IN the space of seven weeks the two-year-old Gutaifan (Dark Angel) colt Sopran Poseidone has gone from a winning debutant in Milan to being an unbeaten three-time winner and a leading classic hope for 2021. The colt carries the colours of Leonardo Ciampoli whose runners are easily identified as almost all of them carry Sopran in their name.

Sopran Poseidone can now be called the best runner for his unraced dam Ms Sasha Malia, a daughter of Verglas (Highest Honor). She featured in these columns two years ago when her daughter Sopran Artemide (Bungle Inthejungle) won the Listed Premio Vittorio Crespi in Milan.

Ciampoli obviously loves this family and following Sopran Artemide’s success he paid 75,000gns for Ms Sasha Malia’s next produce, the now three-year-old Sopran Fan (Gutaifan) who is knocking on the door of a victory. That same year he invested €22,000 in Sopran Poseidone who was then a foal, and last year he cemented his love affair with the family when he paid €26,000 for the eighth foal out of the mare, a filly by El Kabeir (Scat Daddy).

Ms Sasha Malia was, like Sopran Poseidone, bred by Eileen Farrelly at her Misty Lodge Stud and, should the three-year-old Sopran Fan get his head in front sometime soon, Ms Sasha Malia will have produced seven winners with her first seven foals.

The breeder must be hoping that travel restrictions are lifted in advance of the upcoming rescheduled Goffs Foal Sale as she has an April-born son of Bungle Inthejungle and Ms Sasha Malia entered as Lot 681. He is a full-brother to Sopran Artemide.

Ms Sasha Malia will be a candidate for an early cover in the spring as she failed to go in foal for the first time in 10 years, and her record surely makes her deserving of a very attractive covering.

Winner of the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes and Group 2 Prix Robert Papin in his only season to race at two, Gutaifan chased home Shalaa in the Group 1 Prix Morny. His first crop, now three-year-olds, contains just a single group-placed runner, but his current juveniles includes three stakes winners, headed by the Group 2 winner Fev Rover, and a group-placed dual winner.