement in April 2019, was successful in her last 33 races in succession, including 25 Group 1s, over distances ranging from 1,300 metres to 2,200 metres.
VIA SISTINA (Fastnet Rock), see above.
MAKYBE DIVA (Desert King), was a champion Australian racemare. She is the only horse to win three Melbourne Cups, and the only mare to win it more than once. She achieved the feat in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She also won the 2005 Cox Plate.
SUNLINE (Desert Sun), was a champion New Zealand-bred who was the world’s highest earning racemare of her time. She won 32 of her 48 races with earnings of NZ$14,200,000. She was named the New Zealand Horse of the Year four times, and Australian Horse of the Year three times.
ATLANTIC JEWEL (Fastnet Rock), was an Australian racehorse, sired by a champion who was also responsible for Via Sistina, and raced by Coolmore. She won 10 of her 11 starts, including four Group 1 races.