EQUALLING the French record held by André Fabre for number of Group or Grade 1 wins in a year, Francis Graffard enjoyed his first Breeders’ Cup success with Gezora in the Filly & Mare Turf.
The daughter of Almanzor (Wootton Bassett) is one of three top-table winners for the stallion who stands in New Zealand. He also has Group 1 Sydney Cup winner Circle Of Fire and Group 1 Victoria Derby hero Manzoice.
Germance (Silver Hawk) was second in the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks, having landed the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary. She was purchased at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $200,000. She had a relatively modest career at stud, until now.
Gezora is Germance’s seventh winner, and the last of her 12 foals. She raced for her breeder Haras d’Etreham at two, winning the Group 3 Prix des Reservoirs.
When Gezora made her seasonal debut in April, she was sporting the colours of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm. She has gone on to win the Group 2 (demoted last year) Prix Saint-Alary, like her dam, and went one better than Germance and won the French Oaks.
Germance and her stakes-winning half-brother Gaily Game (Montjeu) are the best of five winners from the Japanese winner Gaily Tiara (Caerleon).
That mares’ Group 3-winning half-sister Aiglonne (Silver Hawk), bred on similar lines to Germance, is dam of four pattern winners, the best being Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan winner Mekhtaal (Sea The Stars). Aiglonne is a daughter of Majestic Role (Theatrical), winner of the Listed Tyros Stakes and runner-up in the Group 1 Prix de Salamandre. She was one of five stakes winners out of Autocratic (Tyrant), headlined by the then Group 2 Tattersalls Rogers Gold Cup winner Fair Of The Furze (Ela-Mana-Mou).
MANY, including myself, were surprised and delighted to learn that the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Notable Speech (Dubawi) will race on at five. One of the very best three-year-olds in Europe last year, winning the Group 1 2000 Guineas and Sussex Stakes, he could have headed straight to stud, but stayed in training. This year he won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile before going two places better than last and won at Del Mar. He has banked £2.5 million.
Sheikh Mohammed’s association with this family goes back to 1982 when he gave $175,000 at Keeneland for a yearling filly by Secretariat (Bold Ruler) out of the champion Irish two-year-old filly Welsh Garden (Welsh Saint). Named Celtic Assembly, at three she was runner-up in the Listed Lupe Stakes. At stud, Celtic Assembly bred Volksraad (Green Desert) and Cherokee Rose (Dancing Brave). The former was champion sire six times in New Zealand.
Cherokee Rose won the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and Haydock Sprint Cup at four. She bred the classic-placed Bowman (Irish River), and the Group 1 runner-up Ahtoug (Byron). One of her daughters, Moyesii (Diesis), bred Mastery (Sulamani) who won the Group 1 St Leger and Hong Kong Vase. Cherokee Rose is third dam of the Group 1 Eclipse Stakes hero Mukhadram (Shamardal).
Notable Speech’s winning third dam Hint Of Spring (Seeking The Gold) had one foal before heading to Japan. She is Tulips (Pivotal) who won a listed race in France and was fourth in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest.
Tulips has a perfect record at stud, her six progeny all winning, and three of them have earned blacktype. They are Grade 1 winner Wild Beauty (Frankel), Group 3 winner Desert Wisdom (Dubawi), and Notable Speech’s dam Swift Rose (Invincible Spirit), second in the Group 3 UAE Oaks.
GRADE 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Shisospicy (Mitole) sold at Fasig-Tipton’s The November Sale on Monday. Co-owned by Morplay Racing and Qatar Racing, the former bought out its partner at the $5.2 million amount she attracted in the ring.
Morplay’s Rich Mendez believes that the three-year-old filly has more success on the track in her, while Qatar Racing wanted to retire her. A winner and stakes-placed in two outings last year, the filly has won five of her six starts this year in the USA, earned more than $2 million, and her sole finish down the field was in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot. Mendez’s is aiming to win at the 2026 Breeders’ Cup, which will be held at Keeneland.
Winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint meant that Shisospicy, bred by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, was sort of following in her sire’s shoes. Mitole (Eskendereya) was a champion sprinter in the USA, thanks to his success in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but his win was on dirt. Even the Del Mar win for his daughter has not influenced Spendthrift to raise Mitole’s fee for 2026, and he remains at $10,000.
Shisospicy is from Mitole’s second crop, and the stallion’s tally of 15 stakes winner with his first three crops of racing age is laudable. She is his first Grade 1 winner. On the dam’s side of the pedigree, Shisospicy is easily the best runner in generations. Sold as a short yearling for $100,000 in Keeneland, Shisospicy doubled in value within months. She is the second foal and winner for her dam Mischief Galore (Into Mischief), a three-time winner who also sold at Fasig-Tipton on Monday, for a more modest $750,000.