OCEAN Atlantique made headlines ever before he set foot on a racecourse. The three-year-old son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof The Nile) was bought by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud as a yearling for $275,000, with the aim of breezing him.

This was done with great aplomb, and when he appeared at the Arqana Sale last year he sold to the Coolmore group for €1.1 million.

Trained by Andre Fabre and a winner on his second start over a mile at two, he was runner-up in the Group 3 Prix La Force this year and, on just his fourth career outing, was a facile winner of the Listed Prix de Suresnes at Deauville over a mile and a quarter at the weekend. As a result he is one of the favourites for the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby. He has now become the seventh stakes winner in the first crop of his dual champion sire, and he has the pedigree of a potential champion himself.

His unraced dam Tare Green (Giant’s Causeway) is a half-sister to two Group 1 winners, the best being Leroidesanimaux (Candy Stripes). This triple Grade 1 winner is one of seven winners from another unraced mare, Dissemble (Ahonoora), and her half-sister Hasili (Kahyasi) is one of the greatest broodmares in thoroughbred history, breeding five Group/Grade 1 winners in Intercontinental (Danehill), Cacique (Danehill), Heat Haze (Green Desert), Champs Elysees (Danehill) and Banks Hill (Danehill). Oh, and she also bred the outstanding sire Dansili (Danehill).