TWO of the four Group 1 winners at the Curragh on Sunday were purchased for what can loosely be called affordable prices. The case of Zavateri, a juvenile son of Without Patrol (Frankel), is such a compelling one, and further proof of the talents of his trainer Eve Johnson Houghton. Together with Highflyer Bloodstock, they spent 35,000gns to buy the colt, through Newsells Park Stud, from John Gunther and Ttr Bloodstock.

Utilising Mark McStay’s Avenue Bloodstock, Gunther bought the colt’s dam Zeroua (Siyouni) as an unraced three-year-old for €90,000 at Arqana. Breeding and selling Zavateri will have yielded no profit, or made an indent into the original investment. That is set to change when the Group 1 Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes winner’s Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) half-sister comes up for sale in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale. Zeroua has a colt foal by Baaeed (Sea The Stars).

Zeroua is a half-sister to dual Australian Group 3 winner Zeyrek (Sea The Stars), and their dam is a daughter of the unbeaten two-time European champion Zarkava (Zamindar). Zarkava’s son Zarak (Dubawi) is a multiple Group 1 sire, and she is grandam of this year’s Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1000 Guineas winner Zarigana (Siyouni).

Without Parole has his second crop racing, but none of his first crop managed to win a stakes race. The emergence of Zavateri has come at a good time, and hopefully will boost the sale chances of his yearlings.

There are 14 blacktype winners out of mares by Siyouni (Pivotal), and Zavateri has the distinction of being the first to land a Group 1. Erevann (Dubawi) and Fairy Godmother (Night Of Thunder) are two others of note, while the three-year-old colt Marvelman (Invincible Spirit) joins the list after he won the Group 2 Park Stakes at Doncaster. He was bred by Gigginstown House, and realised 140,000gns as a yearling.

Marvelman’s dam Varamini is a full-sister to Volta (Siyouni), the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham winner who was second in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild and third in the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks. Their half-brother Calvados Blues (Lando) was Group 1-placed in the UAE, and won two Group 3s in France. Invincible Spirit’s tally of pattern winners grew to 78 with Marvelman’s weekend win, two more than the tally of listed and other stakes winners he is responsible for to date.

Amo delight

If Zavateri’s win was a boost for Without Parole, the same is true for Arizona Blaze’s Group 1 Flying Five victory and his sire, Sergei Prokofiev (Scat Daddy). After Scandinavia won the St Leger for Justify (Scat Daddy), this was a weekend top-flight double for the sire line, and over extremes of distances.

Whitsbury Manor Stud is home to Sergei Prokofiev, and both he and Without Parole went to stud the same year. While Without Parole won a Group 1 at Royal Ascot, and placed in three Grade 1s in the USA, Sergei Prokofiev was a Group 3 winner of the Cornwallis Stakes at two.

Sergei Prokofiev’s son Arizona Blaze gave him the perfect start last year when he won on the opening day of the season in Ireland, and came after his first crop yearlings sold like hotcakes.

Sergei Prokofiev covered more than 150 mares in each of his first four seasons at stud, but this year that dropped to 101. He had 29 winners in his first crop, including Arizona Blaze and the Listed National Stakes winner Enchanting Empress, and three more who placed in blacktype races.

This year’s total of juvenile winners is a more modest 14 at the time of writing. His star performer Arizona Blaze has not been spared, running 17 times already, and he captured the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes after near misses in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and this year’s Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

Spectacular winner

Trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien and bought for $1,100,000 as a yearling, Sergei Prokofiev was a spectacular winner at two by seven and a half lengths in a maiden at Navan, and added the Listed Rochestown Stakes at Naas, winning by four lengths. Sent to Royal Ascot, he was third in the Group 2 Coventry Stakes, a length behind Calyx and Advertise, and returned to winning form in the Group 3 Cornwallis Stakes over five furlongs at Newmarket. At three, Sergei Prokofiev started off by winning the Listed Cork Stakes over five and a half furlongs at Navan, and was a close fourth to Mabs Cross in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes at Newmarket.

Bred by Andrew Bengough and partners, Arizona Blaze sold twice. Ciaran Conroy purchased him as a foal for 36,000gns and got £82,000 for him as a yearling.

The Glenvale Stud owner dug deep last year to give 180,000gns for Arizona Blaze’s Blackbeard (No Nay Never) half-brother, and returns shortly to Newmarket to offer him for resale. His prospects have just had a major fillip.

LAWMAN (Invincible Spirit) won the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and Group 1 Prix Jean Prat before he entered the covering barn at Ballylinch Stud as a four-year-old. His fee dropped from an initial €25,000 to €15,000, built back up to his starting price, and after 11 seasons in Co Kilkenny he transferred to Haras de Grandchamp.

Now at Haras du Mazet, Lawman’s fee has been in a downward trajectory since 2019, and this year he stood for €4,000. The 21-year-old compiled a decent record at stud, but fell victim of fashion. His best runners are Just The Judge. Harbour Law, Most Improved, Marcel and Pretty Gorgeous, some of his six Group 1 winners.

Battaash (Dark Angel) and Fallen Angel (Too Darn Hot) are the best runners out of his daughters, and both have won four Group 1 races. Fallen Angel went one better in this year’s Matron Stakes, adding to her victories in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Irish 1000 Guineas and Prix de Rothschild. She has won more than €1.1 million, and was bred at Branton Court Stud.

Fallen Angel is the best of four winners, all her foals, out of Agnes Stewart, and has a number of firsts to her name. She was the first juvenile winner, first Group 1 winner and first classic winner for Too Darn Hot (Dubawi), whose tally of top-flight winners stands at four. He has another four-time Group 1 winner in the Australian-bred Broadsiding.

Eddie Lynam

Agnes Stewart was a €23,000 Goffs yearling purchase by Eddie Lynam, carried the Clipper Logistics silks to victory in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at two, and was runner-up in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile. She died at the age of nine.

Agnes Stewart and her listed-winning half-sister Sorrel (Dansili) have rejuvenated a sleepy branch of a smart family. Fallen Angel’s fourth dam was responsible for a trio of good performers. Definite Article (Indian Ridge) won the Group 1 National Stakes at two and was runner-up in the Group 1 Irish Derby.

He was followed a few years later by the Group 2 Dante Stakes winner Salford Express (Be My Guest), and five years after that along came Salford City (Desert Sun). The latter was successful in the Group 3 Greenham Stakes and was a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed over hurdles. He even went on to win three times over fences.

Another recent group-winning four-year-old filly out of a Lawman mare is Fair Angellica, and this daughter of Harry Angel (Dark Angel) is bred on a similar cross to Battaash. Unsold as a yearling for £2,000, she has now won seven times, and her win in the Group 3 Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster is a step forward from listed victories in England and France. Fair Angellica was bred at Jarosa Stud.