WHAT a few weeks it has been for Coolmore’s St Mark’s Basilica (Siyouni). It was not until the second day in June that he got off the mark with his first winner, Rogue Supremacy winning with some style at Wetherby. That colt has won again since, and tackled stakes company a few times without being in the frame.

Since then, six more sons and daughters of the Group 1 Dewhurst winner and champion three-year-old have been successful, and St Mark’s Basilica recently sired his first stakes winner, thanks to Fozzy Stack’s colt Thesecretadversary finally getting his head in front in the Listed Coolmore Stud Churchill Stakes over seven and a half furlongs at Tipperary. The two-year-old races for Gaynor Rupert’s Cayton Park Stud and Sue Magnier, having been bred by that partnership.

Connections might have been despairing of Thesecretadversary after he finished second on his first three starts. The second of these was the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, his best run to date. He was surprisingly beaten when long odds-on after a trip to Ayr, beaten by a 28/1 debutant in a five-runner contest. If that defeat hurt, then to win a valuable listed contest next time out was joyful. He is set to step up to group company for his next outing.

Queen Elizabeth

Thesecretadversary has the Ascot listed winner Holly Blue (Bluebird) as his third dam. She was bred and raced by the late Queen Elizabeth before being sold. Holly Blue bred Gibraltar Blue (Rock Of Gibraltar) who was trained by Tommy Stack, won on her debut at the Curragh and then went to race in South Africa where she was a multiple Group 2 winner and runner-up in the Group 1 South African Fillies & Mares Sprint.

Back in Europe, the best of Holly Blue’s winners was Scream Blue Murder (Oratorio), trained again by Tommy Stack. She raced for Gaynor Rupert and Sue Magnier and won the Group 3 Phoenix Sprint Stakes at the Curragh, ridden by Pat Smullen, on her penultimate start. Still a young mare, Scream Blue Murder is the dam of five winners, three stakes horses, and the best of them is Too Soon To Panic (Gleneagles). A listed winner and Group 2-placed for the same connections, trained by Fozzy Stack, she in turn is the dam of Thesecretadversary.

A day after Thesecretadversary gave St Mark’s Basilica his breakthrough first stakes winner, Princess Petrol came within a neck of doubling up, just denied in the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes over seven furlongs at Newmarket. She was stepping up in trip after winning over six at Ascot. This 280,000gns filly was bred by W & R Barnett Ltd and purchased by James Toller as a yearling. She is the second foal and winner for her Group 3 winning dam Mot Juste (Distorted Humor), and this success was timely as her half-brother by Lope De Vega (Shamardal) is in Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale.

Diamond Necklace

As well as both Thesecretadversary and Princess Petrol have done, a name on everyone’s lips now is that of St Mark’s Basilica’s daughter Diamond Necklace, who won on her debut at the Curragh on Saturday, beating a more fancied stablemate. Aidan O’Brien hadn’t won this race since 2016 when he did so with Hydrangea, and we know what she went on to do. Diamond Necklace holds entries in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes and the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes.

Bred by Ecurie des Monceaux and Skymarc Farm, Diamond Necklace cost M.V. Magnier a cool €1.7 million last year, and no wonder. She is the ninth winner among the first 10 foals from the listed winner Prudenzia (Dansili), and they include the Group 1 winners Chicquita (Montjeu) and Magic Wand (Galileo), while her Group 3-winning daughter Philomene (Dubawi) was runner-up in the Group 1 Prix de Diane-French Oaks. No doubt Team Coolmore will be in the running for Diamond Necklace’s half-sister by Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) when she comes up for sale on Monday at Arqana as Lot 206.

Given the racing profile of St Mark’s Basilica, no one expected him to be siring March or April two-year-old winners. It is strange now to think that it took him until his third start, late in August, to register a win, and he only made his debut at the end of July. He rounded off his juvenile season with success in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, and that was to be the first of five wins at that level in just as many starts. It also ensured that he was crowned champion two-year-old.

Classic double

St Mark’s Basilica easily won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas on his seasonal reappearance and followed that with an almost two-length defeat of the subsequent Champion Stakes victor Sealiway in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby. Leading sires Shamardal and Lope De Vega are two who previously achieved that classic double.

A month later, St Mark’s Basilica took on older horses for the first time, and soared to the top of a strong three-year-old division with an impressive Group 1 Eclipse Stakes performance, beating Addeybb and Mishriff by three and a half lengths and more. He added the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, beating Group 1-stars Tarnawa and Poetic Flare in a memorable finish.

St Mark’s Basilica had his fee dropped to €40,000 this year. However, given the way his runners are performing, this might be the best value breeders will get to use him at. It is still early doors, but the omens are good, and a pattern win for a few of his stock later in the year would see him cement his place on the Coolmore roster.